Rodrigo Santoro may play the villain in Runner, but don’t expect Damien Zaldivar to fit neatly into that label.
Santoro joined The Buzz to discuss the new action thriller and the layers behind Damien, a dangerous and unpredictable man whose vulnerability slowly begins to complicate how audiences see him.
For Santoro, that complexity was exactly the point.
“Humans are so complex,” Santoro said, explaining that whether he is playing a villain or hero, he looks beyond the label to understand the person underneath. “What’s going on with this person?”
That approach extended throughout the creation of Damien. Santoro worked closely with director Scott Waugh on everything from the character’s tattoos and wardrobe to his physicality and unpredictability. Rather than trying to physically match Alan Ritchson, who plays Hank Malone, Santoro found another way to make Damien threatening.
He also discovered something unexpected about the character: Damien enjoys the danger.
That realization gave Santoro room to make Damien playful at unexpected moments, including improvisations that ultimately made the final cut.
“I don’t know what you think, but humans are so complex,” Santoro said. “We’re not one thing or the other.”
But midway through our conversation, the discussion about heroes, villains and the lengths people will go to save someone they don’t know took an unexpected turn.
Santoro realized that our interview was taking place on September 11, 2026—the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks—and that Runner itself centers, in part, on first responders.
“Being a part of Runner truly makes me think about people that are willing to put everything on the line when someone else needs help,” Santoro said.
That observation opened a larger conversation about the courage required to help another person when there is no guarantee of your own safety.
I shared with Santoro that The Buzz was commemorating the 25th anniversary of 9/11 with stories from people connected to that day, including the story of a man who saved a woman he did not know and reunited with her 25 years later.
Suddenly, the central question underneath Runner didn’t feel confined to an action movie.
How far would you go for someone you don’t know?
For Santoro, the answer brought us back to the very labels we had been discussing at the beginning of the interview.
“To me, these people are real heroes,” he said. “You don’t need to wear a cape to be a hero.”
Santoro ultimately described that heroism as something rooted not only in courage, but in love, empathy and caring for other people.
From there, another kind of love entered the conversation.
More than two decades after its release, Love Actually remains a holiday tradition for audiences around the world. Santoro played Karl, whose relationship with Sarah, played by Laura Linney, became one of the film’s more bittersweet stories.
Santoro understands why people still bring it up.
“I think people connect to the feeling,” he said, describing the film as a feel-good movie “with substance.”
And yes, people still ask him why Sarah picked up that phone.
For Santoro, however, the fact that Karl and Sarah don’t receive the traditional fairy-tale ending is part of what makes their story truthful.
“I guess that’s a reflection of what life is,” he said. “It’s not always happy fairy tales.”
Love Actually also marked a pivotal point in Santoro’s own life. Still early in his career outside Brazil, the film introduced him to new opportunities and allowed him to work alongside actors he had grown up admiring.
More than 20 years later, audiences are still watching.
And perhaps there is a connection between the three seemingly different subjects that emerged during our conversation: a fictional villain who cannot be reduced to simply being “bad,” ordinary people capable of extraordinary acts of courage, and a beloved romantic film that acknowledges love doesn’t always end perfectly.
And whether we’re talking about an action movie, real-life heroism or a Christmas classic, Santoro remains fascinated by the humanity underneath it all.
Watch my complete conversation with Rodrigo Santoro on The Buzz by clicking the player above.
Runner is now available to be seen in theaters. Check your listings for showtimes.
