This past week, ComingSoon.net got the chance to visit the set of Robert Rodriguez’s Predators in Austin, Texas, and while the details of our trip to Troublemaker Studios are under wraps for another few months, the cast and crew did speak to us about some of their other upcoming projects.
Danny Trejo, who plays Cuchillo in “Predators” spoke a little about Machete:
Trejo: Robert (Rodriguez) had been training me… that sounds really silly… for “Machete” since we did “Desperado.” And everybody thinks that “Machete” came out of a trailer, but it didn’t. Robert told me he wanted to do this movie called “Machete” when we were doing “Desperado” and that if you look at the character in Machete, he kind of molded this character Machete… ‘Machete’ kicks a**. (laughs) It is a culmination of “Desperado,” “Once Upon a Time in Mexico”… I think there’s even a little bit of “From Dusk Till Dawn” in there. I think it’s going to be one of his best. I’m not just saying that ’cause I’m the lead in it, but it’s just a great movie. I think everybody’s going to walk away from that movie with some opinion. It’s a battle for our border. And people are really serious about what’s going on on the border. And it shows the negative side of both sides, not just, “We want everybody to cross” or “We don’t want anybody to cross.” It shows the negative side of both sides. So everybody’s going to be pissed off.
Trejo mentioned that the look of the film will be similar to the 1960s look from the Grindhouse trailer, scratch lines and all. He also spoke about the amazing cast:
Trejo: You know, when I first saw Robert De Niro on the set, he came up and his first words to me were, “Don’t leave me like this, Holmes.” That was my line in “Heat.” And I kind of laughed and he said, “Man, Danny, I’m really proud of you. You’re the lead! This is it. This is you!” And I looked him right in the eye and I said, “Can I get you some coffee, Mr. De Niro?” (laughs) I couldn’t believe that Robert (Rodriguez) got De Niro. And then Jessica Alba and Lindsey Lohan and Michelle Rodriguez, Jeff Fahey, Steven Seagal and Cheech Marin. It just goes on and on. It was really hard not just giggling. But it was amazing and that cast was amazing.
Trejo was asked if this was a one-off or if there would be sequels: “We want ‘Machete,’ ‘Machete Kills,’ and ‘Machete Kills Again.’ (laughs) That’s mine and Robert’s standard joke. Every time I text him, he’ll text me back, ‘Machete 2, coming up!'”
To that sequel list, Rodriguez also added Machete in Outer Space!. The director also sat down with us and spoke about Machete as well as some of his other projects. He was asked how it turned out:
Rodriguez: Still turning it out! (laughs) They’re editing right now. I’m writing some score. But it’s going really terrific. It looks really great. You should see the posters. They’re dope. They’re in my office.
Q: Some of us might have seen them at AFM. Are those going to be the posters that get released?
Rodriguez: No, that was just for AFM. But they look good enough to be released. I like them. I like the color palettes and I like how the characters look. They might just grow on us so much we keep all of them. I think they’re really awesome.
Q: When do you think the public will see a trailer?
Rodriguez: I’m not sure when we’re putting that out since it was independently done.
The director was also asked about the status of Sin City 2:
Q: Do you have a timetable for “Sin City 2”?
Rodriguez: Yeah, we still talk about doing that as early as later next year. I haven’t gotten to that yet.
Q: What are the chances of it actually happening?
Rodriguez: I can’t say no, because I don’t know it’s no. I know Frank wants to do it. I know I want to do it. It’s always sort of a ‘time permitting’ kind of thing. But it’s not like I can tell you definitely we’re starting . It’s not my next picture, I know that. It doesn’t mean that it’s not the picture right after ’cause that’s still a possibility.
Q: Is there a script that’s actually in existence that you’re happy with?
Rodriguez: There has been a script since 2007.
Q: But is it a script you’re happy with?
Rodriguez: Well, it’s one Frank wrote and we have to look at it now and go, “Is this really the one?” I think it’s built up so much that, like, are we really going to satisfy everybody with what we have or should we add to it? It’s the thing we had always talked about doing, but now two years later we’d probably make some adjustments. Nothing that would take a long time. We could already start and in pre-production fix anything we wanted to.
Q: There was a rumor that it was going to be an original story. Is there any truth to that or is it going to be based on the comics?
Rodriguez: For that script it was pre-existing with some original stuff added to kind of catch us up to the character.
Q: Have you already thought about the next project you’ll be doing?
Rodriguez: I know I owe the Weinsteins another movie and I’ve already turned in the script for “Spy Kids”… another “Spy Kids” which is a reboot of “Spy Kids.” It’s different kids, not the old kids. That one’s really cool. I’ll probably do that in the early part of next year. March or April. And then I do have something for later in the year. I can’t say what that one is.
Rodriguez was asked what draws directors away from R rated fare like “Predators” to do movies for their kids:
Rodriguez: What I like about this “Spy Kids” is it reminds me of the first one where it’s not so much just the kids. In fact it leans more towards the parents because as you become a parent you get a lot of ideas on where you can put some of these… you couldn’t really put some of this stuff in an R-rated movie that you want to put in a film. So this one I really like a lot and the story in it is good. And that name is just such a popular name with kids. That’s your most loyal audience. No matter how many people have seen “Desperado” and “From Dusk Till Dawn,” kids stop me more and their parents say how many times their kids have seen the “Spy Kids” films and how much that still goes on. So the Weinsteins wanted to do another one and I had an idea for one. I even went back and pilfered my old original first script and found some ideas that I couldn’t bring to life back then. I was like, “Wow! These are good ideas.” They get to finally come back up. But they aren’t necessarily done for my kids. I did the first “Spy Kids” before I had kids, or wrote it. It was mainly my experience as a kid growing up in a family of ten kids and that’s where a lot of that comes from.”
Rodriguez also later mentioned that Spy Kids 4 will be in 3D format. It will not be in the red and green format like Spy Kids 3D, but in the new polarized format like Avatar. He was asked about another comic property he’s been linked to.
Q: You’re involved with “Madman”?
Rodriguez: Yeah, I still have that. It’s at Weinstein. They still have that for me to produce. So after doing this I have some ideas on how to bring that to life. But that would be good to do.
We were also able to chat with Topher Grace who plays the mysterious character named Edwin in “Predators.” With talk of a new script for a Venom movie, has he been approached about being in the film?
Grace: I don’t know. I haven’t heard anything.
Q: There’s been no talk?
Grace: No. I don’t think so.
He was asked about the wide variety of projects that he’s been involved with:
Grace: I just did “Valentine’s Day.” Ashton (Kutcher)’s in that. That was with Annie Hathaway. I’m with Annie and Queen Latifah. Here (“Predators”) I’m with Adrian Brody and Laurence Fishburne. They couldn’t be more opposite and yet they’re all interesting. If you want to get a good meal, you’ve got to get some from this food group, some from this food group and you hope to have that kind of career where you can do a little bit of each. I certainly loved working with Gary Marshall, but there were no jumping off of waterfalls in that film.
Robert Rodriguez’s Predators is scheduled for a July 7, 2010 release. Be sure to check back soon for the full set report later!
