Gina Calabrese: Saundra Santiago


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On 4/10/2020 at 8:15 PM, airtommy said:

Continuity just wasn't something they did very well on Vice.  She starts out Italian

I don't actually remember a time during the show run that it was established Gina as having Italian background...we don't even know where the 'Calabrese' last name comes from. We did learn however in S3 she was born in Cuba and fled to US in the early 60s...for sure she has the mediterranean and latino features so she could well be either.

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On 10/26/2017 at 11:33 PM, summer84 said:

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It was a wonderful surprise to see these three together. :fireworks: Glad to see Saundra is feeling better. 

My God, he's changed! PMG I mean!

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28 minutes ago, sdiegolo78 said:

I don't actually remember a time during the show run that it was established Gina as having Italian background...we don't even know where the 'Calabrese' last name comes from. We did learn however in S3 she was born in Cuba and fled to US in the early 60s...for sure she has the mediterranean and latino features so she could well be either.

Idk if you saw my post, but they could’ve easily revealed that baby Gina was fostered by an Italian family after Klaus brought her to Miami. 

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On 3/17/2019 at 10:46 PM, summer84 said:

Here's the interview:

https://www.coopertalk.net/

A very interesting indepth interview with Saundra Santiago. When she auditioned the show wasen't called MV. I think it was Gold Coast. She was the first one to be cast on MV and also read with Larry Wilcox, one of the guys that auditioned for the part of Sonny Crockett. At that time, an actor for the main role hadn't been cast yet. Olivia Brown originally was cast a guest star, but then became a regular, since they thought Gina and Trudy were great as a team. She recalls everyone of the cast members except for PMT broke up with their "better half" in the second year. She was upset, that she couldn't do this Spielberg movie by Michael Mann/Universal as John Diehl had left the show and they didn't want to lose another cast member. And also disappointed, as she pictured her role would be larger on MV more even with the main stars. It was a "fight for the camera" to get more screen time. She was tied to the five year contract, not allowed to do movie projects. And before her accident, she was supposed to be in this movie made by EJO's son Bodie about 9/11, I believe where she was supposed to be Edward James Olmos's girlfriend. She believes the show ending mostly had to do with DJ wanting to move on to a movie career. Also talks about life after Vice to her present. Some of the things about MV, I knew from the interview in "The Making of MV" book and other discussions/threads here on the forum. I didn't get to hear the full podcast, but it was great to get knowledge about her background, her time on MV and point of view. A great interview! 

Whereabouts is the actual interview  then?

 

Later! heard it and it's very interesting! (I always did think it was DJ who wanted to leave to be a big star which caused MV's demise....)

Edited by wolfie1996
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2 hours ago, wolfie1996 said:

(I always did think it was DJ who wanted to leave to be a big star which caused MV's demise.

That was part of it, but there were other factors mentioned in other threads.

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53 minutes ago, sdiegolo78 said:

That was part of it, but there were other factors mentioned in other threads.

That's true, of course. Have to say, she didn't  refer to him in a particularly friendly way. Always  said "Don Johnson", not "Don".

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6 hours ago, wolfie1996 said:

That's true, of course. Have to say, she didn't  refer to him in a particularly friendly way. Always  said "Don Johnson", not "Don".

I just listened to Saundra's podcast interview with Steve Cooper. I found it very interesting and informative. Her career was quite interesting and a bit of a hit and miss. She expected to do more in MV and couldn't do a Steven Spielberg movie the same year John Diehl wanted out and his character killed off. Micheal Mann didn't want to let a second cast member go, even if it was a supporting role. She would have been sued had she left the series. I was expecting she talked a bit more about the MV episodes and stories centered about her character Gina. And she has her conspiracy theory about DJ being the only MV cast member allowed to do movies during the 5 year run. I think that is not entirely true. EJO did 'Stand and Deliver' in 1987. I feel Saundra resents DJ a little bit for some reason. But we don't really know of any particular episode of tension in the set of MV between DJ and Saundra.

Edited by sdiegolo78
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7 minutes ago, sdiegolo78 said:

I just listened to Saundra's podcast interview with Steve Cooper. I found it very interesting and informative. Her career was quite interesting and a bit of a hit and miss. She expected to do more in MV and couldn't do a Steven Spielberg movie the same year John Diehl wanted out and his character killed off. Micheal Mann didn't want to let a second cast member go, even if it was a supporting role. She would have been sued had she left the series. I was expecting she talked a bit more about the MV episodes and stories centered about her character Gina. And she has her conspiracy theory about DJ being the only MV cast member allowed to do movies during the 5 year run. I think that is not entirely true. EJO did 'Stand and Deliver' in 1987. I feel Saundra resents DJ a little bit for some reason. But we don't really know of any particular episode of tension in the set of MV between DJ and Saundra.

Yes I thought it showed some interesting insights to her perspective of what was going on behind the scenes eg the tied in for 5 years etc and some being able nonetheless to do films etc but that she wasn't. I never realised before that she  actually was feeling resentful about  what she regarded as missed opportunities during MV or that  she had got the impression she would sort of be on an equal footing with the main male stars.  It's the only "personal" interview I've  ever heard with Saundra and it was good to get the chance. Bit shocking about that nasty accident, mind. She was seriously hurt. I never heard about it till now.

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4 minutes ago, wolfie1996 said:

Bit shocking about that nasty accident, mind. She was seriously hurt. I never heard about it till now.

I felt really bad for her just by listening to that bit

5 minutes ago, wolfie1996 said:

and some being able nonetheless to do films etc but that she wasn't.

We won't ever know for sure, but it may be down to a specific clause in an actor contract with the show producers or network.

By the way, it was interesting to listen to the story behind the 'Heroes of the revolution' episode. And how it came about.

 

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On 4/10/2020 at 8:15 PM, airtommy said:

Continuity just wasn't something they did very well on Vice.  She starts out Italian, then she becomes Cuban in "Heroes of the Revolution", then in "Blood and Roses" she's an Italian from Philadelphia (she's undercover, but it didn't seem like an act).  Her character should have been Cuban all along.

 

Dick Wolf was to blame for the continuity, he didn't care what happened before.

There is no doubt in my mind if Mann, Nicollela stayed it would have been a tidy ship when it came to details. 

Edited by RedDragon86
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11 hours ago, sdiegolo78 said:

I don't actually remember a time during the show run that it was established Gina as having Italian background...we don't even know where the 'Calabrese' last name comes from. We did learn however in S3 she was born in Cuba and fled to US in the early 60s...for sure she has the mediterranean and latino features so she could well be either.

Calabrese is a surname literally meaning “from Calabria”, the southernmost region of Italy.  It’s the “toe” of the boot.  It also refers to things from Calabria and the dialect in the region.

I don’t know how this fits in with the continuity of the show, but it would seem to imply she was of Italian decent, until we later learned the Cuban story from Heroes of the Revolution.  

I might also add that in the late 70’s/early 80’s series CHiP’s, Erik Estrada who is of Puerto Rican heritage, was depicted as Italian American.  I remember him commenting in an interview once that such a nationality change in Hollywood  was not an uncommon practice for Latino actors back then, particularly in leading roles as opposed to supporting.  Miami Vice was actually commented on in its day for the many Latino performers used.  

My favorite series ever, The Rockford Files from the 70’s, had Joe Santos starring as Dennis Becker with no reference to his Italian heritage.  Go figure?  Times have changed, for the better, I think. :thumbsup:

Edited by pahonu
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1 minute ago, pahonu said:

Calabrese is a surname literally meaning “from Calabria”, the southernmost region of Italy.  It’s the “toe” of the boot.  It also refers to things from Calabria and the dialect in the region.

I know that of course!!! :). What I really meant was it was never explained in the cannon story she was fostered by some Italian-American family. One could only assume by her surname she had some italian background. And we learned from the final S3 episode that she was born in Cuba then fled to Florida.

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16 minutes ago, sdiegolo78 said:

I know that of course!!! :). What I really meant was it was never explained in the cannon story she was fostered by some Italian-American family. One could only assume by her surname she had some italian background. And we learned from the final S3 episode that she was born in Cuba then fled to Florida.

I agree, it just suggested she was of Italian heritage until we learned differently in Heroes.
 

There was also a small amount of immigration from Italy to Cuba.  It was “discovered” for Europeans by a Genoese Italian named Cristoforo Columbo after all!  :)

Edited by pahonu
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11 minutes ago, pahonu said:

I agree, it just suggested she was of Italian heritage until we learned differently in Heroes.

...continuity uh?! :)

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Canon on Vice is theoretical, especially after the second season. In the pilot script, Gina is explicitly described as Italian. She remains that way, including an accent that hints at more of a New York origin, until Heroes surfaced. Any foster family ideas would be tack-ons to explain the aberration in canon that is Heroes. Maybe it was a dream...

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16 hours ago, wolfie1996 said:

Whereabouts is the actual interview  then?

 

Later! heard it and it's very interesting! (I always did think it was DJ who wanted to leave to be a big star which caused MV's demise....)

 

14 hours ago, sdiegolo78 said:

That was part of it, but there were other factors mentioned in other threads.

Listened to the interview...very cool & interesting info on Saundra & her career! 

As for MV and its sad demise...I agree that there were many factors. Yes, Don Johnson was wanting to go do movies...but he was still on the show. So that specifically didn’t necessarily cause the show to end.

Poor writing/plots & production directions ultimately caused the ratings to fall...therefore spelling-out the inevitable end. I think Don saw & realized this (even before the official word came down that the show was cancelled) and wanted to start broadening his horizons and furthering his career.

Saundra is amazing and they really should have showcased her in more episodes! I did know she was the first cast member officially cast...but I thought it funny when she couldn’t remember what the original name of MV was. In fact, some of the first, original NBC promos still advertised it as an upcoming show under its original name (before it was changed)...which was Gold Coast

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8 hours ago, sdiegolo78 said:

By the way, it was interesting to listen to the story behind the 'Heroes of the revolution' episode. And how it came about

It was! I love hearing  about these lesser-known details. She seems a nice person too, and what a horrible  thing to happen to her. I cringed when she was saying how painful it was healing up.

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46 minutes ago, ViceFanMan said:

Listened to the interview...very cool & interesting info on Saundra & her career! 

As for MV and its sad demise...I agree that there were many factors. Yes, Don Johnson was wanting to go do movies...but he was still on the show. So that specifically didn’t necessarily cause the show to end.

Poor writing/plots & production directions ultimately caused the ratings to fall...therefore spelling-out the inevitable end. I think Don saw & realized this (even before the official word came down that the show was cancelled) and wanted to start broadening his horizons and furthering his career.

Saundra is amazing and they really should have showcased her in more episodes! I did know she was the first cast member officially cast...but I thought it funny when she couldn’t remember what the original name of MV was. In fact, some of the first, original NBC promos still advertised it as an upcoming show under its original name (before it was changed)...which was Gold Coast

I suppose she's going back a lot of years now to the show's beginning so the odd lapse can be forgiven :) I always liked her as a character and you're right, she could have been showcased more. I'd rather have seen a well-written episode with her featuring than dross like that Missing Hours. Watched THAT for the first time the other night  and will never do so again!

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5 hours ago, wolfie1996 said:

I suppose she's going back a lot of years now to the show's beginning so the odd lapse can be forgiven :) I always liked her as a character and you're right, she could have been showcased more. I'd rather have seen a well-written episode with her featuring than dross like that Missing Hours. Watched THAT for the first time the other night  and will never do so again!

Oh man...well now you can say you’ve seen “Missing Hours” (which sadly for her, showcased Trudy)...but you weren’t ‘missing’ (pun intended) anything before you’d seen it!  

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  • 1 year later...
On 4/11/2021 at 8:35 AM, wolfie1996 said:

I'd rather have seen a well-written episode with her featuring than dross like that Missing Hours

...such as 'Blood and roses'

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On 4/11/2021 at 7:43 AM, ViceFanMan said:

In fact, some of the first, original NBC promos still advertised it as an upcoming show under its original name (before it was changed)...which was Gold Coast

I can't find any of these very early days NBC promos on YouTube...

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6 minutes ago, sdiegolo78 said:

I can't find any of these very early days NBC promos on YouTube...

I’ve actually not seen any of the first couple promos that still had the show as “Gold Coast”...just read about it somewhere. They may not even exist anymore. I’m guessing that any GC promos were shown probably once, towards the end of the previous TV season...then during the summer hiatus & before the show premiered the next fall, they’d changed the name to “Miami Vice”...and any more promos advertising the new series was under that name.

Edited by ViceFanMan
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  • 1 year later...

To repeat myself from the "Heroes of the Revolution" thread, I have to restate that I don't think Gina's infamous background is such a mess or incongruous.  Her aunt fled with her to America (canon) and in all probability married (the probably fellow immigrant) Mr. Calabrese, who is the father she's quoting at Crockett in the pilot. 

She's shown to be a fluent Spanish speaker throughout the show, which is something not many Americans acquired 40 years ago unless they had some kind of privilege (she doesn't) or Spanish-speaking background... so there's actually more evidence for her Latina heritage than there is for her being Italian (just the name, nothing else is ever elaborated on).

Does anyone know where the "Navarro" (as in 'Gina Navarro Calabrese') comes from?  I've seen it floating around and can't find the source.  

Thanks.

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