Michael Stahl-David spent eight months in Colombia shooting “Narcos” — but he had a distinct advantage heading in to the project.
“I had a weird childhood — I went to a bilingual elementary school in Chicago so I grew up speaking Spanish,” says the Brooklyn-based actor, 34. “I’m pretty fluent,” he says. “Sometimes we’d go a few days where almost every conversation was in Spanish. I’m lucky to have that kind of foundation.”
In Season 3 of the Netflix series, back Friday, Stahl-David (“The Black Donnellys”) plays ambitious DEA agent Chris Feistl, stationed in Colombia as the agency fights the powerful Cali Cartel, who’ve overtaken the world’s early-’90s drug trade following Pablo Escobar’s death.
Feistl is tired of shuffling papers but can’t seem to get the attention of Javier Pena (series star Pedro Pascal), his supervisor who’s laser-focused on bringing down the Cartel. “I think he’s somebody who doesn’t have a lot of time for bulls–t,” Stahl-David says of Feistl, based on the real-life DEA agent of the same name. “He doesn’t want to be overly cautious and he’s somebody who wants to get into play. He’s pretty adept at working different scenarios and speaking Spanish helps him work with informants.
“He’s just young and hungry.”
Feistl finally gets his chance to contribute to the cause when Javy sends him and his partner, Dan Van Ness (Matt Whelan), to the city of Cali to chase a tip (the entire series was shot on-location). “It just felt so rich and authentic shooting all those scenes,” says Stahl-David. “I started [my career] in theater and then moved into TV and film, and one of the nice things is to shoot in real places. As an actor, it helps your imagination when you’re in a real environment. I had some time off and hit the road; this country is ridiculously gorgeous and affordable and I went hiking, to the ocean, to coffee country … and started taking Salsa lessons.”Stahl-David says he met with the real Chris Feistl before shooting began, which definitely helped him shape his on-screen alter-ego. “I took the initiative and flew to Arizona to meet him, which was awesome,” he says. “He walked me through a lot of what went down. We talked over beers for hours. He was a college athlete and played basketball … and looked like Kid Rock back when he started. He had long hair, which was perfect for undercover work. He was ambitious, competitive and very tenacious — once he got his teeth into something, that was it.”
And Stahl-David reaped an added bonus during his time in Colombia. “I ended up falling in love with a Colombian woman and now I’m in a relationship,” he says. “She’s friends with one of the directors’ wives, and we met on the Salsa floor.
“Those Salsa lessons paid off.”
“Narcos” is available on Netflix.