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Adria Arjona has a hard time staying at ease. When we chat in late August at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills, the actress is seated but always jiggling her foot or taking a swig of her water bottle. “I cannot stay still,” she says. This restlessness has informed the way the Puerto Rican-Guatemalan actress and producer has carved out a career for herself in Hollywood, a nonlinear path that has seen her co-starring in horror films (The Belko Experiment), occupying a crucial role in the Star Wars cinematic universe (Andor), taking on an erotic thriller (the forthcoming Scorn). This Friday, Arjona will star in Adam Wingard’s slasher film Onslaught, which marks her first central leading role in a genre film.
Arjona grew up in show business: Her father is the beloved Guatemalan singer-songwriter Ricardo Arjona, and she often went on the road with him. After abandoning her dreams to be a pop musician, Arjona pursued acting and notched roles in shows including Narcos and True Detective before her breakout role in The Belko Experiment, the script for which was written by James Gunn in 2016. Her career has also yielded roles in Marvel’s Morbius, the Netflix crime caper Hit Man, and the rom-com sendup Splitsville. She’s set to star in the Superman film Man of Tomorrow, and will join Michael B. Jordan in the upcoming The Thomas Crown Affair remake. Varied as they are, the 34-year-old has a guiding principle for selecting her roles: The part must scare her a little bit for her to consider taking it on.
Onslaught fit the bill. In this ode to the slasher film told through the modern military industrial complex, she plays Celeste, a former Army sniper wrestling with the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder while living out in the remote desert. Celeste’s ex suddenly drops off their daughter to stay with her for the weekend right as a U.S. government experiment — led by a Nazi scientist (Dan Stevens) — goes awry, resulting in super soldiers being unleashed into society as a shadowy government operator (Drew Starkey) tries to keep the mess quiet. As Celeste, Arjona gets to go full action star while digging into the nuances of being an imperfect protagonist and mother. Oh, and also trying to keep them both alive.
Ahead of Onslaught’s release, we caught up with Arjona about the most punk thing she’s ever done, how she’s resisted Hollywood tropes of Latinos, her supplement stack, and what she has left to do in her career.
Onslaught is your first central leading role in a genre film. Have you done anything to take stock or celebrate this milestone?
Not yet. I think I’m still in the thick of it. I think once the movie comes out, I’ll feel good about celebrating this. But I mean, in the process of preparation and stuff, definitely, there were a lot of moments of like, “Holy shit, I’m doing this. I can’t believe I’m gonna do it.” And there was a lot of anxiety around that too. I feel like I almost quit like two weeks before. But I quit every movie two weeks before I’m about to start filming it, because I get really nervous. But no, I haven’t celebrated.
When you say you quit every movie two weeks before, do you mean you mentally check out?
No, I try to get out. I call my lawyer is what I do. “What are the chances that I can get out?” I mean, they’re used to it by now. In the last one, he didn’t pick up the phone. He just texts me. He’s like, “You in that place right now? I’m like, “Mhm.” “It’ll pass.” And it always does. I think I just…I love movies so much, and I put so much pressure on myself. I just want to do a good job, and I respect filmmakers so much that I’m like, “You made a mistake. It’s not me. You can pick a better one. You have time.” And then it passes. I mean, I prep like a crazy person, and I think once I’ve done all the prep, I sort of throw it away. And in that sort of little space and time is where I’m like, “Oh man, now I gotta do it. Can I do it?” And after day one, you’re like, “Oh yeah, I got this. I remember how to do this.” Brett, our prop master and our armorer, we were talking with Adam [Wingard], and he described me as a wild horse, and he’s like, “You’re just like a wild horse. You just fucking buck it. You just go for it.” And I’m like, “Yeah, actually, I do.” And I think it’s because I prep so hard, and then I want to jump off the ledge, and then by the time I’m on set, I’m like just gonna go 1,000% Very opposite from method acting.
Onslaught draws on elements from John Carpenter films, The Fog, and a lot of other classic horror and slashers. Can you tell me about your relationship to horror and how it’s evolved throughout your life? It could be a film, it could be ghost stories, anything like that.
I have some crazy ghost stories. I think I’m most thankful to horror. When I first moved to LA I was auditioning for the sexy secretary like fucking lawyer or the cop. There were all these stereotypes that I was seeing on screen [for] Latin female actresses, and I was like, “I don’t want to do that. I know I could do more.” Us as Latin women, we are so much more than what we’re being depicted. I took Belko Experiment, a script written by James Gunn, and it gave me the opportunity to play something completely different and go to emotional places that weren’t necessarily on a romantic level, but were more sort of high stakes, live-or-die emotions. I grew from that, so I have a lot to thank to horror. I’m the lead, and if it had been a straight action movie, [I don’t know] if they would have given me the role.
Do you mind sharing one of your ghost stories?
Well, one of them I’ll tell you off the record because I’m making a movie off of it. But I will tell you [this one]. I was filming this movie ages ago in New Mexico, actually, where we shot Onslaught, and there’s a lot of hotels that people travel to New Mexico for like ghost stories or whatever — for like paranormal activity. And production fucking put me in one of these hotels, and nobody told me until Garrett, the actor in the movie, called me and was like, “Yo, you’re staying in that hotel? There’s like ghosts.” And I’m like, “Nah, they’re fake. It’s just for the tourists. I’m gonna be fine.” So I go to sleep. I have like a 5 a.m. pickup or whatever, and I wake up at 1 a.m. with a savage knocking at my door, and I’m like, “What the fuck?” I wake up, and I had completely forgotten about the whole ghost situation. I open the door. There’s nobody — and [then] I remembered. And I was like, “Get the fuck out of here! No way! No way! This can’t be happening to me.” I checked the whole room. I was like, maybe it was a bird outside. Nothing. And then I go back to bed. I’m like, stiff. Now I have, like, chills. I feel like the room just dropped a couple…what do you call that?
Degrees.
Degrees. Sorry, I’m ESL. And then I hear it again, and I just — from my bed — sprint, because I was like, “This is not a ghost. There’s a human fucking with me right now.” Open the door, nothing. I call downstairs and I’m like, “Hey, I’m really scared. There’s knocking on my door.” And the guy goes, “Oh, you’re in room 507, that’s interesting. She’s usually never on that floor.” And I’m like, “She? Who’s she? Who the fuck is she?” It’s this woman that had passed away. She was on her way to her room and she couldn’t find it, or she forgot her room, and so she was knocking on everybody’s door, somebody to come help her, and she was murdered. And she knocked on my door. It was so scary. I obviously did not sleep. I showed up, I slept the whole day in my trailer. It was horrible. I changed hotels. I changed to the room right next to the actor. I was like, “I need to stay right next door to you. I need to make sure that if I scream, somebody is nearby.”
I heard that you drive your own ‘79 pickup in the film. Tell me about your truck. What kind of personality does it have?
It’s funny because it’s not my truck in the movie. My truck is a like, neon orange 1979 Ford F150. When I went to go meet Adam, I took my car. And we’re talking, and he pitches me the first 30 minutes of the movie. I freaking fall in love with him, and I’m like, God, I really hope he just gives me the role. It was kind of just a director meeting, but I didn’t have the job yet. And we leave Sunset Tower, which is very fancy, and valet brings my yankity-ass fucking orange pickup truck, and Adam looks at me, looks at my truck. He’s like, “That’s what you fucking drive?” And I go, “Yeah.” And I think that truck got me the role. The truck that I drive in the movie is inspired by my truck. Actually, runs better than my truck. I don’t know if I was loved or hated by the transport department because they had to pick me up a couple times in the middle of the highway. I would just drive to set, and my fucking orange truck always leaves me on the side of the road. So they would have to come and pick me up, and nobody can fix it. And finally, after three months of her being in the hospital, she got home last night, and I turned it on, first turn. So I don’t think I’ll be on the side of the road anymore.
What’s your truck’s name?
TiTruck. Like TikTok.
You executive produced Onslaught. How has being on the other side of this process as a producer changed the way you do your job as an actor?
It’s changed me a lot, I think. I think being able to be in those rooms and having a seat at the table, you learn a lot just by observing, by asking questions. I think I work harder if I’m executive producing. If I’m just an actress, I kind of just clock in, clock out, you know what I mean? (Laughs) I’m kidding. I don’t. But yeah, I feel it feels a lot more personal, and it’s not just about my performance. I care about everything surrounding the movie. Like on this one, I really had a feeling that we were missing a scene with me and Blake. And I’m not the kind of actress that writes extra lines. I’m the kind of actress that crosses lines.
I was like, “Adam, we’re missing a scene,” and I tell him that, and he thinks about it, and he’s like, “Ooh, maybe we are.” What do you think that is? And I kind of pitched him two ideas, and then we landed with the burrito scene. So that that scene was — me and Adam sort of created that together. I don’t know if I would have done that if I was just an actress in the movie.
I want to go back to what you were saying a moment ago, about the roles that you were being offered earlier in your career and being typecast as a Latina. I know that you’ve spoken about your character Celeste, an army sniper dealing with PTSD, but also a mom who really doesn’t, for lack of a better term, have her shit together. Why was it important for you to play her in this way?
Look, I come from a family of so many women, so many Latina women, and the stereotypes that I see on screen do not define a single one of my family members. We’re always [portrayed] as either the very nurturing, perfect, overcontrolling mother, or we’re the sexy, hot bombshell. And I’m like, but I’m neither. And when I was talking to Adam, I was like, “She’s messy, but I want to make her messier.” I have no fear for the audience to not like Celeste in the first 20 minutes. To me, the story of a mother’s redemption was so much more interesting. What I want to portray as a Latin American, what is so true, is that we are fearlessly loyal and protective with the people that we love. I don’t think Celeste is specifically a shitty mom. I just think she has an unconventional way of teaching her daughter things. And their dynamic is interesting because Celeste is kind of the kid in this relationship, and the daughter is the adult. And she just wants her daughter to be a kid, to not be formal, to just chill out, be a kid. So I actually agree with what she’s sort of teaching her daughter. She just has guns and beer and a lot of shit in her house. But it wasn’t her weekend! She wasn’t prepared for her to come. So I’m on Celeste’s side.
In your time in the industry, have you seen a material change in the roles that Latinos are being offered — do you think the needle has moved in any way?
I think there’s still a lot of work to be done, and there will always be work to be done, but yeah, I have felt it for sure. A lot of that benefit is going to this new generation of amazing actors. And there’s so many Latinas, and I’m so excited. I would love to have a conversation with 20 year old Latin American actors to actually know the answer to that question. I don’t know if it’s easier for me because I’ve been working and I’ve proved myself, and that’s why it’s easier for me? Or is it because they really are more open-minded about having Latin Americans in different characters? I don’t know the answer to that question.
You’ve said before that you’re drawn to characters that are your opposite and that scare you somehow. Where do you think that impulse comes from, of running towards the thing you’re afraid of?
I have to probably get back into therapy to know the answer to that question. I’ve always sort of had this rebellious nature about myself. My parents have always said that about me. I love things that are a little bit extreme. I love bungee jumping and skydiving — anything that’s adrenaline-driven, I gravitate towards. When I read a script and I’m like “I can do that,” I won’t take the role. Because I know myself, and I know I’m gonna get bored, and I’m not gonna give my 100%. And for Celeste, there’s so many elements of her that scared me. She dances a really fine line between tough and strong, and I really wanted her to be strong. And the fact that you know I play a mom and a vet, and she’s suffering from post traumatic stress, and all the stunts I’m doing with one eye. I have the other eye covered and have no perception of what is near or far. I had vertigo for half the movie, covered in blood.
When you were a kid, you traveled a lot with your father when he was on the road performing. Did seeing him on stage spark any desire for you to entertain or perform?
Absolutely. I should have been the next Britney Spears or the next Beyoncé for sure, but I can’t sing. I wanted to be a pop star so bad. That’s all I wanted. I wouldn’t shut up when I was a kid. I was really bad until somebody had to tell me it wasn’t happening, and it was my brother. He was like, “You gotta shut the fuck up.” And he gave me one of these (points to the tape recorder on the table) and he recorded me, and I heard, and I was like “Damn, that cannot be me.” And I mean, I took singing lessons and everything! Like no one told me I was that bad.
I didn’t watch my dad that much growing up, to be fair. He kind of protected us from that. He probably he would put us to work. He would like, make us sell merchandise and stuff. And he was like, “I’m not a clown. You don’t come watch dad perform.” He found that to be a little bit weird or too personal. And to this day, I’ve sat in the first or second row, and he’ll have security kick me out. He just can’t see me. We go to la consola (the sound booth) and the 30 of us are just, like, sardines sitting there.
In what parts of your life do you think in English and when do you think in Spanish?
I mostly, I would say, think in Spanish. I still dream in Spanish. But it depends. Because if I’m like today, I have a whole day of just speaking English. If I have a dream tonight, it’ll probably be in English. But yeah, especially while acting — and this is very actor-y and weird — but all my emotional memories are in Spanish. So I do find myself translating a lot when I’m acting. If there’s an emotional scene or something, and I have to remember something or I have to tap into something, all those very profound memories are always in Spanish. So it feels like I’m like a beat behind. [But] now it’s become second nature. Sometimes I just start speaking Spanish to my partner, and I think he’s used to it by now. He’ll just respond in English, but I switch constantly.
After the release of Los Frikis, I read an interview that you did where you were telling the interviewer that you were maybe more punk when you were younger. What is the most punk thing you’ve ever done?
I’m still pretty punk. I mean, I fucking rolled up in a monster truck to the premiere of Onslaught. I was really into stealing those cones, the orange cones. It was like an addiction. I saw one, I put it in my car. I had so many, and then my dad found them. I have an obsession with orange, and I would fucking see them, and I would put them in my car, and I would steal them. I tried to steal one from that shoot that we did the other day, and Ellie told me no. I think they’re so cool. The dirtier they are, the better. Another punk thing: I used to make fake IDs. Maybe I shouldn’t say that. They were horrible. They sucked. Like I don’t think anybody actually was able to buy liquor with my fake IDs. But I made money off of it, and it was great.
You were in the show Andor, which has ended. Fans were especially interested in how politics were discussed in the show, and how deep it was within the storytelling. What’s a lesson you think people can take away from having watched Andor that is applicable to our current moment?
Well, I mean, and this is super cliche, but when we were filming Andor, we had no idea what the state of the world was going to be when it was released. And it had many parallels [to reality], and I think it’s funny how that happens. I think this movie, same thing. It has a weird political parallel, but we didn’t intentionally do it with that in mind. I think what people can take is that history repeats itself. You can tell the same story. It just cycles and it’s constant. And I’m like, “Can we do something about it? Can we not keep repeating the same shit?” And not only in this country, I think just in general.
You recently finished shooting Man of Tomorrow. Tell me about reuniting with James Gunn, and what you’ve learned from working with him again.
It’s funny because Andor is the only thing that I’ve done where I’ve come back to something, the second season of something. There is a difference in your first day on a set and seeing familiar faces. It instantly calms you down. In Andor season two, you know, I walk in, Diego [Luna], I already know. Tony [Gilroy], I already know. Hair and makeup. Everybody, there’s the energy of a family, and so you can go to these places, or you can sort of sink right into your character without any fear. And sort of the same thing happened when I showed up on Man of Tomorrow. There’s Peter Safran, who I’ve known for years, James Gunn who I’ve known for years, and we’ve stayed in touch. I just instantly felt at home. And you’re joking around, having a good time, but also being focused and understanding that no matter what I do, James has my back. Not only as my director but as my friend, which is pretty fucking cool.
You did hardcore physical training for Onslaught and Man of Tomorrow. What’s your supplement stack when you’re training?
Girl. This is my biggest fight with Paulo, my trainer. I don’t take anything. He’s trying to get me on the peptides. I didn’t do it. I’m too scared. I mean, I drink electrolytes, like potassium, and I did — for the last month, because he begged me — creatine. That’s the extent. And then I have vitamin B-12, glutathione, and vitamin C. That’s it, nothing else. And the vitamins I take every day, even if I’m not training. Oh, and a shit ton of coffee.
You also just wrapped a production on The Thomas Crown Affair, a remake of the classic cat and mouse story. When it comes to romance, do you enjoy chasing or being chased?
Girl. Being chased. I don’t want to chase nobody. I don’t want to chase no man. Hell no. Being chased is so much fun. You’re in control. I don’t like playing games. But in a movie? It’s fun.
You’re also starring in the erotic thriller Scorn. You don’t see as many erotic thrillers now compared to their ‘80s and ‘90s heyday. Why do you think these stories of seduction have fallen out of favor with culture?
‘Cause we have a stick up our asses. The same thing with romantic comedies. We’re so uptight, I think, as a culture. It’s just a story. [Although] I do think that in these movies, when you rewatch them, the dynamics are not 100% right. If you were to make those movies again now, in this current climate, I don’t know if you can replicate them, and I think that’s why there’s not that many. For erotic thrillers it’s like, how do you not overtly sexualize a woman, but allow the woman to use her sexual power to her own benefit? They’re complicated genres because we’ve evolved so much as a culture. And we’re a little sensitive.
You travel a lot, and by choice, it seems. Do you have a hard time relaxing?
That feels like a very personal question. I’m sitting right in front of you. I cannot stay still. I do have a hard time relaxing. I think everybody’s definition of relaxing is just a little bit different to mine. If I go get a massage, I am not relaxing. That does not seem relaxing to me. If I do a yoga class, nothing will get me more anxiety than doing yoga. I fucking hate yoga. Come at me, yogis. I hate it. Like it gives me so much anxiety, which probably means I need it the most. I relax by punching shit. Like if I box, I feel really good afterwards. I love sitting by a fire. That relaxes me. Being around the people that I love relaxes me. It calms me down. I like being on adventures. There’s so much that I want to do. Like, I wake up and I’m excited. I just have so much energy. Hopefully that changes. I hear it changes like in your 40s or 50s, so I’m also looking forward to that. But right now, I don’t necessarily want to just, you know, sit on the couch and watch stuff. That sounds like my worst nightmare.
What do you have left to do that you haven’t done yet?
Oh my God, I have so much I want to do. So much. I would love to keep producing movies. I would love to direct one day. I would love to travel more. I would love to build a car. I want to get my truck license. What else do I want? I want to do a lot. There’s a lot of people I would love to work with. I think that’s enough.