We interviewed writer and director Christopher Zalla about his new film Radical. Zalla is the writer and director of the critically-acclaimed film Sangre De Mi Sangre, which won the US Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.

Based on a true story, Radical filmed on location in San Salvador Atenco, Mexico, Zalla’s latest film takes us to the Mexican border town of Matamoros. Plagued by neglect, corruption, and violence, a frustrated teacher named Sergio Juárez Correa (Eugenio Derbez) tries a radical new teaching method to break through his students’ apathy and unlock their curiosity, potential, and maybe even genius.

Coming off the success of the Academy Award-winning film CODA, Derbez gives a career-defining performance as Sergio. Radical debuted as the opening night film at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. It won the audience award for Festival Favorite across all 111 features that debuted there. The film is a production of 3Pas Studios and stars Derbez, Daniel Haddad, Gilberto Barraza, Jennifer Trejo, Mía Fernanda Solis, and Danilo Guardiola.

Interview with Director Christopher Zalla

The journey of bringing Radical to the screen began with a Wired magazine article about a Mexican teacher named Sergio Juárez Correa, who had helped his students achieve remarkable academic success despite their impoverished circumstances. The article caught the attention of journalist Joshua Davis, who decided to write a book about Juárez Correa and his students. Davis was intrigued by the fact that Juárez Correa wasn’t using any special teaching methodology, but encouraged his students to be curious and to think for themselves. Zalla adapted Davis’s book into a screenplay; he had previously directed the film Padre Nuestro (also known as Sangre de Mi Sangre), which starred Derbez.

Zalla on Eugenio Derbez’s popularity

While in conversation over the casting of the young actors, Zalla told us a story about how the kids and the background cast reacted to the news that they would appear in a film with Derbez. Derbez is a Mexican actor, comedian, producer, and writer. He is considered one of the most successful Latin actors at the box office. He recently starred in the Oscar-winning film CODA (AppleTV+), which won two Academy Awards including Best Picture. In 2013, Derbez wrote, produced, starred in, and directed Instructions Not Included. Making $100 million at the box office, the film became the highest-grossing Spanish-language film ever in the US and the world. In 2014, Variety recognized Derbez as the #1 most influential Hispanic male in the world. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In an effort to give us an idea of how popular Debrez is, Zalla said, “The only three kids in the movie who knew Eugenio was going to be in the movie were those three [Jennifer Trejo, Mía Fernanda Solis, and Danilo Guardiola]. And the reason was that we would get shut down. The production would come to a grinding halt if even the background kids and their families knew; we would get mobbed.”

And in fact, that’s what happened.

“I have a video. We’re up on a rooftop changing from day to night. And Eugenio was gone. And I’m like, where’s Eugenio? I go down to the street. By now, we’d been in this location for three weeks, and those kids, the actors in the thing were coming back telling their parents “I was just Eugenio Derbez!” “No, you weren’t.” But every day they say it. And finally… So I go down and I follow. I turn on a video on my phone, and I follow this line of people. That day Eugenio took 850 selfies. It took me 3 minutes to walk that line of people…”

He went on to tell us how the kids reacted to the news of their co-star. Zalla recounted, “So we’re telling the three kids who got the part, “Congratulations you got the part. There’s one other thing you need to know.” And when we told Nico [Danilo Guardiola] and Paloma [Jennifer Trejo], who were together, they just started crying. And then but Mia, I had held in reserve because she was younger and I needed to know if she could hold her own with these older kids. So we bring her in and of course she does. And I take her. I tell her and her dad. She’s got the part. The whole crew is there because we’re doing a camera test. They all applaud.

And then I say, But there’s one other thing that you need to know, but I’m not going to tell you. They’re going to tell you. And Jennifer, whose Paloma is in this camera test and is like, “Wait, can we stop? Can we stop? I want to tell her.” And she runs over and she goes, “Okay, okay, name an actor”. And Mia goes “Eugenio Derbez.” “That’s Sergio!” “WOW!”. And just incredible.”

Radical opened at #1 in theaters on October 19th in Mexico. The film arrives November 3rd in the US.

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Eugenio Derbez On Taking On A More Dramatic Role In ‘Radical’ [Interview]