Nacho Libre

Nacho Libre
Promotional poster for the film
Directed by	Jared Hess
Produced by	Jack Black David Klawans Julia Pistor Mike White Ricardo Del Rio
Written by	Jared Hess Mike White
Starring	Jack Black Ana de la Reguera Héctor Jiménez Darius Rose Peter Stormare César Cuauhtémoc González
Music by	Beck Danny Elfman
Cinematography	Xavier Perez Grobet
Editing by	Billy Weber
Studio	Nickelodeon Movies Paramount Pictures HH Films
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures (U.S.) United International Pictures (Worldwide) Universal Pictures (Switzerland)
Release date(s)	June 16, 2006 (2006-06-16)
Running time	86 minutes
Language	English
Budget	$32,000,000 (estimated)
Box office	$99,255,460

Nacho Libre is a 2006 comedy film directed by Jared Hess. It is a production of Nickelodeon Movies. The script was written by Jared Hess, Jerusha Hess and Mike White. It was loosely based on the story of Fray Tormenta ("Friar Storm"), aka Rev. Sergio Gutiérrez Benítez, a real-life Mexican Catholic priest who had a 23-year career as a masked luchador. He competed in order to support the orphanage he directed. The producers are Jack Black, David Klawans, Julia Pistor, and Mike White. The film received mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

Ignacio (Jack Black) is the son of a Lutheran missionary from Scandinavia and a deacon from Mexico. They tried to convert each other but got married instead, then died while Ignacio was young. Now Ignacio is a cook for the monastery. However, he dreams of becoming a luchador (lucha libre performer); but wrestling is forbidden by the monastery. Ignacio cares deeply for the orphans, but his food is terrible due to a lack of funds with which to obtain quality ingredients. One night, he is robbed of the orphans' tortilla chips in an alley, and decides to make money to buy better food. He also reveals a desire to be respected by the other friars, to overcome a sanctimonious friar who mistreats him, and consummate his feelings for the newly arrived tutor, Sister Encarnación (Ana de la Reguera). Ignacio decides to disregard the monastery's rules and becomes a Luchador in order to make money. He pairs up with the tortilla chip thief, Steven (Héctor Jiménez), and they pair as tag partners and join the local competition, with Ignacio changing his name to "Nacho" to keep his identity secret. Steven adopts the name "Esqueleto" (Skeleton). Nacho and Esqueleto are defeated in their first match but are paid anyway, as every wrestler is entitled to a portion of the total revenue, and they continue to wrestle every week, with Ignacio using his pay to buy and prepare better food for the orphans. Ignacio is, however, discovered by an orphan named "Chancho" (Pig), who promises to keep it a secret and admires him for it. However, after losing many fights, Ignacio starts to look for help. Steven brings him to a gypsy-like man (Peter Stormare) who tells Ignacio to climb to an eagle's nest, crack open the egg, and swallow the yolk, claiming that he will gain the powers of an eagle. Ignacio completes the task, but still loses the following night's wrestling bout. He decides to seek advice from Ramses (played by Mexican Luchador César Cuauhtémoc González who works as "Silver King"), a champion luchador. However, when he sneaks into a party and gets thrown out, and later when Ramses shoves him after meeting him in the street, he realizes Ramses is not to be admired.

Ignacio's secret is revealed when his robe catches fire during a prayer, exposing his wrestling costume. He admits that he is Nacho, intends to fight at the "Battle-Jam", a battle royale between eight luchadores, for the right to take on Ramses, and for a cash prize, which he will use to make life better for the orphans. Thereafter both Esqueleto and Nacho compete with several other popular wrestlers in order to earn the right to challenge Ramses. The wrestler Silencio ("silence") wins; Nacho, due to the actions of an already beaten wrestler, comes in second place. Feeling shunned at the monastery, Ignacio leaves to live in the nearby wilderness. In the morning, Steven comes to tell him that Silencio's bunions are swollen and therefore cannot fight Ramses; he will, therefore, have to fight instead. It is revealed that Silencio's injury was caused because Steven had driven over his foot with a tricycle. Ignacio is distrustful of Steven, as he had previously stated that he hated orphans. Steven convinces him that he no longer does. Ignacio agrees to team up again. That night, Ignacio sends a message via Steven to Sister Encarnación, explaining his plan and confessing his love to her (as a sister).

In the match, Nacho does well despite initial difficulty. With the crowd supporting Ignacio, Ramses resorts to cheating. Nacho then is nearly defeated - indeed, unmasked - by Ramses. (Although the unmasking is a very significant event in a luchador's career, suggesting the player's defeat and dishonor, the match continues with minimal acknowledgment of the act.) when Sister Encarnación enters with the orphans. Elated and inspired, Nacho throws Ramses off, knocks him out of the ring, and jumps onto him with a flair recalling his earlier brush with eagle eggs and their supposed power. Ramses is defeated and Ignacio becomes champion. He uses his prize money to buy a bus for field trips for the children. The film closes with Ignacio, Steven, and Sister Encarnación take the children to see an ancient city, Monte Albán, built by the Zapotec civilization. Ignacio, by now, has earned Encarnación's favor, as demonstrated by her signs of encouragement and his somewhat awkward acknowledgment thereof.

Release date

The release date was May 2006, but was changed by Paramount to avoid competition from Fox's X-Men: The Last Stand and one of Paramount's other films, Mission: Impossible III. It was then placed between the releases of Disney/Pixar's Cars (June 9) and Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures' Superman Returns (June 28). The film was rated PG by the MPAA for "rough action and crude humor, including dialogue."

It was released on Blu-ray and DVD on October 24, 2006.^[1] It was distributed in Switzerland, Spain, and the Netherlands by Universal Pictures.

Main cast

Actor	Role
Jack Black	Ignacio/Nacho
Ana de la Reguera	Sister Encarnación
Héctor Jiménez	Esqueleto/ Steven (Nicknamed by Nacho)
Troy Gentile	Nacho (young age)
Carla Jimenez	Cándida
Richard Montoya	Guillermo
César Cuauhtémoc González	Ramses
Moises Arias	Juan Pablo
Darius Rose	Chancho
Peter Stormare	Emperor

Critical reception

The film received mixed reviews by critics. It was labeled as "Rotten" on the Rotten Tomatoes website with a 40% of the reviews being favorable and an average rating of 5.1/10.^[2] Rotten Tomatoes' critical consensus states, "At times hilarious, but other times offensive, Director Jared Hess is unable to recapture the collective charisma of his Napoleon [Dynamite] characters, instead relying on a one-joke concept that runs out of steam. Sure to entertain the adolescents, however."^[2]

According to Roger Ebert, "It takes some doing to make a Jack Black comedy that doesn't work, but Nacho Libre does it."^[3] Michael Medved gave the film two and a half stars (out of four) calling it, "Amusing, but resistable (sic)." but adding that, "Director Jared Hess [employs] the same off-beat humor that made his Napoleon Dynamite a cult hit".^{[citation needed]}

Box office performance

During its opening weekend Nacho Libre opened at second place, earning $28.3 million. The total domestic box office for Nacho Libre stands at $80,197,993. Worldwide: $99,255,460.^[4]

Music

Director Jared Hess originally wanted musical artist Beck to be behind the soundtrack for the film. Beck, being a fan of Hess, accepted. However, Paramount Pictures didn't think Beck's style fit the movie, and decided to try to get composer Danny Elfman to replace him. Elfman then wrote a full score and recorded it in May 2006.^[5] However, only about 2/3 of Elfman's score ended up in the movie.

Due to how much of Elfman's music filled the film, Elfman's representatives asked that Elfman be the only person credited for Nacho Libre's score. Hess caught wind of this and would not allow the studio to remove Beck from the credits. When finding that he would not have the only music credit, Elfman told Paramount to remove his name from the film. An agreement was eventually reached where both Beck and Elfman were credited for their respective parts of the score.^[6]

The track listing for the official soundtrack to Nacho Libre.^[7] The soundtrack was released October 24, 2006

1. Hombre Religioso (Religious Man) - Mister Loco
2. "A Nice Pile-Drive to the Face" - Nacho (Dialogue)
3. Move, Move, Move - Alan Hawkshaw & Alan Parker
4. Papas - Mister Loco
5. Singing at the Party - Jack Black with Ismael Garcia Ruiz y Su Trio
6. Ramses Suite - Danny Elfman
7. "All the Orphans in the World" - Nacho & Esqueleto (Dialogue)
8. There Is No Place in This World for Me - Beck
9. "I'm Serious" - Nacho (Dialogue)
10. 10,000 Pesos - Beck
11. Irene - Caetano Veloso
12. Pump a Jam (Ramses) - Cholotronic
13. Black Is Black - Eddie Santiago
14. Half Forgotten Daydreams - John Cameron
15. Encarnación - Jack Black
16. Tender Beasts of the Spangled Night - Beck
17. Saint Behind the Glass - Los Lobos
18. "Beneath the Clothes We Find the Man..." - Nacho (Dialogue)
19. Forbidden Nector - Jack Black & Mucho Macho Acapulco

Some songs that were not included on the soundtrack, but were in the movie, are "Mucha Muchacha" by Esquivel, "Bubblegum" by Mister Loco, "Holy Man" by Beck and "Bat Macumba" by Os Mutantes.

Video game

In 2006, a video game adaptation of Nacho Libre was published by Majesco Entertainment and was released for the Nintendo DS. It is a cartoonish wrestling game based upon the film.^[8]

Sequel

In November 2006, Jack Black revealed that a sequel was a possibility: "I sure hope so, I love working with Jared. I think it's a good bet that we'll collaborate on something again. Mike had an idea that it would be Nacho goes to Japan, we'll see though."^[9] However, Jared Hess (who directed the original movie) revealed in October 2009 that Paramount had never approached him about doing a sequel to Nacho Libre, though he said he would "love to work with Black again".^[10]

References

1. ^ "Nacho Libre Movie - Starring Jack Black - Directed by Jared Hess - Official Site". http://www.nacholibre.com/. Retrieved 2010-08-09. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Nacho Libre". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/nacho_libre/. Retrieved 2010-08-09. 
3. ^ "Nacho Libre". Roger Ebert. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060615/REVIEWS/60606004/1023. Retrieved 2010-12-22. 
4. ^ "Nacho Libre (2006) – Box Office Mojo". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=nacholibre.htm. Retrieved 2010-08-09. 
5. ^ "Danny Elfman scores Nacho Libre - ScoringSessions.com". Scoring Sessions. http://www.scoringsessions.com/news/46/. Retrieved 2010-08-09. 
6. ^ Mike Sampson. "The truth behind Nacho's music - JoBlo.com". Joblo. http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=11827. Retrieved 2010-08-09. 
7. ^ "Amazon.com: Nacho Libre: Various Artists: Music". Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000I8OOJC. Retrieved 2010-08-09. 
8. ^ "Nacho Libre for DS - GameSpot". GameSpot. CBS. http://uk.gamespot.com/ds/action/nacholibre/index.html. Retrieved 2010-08-09. 
9. ^ "Jack Black Talks 'Be Kind Rewind' and a Possible 'Nacho Libre 2'". ropeofsilicon.com. http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/jack_black_talks_be_kind_rewind_and_a_possible_nacho_libre_2. Retrieved 2011-06-02. 
10. ^ "Jared Hess says he's never been asked about making 'Nacho Libre 2'". hitfix.com. http://www.hitfix.com/articles/jared-hess-says-he-s-never-been-asked-about-making-nacho-libre-2. Retrieved 2011-06-02. 

External links

• Nacho Libre at the Internet Movie Database
• Nacho Libre at Box Office Mojo
• Nacho Libre at Metacritic
• Nacho Libre at Rotten Tomatoes