Xochitl Gomez debuts in the Marvel Cinematic Universe through Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madnesswhere he plays the character from the comics America Chavez. It is an interesting role with a lot of future, not only because of the nature of his powers, but because in the comics he ends up being part of the Young Avengers.
In a recent exclusive interview for Espacio Marvelita, Gómez tells us about the process until he joined the great UCM family. He first starts off by talking about how the audition process went.
The truth is that it is a rather strange story. I passed my first audition in March 2020. Since this was Marvel Studios, all the character names, story, plot, and everything else was completely fake. I passed that audition and then I didn’t hear back for six months. So I thought that they didn’t like it and that they had chosen someone else. I went on with my life but then I got a call.
Two days after I submitted the audition they told me that they had caught me. That meant that they liked me and that I was one of the chosen ones. When you are chosen you feel a great joy. Got a call to do a screen test in London. That’s when they told me what character it was for and that it was a Marvel Studios movie. I had my suspicions that it was going to be a superhero movie and it sounded like Doctor Strange.
They told me I had ten days to prepare and travel to London. So I had to get my passport and pack my bags. All this happened during the COVID pandemic, so I had to be in isolation for seven days and then they gave me a test. The screen test was really crazy. I thought it would be in some kind of meeting room, but everything is different because it is Marvel Studios. I did my screen test on the set of the Holy of Holies.
There were about 80 crew members on a real set. It wasn’t just the usual screen test. She was very nervous and that’s when I met Benedict Cumberbatch. I had to make a great effort to calm down. I did my screen test with him, and he was very kind and charming. Also, Sam Raimi and Richie Palmer were super nice too. The experience was so bizarre that she had to remember that she was there to audition.
Then I went home, and two or three days later I got a Zoom call from my agent and the casting director, Sarah Finn. They both welcomed me into the Marvel Studios family as America Chavez. I was very surprised. In fact, I’m still in shock. I think I didn’t quite believe it until I started packing a couple of weeks later to travel to England and the shooting of the film began. It was incredible.
Preparing for those auditions is not easy at all, not only because of the nerves, but because you have to audition without really knowing what character you are going to play. Fortunately, Gomez was a big fan of the MCU and got the idea by doing a little research on his own.
Well, I was a big fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so I’ve seen all the movies and series several times. I had my suspicions, so I did some research. There were certain clues like the multiversal portal. At that time I still hadn’t read the America Chavez comics. So I went with my gut and made the decisions that I thought that character would make in the comics. I put a lot of nerve and intensity but also a lot of determination and confidence. I hoped I had done well and the truth is that I was right with the character. They screen tested me, so everything I did worked. So I’m going to continue down that path and keep those first decisions that they liked so much. I have to make sure who this character really is.
For that, the actress had to work hard to make the character more than two-dimensional.
We worked really hard to make sure he didn’t just scream. She has a purpose in life and also his own opinions. It’s really difficult because it’s a big responsibility to create a character, a superhero. When I passed my first audition, there were a lot of things I hadn’t thought of before. I am responsible for making the character’s decisions and choices clear in everything I do. For example, in a scene where she’s upset or doesn’t know what to do, I have to make her confidence and her intelligence clear because that’s who she is. She can’t just be sad and then happy. There is something else.