Source Calgary Sun
Date April 08, 2005
When Enrique Murciano first appears in Miss Congeniality 2: Armed
and Fabulous you’d swear his Agent Danny Taylor from Without a Trace
is moonlighting.
In this sequel to Sandra Bullock’s 2000 hit comedy, Murciano plays
FBI agent Jeff Forman.
Jeff and Danny look the same, dress the same and even speak the
same. Then all the stalwart efficiency that defines Danny Taylor
disappears.
The script originally called for him to be "the straight-up, FBI guy
we’ve seen in every movie."
But something happened on the way to the set.
"Sandra is a smart woman. She didn’t want Miss Congeniality 2 to be
another romantic comedy. She wanted it to be a send-up of the Lethal
Weapon school of buddy cop movies."
That could have left Murciano without a job except that he’d shown
Bullock, her fellow producers and casting agents something in his
audition they hadn’t expected.
"I started out as a comedian. That’s how I always saw myself so I
goofed around a bit.
"When they saw I could be funny they rewrote the character to make
him funny."
It also helped that Bullock remembered Murciano from his first film,
her own Speed 2: Cruise Control.
"I played a guy named Alejandro who was locked in a cabin. I had one
line but I got to stay on the film for six months.
"That one line paid my rent for a whole year."
There may have been a reason Murciano’s line was delayed so long.
Bullock recalls that he was pure eye candy.
"Every day, Enrique would be out there in his speedo sun tanning.
"It was a sight I looked forward to," she said.
Murciano was just thrilled to be on a movie set so soon after having
arrived in Los Angeles.
"A few months earlier I’d been in Boston," he recalls. "I was
enrolled at the Boston Law School. I was engaged and was planning to
lease a BMW.
"I was completely miserable. My secret dream had been to be an actor
so I said good-bye to friends and fiancee and headed for L.A."
After Speed 2, Murciano nabbed guest spots on the TV shows Suddenly
Susan and The Pretender, but things weren’t looking good as far a
having an actual career.
Then he auditioned for and got a small role in Steven Soderbergh’s
Traffic.
"I was cast as Agent #7 but pretty soon Steven had me doing actual
scenes with Luis Guzman and Don Cheadle and I became Agent Ricky."
Traffic led to a role on the short-lived TV series Spyder Games,
which led to his role in Black Hawk Down.
"Some angel is watching over me, because with all the incredible
people in that movie, Jerry Bruckheimer remembered me when he was
casting for Without a Trace."
Bruckheimer was already riding a TV wave with CSI: Crime Scene
Investigation, Amazing Race and CSI Miami when he created Without a
Trace.
"It took us a little while but we’ve become the rich step-sister of
CSI," says Murciano who began filming season the show’s third season
this month.
"I know we’re a genuine hit series because I just got recognized at
my local Foot Locker store."
Murciano just completed filming The Lost City directed, co-written
by and starring Andy Garcia.
"It’s set in Havana in 1958. It’s the story of three brothers. I’m
the revolutionary.
"It’s been Andy’s passion for years to show what happened to
families like his and mine in Cuba. It’s a powerful film about
family.
"It took him years to get it financed now he has the equally
difficult job of getting it released."