Puerto Rican and Mexican-American actor and singer Carlito Olivero (East Los High) had actually accumulated experience with escape rooms before he went onto the set of his latest movie, the psychological horror sequel Escape Room: Tournament of Champions. He said he’s participated in at least 16 escape rooms over his lifetime —but the actor isn’t shy to admit he hasn’t been very good at them.
“In a way, I felt like I manifested the role because I was such a big fan,” Olivero, 32, told Remezcla during a recent interview. “We know escape rooms are fake, but if you really were in a life-or-death situation … would you be able to survive? I think I died at least 14 of the 16 times.”
Luckily, Escape Room: Tournament of Champions is just a movie. Olivero plays Theo, a man in a group of players forced to enter a series of deadly escape rooms. Joining Olivero for this bit of danger are several actors, including Taylor Russell (Waves), Logan Miller (Love, Simon), and Indya Moore (Queen & Slim), who is of Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Haitian descent.
“Indya is great,” he said. “She killed it and brings her A-game as well. We had to represent hard. I was definitely throwing in a bunch of lines that weren’t in the movie, making sure that my character got all the camera time he could possibly get.”
While Olivero had a lot of fun making Escape Room: Tournament of Champions, he hopes there’s an opportunity in his next movie to sing. Olivero competed on the third season of X-Factor and was a member of the rebooted 2007 version of the boy band Menudo. He released his first album, D.D.B.R.W.S., in 2015.
“I want to be in the next big La La Land or In the Heights or Hairspray,” he shares. “It would be a dream come true to sing, dance, and act in the same project.”
Escape Room: Tournament of Champions is currently playing at theaters.