Frank Grillo has had a busy couple of months. He’s in theaters and can be seen on demand in the crime thriller Ida Red opposite Oscar winner Melissa Leo, as well as on Disney+ — in animated form — as his MCU character Brock Rumlow/Crossbones in Marvel Studios’ What If…?
The actor recently returned from Italy, where he shot the film Lamborghini: The Legend, in which he portrays the man behind the iconic supercar. He replaced Antonio Banderas in the lead role, and the Bronx, New York-born Grillo tells ABC Audio that he was thrilled to get into the driver’s seat.
“First of all, I am in Italy, all over Italy, playing Ferruccio Lamborghini, with Gabriel Byrne and Mira Sorvino,” Grillo enthuses.
“Bobby Maresco wrote the script. He won the Oscar for Crash and Million Dollar Baby. I was surrounded by Oscars, and then there was me,” he says, smiling. “And, you know, look, to go and do a biopic and play this person and have his family around, it was spectacular. [It] really reinvigorated my appreciation for acting.”
Having the last name Grillo also helped, he maintains. “Brother…listen, I couldn’t fall down and not be in a great restaurant or a great bar, people were taking me everywhere,” he notes. “And, you know, I’m Italian, so it was great!”
As for reprising his MCU role in What If…?, the Purge series veteran says, cracking up, “It was a hoot, man! I got to see myself in a cartoon, and they did a pretty good job. They got the hair [right]! Somehow, I’m a lot taller and younger and better looking, but whatever, man, I’m still in it.”
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