Starring Dave Bautista, Trap House – like the name implies – is all about trap houses. In the Michael Dowse-directed feature film, the teenage children of DEA agents – Cody Seale (Jack Champion), Deni Morales (Sophia Lillis), Yvonne Reynolds (Whitney Peak), and Kyle Alvarez (Zaire Adams) – decide to hit trap houses and steal money from drug dealers to help their friend Jesse Padilla (Blu del Barrio). Easier said than done, though, as they attract the attention of cartel members Benito (Tony Dalton) and Natalia Cabrera (Kate del Castillo).
These raid missions prove to be dangerous, but the teenagers succeed in their heists. The question is how much prep did the actors put into learning about trap houses and raids? According to Peak, Adams, and del Barrio, not much – but as del Barrio pointed out, they had an out, since del Barrio was never present in any of these scenes.
“Gary Scott Thompson and Tom O’Connor wrote the screenplay,” Peak said, “and there were a lot of details in the stage direction and explaining a lot of the things that we were doing, such as the locations and the different language. So, I felt pretty informed stepping into it.”
For Dowse, he also let the script guide him, but he received additional intel and assistance along the way. “There was a lot already done in the script, but we met with a lot of DEA agents who had advised the screenwriters initially and Dave [Bautista] himself,” Dowse said. “I think one of the ideas of the entire story came from a friend of Dave’s who was in the DEA. Then I got a chance to meet with a lot of the DEA agents to discuss the authenticity of some of the details of the story, how they would do it, and what would make sense. So, yeah, it was a big part of it, but we tried to do as much research as we could in that world. And Kate has her own experience in that.”
Famously, del Castillo met the former Sinaloa Cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and released a documentary titled The Day I Met El Chapo: The Kate del Castillo Story. “Yeah, I’m always happy to be part of it,” del Castillo said about bringing her knowledge to the table. “If I can help, it’s always very nice to know that they want to know more for authenticity, but also that they listen to you. It made me feel very good. It made me feel that I was in the right place with the right people, and I really appreciate that openness for me.”
Bautista plays a major role in Trap House as Ray Seale, Cody’s father and DEA agent. There was no big leaguing taking place, though, as Peak, Adams, and del Barrio praised the experience of working with him and the energy he brought to the set as an actor and producer.
“He definitely set a great mood,” Adams said. “He made everybody feel like we belong there. This was my first big project. I didn’t really walk in there with imposter syndrome, but I knew that there were bigger names amongst me. So, you kind of have that, ‘Do I belong here?’ But I definitely felt like I did. Dave was a fan of some of my work that I didn’t even know he knew of. So that was really, really cool to even hear Dave Bautista say he watched me do this or saw I did that. So, yeah, he was very hands on. He was very involved and made the set feel very warm and cool.”
“He just felt very kind, warm, and that he cared a lot about everything and every single part of this project,” del Barrio said. “He was really taking the time to come up to each of us, to everybody in the room, and take a moment and connect with them for a second, which means a lot, especially on film sets where there are hundreds of people running around.”
It isn’t the first time that Dowse worked with the actor since they previously collaborated on Stuber. So, apart from his acting ability, what else does Dave Bautista bring to a film set such as Trap House? “A good time,” Dowse said. “Dave’s a great guy to begin with. He’s a wonderful human being. He brings that as number one on the call sheet. Just great professionalism. But I love the person as much as I love the actor.
“I’m used to working with him in a much more comedic fashion, and there are moments in this film where we do that. In movies like this, a little bit of levity helps here and there, for sure, but I was just really impressed with Dave’s dramatic chops. I always knew they were there, and we played a little bit on Stuber. But how he portrayed grief, how he portrayed that pain, and the nuances of a father-son relationship that isn’t going very well… I thought he did a masterclass in that here, and a masterclass in subtlety in that world. Where many times it’s too on the nose, too big, or whatever, but he did it with so much subtlety, which I just loved that it really came across in the edit suite in a powerful way.”
In Trap House, it’s Cody who proposes to his friends that they steal from trap houses. When asked who would be the cast member who could successfully convince everyone to go along with a plan like this, everyone responded with the same answer: Inde Navarrette, who plays Teresa Flores in the movie. According to the cast members and crew, she’s the one person capable of rallying the troops to do the unexpected.
Peak, Adams, and del Barrio also revealed what roles they would have if they were part of a heist. “I could be the driver,” Adams said. “I could do that.”
“I don’t drive, so I could be the lookout/sniper,” Peak said. “I feel like I’d be really good at that. Just protecting everybody from afar.”
“If there’s that guy on a computer inside the truck, I’m that one,” del Barrio said, with a laugh.
Starring Dave Bautista, Trap House arrives in theaters on November 14.
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