'Spy Kids' director Robert Rodriguez fought for the movie to feature a Latino family when the studio asked why he didn't make them 'American'

• "Spy Kids" director Robert Rodriguez fought to make the family in the movie Latino.
• He remembered it as a huge victory during a San Diego Comic-Con panel with Collider.
• Rodriguez said he had to explain how the family was American to the studio after they asked him why he just couldn't make the film centered around "Americans."
• The studio was concerned a Latino family may limit their audience potential.
• Rodriguez finally convinced them by asking if James Bond only appealed to British fans.

"Spy Kids" could have looked a lot different if director Robert Rodriguez didn't fight for his vision.

Rodriguez recalled his greatest victory in Hollywood during a virtual San Diego Comic-Con panel with Collider's editor in chief Steven Weintraub.

"The studio was like, 'Why are you making them Latin, though? Why don't you just make them American?'" said Rodriguez. "And, I was like, they are American. It's based on my family."

The 2001 action movie follows Carmen and Juni who learn their parents, played by Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino, are spies. The two set out to save them after they're kidnapped. The film was released by Dimension Films, founded by Bob Weinstein.

Banderas' character, Gregorio Cortez, is based on Rodriguez's uncle, also named Gregorio, who was an FBI agent. A bunch of the characters are named after family members, including the two children and their uncle Felix.

Rodriguez said growing up in a family of 10 children, he wanted to make a movie about his family. He thought turning the family into spies would make it a more interesting watch. But Rodriguez said the studio questioned whether or not a Latino cast would make the potential audience for the film more niche.

"[If] you're doing something new, you're going to get questioned and you have to have a good answer. They're not being d---s or anything, they just [had] never seen it before," said Rodriguez.

"I said, 'No, I don't think so,'" he continued, while again, pointing out that his Latino family was also American.

That still didn't convince the studio.

What sealed the deal? James Bond.

"I finally had to come up with a good argument. Finally I said, 'OK. You don't have to be British to enjoy James Bond," said Rodriguez. "By being so specific, it becomes more universal. So they went with it."

"Spy Kids" was a hit, leading to three sequels and an animated reboot series on Netflix. Since its release, Rodriguez said friends have shared how empowering it is for their kids to see his last name roll over the credits, realizing the film was made by someone in the Hispanic and Latino communities. That feedback inspired Rodriguez to work on a "Sharkboy and Lava Girl" live-action sequel for Netflix centered around children who join forces to save their parents from aliens.

"You kind of had to put the flag in and set it in and say this is how it's going to be done to make any change because there were no roles being written for Latins at that time back in 1999, nor were they being cast," said Rodriguez of standing his ground. "If I wasn't Latin I would have given up the fight because I would have went, 'OK I just want to get the movie made.'"

Rodriguez said he stuck with it because the story was based on his family and concluded that things will never change in Hollywood if conversations like this don't happen. Rodriguez didn't necessarily consider it to be a fight, but rather a failure on the studio's part to recognize the value of putting the spotlight on a Latino family because it was never a proven box-office success before.

You can watch Rodriguez discuss "Spy Kids" starting at 35:01.