Filmmaker Mika Boorem says that her film Hollywood.Con has elements of Mexican and American cultures, as does her hometown, Tucson.

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Mika Boorem is the director of the adventure/comedy film Hollywood.Con. Aside from talking about her movie, we were also eager to talk about her early years growing up in both Tucson and Hollywood. She was eager to share her story and all her answers were full of details. This is what she told us:

José María: How was your childhood in Tucson?

Mika Boorem: Tucson was a magical place to be raised. The mix of the Sonoran desert culture with nature is outstanding and unique. The ranch I grew up on just outside of Tucson was down a 6 mile dirt road. I have fond memories of our cars bouncing down the dirt road on the way from home. Often stopping to let a rattle snake pass by or admiring the quails and their little family scurry past us. On our ranch we had a particular woodpecker that took a liking to one of our windows. For a long time each morning he was our wake up call; he would peck at his reflection in the window for a while and then go start his day.

We had a favorite restaurant near X9 Ranch (Road). We would often go there to have dinner with the javelinas (windows separating us from the javelinas, of course). It was always exciting when a desert creature had made his way into the house. We often had visits from tarantulas and centipedes. I remember my parents carefully removing them still alive, always showing respect for the creatures of the desert and allowing us to examine them.

Mika Boorem in an old picture with her dad, Benjamin Boorem, in Tucson. Boorem wrote and produced the movie Hollywood.Con with her father. She is a proud Tucson native and the movie is inspired by the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show.

JM: ¿What do you remember about your favorite places, events, food, celebrations, etc., in Tucson?

MB: Sabino canyon is my favorite place in the world to hike and then go on a swim. I spend a lot of time in California now with work and the hiking in California is very different.

Day Of the Dead is a beautiful example of Tucson at it's finest with a mix of North American culture and Mexican culture.

The Tucson Gem and Mineral Show is the biggest in the world. I enjoy attending with my dad and watching him work. He is a gemologist so he attends every year. I love to listen in on the conversations he has with his colleagues where they discuss the latest and greatest stone findings in the world.

Valley of the Moon moon is a guided tour through a large property with unique designs and characters. It is one of the most creative spaces that ignited my imagination. I loved the play, the costumes, the entrance into imagination and a new world. It's very cool for both adults and children alike.

The Monsoon rains and lighting storms are absolutely stunning. I love the smell of the rain in the Sonoran desert. It's enchanting to experience one of these storms.

I think Tucson is the coolest town that can be a "getaway" from LA for his unique texture, beautiful mountains, laid back vibes and artisan communities.

JM: When, how and why did you start looking for an acting career?

MB: I started in community theater in Tucson at the age of five. My mother, Holly Thomas, was an intelligent and talented researcher. She thought community theater would be good for child development. From local theater I picked up an agent who booked me a modeling job for Guess, shooting in Tombstone, and from there went on to act in a ton of commercials. I was then picked to star in The Education of Little Tree (Richard Friedenberg, 1997); this film launched my career as an actress. The film starred Jamie Cromwell (Babe).

JM: What movies do you remember in a special way?

MB: I am a huge fan of the old westerns. I used to love to watch films made in Old Tucson and then go visit. I would imagine the stories and different camera angles. I enjoyed watching the reenactments Old Tucson would put on with gunslingers and elaborate stories. I would then seek out films made in Old Tucson to watch and study.

JM: You had worked along big names, like Morgan Freeman, Mel Gibson, Bill Paxton (RIP) Charlize Theron, Anthony Hopkins, Drew Barrymore, Diego Luna (Mexican)… can you mention some memories with them, and who of them influence you the most?

MB: I had a very nontraditional childhood and began working at a young age. I interacted with mostly people three times my age and hardly ever my peers. I feel like it has influenced a texture into my life that makes me me. To this day I find myself relating to people older than me instead of my peers. I appreciate life experience and wisdom. I had the great joy and pleasure of working with some people at the top of their field in the film industry. I'd love to think I've been able to absorb and grow from each of them.

Morgan Freeman has always had the most calm but full of life and direct demeanor. His presence is very grounding. Being around him and on set I really took in how much you can be calm and direct. He offered me a lot of assurance and encouragement. I have some great memories of singing show tunes on the set of Along Came a Spider (Lee Tamahori, 2001). Nobody performs better and invites you to sing along better than him. I mean that's definitely a duet you want to jump in on.

Drew Barrymore knows exactly what it's like to be a child actor. When I first met her on Riding in Cars with Boys (Penny Marshall, 2001), she was beyond friendly. I had been cast by Penny Marshall for the film. We had a private meeting at her house where I squished my arms together saying “…and that's why I want a bra!, my iconic line in the movie (this would be quoted to me for years to come from random people while walking down the street!) Penny had hired me on the spot. So I had never met Drew. Of course I was a big fan of hers. I liked everything about her and looked up to her because of her similar experience coming up as a child actor. I was nervous to meet her. Her first words to me were: "I hear you are going to play little me!!", then she told an assistant she needed a break because we were going to go on a quick walk. She linked her arm through mine and walked around the block. By the end of our short walk I felt like she was my new best friend. On that set Penny Marshall and James Woods (who played my father in the film) both loved to cuss a lot. I was always surprised when they let out another F*ck! but thought their cussing was hilarious. I could always find Drew off in the wings or behind the camera offering a wink and a smile after their cussing. I always hoped to work with Penny again; she was a force of nature, so talented and hilarious. She was one of the first female directors and I will always admire her.

The first time I met Bill Paxton was at the cafeteria during lunch while filming Mighty Joe Young (Ron Underwood, 1998) in Hawaii. I was about 7 years old at the time. At lunch that day they had barbecue ribs. I was on my second rack when the director came over to get me and let me know Bill Paxton had arrived and he wanted to introduce me to him. I was so excited to meet Bill Paxton that I ran over to him covered with BBQ sauce all over my face and hands. Bill bent down on one knee to talk with me. He then took my tiny hand and tried the sauce directly from my hand, and said: Wow that's great! Let's have lunch! I thought this was so funny and burst out in laughter. Bill was super humble and warm. There was no pretentious behavior with him ever.

Diego Luna is so committed to his craft. It was inspiring to watch someone give it one hundred percent. I admire his career and feel fortunate I was able to watch him in action on set. His commitment is inspiring.

Mel Gibson is also very committed to his work. It was beyond cool to watch him get into character on set during The Patriot (Roland Emmerich, 2000). I remember him preparing for a scene where he takes a tomahawk to kill someone. On set they gave him a watermelon to hack away at. It was a really intense scene in the film because the watermelon was meant to be someone’s head. There was also a scene in the film that was meant to be slow motion. Mel Gibson decided to make the slow motion movements himself instead of having them do it with the camera so he could portray more emotions on his face. He was always early for work and stayed late. He's been very warm to me. I cherish the fact that I had the opportunity to work on such a classic film like the Patriot and underneath such iconic actors. We also have the late Heath Ledger who was an exceptional talent and the late Skye Mccole Bartusiak who was one of the most brilliant child actors that has ever existed; both were great in the Patriot.

I am a big fan of a lot of filmmakers. Guillermo Del Toro is a favorite. His projects are beyond original. I strive to get to that space where I am creating groundbreaking films that surpass genres. Robert Rodriguez has inspired me; his book 'Rebel without a Crew' talks about his filmmaking process and raising the money for his first feature 'El Mariachi'. His ‘can-do´ attitude and thought process for independent film is inspiring. David Lynch's twists and turns are exciting; his movies are recognizable as Lynch films.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014) is a favorite film of mine. It reminded me tonally of Hollywood.con. It's a group of wacky well developed characters you go on an adventure with. I think my strong appreciation for great characters and character development comes from my background in acting.

For Hollywood.con I really enjoyed creating them. I cast Hollywood.con with prior acting colleagues. I reached out to friends I had acted with in the past and asked them to join on feature length directorial debut.

JM: Now that you mentioned Hollywood.Con... How was the experience on making your first long feature?

MB: Hollywood.con has been a great experience. I feel really blessed that we had access to so many special talented artists and crew members. I've been in awe throughout the entire project about the great talent we were able to bring on board. We have our Emmy award winning composer Lendell Black who composed almost all original music with a full orchestra for our film. Our Foley artist Pascal Maziere has worked on over 200 films. I was able to spend ten days in the post-production house watching Pascal work and learning from him. We worked in a dark theater — the movie projected on the screen and boxes full of oddities he created sounds with. I laid on the floor of the dark theater for 8 hours a day watching him work in his field of mastery. His input and artistry is invaluable. For example, our super hustling producer character in the film Andy Slimmick, played by Devin Ratray (Mosaic, The Tick, Home Alone, Masterminds, etc.), to emphasize his character and sounds in the film we had his large chains and jewelry make extra noise every time he moved. We also had a polish pass done on the film by Kevin Ross, the acclaimed Emmy winning editor from Californication, Stranger Things, and Shameless.

JM: Why did you choose adventure/comedy?

MB: Because it's fun! I love the idea of a film taking you on a great adventure with characters you root for and love. I knew I would be spending a long time with making this project, so I had to make sure it was some thing I loved and would want to watch 100 times. I love this film and I've watched it almost 1,000 times. I wanted to make a project I had seen a lack of recently: a film for adults, but one you can take the whole family to go see. Like Romancing the Stone (Robert Zemeckis, 1984), one of my all time favorite films. In Hollywood.Con you are on an adventure exploring the caves and pyramids of Mexico with our characters. You don't need the guns, violence, sex and drugs to sell a film in my opinion. Let people fall in love with the characters and partake in their adventurous journey through beautiful areas. I'm proud I made a film everyone can see. Even the villains in the film have redeemable qualities. I wanted to make a commercial film. I wanted to go big: we have attack camels, airplane chase scenes, zombie weddings, very high big production value things in our independent film. People don't make independent films like this. They make independent films set in one room with two characters talking about their relationships. I have one hundred percent committed myself to the making of Hollywood.con; I stopped my social life and put other projects on hold. There are not a lot of independent filmmakers making movies like this. Especially not female independent. I did a lot of extra pre-production work on the film to make this happen.

JM: How was the experience of producing and writing the movie with your father?

My dad and I conceptualized and wrote the project together. We combined his gemology world with Hollywood characters (my world). We filmed in Mexico, Texas, Arizona, California, etc. We filmed in the Yuma sand dunes in Arizona. They were absolutely stunning. We filmed there in the summer months so we could have the dunes pristine, without the tracks of the regular dirt bike enthusiasts. The footage turned out beautiful.

A large part of the film was inspired by the Tucson Gem and Mineral show. A few years ago I was there — like almost every year — with my father. He is a gemologist with a degree from G.I.A. I grew up having a great appreciation for geology and stones. I always enjoy perusing through the massive amount of stones, fossils and other trinkets that have been especially curated for the show.

This particular year my father realized there was a lack of Guatemalan jade. He inquired with his friends and found that many gemologists were having difficulty getting it in the current climate. We went on an expedition to Guatemala, picked up three hundred pounds of jade, and sold them to my dad’s colleagues.

On that trip to Guatemala we were shown cursed jade. This particular stone had been taken from a tomb by the locals, and they were trying to sell it to us. We turned it down of course, but it always stuck with us. This beginning was the seed for our film Hollywood.con

The movie is about two production companies in a race to make the next big Mayan film, and cursed Jade from Guatemala is a major character in the film.

My dad and I have a good relationship. It's nice to be working together as a father/daughter team. Hollywood is known for having a lot of scammers and strange people in the industry. It's nice being able to work with family and people you can trust. We are opening a production company in San Carlos, Sonora Mexico. We are planning on filming a series of educational children films in the Riviera Maya.

JM: Why did you choose México to place part of the story and why make it about the Mayan culture?

MB: My dad and I both really enjoy the Mexican culture. We have acquired a great love for Mexico, the culture and warm people. My dad has spent many years working and living in Mexico. He speaks Spanish fluently. Mayan folklore is intriguing and fascinating. I've spent a lot of time exploring the pyramids and cenotes. I thought it would be fun to include this in the film. Mayan culture is a beautiful heritage and I enjoyed having the opportunity to include aspects of it in Hollywood.con. Everyone who has seen the film (during our sneak screenings) has loved seeing Mexico and the Mayan culture in our film. I know I enjoyed researching and visiting the historical sites. Working in Mexico was a pleasure. The people were very warm, talented and receptive; that's why we are opening a production company in Mexico.

 JM: Can you say some words to the Tucsonans and invite them to watch the movie?

MB: There is something in Hollywood.con for everyone. The film is a laugh-out-loud adventure comedy that takes you through twists and turns with wacky characters. It has a lot of flavor that mixes the North American culture with the Mexican culture, like what you can find in Tucson.

JM: Where and when can we watch Hollywood.Con?

MB: Hollywood.Con will be out at the beginning of the year. Keep your eyes peeled via our website www.hollywoodcon.org and our social media pages @HollywoodDotCon


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José María “Chema” Rodríguez is a film and TV reviewer based in Guadalajara, Mexico. He can be reached at chema16sep@hotmail.com.