Mexico's other filmmaking Cuarón

This is about Carlos, the other Mexican writer -- and now feature film director -- named Cuarón.

Word to the wise, though: Don’t bother trying to get Carlos to even mention sibling rivalry involving his older brother Alfonso, the acclaimed director of "Y tu mamá también" and "Children of Men."

The elder Cuarón has drawn two screenwriting Academy Award nominations.  But Carlos, making his feature-film directing debut with the tragicomedy "Rudo y Cursi," drew an Oscar nod as well.

He co-wrote "Y tu mamá también" with Alfonso, who is five years older.

In Dallas recently for the premiere of "Rudo y Cursi" at the AFI Dallas Film Festival, Carlos kicked the word "brotherhood" around with the style and grace that co-stars Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna display on screen with a soccer ball.

"This is a movie about brotherhood made by brothers, or by a family of very good friends.  These guys are like my little brothers.  Alfonso is my big brother and so are (producers) Guillermo (del Toro) and Alejandro (González Iñárritu)," he says.  Video tape rolls as we sit across from each other at the W Dallas hotel.

 

"Rudo y Cursi," in Spanish with subtitles and opening Friday (May 15) in many markets, started out in his mind as a send-up of a soccer player who makes it big then loses his way.

 

"I wouldn’t say a mockumentary, like 'Spinal Tap,' but rather a fake documentary.  Back then I didn’t know if it was going to be funny," he says.

 

Carlos mentioned the idea to Bernal and Luna during the promotional tour for "Y tu mamá también." Both actors wanted to play the soccer player.

 

"I had a problem.  I had two actors and only one part," he says. "I made up a brother.  I threw away the idea of a fake documentary and I did my own thing."

 

The younger Cuarón has not always been so decisive.  Even though he knew he wanted to be a writer from the time he was 14, he was going nowhere until 1996.  That’s when his dark mood almost spoiled a dinner he was sharing with Alfonso and close friend Guillermo del Toro.

 

"Guillermo said, 'Why are you so sad?'  I said, 'Well, I write all these scripts.  They don’t get produced and it’s like giving birth to a dead child.  It’s terrible.'

 

"His answer was, 'You dummy, why don’t you direct them?'"

 

When it comes to his younger "brothers," Cuarón says it’s no accident that Bernal ("Babel," "Bad Education") and Luna ("Milk," "Frida") appear seamless as siblings in "Rudo y Cursi."

 

"They met when Diego was born because of their parents.  They grew up together," he says.  "That chemistry is impossible to get in any other way."

 

As for shooting a movie in Mexico in troubled, violent times, Cuarón says he had no problems.

 

"Despite of all the things that we’ve been hearing on the news, Mexico is still the same Mexico.  It is horrible that we are in the hands of the drug lords.  It is terrible that the only solid institution now in Mexico is the drug lords.  But it’s also true that there is a normal life in Mexico.  It’s not like living in Baghdad at all."

 

(Photo:  Director Carlos Cuarón on the "Rudo y Cursi" set in Mexico./Sony Pictures Classics)