Robert Rodriguez always seems to be working on something. When he’s not directing, he’s producing and when he’s not doing either of those, he’s talking to someone about the stuff he’s going to do (and unlike his buddy Quentin Tarantino, his talk-to-action ratio is much higher). IESB sat down with the director and managed to get a fair bit of information from the Troblemaker Studios honcho about what’s on his plate for 2010.
“Untitled Spy Kids Reboot” – To be honest, this writer, who is at least a good two decades older than the intended audience, hasn’t seen a single one of the “Spy Kids” films to date. But they make money, which makes the Weinsteins happy, and in March or April, Rodriguez is set to helm another “Spy Kids” film. Since the last film was seven years ago, they are wisely rebooting the franchise for a new generation of kids.
“Untitled Secret Fall 2010 Project” – After shooting the next “Spy Kids” film, Rodriguez says, “I do have something for later in the year, I can’t say what that one is though.” It appears to be all lined up but Rodriguez is keeping mum on the project until it’s officially announced by the studio but this is pretty big news. With “Red Sonja” dead in the water and the “Sin City” sequels looking more and more unlikely, or at least far off (see below), what could Rodriguez have up his sleeve? Could it be “Nervewrackers” his sci-film film that was shelved by Weinsteins in favor of the aforementioned and more lucrative “Spy Kids” film? Or more likely is it, “The Insiders,” the spy-action film he is producing for JCVD” director Mabrouk el Mechri that is a starring vehicle for Jessica Alba. If we were betting people we’d put our money down on that one and you should too.
“Sin City 2” – According to Rodriguez, “There has been a script since 2007,” by Frank Miller but its pretty clear, he’s not in love with it saying, “we have to look at [that script] for now and go, ‘Is this really the one?'” The director does a pretty good dance around the question of when it might get in front of cameras. “I can’t say no because I don’t know its no. I know Frank wants to do it I know I wanna do it and its always sort of time permitting kind of thing but it’s not like I can tell you definitely we’re starting…its not my next picture I know that. Doesn’t mean that it’s not the picture right after because that’s still a possibility.” For a film that they both want to do, there is a helluva of a lot of rationalizing going on there. We love you Rodriguez, and we know you don’t want to let down your fans, but we think you would be doing the fanboy community a big favor if you just said the project was dead until you know for sure that its going to go in front of cameras.
“El Mariachi Triology” – The trio of films will be hitting BluRay in 2010, and Rodriguez promises some nice surprises (though, once again, the studio will have the first word): “There’s something we’re working on. I can’t say what it is. Its special though to kind of promote it, can’t say yet. I know its no fun when you don’t say anything but I just can’t. I’d know they’d want to do their own press release about it, can’t rob them of that.” So we’ll just have to wait and see what that will be, but if its some kind of 3D re-release, you can count us out.
Of course, Rodriguez’s next film is the highly anticipated “Machete,” set to hit theaters on April 16th and of course sequels are being discussed (half-joking titles include, “Machete Kills,” “Machete Kills Again” and even the silliest and least serious, “Machete In Space”). If it stays simple, gritty and hilarious like the fake trailer, it should be an amazing time in the theaters. Rodriguez says he’s always thought about it as a “franchise character,” which in the age of CGI, spandexed, emo heroes with major blue balls that pass for heroes these days, would be sort of amazing. Sequels are a possibility. We hope, if the execution of “Machete” number uno is great, that it happens.