"Y Tu Mama Tambien" Interviews
By Kit Bowen, Hollywood.com Staff
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Thursday, April 11, 2002
Diego Luna as Tenoch |
Sitting down to chat with three attractive Latin men was certainly a far from dull experience, especially since the topic of discussion was the verrrry sexy Mexican film Y Tu Mama Tambien.
This lush film, shot in the countryside of Mexico, is about two teenage boys (played by Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal) who go on a road trip with a newly liberated "older woman" (Maribel Verdu) and learn more than a few life lessons along the way.
Luna, Bernal and director Alfonso Cuaron joined me to talk about how the chemistry ignited between the three stars charged this highly sexual film. The boys described what it was like working with the beautiful Verdu, how doing a sex scene is like "jumping into a cold pool," and how American "teen" films are not nearly as honest as they could be.
Alfonso, what inspired you to make this movie?
Alfonso Cuaron: My brother and I had been thinking about this story for many years, about 13 or so. And a couple of years ago, we decided to do it. I had to see all those crappy teenage films. My son is a teenager and so I had to see those. I wanted to do something more honest. Together with the fact I wanted to reconnect with the reason I wanted to make films in the first place.
Which is?
Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal: Money! Fame! Girls!
Cuaron: "First comes the money. Then comes the power. Then the women." That's Tony Montana's line [Al Pacino in Scarface].
That's how it goes, huh?
Cuaron: Yes! No, seriously, this was the kind of film I would have loved to do before I went to film school. Before I knew rules existed. My intent was to make a film that was very objective. Using the camera in a more voyeuristic way, watching moments and be as honest as possible. But ultimately, a film is about identity. These two guys are seeking their identities on becoming adults. A woman seeking her identity as a liberated woman, in a spiritual way, not in an ideological way. And an observation of a country that, in my opinion, is a teenage country, seeking its identity as a grown-up country.
[To Luna and Bernal] What drew you to these teenage boys, Tenoch and Julio?
Luna: The energy and the love that they have for each other. I think the friendship…the two of them and their friendship was something that I really…
[Cuaron and Bernal look at each other and start laughing.]
Bernal: [imitating Luna] "Basically, I don't know what the hell I'm talking about!"
You guys have been real-life friends for long time, right?
Bernal: Yes. Actually, it was a very delicate thing to handle because it could have been easy for us just to have too much fun. Too just ignore the rest.
Luna: When you are doing a character, you want to do something that is not you. Something very different from you. So having your friend there, you remember all the time who you are, whenever he is there. But I really like him as an actor. It says more in an unconscious way. The communication and the chemistry is there because we are friends.
Photo(s) by Hollywood.com- © 2002- IFC Films- All Rights Reserved