Casting actors who have never done
comedy alongside one of the funniest men in Hollywood may seem like a risky
move; except, when the movie is a spoof on drama-packed
telenovelas. Based on their performances in “Casa de Mi Padre,” it’s
doubtful anyone could have pulled off co-starring with a Spanish speaking
Will Ferrell – and kept a straight face doing so – as well as Genesis Rodriguez and
Gael Garcia Bernal.

The stunningly beautiful Rodriguez, who plays Sonja, the love
interest of Armando Alvarez, made her big screen debut earlier this year in
“Man On a Ledge.” She began her career in television, and is well
known for her roles in the NBC Universal/Telemundo series
“Prisonera,” “Dame Chocolate,” and “Dona
Barbara,” as well as the popular soap opera “Days of Our Lives.”

Bernal, who plays the villainous “La Onza,” has been acting in Mexico
since he was a child. His first feature film performance in “Amores Perros”
earned him Mexico’s Silver Ariel Award and a Silver Hugo Award at the Chicago
International Film Festival. He has also starred in the acclaimed films
“The Motorcycle Diaries,” “La Mala Educacion,” and
“Babel.”

“Casa” popped their comedy cherry and in our exclusive interview the actors discuss everything from the uproariously
hilarious scene involving Rodriguez’s rear end to the bittersweet experience of
working with  film legend Pedro Armendariz Jr., who played
Miguel Ernesto Alvarez.

HOMBRE: Both of you have backgrounds in soap
operas; this is your first time doing comedy; Was it difficult working with
someone like Will, who is so over the top and funny?

Gael Garcia Bernal: Working with Will is really no different than working
with any other great actor from anywhere in the world, whatever language they
speak. He’s a great, fantastic, intelligent person, and I fell into sometimes
working in English, which is not my first language therefore I have problems
improvising in English. And Will had a few little problems, but he had to go
for it and get into the rhythm of the conversation in Spanish. It’s very nice
to see someone suffering what we have to go through! (laughs)

Genesis Rodriguez: Will’s very sneaky. He would ask, “Why is this
masculine? Why is this feminine?” and he would ask about transitive verbs
and this and that and we were like, wow, he really wants to learn our language!
He loves us! But it was all so he could improvise!

H: How about that stare he gives off in
every film?

GR: Oh Lord, that stare! I mean, it’s really hard not
to laugh, and then he’s so frustrated with the Spanish so that made it even
funnier.

H: How did you keep a straight face?

GR: I had to talk to myself, like, what am I gonna eat later, I
wonder how my grandmother’s doing, this is not funny, this is not funny…I had
to convince myself that it wasn’t funny. 
I feel like I had the hardest [character] because everyone else was
allowed to be funny.

H: Because of your training, were you able
to help Will with this exaggeration of the telenovela?

GR: You know, dramatic pauses are my thing. So he’d
kind of tie onto what I do. I tried to teach him to cry on spot, but he just
couldn’t get it.

GGB: He put in a good effort though!

GR: (to Gael) I think you should watch out. He’s coming
for your jobs.

H: What do you think the non Latino
audience would find funny about this spoof on the telenovela?

GGB: I think that melodrama is generally the same
everywhere, no? There are soap operas here…so telanovela is the branding I
guess that inspired this high style melodrama. But we do even more absurd
things in this film than happen in telenovelas. Even though sometimes they go
crazy in those.

H: What we found absurd is the scene with
the butts. Genesis, is that your real ass?

GR: I like the word “ass” better now, but I
can’t say that! I can’t say that because I want to keep the mystery of the
whole thing.  That scene was extremely
difficult for me because they started playing smooth jazz on set during it. I
wanted to DIE.

H: How was it to work with Pedro
Armendariz Jr.?

GGB: I didn’t have a chance to do a scene with him in this
film. But I did get a chance to meet with him on the set.

H: What do you think he brought to this
film?

GR: He was an excellent comedic actor. I think the
first person who got what this film was about was him, and he set the tone. In
our first scene where Will did that gigantic monologue, he added so much life
and so much energy…there could have been no other father figure for this
movie.

H: What was your favorite scene to shoot
in this film?

GR: I have a lot of favorites. I have a favorite with
Gael for sure, and for that scene in particular I was playing the actress in
the scene, and I got pissed off at the actor stealing my camera time. They allowed
me to do that! So that was pretty cool.

GGB: That scene actually got cut because we were doing it
for like eight minutes and it felt eternal…but now it’s only like half a
minute.

H: Looking forward, do you guys see
yourselves doing more comedies?

GR: Oh yea. We’re already doing a sequel, a
trilogy…you know, in telenovelas, if people die, they can always come back.
It can work. So be on the lookout!

GGB: Well La Onza can definitely be reborn. But for every
other character, like Diego, you can just be like, Oh, he went to a really
great hospital.

“Casa De Mi Padre” is now playing at a theater near you.