The 2001 film, which starred Alexa PenaVega and Daryl Sabara, celebrates its 25th anniversary this year
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NEED TO KNOW
- Robert Rodriguez celebrated 25 years of Spy Kids at the 2026 Texas Film Awards with Alexa PenaVega and Daryl Sabara
- Rodriguez revealed his casting process, emphasizing the importance of finding child actors with “magic” who set the movie’s tone
- He advocated for Latin representation in Spy Kids, telling executives the family was American and reflected his heritage
It's been 25 years since director Robert Rodriguez released the first Spy Kids film, and he's opening up about his process for making it a hit.
Rodriguez, 57, appeared at the 2026 Texas Film Awards, which was held at his Troublemaker Studios in Austin, on Thursday, March 5, to honor the film's anniversary. He was joined by the original stars Alexa PenaVega, who played Carmen Cortez, and Daryl Sabara, who played Carmen's younger brother, Juni Cortez.
"When I'm casting a movie, inevitably there's only one or two, like max, that rides head and shoulders above everyone else," Rodriguez exclusively tells PEOPLE about finding the right child star. "And they're like gold because it sets the tone for the whole movie. They always deliver, and it's like magic. They show up, and it's like, 'Well, it has to be this kid.' "
"That's why when Daryl showed up, he was so magical," he adds. "He was only 7 when I met him. And every other little boy would be like, 'Huh?' He showed up focused. I said, 'Okay, clearly whoever I cast as a mom, I'm dying her hair red to match him because he's the crucial point.' "
Rodriguez also emphasized that he aimed to create a "great environment" for the children on the set of his movies, especially as he comes "from a family of 10 kids."
Credit: Hubert Vestil/Getty
"All my early award-winning short films have kids in them," he told PEOPLE. "They were kind of precursors to Spy Kids. Action, comedy with children. It was a winning combination. I would win a lot of festivals with those. So I knew someday I wanted to make one of those. And it was about finding the right kid. When they show up with magic, and it's why kids love these movies so much. They really identify with them."
While at the 2026 Texas Film Awards, Rodriguez also spoke about advocating for representation through the family at the center of the film.
“They asked, ‘Why are they Latin and not American?’” Rodriguez said about his discussion with studio executives at the time, per Tribeza. “I told them, ‘Well, they are American.’ "
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Spy Kids found Carmen and Juni suddenly becoming spies after their ex-spy parents, Gregorio (Antonio Banderas) and Ingrid (Carla Gugino), go missing. The first film also stars Danny Trejo, Alan Cumming, Cheech Marin, Tony Shalhoub and George Clooney.
The entire Cortez family appeared in 2002's Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams and 2003's Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over. PenaVega, 37, and Sabara, 33, reprised their roles for 2011's Spy Kids: All the Time in the World. The fifth and most-recent film, Spy Kids: Armageddon, was released in 2023.
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