Robert Rodriguez: Interviews

Deep in the Heart of Action

58 Deep in the Heart of Action Christian Divine/2001 From Creative Screenwriting, March/April 2001, 86–88. Reprinted by permission of the author. Christian Divine’s essays and interviews have appeared in Salon.com; Shock Cinema; The Huffington Post; Written By; and Filmfax. His blog, Technicolor Dreams, is located at http://christiandivine.wordpress.com. Although known for the kinetic, blood-soaked genre films El Mariachi (1992), Desperado (1995), From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), and The Faculty (1998), writer/director Robert Rodriguez also has a flair for the antic humor as evidenced by his wonderful segment in Four Rooms (1995) featuring a brother and sister trapped in a bizarre hotel room with a dead body. The children rush from calm to carnage in about fifteen minutes, and this celluloid comic stands as one of the best short films of the nineties . Rodriguez has the skill of Spielberg and Shyamalan when it comes to eliciting honest child performances. His gift for presenting the world through wide eyes serves him well in his latest screenplay, Spy Kids, an honest-to-God family action movie that should satisfy all kids, young and old. Miramax is so convinced of the film’s success that they’re already prepping for a sequel. More importantly , Rodriguez has developed his writing skills over the past eight years; his triumphs and struggles on the page mirror the growth of any scribe. Writers will find his book, Rebel without a Crew, an honest, fascinating , and inspiring diary on independent filmmaking. Spy Kids should establish Rodriguez as a rare writer/director who can create a true fantasy world for children, avoiding the cynicism of the recent How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Still based in the great city of Austin, Robert Rodriguez remains casual and unpretentious about his career. His whimsical script illustrates that he is indeed a kid himself, playing with the best cinematic toys in the world—and he wants to share them all. christian divine / 2001 59 Q: What was the genesis of Spy Kids? A: I’ve been wanting to do a family film ever since El Mariachi, one based on a comic I had done about my family. People who saw my short Bedhead have been saying, “When are you going to do a movie like that?” I was trying to figure one out. I though I would do a movie of that, that kind of action and adventure. Then I did Four Rooms . . . Q: That’s one of the best short films I’ve ever seen. A: I couldn’t even come up with a short film! I always fall back on the kids. Making Four Rooms, I thought, “Man, they look like little spies!” Q: So you started developing the story? A: The initial idea I had was basically the logline: Parents are spies and the kids don’t know. The parents get captured and the kids have to save them. I thought I could have the bad guy be like Willy Wonka, imaginative and child-like. Q: The Fooglies and Thumb Thumbs are crazy. A: Thumb Thumbs! It can’t get bizarre enough. Thumb Thumbs are something I invented when I was thirteen, and I won my first art contest . It’s so cool going back to ideas I had as a kid and seeing them come to computer-generated life. Q: The old stuff always comes back. A: So cool finding old drawings and you wonder what you were thinking , but that’s the mindset. I wanted this to have the feel like a kid wrote it, shot it, edited it, directed it. What a kid would do. Q: The impressive thing about the script is they’re not typical smart-ass kids. A: Exactly. Not like the kids in movies you want to smack around [Laughs]. It has to do with the age. If they’re a little older, twelve or thirteen , the awkward stage, we all remember that terrible stage in our lives, and we want to hate those kids, not like them. Q: Do you find it easy to write and direct for children? A: Yeah. I’m still a kid. My poor wife. I have three little boys, a five-yearold , a three-year-old, a one-year-old, and me. Q: What was your writing schedule like? 60 rober t rodriguez: inter views A: I had the worst schedule on Spy Kids, and I...