Adrian De Leon
He played in Walter Perez‘s Into The Night as Booth.
SKSM: Could you start with telling me a little bit about yourself? Who are you and what do you do?
Adrian De Leon: My Name is Adrian De Leon.
I was born in Hawaii, the 4th of 7 kids, but we left there when I was six months old. My family moved around quite a bit because my father was a Marine. We finally settled in southern California when I was 4-years-old.
When I was younger I wanted to be an actor. I went to Hollywood after graduating high school, but unfortunately thought that it wasn’t for me because of a bad acting class I took. I eventually got into construction and have done custom tile work for over 40 years to pay the bills. (It’s only a temporary job until Hollywood discovers me. Ha ha)
It wasn’t until about 30 years after my initial disillusionment that that I really started pursuing my lifelong acting dream. I was doing stand-up comedy and my comedy teacher recommended improv and acting classes. I happened to have a great acting teacher, and I fell in love with it all over again.
SKSM: When did you know you wanted to become an actor?
Adrian De Leon: When I was 5-years-old. I used to go to my room and act like I was doing the fight scenes from movies. I acted a bit in elementary and intermediate school, and all throughout high school.
SKSM: How did you become involved in Into The Night Dollar Baby film?
Adrian De Leon: I had worked on a couple of other projects with Walter, and he reached out to me because he liked what I did and felt I was right for this part.
SKSM: What do you think it is about the story that attracts people so much?
Adrian De Leon: As with any compelling story, the conflict is what drives it. Not just the outer conflict between the young city man and the two older rural men, but also, in the case of my character, I enjoyed playing his inner conflict. He both wants to help because it’s the right thing to do, but he’s even more concerned about his own survival and being killed by the vampires.
SKSM: Did you have to audition for the part or was it written directly for you?
Adrian De Leon: I didn’t audition but I must have seemed like the right fit.
SKSM: You worked with Walter Perez on this film, how was that?
Adrian De Leon: I always enjoy working with Walter. He has a great calmness about him. I really appreciate Walter giving me another opportunity to do what I really love.
SKSM: Was there any funny or special moment when they made the movie that you would like to tell me about?
Adrian De Leon: We ran out of snow in the local mountains, so it may be entertaining to know we shot some of the snow scenes in East Los Angeles in early spring with fake snow. Also the neighbors where we were shooting were partying and wouldn’t keep the noise down. Not quite the mood we were going for in our vampire film.
SKSM: Do you still have any contact with the crew/cast from that time? If so with who?
Adrian De Leon: Yes, but mostly on Facebook. It was a fun crew!
SKSM: What are you working on nowadays?
Adrian De Leon: I am working on writing a couple of scripts, and I have a couple of short films I was asked to do but haven’t started shooting yet.
SKSM: Are you a fan of Stephen King’s work?
Adrian De Leon: I generally don’t follow the horror or supernatural genres so I’m limited in my exposure to outside his most famous screen adaptations. Although funny enough, one of the scripts I am currently writing happens to be a horror film. Of what I do know of King’s work, including in Into the Night, he is a fantastic storyteller. The storyline lays out the conflict and suspense in a really compelling way.
SKSM: What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you?
Adrian De Leon: People are usually surprised to know that I am of Mexican decent. Second and third generation.
SKSM: Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. Is there anything you want to say to the fans that read this interview?
Adrian De Leon: I hope the fans enjoy watching the film as much as we did making it. I’m looking forward to seeing it myself.
