40 Fun Facts About Under the Same Moon (La Misma Luna)

Which famous Mexican comedian took his first dramatic film role as Enrique in Under the Same Moon?

Eugenio Derbez was Mexico's best-known comedian, and few believed he could play it straight. The director cast him anyway, arguing that comedians make good dramatic actors too.

Which famous regional Mexican band appears as itself in a cameo in Under the Same Moon?

Los Tigres del Norte come from a small Sinaloa town and are based in San Jose, California. The band is known for its political and romantic corridos.

On which day of the week does Rosario always phone Carlitos from Los Angeles in Under the Same Moon?

Sunday is the day of the call, made from the same public phone every week. Rosario and Carlitos have not seen each other in four years.

Under the Same Moon ends with Rosario and Carlitos on opposite sides of a street, waiting for what?

A crosswalk signal changing to the walking figure is the film's final image, and the credits roll at once. Rosario has just shouted to Carlitos not to cross yet.

Which Ugly Betty cast member plays Martha, who drives Carlitos over the border in Under the Same Moon?

America Ferrera plays one of two Mexican-American students who hide Carlitos in their minivan. Her Emmy for Ugly Betty was the first for a Latina in a lead comedy role.

Which crop is Carlitos helping to pick when immigration officers raid the farm in Under the Same Moon?

Tomatoes are being picked when officers storm the farm, and nearly every worker is caught or flees. Carlitos gets away with Enrique, who at first wants nothing to do with him.

At which American film festival did Under the Same Moon premiere to a standing ovation in January 2007?

Sundance hosted the world premiere, and two distributors joined forces to buy the film at the festival.

The director of Under the Same Moon later made which film about Chile's trapped miners of 2010?

The 33 retells the 69 days that Chilean miners spent underground in the San José Mine. Antonio Banderas plays the miner Mario Sepúlveda.

Whose death pushes nine-year-old Carlitos to leave Mexico alone in Under the Same Moon?

His grandmother dies in her sleep, and Carlitos is the one who finds her. He had lived with her since Rosario left for the United States.

Rosario comes close to marrying a United States citizen in Under the Same Moon in order to get what?

A green card would let Rosario live and work legally, so a friend talks her into the wedding. She backs out just before the ceremony.

Which telenovela star plays Rosario, the mother at the heart of Under the Same Moon?

Kate del Castillo had been famous in Mexico since she starred in the 1991 telenovela Muchachitas as a teenager.

In which Texas border city does Carlitos climb out of the smugglers' car and lose his cash in Under the Same Moon?

El Paso faces Ciudad Juárez across the Rio Grande, and that is the crossing the smugglers use. Carlitos drops his cash in a lot there without noticing.

What happens to the smugglers' vehicle soon after it carries Carlitos into Texas in Under the Same Moon?

It is towed away by police over offences that have nothing to do with the hidden passenger. Carlitos is inside it at the time, and is cut off from the people paid to deliver him.

To which Arizona city do Enrique and Carlitos hitchhike after fleeing the farm raid in Under the Same Moon?

Tucson is where an angry Enrique tells Carlitos to leave, then changes his mind. The pair stay on and find work in the city.

Which absent relative does Carlitos track down in Arizona, only to be let down, in Under the Same Moon?

His father, Oscar, promises to help and then walks away from him. The meeting only happens because Enrique helps Carlitos find the man.

The East Los Angeles address Carlitos carries for Rosario in Under the Same Moon turns out to be what?

A PO box is all that Carlitos and Enrique find, so they have to comb the city on foot. Their only guide is the way Rosario once described a single street corner.

Where does Carlitos win jobs for both himself and Enrique after they reach Arizona in Under the Same Moon?

A restaurant takes them both on thanks to Carlitos, not the grown-up. Until then Enrique had wanted to be rid of his young companion.

What happens to Enrique after he distracts two police officers so Carlitos can run in Under the Same Moon?

He is arrested, giving up his own freedom so that Carlitos can get away. It happens on the very morning that Carlitos finally reaches Rosario.

Which veteran actress plays Carlitos's employer, who runs a people-smuggling business, in Under the Same Moon?

Carmen Salinas appeared in more than a hundred films and later sat in Mexico's Chamber of Deputies. Her character in the film shares her first name.

Before playing Carlitos in Under the Same Moon, Adrián Alonso was the hero's son in which swashbuckler?

The Legend of Zorro cast him as Joaquin, the masked hero's son, opposite Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Which Guadalajara-born filmmaker made her feature directing debut with Under the Same Moon?

Patricia Riggen also produced the film herself, which she said gave her control over every decision. Her earlier work was two half-hour shorts that she financed on her own.

How is Checco Varese, who shot Under the Same Moon without pay, related to the film's director?

Her husband worked for nothing and got the production free cameras. The director called herself lucky to have him as cinematographer.

The screenwriter of Under the Same Moon was head writer of which Nick Jr. cartoon about rescuing animals?

Go, Diego, Go! follows Dora the Explorer's eight-year-old cousin. Its head writer drafted the migrant drama seven years before the cameras rolled.

Which specialty studio joined The Weinstein Company to release Under the Same Moon in United States cinemas?

Fox Searchlight shared the United States release, which opened on 19 March 2008. A sister company handled Mexico a day later.

Shot in five weeks on a shoestring budget, Under the Same Moon went on to gross roughly how much worldwide?

$23 million was the worldwide total, from a budget the director put at $1.7 million. Just over half of it came from North American cinemas.

The actor who plays Enrique in Under the Same Moon later played a choir teacher in which Best Picture winner?

CODA gave him the part of the choirmaster who pushes a deaf family's hearing daughter to sing. It won all three Oscars it was nominated for.

The director of Under the Same Moon went on to make which Disney Channel musical about a band formed in detention?

Lemonade Mouth, adapted from a Mark Peter Hughes novel, brought her a Directors Guild nomination for children's programmes. Bridgit Mendler and Naomi Scott were among its young stars.

What animal name is given to the border smugglers Carlitos pays in Under the Same Moon?

Coyotes is the everyday word for people who smuggle migrants over the Mexico–United States border. English borrowed it from Mexican Spanish.

What work does Rosario do in Los Angeles to support Carlitos back home in Under the Same Moon?

Cleaning houses and minding children is how Rosario earns the cash she sends home. One wealthy employer treats her unjustly, and she loses that job.

Which star of the 2006 indie drama Quinceañera plays David, a student smuggler in Under the Same Moon?

Jesse Garcia grew up in small-town Wyoming and went to college on a cheerleading scholarship. He later starred in Flamin' Hot as the man who claimed to have invented a spicy snack.

Which kind-hearted woman, played by María Rojo, saves Carlitos from a man trying to sell him in Under the Same Moon?

Reyna takes Carlitos in and gives other undocumented workers a roof as well. The actress who plays her became a Mexican senator in 2006, the year the film was shot.

What sight at a Los Angeles station makes Rosario abandon her trip back to Mexico in Under the Same Moon?

A boy at a payphone, glimpsed through the window, makes her realise that Carlitos knows where to find her. She had only just learned that he had crossed the border.

What is the name of the man, played by Gabriel Porras, whom Rosario nearly marries in Under the Same Moon?

Paco is a Chicano whom a friend urges Rosario to accept, though she calls the wedding off.

What do Carlitos's aunt and uncle hope to gain by taking custody of him in Under the Same Moon?

The remittance payments Rosario wires from Los Angeles are what the couple are after. Carlitos decides to run for the border instead of living with them.

The actress who plays Rosario in Under the Same Moon later starred as a drug trafficker in which Telemundo series?

La Reina del Sur cast her as Teresa Mendoza, who rises from Mexico to rule the drug trade in southern Spain. It is based on a novel by Arturo Pérez-Reverte.

Which pizza chain is named several times and becomes a plot point in Under the Same Moon?

Domino's matters to the plot, while El Pollo Loco and Pepsi only flash past on signs. The film's characters drive Chevrolet and Ford cars.

Ram Bergman, an executive producer of Under the Same Moon, later produced which Star Wars film for Rian Johnson?

The Last Jedi was one of several Rian Johnson films he produced, along with Brick, Looper and Knives Out. He was born and raised in Israel.

Unable to buy one alone, what does Carlitos ask a stranger in Texas to purchase in Under the Same Moon?

A bus ticket is beyond a nine-year-old travelling alone, so he asks a man to buy it for him. Only then does he find that his cash has gone.

What are some men about to steal from Carlitos in Arizona when Enrique steps in, in Under the Same Moon?

His backpack is what the thieves are after, and Enrique comes back to stop them. Moments earlier he had angrily told Carlitos to go away.

After a fruitless day searching Los Angeles, where do Carlitos and Enrique sleep in Under the Same Moon?

On a park bench is where the two end up, and Rosario walks right past without noticing them. Neither side knows how close they are.