Antonio Cipriano’s ‘Treasure’ hunt strikes friendship gold
When Antonio Cipriano was cast in the Disney+ series “National Treasure: Edge of History,” he knew it was a great professional opportunity but wasn’t expecting how formative the experience would be for him personally.
“When I say it was the best experience I’ve ever had, I don’t think I’m actually exaggerating at all,” said Cipriano over Zoom from a hotel in Los Angeles. “The cast, crew, creatives, everybody. We were all (filming) in Baton Rouge (Louisiana), so we were all at summer camp, basically, like we were all in one spot and hung out with each other every single day and went to New Orleans and had amazing experiences.”
This “National Treasure” is a continuation of the movies starring Nicolas Cage, Penelope Cruz and Justin Bartha with a Gen Z cast. (Bartha and Harvey Keitel do reprise their roles for the series.)
Lisette Olivera stars as Jess, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico living in the U.S., who discovers a clue connected to her late father that may lead to a hidden treasure.
Jess enlists her friends, including Cipriano’s character, Oren, to help solve the mystery. A ruthless black market antiquities dealer — played by Catherine ZetaJones — is hot on her trail because she wants to find the treasure first.
When we first meet Oren he’s a bit excitable, easily distracted, and is deeply invested in the latest expensive sneaker drop. His friends both love and roll their eyes at him, including ex-girlfriend Tasha, whom Oren would like to win back. Zuri Reed portrays Tasha.
“In addition to being incredibly talented and funny, Antonio is also just naturally lovable, which we really needed for Oren. Oren starts off the season as a selfish, goofball man-child, so we needed an actor who was so likable that audiences would hang in with him for the ride as his character grew,” said showrunners Cormac and Marianne Wibberley in an email.
Cipriano also just completed filming the Amazon Prime Video series “Harlan Coben’s Shelter,” starring Jaden Michael, and based on the first novel in Coben’s “Mickey Bolitar” YA series. Coben is also an executive producer.
“Antonio is a star. He’s supernaturally charismatic and ridiculously talented. He can do it all — drama, comedy, music, whatever — and he’s a joy on set. I can’t say enough good things about him,” said Coben.