Cristina Rosato is the latest addition to the cast of Turner & Hooch, but she’s had an exciting career in the entertainment industry.
Her character has emerged as a firm favorite on the Disney+ series.
We got to chat with Cristina about what’s ahead on Turner & Hooch Season 1, upcoming projects, and so much more.
What attracted you to Turner & Hooch?
Cristina: I was a fan of the original movie when I was a little girl. When I read the script, this character was just so fun and so different from anything I’d really ever done before in my career.
I was really excited to be challenged in this way.
The series has animals on the set. What’s that like?
They’re amazing. It kind of reminds me more of like, I guess, live theater because there’s always just elements that are on the fly and a little bit spontaneous because you can have all the plans you want, but then the animals come in and that sort of changes everything.
They also just take away any of the like stress. Well, maybe that’s just a me thing, but I feel like animals are very calming.
We haven’t seen a lot of Olivia so far on the series. What can you tell me about your character?
I can’t say too much, but I think that her and Xavier’s relationship is one of my favorites. They’re a really fun couple. They have some ups and downs, but yes, that’s all I can say!
What do you think sets the TV series apart from the movie?
Well, I think that this one follows a few other storylines, so there’s more for the fans.
People can follow the different characters. There are animals to fall in love with. I think that it just brings you more of that stuff that people love of the film.
Action, dogs, fun heartstrings. I think it just expands a lot on that but also adds to a lot of the characters and animals.
Have you heard anything about a second season renewal?
I have not heard anything yet.
Is there anything else you can tease up the first season?
What can I say? Just to stay tuned because it’s a rollercoaster, specifically with our characters, Olivia and Xavier. Our storyline gets pretty heated.
Can you speak a bit about what it was like to shoot in during the pandemic?
It’s unique to be filming during the pandemic. We were all getting tested every two days, everybody, the whole cast and crew, and of course, wearing the masks during rehearsals in between takes and everything.
It was definitely strange because that was also before everyone was vaccinated. And so everyone was a little bit on edge, and it’s always a little bit scary because you know where you take all the precautions, but you never know what can happen.
We were all very grateful, to be honest. The set was the only place that felt a little bit normal because, you know, we’d be on different locations and different sets.
There were lots of people around because that’s just the virtue of a film or TV set, and everyone was distanced and masked.
I know you’ve worked on the Assassin’s Creed videogame series. What was that like?
I loved that experience because I did so many of them. The character I played. So one of the characters I played appeared in three video games, and then another character I played appeared in a few other video games as well.
It was really interesting because when I started, the technology wasn’t where it’s at now. So we would record the voice on one day, do the facial capture on it, and do the motion capture, which is the performance like the character’s body and the movement on another day.
The performance was very separate, and the process was very long, but as the technology improved, we actually did everything at the same time.
You’re wearing the motion capture suit with the balls on it. I’m sure you’ve seen with these helmets that have these huge, well, they’re not huge but have these rigs, light, camera, and sound recording all at the same time.
It’s much more of a cohesive process, I think. It’s really interesting because you are playing in a world that’s basically just a big empty warehouse, and they give you measurements.
For example, this hallway is six feet long, then at the end of this hallway, you make a right, and that’s where the library is, for instance, but you’re really just on this bare floor.
What was really interesting is that when we shot the first few Assassin’s Creed games, the ones that were about the Brotherhood, that were in Milan, I actually visited the land to shoot a commercial during that time.
We went to visit the Palazzo Dello Sport, which is where a lot of my character’s interactions took place. I knew exactly my way around the palace because it was to scale, a replica of what we were doing. I was like, ‘oh, I think the sitting room is this way and the library is this way?’ and it was a kind of mind-blowing experience.
Are you working on any other video games at the moment, or are you strictly on movies and TV?
I can’t say too much, but I might be working on a new video game soon
Are you working on any other TV shows or movies?
I just recently finished a movie in South America. The working title was The Vegas, but I believe they’re going to change the name. We started shooting it last year in Argentina, January, February, March, and then, of course, we got shut down due to the pandemic, and we were able to finish it this year in Uruguay.
We had to switch locations because of the situation in Argentina, actually. It’s very sad. I was shooting a Canada- Argentina co-production.
Is there anything you can tease about that project?
That story is based on true events, and it follows a brother and sister who live in Toronto, who are from Argentina, and they travel back to their homeland and connect with their roots and just visit what they had left when they were babies.
While they’re there, they find out the real reason their parents left Argentina, which was what actually happened in Argentina in the late seventies and early eighties.
The military coup came into power, and there were some atrocities that happened. And so we find out the real reason we left.
It’s very, it’s kind of a dark sobering story, but the movie is beautiful because the writer, director, producer, Alison Murray, wrote this beautiful story about these two people who connect with themselves and also discover the Argentine tango.
It’s just very beautiful. So we got to learn the tango and all about our genes.
Turner & Hooch airs Wednesdays on Disney+.
Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.