Interview: Antonio Cipriano on Making Original NATIONAL TREASURE Fans 'Proud' With New Series

Antonio Cipriano is ready to make original National Treasure fans "proud" with the new Disney+ Edge of History series.

An expansion of the "National Treasure" movie franchise, the series follows Jess Valenzuela's life is turned upside down when an enigmatic stranger gives her a clue to a centuries-old treasure that might be connected to her long-dead father.

Jess has a knack for solving puzzles, and her skills are put to the test as she and her friends follow a series of clues hidden in American artifacts and landmarks. But can Jess outsmart a black-market antiquities dealer in a race to find history's greatest lost treasure and unbury the truth about her family's past?

Cipriano, who was seen on Broadway in Jagged Little Pill, plays Oren, who uses his encyclopedic knowledge of conspiracy theories to help his friends in their search for treasure. He will stars alongside Catherine Zeta-Jones, Zuri Reed, Lisette Olivera, Harvey Keitel, Justin Bartha, and more.

Ahead of the series' two episode premiere tomorrow, BroadwayWorld sat down with Cipriano to discuss what National Treasure fans can expect from the series, what his days on set were like, and if his own fans can any original music from him in the future.

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Tell me a little bit about your character, Oren, in this series.

We love Oren. He is one of the four best friends that grew up together in the show and one of the five treasure hunters, the loose term treasure hunters. None of them are really experienced in treasure hunting, like the original films where Ben Gates and Riley Pool were actual treasure hunters. We're kind of just thrown into this. But yeah, he's a goofball.

I see a lot of myself in him for sure. He goes from a bit of a selfish to a selfless arc. There's a bit of an arc there, which is really fun to play. But he loves his friends and he's kind of the cheerleader of the group. He goes through some pretty traumatic stuff towards the beginning of the show and for him to not turn away and instead to kind of light the fire underneath Jess and push the hunt along, that's kind of what his role is in the show and it's very fun to play.

And he's really into conspiracy theories, right?

Yeah, yeah. Almost a bit concerning. But you know, it does come in handy occasionally. A broken clock is right twice a day, you know? He does want to help all the time and occasionally it does work out and you're rooting for him. He says so many crazy things, but sometimes it works.

It also seems like such a fun cast. What was it like filming the series?

It was truly the best experience I could have asked for. Especially kind of in a time that was hard for everybody. It was two years into Covid and it just came at a perfect time, I think. This family that we created was unlike anything I've been a part of. Even just working with the [Wibberleys], the writers of the original movies and then came onto the show, they were so collaborative and so open to ideas from the actors and it's like, you guys have created this legacy, this insane piece of art and the fact that you're trusting us with this is incredible and we are all so grateful and we really hope people like it.

Speaking of those original movies, were you a fan of them beforehand?

Oh yeah. The movies came out when I was four and that's what's so cool about the show and the movies, is you can watch it with your whole family. I watched it when I was a kid with my dad and my mom, my brother. Everybody can watch it together and it's the same thing with the shows too.

So then what can fans of the original movies sort of expect from the series?

I mean, it's the same writers, so they can really expect all of those same aspects that made the movie so amazing and iconic in this show. There's crazy adventure, there's romance, there's comedy, there's everything that makes a good show and it's treasure hunting. I mean, who doesn't love that?

Since we've seen you on Broadway before, what was it like getting to explore a character in like a multi episode arc as opposed to a two hours show?

Yeah, it's definitely a big difference. It's like a 10 hour movie that you get to play around with. And also Broadway, you're doing eight shows a week of the same thing. With TV you get so many opportunities to continue to expand the character and there's so much more. For a show there's such limited material that can be actually a part of the two hours because there's not enough time and you have to kind of make up your storyline as you go, kinda like what you were doing offstage and all this stuff.

With TV, you have so much more material to work with, and you're learning it as you're going too. So it's always constantly exciting. It was kind of written like one 10 hour movie actually. Like it's a very slow build and then seven through 10 is like craziness and it's so fun.

Speaking of those differences, what are your favorite differences between performing on stage and on screen?

I mean, nothing is like performing on stage for sure. There's nothing like that. But I think what's so beautiful about TV and film, that we don't really talk about much because every actor has their own way of going about set life, like being on set and the hurry up and wait and everything. But what I love so much about it is like, the waiting time you get. That's where you can make those fun memories with the cast and hang out with the crew and get to know everybody and learn and like watch how another actor is doing their scene and really just get to feel the entire vibes of the set. I really do enjoy that. Nothing really beats a live audience for sure, but I would love to do both for sure. I would love to do both for as long as I can, as long as they'll have me.

It's also funny because it's like the audience you're with, with them for two hours, whereas on this one it's like you get like the social media commentary and like, it's sort of like the pouring in over the course of so much time too.

I don't really know how that is because I've never really done it like that. So it'll be interesting to see and I'm excited for fans of the original movies to see it and give their honest opinions because I know that there's a lot of skepticism. I think people are a little worried that we're taking this precious piece of history. But I think we're going to make 'em proud, hopefully.

Since we're not going to hear your sing in the series, could we ever expect some original music from you? Is that ever like an interest?

Well, [on the show] you can just listen for the background about halfway through the show. It's not my character though, so you'll have to like really listen. It's as Easter Egg for sure.

1000%. Yeah. I kind of dabbled in [songwriting] when I was younger. When you do things when you're younger, you kind of regret it occasionally, but I learned a lot from it and I definitely am so interested in doing that. I mean, singing was actually my first love. Singing was it. So I would love to, for sure.

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Watch the trailer for National Treasure: Edge of History here:

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