When you think you know a person from the inside out, but a traumatic event makes you realize that your entire life has been a lie. And everything you think you know about your closest person is a lie. You begin to question everything in your life. That’s what happened to Andy Oliver, a 30-year-old 911 call-center dispatcher when she discovered her mother had been hiding her past life from her, in Netflix’s Pieces of Her. There was one person who aided her throughout her journey to discover the truth about her mother. Michael Vargas, played by Jacob Scipio, proves to be the only person she can rely on.

Jacob Scipio recently spoke with POPSUGAR about his experience filming the show. How his co-star Bella Heathcote played a prank on him, whether he went through any kind of training to prepare for the role, and other details.

Skating the line between good and evil drew Jacob Scipio to the character Michael Vargas

Jacob has been playing muscular characters with a lot of personalities and who frequently carry a gun. But he wanted to try a more mysterious character, which is why he was drawn to the role in Pieces of Her. With Michael Vargas, Jacob had the opportunity to play both good and bad in one role. When he first appears on the show, he is depicted as a person who is good at his job but follows his own set of rules. When the character meets Andy, he is drawn to her predicament and wishes to assist her. Jacob said, “There’s the ying and the yang in everybody. There’s good and bad, so those type of complicated characters really attract me.”

How did Jacob Scipio prepare for his role in Pieces of Her

Jacob had to go through a rigorous workout regimen and weapons training, but the character came very naturally to him. Jacob said, “I took like a duck to water to it, because I really knew this guy.” He saw a lot of himself in the character Michael Vargas.

On the sets of Pieces of Her, Bella Heathcote pranked Jacob Scipio

On Jacob’s first day on set, Bella and their head makeup artist played a practical joke on him by replacing his lip balm with a lip scrub. That’s when Jacob decided two could play this game and scared everyone on set by proclaiming that he is allergic to Glycerin, one ingredient in the lip scrub. Throughout the rest of the day, both the makeup artist and Bella monitored him. Jacob then asked Bella to get some ice for his plump lips, and when she returned with some in a cup, he couldn’t stop himself. Jacob said, “I f*cking got you back. That’s what you deserve.” This made them feel at ease around each other right away, and Jacob also stated that “It was a fantastic experience and a fantastic environment to be in as well”.

Jacob Scipio’s most challenging scene to film

Jacob’s most difficult scene to film was when a mysterious character sneaks into Andy’s hotel room and attempts to murder her. But Michael enters the scene to save Andy and took the mysterious character out. Jacob described his experience, saying, “I come charging in like The Rock from WWE and take him out. That was a tough day because in those fight sequences, when you’re rolling around in the dirt, you can get a couple bumps and scrapes, but I love that.” They had to do a couple of takes with four or five different angles to get the scene right.

Jacob Scipio’s next project after Pieces of Her

He recently began filming for Batgirl alongside Leslie Grace. His character in the comics wants to make Gotham a better place. That’s all he had to say about the highly anticipated film.

Catch Jacob Scipio in the new Netflix thriller series Pieces of Her. Also, leave your thoughts on the show in the comments.