Torrid love... in Yuma?

Rick Najera switches gears for a new role

Rick Najera, known for his comedic film performances (Ladron Que Roba a Ladron, A Day Without a Mexican, National Lampoons Pledge This!), switches gears for a dramatic role as the sensitive, one-handed butcher Jose Luis in How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer, in general release this month.  The movie – originally screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005 – stars America Ferrera, Elizabeth Peña and Lucy Gallardo as three generations of women who discover their sexuality during a summer in Yuma, Arizona. The film is rated R. The director, Georgina Garcia Riedel, is a UofA grad. The movie was filmed along the Arizona-Mexico border. Keep an eye out for Najera’s future projects including the feature film he wrote, Humboldt Park, which ­­­stars John Leguizamo and Freddy Rodriguez and is set to open this fall. To learn more, check out www.ricknajera.com rector-producer, plays Peña’s love interest and had this to say about the movie and Latinos in Hollywood.

What attracted you to the role?  
“(Jose Luis) was a sincere, good person and had a very quiet dignity.”

What did you like best about playing a love interest? What was the worst?
“The best part was acting with Elizabeth Peña – she’s a great actress.  The worst part was I felt bad for my wife to see the very sexy love scenes.”
 
From the clip, the movie seems kinda like a milder Sex in the City, except the characters don’t have as much money and they span three generations of sexually repressed women. Am I way off?
“Not far, it’s sex in the really, really small, dusty, poorer city, but still sexy.”
 
George Lopez was of one the first Hispanics to break into a primetime TV show. Now your co-star America Ferrera is following suit. Do you think she will do more to further television projects based on Latino characters? Please explain.
“I hope so but the real problem is most of the Latino stars never try to get Latino writers on their shows ... George Lopez and Carlos Mencia have many times less Latinos writing on their shows than other Anglo-themed shows.”