George Lopez hopes to inspire in new movie 'Spare Parts'
The new movie "Spare Parts" is based on the true story of a group of high school students who battled the odds and won.
George Lopez stars as a substitute teacher who helps four undocumented students enter a NASA-sponsored robotics competition. Lopez compares this inspiring underdog story to movies like "The Karate Kid," "Rocky" and "Vision Quest."
"Somewhere through this movie, you will become emotional over something in it," Lopez said. "Whether it's someone thinking you can't do something, whether you wanted to prove somebody wrong, whether there's somebody in your life that tells you you can't do something or the fact that there's just a tender moment between people. It will get you."
Co-star Marisa Tomei joined the film because she wanted to work with Lopez.
"He's so funny and he's deep," Tomei said. "He's got a lot to say within his humor."
Carlos Penavega plays a student intent on changing his life for the better. His real wife, actress Alexa Penavega, co-stars as his girlfriend.
"These are the kinds of movies that are going to make a difference," Alexa Penavega said. "Don't get me wrong, I love my popcorn movies. I think they're super fun, but I want to make movies that... I want to be a world changer."
Carlos Penavaga understands what it means to fight for something better.
"I was this little Spanish boy from Florida," Carlos Penavega said. "Nobody thought that I could go and move to L.A. and become an actor and do movies and do TV. So the only person who truly had to believe in myself is me, you know?"
Jamie Lee Curtis plays the principal in "Spare Parts." She called herself an "unremarkable teenager" who had a family friend who made a difference in her life -- author Gwen Davis.
"Gwen Davis looked at me when I was about 15 and said, 'You know what? I see you. You're freaking hilarious. You're really smart. Nobody around you knows it, and I know it,'" Curtis said. "I think her saying that to me changed my life."
"Spare Parts" is in theaters now.
