Actress Carla Gugino’s newest show is action-packed, with a very unconventional love story

Actress Carla Gugino describes her newest television show, ‘Leopard Skin,’ as action-packed, very suspenseful with a lot of tension, but with a very unconventional love story at its core - a relationship that her character Alba Fontana doesn’t understand.

‘Leopard Skin,’ which was filmed in the Dominican Republic, begins when a criminal gang fleeing a botched jewelry heist is forced to hide out on a beach-side estate where two women are living in seclusion on their own.

On the run from the heist masterminded by corrupt Judge Lasalle (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), a criminal gang (Nora Arnezeder, Gentry White, Margot Bingham) seek refuge in the remote paradise of Playa Perdida, México, where two intriguing women live, Alba (Gugino), and Batty (Gaite Jansen).

Dark complications arise when they are joined by two dinner guests, documentary producer Max (Philip Winchester), his frivolous girlfriend Maru (Amelia Eve) and the estate’s former housekeeper, Inocencia (Ana de la Reguera).

When everyone is taken hostage, murderous secrets, ruthless betrayals, and shocking desires rise to the surface as everyone awaits their fate.

The eight, 30-minute-episode series premieres Nov. 17 on Peacock.

In an interview with Vida en el Valle, Gugino revealed challenges not only of her character, but as an actress, what she enjoyed the most in doing the series and other things that her public would see.

Here is what the talented and multifaceted actress told us in a zoom interview.

Q: Carla, tell us how was, bringing your character to life in this new Leopard Skin series?

A: “Well, ‘Leopard Skin’ was a very unusual circumstance because we were on a deserted beach in the middle of heaven. And so that was one of the things with Alba Fontana, who is very complex and was a really fascinating character to the play, was that once I landed on our location, I understood so much about this character, about this woman who would choose to live in that kind of remote place.

“Um, this character had been a documentarian, had been divorced from her husband and is in a moment in her life where she is confronted with her own identity and with who she is; and, so it was a really interesting process.

“You know, I think characters always teach us things, but this was a really deep and profound experience for me”.

Q: Any challenges that you had as an actress to do this character, to do this series?

A: “Well, there’s always different challenges, you know. I think the challenge for me in this particular show is that because Alba is searching for her identity, because she is in a moment where she finds herself in, uh, an unconventional sort of forbidden relationship that’s at the sort of the hidden core of this piece.

“You know, this piece is very much, it’s action-packed. It is very suspenseful. There’s a lot of tension, a lot of high stakes mind games, but ultimately at its core there is a very unconventional love story and a relationship that Alba doesn’t really understand.

“So, I think what was really interesting for me was to explore that in real time and find not make too many decisions prior to playing her and that made for a really interesting experience. We were also able to shoot a fair amount of it in sequence, and that’s also kind of wonderful ‘cause you get to feel how things unfold.

“So I would say in terms of challenges, you know there’s always a challenge when a character is complex and questionable in certain ways to not judge them, and I think that was sort of the biggest challenge for me was to look at Alba from the inside out . One of the interesting things about the character is that she’s chosen to live in a place where she doesn’t have people watching her and what do you do when you’re not watched. And I found that really interesting.”

Q: What did you enjoy the most in doing this series and working with this cast?

A: “Well, we had a really strong cast who was all, they were very passionate about it and it was fun because we got to explore some dark humor. We got to explore, you know some we had to go deep together, but I think the most enjoyable thing was the fact that we woke up every morning to a rainbow and at lunch you could go jump in the ocean.

“I have never had that experience on anything I’ve ever filmed, and I was born in Florida and I’m such a sun and ocean baby that for me I was just in my heavenly spot and so that was really, that was the most enjoyable aspect of it for sure.”

Q: The series takes place on a beach in México, but you guys were filming in Dominican Republic. Have you been there before? How was being in that gorgeous set?

A: “I know the set was just unbelievable, I had never been there before, and I really fell in love and our hosts were extraordinary and the people were amazing.

“The food I miss it. I miss it that I can still taste it as I talk about it. The beautiful tostones (Fried Green Plantains) and the plantains, and oh, it was just amazing. Uh so the sancocho (Dominican meat and vegetables stew), so it was, it really did double for México in a way that we were looking in Mexico to see what we could find, but this location was so specific, and if we didn’t find the right location, we weren’t going to be able to shoot the show.

“So, when we found this place, we knew that we had a way to be able to make the show.”

Q: What did Carla took with her after the series was done as an individual?

A: “Well, we were filming during the pandemic. So, one thing I took was this incredible gift that I’ve been given to me that once we were tested, we never left the property.

“So, we, you never get that kind of experience ever and certainly coming off that time I was so just blown away by the fact that we were able to live in that kind of freedom during that kind of time.

“But also, it was a really, I think, as we were given the opportunity for the characters to explore their identities and have a story within a story within a story. I felt like I left having delved deeper into myself in a different way, which every character you know teaches you something.

“But for sure I left with a context of oh, I want to be able to make really important and beautiful cinematic pieces with people that I trust and love and respect and that that was such a gift to be able to do that.”

Q: Carla, anything else you would like to share before we say goodbye? What do our readers expect when they sit down and watch this series?

A: “Well, what’s cool is that it is, uh, you will, you won’t ever guess where it’s going. Anything can happen and that you know, what I love about it really is something that because there are thriller elements and more traditional action elements, there’s that, but really, at the heart of it, there is this unconventional love story.

“And there are these, you know, a sort of a couple who comes to this house at an untimely moment. And there are the criminals that break in and so ultimately, you have elements of a show that’s very difficult to explain, and that’s what I love about it.

“It’s like a cinematic novel in the sense that it will just take you on this journey that is very surprising, and I think will hopefully make you leave it feeling better about being human and the complexity of being human.”