Robert Rodriguez Talks Machete, Spy Kids 4, and Deadpool
Posted 08.31.10 by Ryan
Most are likely familiar with the genesis of
Machete, but for those who've missed it, the movie began as a faux-trailer for the 2007 double feature Grindhouse, and posited Danny Trejo as a double-crossed former Mexican Federale bent on revenge. Turned into a feature length movie by Robert Rodriguez and co-director Ethan Maniquis, Machete opens September 3 with an impressive ensemble cast which includes Robert DeNiro, Steven Seagal, Jeff Fahey, Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Don Johnson, and
Lindsay Lohan. Rodriguez told Latino Review that DeNiro's involvement helped bring the rest of the cast.
The script had a lot of characters in it. I first went out to Robert De Niro, and thought, "Let’s just start with the top and when he says 'no' we’ll just go down the list." But he said "yes," and once you had Danny and De Niro in a movie together it becomes a pretty interesting project for people and was able to draw other actors pretty easily after that. It also helped to have the trailer 'cause I could show the actors the trailer and they got a better sense of what the movie was gonna be like, the style and the humor involved. It got them excited about it.
Rodriguez credits Maniquis as the one who championed the project, and inspired it to evolve from a trailer to a feature-length project.
He’s been my editor for a long time. He’s been with me since Desperado. He was the one who was really cheer-leading
to get the movie done. He was saying, "People love Machete, you’ve gotta get it done!" I was busy with other projects and he was the one that really kept it alive. He’d come up with ideas, try to come up with a script version of it. He’s the one who made me go make it, more than anybody!
Up next for Rodriguez is Spy Kids 4, which was described as a "reboot" of the franchise. Rodriguez says the movie will feature "all new kids" coupled with ideas he's held onto since the first Spy Kids.
There’s a lot of stuff, even from the original script. That happens when you have a new idea, like with Machete there were a lot of ideas I didn’t put in that would be good in the sequel. With Spy Kids I had a lot of ideas, and a lot of those ideas that didn’t make into the first movie made it into the second, but there’s still a bunch of ideas that didn’t make it into the first film that I still had that I was able to make a brand-new movie out of with new kids.
Rodriguez added that he "can't say too much about the casting but there's some good surprises in it." The director said he plans to "start shooting Spy Kids in a couple weeks" which is keeping him too busy to commit to the Deadpool he's been linked to.
I’m not sure, they gave me an early draft of the script to read and I liked it a lot but I’m kinda busy on Spy Kids right now. I’m not able to commit to it right now.