Screenwriter Alvaro Rodriguez discusses his bloody action thriller Machete, as well as his early collaborations with El Mariachi filmmaker Robert Rodriguez and writing the current TV series From Dusk Till Dawn, which is based on Rodriguez’s 1996 action film of the same name.
Alvaro talks about how Machete came together as a standalone movie after beginning as a fake trailer for the two-part feature Grindhouse, which was written by Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez.
“So Machete was one of the trailers that played in there. And it was a concept that had gone all the way back to the time of Desperado, when Robert first met Danny Trejo.”
He reveals that Robert brought up the idea that he wanted to make a film making Trejo as the star. “Even though the movie Grindhouse didn’t do that well theatrically, the trailer itself became a sensation on YouTube, and it went viral, and the comments were like, “I wanna see that movie.”
“It started out as a small project, and then it just started to grow and grow,” Alvaro said, adding that the original idea was to have Trejo star in Machete with a group of lesser-known actors. “And then it was like, I think we can get Don Johnson for this part,” he said, while discussing the star-studded cast that included Robert DeNiro, Jessica Alba, Steven Seagal, Michelle Rodriguez, Cheech Marin, Linday Lohan and more.
“It was a really great cast, and of course, Danny Trejo who – talk about being soft-spoken or how do you do this-and-that – and if you ever spend time with Danny Trejo, he is a very soft-spoken, and very sweet and gentle man.”
Watch the full episode to also hear Alvaro talk about his early collaborations with El Mariachi filmmaker Robert Rodriguez and writing the current TV series From Dusk Till Dawn, which is based on Rodriguez’s 1996 action film of the same name.
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