Now Streaming in Austin: “Pepito”

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It never matters how old you get, you will always be your parents’ baby. Award-winning Austin comedy short “Pepito” sums up all the emotions that state of affairs induces – starting with a terrible haircut.

In it, writer Isaac Garza plays a younger version of himself – sort of. Under a pudding basin haircut, he’s a twentysomething whose mother (Amparo Garcia-Crow) still sees him as her chubby little Pepito, much to his mortification. Worse for him, he sees himself becoming the kid she sees, in ways that are not healthy for their relationship. But a special trip to church (followed by a sprint to the hospital) finds them both in a much healthier place.

The short, which played locally at the 2018 Austin Film Festival, was one of three winners of the HBO Latinx Short Film Competition, and is now streaming on the HBO site. We talked with Garza and director Eman Esfandi about making the short, filming inside one of Austin’s most iconic buildings, and that going full method for that incredible bowl cut.

Austin Chronicle: Oof. That haircut. That image is something that takes everyone back to their childhood, of a horrible haircut. As an actor, what was it like looking at the world from under there again?

Isaac Garza: It’s a powerful haircut. Eman and I actually went to Bird’s Barbershop the day before we started filming. I remember feeling so insecure requesting a bowl cut from the stylist. I felt compelled to explain to the stylist, and every stranger I interacted with outside the shoot, that the bowl cut was for a project. Nobody cared, but the feeling of insecurity allowed me to just submit to the idea that the more I can get into this absurd Pepito character, the less I’ll be thinking about how I appear as Isaac on set.

And it was a joy looking through the lens of my child self again. It was the a blast playing a child going back-and-forth with my onscreen mother Amparo Garcia-Crow, a powerhouse artist and actress in the Austin community. And I know this is mainly a comedy, but I wanted to ground the character as much as possible, so I actually workshopped the Pepito character in my acting class with Laurel Vouvray for about two months before shooting.

AC: Eman, you mention in the making-of that Isaac stayed in character as Pepito. Did he warn you in advance, and did you ever find yourself responding to him as Pepito rather than Isaac?

Eman Esfandi: He remained in character almost any time we were shooting apart from food breaks or briefly between larger setups! He didn’t necessarily give me a warning or heads up, and it didn’t surprise me at first, but as the shoot went along I’d have to remind myself that sometimes I’m only talking to Pepito. Some conversations sort of organically felt like a conversations with a child! It was a very interesting experience as it required a lot of trust in me from Isaac to be that way. There was a connection and relationship that developed between myself and that childhood version of Isaac.

AC: Like Robert Rodriguez, you filmed at St. Mary Cathedral in Austin. But unlike Robert, you got to film inside (I think the diocese wouldn’t have been happy having the Machete gunfight in there). How did you get them to agree, and how was it shooting in a working cathedral?

EE: Getting to shoot in the church was actually a wonderful development made by Isaac’s tenacity and coincidentally having a brother involved with the church. He’ll surely elaborate further!

IG: Putting it out there that if Robert Rodriguez wants to do a Machete/Pepito/Spy Kids crossover, let’s talk.

As for the church, it was a mission to get permission. Didn’t mean for that to rhyme. Anyways, I got my brother, who was a Catholic missionary, to introduce me to Father Tim Nolt (St. Mary’s then-Rector). I had a pitch-like meeting with Father Tim, who happens to be a talented Juilliard pianist and supporter of the arts, and he understood what we were going for. About three months later, we got approval from the Diocese to shoot there. I find it funny that people at the Diocese had to read my weird script and think, “Okay, I guess” and grant approval.

Shooting at St. Mary’s was a dream. It’s so beautiful! It’s also an attractive looking destination in Downtown Austin, so we had a lot of curious bystanders that our stellar AD (Annie Tadvick) had to politely deal with. Apart from juggling church hours and actors’ schedules, Eman and our DP, Zach Morrison, did a phenomenal job prioritizing certain coverages and sacrificing a lot of pretty shots to essentially make sure we got the film made. On low-budget projects, that’s kind of the biggest challenge, being creative with limited resources and making the best possible art you can with it.

IG: My family was actually in it! So was Eman’s mother and it was very funny to us. They were featured toward the end playing Pepito’s family. They had never been on a movie set before and they knew little about the story of the film, so I was being a host for my family on set and answering all their questions whilst switching into this ridiculous Pepito character on Eman’s “action.” I imagine it was a confusing day for them.

Like you said, it was a personal film. But when I showed my family an early cut, I kind of detached myself from how they’d respond in a personal sense, because I was heavily involved with post-production and was seeking feedback to help with the editing. Also, I was kind of scared they would take the film the wrong way. So maybe I just convinced myself I was detached.

It wasn’t until “Pepito” premiered at the 2018 Austin Film Festival that I got emotional. My family came to the screening. I sat with them. It was a really great turnout with a warm audience. I was very touched watching my parents witness an audience reacting positively to a film basically about them. How they raised me. Besides saying how proud and happy she was for me, my mother never really responded verbally to how the film affected her personally. But I think that’s because the film said it all, for both of us. In a good way I hope.

Pepito

• HBO (Link)

This article appears in April 10 • 2020.