Latest news with #Chespirito:NotReallyonPurpose
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Chespirito: Sin Querer Queriendo' is a tribute to the Mexican comedian who shaped a generation
HBO's new biographical series 'Chespirito: Not Really on Purpose' ('Sin Querer Queriendo') has been received with delight by the many fans in the U.S. and Latin America who grew up watching the late Mexican comedian Roberto Gómez Bolaños. The eight-episode miniseries, which debuted Thursday, dramatizes the professional and personal journey of Gómez Bolaños, who transformed comedy in Latin America and whose characters defined a generation for millions of children. Known as 'Chespirito," he took his inspiration from Laurel and Hardy as well as another transcendent Mexican comedian who eventually made it to Hollywood, Cantinflas. Chespirito died in 2014 at age 85. Pablo Cruz, who plays Chespirito in the series, told The Associated Press in an interview translated from Spanish that the show is a tribute that tells 'a story that we know will connect with a very broad audience and give them an opportunity to further appreciate what they already admire and love.' Chespirito's two most famous characters were 'El Chavo del Ocho' ("The Boy from Number Eight') and 'El Chapulin Colorado' ('The Crimson Grasshopper'). 'El Chavo del Ocho" was an 8-year-old boy orphan living alone in a Mexican neighborhood with his barrel, freckles, striped shirt and grayed cap. 'El Chapulin Colorado' was a naive superhero dressed in a red bodysuit and hood with antennae that helped him detect danger miles away (despite the name, his yellow shorts and boots gave him more the look of a red bumblebee). Through his characters, Chespirito favored a clean comedy style far removed from the sexual innuendo and obscenity-laced jokes popular today. His morning shows were a staple for preschoolers, much like 'Captain Kangaroo' was in the United States. The HBO series 'is a tribute to Chespirito's importance as one of the key figures in Mexican television and highlights the enormous impact his television programs had throughout Latin America,' Fernando Cárdenas, digital manager for the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors, said in a statement to the AP. The miniseries is a powerful act of cultural preservation, one that documents the impact Latinos have had on the global entertainment industry, said Sehila Mota Casper, director of Latinos in Heritage Conservation. 'For so many of us, his characters weren't just entertainment,' Mota Casper said. 'They shaped how we understand humor, how we face challenges and how we see ourselves as Latinxs. This series honors that impact. By telling his story in this way, we help make sure the cultural histories that shaped us are seen, respected and carried forwards to future generations.' 'El Chavo' proved so popular that reruns are still shown in multiple countries in Latin America and on Spanish-language television in the United States. Many Latin Americans, living under dictatorships during the height of the show, found his underdog triumphs heroic in the face of authority. In a 2005 interview with the Mexican newspaper La Jornada, Gómez Bolaños said he always wrote with working-class people in mind. 'During the 1970s, the program was produced to reflect the reality of working-class families in Mexico and enjoyed enormous impact in other Spanish-speaking countries because the situations portrayed in the stories were similar to those of all audiences, regardless of geographical boundaries,' Cárdenas said. Alberto Lammers, who grew up watching 'El Chavo' in Peru during the 1970s and '80s, was excited for the series and the childhood nostalgia it evokes. He was also excited to learn more about what was happening behind the scenes in Gómez Bolaños' life. 'It really struck a chord with my childhood,' Lammers, who now lives in California, said after finishing the first episode. 'It gives heart and context to his complexity and the characters he built. It's also a very interesting look at how he became a TV personality. I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes! It's a real-life telenovela!' Fans also took to social media to praise the episode and their awe at the uncanny similarities between the actors and the people they are playing. For Lammers, after migrating to the U.S., 'El Chavo del Ocho' served as a connection to his roots even if the show wasn't based in Peru. 'Going to that show to me was actually very comforting,' Lammers said. 'It built a sense of community across most of Latin America.' ___ Associated Press journalist Berenice Bautista contributed reporting from Mexico City.
San Francisco Chronicle
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
'Chespirito: Sin Querer Queriendo' is a tribute to the Mexican comedian who shaped a generation
HBO's new biographical series 'Chespirito: Not Really on Purpose' ('Sin Querer Queriendo') has been received with delight by the many fans in the U.S. and Latin America who grew up watching the late Mexican comedian Roberto Gómez Bolaños. The eight-episode miniseries, which debuted Thursday, dramatizes the professional and personal journey of Gómez Bolaños, who transformed comedy in Latin America and whose characters defined a generation for millions of children. Known as 'Chespirito," he took his inspiration from Laurel and Hardy as well as another transcendent Mexican comedian who eventually made it to Hollywood, Cantinflas. Chespirito died in 2014 at age 85. Pablo Cruz, who plays Chespirito in the series, told The Associated Press in an interview translated from Spanish that the show is a tribute that tells 'a story that we know will connect with a very broad audience and give them an opportunity to further appreciate what they already admire and love.' Chespirito's two most famous characters were 'El Chavo del Ocho' ("The Boy from Number Eight') and 'El Chapulin Colorado' ('The Crimson Grasshopper'). 'El Chavo del Ocho" was an 8-year-old boy orphan living alone in a Mexican neighborhood with his barrel, freckles, striped shirt and grayed cap. 'El Chapulin Colorado' was a naive superhero dressed in a red bodysuit and hood with antennae that helped him detect danger miles away (despite the name, his yellow shorts and boots gave him more the look of a red bumblebee). Through his characters, Chespirito favored a clean comedy style far removed from the sexual innuendo and obscenity-laced jokes popular today. His morning shows were a staple for preschoolers, much like 'Captain Kangaroo' was in the United States. The HBO series 'is a tribute to Chespirito's importance as one of the key figures in Mexican television and highlights the enormous impact his television programs had throughout Latin America,' Fernando Cárdenas, digital manager for the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors, said in a statement to the AP. The miniseries is a powerful act of cultural preservation, one that documents the impact Latinos have had on the global entertainment industry, said Sehila Mota Casper, director of Latinos in Heritage Conservation. 'For so many of us, his characters weren't just entertainment,' Mota Casper said. 'They shaped how we understand humor, how we face challenges and how we see ourselves as Latinxs. This series honors that impact. By telling his story in this way, we help make sure the cultural histories that shaped us are seen, respected and carried forwards to future generations.' 'El Chavo' proved so popular that reruns are still shown in multiple countries in Latin America and on Spanish-language television in the United States. Many Latin Americans, living under dictatorships during the height of the show, found his underdog triumphs heroic in the face of authority. In a 2005 interview with the Mexican newspaper La Jornada, Gómez Bolaños said he always wrote with working-class people in mind. 'During the 1970s, the program was produced to reflect the reality of working-class families in Mexico and enjoyed enormous impact in other Spanish-speaking countries because the situations portrayed in the stories were similar to those of all audiences, regardless of geographical boundaries,' Cárdenas said. Alberto Lammers, who grew up watching 'El Chavo' in Peru during the 1970s and '80s, was excited for the series and the childhood nostalgia it evokes. He was also excited to learn more about what was happening behind the scenes in Gómez Bolaños' life. 'It really struck a chord with my childhood,' Lammers, who now lives in California, said after finishing the first episode. 'It gives heart and context to his complexity and the characters he built. It's also a very interesting look at how he became a TV personality. I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes! It's a real-life telenovela!' 'Going to that show to me was actually very comforting,' Lammers said. 'It built a sense of community across most of Latin America.'
Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
‘Chespirito: Sin Querer Queriendo' is a tribute to the Mexican comedian who shaped a generation
HBO's new biographical series 'Chespirito: Not Really on Purpose' ('Sin Querer Queriendo') has been received with delight by the many fans in the U.S. and Latin America who grew up watching the late Mexican comedian Roberto Gómez Bolaños. The eight-episode miniseries, which debuted Thursday, dramatizes the professional and personal journey of Gómez Bolaños, who transformed comedy in Latin America and whose characters defined a generation for millions of children. Known as 'Chespirito,' he took his inspiration from Laurel and Hardy as well as another transcendent Mexican comedian who eventually made it to Hollywood, Cantinflas. Chespirito died in 2014 at age 85. Pablo Cruz, who plays Chespirito in the series, told The Associated Press in an interview translated from Spanish that the show is a tribute that tells 'a story that we know will connect with a very broad audience and give them an opportunity to further appreciate what they already admire and love.' Chespirito's two most famous characters were 'El Chavo del Ocho' ('The Boy from Number Eight') and 'El Chapulin Colorado' ('The Crimson Grasshopper'). 'El Chavo del Ocho' was an 8-year-old boy orphan living alone in a Mexican neighborhood with his barrel, freckles, striped shirt and grayed cap. 'El Chapulin Colorado' was a naive superhero dressed in a red bodysuit and hood with antennae that helped him detect danger miles away (despite the name, his yellow shorts and boots gave him more the look of a red bumblebee). Through his characters, Chespirito favored a clean comedy style far removed from the sexual innuendo and obscenity-laced jokes popular today. His morning shows were a staple for preschoolers, much like 'Captain Kangaroo' was in the United States. The HBO series 'is a tribute to Chespirito's importance as one of the key figures in Mexican television and highlights the enormous impact his television programs had throughout Latin America,' Fernando Cárdenas, digital manager for the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors, said in a statement to the AP. The miniseries is a powerful act of cultural preservation, one that documents the impact Latinos have had on the global entertainment industry, said Sehila Mota Casper, director of Latinos in Heritage Conservation. 'For so many of us, his characters weren't just entertainment,' Mota Casper said. 'They shaped how we understand humor, how we face challenges and how we see ourselves as Latinxs. This series honors that impact. By telling his story in this way, we help make sure the cultural histories that shaped us are seen, respected and carried forwards to future generations.' 'El Chavo' proved so popular that reruns are still shown in multiple countries in Latin America and on Spanish-language television in the United States. Many Latin Americans, living under dictatorships during the height of the show, found his underdog triumphs heroic in the face of authority. In a 2005 interview with the Mexican newspaper La Jornada, Gómez Bolaños said he always wrote with working-class people in mind. 'During the 1970s, the program was produced to reflect the reality of working-class families in Mexico and enjoyed enormous impact in other Spanish-speaking countries because the situations portrayed in the stories were similar to those of all audiences, regardless of geographical boundaries,' Cárdenas said. Alberto Lammers, who grew up watching 'El Chavo' in Peru during the 1970s and '80s, was excited for the series and the childhood nostalgia it evokes. He was also excited to learn more about what was happening behind the scenes in Gómez Bolaños' life. 'It really struck a chord with my childhood,' Lammers, who now lives in California, said after finishing the first episode. 'It gives heart and context to his complexity and the characters he built. It's also a very interesting look at how he became a TV personality. I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes! It's a real-life telenovela!' Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. Fans also took to social media to praise the episode and their awe at the uncanny similarities between the actors and the people they are playing. For Lammers, after migrating to the U.S., 'El Chavo del Ocho' served as a connection to his roots even if the show wasn't based in Peru. 'Going to that show to me was actually very comforting,' Lammers said. 'It built a sense of community across most of Latin America.' ___ Associated Press journalist Berenice Bautista contributed reporting from Mexico City.
Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Pablo Cruz Guerrero didn't grow up with ‘El Chavo,' but Chespirito became his purpose
Unlike generations of Mexican children before and after him, actor Pablo Cruz Guerrero didn't grow up watching the hugely popular sitcoms created by Roberto Gómez Bolaños, the late writer, producer and performer better known as 'Chespirito' or 'Little Shakespeare.' It's a wonder, considering that at peak, Gómez Bolaños' family-friendly programs were watched by over 300 million people worldwide, and they remain pop culture pillars across Latin America — even in Portuguese-speaking Brazil — 50 years after they first aired. The programs' influence also extends to the U.S. among diasporic communities, enduring through reruns that periodically introduce his characters to new viewers. The catchphrases Gómez Bolaños penned have also become ingrained in the vernacular of many countries. His most popular creation, 'El Chavo del Ocho,' centers on an orphan boy (which he played) living in a courtyard apartment complex filled with peculiar neighbors. Then there's 'El Chapulín Colorado,' a satirical take on tights-wearing superheroes, where Gómez Bolaños plays an inept though goodhearted paladin (chapulín means grasshopper in Mexico). That Cruz Guerrero, 41, wasn't familiar with these landmark shows or characters is all the more shocking because he's now embodied Gómez Bolaños in the new bioseries 'Chespirito: Not Really on Purpose' ('Chespirito: Sin querer queriendo'), streaming on Max starting Thursday with new episodes weekly. The actor's lack of nostalgic attachment for the universe of physical comedy, wordplay and social commentary that Chespirito created gave him a leg up when auditioning, he believes. 'I want to convince myself that this was the one thing that allowed me to gain objectivity about the story,' he says in Spanish during a recent video call from Mexico City. 'Had I been a fan, I would have been ridden with nerves when approaching the character.' It was casting director Isabel Cortázar who first saw Cruz Guerrero's potential, and in mid-2023, asked him to audition for the part. 'Before receiving her call, I would have never seen myself as Chespirito,' he says. 'No one had ever told me before that I looked like him.' Cruz Guerrero has been consistently acting for over 20 years in films ('El Estudiante,' 'From Prada to Nada') and TV. More recently, he played a memorable antagonist in the second and third seasons of Netflix's 'Luis Miguel: The Series,' another bioseries about the famed Mexican singer played by Diego Boneta. As to why he didn't watch Chespirito's work during his childhood, Cruz Guerrero hypothesizes that because his parents lived in Los Angeles for three years before he and his siblings were born, they were more interested in culture produced outside of Mexico. Instead, they took them to the cinema, to outdoor concerts and museum exhibits. Ironically, Cruz Guerrero has appeared on several Televisa productions over the years, the same storied network that produced Chespirito's work. 'In middle school, I had a social and comedic disadvantage because many of my friends knew all of Chespirito's jokes and imitated the characters' voices, and I couldn't follow along,' Cruz Guerrero says. When offered a chance to vie for the role, he consumed as much Chespirito content as he could find online, whether it was of Gómez Bolaños playing his characters or interviews he gave. The arduous audition process required Cruz Guerrero to appear every Tuesday for about seven weeks for a variety of tests. Beyond doing scenes from the episodes of 'Chespirito,' each meeting would add more elements that got him closer to Gómez Bolaños: He tried on the costumes, interacted with the actors who would play his children, he shaved his beard and tried on the prosthetic nose, contact lenses and receding hairline required for the role. And even then, as the weeks dragged on, Cruz Guerrero wasn't certain he'd be picked, especially after sharing with the family of Gómez Bolaños, who are involved in the production, his neophyte status on everything Chespirito. 'I could read on their faces they were thinking, 'Are we making the right decision with someone who doesn't genuinely love our father's legacy already?'' the actor recalls. Ultimately, Cruz Guerrero won them over because he was able to closely replicate the mannerisms and voice of the real Chespirito. Gómez Bolaños' physicality called to mind silent film era icons such as Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. 'I felt like if I tried to play around with my feet and knees when I walked, not only did I lose a little bit of height to get closer to Roberto's height, but it also put me in a position to feel a little more playful with my body,' says Cruz Guerrero while wiggling his arms. Roberto Gómez Fernandez, Chespirito's son, admits he initially had doubts about Cruz Guerrero. The show had been in the works for about four years at that point, two of which had been spent searching for the right actors to recreate Gómez Bolaños' world. Slowly, as Cruz Guerrero refined his performance and the makeup got him closer to Chespirito's image, Gómez Fernandez became convinced they had found their man. 'I saw my father in him,' says Gómez Fernandez on a recent Zoom chat, 'during complex situations in a scene and in a little wink or a glance that Pablo did.' The family's approval fueled him. 'They would say to me, 'I just heard my dad through you. I just had a conversation with my dad. I just shook his hand and gave him a hug,' says Cruz Guerrero, who recalls being deeply moved. 'That empowered me to feel more in his skin and not feel self-doubt because of my previous distance.' Once he officially landed the role, Cruz Guerrero immersed himself in Gómez Bolaños' personal and professional life via his autobiography, 'Sin querer queriendo,' which lends the series its title. It functioned as a link between the actor and the creator, who died in 2014. 'I was trying to establish a metaphysical dialogue through the words he had written and edited himself in the book,' Cruz Guerrero says. 'I asked him questions, and I feel like we had very beautiful conversations thanks to the book.' Many of the pointed questions that Cruz Guerrero sought answers to in the text revolved around fatherhood, namely the elusive notion of work-life balance. 'In our careers, there are moments of beautiful enlightenment where you're creating and having a great time,' he says. 'However, you're also aware that you're fulfilling a contract, and chasing financial compensation. This means that you're investing time and energy and you often prioritize the professional instead of being at home and you miss your family.' That struggle became rather personal for the actor during this process. 'I found out I was going to be a father for the first time the same week I found out I was going to play Roberto,' recalls Cruz Guerrero. 'I wanted to absorb knowledge from him about his experience as a father and the experiences I was about to embark on playing him.' While the series features moments where Cruz Guerrero dons the emblematic attire of Chavo del Ocho and Chapulín Colorado, the focus is on the real man behind them. The book also served as the foundation for Gómez Fernandez and his sister Paulina to write the episodes' screenplays. The two are also producers and were involved in every decision about the project. For Roberto Gómez Fernandez, the challenge was for the series not to become a solemn, saintly tribute to the larger-than-life figure their father was. 'I had to remember that I wasn't thinking about my dad, but about the character of Roberto Gómez Bolaños,' he says. 'They weren't real-life people because you have to transform them into characters, and sometimes you have to pull some strings to make the dramatic dynamics more effective.' And yet, despite having fictionalized aspects, Gómez Fernandez believes that the series offers truthfulness about his father's essence as a person. 'I think we achieved it, but along the way, we had to undress the character's successes and failures, many of which had consequences in his life,' Gómez Fernandez says. 'Some things turned out alright for him, but others went wrong, and he also hurt people.' It's not lost on Cruz Guerrero that someone like him, who didn't previously revere Chespirito's genius, wound up taking on the task of bringing his story to the screen. 'In moments of fear, insecurity and doubt, I would ask myself, 'Oh, man, how did I end up here?' And then it was all resolved with laughter because in front of me I would read the title of the show, 'Not Really on Purpose,'' he says with a knowing smile. After more than two decades mostly appearing in supporting roles, Cruz Guerrero is basking in what's undoubtedly the most important credit of his career so far. 'I'm especially grateful to the family, who chose me to play this beloved character, who is obviously part of their personal story,' Cruz Guerrero says. 'I live this moment with great gratitude, so thank you to Roberto Gómez Bolaños.'
