Anthony Ramos Confirms Transformers Role, Teases Sci-Fi Film Distant
"The power to say no," soon-to-be superhero Anthony Ramos says, is what has given him the new possibilities he's gotten recently.
During a recent roundtable interview discussing his role on the upcoming revival of [/i], Ramos confirmed that he is in the upcoming [i]Transformers film, shooting soon in Montreal, which marks a very different sort of project from playing a sensitive home health care worker getting therapy from Uzo Aduba on HBO or helping to bring the Tony-winning musical In the Heights to the big screen this summer.
But that variety of roles is something Ramos credits to taking his choices seriously. As he explains:
It's easy for people to be like, "Oh, he's the guy that sings and dances," or "He's the guy that does this, that does action movies," or "Whatever, he makes music." I think I have to challenge myself, right? In Treatment was very different from In the Heights, which will be very different from Transformers...
I think for me, I have a conversation with myself before I say yes to anything, and I take a long time to decide to do things, especially in my work, because it's been so hard for me, especially being Puerto Rican and from the hood. I already had all the things going against me, right? So it's like, now I say to myself, "How can I continue to not only prove to the world, but prove to myself, 'Hey, you can do that. You can also do that. And you can do that. And you can do that.'" And continue to challenge myself, and just continue to challenge myself. So I think that's really the biggest goal for me right now.
Now to be able to do a movie like this, and to lead a franchise, that's a blessing. It's funny, I kept saying to my agents, I said, "Yo, I want to be the first Latino superhero." I kept saying this to them. I kept telling them, I kept telling them, like, "Yo, I want to be the first Puerto Rican superhero." And for years I've been saying it. And it's just a blessing that now I get to be in a film where I'll be able to do that.
Ramos also teased that another, different role for him is the upcoming sci-fi film Distant, directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon (Blades of Glory, Office Christmas Party) and produced by Amblin Entertainment.
"I'm wearing a 30-pound space suit walking around the planet. I'm the only survivor on this planet, and I'm looking for somebody," he explained about that film, which he says will come out next year — in the meantime, In Treatment Season 4 premieres May 23 on HBO and HBO Max.
