“Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Road Trip” Director Marvin Lemus on a Family Adventure Through New Mexico
The title says it all: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Road Trip is a PG comedy that follows a rambunctious family on an RV trek through New Mexico. Their destination? A very old village in Mexico, home to an ancient stone idol. By returning the haunted talisman to its ancestral home, 11-year-old Alexander (newcomer Thom Nemer) thinks he can lift the curse bringing bad luck to his mother, father, sister, and grandparents (Eva Longoria, Jesse Garcia, Paulina Chávez, Rose Portillo, and Cheech Marin).
Based on the book by Judith Viorst, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (now streaming on Disney+) was filmed entirely in the state of New Mexico by director Marvin Lemus. A Bakersfield native, Lemus honed his craft at the Upright Citizens Brigade improv troupe, which Amy Poehler co-founded. He then co-created the Netflix comedy Gentefied, which earned a Peabody Award nomination for its witty portrayal of a Mexican American family.
Lemus, speaking from Los Angeles, explains the allure of New Mexico as a shooting location, details the influence of Breaking Bad on his action aesthetic, and enumerates the joys of putting Eva Longoria and her castmates through the physical comedy ringer.
Congratulations on having directed the movie with, no doubt, the longest title of the year!
[Laughing]. It must be right? I can’t think of anything else this long.
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Road Trip does an effective job of getting across the fun vibe of the movie. Just like with every road trip movie, the landscape plays a crucial role. How did you decide to film entirely in New Mexico?
Well, the book was actually about a family in L.A. driving down to Mexico, but it became clear to us early on: “Yo, I think we’ll have to shoot this in New Mexico because of the tax incentive.” My intention originally was, “Okay, we’re going to film it in New Mexico and fake it for California.” But as soon as I got there, I was like, “New Mexico looks nothing like California, and in order to make it not look like California, I’d have to avoid shooting all these beautiful landscapes and mountains. So I said, “Let’s just make it take place in New Mexico!
What was your first impression?
“Wow, the sky really looks like this!” Dude, I’m a huge fan of Breaking Bad, which was filmed in New Mexico. I always thought they must have been doing something with filters or in post, but no. It is gorgeous.
You didn’t have to add a lot of visual effects?
Coming from an indie background, I wanted to avoid the green screen and shoot as much in-camera as possible. New Mexico gave us the opportunity to do that. Also, by shooting there, one of the complaints we used to hear often was, “Why are all the Latino stories set in L.A. or New York?” It’s a valid criticism because, yeah, Latinos are everywhere.
What was it like working with an Albuquerque-based crew?
They left such a lasting impression! The crews there are used to brutal conditions in the spring, when they have hurricane-level winds, so everybody would come to the location ready with their goggles. Any time we had to move a light, the grips came in with sledgehammers, and they’d stake it down. I’m like, “This is not how we do it in L.A.!” They’re very hardcore.
The family shenanigans take place against some very striking vistas. How did you go about scouting locations?
We drove all over New Mexico with our location manager to figure out how to capture this story, finding the river, for example, and all that was really exciting. And it’s funny because, growing up in Bakersfield, I hated it as a kid: “There’s nothing here, dirt’s everywhere, I’ve got to get out of here!” But now, as an adult and being Mexican American in America, I’ve grown to love the desert. That was an important element for me because, especially in comedies, deserts can be kind of flat and boring, whereas for my community, there’s so much beauty! Yes, it’s a harsh terrain, but my people learned to adapt and live with these rough conditions. For me, it was important to capture the beauty of this desert as part of this story about a family that’s reconnecting with their roots.
Even though it often looks like you’re in the middle of nowhere, are most of the locations within an hour or two’s drive from your home base in Albuquerque?
We tried to do as much as possible within the Albuquerque vicinity. The one time we left the Albuquerque area was when we faked Mexico. I really wanted to go to Soledad [in Mexico], but that wasn’t feasible, so we found a place in New Mexico called Socorro. It had this amazing old hotel, which was apparently haunted. I never went in there! [laughing]. But our wonderful production designer, Andres Cubillan, from Gentefied, came through and captured the magic.
Alexander’s family begins their journey in this humongous green RV, which makes a heck of an entrance when it pulls up to the house. Where did you find that vehicle?
That’s just a passenger bus, like a Greyhound, but the inside was completely designed by me and Andres. It was like a high-tech adventure because we used Oculus headsets to walk through this [virtual reality] space. When the interior was finalized, it was so futuristic that it looked like we were on the set of Star Trek!
All the characters in Alexander’s family are vivid, but Eva Longoria really stands out as the mom.
Eva’s hysterical. She’s the first one we cast. Matt Lopez did a great job on the screenplay, but once Eva came on board, I wanted to make sure she had a lot of silly stuff to say, and so I did a pass. I also made sure Eva had a lot of fun action to play with. The script initially had dad driving the bus, but I decided it would be fun to see Eva driving this big-ass rig. I grew up with a single mother, and when we moved across state lines, I’d watch her drive the U-Haul. For me, it was just about “How many things can I have Eva do that I haven’t seen her do before?”
SPOILER ALERT
Safe to say people have never seen a skunk sit down in Eva’s lap while the family’s racing down the freeway. Was she game for all this broad physical comedy?
Anything I came up with, Eva said, “I’m down.” She’s very fit, so she, Jess, and Paulina were at the gym every day. They didn’t realize they were signing up for an action movie, but a key lesson I learned from Breaking Bad is: let the actors be physical. I want to watch them do stuff. I come from UCB comedy camp, so I love physical comedy. I wanted to see these actors jumping, sticking their heads out the window. I decided, I’m going to let these actors go nuts!
As you were directing all these boisterous family antics, who did you have in mind as being the audience for Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Road Trip?
This movie is for everybody. It’s a fun time for the kids, the parents, for your tio, for your abuelo. I want everyone in your family to gather together and watch. There’s a lot of comedy, a lot of action and explosions, a killer soundtrack, and a score by the amazing Camilo Lara. And also, it has a lot of heart, so hopefully you get a little choked up at the end. We just wanted to make a fun roller coaster of emotions, and I really hope people enjoy the ride.
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Featured image: (L-R): Paulina Chavez as Mia Garcia, Thom Nemer as Alexander Garcia, Jesse Garcia as Frank Garcia, Eva Longoria as Val Garcia in Disney’s ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD ROAD TRIP. Photo by Anna Kooris. © 2025 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
