'You Have To Be Scary & Charming & Fun' Says Manny Montana, Rio On 'Good Girls' [Interview]
Good Girls is back… and so is Rio (Manny Montana)! Season two ended with quite the cliffhanger, but thankfully our favorite criminal boss is back to continue to be a thorn in the leading ladies’ sides. We’re also grateful for the season three premiere, because now we can open up about the secret we’ve been keeping since the NBC TCA’s in January.
We were lucky enough to chat with Montana on the red carpet, and while he was pretty tight-lipped about any spoilers, he did give us some great insight into his character, Rio. We chatted with the Good Girls star about Rio’s rocky path, what’s in store for season three, and the perfect balance of scary and fun.
KC: Rio was in a pretty precarious situation the last time we saw him. Could you talk about what’s to come in season three?
Manny Montana: Obviously, I’m alive, thank goodness. I was telling everybody that I didn’t want Rio to come back in, and just start working with the girls again, because I just felt that was going to be cheesy. I’m glad the writers came up with something brilliant. Beth (Christina Hendricks) drops this bomb on Rio, right before he’s about to kill her, and it just makes for such a great catapult to the season.
KC: What does it take to get into the headspace of a character like Rio?
MM: A lot, because for the most part, I’m light. I’m always laughing and joking, so it takes a lot for me to get in there. But really it’s just me thinking about guys that I grew up with, and that I used to see growing up. I always saw them as just fun-loving dudes. They were just about money and business. So, they weren’t serious and trying to kill people. They were just doing what they had to do – like everybody.
You have to have a good level of scary and charming and fun.
KC: That makes sense because one of the reasons Rio is such a great character is even though you know he’s up to no good, you still can’t help but root for him.
MM: I never know what to do more of, because you don’t want to make him too fun, ‘cause then he’s not scary. You don’t want to make him too scary, ‘cause then he’s not lovable. So that’s what I battle with most.
KC: That sounds like a difficult line to walk.
MM: I usually always leave set hating what I did, and thinking it could be better. But, you know, I think that’s healthy. It keeps you working.
Season three of Good Girls airs Sundays at 10PM on NBC.
The original publication of this article is on Nightmarish Conjurings.
