When the Covid-19-19 pandemic is still in its infancy, we are still disinfecting groceries, and while keeping society far away in our homes, we are rarely willing to relive the spring of 2020. But if there is a chance to perform with Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal, it will be worth it for Matt Gomez Hidaka.
Gomez Hidaka, 27 midsummer Director Ari Aster's latest movie A24, Eddington. The film, held in May 2020, is located in a small town in New Mexico with the local sheriff (Phoenix) facing the mayor (Pascal). The plot has been kept secret, but in the trailer for the movie, news reports and social media posts revisit the chaotic pandemic era, from reports tracking the spread of the virus to growing racial estimates and protests of police brutality that broke out in the summer. Gomez Hidaka plays the son of the mayor of Pascal.
“When I first discovered that this would be an interconnected piece, I was nervous because I thought, ‘Are we ready to witness as a culture?’ It feels fresh,” Gomez Hidaka said. “I think when I look back 20 years later, I think it’s going to be a movie where we show our kids, ‘This is what we live in.’ It’s really exciting to be part of what we can use to capture the moment.”
As far as Dominican and Japanese descent was concerned, Gomez Hidaka, who was born in the early days of the pandemic, he remained a student at the University of Southern California Theater School. He grew up in Chicago and accidentally discovered that the performance was very young. "When my friends started playing sports, I still wanted to play Pokémon," he laughed. "My parents were like, 'Okay, okay, let's sign up for acting classes for you.' "He started after-school acting classes in third grade, leading to joining the high school youth theater and eventually moving to Los Angeles to attend USC.
After performing in several short films, Gomez Hidaka plays a role in the Apple TV+ series Siloin two seasons of the Anti-Dorporate Science Fiction series, opposite to Rebecca Ferguson. At the top of 2024, he recalls having a prophetic meeting with his manager: “We talk about what I want every year (for the future). I said, ‘I would love to work with Ari Aster.’ “A month later, he was told that he had auditioned for Aster’s next project. A few weeks later, Gomez Hidaka joined Aster in Aster, New Mexico in a town called "The Truth or Consequence" (yes, that's the town's real name).
“I really feel immersed in this brand new environment,” he said. He would dine out at local restaurants and hang out with his 20s, attending a “bonfire party” in the middle of the New Mexico desert.
It was in his first costumes that Gomez Hidaka saw the avatars of the actors he would share with Emma Stone, Austin Butler and Luke Grimes. While on the scene, Gomez Hidaka found himself in the middle of a “master class”, as he said. He will sit on a camera monitor with the film's producers and watch Phoenix, who has developed a rapport with Aster while researching the director's previous albums, Bo is scared: "His number of games is so admirable because he is a very specific person and I didn't expect that he has so much freedom. It's really encouraging."
As for the eventual collaboration with Aster, the actor admitted to being worried. "It took me a long time to look up to him, and I don't want to be disappointed," he said, adding that he was finally happy with Astor's calm presence. “When he has notes, he will come, pull you aside so no one can hear it and talk to you.”
Next, Gomez Hidaka will be an independent drama The wilderness, About teenagers participating in the Wilderness Treatment Program in the Desert of Utah. But before that, he will go to France for premiere Eddingtonscreened in the main competitions in Cannes.
"Even if it's such a big movie for me, it does feel like a tiny bubble," he said. "It gives me that feeling, there's no reason to be afraid of the next project, because at the end of the day, it's just a bunch of artists coming together to do something cool. It's the comfort I'm going to bring, I'm going to bring the next thing."