Alexa PenaVega Looks Back At 21 Years Of Spy Kids
Twenty one years after the debut of Spy Kids, I caught up with actress Alexa PenaVega on Hallmark Channel’s Countdown to Christmas red carpet to look back on her experience.
“I actually spent time with Daryl [Sabara] who played my brother in Spy Kids [recently]. We were just kind of laughing because we both have kids now — I have three, he has one — and it's such a surreal experience to have worked on that. It already has been that long since the first Spy Kids. Did you say 21 years or something crazy?” she asked.
PenaVega continued: “It blows our minds, but we were saying how kids nowadays will never have the experience that we did because we didn't have social media on set. We were just kids playing dress-up and it was very special.”
But with four minis between them, could they be starting the next generation of Spy Kids? “I’ll take it. We have some cool kids!” PenaVega laughed.
That may not be too far off base as earlier this year Netflix revealed that Robert Rodriguez will write, direct, and produce a reimagining of the beloved franchise and introduce the world to a new family of spies.
Rodriguez has been dedicated to telling positive Latino stories on screen, making it part of the DNA of his projects. “It’s important to show people that diversity on screen. I’ve been doing it now for 30 years and I always got such great feedback from people when they felt themselves being shown on the screen as not criminals, not cartel members, not the same maids and gardeners as they usually did, but as superheroes, as spies,” Rodriguez told me in interview for his 2020 film We Can Be Heroes. “Imaging is so important. It changes your mind of what your potential is.”
Look out for more Spy Kids heroics coming to Netflix very soon.
