Pop Culture Planet Podcast: Maria Canals-Barrera On The Impact Of Wizards Of Waverly Place
A new year, a new season of the Pop Culture Planet podcast! We kick off season 5 with everyone’s favorite Disney mom Maria Canals-Barrera as she talks with host Kristen Maldonado about the impact of Wizards of Waverly Place and returning to the role of Theresa Russo for Wizards Beyond Waverly Place.
Episode Quotes
Maria Canals-Barrera on returning to her Wizards of Waverly Place roots: “What do you mean what made me want to return? Of course, I want to return! It's a fantastic show that people love and I love doing. For years, we'd get asked every day, 'Are you guys coming back? Is there going to be a reboot? And fantasizing about what the reboot would be like and imagining it. I was like, ‘Well, may never happen, [but] at least I was blessed enough to be Theresa for four years.’ She lives on forever in the show, but then, when it was actually really happening, it was thrilling.”
Canals-Barrera on becoming an abuelita on the show: “There's just so many layers with playing the same character at a different season in her life. It's a lot of fun. It's a learning curve for me and it's written really, really beautifully.”
Canals-Barrera on how she knew the show reboot would be a hit: “It was wonderful. David invited the original cast [to] the producers run through of the pilot so I got to meet the writers and I met the kids before I actually worked with them. They were just terrific and so talented. The pilot was terrific. When I saw it, I was like, ‘Wow, this is going to be great.’”
Canals-Barrera on seeing Selena Gomez and David Henrie all grown up: “I got to see the special moments between Justin and Alex played by Selena and David as adults now and that was really touching. I got emotional watching some of those scenes between them because they're adults now. They're trying to figure things out as adults, but you still see them as kids.”
Canals-Barrera on playing opposite Mimi Gianopulos as a fellow mortal within a Wizarding family: “I thought it was beautifully written where we have this heart-to-heart where I really meet her where she's at. There are a lot of one-dimensional mother-in-laws in the way they're written. There's some amazing ones like on Everybody Loves Raymond [and] I think Theresa is on her way to being that. Funny, but also there's a lot of heart too. […] We have the dynamic of she and I are the mortals on the show, but there's also the element of the daughter-in-law wanting to be perfect for the mother-in-law. [There’s] the misconception of thinking that because Justin is so amazing, then his parents are amazing, so I want to be amazing. Let’s be real. We made mistakes, but I think it's wanting to do better, loving unconditionally that propelspeople forward. I love that beautiful scene where I really tell her, ‘Hey, I'm for you. I'm not perfect and you don't have to be.’ It's tough and just wanting to do it right is enough. The writing was so beautiful and I think a lot of people will really appreciate that.”
Canals-Barrera on being a strong and compassionate woman on and off screen: “That's such a touching question because that's how I want to be. That's what I do aspire to be. Everything that God wants me to be, which is selfless. [It’s] a battle for all of us because we're human. I try to do that in my own life. Try to be the best mom I can be, which is the hardest thing in the world and the most important thing in the world. I've gotten the blessing to play a lot of moms. A lot of them have been written that way, which is good. If I have to play a cold mom or a mean mom, I'll do that too, but when I get to play a mom that wants to be a good mom and wants to be there for her children, [I] really embrace it. That's what I aspire to. That's what I'm trying to do and I love that I've gotten to do that as Theresa in the midst of a […] crazy, wacky comedy.”
Canals-Barrera on why Wizards of Waverly Place struck a cord with viewers: “We have a lot of heart in our show and I think that's the secret sauce. The Russo [family] mantra is we’re there no matter what for each other. The Russo’s have each other's backs. You really see that and I think that that's why people get emotional. They don't just come up to us and say, ‘Oh, I laughed so hard. It was so funny.’ They cry. They are touched by the show.”
Canals-Barrera on her new grandchildren in Wizards Beyond Waverly Place: “Billie (Janice LeAnn Brown) is not a blood relative, but she is loved as one. She is adopted into the fold 100%. I chose easily to love those new kids as if they were my own and I think that's a powerful thing to witness for the audience to see that kind of love. I know it's just a TV show, but it speaks to people. It takes us somewhere special and it means a lot to people. I'm happy and proud to be part of it.”
Canals-Barrera on playing a mom who is equally Latin and American: “A special blessing that I believe that I got to receive was I got to play an American mom as a Latin American woman, which we don't see that much of and we're surrounded by in life. We're surrounded by Americans, first generation Americans like myself, born and raised in America where our parents were born somewhere else. It's a part of us, but it's not all of us and what I love about Wizards is I wasn't put in a box. It was celebrated as a real part of me, not as a two-dimensional part of me. Like when I try to teach Alex Spanish or when I try to do that Mexican old wives remedy for Justin zit on his forehead. It's real. It was really well written so I really like that we got to be part of that storytelling in America as a Latin American woman in a very real authentic and individual way. She wasn't a stereotype at all. She got to be all of who she was as Theresa, as a mortal, as a Mexican-American, as a mother. It was really refreshing for a lot of people to see that and an education for people that had other ideas about what a Latin American woman is. I love that I got that opportunity and that I continue to get to have that opportunity.”
Canals-Barrera on putting Latinos at the center of both relatable and magical stories: “We were individuals struggling with what everybody else struggles with. We weren't struggling with immigration stories or the maid or stereotypes. We were struggling with real life. Family, situations, obedience, traditions, unconditional love, forgiveness, acceptance, forgiving your siblings, sibling rivalry, pressures in school, marital struggles. Just universal situations that anybody and everybody, no matter where their parents are from, [can relate to]. It was really great to be part of something like that. […] There were no limitations and having the premise of magic took us anywhere the writers wanted to take us, which was great. The wild west, vampires, werewolves, back in time, the future. It was just wonderful and we got to play so much. Oh my gosh, just talking about it is exciting me for what more I'm going to get to do hopefully in the sequel.”
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Hosted by TV and film critic Kristen Maldonado, Pop Culture Planet is a video podcast featuring analytical pop culture discussions and interviews with diverse voices in the entertainment space. Watch episodes on youtube.com/kaymaldo or listen on your favorite podcast platforms, from Spotify to Apple Podcasts and beyond.
