The new movie MISS BALA, starring Gina Rodriguez and Ismael Cruz Cordova, is a Hollywood remake of the 2011 Mexican film of the same name, directed and co-written by Gerardo Naranjo.

I recently had the chance to speak with director Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight, Lords of Dogtown) about her experience crafting a new version of this story, inspired by true events.

What did you think of the Mexican film?

I really loved its beautiful photography, and how the film was made in general. The story, based on the real-life Miss Sinaloa, was very interesting. However, when I watched in 2017, I was yelling at the TV: She was too passive, and I wanted her to kick some butts! That was 2011 so it worked as a metaphor for how passive was Mexico at the time. Now, in 2019, we want to see women empowered, standing up for themselves. We also went more global, with characters who grew up on different sides of the border, and exploring how both cultures interact and clash with each other.

This version reminded me of those noir films were a protagonist loses control by accident, getting involved with something much bigger and dangerous. How did you want to explore Gloria’s journey to regain control?

Yes, you are right. Like in “North by Northwest,” she gets caught in a crazy web. Gina and I kept thinking, and asking ourselves “What we would Ido? I haven’t been trained by the Navy Seals, so how can I get out of this situation?” It gets more complex when the DEA enlists her to become a double agent. It’s fascinating.

There are many action sequences in the movie. How did you want to portray that side of Gina´s character?

Gina and I are very active in our daily lives, so we wanted to make sure that we could actually do these things in real life. We are not superheroes, so we wanted to keep it realistic.


Did you discover something particularly interesting about the Mexican, or Latino culture that you didn’t know before?

We shot it in Tijuana, so I was there for five and a half months. We hired as many locals as possible to be in the film, so they kept teaching us the Tijuana slang. We had people working with Ismael [Cruz Cordova] to make sure that he sounded like grew up there, and not like a Puerto Rican. That was fun!

MISS BALA is now playing in theaters nationwide.

Gloria finds a power she never knew she had when she is drawn into a dangerous world of cross-border crime. Surviving will require all of her cunning, inventiveness, and strength. Based on the Spanish-language film.