fbpx
Wikipedia

Robert Rodriguez

Robert Anthony Rodriguez (/rɒˈdrɡɛz/; born June 20, 1968)[1][2] is an American filmmaker, composer, and visual effects supervisor. He shoots, edits, produces, and scores many of his films in Mexico and in his home state of Texas. Rodriguez directed the 1992 action film El Mariachi, which was a commercial success after grossing $2.6 million ($5.5 million in 2023 dollars) against a budget of $7,000 ($14,937 in 2023 dollars). The film spawned two sequels known collectively as the Mexico Trilogy: Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico.

Robert Rodriguez
Rodriguez in February 2019
Born
Robert Anthony Rodriguez

(1968-06-20) June 20, 1968 (age 54)
Alma materUniversity of Texas at Austin
Occupations
  • Film director
  • producer
  • screenwriter
  • cinematographer
  • visual effects supervisor
  • composer
  • film editor
Years active1991–present
WorksFull list
Spouse
(m. 1991; sep. 2006)
Children5
RelativesPatricia Vonne (sister)
Danny Trejo (second cousin)
WebsiteTroublemaker Studios

He directed From Dusk till Dawn in 1996 and developed its television adaptation series (2014–2016).[3] Rodriguez co-directed the 2005 neo-noir crime thriller anthology Sin City (adapted from the graphic novel of the same name) and the 2014 sequel, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. Rodriguez is also the creator of the Spy Kids franchise, as well as The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, Planet Terror, Machete, We Can Be Heroes, and also directed The Faculty and Alita: Battle Angel.

He is a close friend and frequent collaborator of filmmaker Quentin Tarantino,[4] who founded the production company A Band Apart, of which Rodriguez was a member. In December 2013, Rodriguez launched his own cable television channel, El Rey.

Early life

Rodriguez was born in San Antonio, Texas, the son of Mexican parents Rebecca (née Villegas), a nurse, and Cecilio G. Rodríguez, a salesman.[5][6] He began his interest in film at age eleven, when his father bought one of the first VCRs, which came with a camera.[7]

 
Robert Rodriguez (right) at the 1993 Atlanta Film Festival.

While attending St. Anthony High School Seminary in San Antonio, Rodriguez was commissioned to videotape the school's football games. According to his sister, he was fired soon afterward as he had shot footage in a cinematic style, getting shots of parents' reactions and the ball traveling through the air instead of shooting the whole play. In high school, he met Carlos Gallardo; they both shot films on video throughout high school and college.

Rodriguez went to the College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin, where he also developed a love of cartooning. Not having grades high enough to be accepted into the school's film program, he created a daily comic strip entitled Los Hooligans. Many of the characters were based on his siblings – in particular, one of his sisters, Maricarmen. The comic ran for three years in the student newspaper The Daily Texan, while Rodriguez continued to make short films.[8]

Rodriguez shot action and horror short films on video and edited on two VCRs. In late 1990, his entry in a local film contest earned him a spot in the university's film program. There he made the award-winning 16 mm short Bedhead (1991). The film chronicles the amusing misadventures of a young girl whose older brother sports an incredibly tangled mess of hair which she detests. Even at this early stage, Rodriguez's trademark style began to emerge: quick cuts, intense zooms, and fast camera movements deployed with a sense of humor.

Bedhead was recognized for excellence in the Black Maria Film Festival. It was selected by Film/Video Curator Sally Berger for the Black Maria 20th-anniversary retrospective at MoMA in 2006.

Career

Early career

The short film Bedhead attracted enough attention to encourage him to seriously attempt a career as a filmmaker.[9] He went on to shoot the action flick El Mariachi (1992) in Spanish; he shot it for around $7,000 with money raised by his friend Adrian Kano and from payments for his own participation in medical testing studies.[10] Rodriguez won the Audience Award for this film at the Sundance Film Festival in 1993.[11] Intended for the Spanish-language low-budget home-video market, the film was "cleaned up" by Columbia Pictures with post-production work costing several hundred thousand dollars before it was distributed in the United States.[12] Its promotion still advertised it as "the movie made for $7,000". Rodriguez described his experiences making the film in his book Rebel Without a Crew (1995).[13]

Mainstream success

 
Rodriguez and Tarantino in 2007

Desperado was a sequel to El Mariachi that starred Antonio Banderas and introduced Salma Hayek to international audiences as her English-language breakthrough role.[14][15] Rodriguez went on to collaborate with Quentin Tarantino on the vampire thriller From Dusk till Dawn (also both co-producing its two sequels), and he wrote, directed, and produced the TV series for his own cable network, El Rey.[16] Rodriguez has also worked with Kevin Williamson, on the sci-fi thriller film The Faculty.[17]

In 2001, Rodriguez enjoyed his first Hollywood hit with Spy Kids, which went on to become a movie franchise. A third "mariachi" film also appeared in late 2003, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, which completed the Mexico Trilogy (also called the Mariachi Trilogy). He operates a production company called Troublemaker Studios, formerly Los Hooligans Productions.[18]

Rodriguez co-directed Sin City (2005), an adaptation of the comic books by Frank Miller; Quentin Tarantino guest-directed a scene. During production in 2004, Rodriguez insisted Miller be credited as co-director, because he considered the visual style of Miller's comic art to be just as important as his own in the film. However, the Directors Guild of America would not allow it, citing that only "legitimate teams", e.g., the Wachowskis, could share the director's credit. Rodriguez chose to resign from the DGA, stating, "It was easier for me to quietly resign before shooting because otherwise I'd be forced to make compromises I was unwilling to make or set a precedent that might hurt the guild later on." By resigning from the DGA, Rodriguez was forced to relinquish his director's seat on the film John Carter of Mars for Paramount Pictures. Rodriguez had already signed on and had been announced as director of that film, planning to begin filming soon after completing Sin City.[19][20]

Sin City was a critical hit in 2005 as well as a box office success, particularly for a hyperviolent comic book adaptation that did not have name recognition comparable to the X-Men or Spider-Man. He has an interest in adapting all of Miller's Sin City comic books.[21]

Rodriguez released The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 2005, a superhero-kid movie intended for the same younger audiences as his Spy Kids series. Sharkboy and Lavagirl was based on a story conceived by Rodriguez's 7-year-old son, Racer, who was given credit for the screenplay. The film grossed over $69 million worldwide at the box office.[22]

Rodriguez wrote and directed the film Planet Terror as part of the double-bill release Grindhouse (2007). Quentin Tarantino directed Grindhouse's other film.

He has a series of "Ten Minute Film School" segments on several of his DVD releases, showing aspiring filmmakers how to make good, profitable movies using inexpensive tactics. Starting with the Once Upon a Time in Mexico DVD, Rodriguez began creating a series called "Ten Minute Cooking School" in which he revealed his recipe for "Puerco Pibil" (based on Cochinita pibil, an old dish from Yucatán), the same food Johnny Depp's character, Agent Sands, ate in the film. The popularity of this series led to the inclusion of another "Cooking School" on the two-disc version of the Sin City DVD where Rodriguez teaches the viewer how to make "Sin City Breakfast Tacos", a dish (made for his cast and crew during late-night shoots and editing sessions) utilizing his grandmother's tortilla recipe and different egg mixes for the filling. He had initially planned to release a third "Cooking School" with the DVD release of Planet Terror but then announced on the "Film School" segment of the DVD that he would put it on the Grindhouse DVD set instead. The Cooking School, titled "Texas Barbecue...from the GRAVE!", is a dish based on the "secret barbecue recipe" of JT Hague, Jeff Fahey's character in the film.[23] His new movie We Can Be Heroes was released on December 25, 2020, by Netflix and was a success.

Rodriguez is a strong supporter of digital filmmaking, having been introduced to the practice by director George Lucas, who personally invited Rodriguez to use the digital cameras at Lucas's headquarters.[24] He was presented with the Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking Award at the 2010 Austin Film Festival.

Predators

 
Rodriguez at the premiere of Grindhouse, Austin, Texas, 2007

On February 7, 2010, it was announced that Rodriguez would produce a new Predator sequel, entitled Predators. This film's script was based on early drafts he had written after seeing the original. Rodriguez's ideas included a planet-sized game preserve and various creatures used by the Predators to hunt a group of abducted yet skilled humans. Opening to mostly positive reviews, the film fared reasonably well at the box office.

Machete

Machete is a feature film directed by Rodriguez and released in September 2010. It is an expansion of a fake trailer Rodriguez directed for the 2007 film Grindhouse. It starred Danny Trejo as the title character. Trejo, Rodriguez's 2nd cousin, has worked with him in some of his other movies such as Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn, Once Upon a Time in Mexico and Spy Kids, where Trejo first appeared as Machete. Although originally announced to be released direct-to-DVD as an extra on the Planet Terror DVD, the film was produced as a theatrical release.[25]

According to Rodriguez, the origins of the film go back to Desperado. He says, "When I met Danny, I said, 'This guy should be like the Mexican Jean-Claude Van Damme or Charles Bronson, putting out a movie every year and his name should be Machete.' So I decided to do that way back when, never got around to it until finally now. So now, of course, I want to keep going and do a feature."[26] In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Rodriguez said that he wrote the screenplay back in 1993 when he cast Trejo in Desperado. "So I wrote him this idea of a federale from Mexico who gets hired to do hatchet jobs in the U.S. I had heard sometimes FBI or DEA have a really tough job that they don't want to get their own agents killed on, they'll hire an agent from Mexico to come do the job for $25,000. I thought, "That's Machete. He would come and do a really dangerous job for a lot of money to him but for everyone else over here it's peanuts." But I never got around to making it."[27]

Rodriguez hoped to film Machete at the same time as Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.[28] Additionally, during Comic-Con International 2008, he took the time to speak about Machete, including such topics as: status, possible sequels after the release of Machete, and production priorities.[29] It was also revealed that he has regularly pulled sequences from it for his other productions, including Once Upon a Time in Mexico. [Citation Needed] Machete was released in theaters September 3, 2010, in the U.S.A.

On May 5, 2010, Rodriguez responded to Arizona's controversial immigration law by releasing an "illegal" trailer on Ain't It Cool News.[30] The fake trailer combined elements of the Machete trailer that appeared in Grindhouse with footage from the actual film,[31] and implied that the film would be about Machete leading a revolt against anti-immigration politicians and border vigilantes.[31] Several movie websites, including Internet Movie Database, reported that it was the official teaser for the film.[31] However, Rodriguez later revealed the trailer to be a joke, explaining "it was Cinco de Mayo and I had too much tequila."[31]

Streaming series

In May 2020, Rodriguez confirmed he would direct an episode from the second season of the Disney+ series The Mandalorian, part of the Star Wars franchise. Rodriguez made the announcement in an Instagram post in which he posed with a puppet of Grogu, a major character in The Mandalorian's first two seasons.[32] He also tweeted a video of himself on the set of the episode playing a guitar next to Grogu.[33]

In December 2020, it was also revealed that Rodriguez executive produced The Book of Boba Fett, a spin-off of The Mandalorian released in December 2021,[34] where he also voiced Dokk Strassi[35] and Mok Shaiz.[36]

In August 2021, Rodriguez had signed a two-year first-look deal with HBO and HBO Max.[37]

Unrealized projects

 
Rodriguez in 2014

Since 1998, Rodriguez has owned the film rights to Mike Allred's off-beat comic Madman. The two have hinted at the project being close to beginning on several occasions without anything coming of it. However, other projects have been completed first. (Allred was instrumental in connecting Rodriguez with Frank Miller, leading to the production of Sin City.) In 2004, Allred, while promoting his comic book The Golden Plates, announced that a screenplay by George Huang was near completion. Allred announced at the 2006 WonderCon that production would likely commence on Madman the Movie in 2006. Huang is friends with Rodriguez, who advised him to pursue filmmaking as a career when Rodriguez landed a deal with Columbia Pictures where Huang was an employee.[citation needed]

In May 2007, it was announced that Rodriguez had signed on to direct a remake of Barbarella for a 2008 release.[38] At the 2007 Comic-Con convention, actress Rosario Dawson announced that because of Barbarella, production of Sin City: A Dame to Kill For would be put on hold. She also announced that she would be playing an amazon in the Barbarella film.[39] As of June 2008, plans to remake the film Barbarella with Rose McGowan as the lead have been delayed; the actress and director were instead remaking the film Red Sonja.[40]

In May 2008, Rodriguez was said to be shopping around a prison drama television series called Woman in Chains!, with Rose McGowan being a possibility for a lead role.[41] In May 2009, Rodriguez planned to produce a live-action remake of Fire and Ice, a 1983 film collaboration between painter Frank Frazetta and animator Ralph Bakshi. The deal was closed shortly after Frazetta's death.[31]

In 2011, Rodriguez announced at Comic-Con that he had purchased the film rights to Heavy Metal and planned to develop a new animated film at the new Quick Draw Studios.[42]

In November 2015, it was announced that Rodriguez directed the film 100 Years, which would not be released until 2115.[43]

In March 2017, it was announced that Rodriguez would direct a remake of the dystopian sci-fi action film Escape from New York, with original director John Carpenter producing.[44]

Appearances

Rodriguez has a chapter giving advice in Tim Ferriss's book Tools of Titans.

Personal life

Rodriguez announced in April 2006 that he and his wife Elizabeth Avellán, with whom he had five children with, had separated after 16 years of marriage.[45]

He reportedly had a "dalliance"[46] with actress Rose McGowan during the shooting of Grindhouse.[47] In October 2007, Elle Magazine revealed that Rodriguez had cast McGowan in the title role in his remake of Barbarella.[48] After some reports of their breaking up[49] and being together again,[50] they split up in October 2009.[51]

In October 2010, he walked Alexa Vega (Carmen Cortez in Spy Kids series) down the aisle at her wedding to producer Sean Covel.[52]

In March 2014, Rodriguez showed his collection of Frank Frazetta original paintings in Austin, Texas, during the SXSW festival.[53]

Style

 
Rodriguez in 2007

Rodriguez not only has the credits of producing, directing and writing his films, he also frequently serves as editor, director of photography, camera operator, steadicam operator, composer, production designer, visual effects supervisor, and sound editor on his films. This has earned him the nickname of "the one-man film crew". He abbreviates his numerous roles in his film credits; Once Upon a Time in Mexico, for instance, is "shot, chopped, and scored by Robert Rodriguez", and Sin City is "shot and cut by Robert Rodriguez".

He calls his style of making movies "Mariachi-style" (in reference to his first feature film El Mariachi) in which (according to the back cover of his book Rebel Without a Crew) "Creativity, not money, is used to solve problems." He prefers to work at night, spending his day-time hours with his kids, when they're home, and says that he believes many creative people are "night people".[54]

In his book The DV Rebel's Guide, Stu Maschwitz coined the term "Robert Rodriguez list", i.e. the filmmaker compiling a list of things they have access to like cool cars, apartments, horses, samurai swords and so on, and then writing the screenplay based on that list.[55]

Rodriguez wrote a blurb for the book that stated:

I'd been wanting to write a book for the new breed of digital filmmakers, but now I don't have to. My pal and fellow movie maker Stu Maschwitz has compressed years of experience into this thorough guide. Don't make a movie without reading this book![55]

Selected filmography

Directed features
Year Title Distributor
1992 El Mariachi Columbia Pictures
1995 Desperado Sony Pictures Releasing
1996 From Dusk till Dawn Miramax Films
1998 The Faculty
2001 Spy Kids Dimension Films
2002 Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams
2003 Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over
Once Upon a Time in Mexico Sony Pictures Releasing
2005 Sin City Dimension Films
The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl Dimension Films / Sony Pictures Releasing
2007 Planet Terror Dimension Films
2009 Shorts Warner Bros. Pictures
2010 Machete 20th Century Fox / Sony Pictures Releasing
2011 Spy Kids: All the Time in the World The Weinstein Company
2013 Machete Kills Open Road Films
2014 Sin City: A Dame to Kill For The Weinstein Company
2019 Alita: Battle Angel 20th Century Fox
Red 11 Double R Productions
2020 We Can Be Heroes Netflix
2023 Hypnotic Ketchup Entertainment
TBA Spy Kids: Armageddon Netflix

Music videos

Books

  • Rebel Without a Crew (subtitle: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker with $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player) 1995

Influences

Robert Rodriguez has brought a number of his favorite and most influential directors on his television show, The Directors Chair. Some of these directors included John Carpenter, Quentin Tarantino, and George Miller. He was also influenced by the spectacle of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers in his youth, which he later went on to produce the theatrical version of said television show, as reflected his action scenes and attempts to create "edge of the seat" thrill in his work.

Collaborations

Rodriguez has cast certain actors in more than one of his projects. Danny Trejo has appeared in ten of his projects, while Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, and Cheech Marin have all appeared in seven; Alexa PenaVega has appeared in six, and Jessica Alba, Daryl Sabara, Tom Savini, and Patricia Vonne have all appeared in five.[56]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Monitor". Entertainment Weekly. No. 1264. June 21, 2013. p. 26.
  2. ^ Booth Thomas, Cathy (August 13, 2005). . TIME. Archived from the original on September 8, 2005. Retrieved April 24, 2009.
  3. ^ The Deadline Team (November 15, 2013). "El Rey's 'From Dusk Till Dawn' Rounds Out Cast, by THE DEADLINE TEAM". Deadline. Retrieved November 16, 2014.
  4. ^ "Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez talk 'Grindhouse'". EW.com. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
  5. ^ "Robert Rodriguez Biography (1969?-)". Filmreference.com. Retrieved April 24, 2009.
  6. ^ Marvis, Barbara J. (1998). Robert Rodriguez. Mitchell Lane. p. 5. ISBN 1883845483.
  7. ^ "Robert Rodriguez Biography" Friday Moviez Entertainment Guaranteed
  8. ^ "King of Dreams". Texas Monthly. March 7, 2014. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  9. ^ "Bedhead (1991)". Brian's Robert Rodriguez Page (Geocities). Archived from the original on October 25, 2009. Retrieved August 16, 2007.
  10. ^ "Robert Rodriguez' El Mariachi – Filmmaker Magazine – Winter 1993". www.filmmakermagazine.com.
  11. ^ 1993 Sundance Film Festival sundance.org
  12. ^ Shone, Tom (November 25, 2009). "Paranormal Activity and the myth of the shoestring shocker". The Guardian. London. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
  13. ^ Robert Rodriguez (1995). Rebel Without a Crew. New York: Dutton Books, Plume. pp. 6–11. ISBN 9780452271876. OCLC 155845528. Retrieved June 13, 2012.
  14. ^ Strom, Heidi (September 1, 1995). "'Desperado' Burns Up Screen". Daily Press. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
  15. ^ McCarthy, Todd (May 25, 1995). "Review: 'Desperado'". Variety. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
  16. ^ The Deadline Team (November 15, 2013). "El Rey's 'From Dusk Till Dawn' Rounds Out Cast". Deadline. Retrieved November 16, 2014.
  17. ^ Goldstein, Patrick. "The Faculty". LA Times. Retrieved September 29, 2012.
  18. ^ "The Robert Rodriguez Archives". October 6, 2014.
  19. ^ Hughes, David (2008). The Greatest Science Fiction Movies Never Made. Titan Books. pp. 311–22. ISBN 978-1-84576-755-6.
  20. ^ McWeeny, Drew (March 2, 2004). "Holy Crap!! Rodriguez Just Can't Stop!! First SIN CITY, And Now ... PRINCESS OF MARS!!!". Ain't It Cool News. Retrieved December 26, 2011.
  21. ^ "Robert Rodriguez Is Walking Alexa Vega Down the Aisle". LATINA. Retrieved December 6, 2017.
  22. ^ "The Numbers: Where Data and the Movies Meet".
  23. ^ . /Film. Archived from the original on July 6, 2008. Retrieved October 9, 2007.
  24. ^ Once Upon a Time in Mexico DVD feature "Film is Dead".
  25. ^ Morris, Clint (May 14, 2007). . Moviehole. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved November 17, 2007.
  26. ^ Moro, Eric (March 11, 2007). "SXSW 07: Machete Movie Coming". IGN Film Force. Retrieved March 27, 2007.
  27. ^ Edwards, Gavin (April 2007). . Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved April 4, 2007.
  28. ^ Sciretta, Peter (March 26, 2007). "Rodriguez to film Machete Movie during Sin City 2". /film. Archived from the original on July 13, 2009. Retrieved May 9, 2008.
  29. ^ "COMIC CON 2008: Robert Rodriguez talks Machete". YouTube. July 24, 2008. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved April 24, 2009.
  30. ^ . dailyfinance.com. Archived from the original on May 16, 2010. Retrieved May 8, 2010.
  31. ^ a b c d e Knowles, Harry (May 19, 2010). "A family friendly Machete? What do you mean no race war? & A secret Frazetta project?? Exclusive Robert Rodriguez interview!!". Ain't It Cool News. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
  32. ^ Hibberd, James (May 4, 2020). "Robert Rodriguez to direct The Mandalorian season 2 episode". Entertainment Weekly. from the original on May 5, 2020. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  33. ^ Rodriguez, Robert (December 25, 2020). "Rodriguez's Grogu video".
  34. ^ "The Book of Boba Fett Announced as New Star Wars Series on Disney+". TV Shows. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  35. ^ Silverio, Ben F. (December 29, 2021). "The Book Of Boba Fett Premiere Features A Robert Rodriguez Cameo". /Film. from the original on December 30, 2021. Retrieved December 30, 2021.
  36. ^ Schaefer, Sandy (January 5, 2022). "The Book Of Boba Fett Episode 2 Features Yet Another Robert Rodriguez Cameo". /Film. from the original on January 5, 2022. Retrieved January 6, 2022.
  37. ^ Cordero, Rosy (August 12, 2021). "Robert Rodríguez Inks First-Look Deal With HBO Max & HBO". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 20, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  38. ^ . Hollywoodreporter.com. May 22, 2007. Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved April 24, 2009.
  39. ^ "G4 – The Feed – Dawson Talks 'Occult' on Comic-Con LIVE". G4tv.com. July 24, 2007. Retrieved April 24, 2009.
  40. ^ "Rodriguez and McGowan Team for Red Sonja – Superhero Hype!". Superhero Hype!. June 26, 2008. Retrieved April 24, 2009.
  41. ^ "shopping around Woman in Chains!". Collider.com. May 28, 2008. Retrieved April 24, 2009.
  42. ^ Film School Rejects (July 21, 2011). "SDCC: Robert Rodriguez Takes Heavy Metal". comingsoon.net. Retrieved November 26, 2011.
  43. ^ Bryant, Jacob (November 19, 2015). "John Malkovich and Robert Rodriguez Made a Movie That Won't Release Until 2115". Variety.
  44. ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (March 24, 2017). "Robert Rodriguez To Direct 'Escape From New York'".
  45. ^ "Daily Dish: Rodríguez Splits With Wife". SFGate. April 7, 2006. Retrieved April 24, 2009.
  46. ^ Wells, Jeffrey. . Hollywood Everywhere. Archived from the original on January 4, 2008.
  47. ^ "Weinsteins ready for 'Grindhouse' – Entertainment News, Anne Thompson, Media". Variety. March 30, 2007. Retrieved April 24, 2009.
  48. ^ . Fashion.elle.com. September 30, 2007. Archived from the original on August 13, 2010. Retrieved April 24, 2009.
  49. ^ . New York Post. Archived from the original on March 27, 2009.
  50. ^ Jordan, Julie (July 2, 2008). "Rep: Rose McGowan & Robert Rodriguez Projects Still on Track – Couples, Robert Rodriguez, Rose McGowan". People. Retrieved April 24, 2009.
  51. ^ . Straits Times. Archived from the original on March 3, 2010.
  52. ^ "Alexa Vega of Spy Kids Marries Producer". People. October 11, 2010.
  53. ^ Casey, Dan (March 6, 2014). "Exclusive: Robert Rodriguez Opening Museum of Frank Frazetta Art at SXSW". Nerdist. Retrieved December 24, 2015.
  54. ^ "Filmmaker Robert Rodriguez". NPR.org.
  55. ^ a b Maschwitz, Stu (2007). The DV rebel's guide : an all-digital approach to making killer action movies on the cheap. Berkeley, CA: Peachpit Press. p. back cover. ISBN 978-0321413642.
  56. ^ "Directors' Trademarks: Robert Rodriguez". Cinelinx. October 6, 2013. Retrieved August 7, 2021.

External links

  • Robert Rodriguez at IMDb

robert, rodriguez, other, people, named, disambiguation, robert, anthony, rodriguez, born, june, 1968, american, filmmaker, composer, visual, effects, supervisor, shoots, edits, produces, scores, many, films, mexico, home, state, texas, rodriguez, directed, 19. For other people named Robert Rodriguez see Robert Rodriguez disambiguation Robert Anthony Rodriguez r ɒ ˈ d r iː ɡ ɛ z born June 20 1968 1 2 is an American filmmaker composer and visual effects supervisor He shoots edits produces and scores many of his films in Mexico and in his home state of Texas Rodriguez directed the 1992 action film El Mariachi which was a commercial success after grossing 2 6 million 5 5 million in 2023 dollars against a budget of 7 000 14 937 in 2023 dollars The film spawned two sequels known collectively as the Mexico Trilogy Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico Robert RodriguezRodriguez in February 2019BornRobert Anthony Rodriguez 1968 06 20 June 20 1968 age 54 San Antonio Texas U S Alma materUniversity of Texas at AustinOccupationsFilm directorproducerscreenwritercinematographervisual effects supervisorcomposerfilm editorYears active1991 presentWorksFull listSpouseElizabeth Avellan m 1991 sep 2006 wbr Children5RelativesPatricia Vonne sister Danny Trejo second cousin WebsiteTroublemaker StudiosHe directed From Dusk till Dawn in 1996 and developed its television adaptation series 2014 2016 3 Rodriguez co directed the 2005 neo noir crime thriller anthology Sin City adapted from the graphic novel of the same name and the 2014 sequel Sin City A Dame to Kill For Rodriguez is also the creator of the Spy Kids franchise as well as The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl Planet Terror Machete We Can Be Heroes and also directed The Faculty and Alita Battle Angel He is a close friend and frequent collaborator of filmmaker Quentin Tarantino 4 who founded the production company A Band Apart of which Rodriguez was a member In December 2013 Rodriguez launched his own cable television channel El Rey Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2 1 Early career 2 2 Mainstream success 2 3 Predators 2 4 Machete 2 5 Streaming series 2 6 Unrealized projects 3 Appearances 4 Personal life 5 Style 6 Selected filmography 7 Music videos 8 Books 9 Influences 10 Collaborations 11 See also 12 References 13 External linksEarly life EditRodriguez was born in San Antonio Texas the son of Mexican parents Rebecca nee Villegas a nurse and Cecilio G Rodriguez a salesman 5 6 He began his interest in film at age eleven when his father bought one of the first VCRs which came with a camera 7 Robert Rodriguez right at the 1993 Atlanta Film Festival While attending St Anthony High School Seminary in San Antonio Rodriguez was commissioned to videotape the school s football games According to his sister he was fired soon afterward as he had shot footage in a cinematic style getting shots of parents reactions and the ball traveling through the air instead of shooting the whole play In high school he met Carlos Gallardo they both shot films on video throughout high school and college Rodriguez went to the College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin where he also developed a love of cartooning Not having grades high enough to be accepted into the school s film program he created a daily comic strip entitled Los Hooligans Many of the characters were based on his siblings in particular one of his sisters Maricarmen The comic ran for three years in the student newspaper The Daily Texan while Rodriguez continued to make short films 8 Rodriguez shot action and horror short films on video and edited on two VCRs In late 1990 his entry in a local film contest earned him a spot in the university s film program There he made the award winning 16 mm short Bedhead 1991 The film chronicles the amusing misadventures of a young girl whose older brother sports an incredibly tangled mess of hair which she detests Even at this early stage Rodriguez s trademark style began to emerge quick cuts intense zooms and fast camera movements deployed with a sense of humor Bedhead was recognized for excellence in the Black Maria Film Festival It was selected by Film Video Curator Sally Berger for the Black Maria 20th anniversary retrospective at MoMA in 2006 Career EditEarly career Edit The short film Bedhead attracted enough attention to encourage him to seriously attempt a career as a filmmaker 9 He went on to shoot the action flick El Mariachi 1992 in Spanish he shot it for around 7 000 with money raised by his friend Adrian Kano and from payments for his own participation in medical testing studies 10 Rodriguez won the Audience Award for this film at the Sundance Film Festival in 1993 11 Intended for the Spanish language low budget home video market the film was cleaned up by Columbia Pictures with post production work costing several hundred thousand dollars before it was distributed in the United States 12 Its promotion still advertised it as the movie made for 7 000 Rodriguez described his experiences making the film in his book Rebel Without a Crew 1995 13 Mainstream success Edit Rodriguez and Tarantino in 2007 Desperado was a sequel to El Mariachi that starred Antonio Banderas and introduced Salma Hayek to international audiences as her English language breakthrough role 14 15 Rodriguez went on to collaborate with Quentin Tarantino on the vampire thriller From Dusk till Dawn also both co producing its two sequels and he wrote directed and produced the TV series for his own cable network El Rey 16 Rodriguez has also worked with Kevin Williamson on the sci fi thriller film The Faculty 17 In 2001 Rodriguez enjoyed his first Hollywood hit with Spy Kids which went on to become a movie franchise A third mariachi film also appeared in late 2003 Once Upon a Time in Mexico which completed the Mexico Trilogy also called the Mariachi Trilogy He operates a production company called Troublemaker Studios formerly Los Hooligans Productions 18 Rodriguez co directed Sin City 2005 an adaptation of the comic books by Frank Miller Quentin Tarantino guest directed a scene During production in 2004 Rodriguez insisted Miller be credited as co director because he considered the visual style of Miller s comic art to be just as important as his own in the film However the Directors Guild of America would not allow it citing that only legitimate teams e g the Wachowskis could share the director s credit Rodriguez chose to resign from the DGA stating It was easier for me to quietly resign before shooting because otherwise I d be forced to make compromises I was unwilling to make or set a precedent that might hurt the guild later on By resigning from the DGA Rodriguez was forced to relinquish his director s seat on the film John Carter of Mars for Paramount Pictures Rodriguez had already signed on and had been announced as director of that film planning to begin filming soon after completing Sin City 19 20 Sin City was a critical hit in 2005 as well as a box office success particularly for a hyperviolent comic book adaptation that did not have name recognition comparable to the X Men or Spider Man He has an interest in adapting all of Miller s Sin City comic books 21 Rodriguez released The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 2005 a superhero kid movie intended for the same younger audiences as his Spy Kids series Sharkboy and Lavagirl was based on a story conceived by Rodriguez s 7 year old son Racer who was given credit for the screenplay The film grossed over 69 million worldwide at the box office 22 Rodriguez wrote and directed the film Planet Terror as part of the double bill release Grindhouse 2007 Quentin Tarantino directed Grindhouse s other film He has a series of Ten Minute Film School segments on several of his DVD releases showing aspiring filmmakers how to make good profitable movies using inexpensive tactics Starting with the Once Upon a Time in Mexico DVD Rodriguez began creating a series called Ten Minute Cooking School in which he revealed his recipe for Puerco Pibil based on Cochinita pibil an old dish from Yucatan the same food Johnny Depp s character Agent Sands ate in the film The popularity of this series led to the inclusion of another Cooking School on the two disc version of the Sin City DVD where Rodriguez teaches the viewer how to make Sin City Breakfast Tacos a dish made for his cast and crew during late night shoots and editing sessions utilizing his grandmother s tortilla recipe and different egg mixes for the filling He had initially planned to release a third Cooking School with the DVD release of Planet Terror but then announced on the Film School segment of the DVD that he would put it on the Grindhouse DVD set instead The Cooking School titled Texas Barbecue from the GRAVE is a dish based on the secret barbecue recipe of JT Hague Jeff Fahey s character in the film 23 His new movie We Can Be Heroes was released on December 25 2020 by Netflix and was a success Rodriguez is a strong supporter of digital filmmaking having been introduced to the practice by director George Lucas who personally invited Rodriguez to use the digital cameras at Lucas s headquarters 24 He was presented with the Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking Award at the 2010 Austin Film Festival Predators Edit Rodriguez at the premiere of Grindhouse Austin Texas 2007 Main article Predators film On February 7 2010 it was announced that Rodriguez would produce a new Predator sequel entitled Predators This film s script was based on early drafts he had written after seeing the original Rodriguez s ideas included a planet sized game preserve and various creatures used by the Predators to hunt a group of abducted yet skilled humans Opening to mostly positive reviews the film fared reasonably well at the box office Machete Edit Main article Machete 2010 film Machete is a feature film directed by Rodriguez and released in September 2010 It is an expansion of a fake trailer Rodriguez directed for the 2007 film Grindhouse It starred Danny Trejo as the title character Trejo Rodriguez s 2nd cousin has worked with him in some of his other movies such as Desperado From Dusk Till Dawn Once Upon a Time in Mexico and Spy Kids where Trejo first appeared as Machete Although originally announced to be released direct to DVD as an extra on the Planet Terror DVD the film was produced as a theatrical release 25 According to Rodriguez the origins of the film go back to Desperado He says When I met Danny I said This guy should be like the Mexican Jean Claude Van Damme or Charles Bronson putting out a movie every year and his name should be Machete So I decided to do that way back when never got around to it until finally now So now of course I want to keep going and do a feature 26 In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine Rodriguez said that he wrote the screenplay back in 1993 when he cast Trejo in Desperado So I wrote him this idea of a federale from Mexico who gets hired to do hatchet jobs in the U S I had heard sometimes FBI or DEA have a really tough job that they don t want to get their own agents killed on they ll hire an agent from Mexico to come do the job for 25 000 I thought That s Machete He would come and do a really dangerous job for a lot of money to him but for everyone else over here it s peanuts But I never got around to making it 27 Rodriguez hoped to film Machete at the same time as Sin City A Dame to Kill For 28 Additionally during Comic Con International 2008 he took the time to speak about Machete including such topics as status possible sequels after the release of Machete and production priorities 29 It was also revealed that he has regularly pulled sequences from it for his other productions including Once Upon a Time in Mexico Citation Needed Machete was released in theaters September 3 2010 in the U S A On May 5 2010 Rodriguez responded to Arizona s controversial immigration law by releasing an illegal trailer on Ain t It Cool News 30 The fake trailer combined elements of the Machete trailer that appeared in Grindhouse with footage from the actual film 31 and implied that the film would be about Machete leading a revolt against anti immigration politicians and border vigilantes 31 Several movie websites including Internet Movie Database reported that it was the official teaser for the film 31 However Rodriguez later revealed the trailer to be a joke explaining it was Cinco de Mayo and I had too much tequila 31 Streaming series Edit In May 2020 Rodriguez confirmed he would direct an episode from the second season of the Disney series The Mandalorian part of the Star Wars franchise Rodriguez made the announcement in an Instagram post in which he posed with a puppet of Grogu a major character in The Mandalorian s first two seasons 32 He also tweeted a video of himself on the set of the episode playing a guitar next to Grogu 33 In December 2020 it was also revealed that Rodriguez executive produced The Book of Boba Fett a spin off of The Mandalorian released in December 2021 34 where he also voiced Dokk Strassi 35 and Mok Shaiz 36 In August 2021 Rodriguez had signed a two year first look deal with HBO and HBO Max 37 Unrealized projects Edit Main article Robert Rodriguez s unrealized projects Rodriguez in 2014 Since 1998 Rodriguez has owned the film rights to Mike Allred s off beat comic Madman The two have hinted at the project being close to beginning on several occasions without anything coming of it However other projects have been completed first Allred was instrumental in connecting Rodriguez with Frank Miller leading to the production of Sin City In 2004 Allred while promoting his comic book The Golden Plates announced that a screenplay by George Huang was near completion Allred announced at the 2006 WonderCon that production would likely commence on Madman the Movie in 2006 Huang is friends with Rodriguez who advised him to pursue filmmaking as a career when Rodriguez landed a deal with Columbia Pictures where Huang was an employee citation needed In May 2007 it was announced that Rodriguez had signed on to direct a remake of Barbarella for a 2008 release 38 At the 2007 Comic Con convention actress Rosario Dawson announced that because of Barbarella production of Sin City A Dame to Kill For would be put on hold She also announced that she would be playing an amazon in the Barbarella film 39 As of June 2008 plans to remake the film Barbarella with Rose McGowan as the lead have been delayed the actress and director were instead remaking the film Red Sonja 40 In May 2008 Rodriguez was said to be shopping around a prison drama television series called Woman in Chains with Rose McGowan being a possibility for a lead role 41 In May 2009 Rodriguez planned to produce a live action remake of Fire and Ice a 1983 film collaboration between painter Frank Frazetta and animator Ralph Bakshi The deal was closed shortly after Frazetta s death 31 In 2011 Rodriguez announced at Comic Con that he had purchased the film rights to Heavy Metal and planned to develop a new animated film at the new Quick Draw Studios 42 In November 2015 it was announced that Rodriguez directed the film 100 Years which would not be released until 2115 43 In March 2017 it was announced that Rodriguez would direct a remake of the dystopian sci fi action film Escape from New York with original director John Carpenter producing 44 Appearances EditRodriguez has a chapter giving advice in Tim Ferriss s book Tools of Titans Personal life EditRodriguez announced in April 2006 that he and his wife Elizabeth Avellan with whom he had five children with had separated after 16 years of marriage 45 He reportedly had a dalliance 46 with actress Rose McGowan during the shooting of Grindhouse 47 In October 2007 Elle Magazine revealed that Rodriguez had cast McGowan in the title role in his remake of Barbarella 48 After some reports of their breaking up 49 and being together again 50 they split up in October 2009 51 In October 2010 he walked Alexa Vega Carmen Cortez in Spy Kids series down the aisle at her wedding to producer Sean Covel 52 In March 2014 Rodriguez showed his collection of Frank Frazetta original paintings in Austin Texas during the SXSW festival 53 Style Edit Rodriguez in 2007 Rodriguez not only has the credits of producing directing and writing his films he also frequently serves as editor director of photography camera operator steadicam operator composer production designer visual effects supervisor and sound editor on his films This has earned him the nickname of the one man film crew He abbreviates his numerous roles in his film credits Once Upon a Time in Mexico for instance is shot chopped and scored by Robert Rodriguez and Sin City is shot and cut by Robert Rodriguez He calls his style of making movies Mariachi style in reference to his first feature film El Mariachi in which according to the back cover of his book Rebel Without a Crew Creativity not money is used to solve problems He prefers to work at night spending his day time hours with his kids when they re home and says that he believes many creative people are night people 54 In his book The DV Rebel s Guide Stu Maschwitz coined the term Robert Rodriguez list i e the filmmaker compiling a list of things they have access to like cool cars apartments horses samurai swords and so on and then writing the screenplay based on that list 55 Rodriguez wrote a blurb for the book that stated I d been wanting to write a book for the new breed of digital filmmakers but now I don t have to My pal and fellow movie maker Stu Maschwitz has compressed years of experience into this thorough guide Don t make a movie without reading this book 55 Selected filmography EditMain article Robert Rodriguez filmography Directed features Year Title Distributor1992 El Mariachi Columbia Pictures1995 Desperado Sony Pictures Releasing1996 From Dusk till Dawn Miramax Films1998 The Faculty2001 Spy Kids Dimension Films2002 Spy Kids 2 The Island of Lost Dreams2003 Spy Kids 3 D Game OverOnce Upon a Time in Mexico Sony Pictures Releasing2005 Sin City Dimension FilmsThe Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl Dimension Films Sony Pictures Releasing2007 Planet Terror Dimension Films2009 Shorts Warner Bros Pictures2010 Machete 20th Century Fox Sony Pictures Releasing2011 Spy Kids All the Time in the World The Weinstein Company2013 Machete Kills Open Road Films2014 Sin City A Dame to Kill For The Weinstein Company2019 Alita Battle Angel 20th Century FoxRed 11 Double R Productions2020 We Can Be Heroes Netflix2023 Hypnotic Ketchup EntertainmentTBA Spy Kids Armageddon NetflixMusic videos Edit 40 Dogs like Romeo and Juliet Bob Schneider 2010 Confident Demi Lovato 2015 Rain on Me Lady Gaga amp Ariana Grande 2020 Off the Ground Haley Reinhart 2021 Books EditRebel Without a Crew subtitle Or How a 23 Year Old Filmmaker with 7 000 Became a Hollywood Player 1995Influences EditRobert Rodriguez has brought a number of his favorite and most influential directors on his television show The Directors Chair Some of these directors included John Carpenter Quentin Tarantino and George Miller He was also influenced by the spectacle of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers in his youth which he later went on to produce the theatrical version of said television show as reflected his action scenes and attempts to create edge of the seat thrill in his work Collaborations EditRodriguez has cast certain actors in more than one of his projects Danny Trejo has appeared in ten of his projects while Antonio Banderas Salma Hayek and Cheech Marin have all appeared in seven Alexa PenaVega has appeared in six and Jessica Alba Daryl Sabara Tom Savini and Patricia Vonne have all appeared in five 56 See also EditChingon El Rey Network Dogme 95 Robert Rodriguez s unrealized projectsReferences Edit Monitor Entertainment Weekly No 1264 June 21 2013 p 26 Booth Thomas Cathy August 13 2005 Robert Rodriguez TIME TIME Archived from the original on September 8 2005 Retrieved April 24 2009 The Deadline Team November 15 2013 El Rey s From Dusk Till Dawn Rounds Out Cast by THE DEADLINE TEAM Deadline Retrieved November 16 2014 Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez talk Grindhouse EW com Retrieved July 20 2021 Robert Rodriguez Biography 1969 Filmreference com Retrieved April 24 2009 Marvis Barbara J 1998 Robert Rodriguez Mitchell Lane p 5 ISBN 1883845483 Robert Rodriguez Biography Friday Moviez Entertainment Guaranteed King of Dreams Texas Monthly March 7 2014 Retrieved December 1 2020 Bedhead 1991 Brian s Robert Rodriguez Page Geocities Archived from the original on October 25 2009 Retrieved August 16 2007 Robert Rodriguez El Mariachi Filmmaker Magazine Winter 1993 www filmmakermagazine com 1993 Sundance Film Festival sundance org Shone Tom November 25 2009 Paranormal Activity and the myth of the shoestring shocker The Guardian London Retrieved May 1 2010 Robert Rodriguez 1995 Rebel Without a Crew New York Dutton Books Plume pp 6 11 ISBN 9780452271876 OCLC 155845528 Retrieved June 13 2012 Strom Heidi September 1 1995 Desperado Burns Up Screen Daily Press Retrieved February 4 2015 McCarthy Todd May 25 1995 Review Desperado Variety Retrieved February 4 2015 The Deadline Team November 15 2013 El Rey s From Dusk Till Dawn Rounds Out Cast Deadline Retrieved November 16 2014 Goldstein Patrick The Faculty LA Times Retrieved September 29 2012 The Robert Rodriguez Archives October 6 2014 Hughes David 2008 The Greatest Science Fiction Movies Never Made Titan Books pp 311 22 ISBN 978 1 84576 755 6 McWeeny Drew March 2 2004 Holy Crap Rodriguez Just Can t Stop First SIN CITY And Now PRINCESS OF MARS Ain t It Cool News Retrieved December 26 2011 Robert Rodriguez Is Walking Alexa Vega Down the Aisle LATINA Retrieved December 6 2017 The Numbers Where Data and the Movies Meet Grindhouse DVD Details Revealed Film Archived from the original on July 6 2008 Retrieved October 9 2007 Once Upon a Time in Mexico DVD feature Film is Dead Morris Clint May 14 2007 Machete movie greenlit Moviehole Archived from the original on October 11 2007 Retrieved November 17 2007 Moro Eric March 11 2007 SXSW 07 Machete Movie Coming IGN Film Force Retrieved March 27 2007 Edwards Gavin April 2007 Horror Film Directors Dish About Grindhouse Trailers Rolling Stone Archived from the original on September 30 2007 Retrieved April 4 2007 Sciretta Peter March 26 2007 Rodriguez to film Machete Movie during Sin City 2 film Archived from the original on July 13 2009 Retrieved May 9 2008 COMIC CON 2008 Robert Rodriguez talks Machete YouTube July 24 2008 Archived from the original on October 30 2021 Retrieved April 24 2009 Machete Movie Trailer Takes a Smart Slash at Arizona Immigration Law dailyfinance com Archived from the original on May 16 2010 Retrieved May 8 2010 a b c d e Knowles Harry May 19 2010 A family friendly Machete What do you mean no race war amp A secret Frazetta project Exclusive Robert Rodriguez interview Ain t It Cool News Retrieved May 20 2010 Hibberd James May 4 2020 Robert Rodriguez to direct The Mandalorian season 2 episode Entertainment Weekly Archived from the original on May 5 2020 Retrieved May 4 2020 Rodriguez Robert December 25 2020 Rodriguez s Grogu video The Book of Boba Fett Announced as New Star Wars Series on Disney TV Shows Retrieved December 21 2020 Silverio Ben F December 29 2021 The Book Of Boba Fett Premiere Features A Robert Rodriguez Cameo Film Archived from the original on December 30 2021 Retrieved December 30 2021 Schaefer Sandy January 5 2022 The Book Of Boba Fett Episode 2 Features Yet Another Robert Rodriguez Cameo Film Archived from the original on January 5 2022 Retrieved January 6 2022 Cordero Rosy August 12 2021 Robert Rodriguez Inks First Look Deal With HBO Max amp HBO Deadline Hollywood Retrieved December 20 2021 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link Rodriguez to direct Barbarella Hollywoodreporter com May 22 2007 Archived from the original on October 11 2007 Retrieved April 24 2009 G4 The Feed Dawson Talks Occult on Comic Con LIVE G4tv com July 24 2007 Retrieved April 24 2009 Rodriguez and McGowan Team for Red Sonja Superhero Hype Superhero Hype June 26 2008 Retrieved April 24 2009 shopping around Woman in Chains Collider com May 28 2008 Retrieved April 24 2009 Film School Rejects July 21 2011 SDCC Robert Rodriguez Takes Heavy Metal comingsoon net Retrieved November 26 2011 Bryant Jacob November 19 2015 John Malkovich and Robert Rodriguez Made a Movie That Won t Release Until 2115 Variety Fleming Mike Jr March 24 2017 Robert Rodriguez To Direct Escape From New York Daily Dish Rodriguez Splits With Wife SFGate April 7 2006 Retrieved April 24 2009 Wells Jeffrey Hollywood Elsewhere Hollywood Everywhere Archived from the original on January 4 2008 Weinsteins ready for Grindhouse Entertainment News Anne Thompson Media Variety March 30 2007 Retrieved April 24 2009 Elle Tell All September 30 2007 Fashion elle com September 30 2007 Archived from the original on August 13 2010 Retrieved April 24 2009 Rose McGowan Dumps Robert Rodriguez New York Post Archived from the original on March 27 2009 Jordan Julie July 2 2008 Rep Rose McGowan amp Robert Rodriguez Projects Still on Track Couples Robert Rodriguez Rose McGowan People Retrieved April 24 2009 Rose McGowan is single again Straits Times Archived from the original on March 3 2010 Alexa Vega of Spy Kids Marries Producer People October 11 2010 Casey Dan March 6 2014 Exclusive Robert Rodriguez Opening Museum of Frank Frazetta Art at SXSW Nerdist Retrieved December 24 2015 Filmmaker Robert Rodriguez NPR org a b Maschwitz Stu 2007 The DV rebel s guide an all digital approach to making killer action movies on the cheap Berkeley CA Peachpit Press p back cover ISBN 978 0321413642 Directors Trademarks Robert Rodriguez Cinelinx October 6 2013 Retrieved August 7 2021 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Robert Rodriguez Robert Rodriguez at IMDb Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Robert Rodriguez amp oldid 1149424299, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.