Television February 02, 2024
Sofía Vergara on the Emotional Toll of ‘Griselda’ Role (Exclusive)
Netflix
Sofía Vergara is opening up on “Extra: The Podcast” about her gritty new role on “Griselda.”
“Extra’s” Freddy Lomeli spoke with Vergara and producer Eric Newman about her transition from comedy to drama, and the emotional toll of playing a drug queenpin in the Netflix series. Listen here!
Vergara is best known for playing Gloria Pritchett on “Modern Family” and she confessed she was worried that the audience would only see “Gloria with that fake nose and wig.”
She explained, “Comedy comes natural to me, so it was very organic. It was scenes that were full of joy and happiness and fun. ‘Griselda’ was a completely different thing. It was a lot of drama I had never done, and I had never worn prosthetics and I never really acted in Spanish. Had never even smoked, and I had to be smoking in every scene. I had to do learn how to do cocaine, so there were a lot of new things for me that made it very stressful and exhausting.”
Sofía insisted she “didn’t do any Method acting,” but she was weighed down by the role.
“The first month was really weird because I didn’t understand what was happening to me… My personality is usually uplift[ing] and I would go home feeling weird, like I did not know what was going on... I started recognizing that it was days of doing horrible things to people, and horrible lines and screaming and crying and people choking you. Your body doesn’t really know that you’re not going through that, all those emotions... so it was exhausting… Now I understand what real actors, real dramatic actors, do, and it’s so difficult.”
For Newman, the creative mind behind “Narcos,” the biggest challenge was humanizing Griselda. He commented, “I knew that the process that she needed to engage in to become Griselda Blanco was going to come with some pain.”
“Underneath it all is Sofía,” Eric pointed out while praising her, “and when she comes on-screen you go, ‘Oh, I like her. I hope this all works out for her,’ and that's part of the power of her phenomenal performance.”
“Griselda” in on Netflix now.
To hear the full interview, you can also download this week’s “Extra: The Podcast” on the Audacy app and everywhere podcasts are available. New episodes will be released weekly on Wednesdays.
