El Superstar

Directed By Amy French

Raised as a Mexican, a "norteamericano" has a talent for singing ranchero music. After he becomes famous, his music evolves, forcing him to choose between his ethnicity and his heart.

  • ABOUT
  • BIO
Born Jonathan French in Beverly Hills, California and orphaned at 3 months old, this young boy was adopted by his Mexican nanny (Lupe Ontiveros) and step-father (Danny Trejo) and raised to be a good, God-fearing Mexican with a love for ranchero music. At age 33, in his "Jesus Year," and now known as Juan Francés, he is a gardener/janitor-by-day but has been blessed by the Virgin of Guadalupe with the talent to sing like the angels. He takes his ranchero act from the small, half-empty soccer bars in East L.A., to a larger music festival audience where he is discovered and quickly swept into Mexican pop stardom. Caught in the whirlwind of fame, Juan's everyman appearance and musical style undergo a celebrity make-over. He changes his name to "El Guero" and his songs for the working man are transformed into heartless Reggaeton. When the dark truth about Juan's history is revealed to him, he must ask himself: Will he choose the Mexican man in his heart, or the bald pink guy in the mirror?

Amy French wrote and directed the improvised musical feature EL SÚPERSTAR, executive produced by Norman Lear and George Lopez. As an AFI Directing Workshop for Women fellow, Amy’s short film HOLD FOR LAUGHS won the Jean Picker Firstenberg Award, and subsequent shorts have played at top festivals nationwide. In TV, she directed HYPERLINKED, a single camera sitcom for YouTube Originals and Disney Digital, and the dramedy pilot THE HIGH LIFE, which premiered in competition at Bentonville, as well as having shadowed on three multicams, including with director Pamela Fryman. Amy has written and directed branded and web content for The Skimm, Umami Burger, Aetna Insurance, NickMom and the Santa Monica Museum of Art. Amy is half of a comedy writing team with partner Kerry Carney, and together they have amassed a ton of of television development experience, including deals at Sony, Lionsgate, and Warner Brothers. They’ve had both single and multicam projects, working with Mandeville, Discount Sushi, Stoopid Buddy, and Counterbalance, as well as television legend Norman Lear, with whom they got to take out a multicam. Additionally, they did punch up on the Hulu feature PLAN B, and wrote the live action feature script POPPY HOPKINS for Nickelodeon. Kerry and Amy currently have two original feature length comedy scripts available, and a third with Gulfstream Pictures.