Strong women remake Miss Bala
Female lead empowered in an inspiring version of 2011 Mexican drama
Catherine Hardwicke estimates that she crossed illegally into Mexico a minimum of 40 times when she was growing up in the border town of Cameron, Texas.
“I grew up swimming in the Rio Grande and crossing illegally into Mexico. I was a wild child and I really love Mexico,” Hardwicke says. “I have travelled almost every inch of Mexico. I love that culture. I especially love the border towns where you have that rich mix of two cultures. Sometimes good things happen and sometimes bad things happen.”
Her familiarity of what it’s like to grow up in that area was a chief reason Hardwicke agreed to direct Miss Bala, a remake of the 2011 film of the same name from director Gerardo Naranjo. Hardwicke’s take on the story of a woman who goes from beauty pageant to drug cartel opens nationwide Friday. The only way Hardwicke would film Miss Bala was on location in Tijuana. That gave her the authentic look she wanted to tell the story of Gloria (Gina Rodriguez), a makeup artist who travels from the United States to Mexico to help her friend, who has entered a local beauty contest. Life goes into a spiral for Gloria when she witnesses a crime by a local drug cartel. The only way she can be sure her friend is safe is to become part of the illegal dealings.
Shooting the film in Tijuana also gave Hardwicke the opportunity to turn her cameras on locations from dangerous streets to swank hillside hotels.
Hardwicke looked at the 2011 production once. She had faith that writer Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer knew the story and country well enough to take the original story and update it. A big change was to give Gloria a far more active role.
“When I (watched) the 2011 movie, I was yelling at the screen. ‘Fight back! Don’t let him do that! Do something!’ It is 2019 now and women are more empowered,” Hardwicke says. “I think that is one thing people are hungry for now. Strong is the new pretty.”
Hardwicke needed someone who could go from being scared for her life to fighting for survival, but a who would not look out of place with the beauty pageant part of the story. She found that in Rodriguez. “In a project like Jane the Vir
gin, she looks like your best friend from next door and not all glammed up like she was going to a beauty pageant,” Hardwicke says. “Yet, you look at Gina at the Oscars or at the Golden Globes and she does clean up well.” Hardwicke knew from Annihilation and Deepwater Horizon that Rodriguez could handle the physical and emotional demands of someone put in a lifeor-death situation. The more Hardwicke ratcheted up the action, the more Rodriguez responded.