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.
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The startling climax of the film, where the two of you finally come together, so to speak, was very moving.
Cuaron: It was the last moment of purity. The pure love that these two characters share.
Bernal: I also think what’s so wonderful about these characters is they belong together, maybe not for the rest of their lives, but they have a very strong unity. Also off screen as well…the atmosphere that you create on the set afterwards reflects on the screen. Even when girls were around [on the set], we would behave like [Julio and Tenoch].
How was it working with Maribel Verdu? She was wonderful in the film.
Cuaron: Why did you think she was wonderful?
She was very honest, like the film itself. When you talk about a teen film in the U.S., they never go beyond the limits like your film does. I mean, teenage boys do have sex.
Cuaron: And not always with a pie.
Why do you think American films avoid the strong sexual content seen more often in foreign films,?
Luna: Sometimes it’s great to see a film in another language. Then you can make a distance between you and the characters on screen. You can say, “Oh, look at those Mexican boys!” But when you see your reality there and you can touch it, then it becomes more difficult.
Maribel got to live out a nice fantasy, taking a road trip with two hot, young guys.
Bernal: Being in such a great film, to have her being so exposed and her being the only woman, she had a lot of power. She was the right person to do this film. She would basically grab our hands and put them where they should go. She made everything very easy.
So, she taught you things.
Bernal: Yeah. I think every teenage boy should have a lesson or two from a woman in her 20s or 30s. The film also teaches us about respecting women, as well. [Julio and Tenoch] don’t respect them at first. And then suddenly they are faced with this very strong woman. Before meeting them, [Luisa] was very frail and in a very difficult process. And then once she is freed, it’s hard for our characters to catch up with her.
Were the sexual scenes difficult to do?
Luna: Just like a dancing scene, everything has to be choreographed. It’s very personal but you are also acting. It’s like going into a pool, a very cold pool. You have to just jump and then five minutes you feel very comfortable.
Like your film A Little Princess, which was also very visual, Y Tu Mama Tambien is also incredibly visual, showing the lush countryside of Mexico. Alfonso, do you usually approach your films this way?
Cuaron: Well, with A Little Princess, everything was filmed from the little girl Sara’s perspective. So everything was larger than life. With Y Tu Mama Tambien, I wanted to shoot it more documentary-style. To have the camera be objective and observing these lives but from a distance. It’s just a witness on what’s going on–it doesn’t get involved.
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Gael, you were also in the highly acclaimed Oscar-winning film Amores Perros, where you play another tortured teenager. How do you compare the two characters?
Bernal: Both characters have options. But in Amores Perros, whatever options he takes, he is dangling between life and death. And in Y Tu Mama Tambien, his only option is to have a good time, and then to have an even better time.
[While Bernal is talking, Cuaron and Luna are quietly chatting away together.]
You guys are awfully mean. Gael is being very serious here…
Cuaron and Luna [to Bernal]: Oh, sorry for you, so sorry for you!
Bernal [to Cuaron]: If you had made Amores Perros then you’d feel the same way.
Cuaron [to Luna]: Amores Perros? What’s that?
And how was it working with this joker here [indicating Cuaron]?
Luna: He’s a great director. A great actor’s director. Which is very difficult to find in Mexican movies–
Bernal: In the world, actually.
Luna: Yes, in the world, but I haven’t worked in the world yet. It’s very difficult to find a director who knows how to explain what he’s thinking. Because sometimes they have the movies in their head but it’s hard for them to communicate that to the actors. And he was all the time there, working with us. He made us feel almost like directors of the movie. We were in every decision.
If they remade this movie in the U.S, who would they cast?
Cuaron: Freddie Prinze Jr. and …
Bernal: They would call us, don’t you think?
You guys seem ready for American cinema. Who would you want to work with?
Luna [leaning in close to the tape recorder]: I would love to work with the Coen brothers.
Hear that, Joel and Ethan? Watch out for these talented boys!
Y Tu Mama Tambien is currently playing in theaters across the country.
