Beverly Hills Chihuahua - CIA - Thecia

UNLEASHING THE TALENTand the colorful pair serve as both friends and foils to Chloe and Delgado. Tapped to voice theroles are Cheech Marin (“Up in Smoke,” “Born in East L.A.”) and Paul Rodriguez (“Ali,”“Bloodwork”).“Cheech and Paul play Manueland Chico, who are the lovable,comedic villains in the piece, whoare always trying to steal Chloe’sdiamond necklace. I think the twoof them together are just funny,”says Hoberman.Providing voices to three dogswho try to help Chloe on herjourney home are Plácido Domingo(“La Traviata,” “Otello”), LuisGuzmán (“Humboldt Park,” “Yes Man”) and Eddie “Piolin” Sotelo (“Piolín por la Mañana”).Domingo lends his voice to Monte, a Chihuahua leader who opens Chloe’s eyes about herculture; Guzmán voices a cantankerous Pit Bull mutt who learns the meaning of home; andSotelo is the voice of Rafa, a nervous Mexican street dog with a heart of gold.Loretta Devine (“Crash”) and Michael Urie (“Ugly Betty”) provide the voices for two ofChloe’s uppity canine friends, Delta and Sebastian.For the live-action roles, filmmakers found the perfect Rachel and Sam in vivacious actressPiper Perabo (“The Prestige,” “Because I Said So”) and the rapidly rising Latin-American starManolo Cardona (“La Mujer de mi Hermano”).“Rachel’s the least likely candidate to take care of this dog, she can barely manage her ownlife,” explains Gosnell. “She can’t seem to keep a job, not because she’s not smart, not becauseshe doesn’t have a great heart, but because she’s a little lost. Rachel lives in this Beverly Hillsbubble the same way Chloe does, and she hasn’t found what is important in her life anddoesn’t really realize that something’s missing.”“Piper was our first choice for the role,” says Hoberman. “She brings optimism and energyboth on and off the set. She’s just areal life force in the movie.”“Rachel’s a little flaky, a littledistracted, and maybe a little selfcentered,”says Perabo. “She hasn’treally grown up yet and doesn’tknow what she wants to do with herlife. She can’t really take care ofherself, so taking care of anythingelse is next to impossible.”“Piper managed to instill thatcharacter with a soul, bringingdepth to what could have been a really cardboard character,” says Gosnell.Cardona tackles the role of Sam. “Sam is the soul of the movie,” says Gosnell. “He and Papiare very centered characters. They know who they are, they know what they want, and they’revery content in their lives and in their work.”16