It may be tough to pull off a cross between a raunchy road trip comedy and a tear-jerking family drama, but Half Brothers pulls it off admirably. In the upcoming film, Mexican businessman Renato (Luis Gerardo Mendez) meets his American half-brother Asher (Connor Del Rio) after a lifetime of separation.
The Murguía brothers grew up in separation after Renato's father left Mexico to provide a better life for his family, but then never returned from the United States. After his passing, the siblings must confront the truth behind their father's story and their own misconceptions about each other.
The stars sat down with Screen Rant in anticipation of the movie's December 4th release to share their impressions of the themes at hand, and their experience working with an adorable baby goat.
Aside from being about brothers, Half Brothers is also about fathers and sons and the legacy that our fathers pass down to us that then we pass on. Luis, how did your dynamic with your father affect your relationship with your stepson at the start of this movie? Can you talk a little bit about that new family dynamic he's entering?
Luis Gerardo Mendez: Yes, there's a lot of baggage for these characters. He was abandoned when he was a kid. His father came to the US in a search of a better life, and he never came back.
Renato's a really successful Mexican businessman, but he is really pissed. He's really angry with his father, he's really angry with America, with the United States, because he thinks the United States stole his father. Suddenly, he realizes he has this half brother, who's American and who is basically everything he hates. And he needs to do a road trip with him to understand why he thought his father never came back, and why they never met before.
I think what we were looking for with these characters, and with these story, was talking about the differences between Mexico and the States. Also talking about why we are not so different at the end of the day, and talking about empathy and about relationships between fathers and sons and siblings. And also treating the immigration problem with a lot of respect and dignity, and to wrap all of those themes in a comedy.
So, it was a really interesting project, and I am really happy with the result. We'll see what the response from the audience is.
I was really impressed as well with all of those different entities in combined in one. Speaking of the comedy side of things, Connor, I heard that you know were the goat whisperer for George. Can you talk a little bit about having a goat as your costar, and how you showered it with fatherly love?
Connor Del Rio: Yes. Right before going to Albuquerque to start shooting the film, I decided not to bring my Husky with me because, for one thing, he's a Husky. He's a winter dog, and he already resents me for bringing him to LA. Albuquerque's 113 degrees, so no way I'm bringing my Husky there.
I thought, "You know what, I'm gonna have this goat for this whole shoot, and he's gonna replace my dog." The relationship I have with my dog, I'll just have it with this goat. I wasn't thinking intelligently because goats and dogs are different species for various reasons.
The first week, it was strenuous with George. He didn't like me. I don't know why, he just didn't want to accept me for a little bit. Every take, he'd just ram me - goats ram, that's a thing. He's about shin-high, and he would just ram me in the shin. I just had to walk and do the scene like nothing's happening.
It sounds like that Renatito the goat and Renato the person were very much the same.
Luis Gerardo Mendez: That's true. The only difference is that Renatito is not in the interview.
Just as the brothers learned things about each other, what did you learn from each other as actors on set?
Luis Gerardo Mendez: Well, Connor is really talented, especially for doing improv. He has a really interesting improv background. I'm a huge fan of improv, and when you admire your costar and the people you're working with, it's so much easier and you'll feel so much comfortable throwing balls to the other player.
At the end of the day, I think Luke, the director, gave us a lot of freedom to improvise. I think most of the the funniest moments in the film came from those improvisations and being present and playing on set. So, it was actually pretty easy.
Half Brothers arrives in theaters December 4.
