Video:Robert Rodriguez Machete Interview

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Transcript:Robert Rodriguez Machete Interview

Rebecca Murray from About.com Hollywood Movies at the 2010 San Diego Comic Con.

Robert Rodriguez - Machete

So at what point when you were making the trailer did you realize it was going to be a feature film?

Robert Rodriguez: "I didn't - or I would have shot more footage while we were there at the locations. It was great to make the trailer. It was done as a camera test. We went and we shot just the money shots for each moment that goes in the trailer. It wasn't until there was such a big fan response, people would then see the trailer online, they would see it on the DVDs of the other movie that it was on, and they would come up to me. Usually fans would come up and say, 'When are you going to make Sin City 2?' but more than that they would say, 'When are you going to make Machete?' because they had seen the trailer and they just felt like it had already been made. 'When is that movie coming out?' 'Did you make that movie or are you going to make that movie?' And they would ask so consistently that I finally had to make."

Is this going to be the new trend? You make a trailer and then you come up with a feature film?

Robert Rodriguez: "I think it's a good one, but it was only because that particular movie had fake trailers in it that it kind of made sense."

Why do they keep killing off Danny Trejo in every movie he's in?

Robert Rodriguez: "I don't kill him off in Machete. Well, because he plays a great villain a lot of times and they have to kill the villain. Or even when he's not the villain, they don't know what else to do with him. If he stays in the movie too long he ends up being the hero, so you've got to get rid of him."

The action in this...I'm sure no studio ever tells you to hold back. You can do pretty much everything you want to do.

Robert Rodriguez: "For a movie like this you kind of have to go as far as you possibly can, because that's what the audience really expects. They want to be thrilled. They want to see things that they haven't seen before. Just the whole notion of a Mexican superhero, which has never been done before in America cinema, already they responded to that as being something new - a Mexploitation film. They just wanted more so we definitely deliver on that. It's really more clever than anything else."

How did you get Robert De Niro and the others to come in for smaller roles?

Robert Rodriguez: "They're in there for a good while - I just shoot very fast. They're in there just about as much as they are in another movie. That's the enticing thing is, 'Look, I'm also an editor so I'll make sure you're not there for very long. You're not going to shoot for five months when we could have gotten it in one week.' So they're like, 'Okay.' They liked the part, and also they've all worked with Danny. A lot of people that are in this movie with Danny, they've worked with him in other movies. Segal killed him twice in other movies. De Niro put a bullet in his head in Heat. Figured they'd return the favor. They really genuinely enjoyed seeing Danny in his own movie and wanted to support him."

Is everything that we saw in the trailer actually going to be in the feature film?

Robert Rodriguez: "Yeah, that's the fun part is if you know the trailer really well, you'll be looking for the moment when it gets up to the trailer shot and then goes back into the regular movie. I had to figure out real clever ways to incorporate it all. I had to work backwards, basically."

Do we hear his backstory in the feature film? Do we learn more about him?

Robert Rodriguez: "Yes."

Who is he?

Robert Rodriguez: "You'll see. I'll tell you he always was one of the top Mexican federale agents that was incorruptible which makes you a target because the drug cartel's taken over so much that if you're not corruptible, you get killed, your family gets killed. Everyone you ever know gets killed. He's incorruptible and gets driven out of Mexico, hides in the US as a day labor worker, and finds corruption here too - just as much. It's all about corruption on both sides of the border and how it's intertwined, and that he just has to continue to be a cop no matter."

You have so many projects in your head how do you figure out which one is next?

Robert Rodriguez: "It's the one that kind of speaks to you most, that you just feel like, 'This is the one that feels ready and it's really pulling me towards it.' It's kind of why you have a lot of projects going because you never know whether the industry shifts or whether an actor's no longer available or whatever else could possibly happen, you have something else to jump onto. So you kind of have to have multiple projects in development." More on Machete:

Machete Interviews, Trailer and News