Robert Rodriguez: Interviews

Moving at the Speed of Thought

132 Moving at the Speed of Thought Brian O’Hare/2008 From MovieMaker, issue #75 (2008), 50–56. Reprinted courtesy MovieMaker Magazine, www.moviemaker.com.¡Tierra y libertad! Land and liberty! Emilio Zapata’s rallying cry during the Mexican Revolution could well be the moviemaking philosophy of director Robert Rodriguez. He’s been called an outsider, hooligan, rebel, rogue, and troublemaker. But to Rodriguez these labels are badges of honor—potent symbols of his refusal to compromise, make nice, or play by anyone’s rules other than his own. To Rodriguez, moviemaking is a guerilla movement rooted in seizing power from the bloated Hollywood empire and distributing it, like Zapata’s Tierra, amongst the people. Like any good revolutionary hero worth his cartridge belt, Rodriguez is engaging, generous, and completely without pretension. His first shot at the studio power structure was a cinematic Molotov cocktail lobbed from a shadowy bordertown alley and known as El Mariachi. Sixteen years later, Rodriguez is still fighting the good fight with a loyal following of actors and crew. An IMDb search of Rodriguez returns 225 job entries , ranging from directing duties on Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn, all three Spy Kids movies, Sin City, and Planet Terror all the way down to a miscellaneous crew credit as “chef” on Grindhouse. This is clearly a man who loves making movies—and making them on his own terms. His passion for the craft is infectious, and he spreads this knowledge through his “10 Minute Film School” DVDs and books such as his now classic Rebel without a Crew. There are no doubt legions of young moviemakers like Rodriguez out there, studying the master’s tricks. He, after all, is the future of moviemaking. But that shouldn’t come as any surprise to Rodriguez or anyone familiar with his work: Revolution is in his blood. brian o’hare / 2008 133 Brian O’Hare (MM): How would you define yourself? Robert Rodriguez (RR): When I was promoting a movie in Europe I went into a hat place where they make the Stevie Ray Vaughan hats. I needed a cowboy hat, because every time I go to Europe I’d say, “I’m from Texas,” and they’d say, “Where’s your hat?” So this guy brought out a hat and said, “This is a Troublemaker.” It’s the style of the hat, and I thought it was a cool name. Not that you’re a “troublemaker,” but that you’re always shifting the rules a bit or rethinking things. You want to feel like you’re always the renegade filmmaker at heart. When I talk to filmmakers they always say their favorite moviemaking experience was their first one, where they didn’t have enough time or money and everyone had to pull together and be creative . . . and I said, “Let’s make every movie like that!” With guerrilla filmmaking, we keep the budgets low and the crews small. Even though you’re using hightech equipment, it’s still shooting guerilla style, coming up with shots on the spot and creating something at the moment. We’re still making movies with Popsicle sticks. That’s sort of my philosophy. MM: Is part of your philosophy physically separating yourself from the industry by staying in Texas? RR: By being physically away you’re able to analyze the industry a little better and see how things are done. You start making inroads to places you wouldn’t have thought of, and pretty soon you have a whole different methodology than Hollywood. I got that from George Lucas, who also lives outside [of Hollywood] and figured out other ways of doing things, like digital editing, digital sound editing; he came up with what became Avid Pro Tools. Back in the day nobody thought it was going to amount to anything, but I think those are the ideas that really pushed us forward. MM: The outsider always has battles to fight. How do you choose when to dig your heels in? I’m guessing “compromise” is not a word in your vocabulary. RR: El Mariachi opened up all kinds of doors that I didn’t even realize at the time. By that being my first movie, it set a lot of precedents. They said, “That’s the guy who does all the different jobs.” Once I got the editing job on Desperado, they left me alone. I think it’s much more difficult for a director who doesn’t do those [13.59...