"Breaking Bad:" The cousins

  Have you been watching this season's "Breaking Bad?"

 Quickie recap: A pair of mobster "cousins" from Mexico have crossed the border looking for "Heisenberg" - Bryan Cranston's character, Walter White - because they think he killed their cousin "Tuco" last season. Only person stopping them is Gustava, AKA Gus (Giancarlo Esposito) who has employed Walt to once again begin the manufacture of his pure grade meth. Gus needs Walt, but to keep the boys at bay, he gave them permission to take out Hank (Dean  Norris), Walt's bro-in-law instead. Hank, he says, actually killed Tuco...

  Great show.

  You should watch.

 In any event, the cuzs are brothers Luis and Daniel Moncado. Luis has a number of TV credits; I believe this is Daniel's first.  

  In any event, these guys are scary.

  Their preferred method of dispatch - the ax.

  AMC has posted an interview with 'em, and fans will want to read...I've posted excerpts here...

  And please check out the end of this...I've posted a snippet of an interview with Dean Norris too. Norris - by the way - is just incredible on this show; he and Anna Gunn should be getting all the glory, not just Cranston...(Aaron Paul too.) There is a spoiler in it, however. So if you are not caught up, you may want to skip...

 How did you two end up in Breaking Bad?

LM: I went on the audition by myself the first day, and I was
thinking, "I hope there's someone that looks like me and does very
good so we can book it together." It never crossed my mind about Danny
because he never worked. When they learned I had a brother and said,
"Bring him in tomorrow," I called him and told him, "Get home right
now."

DM: As soon as he told me, I was sold. I've been trying to get into
acting, so I was trying my hardest.

LM: I thought, "Oh this is it." You study and study and study and
boom. Next day he went in with me. Two days later they called us and
said, "You guys got it." I'm like, "Woohoo!"

Q: Are you as tough as you look?

LM: Really, we are. We've been around the block. I was in jail a long
time ago, so I went through that. I was in a gang. Everything bad you
can think of that happened to someone, happened to me and my brother.
That's why we are the way we are now. But I used it in a positive way.
I've done a lot of motivational speaking for schools, prison camps and
programs for youth. I know what is going to happen out there on the
street, and I'll tell you. The past helped me and we are who we are
now. Different people.

Q: Were people on the set afraid of you?

LM: By the end of that day, I think everybody is my friend. But at the
beginning they were like, "Who the hell is that?" Once you go through
the process -- first you go to make-up and the make-up team is like,
"Oh Luis, he's super nice." Then you go to wardrobe, same thing. Then
all the P.A.s throughout the day. At the end of the day, it's big hugs
all over the place. But the first reaction, when you step in there
without saying anything, people quickly look and then they look the
other way.

 
Q: What was the hardest part about filming the shootout with the
Cousins?

A: Oh man, everything. We did a lot of re-shoots and we did that in
December and it was cold, and I'm laying on the asphalt for a lot of
it. We'd start shooting at six-thirty in the morning so I'd really get
down on the ground at the last second. Also, I'm glad I did a lot of
action films in the '80s and '90s, so I'm used to dealing with squibs.
It's a lot of pressure because it takes a lot of time to set that
stuff up. Then there are things in the car, tubes and stuff to shoot
the window out, and if you happen to get in the way of that it would
put a nice little hole in your arm or certainly in your face. The
director's yelling, "The one thing you've got to remember is don't
look over here." Then the other guy comes up and says, "Now the one
thing you've got to remember is don't move here too quickly." Then the
third guy, "Now the only thing you've got to remember is make sure you
do this." It's only one thing but there's ten different people that
have one thing. I wouldn't do it if it weren't safe, but you start
getting jacked up into the scene and you really have to concentrate
and do it by the numbers.