As an actor, you have to believe in the point of view of a director; as a director, you have to be able to express what your point of view is and invite everybody to join you on that journey. So it's always about opening up.

There's a lot of freedom to do anything you want in Mexico. It's just that that freedom belongs to a few. It's a huge country with a big contrast. There is this big inequality, so those like us that have the chance to do things, we know we are very lucky.

When we started CANANA, I wasn't married, so I guess I was married to the idea of CANANA.

You see Mexican cinema in festivals throughout the world, and you see Mexican directors getting recognized at Cannes, at the Oscars, in Berlin, but the question is, What is the end result of that in terms of the market? That's where it's lacking.

The beauty of football is that it's about 11, and another five, at least, are sitting outside. You cannot get competitive.

Acting is about communicating, reacting, and sharing - and friendship is about all of those things, too.

If your neighbor's reality changes, yours will change as well.

The nice thing about my job is that it allows me to look deeper into issues and then tell stories with that information.

I always wondered why there weren't any films about Cesar Chavez. There are movies about other civil rights leaders in this country, but why not Chavez?

In film, normally what happens is that not many people work more than once. Normally, it breaks couples. It doesn't make them.

I want to see movies where I can relate to the guy.

Everyone is different, and so I don't want to repeat anyone else's career. I want to do mine.

I'm a terrible dancer.

I'm a terrible dancer.

I started to work when I was really young. For me, friendship is work, and work is friendship. Those who are next to me and that have been there for a long time are those who can work with me, play football with me, and go watch a film with me.

Film can be a tool for change; it can start a debate.

No makeup can substitute for faces that have actually been under the sun.

My first son was born in Los Angeles; he's a Mexican-American.

There's a reality that the market is changing, and the stories of the Latino community need to be out because there's a huge audience in need of films that would represent them.

In Mexico, we call it 'terco': the guy who goes out every day, and every day they tell him no, and the next day he's there, and the next day he's there. That's the kind of people who make movies in Mexico.

In Mexico, you need to be a bulldog to make a movie because everything is set up for you to go back home and get depressed and not do the movie.

Before 'Y Tu Mama,' I did 16 movies that only my family got to see because I invited them to the premiere.

When you make a film, it's because it's important to you, it means something to you.

Since 'Y Tu Mama Tambien,' I started to spend a lot of time in the United States, and my son was born there.