Video Interview: Nick Frost on Being 'Cuban Fury'

Originally posted at 12:43 p.m. April 11, 2014.

Movie Preview and Interview by Beau Behan:

• Cuban Fury (2014), Rated R, 98 min, comedy
• Opening Nationwide, April 11, 2014

The year is 1987, and 13-year-old Bruce Garrett is poised to clinch the title at the UK Junior Salsa Championships until one night when he becomes a victim of a bullying incident. As a result of this traumatic experience, he loses his confidence and decides to turn his back forever on salsa dancing.

It is now 25 years later, and an adult Bruce Garrett (Nick Frost), is overweight, out-of-shape, and immersed into self-pity. The arrival of his new American boss, Julia (Rashida Jones), gives him the courage to re-examine his life. Smitten by her beauty and intelligence, Bruce now confronts his past—but how does he woo her; especially his team manager, the over-confident Drew (Chris O’Dowd) also desires her to be his latest conquest?

Bruce discovers that Julia has a passion for salsa dancing, and deep inside, he feels he has found a way into her heart— to reignite his Latin fire with much gusto as the Cuban Fury.

From the producers of the box office hit, The World’s End, Cuban Fury has the ingredients of comedy and romance to reawaken the salsa-dancing giant in pursuit of love and happiness.

Believe it or not – this movie was born out of a ‘drunken email’ sent by Nick Frost .

“I’ve had this movie idea for years,” remarks Frost. “I came home from a party, one night. I was tipsy, and I just decided to send an e-mail about it to my long-time producer Nira Park. It’s that thing where you wake up in the morning and check your sent box. ‘What did I do?’”

Frost’s tipsy e-mail was simple: “how would you feel if I said we should do a film where I DANCE A LOT. Imagine me in tightly fitted sequined garments with a lot of slow-mo.”

Park’s response: “That’s one poster I want to see. The whole idea: what’s not to like?”

The final screenplay would require a lot of salsa dancing—something Nick Frost has never done before. “I trained for 7 months, 5 days a week, 7 hours a day. It was kind of intense, amazing, and frightening. ,” Frost bemuses, “and I almost gave up on it every day.”

Borrowing from Jerry Lee Lewis’ featured song in the movie, Jamboree, I’d say that ‘Goodness Gracious, Great Balls of Fire!’ Nick Frost did not quit.

Cuban Fury will salsa its way into our ‘corazón’!

About this column: Beau Behan’s claim to fame is that his last name being the same as that of the Irish novelist, Brendan Behan. He sees himself as a romantic Rudolph Valentino type, but realizes you probably don’t. As a film critic, his work has been featured in NBC Bay Area, NBC News and Boston Globe, and can be seen on the TV show, “Beau’s Flicks & Nix”, on the Comcast Hometown Network, in Northern California. A “Flick” is a movie, and a “Nix” is just an opinion, nothing more. (BeauBehan.com)