Nicholas Gonzalez Takes the Lead in The Premiere of FOX’s Bordertown on January 3rd 9:30/8:30c
By Bel Hernandez
Long before U.S. presidential candidate Trump talked about building a wall on the southern border to keep out the Mexicans, the writers of Seth MacFarlane’s Bordertown had already written that episode. When the Mexican drug lord Joaquin (El Chapo) Guzmán tunneled his way out of a Mexican prison this past summer, that episode was already in the can. Bordertown isn’t your typical Mickey Mouse cartoon, it’s got bite. Beginning on January 3, 2016 you can catch the first season of Bordertown on Sundays on FOX 9:30/8:30c.
Bordertown is a new animated comedy about two families living in a Southwest desert town on the U.S. – Mexico border. The series takes a satirical look at the cultural shifts occurring in America, where the U.S. Census forecasts that by 2017, ethnic minorities will become the majority. Set against this increasingly diverse backdrop, the comedy explores family, politics and everything in between with a cross-cultural wink.
(l-r) Bordertown’s Ernesto Gonzalez and Bud Buckwald
With biting, satirical and just plain funny writing, the series revolves around a successful Mexican immigrant, Ernesto Gonzales (voiced by Nicholas Gonzalez) and dumb and obnoxious border patrol officer, Bud Buckwald voiced by Hank Azaria (Ray Donavan, The Simpson). It’s the first American TV series which addresses the changing demographics of a country where Caucasians will soon become a minority while Latinos are becoming the “it” group. Here the tables are turned when a Mexican is the more successful and smarter than the uncouth Anglo racist.
The series is the brainchild of creator and showrunner Mark Hentemann (Family Guy writer), who knew from the beginning that this show needed to include as many Latinos creatives and on-camera talent as he could enlist. He hired longtime Latino activists and satirists Lalo Alcaraz (La Cucaracha editorial cartoonist and host of Pocho Hour of Power on KPFK Radio) and Ask a Mexican columnist Gustavo Arellano as consulting producers/writers with Valentina L. Garza serving as supervising producer. In front of the camera three more voice actors, Jacqueline Pinol, Efren Ramirez, Carlos Alazraqui join Gonzalez in voicing seven of the series regular characters.
Stanford University graduate, Nicholas Gonzalez auditioned for six characters and ended up being cast to voice three of lead roles; Ernesto, JC Gonzales (Ernesto’s Berekley University graduate nephew) and Pablo Barracuda, the drug cartel leader who he plays as a cross between drug cartel heads Pablo Escobar and El Chapo Guzman. Finding each character’s distinctive voice and rhythm was a rewarding process for Gonzalez.
However, with a name like Bordertown, being a FOX TV series with Latino characters, the Latino community naturally had its reservation and they played out on social media and the blogosphere. FOX then decided to send Alcaraz, Arellano and some of the talent, Nicholas included, to screenings of Bordertown set up across the country. They screened it at community theaters and venues, partnering with advocacy groups. It was a good move.
But we did have to ask. Are there stereotypical roles in Bordertown? Without hesitation and without skirting the issue Nicholas replied. “Yes, there are stereotypes. This is a satire and we use stereotypes to turn them on their heads. We use it to make a point,” he explains. “There will be audiences that will laugh at, and with us, and there will be others that will be upset.” Nicholas gives as an example a sequence in a show teaser where Bud complains, “These people have no idea what it’s like to have foreigners ruin your country.” Cut to a group of drunk American fraternity boys in Mexico throwing up in Mexican hat. The “Spring Breakers” that think that in Mexico anything goes.
Nicholas Gonzalez
Nicholas, whose work on television began in ernest when he landed the lead in Showtime’s Resurrection Blvd. (2000) has had a remarkable film and TV on camera career. But unlike on-camera roles, voicing an animated character is much more time intensive, with each episode taking about a month and a half to complete. It is also a much more solitary process. “You are in the sound room by yourself, you don’t get work the scenes with the other actors,” Nicholas explains. “You go line by line, doing the lines over and over again until you get it just right.” Most of the time he says, you are given only a sketch drawing of what will be the final animation to help you get a sense of what is happening in the scene. But once it’s edited and the magic comes together with voices, animation and music, it is all on the screen as the characters come to life.
Bordertown does not do is pull any punches. It’s first and foremost goal is to entertain, letting the characters be true to themselves and say whatever is on their mind. That executive producers MacFarlane and Hentemann decided to give Latino writers and actors a voice in creating an unparalleled look at the changing demographics in America where Latinos matter, is very cool. It remains to be seen if audiences are ready to face the reality that lies beneath the laughs.
Bordertown is produced by 20th Century Fox Television. The series is created and written by Mark Hentemann. Hentemann and Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy) are executive producers. Alex Carter (Family Guy) and Dan Vebber (American Dad, Futurama) are co-executive producers. Lalo Alcaraz (La Cucaracha) and Gustavo Arellano (¡Ask a Mexican!) are consulting producers. Valentina L. Garza (The Simpson) is a supervising producer.
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