Acapulco's Eugenio Derbez on How He Had to 'Reinvent Himself'

"Humor in Mexico and in the U.S. is completely different. So, I had to reinvent myself."

For Eugenio Derbez, making the transition from being one of Mexico's most recognizable faces in comedy to the American market was not easy. "We don't laugh at the same things. Humor in Mexico and in the U.S. is completely different. I had to reinvent myself." He's done a good job of it because his Apple TV+ series Acapulco (May 1) is now in its third season. "I'm so glad that the series is bilingual and it's getting its third season." The success of the show is directly tied to Derbez's success stateside. Loosely based on his character Maximo from the 2017 film How to Be a Latin Lover, Acapulco shifts between telling the backstory of young Maximo in the 1980s at a popular resort and the character in modern day. Part of why he wanted to do Acapulco was because "there's still a big opportunity to tell beautiful things about Mexico. I was always concerned that Mexico equals violence." With his success in the U.S., Derbez is looking to adapt his popular Mexican sitcom La Familia P. Luche into English. "It's so different from anything that you've watched before in the U.S."

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Editor's Note: This conversation has been edited and condensed for publication.

I have to tell you, when I told my boyfriend's family, who is Mexican American, that I was interviewing you, there was a level of freaking out I didn't quite expect.

Thanks for telling me that because it's been my life recently. When I was working still in Mexico and I was trying to do the [American] crossover, it was really hard. For example, I went to a meeting in a big studio, and the valet parking were freaking out. And they were like, "Oh, Mr. Derbez, I will keep your car here in the front." And then I go with the producer, and he doesn't know how to pronounce my name. And then when I go back to [the valet], my car is in the front. It's like I'm in two spaces, where I'm nobody for some people, and I'm very well-known for some others.

Well, then I should confess there was some coaching happening from some people in my life on how to pronounce your name so I don't make a fool of myself.

I don't care at all. I don't care. Because I know that it's really hard to pronounce my name in the U.S. I've noticed it, and I don't really get offended or anything. It's hard for any American to pronounce it.

How difficult was it for you to make that initial transition from your work in Mexico to the American market?

Oh, my God, it was extremely difficult. We don't laugh at the same things, that kind of humor in Mexico and in the U.S. is completely different. So, I had to reinvent myself. It took me a while to understand how comedy works in the U.S. I had to take acting classes, I had to change my way of playing or portraying because everything in the Latin world is broad, over the top. In the U.S., everything is contained, small. I used to write my own scripts in Spanish; in English, I'm completely lost. So, it's been a very complicated path, but I think I'm almost there. Still needs some work, but I'm almost there.

Oh, I think you're there. What was it about this How to Be a Latin Lover that made you want to tell his backstory?

Well, when we were doing the film, How to Be a Latin Lover—by the way, it's a very funny film— I remember that that we would be talking about, "What about a prequel? How does Maximo get from here to here?" And then we pitched the idea to Apple. We decided to make it loosely inspired by How to Be a Latin Lover. It's not exactly a prequel. It's slightly based on the film. But I feel that there's still a big opportunity to tell beautiful things about Mexico. I was always concerned that Mexico equals violence, and Narcos and drugs and everything, because that's the only thing that you hear in the news. Every time you turn on the news and you hear anything about Mexico, it's violence, crime and drugs. I wanted to change that by portraying a different Mexico, and Acapulco is that. If you see Acapulco, you can see that there are nice people. Acapulco in the 80s was the place to be. Elizabeth Taylor—all the big stars—Frank Sinatra, big stars from Hollywood went to Acapulco on vacation, and also the monarchy from all around the world, they used to go party in Acapulco. So it was an amazing, amazing place.

These characters are filled with such heart and light, it feels very nostalgic. Was nostalgia for another era important to telling this story?

Definitely. I remember when I was growing up, when I was a kid, I used to go to Acapulco, every single vacation, that was my favorite place on Earth. My parents would sometimes [ask], "Wanna go to Disneyland or Acapulco?" And it was, "Acapulco!" And I feel that Maximo and I are similar, because I was born in a medium-class apartment in Mexico City. And I've been growing, and, thank God, getting much more successful every year. So I feel very related to Maximo. The only thing that I like more about Maximo is that he's always questioning himself, [whether] he should or not cross certain lines in order to get what he wants. And I feel that all of us at a certain point, we're always questioning ourselves. Should I do this for money? Or not? Should I miss my mom's birthday just because they're paying me a lot to go to do this job? There are a lot of times in your life where you need to question yourself. And this is what I love about the series.

I think a big appeal of the show is that it comes from you, because your crossover success is so rare. Audiences want to see themselves in you.

Absolutely. And I'm so glad that the series is bilingual and it's getting its third season. For me it's already a success, because it's not easy. Especially because it's a Latin series, but you can watch it even if you are French or German, wherever, it's a series that anyone in the world can enjoy.

The bilingual part of it is key to me, because we're seeing more and more of that. Why was it important to have a show that is so genuinely bilingual?

Well, first of all, I wanted to do something for the mainstream, too. I noticed before the pandemic, everything was in English. If you want it to succeed worldwide, it has to be in English. But after the pandemic, people were watching so much material, not just American series. They started watching Money Heist, for example, or Squid Games. Yeah. I feel that after the pandemic, now people are used to reading subtitles. And that's amazing, because that way you can enjoy other cultures. That's why Parasite got the Oscar, because it's a great film. And we got the chance to watch it because we're open to read subtitles. I feel that before the pandemic, if it was not in English, it was complicated. We wanted to also respect things and be real because sometimes, if you watch a film and they go to China, and everyone in China speaks English, and they go to Mexico and everyone in Mexico speaks English, that's not true. And I was always struggling and telling the executives, because they want more English, I was like, no, no, no, we need to stick to the reality. If they're in Mexico, they should speak Spanish. Put some subtitles, but we need to do it the way it should be.

So many of your projects touch on the immigrant experience. Why is that important to you?

That's a great question. I feel that sometimes Americans don't understand immigration. Why are people coming to the U.S.? They just feel that our people from Latin America are coming to steal our jobs or to do crime, whatever. And it's way more than that. We are victims of some governments that have done wrong things in the past. There's a lot of poverty. There's a lot of violence. For example, nowadays there's a lot of crime. The Narcos are really kidnapping people, killing them or recruiting young kids in order to make them become sicarios. So all these people that you see crossing the border, they are really escaping from a very bad reality. A reality where they don't have freedom, where if they stay, they're gonna rape their daughters, they're gonna recruit the kids for the Narcos—they're literally dying because they don't have money to eat. So, it's really important to understand that all these people that finally get to America, they're looking just for peace, for a better life. And of course, they're sometimes, one percent, not good people, but 99 percent of those people who cross the border, they want to work and have a peaceful life. They are hardworking people, intelligent people, nice people. So, it's important for me to tell Americans this story so they could understand why are they crossing the border? It's not just to steal their jobs, it's because they really want a better life. And they will do America a better place, I swear.

Obviously, Acapulco is based on one of your characters, but you have a whole career of other characters, from your sketch show Derbez En Cuando to your crazy popular sitcom La Familia P. Luche. Would you ever do an American version of those?

I've been trying to. For example, Familia P. Luche is a very dysfunctional family. And I remember the first time I showed that to my agents, they were like, "Oh, don't show this to anyone, because it's so broad and different." They were freaking out. But if you understand that there's the second layer [to it], it's an amazing product. I actually told my business partner recently, we should do an English version of Familia P. Luche because it's so different from anything that you've watched before in the U.S. that I think it would be successful. So, I'm working on that right now. I think the success of it would be that it's so completely different.