Michael Chiklis: 'Hotel Cocaine' cop represents consequences for Miami high life

NEW YORK, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- Royal Pains and Prison Break actor Mark Feuerstein says Burton Greenberg, the character he plays on Hotel Cocaine , was having the time of his life as the owner of a 1970s Miami hot spot until Michael Chiklis ' Drug Enforcement Agent Zulio arrived on the scene.

"I read the script and I went crazy. It was one of those scripts you're just dying to be a part of. I went in my garage and I snorted some fake cocaine -- powdered sugar on a plate -- and I was wearing my leopard print onesie from Burning Man and Chris Brancato gave me the part," Feuerstein joked with UPI in a recent Zoom interview.

"Suddenly, we're in the Dominican Republic, which looks like Miami in 1978, filming this story about a place that was like Rick's Cafe in Casablanca, where all the rock stars did their drugs, and all the drug dealers sold their drugs. It's fun and full of life and shot brilliantly with incredible artisans and designers making it look so beautiful," he said.

"it's a place you wanna visit, but then you'll worry about the consequences that will come and here are the consequences," Feuerstein concluded, gesturing to The Shield icon Chiklis, who was sitting beside him and added, "I guess I'm the embodiment of consequences."

Wrapping its first season Sunday on MGM+, the show follows Roman Compte (Danny Pino), a Cuban exile and general manager of Burton's Mutiny Hotel, the epicenter of the Miami party scene of late 1970s and early '80s.

Roman's American dream is derailed, however, when he finds himself ensnared in Zulio's plan to take down Roman's older brother, Nestor (Yul Vazquez), Miami's biggest supplier of cocaine.

"There is the veneer of the hedonistic, fun-time world that we're in, but, then, underneath all of it, are the consequences of a multi-billion-dollar drug trade," Chiklis said.

"This guy [Zulio] is sort of the rock and Vazquez is the hard place that Danny Pino's character's caught between," Chiklis added. "We see the body count climbing pretty high. It's not just sex, drugs and disco. It's sex, drugs, disco and death."

Zulio is trying to adjust to the rapid changes in what the formerly quiet Florida city where he has enforced the law for decades.

"It's growing exponentially and he's sort of like shoveling [expletive] against the tide," Chiklis said.

"There's no way to stem it. He knows It's happening, and he's trying to do what he can do, and he's really getting dirty in his methodology, threatening Roman and his daughter. It's just a dirty business."

Burton sees something special in Roman and tries to give him a relatively honest job in his adopted home of Miami.

"I think we also saw a very qualified guy who knows his way around the world and is very street smart, and I don't think Burton realized Just what a quality guy he hired," Feuerstein said.

"Quickly, Roman becomes his conscience, his guide, his guy who fetches his coke, as well as his fixer, and I think Burton relies very heavily on Roman and when Burton gets into some financial trouble -- which happens halfway through the season -- he is very reliant on Roman to find some solutions."

Laura Gordon, Tania Watson and Corina Bradley co-star.