Cristian de la Fuente de Switch up por Palomera Group
Cristián de la Fuente, Chilean actor and producer, who is represented by Palomera Group, is making his second film in English as executive producer. The romantic comedy, Switch-Up, in which de la Fuente also stars, concluded recordings on February 13 and is in post-production.
De la Fuente has several years of experience as an executive producer in feature films (El Nominado, Isla Dawson, ¿Has Visto a Lupita? and Enamorándome de Abril) and TV series in Spanish such as HBO’s Prófugo with the Larraín brothers. Two years ago he was the executive producer of You Are My Home with Alyssa Milano, which was his debut in English-spoken feature film. It is available on Netflix US and other Anglo territories and in LatAm on Amazon.
“Once we made that movie, Netflix asked us if we had another project and that was when we, together with the director Tara Pirnia, presented them a romantic comedy, Switch-up. Pirnia and I have been the producers of You are my Home,” he recalled.
Switch-Up is the story of Ricardo (De La Fuente), a very famous TV host in the US, who believes that his happiness comes from fame, money and his wonderful girlfriend, but he ends up involved in economic problems of which he is totally innocent. He loses everything and due to the circumstances of life, he is forced to live with the homeless of Brownsville, where he learns the true meaning of life and love, and through that journey his life completely changes.
It was filmed on South Padre Island, and Brownsville, Texas. The production team included Elizabeth Avellán, Marcella Ronquillo, Angela Blair and The Bandera Brothers (Peter and Fernando Barbera). It will be ready between May and June of this year.
De La Fuente stars alongside the Colombian actress Julieth Restrepo. Other cast members include Shondrella Avery, Kevin Sorbo, Jeff Fahey, Alicia Roanne Witt, and the comedian Donnell M. Rawlings.
The film, with a touch of humor, addresses actual problems in the US such as people living on the streets and the amount of those who are at the brink of poverty. “We touch on all these issues in the film, but with humor. Social criticism is very hard for me, because people do not want to hear about it. As a friend of mine used to say “singing and laughing you can say anything,” he pointed out.
For de la Fuente, the role of producer “is exhausting, but exciting at the same time.” “It’s wonderful to be able to have an idea, translated into a script and finally into a movie. When acting, your only concern is to do your job and your scene. When you’re a producer, you have your own issues plus the issues of everyone, but it’s wonderful and I love it.”
Regarding Palomera Group, the agency that represents him, he said: “In my life I’ve been lucky to be surrounded by women. In my house I’m around my wife, my daughter, my sister, who works with me in Chile, and life gave me this team of women, who are all ‘chingonas’, which is Palomera. I like Palomera who does not accept a ‘no’ for an answer, is capable of fighting and is not afraid of going for things that are difficult and complicated,” said de la Fuente.
