Carla Gugino still in awe that she was cast to play a MOM of preteen children in 2001’s Spy Kids when she was 27: ‘I was 10 years, at least, too young for the role’
More than twenty years after playing the mother of two school-aged children in Spy Kids, Carla Gugino still wonders how she got the role at 27.
During an interview with Buzz Feed, the now 52-year-old actress recalled her experience making the film, which turned out to be a franchise consisting of three original films with Robert Rodriguez at the helm.
The Sarasota, Florida native played the wife of Antonio Banderas and played Ingrid Cortez, a retired OSS agent turned consultant and mother of children Juni and Carmen, who are said to be nine and 11 years old.
“It’s so funny because I was 27,” she said of the original film that eventually became a huge hit. “It was a really nice double-edged sword because I love that movie so much. And the whole experience was incredible, and the films continue.”
The leading actress went on to say that she loved her character but still can’t get over the fact that she was way too young to play the mother.
Carla Gugino is still baffled as to how she landed the role of Ingrid Cortez, a retired OSS agent and mother of children aged nine and eleven, in the film Spy Kids (2001), when she was just 27.
During an interview with BuzzFeed, the now 52-year-old actress recalled her experience making the film, which turned out to be a franchise consisting of three original films with Robert Rodriguez at the helm; seen in March
“I love Ingrid Cortes,” she said of her role. “But it was funny because I was at least ten years too young for the part, because I was a spy for ten years and then somehow had children who were about nine and eleven,” she added with a laugh. “So it was completely physically impossible.”
As for Banderas, 63, and his eleven-year age gap with Gugino, he was much more age appropriate, as he was 38 at the time of the shoot.
It turns out that Rodriguez had already been shooting for two weeks by the time he hired Gugino for Spy Kids.
“He said, ‘I feel like I’m looking for a mother for my children. We were talking about it, and I had auditioned for him and he said, ‘I think if we do our job right, no one will ever question it,'” the actress recalled, referring to her young age.
After admitting that no one really questioned her age, she revealed that she felt her past working with Banderas on a film called Miami Rhapsody, under the direction of David Frankel, helped her land the role.
Gugino and Banderas played the parents of Juni Cortez and Carmen Cortez, played by Alexa PenaVega and Daryl Sabara in the original three films which also included the sequels Spy Kids 2: The Island Of Lost Dreams (2002) and Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over contain (2003).
The first of the spy comedy films, written and directed by Robert Rodriguez, became a major hit with critics and fans alike, grossing $147.9 million against a budget of $35 million.
The wife of Sarasota, Florida native Antonio Banderas, he played Ingrid Cortez, a retired OSS agent turned consultant and mother of children Juni and Carmen who would be nine and eleven years old.
“I love Ingrid Cortes,” she said of her role. “But it was funny because I was at least ten years too young for the part, because I was a spy for ten years and then somehow had children who were about nine and eleven,” she added with a laugh. ‘So it was physically completely impossible’; seen in 2022
Its success earned it the distinction of being among the top 20 highest-grossing films of 2001.
The cast also included Danny Trejo, Alan Cumming, George Clooney, Teri Hatcher, Cheech Marin, Robert Patrick and Tony Shalhoub.
The core cast of Gugino, Banderas, PenaVega and Sabara also co-starred in Spy Kids 2: The Island Of Lost Dreams (2002), which was another bona fide hit that raked in $119.7 million while working with a budget of $38 million .
The last of the trilogy, Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003), earned even more than the first two, grossing $197 million while spending $38 million on production.
Rodriguez would explore a number of new characters, including some from the original, for Spy Kids: All the Time in the World (2011) starring Jessica Alba, Joel McHale, Rowan Blanchard, Mason Cook, Ricky Gervais and Jeremy Piven, along with Vega and Sabara.
Ultimately, the filmmaker completely rebooted the family-friendly action series with last year’s Netflix film Spy Kids: Armageddon, this time starring Gina Rodriguez and Zachary Levi as super spy parents.
Following the success of the original film, Robert Rodriguez returned to write and direct Spy Kids 2: The Island Of Lost Dreams (2002) starring Carla Gugino, Antonio Banderas, Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara.
The second sequel Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over starred Ricardo Montalban with returnees Daryl Sabara, Alexa Vega, Carla Gugino and Antonio Banderas
Gugino currently stars in the political drama series Max The Girls On The Bus, created by Amy Chozick and Julie Plec.
It also stars Melissa Benoist, Christina Elmore, Natasha Behnam and Brandon Scott.
Her Hollywood resume includes roles in films such as This Boy’s Life (1993), Snake Eyes (1998), Sin City (2005), Night at the Museum (2006), American Gangster (2007), Race to Witch Mountain (2009), Mr. Popper’s Penguins (2011), and the series The Haunting of Hill House (2018), The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020) and The Fall of the House of Usher (2023).