Eugenio Derbez: 'Acapulco' mirrors real-life second chance
LOS ANGELES, April 29 (UPI) -- Actor Eugenio Derbez said the storyline of his Apple TV+ series, Acapulco Season 3, which premieres Wednesday, reflects the second chance he feels he received in life. The season picks up with Derbez's character, Maximo, meeting his long-lost daughter (Vico Escorcia).
"I feel that he made a lot of mistakes," Derbez told UPI in a recent Zoom interview. "Now, he's trying to fix all the mistakes."
Derbez, 62, said he regrets focusing on his acting career while his first three children were growing up. Aislinn, Vadhir and Jose Eduardo Derbez are in their 30s and have become actors, too.
"Sometimes, we start working more than we should," Derbez said. "I missed a lot of birthdays, graduations, important dates because I was working. Now. I know that it was not worth it."
Like Maximo, Derbez said he has a second chance with his 9-year-old daughter, Aitana.
"Life has given me a second chance to fix all the mistakes I made, especially as a father," Derbez said. "Maximo is the same. He's trying to go back to Mexico to fix all the mistakes that he made in the past."
Maximo's daughter already is an adult and married when he finds her. So, he tries to make up for lost time, Derbez said, adding, "He hasn't been a real father until now, I think he needs to catch up a lot."
When Acapulco began in 2021, Maximo returned to the Las Colinas Resort, where he began as a pool boy in the '80s. The show marks Derbez's return to Mexico, albeit in an American and Mexican co-production that has both Spanish and English spoken.
Derbez became a star in Mexican television and film in the '80s and '90s, with his own show, Derbez en Cuando, and movies like Instructions Not Included.
His English language Hollywood crossover, 2017's How to Be a Latin Lover, led to Hollywood movies like the Overboard remake, Dora and the Lost City of Gold and the Oscar winner, CODA.
"I feel that it's a perfect mix between doing a crossover, but coming back to my roots in Acapulco," Derbez said.
He said he recently recovered from a shoulder injury, and that Season 3 of Acapulco was the first project he filmed after he fell in his house, which he described in an Instagram post in Spanish.
"I broke my shoulder in 17 pieces," Derbez said. "I'm good right now."
With the redemptive themes and personal connections Derbez feels to Acapulco, the show remains a comedy. He said Maximo will still be funny as he navigates his second chance this season.
"He's just funny because of his ego, his huge ego," Derbez said. "I think it's funny to watch how he feels he deserves everything in the world."
New episodes of Acapulco premiere Wednesdays on Apple TV+.
