How to be a Latin Lover follows the story of Maximo (Eugenio Derbez) a vivacious trophy husband who has the rug pulled out from under him when his eighty-year-old meal ticket kicks him out of his mansion and accustomed lifestyle.
With the help of his partner-in-crime (Rob Lowe) and his brutally honest sister (Salma Hayek) Maximo attempts to figure out adult life and schemes to get back into the lap of luxury. Our very own Nicolette Acosta was able to sit down with the cast and director of How to be a Latin Lover, watch part two of the interview below:
NA: What excited you about the project when you first read it, when they first asked you to come in?
Rob Lowe: I was so pumped to be part of this mashup of comedic cultures. To take Eugenio Derbez, who is so funny and amazing so famous and then be a part of something that is going to introduce that to this sort of Anglo audience and to bring the Anglo sensibility that this amazing group that are supporting him brought. If you look at that poster it’s like murderer’s row.
NA: What I also love about the film is it turns so many, especially Hollywood stereotypes and the typical roles males and females play, on their head, how did it feel to be the boy toy?
RL: It was funny because there were-there are a bunch of different versions of “the gigolo” right? And Ken Marino who I’ve loved since Children’s Hospital, he and I thought long and hard about what type of gigolo I would play and we settled on world-weary, jaded, been there done that, sort of like gristled- Like he had been in Afghanistan, when really he been in Aspen. That made us laugh. Like you say, the culture has seen the kept woman forever, now it’s time to introduce them to the kept man.
NA: I don’t want to give anything away, but there’s a great scene between you and Eugenio and Raquel where you get into a scuffle- How hard was it to shoot that scene with a straight face?
RL: Really, really hard. And so fun, because it was so ridiculous and so like – wait, wait am I really shooting a scene with Eugenio Derbez and Raquel Welch where – eh- is happening? I mean, it’s actually what you kind of live for as an actor, because it’s so preposterous. My favorite moment was, “My liege.” That was my ad lib, like my…if this were Game of Thrones what would they do? A lot of my adlib made it into the movie…But that’s what you get when you work with A. A director who has the confidence to let his talent show their talent. And when you have this group of people around you who can like play hot potato with each other.”
NA: Raquel, it seemed like everyone had such a good time, especially when Rob and Eugenio are vying for your attention, if you had to choose between the two to be an actual “partner” who would you go with?
Raquel Welch: Oh my goodness…Oh no, I know, it’s really not that hard for me- Eugenio. Hands-down. He just got to me as a person. he’s so warm, so warm. He’s so open, accessible. He has a big, big heart. And he works- oh my god, he works very very very hard. And he doesn’t tell you about that. He doesn’t regale you with how difficult it is. He’s not like that, he’s really quite extraordinary. I love Rob too, but I don’t know…Eugenio is special. They say people feel that from him, if they watch him very often as they do on the Mexican channels and so forth. They know who is it he is like a really good soul and that he has so much warmth and…I don’t know, fun and it’s just amazing. And he’s also a really fine actor, really good. And successful and intelligent and all the rest of it.
NA: What was it like to work with each other and the rest of the cast?
Rob Huebel: Well Ken (Marino) and I have known each other for a while from the comedy world and you know it’s Ken’s first movie and…I know that Ken knows comedy really well.
NA: So it is your directorial debut of a feature film, how did it feel to go up to bat with so many heavy hitters?
Ken Marino: I feel very lucky, I have a lot of really talented, funny friends, who for some reason are willing to be in a movie when I ask them.
RH: Any time you can show up to shoot something with a bunch of funny friends of yours, you have to say yes to it. You know there are a lot of situations where it’s like, “Oooh I don’t know if this is going to be any good or any fun.” But if you already love everyone in the movie and the script is already really funny and I know Ken and he’s going to let us rift and have fun with it, then yes! You know it’s going to be great.
KM: And when I came in and Eugenio had the script and I pitched myself as director, and I said you know, what I would love to do is fill it up with all these people that I know, who are super funny and super talented and you know I started naming people and he got exited about it, and then I had to some how make that happen and you know, it turned out alright.
The film hits theaters this Friday.