Eugenio Derbez "I wanted to do a different series like the ones I saw in the 80s, which you could watch with your family" and it is what he reflects in his new television series "Acapulco".
The Mexican actor and producer believes that current television fiction is full of "blood, bullets, dead and gunshots" and that’s why the success of ‘Ted Lasso’, because it’s a series with a nice vibe".
"’Acapulco’ has that vibe, that wave of ‘feeling good’, and that is very important", he points out.
At times, the script compares the workers’ lives with the sometimes superficial and silly needs of visitors. But always with a carefree tone that is helped by his careful and cheerful photography.
"The beauty of my character is seeing the journey. How this young man from ‘Acapulco’, from a poor and humble family, becomes a billionaire living in Los Angeles", highlights Derbez.
Eugenio Derbez may be increasingly integrated into Hollywood life, but the actor wants to take advantage of his opportunities to show on the small screen "a different side" from Mexico, which is "much more than drug traffickers and criminality".
Apple TV + has counted on the Mexican to produce and star in his first series in English and Spanish, "Acapulco", a comedy-inspired story "How to be a Latin Lover" which opens this Friday and travels to the golden age of the popular seaside city.
"It is a dream come true", assures Derbez in an interview with Efe about this fiction that captures a colorful and happy side of Mexico, very different from the image that other productions, especially American ones, paint of the Latin country.
Its plot centers on Acapulco, which gained international fame by becoming the favorite destination of the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, and Jacqueline and John F. Kennedy.
Set in 1984, with the explosion of international flights, the main setting for the series is the complex "The hills", a luxurious hotel that welcomes eccentric European and American tourists, whose lifestyles contrast with the austerity of most of the employees.
There the protagonist, Máximo Gallardo, begins to work, who appears in two very different stages of his life. The current one, enjoying his wealth in Malibu (USA) and played by Derbez. And the oldest, as a young man from a humble family (played by Enrique Arrizon) recently hired in "The hills".
From his current mansion, the protagonist narrates how he was navigating the challenges and opportunities offered by this tourist enclave with the aim of improving the life of his family.
"They all want to work in Las Colinas, because they say that whoever gets there changes their life. But it is like selling your soul to the devil, you will see things that you have never seen and cross barriers that you should not in order to get the dream you are looking for", Derbez advances.
This is the first series that the Apple television platform premieres in Spanish, although in a bilingual way, since the hotel where the cast works has the use of English as a rule in all facilities, while Spanish is reserved for the family environment.
"I CAN’T BELIEVE WHAT’S HAPPENING"
2021 is turning out to be a great year for the Mexican: He premiered the second season of "Traveling with the Derbez", is now presenting his first series for Apple TV + and sounds like a strong contender for awards season for his role in "Coda", brand new winner of the Sundance Film Festival.
"All my life I dreamed of working in Hollywood, since I was 8 years old -he acknowledges-. Then I forgot my dream for many years and suddenly at 52 years old I take it back, I come to live in the US and start from scratch. I can’t believe what is happening. I am tired but very happy", concludes.
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