Sasha Calle Talks ‘In the Summers’ and Gets Candid About ‘The Flash’: “It Was Very Heartbreaking”

Sasha Calle was filled with conflicting emotions in the summer of 2023. 

On one hand, she was proudly promoting her feature film debut as Kara Zor-El/Supergirl in Andy Muschietti’s The Flash. However, she was the only cast member facing the press at the time, as lead actor, Ezra Miller, was mired in legal controversy throughout the prolonged lead-up to June’s release. On top of that, James Gunn and Peter Safran took the reins at DC Studios in October 2022, announcing a new slate of DCU projects in January 2023, with only a select number of connections to the rollercoaster ride that was the former DCEU. Thus, Calle’s future as the Kryptonian was in doubt before it even had a chance to lift off onscreen.

So, Calle had to sidestep questions about Miller, often pivoting to how much she genuinely revered her stunt team, while also expressing optimism at the future, even if she could sense that the writing was on the wall. If that wasn’t enough to shoulder, she lost her voice in the midst of it all.

“It was very hard, I have to say. I had bittersweet feelings as I was maneuvering everything,” Calle tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I was very excited, but there were a lot of unanswered questions for me, so it was very bittersweet.”

There were still plenty of silver linings that emerged. Namely, a close friendship with Leslie Grace, whose own DC tenure as Batgirl was abruptly cut short in August 2022 when the unfinished Batgirl was shelved for a tax break. The two performers — who once had dreams of meeting each other on screen as their respective superhero characters — ultimately served as support systems for one another.

“I don’t know what I would’ve done without Leslie, to be honest with you. I feel like she got it even worse, and yet, she was just this divine light of love and warmth,” Calle says. “And even though it came from a really confusing and painful situation, we got to have this beautiful friendship that is true and honest and sincere and kind. We were there for each other, and I am really happy that we had each other then.”

Prior to The Flash’s release, Grace helped convince Calle to board Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio’s semi-autobiographical drama, In the Summers, which is a four-chaptered story about two sisters who visit their troubled father (René “Residente” Pérez) every summer in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Calle plays Adult Eva, who, like her adult sibling, Violeta (Lio Mehiel), has inherited their turbulent father’s best and worst traits. Calle somehow managed to shoot the now-critically acclaimed film at the same time as The Flash’s press tour, as she refused to let her hectic schedule get in the way of her chance to collaborate with a fellow Colombian-American artist. (The picture also won Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize for dramatic features.)

“I was just so honored to work even though I was exhausted … especially with Alessandra, who’s a queer Colombian woman,” Calle says. “I got together with my lawyer recently, and I’m just going to read you her quote: ‘Don’t complain how full your plate is when all you ever wanted was to eat.’ You just have to remind yourself that you dreamed of moments like that when you were little.”

Now that DC Studios has gone in another direction for the future of Supergirl, Calle admits that there’s some frustration since she originally shot an ending of The Flash that was supposed to pave the way for future adventures as part of her multi-film contract. But between the praise she’s received from critics and audiences, as well as new roles like her current one alongside Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in Joe Carnahan’s RIP, she’s proud that she made the most of her moment, no matter how fleeting it was. 

“It was very heartbreaking for me, and it was very confusing. Ultimately, I know that I did my best,” Calle shares. “It’s been said that a queer Latina girl like me couldn’t be Supergirl. But I was, and no one can take that away from me. That is the most important thing for me; I did something that mattered. And whether you saw yourself represented in me or not, a lot of people really connected with her and loved her.”

Below, during a recent conversation with THR, Calle also recounts the story in which Grace pitched her In the Summers inside a restaurant bathroom.

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Where did In the Summers fall on your timeline?

I literally shot In the Summers as I was doing press for The Flash, which was in the summer of 2023. 

That was a very interesting time. 

I know! 

What was your headspace at the time?

Honestly, it was just very go-go-go. I also remember being pretty sick. I went on 15 flights in 40 days; it was pretty gnarly. 

The film’s first image is a message from the director, Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio, explaining why she didn’t subtitle the Spanish scenes in the movie. I’ve seen this approach a few times recently, but it’s always an interesting choice to let emotion and body language communicate to those of us who don’t speak the language. As someone who’s bilingual like yourself, what’s your take on it? 

I trust Alessandra, and I thought it was a really beautiful approach. I am a very interesting creature; I love subtitles. Some people hate them, some people love them, but I just find languages to be very interesting. Sometimes, I’ll take them off and just enjoy the film. But I thought it was a very beautiful thing because In the Summers is a movie that says so much without having to explain it. That’s the best. [Calle’s Great Dane, Dragon, enters into the Zoom frame and makes his presence felt.] This is my horse dog. I want you to see and understand how big he is.

Wow, he truly is enormous. 

He is. 

The characters in the movie go in and out of both English and Spanish. Is that fairly common?

Yeah, and it was interesting because I wasn’t allowed to speak Spanish in In the Summers. It was a choice that Alessandra made, and it was hard for me because I normally jump in and out a lot. It is my way of existing. It is a very natural thing as a bilingual American-Colombian. It feels like you have two dictionaries that are accessible to you at all times, and it’s like a song that you go in and out of. 

Alessandra is also Colombian-American. Did the two of you bond over your shared background when you first met? 

I was very careful in asking her about her life. I didn’t want to impose too much. Life, in a lot of ways, can be very fragile and sensitive. Even though it’s loosely based, I was honored to read the script and experience this point in her life that she was sharing with me. There was a night where we made dinner, and we bonded. We just caught up and talked about life, and she shared bits and pieces with me about these situations. She’s also very gracious, so, if I would’ve sat her down and asked her, I think she would’ve responded. But I’m a very sensitive person, and I’m very careful about what I ask. So I just wanted her to share with me what she felt was important for me to know.

Did you have any interaction with the other Eva actors? 

The babies. Yes, of course. I love them. I adore them. They’re so talented. We would call them “the Littles.” Luciana [Elisa Quinonez] was my Little, and I would say I had more interactions with her. We would then call the characters’ middle versions, like Allison [Salinas], “the Middles.” We never called ourselves “the Olders.” (Laughs) 

Unfortunately, because I was in and out of Flash press, I never really got to see anyone else film. I would be in there, and then I would have to run out. But they were gracious enough to share clips with me. But once I saw the full movie, I was so in awe of their work. Alison had to do a whole summer [chapter] on her own, too. 

I went to college to study singing, acting, and dancing for four years, and then I graduated when I was 20 or 21. I was then thrown into the real world, and a year and a half after that, I did a soap [The Young and the Restless]. So it was so gnarly to watch these younger actors open their hearts and feel the things that they had to feel at such a young age. I’ll always be in awe of them.

The third chapter broke something in Eva, and you captured that disengaged feeling to a T once you presided over the character. Did you focus on expanding that upsetting final scene in chapter three, or was it more the accumulation of everything they’d been through together?

Alessandra wrote such a beautiful script that it allowed you to carry the weight as you were reading it. So I focused on that, and she would guide me, too. I would try to be as present as possible once I landed on set. I focused on how Eva would be feeling in that moment, and that was my biggest asset. I love direction, as well. I don’t know why, but I thrive on someone telling me what to do when I’m at work. I like when a director pushes me, and she did that beautifully. She would push me somewhere, and I’d embrace it. And in those moments, as an actor, you really don’t know if it’s going to work or not. There’s such trust in the director and the DP and everybody around you because you’re not in control. It’s hard to lose control and just trust, but I’m happy that it worked. I’m happy that people are resonating with this movie, because, at the end of the day, when I left that set, I had no idea if it worked out or not.

When the family went sledding in the desert, it seemed like the sleds didn’t work as expected. Only the little half-sister was able to pull it off. Were those sleds actually an issue on the day?

(Laughs) That was so real! The sleds were not working for any of us, and that wasn’t written. There was a big heat wave, and we were all very miserable, but we were excited to try our sleds out. And when it came down to it, they did not work for any of us. We tried everything, but it ended up working for the baby. It was so sweet and perfect in that way, but we were all a bit jealous that the sleds were not working for the rest of us.

Eva wears baggy jeans when she skates, and while you’ve been wearing them for a while in your real life, they’re now in vogue again. Do you feel like you were at the forefront of this revival?

Maybe, I don’t know. I’m inspired by so many people, but I have a lot of skateboarder friends and I love what they wear. I’m usually inspired by my guy friends’ clothes, and I’ve also had a really beautiful relationship with Acne Studios. They were onto these really baggy, ripped jeans. So I just see things that I love, and for some reason, I’ve always loved bigger jeans. Before the wave came in, I was thrifting a lot, and I would find these men’s jeans that were so fucking big that I would have to belt them up. I never tailored them. I was just wearing these really big jeans, and a lot of my friends would make fun of me for it. They’d be like, “Girl …” My mom would also be like, “When are you going to buy pants that fit you?” But now they’re back in, and so I love to see that.

Your friend Leslie Grace is also a part of the cast. Did one of you encourage the other to join?

Yes, Leslie very much encouraged me to join. She’s one of my best friends now. She’s like family to me. This project came about for me in a very serendipitous way. In Hollywood, they have these Latin parties where people in Hollywood’s Latin culture get together, and you literally get to see all your friends and people you admire. So I was a bit late to one, and I remember walking in and everybody was just drinking and having a good old time. And then Lynette [Coll] and Sergio [Lina], who are two of the producers that I didn’t know at the time, came up to me and were like, “You’re in our movie!” And I was like, “What’s going on here? I don’t know who these people are.” Well, Leslie was next to me, and I was just giving her the look, like, “Sis, what’s going on here?” And she was like, “No, it’s okay. I’ll tell you about it.” 

Lynette and Sergio were then like, “Come on, let’s get a cast photo.” And I was still in my head, saying, “What is happening? Who are these people? What is this movie? I’ve never heard about this movie.” So I was just posing and playing along at that point, and then Leslie and I went up to the bathroom. That’s pretty much when she started telling me about the film. She started telling me the storyline near this restaurant bathroom, and she was like, “I signed on. Here are the other people who have signed on.” She said she got a call from Rene, and then she said, “I don’t know which sister they’re making you play. You could play [either] sister.” 

When I read the script, I probably would’ve had myself play the other sister, and I’m glad that I didn’t because Lio [Mehiel] is perfect for that [Adult Violeta] role. I was also pushed in a direction and forced to do something new for myself, which was very nice. Eva had many things that ended up resonating with me a lot more emotionally, and that was a very beautiful experience for me. So, yes, Leslie was the first big reason why I signed onto this.

You mentioned that you were doing press for The Flash at the same time, and I have to say that I have so much respect for how you handled that press tour. You were the only actor who did press, the DC universe was in flux and you had to face all these big, unanswerable questions in connection to your very first movie. Were you quite overwhelmed by that at the time?

Thank you for saying that. It means so much to me. It was very hard, I have to say. I had bittersweet feelings as I was maneuvering everything. I was very excited, but there were a lot of unanswered questions for me, so it was very bittersweet. I had a beautiful team around me to support me. I had beautiful publicists, and I had an amazing makeup artist and hairstylist who took care of me. I then got really sick, too. I lost my voice. So I was kind of in robot mode just to make sure that I was even able to speak, but my team was awesome. My makeup artist would knock on my door at four in the morning, and she would throw a bucket of ice in a sink to put my face into it. (Laughs) I know it sounds treacherous, but to be very honest with you, it was really sweet. She would then make sure that I didn’t look sick. 

So I just had to remind myself that I got to do this incredible movie and that I put my heart and soul into it, and that no matter where it was going to go, I did that. No one could take that away from me, and I had to own it. As my first film, there were so many unknowns, and you can feel imposter-y, sometimes, because you’re trying to understand where you fit. But I again go back to having people in my life who support me and love me and know my value, and I had a lot of those people there to remind me that I was worth it and that I was strong and that I could enjoy what I had earned in that moment. So I enjoyed those moments even though I was super sick. I enjoyed those interviews and speaking with people who were big fans. Even that premiere was a dream to me. My family was there. I used to walk those streets when I was in college, and it was just a beautiful experience. 

And in terms of In the Summers, I was just so honored to work even though I was exhausted. As an actor, you never know what’s next. You never know what’s happening, and I was just so honored to be working, especially with Alessandra, who’s a queer Colombian woman. So, in moments like that, you just have to remind yourself that there is so much beauty. I got together with my lawyer recently, and I’m just going to read you her quote: “Don’t complain how full your plate is when all you ever wanted was to eat.”

I like that.

Yeah, my lawyer, Sloan [P. Whiteside-Munteanu], told me that her mom always used to say that to her, and I was like, “Touché.” So you just have to remind yourself that you dreamed of moments like that when you were little. 

Did you and Leslie have each other’s backs during your mutual trials and tribulations in that ever-evolving cinematic universe? 

Oh my God, yes. I always say that her parents knew what they were doing when they called her Leslie Grace, because she just walks with so much grace. So I don’t know what I would’ve done without Leslie, to be honest with you. I feel like she got it even worse, and yet, she was just this divine light of love and warmth. She was just so beautiful. Again, she’s my family. I could call her whenever, and we’d just have each other’s backs. And even though it came from a really confusing and painful situation, we got to have this beautiful friendship that is true and honest and sincere and kind. It’s very selfless. We were there for each other, and I am really happy that we had each other then. So we’re both very fortunate that we ended up connecting and becoming best friends.

Your situation is rather unique because the first time we saw you in your Supergirl costume, courtesy of the paparazzi, was during the original courthouse ending where you were presumably setting up your future in the DC universe. (The original ending of The Flash had Calle’s Supergirl and Michael Keaton’s Bruce Wayne reconnect with Barry Allen outside the courthouse.)

Right.

So is it all the more frustrating when you know that you shot footage that was supposed to lead to more?

Of course! I was so deeply in love with that role. I had a conversation about her future many times. When I signed onto that, it was for a multiple picture deal. That’s a common thing when you sign onto a franchise. So it was very heartbreaking for me, and it was very confusing. Ultimately, I know that I did my best, and wherever it ended up going, it wasn’t … [Calle ponders for a few moments.]

It wasn’t a knock on your performance that you didn’t continue. You were frequently highlighted. It just came at the wrong time.

I also want to work with people who value me and respect me and are really excited to work with me. That’s what I wish for myself, and that’s what I wish for anybody in this business, but that was a rough experience. So I look forward to working with people in this industry who see my value and who are excited to work with me. I have so much to give. I love my job so much, and I’m so excited to start kicking ass again. I love action movies. Whether it’s supernatural or not, I am just so excited to continue doing those things, and I know that I will do those things, with or without that role. I look back at it as something super beautiful. It’s been said that a queer Latina girl like me couldn’t be Supergirl, but I was, and no one can take that away from me. That is the most important thing for me; I did something that mattered. And whether you saw yourself represented in me or not, a lot of people really connected with her and loved her. 

I walked into a store the other day, and this huge black man, who was the security guard, came up to me and whispered, “Hey.” And I was like, “Yes?” And he was like, “You’re a badass.” And I was like, “What are you talking about?” And he was like, “You’re Supergirl. You’re a badass. We love you.” So for that man to have connected with my performance, it was such a beautiful moment, and those little moments are everything to me. So I have to stick with that. I did my job. I was given an opportunity, and I gave everything that I could have given. I love that and I’m proud of that, and I will continue moving forward and fighting standards. I’m just hoping to work with people who are very excited to work with me.

Wwhat matters most is that your performance has already gotten you a handful of more jobs, including one with Matt Damon and your Flash castmate Ben Affleck. As a former Bostonian, are you looking forward to working with two of Boston’s favorite sons in Joe Carnahan’s RIP? 

Of course! Ben is so lovely. He’s so kind. Everyone has been so loving and welcoming, and has treated me with so much respect. We just did a table read [earlier this month], and it was so much fun. Matt had a Boston hat on, and I was like, “Yeah, let’s go!” So it’s a big source of pride for me, and I’m so excited to work with them and Joe Carnahan and everyone else. That little kid who used to roam the streets of Boston would be so proud of me. 

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In the Summers releases Nov. 5 on digital.