Chatting With Willow Cast Ruby Cruz and Tony Revelori!

Willow Branco  

How are you guys today? I am so freaking excited to talk to you guys. I am such a huge fan of your performances on the show. And I feel like this is kind of meant to be. My name is Willow.

Ruby Cruz  

We’re great. How are you doing?

Tony Revolori  

No way!

Ruby Cruz  

Oh my god, how exciting!

Tony Revolori  

Are you named after the movie?

Willow Branco  

Actually, no, it is from my Indigenous spirit name.

Tony Revolori  

Incredible.

Ruby Cruz  

That’s beautiful. That’s better. What a beautiful name. Yeah, that is better.

Willow Branco  

I know, right? I’m kind of a little biased. It is so nice to meet you guys. I’m so excited to talk to you about this show. I’m ready to dive straight into it

Ruby Cruz  

Let’s go. thank you so much for being here.

Willow Branco  

Thank you, I sincerely appreciate being able to talk with you and to promote Willow. I am so excited for the people to see it. It is, honestly, my top three favourite shows of the year so far, in my opinion. 

Ruby Cruz  

Wow, that is huge. 

Tony Revolori  

I’ll take it.

Willow Branco  

It’s also thanks to the amazing cast, which is part of my first question. So fantasy has been an incredibly diverse genre with its locations. And if you think Lord of the Rings with Middle Earth or Star Wars with the galaxy, but not always with skin tones of the cast or the characters. Tony, I was wondering if you could talk about the diversity of the cast and what that means for the people who are going to be watching the show.

Tony Revolori

Well, I mean, I think it’s part of the DNA of the original film, you look at unlikely heroes, and seeing Warwick Davis play this amazing character who, you know, people overlook. And so, making the series, I think the creators wanted to take it a step further. And honestly, they just wrote a great show. They did their part and found wonderful actors who also happen to be people of colour. That lends itself to this series. It’s an incredible thing. I remember when I heard that Amar Chadha-Patel was cast, it was a big surprise for me because I usually heard in Hollywood constantly. It’s like, you can’t have two brown people. It’s always, you know, in the fact that both of us get to share scenes together, and we’re not family. We’re not brothers. We’re not anything like that is incredible. But beyond that, it takes it a step further and has even what’s the right way to say this, but like gender additions, having like three strong females, one of which is a person of colour. I think that it’s extremely important that people see themselves in many different ways. That’s what’s so fun about fantasy is you can make anything you want. And it’s up to our imagination, which lends itself to being diverse, which is wonderful. I think we’re seeing that more often now, which is incredible. And I think it’s just the start of it.

Willow Branco  

Exactly. And not only are we diverse with our skin tones, but we’re also diverse with the people that we love. And Willow also brings that into it, Ruby, would you be able to talk about your character and the representation that we are now getting for LGBT people in fantasy?

Ruby Cruz

Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I think that our show definitely welcomes diversity in all sorts of ways racially, our sexuality, I also think morally, like ideologies and gender, ability, like it’s so beautiful to see our world represented in this fantasy world. I think that’s so important. And that’s really, really cool to be a part of. And as for my character, I definitely don’t want to spoil anything, and I want people to get to know her authentically and organically as the show goes on. But I will say that it was really important to us to create something that was authentic and that was real and that showed sort of the complications and confusions that can come in queerness and queer friendships and sort of figuring out your feelings is a hard thing to do and also a beautiful thing to do, and it was really cool to create this story, and I can’t wait for people to see it.

Willow Branco  

I was so touched by the representation in the show, and I have throughout my life. I’m like, what it does little me need and little me definitely I needed a character like Kit. And so I’m so grateful that you brought her to Willow in the way that you did. 

Ruby Cruz  

That is gonna make me genuinely get emotional. 

Tony Revolori  

I’ve got tears in my eyes.

Ruby Cruz  

Me too! That is exactly why it feels like it brings importance to something like this. And I that’s exactly what I set out to do. I’m really, really, really grateful that it reached you in that way. And I mean, same. I wish I grew up with Kit to look up to, and I just, yeah, I’m so honoured. Thank you very much. 

Willow Branco  

Of course! The team did such an amazing design with the practical sets. It really immersed me in the world. What was it like for you stepping onto set into this world? 

Tony Revolori  

I mean, it was it was a transportation. 

Ruby Cruz  

It was amazing.

Tony Revolori  

But it wasn’t just the sets, it wasn’t just, you know, that kind of stuff. It’s everything from the props and swords to the supporting artists who are kind of there with us dressed, and the costume designs and what we were wearing, the hair and makeup as well.

Ruby Cruz  

You really didn’t have to envision it, and you really just walk onto set, and then you suddenly were transformed into a different world, which was amazing as an actor.

Tony Revolori  

Minus the cameras, everything there was real. 

Ruby Cruz  

Yeah, it was so cool. 

Tony Revolori  

And the people that Ruby was yelling out to get her coffee, but you know. I’m kidding. I’m kidding. 

Ruby Cruz  

That was you, my friend. 

Tony Revolori  

I don’t drink coffee. 

Ruby Cruz  

That’s true! I never yelled at anyone, never. 

Tony Revolori  

But it was incredible. But it wasn’t even just that. They took it a step further. And even the monsters were so practical, like, you know, the death dogs are the thoughts all of the people we were fighting, like Joonas, who I think is a new Chewbacca and now do like the big guy for us. It was incredible and beyond that, even like I got to personally work with, and you can see in the trailer, the little like creature. And that was like built in the Jim Henson warehouse that they brought over, and using that same technique that they did on so many classic 90s, 80s movies like Jurassic Park and things like that are just special. And when you’re there, it just makes you feel like you’re actually in the world, and you don’t have to act as much, which is wonderful. 

Willow Branco  

I really highly value practical design as a special effects makeup artist. I was like, holy cow, the dedication from all aspects of the team shines through, and I can’t wait for people to see it. Is there any final thing that you would like to tell viewers before going into Willow? 

Ruby Cruz  

Oh my gosh.

Tony Revolori  

Have fun, get a group of people. This show is going to be the best when you could watch it with like your closest 20 friends. 

Ruby Cruz  

Get 1000!

Tony Revolori  

Get the closest 1000 friends and make comments the whole time. 

Ruby Cruz  

Yell, scream, laugh, cry.

Tony Revolori  

It’s the truth. What’s fun about it is you go, oh my god, you’re such a Kit. 

Ruby Cruz  

Yeah.

Tony Revolori  

Oh my god, you’re Boorman. And you’re, you know, you’re a little like Graydon. No, I’m not Graydon. So I think that’s what the fun of the show is. That’s all I want to say, like it’s watch it with your family, watch it with your friends.

Ruby Cruz  

Enjoy it. I think that is the heart of it. It’s so self-aware and so light-hearted. While we’re dealing with all of these very real, very heavy topics over, characters individually are going through their own journey of self-discovery. And I think on top of that, it’s still fun, and we still laugh at ourselves. And the comedy is really relevant. So I really want people to just enjoy it.

Willow Branco  

Willow is for anybody and everybody, and that is one of the things that really makes it shine for me watching it, and I can’t wait for the reaction. I’d like to thank you guys again for talking with me. And I hope that we are able to see each other again in the future and maybe talk some more Willow.