Montalban has been making films for a long time, but this was his first encounter with 3D. “A new challenge is always welcome at my age,” he admits. “And this was a totally new way of working for me, having to work in front of a green screen, pretending to be surrounded by all these computerized creations. I had to really use my imagination. The 3D is certainly going to be very exciting, but I believe that it’s such a great story that 3D is just another bonus.”
Holland Taylor, who stars as Grandma Cortez, was also thrilled to see Montalban leaping, jumping and battling with the rest of the family. “I think we really start to understand what a great man Grandpa Cortez was by seeing how superbly he plays the video games,” Taylor comments. “They might be in virtual reality, but he teaches Juni a lot about the real world.”
And then there are the Spy Kids themselves, who are sent on an adventure even they never could have seen coming. Alexa Vega couldn’t believe it when Robert Rodriguez told her Carmen Cortez was going to get trapped inside a 3D video game, sparking a virtual reality adventure. “When he told me the movie was going to be 3D, I said ‘are you kidding?’ because it seems like nobody has done that in forever. I knew right then it was going to be very fun, totally different experience,” she says.
For Vega, it was also a chance to really stretch herself as a young action star who has grown up before the audience’s eyes. “When we first started making the SPY KIDS movies, I was practically a baby,” she jokes. “But now, Carmen has really started to grow up. She’s become very tough and in control. Everyone in the video game soon sees that it’s not a good idea to mess with her!” Vega continues: “One of the best things that Carmen learns is that no matter what, her family will always be there for her. Her parents leave their own mission to come save her and that’s the way all parents are – and also grandparents. They turn out to be the people you can really look up to in life.”
To keep in the video game mood, Carmen regularly played video games on the set with Daryl Sabara. But she was ultimately glad they games never came to life. “I like video games because they take you somewhere else,” she observes. “But for Carmen and Juni, the game becomes a little too real and suddenly there’s these giant creatures chasing them everywhere. That could be pretty intimidating.” As for her favorite SPY KIDS 3D stunt, Vega has a hands-down winner: “Surfing on the lava was the most exciting thing I’ve ever done,” she says. “They actually brought in set-up where we were on something like a skateboard and we got to roll up and down this metal half-pipe with wind blowing on us. It was so cool, it really felt like surfing, and we could totally imagine these giant waves of lava.”
Meanwhile, Daryl Sabara says that he was excited by the SPY KIDS 3D story because “it has more action, more excitement and a whole other dimension.” He was also thrilled to see Juni getting even more hands-on in his spy work as he battles the video game, makes new friends and collaborates with Grandpa Cortez. “I think Juni is more willing to try new things now,” says Sabara, “so that was really fun for me. I even had to do a lot of training for this movie. I did running, lifted five-pound weights and did obstacle courses, too.” Sabara was also impressed by the new 3D camera. “To me, it looks like it has two eyes,” he says. “It’s not like looking at a Cyclops anymore! And we got to see how cool the 3D is going to look.”
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