There are much more beautiful places in Mexico than Cancun and Rocky Point.
The director of the new movie Sea of Dreams, Jose "Pepe" Bojorquez is about to show America what they've been missing.
This vibrant, passionate, intelligent movie maker is more than relaxed and overly psyched about his first commercial film Sea of Dreams being released in America after more than a year of being a phenomenon in Mexico.
It's a believable fairytale love story that not just celebrates romantic love, but the love and beauty in nature and the world. Especially, the beauty in the Yucatan Peninsula.
Sea of Dreams has an international cast, but one man that might be more familiar is actor Johnathon Schaech. He played the lead singer from Tom Hanks' movie, That Thing You Do.
Together, right before they took their lunch break, both Pepe and Johnathon sat down to chat. Neither the director nor actor treated this meet and greet like a formal interview, but more like just some guys sitting and talking together at a bar.
The Web Devil (WD): Does the Yucatan peninsula look as good as it does in the movie poster?
Pepe (P): You want to live there. It's spectacular.
John (J): Are you talking about the poster? That's not a real place, it's CGI. The town in the background is real though, that's beautiful.
P: The beach we filmed at used to be huge in the 20s, but then people left. I went all over Mexico, looking for the right place. I didn't want Cancun; I wanted something dark, clear, and with beautiful cliffs and a beautiful jungle.
J: Shooting there took us forever to get to the locations, but they were extraordinary. At night, there were different kinds of bugs that looked like they came from a different planet they were so large. THE MOTHS WERE AS BIG AS BIRDS!
P: What do you expect, it's a jungle.
WD: Why were you interested in making this movie?
J: Romance movies are usually formulaic. Everything revolves around the idea rather than the characters. And everything in this plot is a character with a passion. You get a feel for everything and everyone. Even the sea is a character.
WD: How was it working with an international cast?
P: We were lucky, I had the characters in my mind and I had the freedom to go get them and that's what I did. We searched hundreds of women from Mexico, New York, but we found someone from Israel that I truly saw could connect with the sea and nature. We found a beautiful actress from Brazil that can connect with the earth. I felt, our cast was like the United Nations because we were from all over the place but we united because we shared and were apart of the same story.
WD: Where you nervous making your first commercial film?
P: I never had a chance to be nervous. We all talked a lot before we started filming. When making a movie, you need to give freedom to the actors because you trust them and truly believe in them to make your characters come to life. Johnathon plays the character that I want him to be, I saw the passion he had and that got to me, the same with all of the other actors. We became a family. Of course, there were times where I wanted to escape for 2 seconds.
J: The weather was something else.
P: First, we were in the middle of nowhere and have to fight with the sea, then; we have to drive all over on unpaved roads from location to location. Setting up the shots and doing different scenes took forever.
J: No matter where we went, it was always a 45 minute drive. I had a hard time in this location. I was a part from my wife; people were getting sick from the food too. You can't eat anything when you are in the bottom of the Yucatan. DON'T TOUCH THE FOOD THAT TOUCHED THE WATER.
P: We were not in Veracruz, Cancun or Mexico City. We were in the middle of nowhere.
J: Being in front of camera and working with Pepe and his energy was the only good time we had.
P: That is the beauty of making a movie because to get here, you have to go through all of those bumpy roads.
WD: Why hasn't Sea of Dreams been release in the US sooner?
P: This film is an American film, but it was released in Mexico to test the waters. It was a huge success and we've built a good marketing campaign behind it. Receiving the 2006 Silver Goddess Award for this movie is huge. It's like the Latin Academy Award.
J: When I went back to Mexico after it was released, everybody loved it. They were hugging me, telling me stories. I felt like I just made an Oscar winning film.
WD: What do you want college kids to get out of it?
J: Sea of Dreams' message is pure and simple, it's about love, and you got to believe in love. It's hard to believe that love is possible, and this film makes you want to believe.
P: To dream and follow your dreams, it's not about going just to the beach for Spring Break, but connecting with the beauty of nature. People are astonished by all of the colors in each shot, but I say to them, if you just open your eyes and look, those are the colors that people see every day.
J: Who cares if your dream is really high up there and sounds cocky. Following your dream is a humbling experience. Life will humble you.
P: But once you've been humbled and achieve your dream, it's worth it. Follow what you want to do and it's going to be fantastic.
Sea of Dreams comes out September 21. For more behind the scenes info, go to seaofdreamsthemovie.com and seaofdreamsthemovie.net