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Terre Haute native has big year ahead with trio of films

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) - Movie fans gazing up at the big screen in the Terre Haute AMC theaters this month might catch a glimpse of Jose Pablo Cantillo fist-bumping a robot.

The trailer for the film "Chappie" includes that scene. The robot, Chappie, possesses amazing artificial intelligence. Cantillo portrays a gangster named Yankie, aiming to exploit the robot for his own ill-gotten gain. Hugh Jackman and Sigourney Weaver star in the movie. Later this year, Cantillo will appear in "Man Down" featuring Shia LaBeouf, as well as "Solace" starring Colin Farrell and Anthony Hopkins.

A few Hauteans may have seen Cantillo in person last month, walking downtown in his hometown while visiting family and friends over the holidays with his wife and two daughters. The film world knows him by his birth name, Jose Pablo Cantillo. Terre Haute remembers him as Joey, or just Joe, from his days of Dixie Bee Little League baseball and Terre Haute South Vigo High School tennis. Cantillo likes it that way.

"It gives me a place I can always come back to and be 'Joe Cantillo,'" he told the Tribune-Star (http://bit.ly/15sekbp ), standing beside the sculpture of another well-known Terre Haute product, early-20th-century poet Max Ehrmann.

Another high-profile year awaits Cantillo, whose movie and television roles have grown larger and larger since he first landed a one-episode spot on NBC's "Law & Order" in 2003. The trio of films due out this year, along with memorable performances during the past two years, exemplify that upward progression. Cantillo's work beside Matt Damon in "Elysium," where a futuristic utopia orbits a deteriorated planet, played out in front of sizable audiences. "Elysium" generated $93.1 million at the box office, according to IMDB.

But the role that made Cantillo instantly recognizable on the streets of California, where he now lives, was baseball-bat-toting bad-guy Caesar Martinez on the AMC television series "The Walking Dead." Cantillo portrayed Martinez for 13 episodes in 2012 and 2013. Even after the writers killed him off (by being fed into a pit of zombies), Cantillo remains popular with "Walking Dead" watchers and traveled to Dusseldorf, Germany, and London for fan conventions.

"It's nice to have that calling card, as Martinez on 'The Walking Dead,'" Cantillo said over lunch at a Wabash Avenue restaurant.

On the flipside, Cantillo also appreciates the ability to earn acting jobs without any influence from that show's popularity. That happened last year, when Cantillo auditioned for a movie, landed the part, and then, as he got ready to leave, the director grabbed his arm and said, "You're Martinez from 'The Walking Dead," having just connected those dots.

The 34-year-old, who earned a business degree at Indiana University and then decided to pursue acting, also works behind the cameras as a writer and producer. His resume includes the upcoming feel-good film, "Where Hope Grows," due to be released this spring. Cantillo served as a producer for the story about a pro baseball player whose career flames out early, sending him back to his hometown, where a young boy with Down syndrome revives his spirits.

Cantillo and fellow Terre Haute South graduate Milan Chakraborty - whose credits as a producer include "Lifeguard" and "Rock Slyde" - are among the producers of "Where Hope Grows," which was shot in Louisville, Kentucky. The results seem promising. "Where Hope Grows" won the Audience Choice Award at the Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis last fall.

"He really helped with the script," Chakraborty said.

He's known Cantillo since they attended Dixie Bee Elementary School together, and then played on the same tennis team at Honey Creek Middle School. Chakraborty graduated from South in 1996, and Cantillo in 1997. "He was always witty, but he was kind of quiet, compared to some of our other friends," Chakraborty recalled.

That subdued Midwestern style lingers. During the filming of a promotional video for "Where Hope Grows," Cantillo rolled up his sleeves and held the boom microphone. "He's still the guy from Indiana," Chakraborty said, "and then a few weeks later, you see the trailer (for "Chappie") - which is going to be a huge movie - and there he is."

"Chappie" and many of Cantillo's other films require him to pull off athletic maneuvers. He draws from his martial arts training in jiu jitsu, years ago, under Terre Haute instructor Jack McVicker. At age 16, Cantillo began studying with McVicker and continued after becoming a student at IU. "He excelled at it," McVicker recalled last week. "Whatever he does," McVicker added, "he's very passionate about."

One of Cantillo's early films, "Redbelt" in 2008, featured jiu jitsu and included cameos by martial artists that McVicker knew. That background helps Cantillo carry out a physical scene as a tough-guy character. "It's not somebody just trying to learn to throw a punch or a kick," McVicker said. "He already knows how to do it."

He employs a variety of skills in "Chappie," and the "edgy, sci-fi comedy" by director Neill Blomkamp could be one of Cantillo's most-watched films. He's learned, after more than a decade in the business, to keep his expectations of any project in perspective. "I'm in a good spot," Cantillo said, "but, boy, would I really like it if 'Chappie' busts through."

Filming takes him around the world. "Chappie" was filmed in Johannesburg, South Africa, from October 2013 to February 2014. That stretch can be difficult for Cantillo as a husband and dad, but he works to stay connected. "I've got to give FaceTime (video calls) and iPhones credit," Cantillo said. "That's what's made the 'away games' possible."

With an eventful year ahead, Cantillo - who reveres the acting of Marlon Brando - would someday like to play a musician or a boxer in a leading movie role. "I used to love it in tennis when they called me a 'counter puncher,'" Cantillo said, with a grin.

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Information from: Tribune-Star, http://www.tribstar.com

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