His new film is based on the real-life struggles of 33 Chilean miners, who were trapped underground for 69 days following a tunnel collapse in 2009, and features Spaniard Antonio Banderas and Latino star Lou Diamond Phillips.

But Medavoy insisted the film should be shot in English, and now he's fighting critics who believe the film should have been all-Spanish with subtitles.

He tells WENN, "There have been questions about the language issue: 'In today's world you should've done the movie in Spanish'.

"The truth of the matter is I wanted a lot of people to see it. When I was growing up in Chile, I used to see movies in English while they were subtitled. They didn't bother me. I think that English is an international language; more people speak English than other language that I know of. This is the better way to get more people to see the movie."

And his director Patricia Riggen has no qualms about the producer's language decision.

"As a Latina director in America, and having developed my career making movies with Latin themes and Latin casts, I am very much aware of the fact that this is the first time that a Latin movie with a Latin cast is going to hit 2,500 screens in this country," she tells WENN. "I hope it keeps happening. We are so proud that it is being released wide."

Riggen reveals she and the producers went out of their way to make sure the film was as authentic as possible, hiring many of the miners involved in the 2009 disaster to work on the movie.

"We were down in the mines where the miners were... There were 33 men with hardhats, boots working under very tough conditions of danger, of bad air, no food, no bathrooms, nothing down there. It is the real thing. I have such an appreciation for all the actors that were so brave and so talented, enduring everything they endured down there.

"I think it informed the cast what it is to be a miner. They really lived that. Throughout the shoot the real miners were there. They were hired in different capacities. Mario Sepulveda, who is played by Antonio Banderas, was handling extras.