DETROIT (AP) 鈥� When Antonio Cipriano was cast in the Disney+ series 鈥� ,鈥� he knew it was a great professional opportunity but wasn't expecting how formative the experience would be for him personally.
鈥淲hen I say it was the best experience I鈥檝e ever had, I don鈥檛 think I鈥檓 actually exaggerating at all," said Cipriano over Zoom from a hotel in Los Angeles. "The cast, crew, creatives, everybody. We were all (filming) in Baton Rouge (Louisiana), so we were all at summer camp, basically, like we were all in one spot and hung out with each other every single day and went to New Orleans and had amazing experiences."
This 鈥淣ational Treasure鈥� is a continuation of the starring Nicolas Cage, Penelope Cruz and Justin Bartha with a Gen Z cast. (Bartha and Harvey Keitel do reprise their roles for the series.)
Lisette Olivera stars as Jess, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico living in the U.S., who discovers a clue connected to her late father that may lead to a hidden treasure.
Jess enlists her friends, including Cipriano's character, Oren, to help solve the mystery. A ruthless black market antiquities dealer 鈥� played by Catherine Zeta-Jones 鈥�- is hot on her trail because she wants to find the treasure first.
When we first meet Oren he's a bit excitable, easily distracted, and is deeply invested in the latest expensive sneaker drop. His friends both love and roll their eyes at him, including ex-girlfriend Tasha, whom Oren would like to win back. Zuri Reed portrays Tasha.
鈥淚n addition to being incredibly talented and funny, Antonio is also just naturally lovable, which we really needed for Oren. Oren starts off the season as a selfish, goofball man-child, so we needed an actor who was so likable that audiences would hang in with him for the ride as his character grew,鈥� said showrunners Cormac and Marianne Wibberley in an email.
Cipriano credits the Wibberleys with encouraging him to make suggestions for his character. 鈥淎t some point you start to really know who you鈥檙e playing and then you鈥檙e like, 鈥極K, let me say how I think he would say this.' They were very open to that kind of stuff... You're thinking on your toes all the time, like, 鈥榃hat can I do here? What can I do here?鈥�"
The Wibberleys say a Cipriano suggestion provided one of their "favorite moments in the show.''
鈥淎ntonio did come up with a super fun little dance during a big character moment in one of the episodes,鈥� said the Wibberleys. 鈥淗e choreographed it himself."
Cipriano got his start in theater and has an incredibly strong singing voice. He originated the role of Phoenix in 鈥� ," written by Diablo Cody and inspired by the Alanis Morissette album, and saw it through workshops and out-of-town performances before its 2019 Broadway debut. The show was only a few months into its Broadway run when everything shut down due to the pandemic. Cipriano then went home to Grosse Pointe, Michigan, to be with his family.
鈥淓very actor who went through COVID can tell you it was just the craziest. You鈥檙e just submitting tape after tape after tape after tape. Most of the time you don鈥檛 hear back. It鈥檚 just kind of thrown off into the void."
Upon reading the script for 鈥淣ational Treasure," Cipriano was instantly hooked. 鈥淚 knew this was something I was going to fixate on.
鈥淚 got two callbacks. I had done chemistry reads and all this stuff, and I was like, 鈥楾his is it, this is it.鈥� And then I didn鈥檛 get it... Then about a month later, after I had let it go, I got a call from my manager, 鈥楬ey, remember 鈥橬ational Treasure?' 鈥極h, the one I really wanted? Yeah, I think I can remember.鈥欌�� Cipriano was asked to do a screen test which landed him the role.
Early on, he and his castmates including Olivera, Reed, Jordan Rodrigues and Jake Austin Walker, formed a pact to have each other's backs while filming. They told each other, "If you鈥檙e ever having a weird day, anything like that, we got you, we鈥檙e going to be on set with you, too and it鈥檚 OK to have a bad day.' That's what is so amazing about this cast.鈥�
The actors spent all their free time together, and Cipriano said it was 鈥渁 learning curve鈥� to call it a night because they had work the next day.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very hard when you have all your friends in the same building as you and down the street, like, how are you supposed to not hang out? Quality time is my love language. I literally just wanted to hang out with them every second of every day," he said.
Cipriano also just completed filming the Amazon Prime Video series 鈥淗arlan Coben's Shelter," starring Jaden Michael, and based on the first novel in Coben's 鈥淢ickey Bolitar鈥� YA series. Coben is also an executive producer.
鈥淎ntonio is a star. He鈥檚 supernaturally charismatic and ridiculously talented. He can do it all 鈥� drama, comedy, music, whatever 鈥� and he鈥檚 a joy on set. I can鈥檛 say enough good things about him," said Coben.
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Follow Alicia Rancilio at @aliciar
Alicia Rancilio, The Associated Press
