El Paso skaters represent Sun City in “One Battle After Another”
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- The Oscar nominated film "One Battle After Another" was a blockbuster hit. It grossed over $200 million at the box office and is nominated 13 times at the Academy Awards this weekend. It also has strong ties to El Paso and the Borderland.
Some of the film was shot downtown. The city is called "Baktan Cross" in the movie but there are parts that are noticeably from El Paso. Director Paul Thomas Anderson cast multiple extras in the film from El Paso. ABC-7 spoke with 4 skaters who were cast in the movie about what it was like.
"We all kind of looked at each other. We were like, 'oh, man'," said Elijah Sambrano. "What did we get ourselves into?"
Sambrano, Gilberto Martinez, Luis Trejo, and Julian Corral learned of the opportunity through a mutual friend who has connections in the movie industry. They heard that a film was looking to cast extras for a shoot over the summer, but they had no idea how big the movie was until they saw Warner Brothers trucks on the lot.
"We started skating and kind of doing our thing. Through that, they showed it to Paul Thomas Anderson," said Martinez. "Paul just said, 'these are our guys.'"
They only filmed for 11 days but they were able to interact with Oscar winners Leonardo DiCaprio and Benicio del Toro.
"I was filming more with Benicio del Toro and we were just talking. He like, 'oh, you play in a band?', said Sambrano. "It's really cool being able to talk to him like that on a personal level."
"They put us in a room with Leonardo and there's just kind of an awkward silence," said Corral. "He actually broke the silence with 'What's good around here to eat?' And so we just give him different things to go to lunch and different places to eat."
All 4 skaters loved being able to showcase their city on a national stage.
"He didn't really do anything to esthetically change the city," said Trejo.
"I think El Paso is now finally at that moment where people are starting notice how beautiful downtown is, how beautiful the people are, how beautiful it is to film here," said Martinez. "So I'm very grateful to be from El Paso and to be on the screen as skateboarders from El Paso."
Watch the full story on ABC-7 at 10 after the Oscar's.
