Melissa Fumero Reveals Why She Was Initially ‘Hesitant’ To Join ‘Blockbuster’ After ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ (Exclusive)

Melissa Fumero is backmost connected the drama scene, and she’s going from the constabulary section to the video store. Melissa stars successful the highly-anticipated Netflix bid Blockbuster, which premieres connected November 3. HollywoodLife spoke EXCLUSIVELY with Melissa astir taking connected this caller relation aft 8 seasons arsenic Amy Santiago.

Melissa Fumero arsenic Eliza successful ‘Blockbuster.’ (Netflix)

“I was precise hesitant to articulation different workplace comedy. However, erstwhile they told maine that Vanessa Ramos was sending maine her scripts, I got precise excited,” Melissa told HollywoodLife portion promoting Crest/Oral-B’s Closing America’s Smile Gap campaign. “I’m a immense instrumentality of hers. I cognize her from Brooklyn Nine-Nine. She’s 1 of the funniest radical I’ve ever met. I work her scripts, and it was truthful good. I instantly connected with Eliza who felt precise acold from Amy. When we conscionable her, she’s benignant of successful a large modulation successful her life. She’s a small spot mislaid and trying to fig retired what’s next. She’s not blessed astir moving astatine Blockbuster and has each these things going connected successful her beingness that I deliberation are precise relatable.”

At the Blockbuster premiere event, Melissa besides admitted that she was “nervous” astir playing Eliza initially. “I wanted to marque definite it felt similar a precise antithetic character, and she precise overmuch was,” she said. “There’s a small spot of a acheronian to her and things haven’t gone the mode she thought they would. She’s a small mislaid — and Amy was ne'er lost. That felt truly relatable and intriguing to me. She felt similar much of a pistillate that I cognize and that I’ve met, whereas Amy ever felt benignant of superhuman. Amy Santiago is similar who we aspire to be, and Eliza is similar we’re each a small spot much messy.”

The histrion noted that Eliza’s matrimony is “kind of connected the rocks, and she’s figuring retired who she is. So she’s reluctantly astatine Blockbuster, she isn’t excessively psyched that that’s wherever she’s moving astatine the moment. But she’s got to wage her rent so… I deliberation the archetypal play is benignant of her travel of falling successful emotion with her beingness a bit, and that’s truly amusive to watch.”

Melissa Fumero astatine the ‘Blockbuster’ premiere event. (Netflix)

The Netflix bid follows a amusive and quirky radical moving astatine the past Blockbuster Video successful the United States. Blockbuster utilized to beryllium a mainstay for millions of people, but the emergence of streaming led to the demise of video stores. After each these years, radical who lived done the Blockbuster epoch had specified a fondness for that clip of their lives.

“For me, it was thing that I conscionable benignant of took for granted,” Melissa told HollywoodLife. “I didn’t deliberation it would ever spell anywhere. It was specified a staple of my puerility and my teen years. When you would spell to Blockbuster you inevitably would spot idiosyncratic that you knew. There was a beardown assemblage facet to it, and we don’t person a batch of things similar that anymore. I deliberation we each person love-hate relationships with the integer age, but it’s made a batch of worldly easier. It’s besides benignant of taken a batch of conscionable quality transportation experiences distant from us.”

Melissa hopes to spot immoderate of her Brooklyn Nine-Nine co-stars connected the amusement astatine immoderate point. “There’s a batch of Brooklyn peeps implicit astatine Blockbuster. I deliberation if they had an thought and it was close for 1 of the Brooklyn Nine-Nine actors, I deliberation they would emotion to person them on,” the histrion said.

The mom-of-two has besides teamed up with Crest and Oral-B for their caller Closing America’s Smile Gap campaign. Melissa explained that she’s raising “awareness astir the contented that astir kids successful underserved communities don’t person entree to basal dental care, things similar toothbrushes and toothpaste. It was an contented that I was precise naive to and wasn’t alert of, truthful I’m truly grateful to person met some Oral-B and Crest successful learning much astir this. It’s conscionable shocking however ample of an contented it is. They privation to adjacent what they’re calling America’s grin gap. For each merchandise purchase, Crest and Oral-B are going to donate to a kid successful need. They’ve besides had galore events successful these communities, and they bring dentists and bring toothbrushes and toothpaste. There’s a batch of outreach, and I’m conscionable present to assistance enactment the run and rise awareness.”

She said dental attraction is “such a elemental and basal need. We truly person to combat to marque definite that each kid has entree to that due to the fact that arsenic we each cognize mediocre oral hygiene tin pb to a big of different wellness issues.” As portion of Publicis Groupe’s PGOne, MSL was the pb originative bureau with Saatchi & Saatchi and PXP supporting production.