Internationally acclaimed comedian and talk show host George Lopez will be paying homage to a group of high-achieving, but "illegal," students in an upcoming film "La Vida Robot" along with Jamie Lee Curtis.

New Mexico Film Office Director Nick Maniatis said the independent feature will be in production from mid-October through mid-November and will be shot in Albuquerque.

"The production will employ over 60 New Mexico crew members, 15 New Mexico actors and background talent," Maniatis said in a press release.

To fill out the background talent the filming team is looking for Hispanic kids from two to over 20, Grandparent-types, "lots of college student types of all races, especially Asians" and especially engineering/Science students.

The movie is based on the true story of a robotics team from Carl Hayden Community High School in Phoenix, Ariz. that went to a national underwater robotics competition sponsored by NASA and the Office of Naval Research. The competition is held every year and attracts competitors from all over the United States and foreign countries as well.

The teens, and their robot whom they affectionately named "Stinky," bested a team from MIT that had an $5,000 sponsorship from ExxonMobil. The high schoolers from Phoenix had managed their project with $800 rounded up from local businesses.

While college teams had access to the best materials available, the teens bought their supplies from a local building store, even resorting to the use of tampons to soak up a leak in their robot's underwater housing.

The irony was that after such a Herculean effort, their hopes of receiving college scholarships was hindered by the fact that the students were undocumented Mexicans living in the United States illegally.

The movie will be Produced by Ben O' Dell, Rick Jacobs, David Alpert and Leslie Kolins Small and directed by Sean McNamara. It is expected to be released in 2014.