Yes and no - like to a certain extent. I miss the crew, working with Robert, working with Antonio [Banderas], Salma [Hayek], Carla [Gugino]… The one thing I really do miss is just being in that situation, working in Austin, but I have to say I’m happy that "Spy Kids" is over. But Robert [Rodriguez] has me taking guitar lessons at the moment, but he won’t tell me why. So I’m wondering.
Could there ever be a "Spy Kids 4?"
No, that’s a done deal.
You just turned 15. How did you celebrate?
Robert came to town and took me out to dinner. He bought me three guitars for my band.
What’s the name of your band?
We’re coming up with it right now. We’re still in the making. But anyway, Robert at the end of the night handed me a key chain and he said, “You have between now until you turn 16 to pick out whatever car you want.” So he’s buying me a car for my birthday.
Getting back to "Sleepover," you’re pretty much the lead in every scene. Do you find that’s an added responsibility?
I find it's a little bit of responsibility as in you’ve always got to be the tough one, you really want to stay professional. You want to have a good time, but you’ve got to keep it… I don’t like to picture it as work, but it is. You have to focus. Even though there’s a whole mall here and I want to go shop around, you need to focus on what you’re doing. Then when you’re done, then you can go shopping.
How much do you worry about how "Sleepover" will turn out?
You always have little bits of, "Oh my gosh, I hope that scene turns out okay, and I hope this isn’t cheesy. I hope this is very real." You’re always going to have those questions about anything you do. But it’s just a matter of you have to be confident. You have to play it as well as you can.
I guess what really gets me the most is, yes, I want to make sure that I have a good performance, but this is the first movie that I’m actually the lead in and whether I do good in it or not, if the movie doesn’t turn out well, it’s kind of stuck on my shoulders. No matter who directs it, no matter what the other actors are like, if the other acting’s bad. And so far everything has been great. But if it’s bad and I pick a job, it’s still on my shoulders because it was, "Oh, Alexa Vega’s new movie." That’s how they were putting it. So I’m kind of scared on that, but so far, everything’s been great. I’m not too worried.
How do you feel about doing comedy?
I love doing comedy. It’s a lot of fun. I actually have the worst comedic timing and so far this has worked, so I’m happy about that. But there’s a lot of great laughs in this movie. But right after this movie, I want to try to do something dramatic. I want to be able to switch it up.
You’ve said you want to write and direct. What did you learn from Robert Rodriguez?
From Robert I learned wearing a lot of hats. He writes, directs, edits, produces, [is] a father of three boys - and an excellent father at that. So it’s something that you look up to him automatically as an incredible person because he’s really easygoing. He’s very low-maintenance and then the fact that he does it all, he makes it look so easy. So I think working with Robert, he really gave me all the ideas that I needed, all the creativity. And he says anything that you have when you’re younger, save it for when you’re older. If you make little home movies now, save the ideas because you never know. You could turn them into a movie when you’re older.
What projects are you interested in doing?
I’m always making home movies with my friends. I’m always writing and coming up with crazy, different ideas. It’s fun writing action stuff but I really enjoy writing real-life drama things. I just did a movie, "State’s Evidence," which was about this whole suicide thing. But about three years before I did this movie, with the whole Columbine incident, I started writing about that and it just so happened that when "State’s Evidence" came along, it was very similar. I was kind of bummed out like, “Man, I wanted to be the first one to come up with that.”
Have you written a full-length screenplay yet?
Yeah, I’ve written like three of them. It’s crazy. I’ve had a lot of fun with them.
Do you plan on going to film school?
Yeah, I really want to go to either USC or UCLA. My sister’s attending Berkeley at the moment and she really enjoys it there. A lot of people say, “Well, you’re already on set, you already have the on-hands experience. Why even go to film school? It’s a waste of time.” I want to go one, for the experience of college. Two, because I want to know more about the background. I can see the camera but I don’t know exactly how it works. I want to know every little detail. I want to know the history behind film. I think it’s very interesting so I’d definitely like to go to college [and] get the experience that I need.
PAGE 3: Alexa Vega on Growing Up and Being a Role Model
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Interview with Mika Boorem
"Sleepover" Movie News
"Spy Kids 3D: Game Over
