Production Notes

Director Alfonso Cuarón, best known in the United States for the films Little Princess, A (1995) and Great Expectations (1998), came to the project that became Y tu mamá también (2001) through New York-based film production company Good Machine. Says Cuarón, "It all stemmed from a conversation I had with (co-founder of Good Machine) Ted Hope about making a film together. I remembered a story that I was working on a long time ago (with his brother, writer Carlos Cuarón). At the same time I really wanted to make something that dealt with teenagers and then everything just started falling into place. "

Notes Alfonso, "In the beginning there was Zappa. Carlos and I sat in my garden listening to 'Watermelon in Easter Hay' in an endless loop, while we bounced ideas back and forth. And the loop kept on running until we finished the script, and later until we had the final cut of the film. The tone of that song is the mood we were aiming for. We owe so much to Zappa. "

Says Carlos, "The original idea was maybe 10 years old or more and it was shelved for a long time. We tried to make it a few times, but the project never really came together. We could never convey all the elements that we wanted to, until last year, when the idea came up of putting it in an erotic context. That's how the whole project came alive. Putting together these three characters, and a little sex and a little fun. And of course there was the Zappa song. "

Says Alfonso, "What I really felt like doing was a movie that was completely different from what I've been doing, something that came from a more realistic reference point. So I decided to change my point of view on everything - from the way the story is told to the way it should look. I'd been talking to 'el Chivo' (cinematographer and long-time collaborator Emmanuel Lubezki) about making something like this ever since we finished shooting Great Expectations (1998). In terms of the sex, after my conversation with Ted Hope, we wanted to make a 'sexual' movie that didn't hide anything. We just wanted to be honest with the characters and simply see sexual situations the way they actually are. "

Alfonso adds, "I always wanted to shoot in Mexico and in Spanish…in Chilango (Mexico City slang). With Y tu mamá también (2001), we tried to observe the social context in as much detail as the observation of the characters' behavior. This is an interesting moment in Mexican cinema, with new filmmakers, diverse and new means of financing, new theaters and a new audience that has given a vote of faith to Mexican production. Now it is up to us (the filmmakers). "

Alfonso and Carlos began work on the script. Says Carlos, "We had the idea that we wanted to make a movie that was kind of like a novel in its characters. Tenoch is the son of a politician, and his mother is very spiritual or mystical, Tenoch being an Aztec name. He wants to be a writer, a good writer. And he struggles with that. "

"Julio is a much more humble character. He comes from group housing. He was born in Mexico. His mother is just a regular secretary. His sister is a civil rights activist, fighting different causes through the university, very involved in Mexican movements. "

The brothers drew on their own experiences while writing the script, but not completely. Explains Carlos, "I believe that the story comes from a lot of things as well as our imaginations. Maybe I'm not really interested in doing some of these things the characters do, but I can imagine them and imagine them in a film. There are some similarities in our lives, but not the obvious ones. I'm not Julio, and Alfonso's not Tenoch. It deals more with personal aspects, about things we, at times unfortunately, know about. But mainly, this is a work of fantasy. "

The first challenge the filmmakers faced while preparing to make the film was the casting of the three leads. For the pivotal character of Luisa, they turned to Spanish film star Maribel Verdú. Says Verdu, "Luisa is a character that's full of life, mainly because she never really had one. She's a Spanish woman that arrives in Mexico with her Mexican boyfriend and finds out that she has to live the life she's never been able to live. She's a character that comes from a tragic background. She was an orphan -- there was always turmoil surrounding her life -- and that why she becomes so full of life. "

"On taking the role, she notes, "I loved the script because it's difficult. It's different. It's very rough and it deals with some terrible realities but it's all from a very entertaining point of view. People will be laughing a lot and the audience will sit there thinking, 'what did I just see?"

"The character I play is marvelous. She's had a very rough life. And then one day she receives a lot of bad news -- bad things never come alone, they're always accompanied by more bad news. So she decides that she's going to live a new life. She's going to leave everything behind and live what little life that she has left as she pleases. She then meets these two young guys and decides to go on a trip with them. It's a voyage into liberty. As the story goes on, Luisa changes, she evolves, she loses that shyness, that vulnerability and there are some aspects of Luisa that come out that you wouldn't believe she had inside of her. "

For the roles of the two men who join Luisa on her journey, the filmmakers chose Mexican actors Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal. The two men's friendship mirrored that of their characters. Explains Luna, "I've known Gael since I was born. He's a year older than I am. Our parents were always friends, my mom was very close to his mom. "

Agrees Bernal, "Our parents were friends with each other and therefore, we became friends. We spent our adolescence together. Many of the experiences seen in the movie, we shared them in a way. Also, the two protagonists are seventeen years old. I'm twenty, Diego's nineteen, so those years are still very much fresh in our minds. "

"Gael went to London and we didn't see each other for two years. And then I got a letter from him saying 'We're going to make a movie together! How awesome!' I thought he was lying or playing a joke on me! Then I got another letter from him saying we're going to make a movie together with Alfonso Cuarón and I hadn't received a phone call yet. Then I got that call from Cuarón and I realized it was all true. "

Due to the sensitive nature of the film, the chemistry between the two actors and Maribel was crucial to the filmmakers. Luna says, "The first thing we did in Spain was go to Maribel's house. I had seen Maribel in Belle Epoque (1992) and was totally infatuated with her. It was impossible not to notice how beautiful she is and on top of that what a great actress as well. "

"We rang the doorbell and Maribel welcomed us right in, handed us a drink and started telling us stories. We were dying of laughter and suddenly I had forgotten that she was Maribel because she was such a joy. "

On the meeting, Bernal says, "At first I felt very intimidated because I've always admired her. She's always fascinated me in all of her movies. I thought she was so gorgeous. She initially really intimidated me and Diego both, I think. When we first did a reading of the script, she had such an impact on me as an actor. At first I felt very inhibited, but then everything fell into place. She's very maternal. We became friends, started to develop a relationship together and everything turned out smooth and easy. "

Luna notes, "We were rehearsing it all came out very naturally. Maribel was already accustomed being in those situations with new people, and it gave us great security. It was very nice knowing that her fame and her experience didn't make her one of those snobby divas. Maribel is very genuine and respectful. She's very open. On this film I think she out did herself. "

Their respect for the actress is mutual. Says Verdu, "They're very open and joke around all day, it's fantastic. My relationship with them has been great ever since I met them. They're marvelous. They seem very similar in their roles but they're different. They ARE a couple of Charolastras, like in the movie and I adore them. We had some extremely difficult scenes together and I believe that if there were only one of them, things would have turned out terribly, but with the both of them there, things were great. Instead of things being, 'No! Leave me alone! Get away from me!' It was 'Awwww! Come here! Gimme a hug!"

A chief source of difficulty for the actors was the unusual amount of nudity required for the roles. Says Luna, "I had the good fortune of being seven when I made my first movie. And I was nude in that movie for at least ten minutes. Since then, I've had two or three nude roles and then only way I to get rid of that shyness is knowing that you're free. If I have to be nude, I have to remind myself that it's art of my body being made and being nude is an important part -- just as important as my hands are or my legs are. This is me, I should be proud! For better or for worse, black or white, I have to be proud. "

Adding to sense of realism was the filmmaker's decision to shoot the film in sequence. Explains Bernal, "We shot everything as it happens in the film. We shot three weeks in Mexico, then we got into Betsabe (the car) and headed for the beach. We lived the story but with 20 people in the crew instead of just the three of us. "

Adds Luna, "We're felt everything in the order that we feel it in the movie. (Alfonso's) directions are very visceral, very, 'ugh… you feel the pain right here, but I need you to show it to me… it needs to come from your feet. ' I don't really know how to say it, but he doesn't want to fool the audience… If you (the audience) feel something, it's because the character feels it, the actor feels it. It's not just adding some background music or adding a tear drop on the actor's face to create an emotion. "

As to working with Alfonso, Bernal says," He always pushed us. He pushed us to improvise, to be on top of everything and always be energized. If you need to say something but can't find the right way of expressing it, then he lets you figure it out… just as long as it's natural. He doesn't always know how he's going to get it. But he's always pushing to get the best out of you. "

"Think of him as a guy who hunts butterflies. " He adds, "He sits there waiting patiently for the butterfly. He doesn't push it or provoke it. He doesn't want to force or teach you how to feel… he waits for it. "

The director notes the importance of his organic approach to the actors to the final product. "Right from the start," he says, "I tried NOT to break the ice between the actors. Since we were shooting this film in continuity, I wanted there to be that uneasiness, that shyness. And by not having broken the ice, it all worked out very well for us. And little by little, they broke it. All three of them are very funny and entertaining. So they learned to eventually lose all of their insecurities. "

Another key member of the filmmaking team is Alfonso's long-time friend and collaborator, cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki. On asked what it is like to work with Lubezki, Alfonso replies, "To work with Emmanuel? I don't know how NOT to work with Emmanuel. That's my only point of reference, and in that sense, I'm really spoiled. We've been working together since we were very young. We worked together in film school, we pretty much learned together. It's just a very automatic process, almost telepathic. Emmanuel has done a lot of great films while I've not been working. So it's great because when I work with him, it's the same communication that we have from our history together, plus the experience he has from working on all these other films. It's pretty cool and a great luxury. "

Lubezki, who received an Academy Award nomination for his work in Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow (1999), relished the opportunity to take chances with Alfonso. He says, "Yeah, this film is completely different from anything else I've done with Alfonso. All our other films were more stylized, less natural and less realistic. This film has a more natural feel to it. I believe that a lot of it has to do with the fact that we HAVE worked together before and Alfonso already has three films under his belt that relatively aren't very realistic and now he wants to change that. He wants to do something different. "

Alfonso points out, however, that the film doesn't attempt to signal a return to his Mexican roots. "I never left Mexico. " He says. "That is to say, Hollywood wasn't my final destination. I wanted to come back and shoot in Spanish. To shoot in Mexico and with certain specific Mexican characters and it had a lot to do with experimenting different things. I do want to continue shooting over there in America. I believe my next film will be shot there. But on the same hand, I also want to shoot in Europe and other countries. "

As for the reception the unusual content in the film receives, the actors are optimistic. "I think it's going to be a shock especially for people outside Mexico," says Bernal. "Here we live with this reality all day, but it's not shown. It shows how Mexico is not what they put on postcards which is good I think. "

Says Luna, "I think everyone can identify with the story. If you've never lived it, you've definitely dreamt about it or heard about it somewhere. It's the type of story that makes you want to live. It makes you say to yourself, I would LOVE to be in their shoes, not necessarily how it ends, but the adventure. It speaks about sexual identity, it's about an ideology, a stand on life from the point of view of two guys that realize, with all of this on their mind, that there are some things in life that you just can't control. It's a script that seems really simple, but it's very complex. "

"I hope that the audience accepts it for what it is," Gael adds. "That the audience sees the movie and likes it, that they're entertained by it. And when the moral questions come into play, well, that's something extra. The importance of this movie relies on the characters and the story. "

Says Carlos, "I'm not a psychic, but when those sex scenes come up, I think there's definitely going to be that woman who covers her eyes, or the person who'll get up to go to the bathroom, or that person who leaves the theatre because he's offended. There'll be those who sit there silently in discomfort and perhaps the lovers who'll grab and kiss each other. There's going to be a little bit of everything because there are a lot of different types of people in this world. In certain moments, the audience is definitely going to be surprised, because this isn't generally seen. Some people are going to love it and some people are going to be really offended. Personally, I hope they will be all of that. Aroused, happy, glad, fun, astonished, ashamed. Yeah, I would love to have all that. I don't think it's a new way of putting sex on the screen… It's just a fresh point of view. "