A MILLION MILES AWAY: An Interview With Producers Mark Ciardi and Campbell McInnes

Cinema Scholars interviews A Million Miles Away producers Mark Ciardi and Campbell McInnes. A Million Miles Away launches globally on Prime Video on September 15, 2023.

Introduction 

What is it about a good underdog story that makes for such a great common denominator? Nearly everyone can relate to an against-the-odds victory on some level. From sports sagas or rags to riches triumphs all the way to immigrant sagas, tales of a hero fighting their way to the top are the stuff of legend. In Alejandra Márquez Abella’s new film A Million Miles Away, the underdog theme takes on even greater significance as the son of migrant workers literally shoots for the stars as an aspiring astronaut. 

Born in Stockton, CA in the 60s, José Hernandez’s childhood was inherently steeped in the culture and traditions of his parent’s native Mexico. Like most of his family and friends, the Hernandezes found work harvesting fruit and vegetables by hand throughout the verdant valleys of the West Coast. Meanwhile, children still attended classes, but it was not uncommon for them to jump between schools as their parents relocated to the latest farming job. While this lifestyle was certainly disruptive for families, it was also a catalyst for the strong cultural bonds between migrant families of the time.

Despite the perpetual relocating, José excelled at school. When an impressed teacher approached José’s parents about his potential, the family sacrificed their own dreams to see their son succeed academically. And succeed he did! From graduating college, navigating the engineering world as one of the only brown faces in the room, to applying for a spot in NASA’s astronaut program, Hernandez overcame many socio-economic hurdles to ultimately achieve his dreams.

A Million Miles Away is an inspirational story about the importance of perseverance and strong family ties. In addition to these themes, the film is also a gorgeous love letter to Mexican-American culture. From huge family gatherings to pop culture references, the threads that bind Mexican-American culture are on full, dazzling display throughout Hernandez’ trajectory. 

Furthermore, Abella smartly uses the juxtaposition of mainstream American touchstones to illustrate Hernandez’ “otherness” among his professional contemporaries. Though Hernandez does his share of assimilating to get ahead, he never betrays the heritage that shaped his life. 

As Hernandez, Michael Peña exudes endearing humility as well as inspiring tenacity. As a result, he is able to harness a special type of authenticity that makes him the perfect Everyman. Even when he’s mistaken for the janitor at his engineering firm or receives the latest of many rejections from NASA, Peña’s calm determination is the heart of the film. 

Throughout A Million Miles Away, Abella leaves plenty of space for some important character-shaping moments. While there is no shortage of quickly-paced montages and many humorous moments, the poignant parts help further punctuate all José has riding, on his dreams.

Meanwhile, there’s all the NASA stuff! From the fields of California to the Johnson Space Center, Abella handily transitions the film from a coming-of-age story to a space odyssey.  With awesome T-38 training sequences, harrowing underwater exercises, and nerve-racking space simulations, Abella nails the technical aspects along with the emotional moments. While the final outcome for Hernandez is no big surprise, it’s his hard-fought journey along the way that is so compelling.

Cinema Scholars recently had the privilege to chat with A Million Miles Away producers Mark Ciardi and Campbell McInnes about their film. With filmographies between them that include titles like The Rookie, The Miracle Season, and The Way Back, the duo are no strangers to triumphant underdog movies. We talk with them about finding inspiring stories to tell, landing their first choice as lead, and working with up-and-coming director Alejandra Márquez Abella.

Interview

Rebecca Elliott:

Thank you so much for joining me today. I really appreciate you taking the time. I hear this is the very last interview for you guys today, so hopefully I don’t ask the same boring questions.

Mark Ciardi:

Me too.

Rebecca Elliott:

I bet! We’ll see. I’ll start with you, Mark. A Million Miles Away is such an incredible success story, but it’s also really, first and foremost, a love letter to Mexican-American culture. Tell me about keeping that thread going throughout the entire movie and how important that was to you as far as telling this story the right way.

Mark Ciardi:

When José first walked into our office four years ago, we just fell in love with the story. And then developing the screenplay and hiring our director, who also worked on the screenplay. That’s really where it starts. Alejandra Márquez Abella is an amazing, amazing filmmaker. She’s from Mexico. From Mexico City. And we shot the whole movie there as well.

Not part of it. We shot the whole movie in Mexico and doubled everything in the US. And I think just that care and love and that cultural pride that came from everyone working on the film permeated into every scene. She just tried to add little elements that would be picked up by Mexican Americans and Mexicans.

But also just such a universal story. You can appreciate it, everyone can. But having José’s story and following his path. He lost his way a little bit when he felt like he had to be like everyone else and then realized he didn’t. That’s part of his superpower and really made the movie extra special. And it all goes back to Alejandro’s direction.

Rebecca Elliott:

Absolutely. And Campbell, we already talked a little bit about how the project came together. But I am always fascinated by how the sausage gets made, so to speak, and just how you as a producer put the puzzle pieces together. How did you find this story and what made it stand out for you that you felt so compelled to put this project together?

Campbell McInnes:

I remember Mark and I got a call about this astronaut who came from very humble beginnings, and whose parents were migrant farm workers. You got to hear his story. We think it would make a great movie. And I remember just lighting up, and Mark and I just going, wow, this really works. We’ve been really fortunate to see a sea change happen in our business. Mark and I had the opportunity to amplify voices, and this is one of those opportunities.

Frankly, studios started to realize that there were a lot of wonderful stories from underrepresented people in our culture. And we’re seeing this great kind of wave of energy. I know we’re dealing with the SAG strike and the actors can’t be involved with this and the writer strike, but with Blue Beetle and Flaming Hot, there’s been this excitement to tell these stories. And Mark and I, we’re in a position to champion. We met with José, and I was nervous. I don’t meet an astronaut every day.

Rebecca Elliott:

Right? Wow.

Campbell McInnes:

And then you hear his story and he’s so down to earth. And in spite of all his accomplishments, a great collaborator too. There are two executive producers on the movie, Benito Martinez and Rick Telles, and they’re the ones who reached out to José originally and then brought it to us. And then they collectively decided that we wanted to go with Mark and Campbell. And that’s really where our work began. We developed a really compelling pitch. We took it around to the studios, we went everywhere. And ultimately, three years later, we’re in a position where Amazon’s like, we want to make this movie.

In those three years, we developed a screenplay that was great. We always wanted Michael Peña. There was an announcement about our director being attached to the project, and Michael Pena’s team reached out. We got our first choice! And we can’t say enough about Alejandra Márquez Abella, who, by the way, just won the Ariel for Best Picture in Mexico two nights ago [for Northern Skies Over Empty Space].

Rebecca Elliott:

What? That’s amazing!

Campbell McInnes:

We were ahead of the curve there, just finding her. This is her first English-language movie. And we were hands-on, meaning we were on set every day, pretty much every frame of the film shot. We were there in post, every step of the way. We want this movie to succeed for Amazon and for us. And we want the opportunity to tell more stories. So I feel really, really fortunate to be a part of this.

Rebecca Elliott:

The film strikes so many chords on so many different levels. Mark, you’ve worked on a lot of underdog stories, many of them sports stories. As a former professional athlete yourself, tell me why you are drawn to against-all-odds sagas. And then, furthermore, why do you think they’re such great common denominators? Why are you drawn to this type of storytelling and why do you think it resonates with people so well?

Mark Ciardi:

Yeah, it’s a good question. I found myself in that same position, right? Trying to achieve a dream when I was playing baseball with big odds. I don’t know, I’m a sucker for them. I think a lot of people are. No one wants to hear about a story with no obstacles. And some of the greatest sports stories lend themselves to making great films.

What we loved about José’s story is it felt like a sports film, but there’s no sports. You’re celebrating the mind and doing something with the mind and body. That is maybe the hardest thing you can do. I mean, statistically, trying to become an astronaut. There are so few people who go to space that wanted to be one since they were little kids. It’s like my dream pales in comparison. But no, there are great similarities in the very best ways. So it’s finding stories that can resonate. 

Rebecca Elliott:

Campbell, you mentioned how you got Michael Peña, who is just so amazing. I love that guy. He’s just so natural. I think people forget that he is acting his ass off. So incredible. And this movie is kind of two parts. It’s this coming-of-age story in a way, but then also this technical side with all the NASA stuff. Can you tell me about some of the training Michael Peña had to go through? And what kind of consultation did you have on the set to get the NASA stuff right? I mean, how do you even approach all of that? It’s amazing. 

Campbell McInnes:

Well, when you have such a well-respected former astronaut like José Hernández in your bullpen- no pun intended regarding Mark’s previous career. But when you have that access, right? He immediately introduced us to the right people at NASA. They immediately connected with this story. I think they saw the value in it. I think it really portrays NASA in a great light. Hopefully, the story will inspire the next generation of future astronauts. I mean, that’s truly our vote. 

Because of that relationship, we had the opportunity to go and spend the day at Johnson Space Center and, as you said, see how the sausage is made. It was incredible seeing how they developed the spacesuits, and how they did the T-38 jet training. The food they eat, the rigors of the training. We learned all that. And then I think the next day, Alejandra and Michael Peña did a two-day deeper dive into everything so they could really take in the experience. And then that obviously was able to be translated in a visual storytelling sense by our director Alejandra. I think it gave some substance for Michael to grab onto with his performance.

But even more than, Michael’s Peña’s mother is from San Luis Potosi. And there’s a traditional migration pattern from San Luis Potosi to Chicago, where Michael grew up. His parents were farm workers as well. So I think he was kind of born to do this role. And he told us he’s like, this is the first time I’ve gotten to kiss the girl in a movie. He’s been in so many great roles. He’s beloved. But the winds of Hollywood, thankfully, have changed. And guys like Michael Peña can be number one on the call sheet. And he was a fantastic number one. He set the tone from a performance level, from a work ethic level that everyone else tried to follow.

Rebecca Elliott:

That’s really cool. Some of the sequences that he had to endure. I mean, I know there’s movie magic, but some of that training, like the underwater stuff, looked pretty legit. The music in A Million Miles Away creates a thread throughout the film that’s almost embedded in it. It runs the gamut between American pop music and Chicano from the 60s through the 2000s. And then the original score also has traditional mariachi cues at times. As producer, I’m not sure how involved you are in those choices but talk about the relevance of the musical choices in the film.

Campbell McInnes:

We shot the whole film in Mexico. So it was all Mexican crew, including composer Camilo Lara. Amazing. This was Alejandra’s choice early on, so we met with him early on too. And his music was just incredibly inspirational, unusual, kind of left of center, not traditional. Then our terrific music supervisors, Javier Nuño and Joe Rodriguez, are amazing.

So you have collectively, this great talent around you and then they get inspired again. It goes back to our director, Alejandra Márquez Abella, and what she did for this film, bringing the elements in and pushing to shoot the whole movie down in Mexico. And that ended up being a reality. And the whole crew couldn’t have been better in every aspect.

But the music we knew had a chance to be really special. And when you see how it cuts and how it progresses into the final product, we’re really proud. Like “Querida,” Juan Gabriel’s song that plays over the wedding sequence. If you’re Mexican or Mexican American, that is embedded in your psyche and in your childhood. Especially if you’re of a certain age. And then there’s that Rick Astley song, “Never Gonna Give You Up,” which might be the whitest song on the planet, Mark said in an earlier interview.

Rebecca Elliott:

Ha! It totally is.

Campbell McInnes:

Credit to Alejandra. She’s able to use the music in a way that is another really potent element. In terms of our composer Camilo Lara, he had done some music for some other films that I had listened to. But know, I’m a Morrissey fan. And he did this album called Mexrrissey that he produced. It was all these Spanish-language versions of Morrissey songs. And when Alejandro mentioned it, I kind of fanboyed out a little bit.

And Mark and I met with him, and he has this incredible talent to pull from the traditional Mexican sort of musicality. But then he brings a modern synth that kind of evokes space. Right? So it was like, how do you juxtapose the fields to outer space? The themes that he came up with. I mean, Mark and I, we were listening to him record the score a few months back and just like, wow, you hear things and it’s a synthesizer. And then you hear it come to life with real strings and real horns and real woodwinds, and then it just goes to another level.

Rebecca Elliott:

I just really loved the marriage of the different styles and how they are integral to the story. Like when José is trying to assimilate we’re getting Rick-rolled with “Never Gonna Give You Up.” Then I love it when he pulls into NASA for the first time blasting Chicano again. 

Campbell McInnes:

The energy with Devo, right?

Rebecca Elliott:

Yes, the Devo needle drop was spot on! So I have one more kind of silly, off-the-wall question. José brought tacos to space to eat. What food would you guys bring to space to eat? Mark, you go first.

Mark Ciardi:

Well, I mean, probably some kind of pasta. If he’s bringing tacos, I’ll probably bring lasagna if I could. I don’t know how practical it is, but I’m going to go with what I like best. So there you go.

Rebecca Elliott:

Perfect. And you, Campbell?

Campbell McInnes:

If Mark could bring his sauce, like, he makes a really great sauce. There you go. If he could bring that up…tortillas make a lot of sense because there are no crumbs, honestly. So it makes a lot of sense. Gosh. What would I bring? That is a good question. I’d love a rack of lamb up there. I don’t know if that’s possible but for my Scottish heritage.

Rebecca Elliott:

Ha! I love it. Perfect answers. Thank you, guys. I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me about your film. It’s really wonderful, and I know it’s going to resonate with a lot of people. So keep those underdog stories coming!

Mark Ciardi:

Well, we look forward to reading what you put together.

Campbell McInnes:

Appreciate your support, Rebecca.

Rebecca Elliott:

Absolutely. Take care and have a great day.

A Million Miles Away launches globally on Prime Video on September 15, 2023.

Read more Cinema Scholars interviews!

MOB LAND: An Interview With The Southern Noir Writer/Director Nicholas Maggio

An Interview With The Legendary Lance Henriksen!

Keep up with Cinema Scholars on social media. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.