When actor and one-time San Antonio resident Brian Villalobos got a call from director Patrick William Smith a couple years ago asking him if he would be interested in auditioning for a TV series he was making, the pitch included a description of the show as "Indiana Jones meets The Office."
If that wasn't intriguing enough, Smith told him they would be shooting in Ireland.
"I was like, 'I don't know what that means, and it sort of makes my brain short circuit, but that sounds incredible,'" Villalobos, 42, told the Current during a recent interview. "Also, did you say Ireland?"
So began Villalobos' involvement in the comedy mockumentary series Groundbreaking. It follows a team of "astoundingly unsuccessful archaeologists" who travel to the fictional Irish town of St. Quinn, where they're hired by a developer to survey the land to make sure a construction project won't destroy anything historic buried in the area.
During their excavation, the team, which includes Villalobos' character Goose, inadvertently discover an ancient Celtic secret that triggers a series of mysterious events.
"When I read the script, it felt like a throwback to those '80s and '90s adventure stories with a lot of heart," Villalobos said. "I hesitate to say Steven Spielberg and Richard Donner and The Goonies, but it was that kind of feeling."
Groundbreaking will make its world premiere on April 18 at the Cannes International Series Festival, aka Canneseries, in Cannes, France, which runs separately from the Cannes Film Festival. The first episode will screen in the short form competition.
Villalobos is a graduate of Saint Mary's Hall and is currently living in the Austin area. Full disclosure: He was also a writer and associate editor at the Current from 2005 to 2012.
Once Villalobos auditioned and landed the role, he packed his bags in summer of 2021 and made the trip to Connemara, a region in Western Ireland. The cast and production team finished filming the first full season in a month's time. Now, they're hoping Canneseries screening can land a distributor.
During our interview, Villalobos talked about his character's role on the archaeology team and the most challenging aspect of shooting outdoors in Ireland. He also explained the significance of a landmark in the series dubbed Sex Tree.
Tell me about your character, Goose.
The way Goose was described to me was that he's like your favorite history teacher from high school. He's the historian of the team. When [the team] gets to a dig, he's the one that knows all the background. He also has a caretaker role and wants to make sure everyone is happy. The team has a lot of passion, and they love what they do, but they just haven't found anything yet.
You say they haven't found anything, but in the trailer, Goose is seen very proudly unearthing a lot of used condoms.
(Laughs.) Yes, in his desperate search for something of note, he finds a tree and starts digging around it and unearths decades of used condoms. Ever the optimist, he's like, "Well, there's a story here." There's been a lot of condom activity at that tree, which he immediately dubs Sex Tree. Goose is also a cartographer, so he makes a map that looks like one you would see in The Lord of the Rings or at the beginning of an A.A. Milne Winnie the Pooh book. The map he makes has all these landmarks that are significant to the story, and then right in the middle of it is Sex Tree.
The series features an international cast, but you're the only American actor, correct?
Yeah, I'm the only American in the cast. Going into [production], I was like, "By default, I'm the most boring person here." I waltzed into [the audition] and was like, "What accent do you want me to use?" Patrick was like, "No, you're American." I was like, "Oh, OK. Cool."
What was it like shooting in Ireland?
It was breathtaking. The Irish countryside is mindbogglingly beautiful. There's just so much history. At the same time, we lost so many production days to rain. I want to stress that Ireland is amazing beyond description, but there are also these things — these small, Irish mosquito-gnats — called midges. During one scene, these midges were just bouncing off our faces. I could hear them thwacking on the camera lens. It got so bad, we had to call it a day. We were rained out, and we were midged out.
Will you be in Cannes for the festival?
My wife and my kids, we're all going. I went to Ireland to shoot [Groundbreaking] and couldn't take them. I don't think it would've gone over well if I was like, "See you later! I'm going to the French Riviera!"
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