HBO’s new series, The Brink, premiered Monday night at the Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, California. Esai Morales, who depicts the President of the United States in the geopolitical dark comedy, made his appearance at the premiere looking ever so dapper as he does portraying President Julian Navarro in the series. The Brink premieres on June 21st at 10:30pm on HBO.
Esai Morales’ acting career spans well over 3 decades. The American actor of Puerto Rican descent has been cast in such diverse roles ranging from troubled youth Paco Moreno, opposite Sean Penn, in the 80’s classic Bad Boys to FBI Section Chief Mateo Cruz in the CBS hit series Criminal Minds. The range of characters he has portrayed transcend many stereotypical roles that film and television audiences are accustomed to seeing. This however, is the first time Morales portrays one of the most significant roles of his acting career, the President of the United States of America, an excellent decision made by HBO executives when considering other notable talent. “It marks the apogee of my characters’ evolution from street tough guy in Bad Boys, to the Commander in Chief of the world’s most powerful nation…that’s quite an arc,” said Morales, “I’m also thrilled to be working on a smart and funny show with some of the top talent in the business on the premiere cable network HBO, a prime destination for actors and audiences alike.”
The new half-hour dark comedy series, The Brink, focuses on a geopolitical crisis and its effect on three disparate and desperate men: Walter Larson (played by Tim Robbins), the US Secretary of State: Alex Talbot (Jack Black), a lowly Foreign Service officer and Zeke Tilson (Pablo Schreiber) an ace Navy fighter pilot. These three compromised souls must pull through the chaos around them to save the planet from World War Three. The Brink also features Aasif Mandvi, Maribeth Monroe, Carla Gugino and Eric Ladin.
The series is created by Roberto Benabib, with Kim Benabib. It is executive produced by Jerry Weintraub, Jay Roach and Roberto Benabib, with Kim Benabib as co-executive producer. Jay Roach directed the series pilot. In addition to starring, Jack Black and Tim Robbins also serve as producers, and Asif Mandvi as co-producer.