The American-born daughter of a legendary Venezuelan entertainer, Genesis Rodriguez has the kind of rare pedigree that could very well make her a star in two different cultures. In her relatively brief acting career, she can already boast to being one of the few actresses to have worked on both an American soap opera (Days of our Lives) and Mexican telenovelas (Prisionera, Dame Chocolate, and Dona Barbara). Her beauty will beguile in any language.
It’s that kind of cross-cultural appeal that makes Rodriguez uniquely suited for Casa de mi Padre, a broad farce of telenovelas that aims to bridge the U.S.-Latin comedic divide with the help of Will Ferrell and a healthy dose of unrestrained silliness. In the film, shot entirely in Spanish (with subtitles for the gringos), Rodriguez plays the fiancé of a drug dealer (Diego Luna) who finds herself increasingly drawn to his noble simpleton of a brother (played by Ferrell, of course), thus setting the stage for a hilariously over-the-top melodrama.
I sat down recently with the fetching and almost suspiciously enthusiastic Rodriguez, who talked about her experience making, as she calls it, the “weirdest thing that could ever happen in movies,” and the unlikely leading man with whom she shares an extremely revealing love scene (“He has a great butt, people!” she attests):
Casa de mi Padre opens in select theaters this Friday, March 16, 2012.
Click here to watch our exclusive interview with Genesis Rodriguez’s co-star, Will Ferrell!
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