In a fresh take on the classic romantic comedy (originally starring Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn), Overboard shows what happens when Leonardo (Eugenio Derbez), a rich and selfish playboy from Mexico’s richest family, crosses paths with Kate (Anna Faris), a working class single mom of three, when she’s hired to clean his yacht. After Leonardo falls overboard and ends up with amnesia, Kate decides to get payback for the way that he treated and then stiffed her, and she not only convinces him that he’s her husband, but she puts him to work, for the first time in his life, to support them, as a family. And as he learns to appreciate working for what you have, the possibility of his memory returning at any moment threatens his new existence.

At the film’s press day, Collider got the opportunity to chat with the delightfully charming Anna Faris and Eugenio Derbez about being both honored and terrified to remake Overboard, getting the blessing of Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn, how much they enjoyed working with each other, and having to shoot in freezing cold water. Faris also talked about what it’s meant to her to be a part of the CBS TV series Mom for five seasons, while Derbez talked about the challenges of finding success in America.

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Collider:  This movie is so sweet and fun and funny!

ANNA FARIS:  Oh, I’m so glad! There hasn’t been a lot of romantic comedies lately. We haven’t had that many of the feel-good movies, especially as summer approaches, so thank you for saying that.

When the possibility of this project came your way, what were you excited about and what were you most nervous about, knowing that you would be remaking a movie that many people love?

FARIS:  I was honored and terrified.

EUGENIO DERBEZ:  Exactly!

FARIS:  There was a lot of emotion, really, because I grew up watching Overboard. I feel like I have the whole movie memorized. So, to remake it, I was really nervous. I’m so glad that when Eugenio approached me with the idea, the roles had been switched. Although, I was envious that I wasn’t on the yacht. Eugenio got to hang around with bikini girls. No. It’s thrilling. Not only did we switch roles from the original, but we also have an international context to the movie.

DERBEZ:  The idea of flipping the roles was necessary because you can avoid comparisons between Kurt [Russell] and Goldie [Hawn], and Anna and me. I think that was good for the movie. When MGM approached me to talk about the movie, they were thinking of me to play the carpenter, Kurt Russell’s character. Flipping the roles was the smart thing to do because you’re breaking stereotypes and avoiding comparisons. I was also very nervous about this. I felt exactly the same as Anna. You feel honored, but you feel panicked because you know you’re touching a gem that’s a very classic and beloved movie in America.

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Image via via MGM & Pantelion Films

Anna, what was it like to have dinner with Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn, prior to shooting this, and end up with their blessing to make the film?

FARIS:  It was so terrifying! Oh, my god! I don’t think Kurt even asked to go to dinner. He said, “We’re going to dinner.” And he said, “We hear that you’re doin’ our movie.” I was like, “Oh, god, what’s in store for me?!” They just told stories about falling in love, and doing the movie together and how special that was. By the end of the dinner, after some wine, they were like, “Okay, we give our blessing. You can do the movie.” In the remake, which we like to call a bit of a reimagining, comedy does have to update itself. We also didn’t want to duplicate a ton of elements, but the idea of getting revenge on a rich asshole is delicious, as is getting to imagine what it’s like to be on a big, beautiful yacht with your bikini girls, even if you’re just in the audience.

With all the crazy things you guys got to do for this, did you have a most fun day of working with each other?

DERBEZ:  Yeah, every day! Working with Anna is a nightmare! I’m not kidding! It was really hard because she’s so funny. It was really hard to work with her because you have to focus. I was trying so hard not to crack up.

FARIS:  That’s very sweet of you to say! I don’t know if I fully believe that.

DERBEZ:  She’s always so humble.

FARIS:  You are, by far, the best male lead I’ve ever worked with. You’d come in, every day, and just lift everybody’s spirits. You work these long hours and everyone is cold.

DERBEZ:  We were freezing! You can’t imagine how hard it was to shoot, especially on the yacht.

FARIS:  And I was on the fishing boat, so I know. This is the real shit now! It was cold. I never understood why your character wanted to go to the Pacific Northwest.

DERBEZ:  It was crazy! You can’t imagine how cold it was. The wind was freezing and the water was freezing, too. Honestly, being on the yacht was not comfortable because we were not able to sit down anywhere and you’d have to be outside.

FARIS:  But the thing is, he never showed this. He was always boosting morale. It’s the job of the leads to keep everyone’s spirits high, and you were just incredible.

DERBEZ:  Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

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Image via via MGM & Pantelion Films

Anna, you’ve made it to Season 5 with your CBS TV series Mom, at a time when that’s not an easy thing to do with a TV series. What has being a part of that show, playing that character, and working with that cast meant to you?

FARIS:  I get to go to work, every day, feeling happy because I get to work with Allison Janney and our team of amazing people, and I love getting to tell the story of these people that have a lot of struggle in life, through the world of comedy. It’s amazing when I hear feedback from people and hear how much the show has touched them. I’m so grateful! I get to work with my best friend, Allison. I’m just so proud of her, and I love her so much.

Eugenio, you’re an actor, writer, director and producer, and you’re considered one of Mexico’s most famous, most successful and most influential people. What was it like to leave that behind and try to achieve that success here?

DERBEZ:  It’s been so hard! I’ve been trying to cross over for the last 15 years. The first time I came here to the U.S. to start a career, it was in 2002 or 2003. Since then, it’s been so, so hard. After a lot of tries, I finally quit in 2012 and I said, “I can’t do this anymore!” I was using all my spare time to come here to the U.S. to try to do something, so I said, “I’m done!”

FARIS:  I didn’t know that!

DERBEZ:  Yeah! Instead of being with my family, I was spending a lot of time trying to start all over again, from zero, in another country. I couldn’t take it anymore, so I went back to Mexico and said, “I’m gonna do my own stuff.” So, I did my movie that I was trying to do for many, many years, called Instructions Not Included. When I quit, life brought me back my dream because Instructions Not Included became the highest grossing Spanish language film, ever, in the U.S. So, I came back to the U.S. because a lot of doors opened. One of my first meetings was with MGM, and they offered me Overboard. That’s the story of how I’m here.

Overboard opens in theaters on May 4th.