Monica Barbaro is ready for her large spotlight. From flying extreme as a pilot in “Excessive Gun: Maverick” to embodying the enduring Joan Baez, Monica Barbaro is making her mark in Hollywood. Alongside together with her latest operate within the James Mangold-directed Bob Dylan biopic “A Full Unknown,” Barbaro demonstrates her performing range and untethered potential to channel the essence of 1 amongst music’s most revered activists.
Barbaro’s casting as Joan Baez was a protracted journey, beginning collectively together with her audition in March 2020 — just because the COVID pandemic disrupted Hollywood. “My first audition was correct sooner than the world stopped,” she recollects in the midst of the Choice Awards Circuit Podcast. “I obsessed over Joan Baez, nevertheless I didn’t let myself put collectively an extreme quantity of — it wasn’t my job however, and I wanted to defend myself emotionally.”
That changed in 2023 when James Mangold emailed her the subject line: “Joan is yours.”
“I froze, fell to the underside, and cried,” she remembers. “It was life-changing. I nonetheless have a screenshot of that e-mail.”
Barbaro wasn’t a Baez superfan when she started, nevertheless that changed whereas prepping for the operate. “As soon as I heard “The Water Is Broad,” it was like time froze. Her voice has this spiritual prime quality — it’s otherworldly,” she says. Hear beneath!
Barbaro is 1 / 4 Mexican, a heritage she shares with Joan Baez, whose father was moreover Mexican. She says her experience navigating a mixed identification in Hollywood has been every tough and illuminating. “Every job I’ve booked has embody questions on my percentages — how Mexican or how white I’m,” she explains. “I’ve certainly not felt completely enough of each side.”
Rising up in San Francisco, Barbaro was aware about how people categorized her. “It’s a typical experience for mixed-race people: being ‘not enough’ for each group. My grandma, who was Mexican, wouldn’t even talk Spanish at dwelling because of she didn’t want people to guage us.”
That connection deepened her bond with Baez. “Learning Joan’s memoir, the place she talks about not belonging, felt so non-public. That duality of identification is one factor I want to uncover additional in my work.”
Barbaro’s breakout operate as Lt. Natasha “Phoenix” Trace in “Excessive Gun: Maverick” (2022), which was nominated for most interesting picture, thrust her into the worldwide spotlight. Nonetheless previous the movement and acclaim, Tom Cruise’s mentorship left most likely probably the most resounding affect.
“He’s impossibly hardworking however as well as so generous,” Barbaro says. “He mentored all of us and nonetheless makes himself accessible. I can textual content material him questions, and he on a regular basis responds. His consideration to safety and precision in his stunts is inspiring.”
Cruise’s faith in Barbaro extended previous “Excessive Gun.” “He reached out to James Mangold and vouched for me,” she shares. “That kind of help means each factor.”
Previous “A Full Unknown,” Barbaro is diving into new challenges. She’s at current filming “Crime 101,” towards the legislation thriller starring Chris Pine and Mark Ruffalo, and is raring to find roles incorporating her dance background.
“I’ve been itching to do a film the place dance performs a central operate,” she says. “Dance is such an unlimited part of who I’m, and I want to uncover a mission that integrates it sooner than I get too ‘geriatric,’” she jokes.
Barbaro moreover hopes to supply tales reflecting her private identification and experiences of belonging. “I’m drawn to themes of otherness and navigating plenty of identities. It’s such a typical feeling, and I want to give voice to that.”
With “A Full Unknown” hitting theaters, she hopes youthful people can uncover the love of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, merely as she did when she landed the operate.
“I hope audiences who watch this film are impressed to dive into Joan Baez’s music and activism. She’s an icon, and it’s an honor to convey her story to life.”
Moreover on this episode, “Wicked” star Cynthia Erivo discusses filming the enduring musical, what to anticipate from “Wicked: For Good” and the upcoming launch of her debut album.
Choice’s “Awards Circuit” podcast, hosted by Clayton Davis, Jazz Tangcay, Emily Longeretta, Jenelle Riley and Michael Schneider, who moreover produces, is your one-stop provide for vigorous conversations about the simplest in film and television. Each episode, “Awards Circuit” choices interviews with prime film and TV experience and creatives, discussions and debates about awards races and commerce headlines, and way more. Subscribe by means of Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever you get hold of podcasts.