Martín Rodríguez Says Seeing Sofia Vergara’s Transformation in ‘Griselda’ Was ‘A Little Scary’

Netflix brings the story of a notorious drug queenpin to life in Griselda. The six-episode limited series is inspired by the real saga of “Cocaine Godmother” Griselda Blanco, a Colombian woman who became a prominent player in Miami’s violent cocaine trade in the 1970s and 1980s. 

Sofia Vergara plays Blanco, a ruthless underworld figure who relies on a combination of charm and savagery to navigate between business and family. Argentinean actor Martín Rodríguez plays her right-hand man, enforcer Rivi Ayala, who was in thrall to his powerful boss. 

“Rivi Ayala is based on a real person who was very close to Griselda,” Rodríguez told Showbiz Cheat Sheet. “He is completely fascinated by her and is willing to do anything for her.”

‘Griselda’ is a different take on the world of drug trafficking

Griselda comes from some of the same people behind the Netflix hits Narcos and Narcos: Mexico. But the new show has its own take on the dangerous world of cartels. Griselda’s creators “really wanted to tell a different story of the world of drug trafficking,” Rodríguez explained. For him, that means playing a character more complex than the stereotypical hitman. 

“He is a little mystic and has a feminist side,” he said. “When he meets Griselda, he sees something very different about her that attracts him and touches him deeply. The relationship between  the two of them becomes very close.”

Rodríguez worked with director Andrés Baiz “to create a character with a specific humanity that showed how he became [Blanco’s] right-hand man.” Ayala – who is currently serving a life sentence in a Florida prison – is “someone who had a complex personality,” and the goal was to show how “he was part of the complex social situation in Miami in the ‘80s.”

For inspiration on how to play his character, Rodríguez turned to a surprising figure: The Doors frontman Jim Morrison. 

“I think the very nature of the character demanded a certain eccentricity and that translates into his image, his wardrobe, and some of his ambiguous behavior,” he said. “That is something that I like to work on [with] each character, the relationship with the costumes, as if the costumes cast a spell on me. I think Jim Morrison embodies that aesthetic and captures it in his music … I also soaked up a lot of the poetry that Jim left to penetrate the nature of the feelings of the character and compose the character from empathy.”

Sofia Vergara’s transformation into Griselda Blanco was ‘creepy’ and ‘breathtaking’

Rodríguez’s role in Griselda gave him the chance to work closely with Vergara. He said watching the Modern Family star sink her teeth into her unsavory character was fascinating and a little frightening. 

“Her transformation is creepy, her performance is breathtaking,” he said. “On the set, she was always making jokes. But when she transitioned into a scene, she was a little scary but only in character.”

“For me personally, as an actor, there was a synergy that came with working with Sofia,” he added.

In Griselda, Vergara plays a woman who turns to drug dealing after fleeing an abusive marriage. Once she arrives in Miami, she’ll do whatever it takes to climb to the top of the city’s cocaine trade. But there was another side to Blanco, Rodríguez points out. That’s part of what makes her such a compelling character.  

“I think that behind this woman who dedicated herself to crime, there was a woman who was a great protector of her children,” he said. “And when she starts in the world of crime, she does it to help her family but later she becomes someone more perverse.”

Griselda is now streaming on Netflix.  

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