- Title: USA: Jack Black delivers mucho comedy in his latest film "Nacho Libre"
- Date: 21st June 2006
- Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) JACK BLACK, WHO PORTRAYS NACHO IN "NACHO LIBRE", SAYING: "I just was struck by 'Napoleon Dynamite's' sort of originality and it's such a peculiar film and so great and he (Jared Hess) took this character and there is not many people that can do a really funny movie artistically with a great sense of style so when you see that you really want to get with that person and collaborate on something."
- Embargoed: 6th July 2006 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVA2QJF4YPP6W2NS8Q965N2XZ32P
- Story Text: Funnyman Jack Black and "Napoleon Dynamite" director Jared Hess make up the fearsome comedy tag team behind "Nacho Libre".
Set in the colourful world of Lucha Libre, sort of the Mexican equivalent of WWE, the deliberately off-kilter picture throws political correctness to the mat with abandon, but that is unlikely to be much of a concern for its target audience.
Black takes on his most fully realized character to date, Nacho, the orphaned son of a Scandinavian missionary and a Mexican deacon (which would explain the wacky accent) who now is a cook in the monastery where he was raised.
"I studied Spanish as well as I could in the short amount of time I had. I listened to a lot of CD's in the car and I watched a lot of "Lucha Libre" movies in Spanish and went down and lived in Mexico just to get the flavour, just get some of that rich real sort of accent," Black told Reuters in Los Angeles, California.
Director Hess penned the script along with his wife and writing partner Jerusha Hess and Mike White who wrote "School of Rock".
"Nacho Libre" is inspired by a true story of a priest in Mexico who started to fight for a group of orphans in order to provide for them. And our story is inspired by what he did but we also gave it a lot of comedy," Hess told Reuters.
The cult film "Napoleon Dynamite" made the 26-year-old Hess the number one choice to work with amongst Hollywood comedians.
"I just was struck by 'Napoleon Dynamite's' sort of originality and it's such a peculiar film and so great and he (Jared Hess) took this character and there is not many people that can do a really funny movie artistically with a great sense of style so when you see that you really want to get with that person and collaborate on something," Black explained.
Filmed entirely on location in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, "Nacho Libre" makes effective use of both the local colour and talent. All of the children, extras and Black's co-star Esqueleto, played by Hector Jimenez, were hired locally in Oaxaca. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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