Manuel García-Rulfo moved to Los Angeles 15 years ago, and now the Guadalajara-born actor says he feels more like an Angeleno than a transplant. “I love this city. It’s cool. It has so much to offer,” he says with a charming smile.
It’s fitting then that he’s in the most quintessential of L.A. shows. García-Rulfo is readying his fourth season as defense attorney Mickey Haller in Netflix’s “The Lincoln Lawyer,” a series that features motifs of gentrification, city hall corruption and courtroom intrigue — all L.A. specialties. And Haller navigates it all from the most L.A. of offices: his Lincoln Navigator (and sometimes a classic 1965 Lincoln Convertible).
Relaxing in a Last Bookstore T-shirt, García-Rulfo, a literary obsessive, speaks about another of his recent projects: helping bring to life “Pedro Páramo,” Netflix’s adaptation of Juan Rulfo’s 1955 magical realist novel, a story close to his heart as he’s a distant relative of the famed author. “I think it’s the most iconic piece of literature from Mexico,” he says about the book, which served as an influence to Nobel-prize winning author Gabriel García-Márquez.
Looking ahead, García-Rulfo is set to make an appearance in next year’s highly anticipated reboot, “Jurassic World Rebirth,” further expanding his already diverse career. With roles that reflect the city’s diversity and complexity, García-Rulfo is not just part of Hollywood — he’s making Los Angeles his own. Here’s how he’d spend the perfect day in L.A.
7:30 a.m.: Burritos with friends, oats alone
If I go out with friends on a Saturday night, then I sleep in Sunday morning. But later than 9 a.m. is already too late for me. If I don’t go out, I’m up at like 7:30 or 8 a.m. Breakfast is not a routine. If I’m with friends, we go have breakfast. If I stay home, I like overnight oats. Or a smoothie. A lot of people who come from Mexico, they’re like, “What places do you recommend?” I am terrible with names. I know where it is, but I never remember the name. There’s this breakfast burrito place that’s in Los Feliz.
9 a.m.: Hit some tennis balls
I usually play either tennis in the morning or in the afternoon when the sun is coming down. I started playing as a kid, and then I stopped. When I came here to L.A. 15 years ago, I started playing again. Tennis is very mental. You have to be really in the moment. So it’s kind of like a meditation — not a meditation, but it’s one of those things that you can do for hours and time just stops. And California is amazing for it — the weather all year round is perfect.
I’ve been playing at Plummer Park in West Hollywood. It’s a community. You go there and there’s going to be people that you know. You wait for a game to finish and then you jump in. It used to be very easy to get a court. You’d just get there, and you waited for half an hour maximum. But now the courts are converted for pickleball, so we only have two or three courts for tennis. Now, it’s harder.
11 a.m.: Zuma Beach and sushi burritos
If the day is really good, I like to go to Zuma Beach. There’s a restaurant near there called Howdy’s Sonrisa Cafe that has sushi burritos. It’s in a little plaza, so we get that and then go back to Zuma for the rest of the day. The sushi burritos are so good, man; you just grab it and then you can eat at the beach.
3 p.m.: Recite legal jargon
When I’m shooting “The Lincoln Lawyer,” which is like five months a year, I’m exhausted. We’re shooting every day. Sometimes we work Friday night and we finish Saturday, so Sunday, I have to study. I go play tennis to detach and just breathe, and then come back home and just keep studying. I have to read scripts and learn lines. [Because it’s a courtroom show], there are a lot of monologues and legal terms. So usually, on the weekends, I kind of study. And I’ll just pray to the gods of the arts to enlighten me.
5 p.m.: Books, books, books
I love books, so I go a lot to the Last Bookstore. I could spend the whole day there, when I’m downtown. There’s one in West Hollywood called Book Soup. I had an experience there the other day. I went in to buy a book, and this guy comes in with a motorcycle helmet on, and he takes it off and he goes like this [shakes his head in slow motion] and his hair is all messy. It’s Keanu Reeves. Time just froze for me. And he goes to buy some books.
Lately I’ve been reading a lot of history. I was in England [shooting “Jurassic World Rebirth”], so I am obsessed with their history. I started reading a lot of Roman history. I was obsessed with [Charles] Bukowski, I was obsessed with [Haruki] Murakami and now I’m in this period that I’m obsessed with history. Right now, I’m reading “The Iron King” [by Maurice Druon], which is so good. It’s from where George R.R. Martin got the inspiration for “A Game of Thrones,” but it’s based on reality.
7 p.m.: Catch a movie
It’s a bummer, because the ArcLight in Hollywood was my church. Now I have to drive some. But, yeah, most Sundays, I try to go to the movies. If I’m shooting “The Lincoln Lawyer,” I won’t go out. Maybe I’ll just watch a soccer game or a movie at home. My team sucks — they’re called Atlas from Guadalajara. In the Premier League, I guess Chelsea is my team.
I haven’t been to the movies in a minute because I just wrapped “Jurassic [World]” a week ago, and I was in Thailand and Malta. Actually, I saw a movie in Malta — we all went together. We saw “Deadpool & Wolverine.” I’m going tonight to see “Megalopolis.” And I want to see “The Substance” with Demi Moore and Sean Baker’s “Anora.”
10 p.m.: Play some tunes before bed
I play guitar sometimes, and if I’m in the mood, I’ll grab my guitar and play. And then I usually go to bed around 10:30 or 11 p.m.
