Robert Rodriguez
Robert Rodriguez makes movies that are exciting, proud of his Mexican heritage, and have plenty of shocking visuals. Desperado (1995) was the first movie I saw of Robert’s and it instantly made me a big fan of his, Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Danny Trejo, and the director’s style of action, humor, and editing. Many of his films have guns on the poster which obviously hints at the gunslinging about to take place, especially by Antonio who was perfectly cast as the hitman with a heart. Rodriguez wrote and directed this film which was a part 2 in a trilogy. Part 1 was El Mariachi (1992, which cost $7,000 to make but earned over $2 million at the box office) and part 3 was Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003 also starring Johnny Depp). With great respect to the source material (content and framing), Robert co-directed the 2 Sin City movies (2005-2014) with Frank Miller who wrote the graphic novels the films were based on (I highly recommend flipping through the pages while watching the film). In both films, every actor gets their moment to shine, and most steal the scene they are in. The actors deserve their credit but at the helm of these and many more stylish, action, adventure films is Robert Rodriguez.
Robert was born in San Antonio, Texas, started using a video camera at age 11, and was accepted into the University of Texas at Austin’s film program after making a short film on 16mm (Bedhead, 1991). He has often collaborated with writer/director Quentin Tarantino including a segment in Four Rooms (1995 with Antonio Banderas), From Dusk Till Dawn (1996 starring George Clooney), Sin City (2005 with Benicio Del Toro), Grindhouse (2007, Robert directed Planet Terror, Quentin directed Death Proof), and 2 episodes of The Director’s Chair (2014, Robert interviewed Quentin). Rodriguez balances the violent films with plenty of kid friendly films including 4 Spy Kids movies (2001-2011), Shorts (2009), and The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D (2005). The book he wrote about his experience making El Mariachi is Rebel Without a Crew, which is fitting since he has also edited most of the films he wrote and directed. These include The Faculty (1998), both Machete films (2010-2013 starring Danny Trejo, a third movie is in the works), and 100 Years which was written by and starring John Malkovich (to be released in the year 2115, please note that is not a typo). Most recently, Robert directed 7 episodes of From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series (2014-2016), and is working on directing the upcoming films Alita: Battle Angel (2018 action adventure), Ugly Dolls (2019 centered on the plush toys of the same name), and Jonny Quest (based on the animated series of the same name, originally made 1964-65).
Thank you and Happy Birthday Robert!
Links
IMDB