Making ‘Switch Up’ Was Therapy for Cristián de la Fuente

The Big Picture

• The cast of
  Switch Up
  sits down to talk with Collider’s Perri Nemiroff at SXSW 2024.
• Stars Jeff Fahey, Cristián de la Fuente, Julieth Restrepo, and Shondrella Avery discuss the importance of self-expression and fearlessness in the industry.
• Switch Up
  strives to deliver a lighthearted story that carries significant depth and heartwarming moments.

Returning to SXSW 2024, this time as director, is Deadland producer Tara Pirnia with her romantic dramedy, Switch Up. Though the film isn’t quite as heavy as her previous festival feature, this one still bears weight within its family-friendly plot. According to cast member Jeff Fahey (Alita: Battle Angel), “It was the lightness of the story that had a heaviness to it.”

Starring Cristián de la Fuente (In Plain Sight) and Julieth Restrepo (Griselda), Switch Up is a riches-to-rags tale of television host Ricardo de la Cruz (Fuente), who has everything. In the actor’s own words, Ricardo has “everything material — power, fame, money. Everything that he gave a lot of power to in order to be happy.” After a nefarious set-up leaves the host high and dry in a small Texas town, Ricardo finds himself on the streets. Here, he meets a kindhearted stranger, Charlie, played by Fahey, who helps Ricardo find a new chance at life.

At the festival, stars Fuente, Fahey, Restrepo, and Shondrella Avery (The Secret Life of Bees), who plays Ricardo’s executive producer Marie, stopped by the Collider interview studio to chat with our own Perri Nemiroff about their experience making the film and how it serves the industry today.

Shining a Light on a Seemingly Doom and Gloom Industry

After a tumultuous year within the filmmaking industry, festivals like Sundance and SXSW look to highlight the artists who strive to remind audiences why we need stories on the big screen. Likewise, the cast of Switch Up embrace their film, and extend their hard work to movie-lovers looking for a story that asks questions and offers something important to say in a lighthearted package. To this point, Avery says:

“We are in a world of stories that is based on individual perspectives. No different than our
Switch Up
, people will watch it and have a different takeaway. We believe, overall, they’ll have a takeaway of,
‘Do better. Be good and greater in your life.’
”

When asked about their characters in the movie, and what they were most excited to bring to the project, Fahey had this to say:

“It wasn’t so much the character. For me, it was the story. And not in a heavy, social way. It was the lightness of the story that had a heaviness to it. It’s only because I’m at a place in my life and my career where I’ve worked in all the different genres, the big films, smalls films, and in between. I’m at a place now where I’m really enjoying
the simplicity of a romance, a comedy that has some weight to it, that there’s multiple layers to it without preaching
. And at the same time, walking away from the experience as an actor, but also yesterday as an audience member, and being moved emotionally without feeling my life was changed, or I was assaulted with colors and sound, although all those things are wonderful. For me, it was a pleasure and joy to work with all these great cats, and to be in an environment where you didn’t feel you were carrying the weight of the world, of $100 million dollars … There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s been beautiful, wonderful. But I think with this particular film, the audience can be anyone from a young child to someone who’s in their last stages.
It moved me in a simple, beautiful way.
I was hoping that’s what it was when I read it, and I was very happy to see that was the outcome.”

The Fearlessness of Filmmaking

In that industry of $100 million-dollar movies, Switch Up is unafraid to offer a small-budget feature with big heart. In the face of franchises and reboots, this movie takes a different approach, which allowed each of its stars to discover something within themselves. From being backed by a team of women to digging deep into their psyches, films like these take determination and guts. For Fuente, playing the lead role was a sort of “catharsis” for him, and a part that required some self-reflection. He explains:

“When we created Ricardo, at the end of the day, we tried to create a scenario of all the things that, wrongly, we give the importance of happiness, and how we can change that and switch that up in order for him to find true meaning in life. There were a lot of things about Ricardo that we created that probably is a way of me doing therapy, also. There’s a lot of me in Ricardo. How many times do we play a character in order to avoid going deep inside ourselves because it’s easier to go outside than to go inside? Many times we protect ourselves with shields and with many things in order to not really show our true colors. But
sometimes, you have to really go deep inside yourself to shine with those true colors
that, at the end of the day, you’re hiding. We did a lot of that. There’s a lot of therapy — my therapy [laughs] — in Ricardo.”

On the other hand, Fahey suggests that fearlessness is a necessity of the job. “I don’t deal in that world of fear,” he said simply. To take a swing at a project like Switch Up doesn’t require its cast and crew to be brave against titans like Marvel and DC, but to know that there’s room for all varieties of expression. He goes on to say:

“Too many times in life we work with people that work from a place of fear. It’s not their fault, it’s that they’re victims of other people’s judgment. The fear can only come from judgment from others, and if we don’t feel that we’re being judged, or at least we’re in a place of comfort, that fear doesn’t come in … I think we move forward without the feeling of judgment, and that’s the whole creative process.
That’s the beauty of filmmaking and stageplays and music and art, is expression without fear.
And I don’t mean from a place of courage, but rather from a place that others don’t have the right to judge. It’s all expression.”

‘Switch Up’s Crew of Women Created a Strong Support System

When speaking of fearlessness, it goes without saying Hollywood is an industry dominated by men. To see women carving a space for themselves to flex their strengths, that’s the epitome of self-expression and overcoming odds. With Switch Up helmed by Pirnia and a majority of female producers, Restrepo and Avery felt the production was a safe and protected space to flourish. Of her character, Restrepo had this to say:

“With Cassie, I love the fact that she’s brave enough to speak up. She knows what she wants, and even though she’s dealing with loss and she’s going through a rough time,
she’s always brave enough to say what she thinks and what she wants.
I think that’s huge in a world that needs it from us, especially from women. Working with Tara, a female director, was incredible. Having such a wonderful female team behind it was great, too. You feel supported, and I think Cassie knows that she has a team behind her, too. A great family behind her.”

For her own role as Ricardo’s executive producer who finds herself in a dangerous situation, Avery adds:

“I came to the role as a leader. She’s the executive producer, she runs his world and makes sure that he’s amazing on television, and I brought that because innately I feel that’s within me. I was very appreciative to have that opportunity.
Normally those are not roles that are given to me freely, so I welcomed that.
Tara was wonderful, and the whole producing group of women who actually recognized that that was something within me.”

To close out their time with us at SXSW, Restrepo had a message for moviegoers:

“I would like to invite people to go and find a movie and just give that movie a chance. Just go for the experience and enjoy it, and feel it. Let the movie ask you questions. I’m so proud to be part of Switch Up, because I think this movie is that.
It’s diverse, and it’s about a lot of humanity, and it has so much heart
, and I think that’s what we want to see in movies anyway.”

Switch Up hasn’t currently set a release date. Instead, check out Perri’s interview in the video at the top of this article. You can also check out more from SXSW 2024 to find that movie to take a chance on!