Soulless AI, ‘CODA,’ Tom Hanks, ‘E.T.’ and Oscars: Mexico’s Eugenio Derbez on Acting and Producing

Mexican actor, producer, directorEugenio Derbez(CODA, Radical) discussed his career, industry insights, moving from comedy to drama, and adding producing work to his acting career as chairman and co-founder of 3Pas Studio during a keynote on the third day of the fifth edition of Iberseries & Platino Industria in Madrid.

Of course, he was also asked about his take on artificial intelligence on the entertainment sector, predicting a flood of AI-driven projects in the future. But the technology can’t replace the true emotion that human actors bring to the table, he emphasized. “It doesn’t have a soul,” he said about AI, according to an English translation of his comments. And he predicted: “We will pay more in the future to watch a film not produced by AI than one produced by AI. At the end of the day, we want to go to the movies to watch two people connect… something that goes to your heart, not only your eyes.”

He concluded: “AI will help some of us to create amazing effects that were impossible in the past. However, there is a dark side. Up until now, AI lacks emotion, lacks a soul.”

The star didn’t mention “AI actress” Tilly Norwood by name, but his comments fit into the debate that has raged in recent days after suggestions that talent agencies were looking at Norwood.

Derbez also recalled mentioning his hits in Hollywood meetings to little avail in the past. “I would say, ‘Look, I am number 1 in Mexico.’ ‘But what have you done in Hollywood?’ they would ask,” the star explained. “This is too Mexican, they would say.”

“When they opened the Hollywood gate to me, they wanted me to do comedy, but I wanted to do something deeper,” Derbez said. “I didn’t necessarily want to become a producer, but I had to” as a way of pushing ahead on projects he is passionate about, he explained.

And his success in such projects as CODA has helped him get more challenging projects done. Thanks to CODA winning Oscars, for example, “I could make a movie like Radical [as producer and actor], which nobody wanted to invest in originally,” Derbez shared. The movie is about sixth-grade students at a school that is among the worst-performing in Mexico, with their world full of violence and hardship. But a new teacher is trying something different.

“I used to be the comedian, the funny one, but when I did comedy, nobody cared,” he said. “When I did CODA and Radical, I started getting invited to parties.” He pointed to the likes of Tom Hanks, Jim Carrey and Robin Williams as stars who moved from comedy to drama and ended up getting recognition. “When you do comedy, you become Mr. Actor or so,” Derbez concluded.

“You must be authentic,” he also highlighted when asked about key recipes of success. He also shared what it was like moving from Mexico to the U.S. at age 52. “I had to do that,” he explained. “I knew it was the right move.”

What is his producing work like? “Every day, I receive pitches,” he told the event. “But how do you know if an idea is good or not?” That can be difficult and tricky to assess, he shared. “Local humor does not travel. Now you are working with global [streaming] platforms. We work for a worldwide audience. In the past, Hollywood was the king, and if you didn’t produce the movie in English, it wouldn’t travel. From COVID, everything changed.” Derbez cited the likes of Squid Game and Money Heist, as well as Parasite and Rome.

“What makes an idea universal is emotion,” he concluded. “If you connect with the audience, that show or movie will travel.” Why E.T. was so successful was “because it had an emotional connection with the audience.”