Rarely do you ever hear a Mexican drug lord listed as “one of the good guys.”
Yet this is exactly how famed actor Edward James Olmos describes his role in the action-comedy “2 Guns.”
“I play a drug lord who is in charge of running all of Mexican drugs out of Latin America and I’m the good guy,” Olmos said in an interview with Fox News Latino.
“The CIA and the DEA and all those guys are involved in much more than I am,” adds Olmos. “The bad guy becomes one of the good guys.”
The film, which also stars Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg, follows a fictionalized version of the sometimes corrupt relations between the U.S. government and Mexico’s rampant drug smuggling businesses.
“It’s like the [operation] Fast and Furious…meaning the real situation that happened along the U.S. border. It’s one of those kind of movies.”
Based on a series of graphic novels, Olmos said he drew inspiration from both the comics as well as the real life storyline that was ripped from the headlines.
“Reality always makes the best story, we can kind of get a feeling of what’s going on and hold a mirror up to society.”
And despite the violence, Olmos said the film “has a lot of humor, fun, action but it’s also got a message.”
His first big commercial film since "Blade Runner," Olmos said he could only describe the experience of working with Washington and Wahlberg as “extraordinary.”
When it comes to the roles he chooses, whether big budget or an indie project, for Olmos it is all about the story.
“I really go for where the story is,” Olmos said. “I like storytelling. I like good storytelling.”
With such a storied career in the industry, Olmos knows he is lucky to be able to pick and choose what roles he pursues.
“I’m a very privileged person. I’m grateful for my life.”
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