Clifton Collins, Jr. in Red Widow
We’ve talked about Red Widow and Clifton Collins, Jr. before–but it’s worth repeating. This Sunday, the ABC thriller—one of the last of the midseason shows—finally sees the light of day, even as next fall’s pilot season settles down a last fall’s shows are heading towards their season finales.
The best part of this new lady-on-the-run organized crime drama: the slightly amazing Clifton Collins, Jr. One word more than any other seems to be used when writers describe him: chameleon. The fact is, you’ve probably seen Collins a dozen times, in everything from dramas to comedies to action films, playing Anglos and Latinos, villains and the boy next door. And you probably still wouldn’t recognize him. He looks a little like everyone you’ve ever met.
…Latino good guys, in a world filledwith less-than-good guys. It’s the kind of meaty and slightly mysterious role that Collins can
sink his teeth into…
Born in Los Angeles, Collins Jr. is the latest generation of a Latino entertainment industry. His great-grandparents were musicians; his grandfather was the legendary Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez, king of the Latino sidekicks (remember him in Rio Bravo?). And because of his lean, light-skinned looks, Collins has been playing about as many non-Latino roles as Latino since we first started seeing him regularly on TV and in the movies, twenty years ago. Among his most memorable roles (and there are plenty) are “Javier Perez” in Alias, Ken “James Garcia” in Resurrection Blvd., “Thomas” in the NBC series The Event, “Edgar Allen Poe” on Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, and/or Kenneth Bianchi, the Hillside Strangler himself, in the TV movie Rampage: The Hillside Strangler Murder. Most recently, he was “Ross” in Parker, the Jennifer Lopez/Jason Statham action flick that barely made a splash late last year.
Clifton Collins Jr.
As you can see: sometimes Latino roles, sometimes not, through no particular fault or design of Collins’ own. So it’s good to see that his regular role in Red Widow. The story is a little complicated: Australian beauty Radha Mitchell (Pitch Black, Silent Hill) plays “Marta Walraven,” a stay-at-home mom in Marin county who’s devoted to her three kids and her husband…and who is the daughter of a big boss in the Russian Mafia, the Bratvas, and whose husband makes his living exporting marijuana. Marta’s husband is brutally murdered and everything changes. Enter Collins as FBI Agent James Ramos, who tries to enlist her cooperation…and fails. Soon Marta finds herself stuck between The Bratva family and Ramos’ FBI. As ABC says, “Just how far is Marta willing to go in order to beat her adversaries at their own deadly game?”
It’s exactly these kinds of roles that show off Latino Hollywood at its best: Latinos who were not gangbangers, not gun runners, but obviously (and proudly) Latino good guys, in a world filled with less-than-good guys. It’s the kind of meaty and slightly mysterious role that Collins can sink his teeth into, and one that promises to be a highlight of the new show.
See Agent Ramos battle the Bratva beginning with a two-hour premiere Sunday, March 3 at 9P on ABC. You’ll see him again in Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming giant-robot epic Pacific Rim, one of the big releases of Summer 2013.
