Carla Gugino Jokes It Was 'Physically Totally Impossible' That She Played a Mother in Original “Spy Kids” Movie

Carla Gugino said she was just 27 years old when she filmed 2001's 'Spy Kids,' in which she plays a veteran secret agent who also has children aged 9 and 11

More than 20 years after the original Spy Kids movie debuted in theaters, Carla Gugino is wondering how she was cast as a mother of two school-aged children at just 27 years old.

While speaking with BuzzFeed about her acting career, Gugino, 52, reflected on making Spy Kids, Robert Rodriguez's family action film series. The actress costarred with Antonio Banderas in the original three movies, released in 2001, 2002 and 2003, as spies whose children (Alexa PenaVega and Daryl Sabara) are also called into secret agent action.

“It is so funny because I was 27," Gugino recalled of making the original movie with Banderas, 63. "It was a really beautiful kind of double-edged sword because I love that movie so much. And the whole experience was incredible, and the movies continue."

"I love Ingrid Cortes," she said, referring to her character. "But it was funny because I was 10 years, at least, too young for the role because I was a spy for 10 years and then somehow had children who were like 9 and 11," she added, laughing. "So it was physically totally impossible.”

Related: ‘Spy Kids’ Cast: Where Are They Now?

The original Spy Kids movie was a commercial success in the United States, grossing $112.7 million at the domestic box office and ranking within the top 20 highest-grossing films of 2001. The film also featured Danny Trejo, Alan Cumming, George Clooney and Tony Shalhoub among its cast.

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The core cast of Gugino, Banderas, PenaVega and Sabara starred together in the series' first three installments, before filmmaker explored new characters with 2011's All the Time in the World. The filmmaker ultimately rebooted the family-friendly action series entirely with last year's Netflix movie Spy Kids: Armageddon, this time costarring Gina Rodriguez and Zachary Levi as super spy parents.

Related: Alexa PenaVega Says Her Kids 'Don't Like' 'Spy Kids', Think She 'Should Have Been Lavagirl'

While speaking with BuzzFeed, Gugino, who currently stars in the Max political series The Girls on the Bus, recalled that she was cast for Spy Kids after meeting with Rodriguez, who had already been filming the movie for two weeks.

"He was like, 'I feel like I'm looking for a mother for my kids.' We were talking about it, and I had auditioned for him and he said, 'I think if we do our job right, no one will ever question it,' " the actress recalled, referring to her young age for the role.

Gugino added, "And it's so funny like you said, nobody did. Antonio Banderas and I had worked together on a movie called Miami Rhapsody that David Frankel directed, so we also had a little bit of a history, which was really nice to come into it that way."

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