I suspect that before too long Eugenio Derbez, the Mexican-born, superstar, comedic actor-director-producer, will be well known far beyond his current Spanish-speaking following—the same following that made his 2014’s work INSTRUCTIONS NOT INCLUDED the largest-grossing, Spanish-language film ever in the United States. His current film, HOW TO BE A LATIN LOVER, is another step toward cross-cultural dominance with Derbez headlining his first English-language film (with some Spanish thrown in for good measure), which blend the style of some of his previous works with a more American flair (with help from director Ken Marino).
Along with co-star Salma Hayek as Derbez’s sister, LATIN LOVER features familiar faces, such as Kristen Bell, Michael Cera, Rob Lowe, Rob Riggle, Rob Huebel, and Rob Corddry (or as I like to call them, The Four Robs) in supporting parts. The story concerns a Latino gigolo who is kicked out by his elderly sugar mama and is forced to live with his estranged sister and her preteen son (Raphael Alejandro), while Derbez seeks out another rich, older woman to take him in.
The humor is broad, but underneath it are some sly messages about superficiality, family, and the stereotype of a Latin lover. If nothing else, it’s a calling card for Derbez as both a physical comedian and a charming leading man. I had a chance to sit down with him recently in Chicago, and we discussed the road that led to HOW TO BE A LATIN LOVER and future English-language project (including a remake of OVERBOARD with Anna Faris, and an animated reboot of SPEEDY GONZALEZ, with Derbez as the voice of the titlular mouse). He was a genuine treat to talk to. Please enjoy my chat with Eugenio Derbez…
Capone: You’re a huge star in Mexico. You’ve also pop up in a couple Adam Sandler movies, but this is your first English-language starring role. In a lot of ways, it’s like you’re starting from scratch. What does that feel like to have to start again after all these years?
Eugenio Derbez: It’s weird. It’s weird because, as you said, I have an audience and a career already built in Mexico and Latin America, and making movies here, it has been an adventure because it’s like starting from zero. It’s like living in two different worlds. In one world, you’re very well known, and in the other, you’re nobody [laughs]. It’s fun. In certain ways, it’s fun.
It’s refreshing, because at my age, you usually are already at the last part of your [professional] life, thinking retirement. And right now, it’s as if I was born again and I’m full of the energy to fulfill my dreams finally. I’ve been dreaming about Hollywood since I was a kid. So right now, I’m taking English classes, acting classes, accent-reduction classes, so it’s refreshing. I feel like I’m young again. It’s weird, because of what you said. I’m living in these two worlds where I’m nobody and somebody. But at the same time, I think it’s refreshing.
Capone: There’s actually such thing as accent-reduction classes?
ED: Sure. When you start and you speak like this [puts on a heavier Mexican accent, which makes me realize that the voice he’s using is adjusted for these interviews], and then you start polishing very much. So I used to say [getting progressively less accented] “for example,” and it’s “for example.” Those are the kinds of things you do in the class.
Capone: If anyone has a problem with either of those accents, they should be slapped. But what I didn’t realize when I went to see the film was that Ken Marino directed it. I know he’s directed a lot of television, but I think this is his first feature, right?
ED: First feature, yes.
Capone: How did you connect with him and tap him as a director for this?
ED: We were looking for a director for the film, and somebody said “You should watch Ken Marino.” so we started watching “Burning Love,” that he directed, and my partner and I, we felt that he was very grounded. “Burning Love” was so over the top, but it was grounded and we said this guy is an actor, a comedian, but as a director, he’s very grounded. He’s a writer too, so he had like the whole package, and we liked that. And we met with him, and he was really open, and he was an amazing guy, and he was always bringing new stuff to the script. And his wife [Erica Oyama] is a writer too so both did an amazing, amazing job with the script and every single scene. He was always rewriting and rewriting, and he was bringing 10 different options for the ending of a scene. So he was the guy, definitely.
Capone: The film is not just you in a primarily English-language setting. There is a mixture of humors here. There’s definitely the Latino humor, and Ken brings an American sensibility. What would you say are the differences between the two, and how tough was it to bring them together?
ED: Thanks for brining this to the table, because it was really hard. I think it’s a great and balanced mixture between the American comedy and Latina comedy. It’s refreshing probably for the Anglos to watch this and refreshing for my audience to watch a different style. It was really hard. Let me give you an example.
There were a couple of scenes where Salma and I were speaking Spanish, because we told Ken, naturally, if we were born in Mexico, Salma and I together in a room, we would be speaking in Spanish. In front of other people, we would speak in English, but just Salma and I, in Spanish. So we were having a lot of fun, and then at the end Ken was like “Wait, wait, wait. What did you say?” Because he doesn’t speak any Spanish. So he would freak out like “It looks like you had a lot of fun, but tell me what you said.” We’d say “We said, blah, blah, blah.” And he was like “Huh, that’s not funny.” “It’s funny in Spanish. But it’s not funny in English. Say this.” And we were like “But that’s not funny in Spanish.”
So it was a lot of struggle, because sometimes what’s funny in English is not funny in Spanish and vice versa. We finally agreed. We had some discussions and said “Okay, let me say this in Spanish that I know it’s funny, and when we subtitle the thing on screen, you can put your joke in English.”
Capone: Wait, so it’s not even an accurate translation in some places? That’s amazing!
ED: No, no. But it works for both markets, you know? Because someone is hearing something like “It’s funny.” And the other ones are reading like “It’s funny.”
Capone: The Spanish-speaking audience is going to think it’s doubly funny because the translation is bad.
ED: [laughs] Exactly. And that’s the first time this has been done, probably. A lot of experiments, but I think it’s working.
Capone: Salma is really good in this film. She really is someone who, over the years, has done drama, action, and comedy equally well. Even though you’ve been working probably longer than she has, I’m guessing you can still learn something, because she does have appeal internationally. So what do you learn from working with her both as just an actor and also as someone who has that broad appeal?
ED: Well, she’s amazing. I was always studying her, because I was wondering “What is it about Salma that is so lovable?” because she doesn’t care about being funny. She’s not the kind of actresses who is more concerned about their look or about how they’re dressed. She’s just her. Especially in this movie, I feel she’s so comfortable. Probably because there are some scenes in Spanish. She told me “I haven’t worked in Spanish for many, many years.” She feels so comfortable, so honest, so Salma. I think that’s the secret—being yourself. In my case, I’m always worried about my accent, about my whatever, and I’m being too conscious. And she’s just relaxed. Very natural, and that’s the thing that is good in her.
Capone: So that’s what you’re striving for, to make it feel natural? Doesn’t look like you’re struggling.
ED: No, , but she’s more experienced, of course.
Capone: The other real gift to the film I think is Rob Lowe, who again started out more as a dramatic actor and then has suddenly blossomed as a comedic actor. He’ll do anything for a laugh. Tell me about your interactions with him, because he’s so funny in this.
ED: I never expected, never, that he was going to be that funny. When we talked about Rob, I was like okay, he’s perfect because he’s the gigolo, he’s the good-looking guy. He was perfect for the role, but I was concerned “Is he going to be funny?” And he’s incredibly funny. He’s charming and he’s always with great humor. We had a great chemistry. I really love him. He’s a great buddy. But as I told you, I never expected he was going to be that funny.
Capone: This idea of these older, white women having these fantasies about a younger, Latin lover—that’s a cliché, that’s a stereotype, and you’re playing with that. Was that something you consciously wanted to do, to make fun of that?
ED: Yes, yes, because let me tell you why: because every time I was wearing a suit in America, all the Anglos were like “Oh, you look like a Latin lover.” So I said, there’s something here. It’s a stereotype, of course, and we said the best way to break down a stereotype is to make fun of it, to poke fun at it. We said let’s do a movie about this. It’s a dream not just for the old rich ladies, white ladies, but it’s also for the Latin lovers in Acapulco or Puerto Vallarta, or Cabo. All these guys are waiting for the rich old ladies, and they take them to the boat, and they are romantic and fun, and they are just taking advantage of the rich old white ladies. It’s a double dream come true
Capone: You’re going to expose them and ruin their gig.
ED: [laughs] Absolutely.
Capone: Some of the stuff with the nephew character is so wildly inappropriate to the point where I almost wondered, did you ever considered making this like an R-rated film?
ED: We were on the edge all the time, and we were concerned. Actually, Rafael, the kid, was always asking things like “What is this, what is this? What is virgin?” But you know, it’s an irreverent comedy, and I like irreverent, so I think we were always on the line, on the edge, but in the end we were always aiming for a PG-13 movie, for a family-friendly movie. Especially Latinos—I know my people. They don’t care if they’re going to the opening of THE CONJURING—they go with their kids, with the entire family. So in this case, I was just being careful of not saying too much, but being on the edge. We got PG-13, so it’s a family movie in the end, but I like that we’re always on the edge.
Capone: I think sometimes you even put your toe over a little bit.
ED: A little bit, I do agree [laughs].
Capone: It was just announced recently that you’re doing this OVERBOARD remake with Anna Faris. Is that for sure?
ED: Yeah, yeah.
Capone: How did you get involved with that?
ED: After my last movie, INSTRUCTIONS NOT INCLUDED, that movie changed my life.
Capone: It did well here.
ED: Yeah, it became the highest-grossing, Spanish-language film in the U.S. and worldwide ever. So it changed my life 100 percent, opened a lot of doors. So after INSTRUCTIONS I moved to LA because and went to all the studios. MGM by then had offered me the remake of OVERBOARD. So I was thinking about it, but we started writing the script like a year a half ago. In the end, it was really a great script. We hired the writers from WEDDING CRASHERS, and WE ARE THE MILLERS, and they are amazing. We got an amazing script where they flipped the roles, so I’m playing Goldie Hawn’s character, and Anna Faris is playing Kurt Russell. At the beginning, MGM was afraid like “No, no please don’t change anything. It’s a classic. It’s an iconic film.” But they read the script and they love it. So we kept roles flipped, and we start shooting on May 20.
Capone: Do you know where you’re shooting?
ED: In Vancouver.
Capone: Especially in this film, where you get to go back and forth with the languages, is that important to you to keep that element in your films and include everyone, all your fans?
ED: Yes, a little bit. First of all, I know I have an accent. I know that I have to look over scripts that fit my age, my nationality, my accent, my everything. I didn’t want to make my audience feel that I moved to Hollywood and forgot them. That’s why I’m always including and making organic choices, like this one, I’m a Latin lover, so sometimes I speak Spanish. My audience feels that they are included, and it works perfectly. It feels organic when I’m speaking Spanish. In OVERBOARD, for example, we’re thinking to probably do the same a little bit, because Anna Faris is going to be working in a kitchen, so a couple of cooks are Mexican.
Capone: Last thing I wanted to ask: are you doing the voice of Speedy Gonzales?
ED: Yes!
Capone: I’ve always wondered, if that cartoon was ever considered offensive.
ED: Thanks for talking about this. When I moved here to L.A., they told me the same thing. Warners wanted to do SPEEDY GONZALES, but they thought it was going to be offensive, and I was going “What? Are you kidding me? We love Speedy Gonzales in Mexico!” They went “Really? It’s not offensive?” “Of course not. He’s fast, he’s Mexican, he outsmarts the Gringo cat, and he brings delicious cheese to his people, so I don’t see anything bad there.” So it was amazing. They said “If it’s not offensive, let’s do a movie with you. You can develop a script, and you can dub the voice.” So we’re going to do that. In Mexico, by the way we all love Speedy, and no one thinks that it’s offensive.
Capone: Well best of luck with this. It was really wonderful to meet you.
