‘Sugar’ Star Tony Dalton Breaks Down That Duel in the Desert and Accidentally Punching Colin Farrell

Logo text [This story contains major spoilers from Sugar season two’s seventh episode, “What Else Can You Do?”] When Tony Dalton wrapped Better Call Saul in 2021, his co-star Jonathan Banks showed up on his day off to pay him and his charismatic portrayal of cartel drug lord Lalo Salamanca the ultimate compliment in front of the cast and crew: “You’re the best fuckin’ bad guy I’ve ever worked with.” Considering Banks’ filmography spans 50 years and includes Breaking Bad’s assortment of highly celebrated villains, Dalton knew the weight of such a statement. “I was very emotional that day. I tried to keep it together, but I’m not sure I was able to do it,” Dalton tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I appreciate [Banks’] words and his friendship. I love the guy to death, I really do.” Fast forward to 2025, Dalton received an offer to play Sugar season two’s baddie, so he dialed his friend Banks for counsel. As soon as he heard that the opportunity came from Sugar showrunner Sam Catlin, Banks stressed that Dalton should accept the role. The Mike Ehrmantraut actor will never forget the gift of a monologue that Catlin wrote for him as a co-writer of Breaking Bad season three’s “Half Measures.” (That penultimate episode of the season was also directed by Adam Bernstein, who helmed two episodes of Sugar season two.) 17 years earlier, Catlin began his tenure as a writer-producer in Vince Giligan’s Breaking Bad writers room, so he was present when the name “Lalo” was coined as a terrifying off-screen character that Saul Goodman fears has ordered his execution in the desert. The season two episode known as “Better Call Saul” not only introduced Bob Odenkirk in the role of the slippery lawyer, but it also became the first domino to fall en route to the Bad spinoff series, Better Call Saul. Dalton then brought the unseen character to life in Saul season four, nearly a decade after Odenkirk, as Saul, first said his name on the 2009 episode of Bad. Dalton now plays a former Marine turned corrupt L.A. sheriff character named Ray Vega, who he modeled after Denzel Washington’s Training Day character. He may not be as charming as Lalo, but he’s certainly as chilling. Similar to Lalo’s fateful showdown with Giancarlo Esposito’s Gus Fring on Saul, he’s been facing off with Colin Farrell’s PI John Sugar over the course of the last few episodes. Sugar has gone to great lengths to track down the missing brother (Raymond Lee’s Ji Moon) of a Korean boxer (Jin Ha’s Danny Moon), as has Ray, because Ji has the ability to put Ray away for murder, as well as a citywide conspiracy involving lethal fentanyl and government housing fraud. Ray and Sugar’s back and forth concludes in July 31’s seventh episode, directed by fellow Saul alum Michael Morris. Sugar first gives Ray a chance to walk away in the most peaceful manner possible, but Ray refuses his offer of a new life in Panama. “He decides that it doesn’t matter if this is the end,” Dalton says of Ray’s decision-making. “I know people like that. I know people that are so comfortable going through life on one track that the concept of starting something new scares them. It’s Ray’s party within this world, and if he takes the out that Sugar offers him, then it’s not his party anymore.” Instead of the easy way, Sugar now has to pursue the hard way to solve his Ray problem. He ends up blindsiding Ray out in the desert, leading to a deadly fight in the wreckage of Ray’s Ford Bronco. “We were beat by the end of the sequence. I [accidentally] punched Colin in the face. It wasn’t that hard, but I remember going, ‘Are you okay?’ And he was like, ‘Let’s keep going!’” Dalton recalls. “We really went at it, and when I got home, I was full of bruises. My [right and left flanks] were all black.” Dalton acknowledges that there are some similarities between Lalo and Ray, but there were enough differences to challenge him. Going forward, he does hope to avoid playing more Mexican cartel leaders à la Lalo. In between Saul and Sugar, he returned to Saul’s shooting location of Albuquerque, New Mexico to portray another cartel chief in the Dave Bautista-led Trap House. His character happened to employ a teenager played by a pre-Obsession Inde Navarrette. “You don’t really pick [roles]. They pick you. I’m trying to stay away from another ‘cartel leader from Mexico,’ which I’ve been offered many times since [Better Call Saul],” Dalton says. “You try to navigate through your career as much as you can. You try to bend the ruler without breaking it.” Below, during a conversation with THR, Dalton also discusses the one day on Sugar he’ll never forget from a personal standpoint, as well as his future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. *** This is your second Apple show. That was your voice on the phone in the Pluribus season one finale, right? That was my voice on Pluribus, correct. Am I not credited? You’re not credited. Man, I’m going to have to talk to somebody at SAG. I’ve got to get those residual checks, those cents. (Laughs.) Vince Gilligan and the rest of Team Pluribus chose you and Patrick Fabian to be voices on the phone. You share that honor as well as … A grave! Tony Dalton as Lalo Salamanca in Better Call Saul. Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television Exactly. We last spoke for your final Better Call Saul episode, and shortly after that, I saw footage from what might have been your wrap day on Kim Wexler’s (Rhea Seehorn) apartment set. Jonathan Banks showed up on his day off to be there, and he said in front of the cast and crew, “You’re the best fuckin’ bad guy I’ve ever worked with.” What was going through your mind when you heard such high praise from somebody who’s done it all and seen it all? Oh man, it was wonderful. I love Jon Banks. I was very emotional that day. I tried to keep it together, but I’m not sure I was able to do it. Everybody said some really nice things. Jon is a good friend to this day. I see him as much as I can. He’s a working actor who’s been doing it forever. He’s gone through ups and downs, and there’s a lot to learn from the world of Jon Banks as to how to stay afloat on this rollercoaster ride of a career. So I appreciate his words and his friendship. I love the guy to death, I really do. Sugar season two has added a new bad guy to your growing collection. Do you consider Ray Vega to be more dangerous than Lalo Salamanca just because he’s able to use the levers of law enforcement to get what he wants? Yes and no, because Ray still has to work within the limits of certain laws and rules. Lalo didn’t. He didn’t care. He crashed a party he wasn’t invited to. But Ray, it’s his party. He’s in control of everything. I equate him to Denzel Washington’s Training Day character, Alonzo. He’s been this corrupt cop for a while. He has a team, and he has been running his own show until John Sugar shows up to rain on his parade. He didn’t see it coming. He thought he could brush him off, but the guy kept coming back, making his problems worse and worse. Tony Dalton as Ray Vega in Sugar season two. Apple TV+ All season long, Ray and Sugar have been trying to outwit each other. Ray wants to kill a witness to a murder he committed, and Sugar wants to protect said witness. Sugar even gives Ray a choice that includes a fresh start in Panama. Why didn’t Ray take that offer in episode seven’s diner scene? Sugar basically says to Ray, “You can go.” And Ray goes, “It’s too late. If this path takes me to the end of it, so be it.” There’s a lot to that. He thinks he’s got it all figured out, but he also decides that it doesn’t matter if this is the end. It speaks to a man who’s very lonely like John Sugar is. They may be mirror images in that way, but they’re still opposites. Sugar believes in humans. He’s a humanist who tries to find the good in people, and Ray is a guy who gave up on mankind. It’s all about him and nothing else. He’s blinded by that, which is ultimately his demise. Sugar tried, and failed, to appeal to Ray’s better nature. Ray wouldn’t budge. I know people like that. I know people that are so comfortable going through life on one track that the concept of starting something new scares them. It’s what they’ve been doing for so long, and there’s a little bit of cowardice in there. They’re not sure of themselves. Like I said, it’s Ray’s party within this world, and if he takes the out that Sugar offers him, then it’s not his party anymore. So he can’t imagine the idea of living in a world where he’s not doing his own thing in the way he’s always been doing it. It’s mentioned that Ray has an ex-wife. Do you think she cut ties after she caught on to the corruption he was up to with his Marine buddy? I think that’s too easy. I think she always knew, but she turned a blind eye until it all piled up too high. He doesn’t seem like a guy who just broke bad. I think he’s been a sleaze for a long time. He probably gave her a ring that wasn’t a real diamond, and it was just one thing after another. When you first met Sugar showrunner Sam Catlin, did he tell you that he was in the Breaking Bad writers room when they first came up with the off-screen character of Lalo in 2008? Now that you’re telling me that, I think he did. I’d forgotten about it. What I remember most about Sam was that he wrote that famous Breaking Bad scene for Jon Banks. The “Half Measures” speech. Yeah, as a matter of fact, Jon told me that, and then I talked to Sam about it. When I got the offer, I called Jon, and he said, “Look, that guy’s really good. He definitely knows what he’s doing. He’s an amazing writer.” And he is. Sam is the best. He’s really, really good at what he does. There’s a bunch of other Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul people on Sugar, such as director Michael Morris and DP Marshall Adams. Was it nice to have some familiar faces around you while shooting in L.A.? I haven’t really worked in the U.S. that long or that much, but it seems like the same people work on the same things. (Laughs.) Working with all those guys again was unbelievable, and it’s not just the guys that you mentioned, There’s all the camera guys that Marshall comes with [such as camera operator Matt Credle], and they’re all from Better Call Saul. We hung out in Albuquerque a lot, because nobody would go home. We were all renting, and when you don’t know anybody else there, there’s no home to go home to, really. So we’d all have lunch and dinner together, and I became pretty close with everybody who worked on that show. So running into them here in L.A. was a breath of fresh air because you know they’ve got your back. It gives you a lot more confidence going into the scenes. You’re without your trademark mustache on this show. Was that your choice? Or did Sam want to avoid any Lalo and Jack Duquesne comparisons? We talked about it. I preferred not having it, but I showed up with it just in case. You never know. But Sam said no to it, and I said, “Oh, that’s great.” You want to change it up a bit because the mustache has got its own personality. So having it out of the picture was a good thing. What’s funny is that I never had one before Lalo. For 20 years, I never had a mustache, and now it’s my thing. On the famous Saul episode, “Bagman,” Lalo sent Saul to Mexico to bring back a couple bags of cash, and a Ford Bronco terrorizes him in the desert until Mike Ehrmantraut (Banks) shoots the driver, flipping the Bronco a bunch of times. So I love that the conclusion of your arc on Sugar also involves a Ford Bronco that flips over. Wow, I hadn’t thought of that. Good call. What can you tell me about your final duel in the desert with Colin? Well, flipping the Ford Bronco flipping was very complicated. They did it a whole bunch of times on a bunch of different days. One time, it didn’t flip, and it was a nightmare. Then we rescheduled the fight scene a bunch of times, and it was the last thing that we shot for the whole show. They did everything else, and then we got in that Bronco. They ended up flipping it on a set, and man, that was rough. We then rehearsed the fight for a couple of days, and the reference for it in the script was a great Argentinean movie called Wild Tales. As a matter of fact, the writer-director is a good friend of mine named Damián Szifron. There’s a scene where they fight in a car, and they just go at it till the end. So this fight scene was that on steroids, and Colin and I went at it for hours and hours. Tony Dalton and Colin Farrell in Sugar season two. Apple TV+ Was it always a silent death? Or did you play with any lines there? It was always a silent death, yeah. We were beat by the end of the sequence because there was so much that we had to do in the upside-down Bronco. I [accidentally] punched Colin in the face. It wasn’t that hard, but I remember going, “Are you okay?” And he was like, “Let’s keep going! Let’s keep going!” And I was like, “Alright, let’s keep going, man.” So we really went at it, and when I got home, I was full of bruises. My [right and left flanks] were all black. I was going to text Colin a picture of all the bruises, but then I thought, Don’t do that. He’s probably all bruised up too. So I’ve kept that to myself until right now with you. What’s your impression of Colin as a scene partner? I’ve been a fan of Colin Farrell for a long time. I’ve been watching his movies since [2000’s] Tigerland. He’s been doing it for a while, and he’s such a pro, man. Of course, he knows his lines, but he’s also the first guy on set and the last guy to leave. He knows everybody’s name, and he says hello/goodbye to everybody. He’s very generous as an acting partner. There’s a scene in the interrogation room where all the other cops are watching from the observation room, and we did our coverage for many hours. Then they were going to shoot the cops just looking at us from behind the one-way mirror, and this says a lot about Colin. He didn’t have to be there for that because it’s just the cops looking through the glass. It had already been a ten-hour day, but we stayed so he could give them the replica [take]. He was behind the camera just so that they could hear his voice through the glass, and that’s the kind of guy he is. He’ll work extra hours for the other actors even though he doesn’t have to. So it was wonderful working with him, and he’s a great example to follow, to be honest with you. Tony Dalton as Ray Vega in Sugar season two. Apple TV+ Sam confirmed to me that Better Call Saul was essentially your audition for Sugar. A Marvel producer named Trinh Tran also told me that you were hired for Hawkeye and Daredevil: Born Again off of Saul. Has the career bump from Saul been noticeable in other ways? Yeah, this sort of thing happens once in a while to certain actors. You do that one role that opens the door for other opportunities. I can’t believe how many people have seen Better Call Saul. Once, I was walking on the streets of Budapest at 10 o’clock at night, and somebody from a balcony went, “Hey, you Lalo Salamanca?” And I was like, “What the hell? I’m in the middle of nowhere.” Then I was in Norway, and while I was at a little store in Kirkenes, someone was like, “Oh my God!” And I was like, “Wow, a lot of people watched this thing.” I hadn’t experienced anything even close to that, and like you said, that show is how a lot of these jobs were presented to me. It wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for Better Call Saul. It’s been a blessing for me. You probably get a ton of bad guy offers, and rightfully so, you’re quite adept at playing them. But if it was up to you, would you want to play some good guys as well? Sure, but as an actor, you don’t really pick. They pick you. I’m trying to stay away from another “cartel leader from Mexico,” which I’ve been offered many times since [Better Call Saul]. That’s why Sugar was very appealing to me. Ray is a bad cop from Compton. Yes, there are similarities, but it’s not the same guy. It’s a whole different world. You try to navigate through your career as much as you can. You try to bend the ruler without breaking it. The Hawkeye and Daredevil: Born Again character, Jack Duquesne, I threw in that pseudo-transatlantic British accent just to make it different. And after two weeks, Trinh [and the producers] were like, “What are you doing?” And I was like, “Well, it’s too late now. We’re going British on this one.” (Laughs.) And they were like, “Okay!” It was just so that I could not be the same guy again. You try to change as much as you can. Vera Farmiga’s Eleanor Bishop and Tony Dalton’s Jack Duquesne on Hawkeye. Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel Studios Do you know what’s next for Jack Duquesne? No, they haven’t told me anything, and they don’t tell me anything. To close on Sugar, what days best sums up the experience? On a personal level, there was a really important day right in the middle of shooting. I, as Ray, walked into this house out in the desert and saw this animal head hanging on the wall. Afterwards, I went to the hospital. That’s the day that my son was born. Belated congrats, Tony. Thank you. It was a year ago now, but I’m never going to forget that day. ***Sugar season two is streaming new episodes every Friday on Apple TV until Aug 7.