Alejandra Márquez Abella Brought José Hernández’ Story to Life in Beautiful Detail
It’s not easy being told no. No one knows that better than José Hernández. Determined to join the space program, he applied over 12 times, constantly being rejected by the engineer continued to push himself to strive for better and now his inspirational story has been made into a movie on Prime Video from director Alejandra Márquez Abella. Played by the incredible Michael Peña, A Million Miles Away doesn’t just give us hope to follow our own dreams but it shows us why Hernández is such an inspiration in his own right.
We spoke with Hernández about seeing his story come to life and in talking with Alejandra Márquez Abella, it’s clear that she wanted this movie to also focus on the people who helped him get to where he needed to go. Throughout A Million Miles Away, José’s family and friends all come together to support him. His teacher even shows up before the rocket launch who had come to his house when he was a kid to tell his parents that he needed to stay in school. When I asked her about including those moments, she said that she wanted to bring to life the community that was behind Hernández.
“I think the important thing for me was to portray the community behind this successful man,” she said. “How not only his partner but his family and his school teacher, community, his country were behind him because that’s how anyone’s success is measured, it has to do with the whole bunch of people who worked with you your whole life and your own experiences. So I think the teacher being a migrant herself was important to the film and to Jose’s family’s decision.” His teacher showing up to see his success is really an impactful part of the film and my own personal favorite moment and it really is a testament to Alejandra Márquez Abella’s work and the film as a whole.
You can see our full chat here:
A Million Miles Away is on Prime Video now!
(featured image: Prime Video)
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