How To Make It In America Get the inside track on HBO's latest series from the producers of Entourage

Q & A With Victor Rasuk

Source: Remezcla.com - By Rab Messina

Actor Victor Rasuk is on the phone, psyched about the fact that he’s being interviewed by an actual Dominican. “¿De la capital? Yo estaba en Santiago y de vacaciones en Punta Cana, en la playa de Bávaro,” he says in broken Spanish. “I just got back two weeks ago!” There’s a reason for the excitement: Rasuk’s parents are Dominican, and he was born and raised in Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

The 26-year old is making his first starring shot at TV – damn, that’s what you call an entrance – with HBO’s new series How to Make it in America, which is being called the East Coast version of Entourage. Victor’s breakout role was in the 2002 critically acclaimed indie Raising Victor Vargas, and went on to star in Lords of Dogtown and Stop-Loss.  In his new show, he plays Cam, a Dominican-American hustler who’s willing to do all it takes to make it big in New York City’s fashion industry. He’s joined by  Bryan Greenberg, Lake Bell, Luis Guzman and even rapper Kid Cudi. He chatted with us about how the show is a truthful depiction of multicultural New York, where he gets his habichuelas con dulce, and his “poor” musical taste.

The main characters take every chance in the book in order to get their clothing line up and running. Do you think the show promotes a message of hope in times of recession?
It definitely touches on that, for sure. It also touches on “Don’t give up on your dreams, no matter what city you’re in or how difficult the times are.” Ben [Bryan Greenberg's character] doesn’t really want to go forward with the idea, even if it’s his dream. But Cam is always pushing him to do it, and he becomes more confident the more breaks we get as it goes along.

Cam is a tíguere, in that sense.
A total tíguere. I love that word.

Jay-Z said that half of us in New York won’t make it. You grew up in the city; do you feel like you had an advantage over half of the population?
Totally. It’s funny, because we were shooting in my old neighborhood, and my trailer would be on Avenue C in the Lower East Side, and I was born and raised in 8th St and Avenue D. I was in my trailer going, “Oh my God, this is the building I used to play hooky in when I was in high school!”

You’re a friend of Zoe Saldaña. She’s been getting big breaks, but not necessarily in Latina roles. You fit more into the industry’s physical concept of a Hispanic. Do you think you’re being typecast because of this?
I’m Hispanic, and there’s nothing you can do about that, do you know what I mean? I don’t consider myself a Latin actor, just like no other actor would consider himself a Black actor. I’m an actor. But with all that said, yes, I’ve played Hispanic roles, but they were in films that didn’t portray Latinos in a bad light. I was in a political film, a war movie, talking about this war. I was also in a skate movie playing this Mexican dude who happened to revolutionize skating.

Abuelitas seem to chase you. Both in Raising Victor Vargas and in How to Make it in America, your characters live with their grandmas. What’s up with that?
(Laughs) I’m not saying it’s typical in any culture, but it happens. There are people still living with their parents in their late 20’s or even the rest of their lives. I couldn’t relate to that because I moved out when I was young, but I had friends growing up who still, to this day, live with their parents and their grandparents.

Will Cam’s backstory be explored further on?
It will, and it will also explain why I live with my grandmother. It wasn’t just to throw it in there.

How is it working with Kid Cudi?
This guy’s raw talent. When I started acting, people would say the same thing about me. So, to see Kid and to see him go from just, “Oh, I got a part on this show, I’m going to try to act” to really taking it seriously and flourishing and growing has been an amazing transition.

Now on to el español. What’s the most beautiful word in the language, in your opinion?
Alma.

And your go-to word?
¡Oye!

It’s nearly cuaresma. What’s the best place in New York to get habichuelas con dulce?
I go to El Castillo de Jagua, on Avenue D and 8th St, right across from where I grew up.

And what’s your favorite place to grab a bite here in NYC?
I love this place in the Lower East Side called Il Bagatto. It’s on 2nd St, between B and A. It’s an Italian restaurant owned by a Dominican guy.

How about a spot to chill or hang out?
The Eldridge. It’s on Eldridge between Houston and Stanton. I like how loungey it is; I like dark places when I hang out, and they have a really great DJ.

You’ve been living in Los Angeles for a while. Where do you go for comfort food?
There aren’t a lot of Latin restaurants in L.A., but Versailles is really good. It’s a Cuban spot in Hollywood.

And how about a good place to dance?
Yo! There’s a fuckin’ great salsa spot called Mama Juana’s in North Hollywood. Like the drink, mamajuana. Sometimes they have live merengue, but mostly salsa.

Speaking of music, what are the best songs to dance to dominicanamente?
You guys are going to hate me, but I’m into Aventura. I’m jumping on the bandwagon now.

Ewww. You might as well say you like Shakira.
My brother’s a huge fan; he’s been getting me hooked. I like that song with the girl, “son las cinco en la mañana.” I know, I suck.

Greenberg And Rasuk Talk With AOL TV

How did this show come together?
Greenberg: I was coming off 'October Road' for two years on ABC, and I did some movies, and I wasn't really itching to jump back into television, just cause you never really know what you're getting into and it can be a real grind, you know? I was kind of in a place where I wanted to jump from project to project. I knew Ian. I didn't even know he was a writer. I played basketball with Ian in L.A.

He was a production assistant back in 2001.
Rasuk: He was a P.A.?
Greenberg: Yeah. When I played ball with him he said, "I loved 'Prime,' I thought you were great in it. We've got a lot of similarities in our look and everything." [Rasuk laughs] That's funny, you know. And we had the same game, we would run to the same spot on the court when we were playing ball. We were on the same team. We won like six games undefeated.
Rasuk: Which league was it, not the E league, right?
Greenberg: No we just played at this, like, church. So we had chemistry off the bat, just through ball. We didn't lose. And then I was reading the trades, and I saw Ian Edelman sold a show to HBO. And I was like, "What is this?" So I said let me read this thing. And apparently, he was thinking of me and Vic the whole time. Well, that's what he says [they both laugh].

Did you guys know each other before?

Greenberg: I know his work.
Rasuk: Likewise, but we never knew each other. And you know we crossed paths, we played in the same ball league in L.A., but we never knew each other.
Greenberg: So I met with Julian Farino, the director,
Rasuk: This before they started casting?
Greenberg: This was before they started casting.
Rasuk: Ah, I didn't know that.
Greenberg: Yeah, and [executive producers] Rob Weiss and Steve Levinson, and Ian, and was just like, "What's your plan? Where is this going?" You know, what is this show? It's cool, but like, where do you see it going? Cause it's kinda hard to get that from 30 pages. They broke it down and I got their vibe and I was like "All right." Then they did a chemistry read. Victor and I, that's where we met. And we just hit it off, like [they slap hands].
Rasuk: Off the bat.
Greenberg: Off the bat, yeah, we were just like, yes, and I think everybody kind of knew it. We've been hanging out ever since.
Rasuk: Like throughout the year we been waiting for the pilot, 'cause we're wrapping up the show now. It's taken a year to get from the pilot to the show, and we've been hanging out this past year. But they did a whole casting thing, you know, L.A., New York, maybe even some other cities I don't know about.

What, to look for your character?
Rasuk: For both of us.
Greenberg: For both of us.
Rasuk: I guess that's totally the protocol, correct me if I'm wrong, but they gotta see everybody. That's just how the business is.
Greenberg: And HBO was pretty hands on with this one. This is like, their baby. There's a lot of people who care a lot about this show. We're on a great network. It's basically like doing a long movie every year. They're not afraid to take risks.
Rasuk: They take a lot of risks.
Greenberg: [They laugh]. And to be in New York, a great cast, and the directors we're getting are top notch. These guys are filmmakers. Joshua Marston, who did 'Maria Full of Grace.' And Jonathan Levine.
Rasuk: Jonathan Levine.
Greenberg: The guy that did 'The Wackness.' We bring in like, voices, guys who have a voice, it's not just you know, a TV gig.
Raskuk: It's HBO. [They laugh]. They do a really good job on getting the right people to do the job.

So where is the show going?
Rasuk: You wanna take this?
Greenberg: I'll take this. I mean, this show is not a plot-driven type show. It's definitely a lifestyle show about people in New York City who work really hard, hustling, trying to make it on an unconventional path and then at night they play really hard as well. You'll see scenes of us at a really dope downtown loft party 'til like 4 in the morning, and then we're gonna be at a meeting at 10 in the morning. And that's just the life we're living, that whole generation. The show's really more about a tone and, just, the world and the characters. We're trying to capture that vibe of people on the grind, you know, not being satisfied with their place in life and doing whatever it takes to get ahead. And that's hustling, you know, we're borrowing money from drug dealers, we're borrowing money from stock brokers. Basically, I guess, plot-wise you're gonna see us try to build this company together. We don't know what the fuck we're doing.

The company about the high-end jeans? In the pilot your characters borrow three grand to buy a roll of premo Japanese denim off the back of a truck.
Greenberg: Yeah, jeans, and, we might launch into uh ... [grins]
Rasuk: Yeah, we might launch into something else, cause the jeans might not work out. You know, you don't know.

There might be setbacks?
Greenberg: Yeah.
Rasuk: Yeah, the setbacks that happen in everyday life.
Greenberg: The beauty is we don't really know what we're doing, we just have a dream, and we're just figuring it out as we go along, and the audience isn't going to know what the hell ...
Rasuk: Yeah.
Greenberg: What the hell this world is about either. We're familiar with it, we're in it, you know? But we don't know what we're doing. We just start going for it, and then we fail, and then we succeed, and it's basically just like swinging from one vine to the next. We don't know, we just leave it all behind. It's like the time in our lives when we just go for it.
Rasuk: Yeah.
Greenberg: You know.
Rasuk: Yeah.

'How to Make It' is the latest show to call New York home. Where have you guys been shooting?
Rasuk: Everywhere in New York.
Greenberg: Yeah.
Rasuk: I was born and raised here and there's locations I've never been to. They've chosen awesome locations, real locations. They're all throughout the five boroughs.
Greenberg: We do three moves a day on the show, it's crazy. We're only on the stage one day a week. It's pretty much all locations.
Rasuk: Yeah.
Greenberg: Primarily downtown, LES (Lower East Side) ...
Rasuk: East Village.
Greenberg: Williamsburg, and Greenpoint.
Rasuk: Yeah.
Greenberg: But I mean, we're shooting in the Bronx, we're shooting in Staten Island, I mean, we're fucking all over the place.
Rasuk: Yeah.
Greenberg: In Barneys.
Rasuk: Yeah man. Where Ben works.
Greenberg: Yeah, that's his grind, you know. I mean, that kinda represents uh ...

The boss riding your ass.
Greenberg: Yeah, Ben's just miserable working at Barneys.

It must be interesting for you especially, Victor, because you grew up in New York.
Rasuk: Yeah, I took him back to where I grew up. I grew up in the projects on the Lower East Side, the Jacob Riis projects. And I took him back when we shot the pilot. I was like, you should just get a taste of this. Bryan was very familiar with that neighborhood. Can I tell them you went to NYU?
Greenberg: Yeah.
Rasuk: And he actually like, lived down the block from where I grew up. So it's not like he wasn't familiar with it, but I was like, why don't you come inside.
Greenberg: Yeah, I'd never been inside.
Rasuk: And go to the apartments, you know what I mean? I remember when you came, and you was just like [his eyes go wide]. 'Cause it's so small. But yeah man, growing up on the Lower East Side, I don't wanna speak for Bryan, but doing this show and shooting here, the vibe of 'How to Make it in America,' a lot of my character and even Bryan's character, I've seen growing up in the neighborhood. I feel like Cam in a lot of ways is sort of a composite of guys I either grew up with or guys I came across in New York.
Greenberg: I've always been drawn to New York. And for some reason all the actors I respect were coming out of New York, and all the musicians I was listening to, it was all coming from New York. And I knew I wanted to do the acting thing, so it was either L.A. or New York, and there's just something about this city that makes me feel like myself. Even though I'm not from here, I feel like I'm a New Yorker, I really do. I feel like this show really lays it down for New York too. My character, Ben Epstein, is a guy that I think sorta symbolizes Manhattan, in a weird way. He's basically like ...
Rasuk: A chameleon?
Greenberg: Yeah. He brings it all together. I've lived in a lot of places, but this is the only place I've loved. I don't love L.A., I mean it's all right. But I love working.

And now working has brought you back to New York.
Greenberg: Yeah! That's the thing.
Rasuk: It's crazy, yo.
Greenberg: Yeah it is.

Bryan Greenberg Interviewed By Examiner

Despite HBO calling his new original series, How To Make It In America, a comedy, star Bryan Greenberg admits his new role of Ben Epstein is "a very complicated guy, and he has a lot of demons." When we first meet him, he has just broken up with a girl (Lake Bell) on whom he is still pretty hung up; he is working a dead-end job as a floor salesman at a department store; and he is in debt with a loan from a guy who just got out of jail and a bunch of skateboards he can't move because the boarder has disappeared. But the show is being billed as a half-hour comedy so he worked very closely with the writers and producers to "not make him a Bummer Ben."

And just how did Greenberg react to the uniqueness  that begins during the aftermath of such a romantic break-up? "Yeah, you know, I've gone through some break-ups in my own life that I could easily draw upon, and it wasn't that hard."

Early reviews are comparing Make It to long-time HBO favorite Entourage. After all, the guys like to party: an upcoming scene is shot completely on cameraphones from their POVs. "The crew left, and they brought a bunch of good looking girls and some dudes in, and we just got to party. I shot a bunch of stuff on my iPhone, and it was a good thing 'cause the DP was shooting on his phone, too, but [some of his] footage got erased." The show is also from the same producers, Mark Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson, and director Julian Farino). But the major difference comes perhaps most obviously in the title, as Make It is very much about guys who are still struggling to start out.

Greenberg says: "While they try to achieve their dreams, life happens. Their friendship is tested; they run from the cops; they fall in love with girls; they party and have good times. And that's really what the show's about: the journey, not the destination."

Elaborating on the style of the show, Greenberg notes that they're "trying to achieve realism here!" In fact, the show has such a raw feel that when they were filming on New York City streets, selling leather jackets out the back of a van, they would have real people stop them and ask how much they wanted. The actors would have to point out that they were just filming a scene, and there was a camera on the corner.

Greenberg has had a pretty impressive career for still such a young actor, and he is only getting bigger with this new series as well as a new independent film with Alexis Bledel, The Good Guy. When asked the secret to his success, he admits spent some time when he was just out of college and trying to make things happen hustling from job to job, just like his on-screen counterpart Ben. "It's really tough; [sometimes] you have to take jobs that you don't want to achieve the dreams that you do want. But the thing about trying to make it-- in any career, really-- I think if you give yourself a Plan B, you're going to take it. It's so hard out there pursuing your dreams that if you give yourself an out, you're going to take it. So I never did that...I felt like that would be giving up on my dreams."

Greenberg's hard work and persistence certainly paid off, but he also has the talent to back him up!

examiner.com - Danielle Turchiano

Ian Edelman Tells Us “How He Made It”

You may not know who Ian Edelman is, but you’re about to enter his world. Edelman (pictured, with Victor Rasuk) is the creator of the new HBO series How to Make It in America, which stars Bryan Greenberg, Rasuk, Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi, and Lake Bell in the red-hot center of the downtown New York art and fashion scene. Locations such as Avenue and La Esquina will feel suggestively familiar to members of the city’s real-life fashion set; so too will series story lines about, say, day-jobbing at Barneys and trying to launch a denim line. Here, Edelman talks with Style.com about American dreams, New York stories, and what he learned from the Pegleg designers.

This show strikes me as possibly autobiographical. Is Ben you? Did you make an abortive effort to launch a denim line in your twenties?
Actually, the idea for the show came from me reading about all these American success stories and getting inspired. I mean, look at Ralph Lauren. Ralph Lifshitz from the Bronx, he gets his foot in the door of the fashion industry and through sheer, you know, vision and hustle, winds up creating the first lifestyle brand. He’s an icon and a gazillionaire. And I started wondering, how would that story play out in the world I know?

Which is where the autobiographical tone comes in, I suppose. You do a good job setting up that downtown skate/art demimonde.
Yeah, well, I grew up in New York, skating, playing basketball, and I wanted to show that world off. But I’ll tell you who did have a clothing line, if you want autobiography—Stephen Levinson, who’s the executive producer of this show and of Entourage. HBO put us together after they bought the pitch for How to Make It in America, and one of the ideas he brought to the table was this story of trying to start a sportswear brand, because that was something he’d done, pre-Hollywood.

Did your original concept for the show change much through development?
The show did turn into more of an ensemble piece than I’d imagined.

I guess I’m mostly wondering if the show you’d conceived got Entourage-ed.
Well, obviously, they’ve had a ton of success with Entourage, and so there were conversations like, OK, here’s something we know works for Entourage, story-wise; is there a way we can use that? And there are similarities. But there’s a huge difference, too: How to Make It in America is not wish-fulfillment television. These guys are strivers; they get into a club because they know the bouncer, not because anybody’s a movie star.

One of the other big differences that struck me is that the female characters in How to Make It in America are much more fully realized than they ever are on Entourage. Was that a goal, going in?
Not an explicit goal, but we knew that Rachel—Lake Bell’s character—was going to be a core character, and so of course we had to invest in her point of view. I think that character brings up another big difference between this show and Entourage…I mean, Entourage is almost totally focused on the Hollywood, industry part of L.A. Whereas we cross the borders of New York—there’s Rachel, who works downtown, but who has this very north-of-14th Street aspect to her, and there’s Luis Guzmán’s character, who’s a Dominican gangster trying to go straight, and there’s another key character who’s a hedge fund guy, and so on. That was essential to me, showing the way these different worlds intermingle. Which they do, in New York.

You’ve been living in L.A. for almost a decade. Were there things you’d written about New York—and this particular cool-kid world within New York—that you found you needed to change once you got back on the ground to shoot?
I was definitely having anxiety about that, so I flew out before we shot the pilot and spent a few days hanging out with the kids from Pegleg. That reassured me. The places have changed, the names have changed, but for the most part what they’re doing is not that different from what I used to do. It’s the same grind. That’s how I met [Kid] Cudi, actually—hanging out with the Pegleg guys.

I was going to ask about that…
I think he may have still been working at BAPE when they introduced us. I kind of knew who he was—I’d heard some mix tape stuff—but long story short, it was good timing. We got lucky.

A classic New York story, that. Like Susan Seidelman casting Madonna in Desperately Seeking Susan.
I’ll tell you another classic New York story. So, of course, these characters are all amalgams of people I know. Friends, friends of friends, people I went to school with, whatever. You steal a little here and a little there. And Cam, Victor Rasuk’s character, he’s got a bit of this guy I used to skate with—this Dominican kid, he and I would run around town together, a couple of ragamuffins. Well, lo and behold, there’s this woman at HBO, and her husband knows this guy. I’m sitting in a meeting with her and we figure out this connection and we laugh and that’s the end of it. A while later, I run into some friends. And they tell me that this guy—my old Dominican friend—is going around, telling everyone he knows that HBO is doing a show based on his life.

You should give him a cameo. John Varvatos got one… But actually, speaking of Varvatos, that raises another question. I’ve seen the first four episodes of the show, and thus far, I’m impressed with its garmento vérité. But I wonder what will happen when—or if—the story lines head into the runway fashion world.
I’m intrigued by that world, and I kind of like the idea of Ben (Bryan Greenberg) and Cam trying to, like, scam their way through Paris fashion week. I could see that happening. But not anytime soon. They just started climbing the ladder. And they’ve got a ways to go.

source