Summary
- Michael Chiklis (
The Shield, Winning Time
) embraces the 1970s vibes in his new series
Hotel Cocaine
, finding joy in the explosive era’s complexities and challenges. - Co-star Mark Feuerstein switches gears from
Royal Pain
‘s Dr. Hank to a wild hippie, reveling in humorous moments with iconic figures. - Embrace the drug-filled world of Miami in the ’70s and ’80s with
Hotel Cocaine
, a new crime epic now streaming on MGM+.
We spoke with veteran actor Michael Chiklis at the junket for Hotel Cocaine, which is now streaming on MGM+. The series also stars Danny Pino and Yul Vazquez as the owner of the titular hotel and his crime lord brother, respectively. But it is Chiklis who’s often stealing the show in his scenes opposite Pino as hotheaded DEA Agent Zulio, investigating the dealings tied to the infamous Mutiny Hotel that reigned supreme in Miami during the late ’70s and early ’80s.
On that note, Chiklis also kept busy in recent years with an entirely separate ’80s-set series: HBO’s Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, which saw Chiklis play Red Auerbach, former president of the Boston Celtics (which just won the NBA Finals, interestingly enough). Now, Chiklis is sinking his teeth in this next historical series that brings him from Beantown to the beaches down south. He told us:
“[Hotel Cocaine creator] Chris [Brancato] has done something really brilliant with this sort of historical fiction.
I was a child of the ’70s
, so to walk onto those sets and to hear that music and to see those costumes, and to transport myself into that time frame, and to play a guy in a world that’s exploding around him, that he has very little control over, but he’s grappling for control, and it’s becoming increasingly more difficult and impossible —
that’s fun stuff to play as an actor, man. It’s just a lot of fun
.”
“I mean, come on. It’s crazy… but in the best way, and the most fun way,” laughed Chiklis. “Danny Pino is a wonderful actor, and the stuff that I got to do with those guys, I mean, it’s just a great world. And there’s so much ground to cover, and so much happened during that period. And it was a great period, too, in terms of art and music, and all this different stuff that was going on in that scene. But at the same time, there was this really nasty underbelly to all of it.”
Watch Our Interview with Michael Chiklis and Mark Feuerstein Below:
From DEA Agents to ‘Coke-Snorting Hippies’
Hotel Cocaine (2024)
Hotel Cocaine is an MGM+ original crime thriller series. Hotel Cocaine follows Roman Compte (Danny Pino), a Cuban exile turned CIA Operative who operates a Miami hotel during the middle of the 70s and 80s cocaine scene. The series stars Michael Chiklis, Mark Feuerstein, and Yul Vazquez alongside Pino.
- Release Date
- June 16, 2024
- Seasons
- 1
- Writers
- Chris Brancato
- Streaming Service(s)
- MGM+
Alongside Chiklis during the Hotel Cocaine junket was co-star Mark Feuerstein, who TV-goers will remember as Dr. Hank from his eight seasons on USA Network’s hit series Royal Pains. “To get to step out of that completely and play this wild, freakish, coke-snorting hippie was heaven,” Feuerstein told MovieWeb about his character, who has a number of hilarious scenes with none other than the late, great writer Hunter S. Thompson in Hotel Cocaine.
I read
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
and sort of got back into the mind mindset of a gonzo journalist, who [my character is] begging to do a puff piece on my hotel. And I had so much fun with John Ventimiglia [who plays Thompson].
Feuerstein continued:
“And then Larry Powell came in and
was brilliant as Rick James
. And that’s the beauty of the historical fiction genre, which Chris Brancato has now made famous — you get to put these real, famous writers and artists in a world and then have them interact with your regular characters and see what happens.”
Hotel Cocaine is now streaming on MGM+. Watch it through the link below:
Watch Hotel Cocaine
