Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with The Tax Collector’s Bobby Soto

For Bobby Soto, leading his first feature film opposite Shia LaBeouf is a privilege and honor that he does not take lightly. As a person of color, these opportunities are still, unfortunately, far and few, but Bobby hopes to be part of that change. Pop Culturalist caught up with Bobby to learn more about his new film, The Tax Collector, how he met writer-director David Ayer, and why this project has been so special for Bobby.

PC: Tell us about The Tax Collector and your character.
Bobby: The Tax Collector is a very specific story depicting this lifestyle that is very authentic and true to a lot of people’s lives that live in an organization and in a family of crime. It’s in the DNA of these characters and the DNA of a lot of people that live in a society or a neighborhood that puts you to the test and tests who you are and what you’re made of. A lot of the time that forces them to make decisions that are not “the right thing to do” in society, but it’s a means of survival. It’s a way of protecting the people you love and creating this substantial lifestyle.

It takes a lot from a person who’s trying to uphold honor and respect but living in a place that’s rough and tough. It’s not easy to be vulnerable and to show your feelings and emotions. You see in this film how faith and strength are tested when you’re cornered and dealt the cards that you’re dealt with. It’s a test of what will you do when things fall down? Who will you become when things are taken from you? I like to compare it to the book of Job, where God gives and takes, and it’s a test to your faith.

This happens to a lot of people in their day-to-day lives, where they’re investing their time and their life into something that’s giving them a means of sustaining their lifestyle. Eventually, the Universe comes into play and it catches you and it makes a man out of you or it’ll make you into something else. It’s up to you to decide whether you choose to be a monster or you choose to be a leader of your people and a protector of your family and the ones you love. This film has a lot to do with those things.

PC: You have an interesting history with David Ayer [writer-director]. For readers who may not be familiar, can you share a bit of how you two met?
Bobby: I grew up in West/South Central Los Angeles. My mother was from West Los Angeles and my father was from South Central Los Angeles. David Ayer grew up in West Los Angeles himself. Four years ago, I walked into an Echo Park dojo called RMMA. The sensei there is best friends with David Ayer. I did not know this at the time. I walked into this dojo just wanting to train and to learn how to fight with proper skill sets. About a year and a half at this dojo, I started sparring and exercising with David, not knowing he was David Ayer.

We became friends. We became really close-knitted homeys, and he went to a couple of my family festivals. I would hang out with him all the time. We’d always kick it. A couple months into our friendship, it never dawned on us to ask what we did for an occupation. One day, he asked me, “What do you do?” I told him I was an actor and I asked what he did. He was like, “I’m a writer and director.” I didn’t know that. I was like, “That’s cool, man. If you could teach me anything, that’d be dope. I would like to bring you coffee. I want to learn.” I asked him what movies he did.

He was like, “Have you heard of Training Day?” I said, “Yeah, of course. I grew up watching Training Day.” He was like, “I wrote that one. You ever seen End of Watch?” I was like, “Yeah.” He was like, “I wrote that one too.” It tripped me out, man. I didn’t know that. These are classic films, especially being from LA and being Chicano. I’m Puerto Rican/Mexican, but I was raised in Los Angeles and those movies have a lot to do with the culture and that lifestyle.

It was another layer to my friend that I never knew about. One day, he called me up around ten p.m. on a Monday night. He asked if I wanted to be in a movie with him. I said, “Of course.” He asked if I was ready and I told him of course. Then we got into it and started rehearsing. He introduced me to Shia [LaBeouf]. Shia introduced me to Lana Parrilla, Cinthya Carmona, Cheyenne Rae Hernandez, and Conejo Martin. Conejo is also from West LA. He and I grew up in the same neighborhood. We’re actually very, very, very close. We’re almost like cousins—that’s how close we are. I hadn’t seen him for so long, and then he came back to Los Angeles.

He was also friends with David from back in the day. Everything came full circle by the grace of God. It was just meant to be. We all came together to create this movie out of love, out of trust, and the desire to create. We had the courage to challenge ourselves and do this project.

It’s a challenge to this day for David to put a Chicano Brown person as the lead opposite Shia LaBeouf. Shia and I became really good friends. We opened a theater company after the movie wrapped called Slawson Recreational Theater Company, which is out of Slawson Rec Park, which is off of 53rd and Compton, where we were filming The Tax Collector. I actually grew up on 58th.

PC: That has to be really special.
Bobby: It is. Shia and I were able to bring an art program and theater to people that have never been around it. I grew up there and there was never arts anywhere. I had to drive two hours north to Hollywood with my mom. She would drop me off for class so I could do something different with my life and something I never thought about. I mean, I’m still learning.

Shia has really become this big brother. Him and I hit it off. We love each other. He has an authentic, real, and genuine openness with his heart and mind. We collided and really melted into each other’s arms, which is a beautiful thing.

As artists, it’s what everybody wants. The best thing is we took it further than just a movie. We still collaborate. The same with David and I. He’s like an uncle to me, especially in this industry. As Latinos and Chicanos, we don’t have a lot of leading figures we can look up to or be mentored by. Look at the Chicano youths. There is no one saying to them, “Let me teach you. Let me educate you. Let me drop some wisdom. Let me lead you on this path.”

My mom has worked hard her entire life. She always says, “If I had somebody that told me there’s going to be A through Z—and you got to go through A, B, C, D, E, F, all the way until you hit Z—if I had someone that was already at Z and knows what it takes to get there, it would help me get there faster. But because there was nobody, I had to do it myself. I had to challenge myself and had to work really hard and believe in myself. I had to teach myself.”

It’s the same in this industry. We don’t have these people who are high ranked that are Chicanos or Latinos or people who want to see the Chicano, Hispanic, or Latinx stories. David Ayer, luckily enough, he grew up in a Chicano culture. He grew up around Mexicans. He speaks perfect Spanish. He’s an advocate for us. He’s an advocate for the Brown culture. This has been such a blessed opportunity: to be given the opportunity to lead a movie from beginning to end. No one has given me that opportunity, but he did.

To keep up with Bobby, follow him on Instagram. Watch or rent The Tax Collector on demand today.

Photo Credit: Justin Lubin