‘A Man Called Otto’ Stars Mariana Treviño and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo Share How Their Characters Help Otto ‘Bend Along’ with Life

thewrap.com:

Mariana Treviño, who portrays Marisol in “A Man Called Otto,” alongside Tom Hanks’ titular character, traces her character’s influence and positive impact on the central curmudgeon from the beginning of the film.Marisol immigrated to the United States from Mexico, met her husband Tommy (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), and moves their family of four to Otto’s neighborhood just in time.

Marisol and Tommy, and their daughters Luna (Christiana Montoya) and Abbie (Alessandra Perez) brighten and challenge Otto’s routine.“They just kind of roll in, you know, like the car.

It’s very symbolic how the car just kind of barges into the neighborhood and it’s all over the place and it’s getting on the sidewalk,” Treviño told TheWrap. “This is the kind of expansive energy that they [bring] into the neighborhood, and into Otto’s life. [There’s] all this noise, but in doing that, we’re kind of breaking down the barriers a bit and in a good sense coming into his space to kind of connect with him.”Just as the pair provides balance to Otto’s rigidity, grumpiness and later layer of sadness as the story progresses, they also challenge Otto’s conceptions or rules and “the system.” Their portrayal of Latin immigrants also Americanizes the story.“Tommy’s character is from El Paso and my character is Mexican, but she came here, and it’s trying to portray a reality that happened.

That is an everyday reality. All the immigrants in this country come from different stories, backgrounds, and we’re all just trying to get into the system and trying to play along with the system, but without losing our identity,” Treviño said. “I think this happens in the movie too.