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Rosie Perez recently reunited with her White Men Can’t Jump cast members Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes at the 2022 Academy Awards in honor of the basketball comedy’s 30th anniversary (making it the first time she has been invited back to the ceremony in 28 years). The 1992 classic movie, which was one of her career’s most iconic roles, is set to get the reboot treatment this year with a script from black-ish creator Kenya Barris and will star Sinqua Walls and Jack Harlow. But Perez is not one of those people who look down on remakes.
Instead, she tells Complex in a recent interview that she wishes everyone involved “the best of luck” and that she believes the movie is iconic enough for its legacy to live on through various interpretations of it like A Star Is Born. “Come on, people. It can happen," Perez tells Complex. “Give these younger kids a shot, man. No pun intended. Give them a chance."
While she may have gotten her start in movies, Perez is having a major TV moment right now. The actress is starring as a detective named Flora Neruda in Apple TV+’s latest crime drama Now and Then, which premiered on Friday, May 20. She has also been killing it on HBO Max’s hit series The Flight Attendant, which is currently in its second season. After a career spanning decades, it’s a treat to see the actress on our TV screens regularly.
Now and Then is about a group of six college friends whose graduation celebration ended up with one of them dying, and it comes back to haunt them 20 years later. Perez’s character was the detective on the scene of the accident, and she finds herself leading another investigation tied to the case two decades later. The show bounces between the two timelines of the past and present and the younger versions of the characters were played by different actors—including Manolo Cardona and Oscar nominee Marina de Tavira—except for Perez who played both the younger and present-day versions of Flora.
Now and Then is also Apple TV+’s first bilingual series, and although Perez’s parents are both Puerto Rican, her sister Carmen was on set to help with her Spanish pronunciations. Carmen not only coached Perez with her Spanish lines but she also helped her decompress after filming emotionally taxing scenes—and the actress had plenty of those moments on the show. But that’s what Perez wanted. The actress shares that she only took on the role after asking for Flora to have more depth and more of a backstory, which resulted in the Oscar-nominated actress delivering an incredibly compelling performance.
Perez has been in Hollywood for quite a while. After getting her start in 1989’s Do the Right Thing in 1990, she has become a cultural icon for many. Complex caught up with the actress and she opened up about working on the Apple TV+ series, asking for more for her character, and what she really thinks about the upcoming White Men Can’t Jump reboot.
This feels like such a beautiful stage of your career. How do you feel that you have grown as an actress?
Rosie Perez: I’m so appreciative that after 30 years plus I’m still here. And everybody thought I was just a fluke. But the one thing that I have in common with Flora is tenacity. And it wasn’t about, “I’ll show them.” It was about, this is what I want and I’m going to get it. It will happen. It will happen. I’m going to keep my nose down. I’m going to work hard and just deliver the best work possible, say yes to the right projects, no to the wrong projects, just keep going. Just keep going. And don’t worry about being popular. Just worry about the work. That’s all. Just worry about the work, and it’s going to happen.
It has been happening, and it blows my mind to be quite honest. It really does. And I feel blessed, and I feel lucky for my career. But I feel extra blessed and lucky that I have love, and I have a lovely home and that I have family and I have good friends. There are a lot of people in this entertainment business who are like Flora, who put their personal life to the side for the sake of their careers.
I never wanted that. My main goal in life always has been stability and love. So it’s a good time. It’s a good time for all of this to happen because I don’t know if I would be able to take in the blessings if I didn’t have that stability and love the same way. Does that make sense?
It makes perfect sense. I have to ask you, what do you think about the White Men Can’t Jump reboot that’s happening?
RP: I hope it’s great. I hope it’s great. I know everybody’s like, “Boo, we don’t want a remake. It’s a classic.” How many times did they remake A Star is Born? What was it, four or five times?
Come on, people. It can happen. Give these younger kids a shot, man. No pun intended. Give them a chance. And everyone’s saying that this Jack [Harlow] guy is amazing. And they haven’t found the person who will play me yet, but I’m sure they’ll find the right person. And I wish them the best of luck. I hope it’s a hit because just like A Star is Born, that’s why it’s iconic. Because it’s a hit every time they do it. So hopefully that’s for White Men Can’t Jump, that legacy can happen for that movie.
How are you feeling about Now and Then?
RP: I love it. I love it. It was a gift. It was a challenge. And this experience has stayed with me until today. It’s just been amazing.
Can you tell me a little bit about what drew you to work on this project?
RP: Several things. One, the script was really good. I mean, it’s really, really good. And two, Gideon Raff. The first time I saw Homeland, I told my reps, “I’m going to work with that man one day.” I dreamed of working with that man one day. And three, the stellar cast that they had attached to it. But most importantly, it was Ramon Campos, of Bambu, and Gideon Raff being so generous and open in regards to my ideas for Flora. And usually, in Hollywood, you have to fight for it. You have to have so many meetings about it and all this stuff, and it’s all ego-driven.
When they made the offer, I said I needed to talk to them before I said yes. I was very honest with them. I said, “The character’s not fully developed yet. It’s not fleshed out enough for me. I need a backstory. I need more of an emotional arc. And I have some ideas. Here are my ideas.” And there was this pause, and Gideon looked at Ramon. Ramon goes, “OK.” It was that easy. And I was like, “What?”
They said, “Give us a moment. Let’s play with this. We like your ideas, and we’ll get back to you. And hopefully we’ll have another conversation and you’ll say yes.” And I said, “Oh, Ok.” That was the worst week that I had to wait for them. And when they came back, it was more than I expected, what they came up with. And that type of situation doesn’t come around a lot. So that was the final decision. I said if these two men are this generous and this willing to make a story better and this supportive, and their egos are not at play? Yes, I’m in. I accept your offer. And thank God I did. Thank God I did.
I’m curious now because you’re saying that you wanted more of an emotional arc for Flora. Halfway through the story, we learn her motivation to pursue this case. Is that what came from that conversation?
RP: Yes, that’s what I came up with. Not specifically. But I said, “What if something happened to her brother?” Her family is gone, and it was just her and her brother, and then this awful thing happened to her brother, and the injustice just turned her world upside down. They said, “What is the thing?” I go, “I don’t know yet.” And this is what they, Ramon and Gideon, came up with. And it really helped me just dive in deep with Flora because then you understand her obsession, her obsession for justice. And you also understand her disdain for these privileged young kids. It’s also an issue of classism.
I love that because Ramon and I did discuss that. I said that exists within the Latin communities across the board in various countries, and let’s play it. And he goes, “You’re OK to play that?” I said, “Absolutely. Absolutely.” Because here’s Flora, she’s better educated than these kids, and she probably had to pay for her own education. She’s smarter than these kids. She’s more clever than these kids, and she has a better moral compass than these kids. And so it’s like, “You privileged, little brats. I am going to nail you.” And it’s amazing to dive into something like that as an actress and then play that young, and then play 20 years later, old. Where is her emotional maturity then? Because before it was like, “I’m going to get them.” And there’s anger and there’s hurt and there’s all of this stuff.
And the hurt still transfers. It still stays with Flora, but it’s articulated differently. She’s wiser, she’s calmer. She’s more secure. She’s more confident. So her response to Marcos when she sees him 20 years later, it’s like, “Are you going to talk to me now?” It’s that calm. So it was great. The bad part of playing Flora is that it’s very heavy.
I’m sure.
RP: Thank goodness I had my sister Carmen with me to help me with my Spanish, but she also helped me release Flora when I got home at the end of the day. And it took me like an hour or two.
Right, to decompress.
RP: There was a day, because we shot out of order, and something happens between Flora, I don’t want to give it away, Flora and Sully. And I came back to the flat and Carmen goes, “Oh no, are you OK?” I mean the hotel room, it wasn’t the flat. And I went right into the shower and just sat there. And she came into the shower into the bathroom, and she goes, “You all right, mama?” And I said, “I will be. I just need a minute.” And she goes, “OK.” And she was like, “I’m going to make you some food.”
I was like, “You don’t have to do that.” She goes, “I’m going to make you some food. You need to be taken care of.” And that really was sweet. But that’s another gift this show brought me. My sister Carmen and I are very, very close.
That’s beautiful.
RP: You cannot mess with us. We are so close. And we still fight like sisters and love like sisters, but this experience has brought us even closer, and it’s really special.