Paste Magazine: Congratulations! How does it feel to have a second season?
DJ Cotrona: Thank you. It feels great. I’m really proud of the project, and I love our whole cast and crew—Robert and everybody on our creative team. I’m very happy to get to keep working with these guys, and I’m excited for the fans to see what we’ve been up to.Paste: Have you thought about long this show might last?
Cotrona: That is up to Robert. I know Robert and our showrunner [Carlos Coto] have some big plans to go five seasons, but again, there are a lot of factors involved in those type of decisions. I hope we get to continue for a long time to come, we’re having a great time.Paste: From what I hear, the cast and crew have a collaborative rapport and you’re like family. What’s a typical day on set like?
Cotrona: It’s very much like a family. That’s the best way I can put it. In all the best ways, in all the frustrating ways, but I think we really benefit, creatively, from a having such a tight-knit group. First and foremost, that’s a testament to Robert and the environment of his studio that he created down in Austin. We’re far away from Hollywood, we’re not near New York or any of the filming hubs. It’s just known from different actors, and throughout the years, anyone that’s had the opportunity to work with Robert—he’s just this touchstone for getting your creative juices flowing again. Any actors I spoke to when I was considering this project, they told me to ‘Go. It doesn’t matter what the role is, it doesn’t matter if it’s a show or movie, just go to Austin and shoot with Robert and you’ll get invigorated, creatively.’That bleeds into our relationships. The fact that we’re down there [together]—it’s the same crew that Robert uses for the majority of his career; they’re all very familiar with each other and work really quickly as a tight-knit group. The same goes for the cast. For the first two seasons, we all lived in the same place in Austin while shooting. We truly are lucky in a sense that we all do really get along and have a great time.
Paste: You and Zane Holtz seem to have a great relationship.
Cotrona: I love Zane to death and we get along great. We’re very fortunate to get along off camera, and we love working together. I think we have a similar approach to our work and a similar attitude about this industry and about being actors. We realize how lucky we are and appreciate this opportunity. I really mean it, regardless if you’re working on a big film, or you’re working on a television series, it’s very, very rare to get the amount of creative freedom we are afforded by Robert and our showrunner, Carlos. Especially when you’re dealing with such iconic characters that Robert and Quentin [Tarantino] created. When you get to work on characters so beloved and well-known, you expect to get the minimum amount of creative control, but it’s truly the opposite of it. We’re in the trenches everyday trying to do the best we can.
August 26