'Superfly' actor Esai Morales: 'More fun playing the bad guy than being one'
The veteran actor reflects on coming to terms with playing drug kingpins while striking a balance on representation.
Actor Esai Morales plays "Adalberto" in the film Superfly.Columbia Pictures
By Vanessa Guillen Matheus, NBC NEWS, June 2018
Esai Morales, 55, started his acting career playing the bad boy Paco Moreno in the movie "Bad Boys," opposite Sean Penn. This year, the Brooklyn-born Puerto Rican actor returns to the big screen starting opposite Trevor Jackson in "SuperFly," which opens in theaters Friday.
The film is a remake of the 1970's classic "Super Fly." It follows Priest, a cocaine dealer, who wants to score one more super deal before retiring.
Morales' character, Adalberto González, is an ambitious head of the Mexican drug cartel who sees what Priest is capable of and makes him an offer he can’t refuse.
“Adalberto is a very calculating man. He sees this young, charismatic man as the way to up his own game, to make more money,” Morales told NBC News.
Morales is no stranger to playing a Mexican drug cartel leader on screen. His character in the new hit Netflix show "Ozark" was the number two guy in a drug cartel from Sinaloa, Mexico.
"As the world changes, some things never change, because as a Latino, we are always in demand for playing the bad guy,” Morales said.
Over the years, Morales has come to terms with playing drug dealers and other criminal elements, especially now that cartel bosses have been major movie characters.
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