EXCLUSIVE: Daniela Melchior’s path to Hollywood stardom with ‘Road House’

I never thought about it in that way. The only times that I think of that perspective is whenever people talk to me and ask me questions like, “Do you realize that tada da da da da... ?” Or whenever in Portugal they write news about me, it’s like, Daniela Melchior the first this and that and the other, but I don’t feel like I’m carrying any flag. I’m just doing my job, happy that I can book one after the other, and for me...

For this one, it was interesting, and it was a little something because I can’t remember if I self-taped it. I don’t think I self-taped it, but I had a Zoom meeting with Doug Liman and Joel Silver, the director and the producer. And basically, I read the scenes for them live on Zoom because they’ve watched my work, the things that I’ve done before. But because the character wasn’t written specifically for someone like me, maybe it would be a little bit older, maybe it would be 100% American or Latin American. Even then, they weren’t 100% sure.

So, after that Zoom, they were like, “Yeah, it’s this. We can just polish a little bit of this here and a little bit of that there, but we want you.” Then after that, I remember I was still shooting Fast X, and I remember my agent calling me. At that time, I had a boyfriend for many years. So, my agent calls me. I put it on speaker because I don’t have any secrets. And my agent asked me, “Daniela, Doug Liman, and Joel loved you, but we need to see if you have chemistry with Jake, and we need you guys to meet. So, can you go to Paris before going to London to shoot again just for you guys to grab a coffee or something? Don’t worry, he has a girlfriend, but it’s just like seeing the chemistry.”

And I looked at my ex-boyfriend, and he looked at me, and I was like, “Let me see if I can arrange my schedule around that.” As soon as I hung up, he was like, “If you want, I can go with you.” So, it was funny because those things happen backstage. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it’s how things work. If I lived in New York and if Jake was in New York, that would still happen to see if people connected and if it made sense. But then, that idea ended up not happening.

So, while I was shooting Fast X, I had a Zoom with Doug again, Joel, and Jake. And it was very natural. We instantly connected. I remember that my agent told me, “You don’t need to read anything for that Zoom. It’s just for you guys to talk.” And then, because we connected and it was so natural, I remember that Jake was like, “I wonder if we can read a few scenes.” And I was like, “I mean, yeah, I have the papers here.”

After I hung up, I told my agent, “Charlie, sorry, but I read. I ended up reading.” And he was like, “No, Daniela.” But yeah, I mean, if it went well, just do your thing.

We broke up, yeah (smile). Actually, before I flew to the Dominican Republic.

For every role, every time I work, I’m the opposite of everyone; people go to the gym to lose weight just to be fit for the movies. But for me, I have to go to the gym to put on weight because whenever I’m shooting, I forget to eat. Whenever I’m very nervous, I lose a lot of weight naturally because I’m very skinny. So, I went to the gym for a while before I flew out to put some weight on so I could lose.

And then, as soon as I got to the Dominican Republic, it worked. It was a matter of eating even more so I could put on a bit more weight. Fight training that I had with Steve Brown, our fight coordinator, he pushed me hard because he also saw that he had that space because I was supposed to fight with Billy, and Billy’s a tough guy, so it had to be believable.

Then, I also had scuba diving lessons and boat driving lessons. And all those things, for me as Daniela, I would never do them because I’m very... I don’t know; I always want to be safe. I always think I’m too young to die on vacation. So, those things, I never go naturally, but it’s one of the most special things for an actress or for an actor to try and to experience things that we would never try if it wasn’t for the job.

First, I love the fact that she’s an unconventional love interest because everyone is used to the love interest or the pretty girl serving the story, just for the audience to have a nice time watching a beautiful love scene, but this one is unpredictable. And I’m giving the audience something different that it’s not what they’re expecting.

The fact that she’s very independent, the fact that Dalton comes to the city, but if she didn’t meet him, she was fine by herself. She’s very intelligent, even though she’s not lucky enough to get where she wants to go. I would say that she’s very flirtatious. She has banter, and basically her fears and the fact that she’s a badass if she’s needed to.

Because, for me, it’s as interesting as, I don’t know, a four-page scene, very dramatic, or something like that. For me, it’s always interesting because you can always take things from there. You can always learn things from there. Also, because they have a choreography most of the time, or at least a few key moves, it’s nice to watch them find things on set because there are always unpredictable things happening, so there’s always something to learn from that.

Yeah, we had a little bit of time before starting shooting, and we had time to read our scenes and polish them because we wanted the scenes to not be basic first and to not be easy. Because what we feel is that with other movies, many times the couple connects instantly, and then everything is given away right after.

So, for us, Jake wanted to fight in that way like, “We’re not giving everything now. We want to be mysterious. We want to be…” Even in our first contact, we didn’t want to connect right away. We wanted to fight for it in some way, both of us. So, we had that time to polish that and to think about it.

And I remember the first time that I met him and the first time that we had a table read, I think he noticed that I had stones with me, crystals. And he asked me about it, and I was like, “Oh yeah, I have a few pocket ones because I love crystals and stones and everything.” And we connected also through that because he has crystal always with him.

So, that happened because of the press tour for ‘Fast X’. I remember that we went to two cities. We went to Rome, and we went to Mexico City. And I love to be thoughtful about everything with my team, and they’re my friends as well. So, we’re always talking about what we’re wearing, what brands we’re trying to approach, and the message that we want to send through our looks and outfits. Even if it’s after work time, after hours and everything; we’re always talking about everything because we’re very passionate.

And one of the looks that I wore to do press for Fast X was a Balmain dress, all black with flames and everything. And the brand loved it, so they were like, “Oh, let’s do something together.” Of course, I was very happy, and that opportunity to watch the show right after the press tour happened, and I love to attend.

They... How can I say? They’re very grounded. And for them, it would be very natural and possible for my parents to lose their minds and be super... I don’t know how to say it in English... excited.

They’re very low-key. They’re very discreet. Because of their job, they’re supposed to be low-key because they work for the state in general, for the government, so they’re used to not having the spotlight on them. And I’m used to not speaking about my family in that way and protecting my private life and everything.

So, for them, the biggest feeling that they have right now is just pride in me and the feeling of relief because, at the same time, when I was very young and I was doing the telenovelas and everything, I had to show up. I didn’t spend a lot of time at home, and they would be mad at me, saying, “Daniela, this isn’t a hotel where you come, you have food, you take a shower, you sleep, and you’re gone again.”

So, nowadays, they understand, “Okay, she did whatever she needed to do, always in a respectful way.” And they’re relieved that they don’t need to worry about me because, in Portugal, not a lot of people my age buy houses and are stable and fully independent.

Yeah. Heidi right now is at my ex-boyfriend’s house because they have more dogs, and it’s the best place where she feels the happiest because if I left her at a dog hotel, she wouldn’t know the other dogs, and she wouldn’t feel as comfortable. And, my ex-mother-in-law kind of, we were never married, but my ex-mother-in-law and my ex-boyfriend, they love Heidi. And they asked me, “Whenever you’re in Portugal, just give us Heidi because...” Yeah, and I’m very relieved. They’re always sending me videos and pictures.

Next? Now, because of the strike, the industry slowed down, and it’s still getting back very, very slowly. And because I live in Portugal and, of course, because the cost of living there, is way lower, I don’t feel the desperation or necessity to book a job right away. So, for now, I had my break time, my vacations and everything else I needed.

Now, I’m also going back slowly to work, but I want to be more selective with the next job because, also, now I know that with ‘Road House’ being on streaming, a lot of eyeballs will be watching. And a lot of people are very thoughtful about, “I wonder what she’s doing next.” So, I don’t want to disappoint anyone.