We spoke to actor Frank Grillo amid the release of Long Gone Heroes, his new crime thriller set in South America that sees him leading the charge in retrieving a family member from a dangerous operation that’s holding her hostage. Grillo has been keeping busy with other high-profile projects of late, courtesy of his DCU character Rick Flag Sr., who is being featured in a number of James Gunn titles.

“He’s expanded it greatly,” Grillo told MovieWeb. “I’m a huge part of Creature Commandos. I’m a big part of Peacemaker. Now, they wove Rick Flag into Superman. And, you know, we’ll see where he goes next. I mean, he’s not unlike the [Samuel L.] Jackson character in the Marvel world. In the Marvel Universe, you know, he’s kind of everywhere, and that’s how James pitched it to me, and it’s been great so far. And, you know, I’m humbled that these guys brought me in.”

Grillo continued to talk about his love for Gunn and his work thus far:

“James and I knew each other a little bit through Marvel but I’ve always been a huge fan. What he did with
Guardians
was ridiculously dynamic. And you know, he said to me, ‘Look, there’s something coming down the pipe. I’m going to call you… when we know it’s happening. I’m going to make a phone call to you.’
“And he did, and I said,
‘Brother, I don’t even care what it is. I’m in.’ And I said, ‘The rest of it you could deal with
… But I’m in, man, I’m in for a pound, I’m in for a penny. If you guys are doing this, I want to be a part of it in any capacity for as long as you want me.’ And that’s kind of where we started the relationship.”

Capturing South America on the Big Screen
Lionsgate

Meanwhile, Grillo’s current release, Long Gone Heroes, is a crime-laced tale set in Venezuela, and the visuals certainly evoke an authentic feel as Grillo’s heroic protagonist leads a ragtag rescue team down South for the ultimate retrieval job.

“We started this movie in Puerto Rico, and about a month in, it fell apart because of financing,” he told us. “And so what we had shot was kind of sitting there for three months, and they called us to say, would we go to Colombia to finish? And we were like, ‘Go anywhere and finish it.’ And it turned out Colombia was a much better location because it’s much more like Venezuela, and, you know, it’s the jungle in South America, and you’re not on a beach in the Caribbean.”

He concluded by saying, “Colombia was really amazing, really great people, really great crews because they’ve shot a lot of movies there, and just the environment lent itself for us creatively to really feel like we were in South America.”

From Lionsgate, Long Gone Heroes is now available in theaters, on demand and on digital platforms like YouTube, Google Play, Apple TV, and on Prime Video. Check out the trailer below: