The Joy of Playing Different: Ramon Rodriguez Explains Why Will Trent Is TV’s Most Unique Hero

Rodriguez breaks down what makes Will Trent tick, from his Southern drawl and flip phone, to his beat-up shoes

There are some shows where you just want to hang out in that world, and for me, Will Trent is one of them. From the first episode, I was hooked and to be honest, I kinda want to be Will’s best friend.

Ramon Rodriguez, who stars as Will, laughed when I told him that. “You want to be Will’s best friend? That’s amazing. I love that,” he said. “I don’t know if I want to be his best friend… but he’s an interesting guy, that’s for sure.”

In our conversation, he talked all about building the character, from the Southern cadence he created (inspired, in part, by Outkast’s Andre 3000), to Will’s beat-up shoes and signature three-piece suits. He also got into how being involved in casting has changed his perspective on acting, and yes, we even talked The Wire. Because how could we not?

You have this cadence for him that is just so addictive to my ear. How did you come up with that? Is it as fun to do as it is for me to listen to it?

Ramon Rodriguez: You know, it is. It immediately dives me right into him.

I’ve never really created a Southern dialect and so when I read the script and knowing where he was from, I wanted to make sure he sounded like the environment he was raised in, which was Atlanta and the foster care system there. So, I found an incredible dialect coach and started that process.

And we had a couple of different ideas and we wanted to find some just voices and sounds for inspiration and one that really seemed to resonate was Andre 3000 from Outkast. And it wasn’t to sort of duplicate, but it’s just there’s a tonality, there’s a rhythm. And that actually really helped me and eventually created the sound that I guess is now Will Trent.

It was a great entry and kind of a foundation, like a building block that I was like, it cracked him open in a way that was really helpful.

And another part of that, honestly, was his wardrobe. I don’t I don’t wear three pieces on a daily basis, so putting that on, I told myself it was him putting on his armor, because he is someone that sort of keeps his true self very close to the chest. He likes to make sure he presents himself a certain way, so that was a big part.

And then in his wardrobe, he has these terrible shoes that are so old and beat up, which I love so much, because you look at those shoes, and you know, this person’s lived a life. That they have a story.

I think those are things that I loved early on when I read the script, like the handkerchief and the tape recorder. He’s got a throwback old school vibe about him. When we were doing the pilot, we referenced a lot of noir films that just gives it some texture and some life.

Even when he’s not on the job, his clothes feel like something from a couple years ago, like he hasn’t shopped for ages.

Ramon Rodriguez: I think he’s sort of stuck in time, in the way he operates. He’s a very rigid person. You know, he compartmentalizes a lot of things and that’s kind of how he’s coped with everything that’s happened in his life. I think he’s still living in the past in certain ways.

I mean, it wasn’t until this last season where we finally saw him with an actual smartphone. He had a flip phone that was taped up. But I love that, it was hard for me to give up that flip phone, I have to be honest, just because it’s so unique, so awkward and telling. But I think for someone like him, it’s actually functional.

We wanted to find ways that this character could be evolving and I thought it was a beautiful way to introduce… the purpose of the phone is not just have a cool smartphone, it’s a way for him to really accept his dyslexia. And he’s using it as a tool, which he learned from his uncle Antonio in season two, who is also dyslexic. And not only that, it’s a connecting point to his mom, because Eduardo only speaks Spanish. So, he gets to continue this new language that he was learning that is rooted in his identity to his mom.

And so I love when we’re able to have those creative conversations with the writers and really find things that anchor and aren’t just, you know, for no particular reason.

Are you able to go in and out of the accent? Like you don’t stay in it all day, do you?

Ramon Rodriguez: No. But season one, I have to say I was definitely much more.. it was a new sound, a new placement in my mouth and so I stayed in it more than I definitely did after season one. Season two, it was so wonderful to be able to just pop in and I felt really just much more comfortable in it.

Your entrances in every scene, they always seem so purposeful, especially when you’re on the job. Like, it’s very prodding. Do you think about those beforehand?

Ramon Rodriguez: I mean, I don’t think about all the entrances, but crime scenes for him is like his sandlot. There’s a couple animals that I’ll sort of reference sometimes when I think about it, but he’s going in there with a very clear intention.

And I love that he’s like a shark. He’s sort of hunting and scanning and looking at things a different way. Maybe that’s why you sort of sense that and feel that, but it’s not something I’m always thinking of like, “Oh, how am I going to enter the scene?” But there’s a motivation beneath that, that I find really interesting because the guy has a very unique point of view and perspective.

Sometimes there’ll be fun things where he just will be looking at things that may seem nonsensical, but there’s something behind it. And I love that about him. It’s just, he’s a little awkward. He’s a strange cat, you know, he’s a strange cat. He beats his own drum, walks his own rhythm and I think finding that and being able to play in that, at least for me, kind of pulls me into him, which is cool.

You do so much on the show. You’re the lead, you’re one of the producers. You directed an episode earlier this season. How does that affect your actual preparation on the acting side?

Ramon Rodriguez: Yeah. There’s not a lot of time; I’ll tell you that Lance.

It’s one of the things that I think most people may not truly understand when you’re wearing multiple hats. And even if you’re not, if you happen to be on a show and you’re in a lot of scenes, time is limited. I know people and God bless them that have that memory where they can look at their lines and they got it. That is not me. I am slow. I’m so slow.

So, what that means is that I’m often having to get up very, very early, way before my call time to begin a process of studying. Because by the end of a shoot day, especially if I’m working every day, I’m fried, so it’s not going to really stick.

I’ve learned the morning is really sacred time for me. Very, very early in the morning. But there’s not a lot of time because the executive producer title for me is not a vanity title, it’s something I take seriously. I like being involved in all of those discussions about every aspect of the show, music, directors, scripts, casting. Every part of it, I love being involved but that requires time.

Luckily, I’ve gotten a little bit better and what I think it is, is that I’ve gotten more comfortable with the character. I really know him and so it may not take me as long to process and learn dialogue.

When you’re preparing in the early morning, are you still writing things in the script, finding motivations or what you want to do in the scene?

Ramon Rodriguez: I’m not writing maybe as much as I used to, but I’m definitely writing things down. If I showed you what my sides used to look like, it’s crazy. It’s madness. It’s like, there’s stuff everywhere and drawings. Now there may not be as much of that, but there’s definitely things in there where I’m making notes for sure.

One of the guest stars this season was the guy who played Raphael, Antwayn Hopper. You two were terrific together. Did that chemistry happen organically?

Ramon Rodriguez: He was introduced in the premiere of season three, which I was able to direct, which was incredible, and we introduced two really big new characters. One was Raphael, the other one was Marion Alba, Gina Rodriguez‘s character.

With Antwayn’s casting or Raphael’s casting, I remember I saw his tape and he really stood out to me, and I said, “Let’s bring him back. Let’s do a call back.” We all agreed because we loved him, we just wanted to see some different colors and try some other things. And he came back and did a call back and he crushed it. He just crushed it.

The tricky thing about our show, which I’m proud of, but it is tricky when we’re casting is we’re not just sort of a typical cop procedure. It deals with some heavy traumatic stuff and some funny stuff. So sometimes you’ve got to be able to sort of juggle both. You’ve got to be able to have the skill set of being able to do comedy and drama. Not everybody can do that. And Antwayn, I could see he had that.

The thing with that character is we didn’t want to just have a very sort of one layered bad guy, somebody simple. We wanted to have some complexity and nuance. We also wanted to show the history of what happened, and that Raphael has something over Will. We just don’t know what it is, and we learn about it later.

I spent a lot of time with Antwayn. We talked and we rehearsed because I wanted to make sure that it really sang, that people could really get behind it and go, “That guy’s great,” because he is great and that they just maybe wanted to know more about the character. Again, it wasn’t a simple role, it was a complicated character where we got to see vulnerability. We got to see intensity and danger.

All of those elements and colors were what we were looking for and it was amazing. That I got to direct his first episode and Gina’s first episode on the show and it was fantastic.

Now that you’re on the other side of the desk and you’re involved in the casting, do you think that’s helped you at all as an actor?

Ramon Rodriguez: It has. I’ve seen it before. I’ve been a part of casting and there’s no doubt. I mean, the one thing that is so true and it really is, man, when somebody walks in the room, you very quickly can tell if they’re it. It’s really a feeling that even emits over tape, which is convenient. I do them as well.

Being on the other side of it now, where I do get to really have an input in the process and go, “Wow, that person is fantastic. Maybe they’re right for it.” Or maybe they’re not right for that part specifically and we find something else for them down the road. But they really stay on our minds.

And that’s also when you’re relying on your casting directors, which we have fantastic local and national casting directors. They get the show and the people they present to us are just great.

Being from Maryland, I think I’m legally required to ask you about your role on one of the best shows ever, The Wire. That was one of your first roles, right?

Ramon Rodriguez: It was, absolutely. That is one of the most incredible experiences in my career, without a doubt. It’s one of the few jobs I kept all the scripts to because they’re that good.

I was spoiled. Like you mentioned, it was early in my career, and I actually thought, “Oh, all TV must be like this when you get the scripts.” That’s definitely not the case.

It was a really wonderful experience. Honestly, I had the great fortune of working alongside what I really believe is one of the greatest actors in Michael Kenneth Williams. I got to play his lover. That character, Omar, that he created is so beautiful and compelling and just fascinating. And he was so marvelous in other jobs as well that he did after that, but in particular for The Wire. So, I had the real honor that that was my scene partner. I joined in season four. He’d already been on it for several seasons. So, it was really great.

And again, look at how things worked out. When Will Trent came about and I was on board as a producer and starring in it, we started talking about the role of Amanda and who comes up, Sonja Sohn. And again, another person, Erika Christensen, I go way back with her.

But it was pretty great to be reunited with her. We’d never had scenes together, Sonia and I in The Wire, but we knew each other and we hung out a lot. We had a mutual friend in Michael and other actors on the show. And so it was a really wonderful experience, man. I am so proud that I got to be a part of that show, knowing how beloved it is.

If for some reason you could have Dominic West and Wendell Pierce on an episode, my head would explode.

Ramon Rodriguez: What was crazy is that I ended up actually working with Dominic on The Affair, that was another full circle moment. I’ve been having a lot of those where I said, “You know, if you stick around long enough, you end up running into folks.” And it was great to work with him on that show.

The Wire has produced such incredible talent. When you look at who came from that show, it’s baffling. I’m a very small part of that show, but it’s a credit that I’m incredibly proud of.

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