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30 The Power Couple: Robert Rodriguez and Elizabeth Avellan Joe Nick Patoski/1998 From Texas Monthly, May 1998, 108–9. Reprinted with permission from Texas Monthly. They are the power couple of Texas film. He writes, directs, and edits. She produces and takes care of the most minute details. He’s a shining hope of the do-it-yourself filmmaking ethic, totally fearless and a major player in Hollywood, California, and Hollywood, Texas, as well as the standardbearer of the new Latino cinematic sensibility. She’s the unsung behindthe -scenes facilitator, making sure he stays focused and acting as a den mother for the cast and crew. He spent a recent March morning rehearsing lines with the actors in their untitled $15 million horror movie while she was mapping out a publicity campaign, lining up a tutor for a juvenile cast member, and consulting with lawyers from Miramax Films, the company bankrolling the film. But get Robert Rodriguez and Elizabeth Avellan to sit down in an empty conference room in an Austin hotel during a rare break, and instead of schedules and budgets, they can’t help but talk about their biggest joint venture: their kids. “Check it out,” says Rodriguez, beaming with pride as he thrusts forth a CD that bears the name and likeness of two-and-a-half-year-old Rocket Valentino Rodriguez Avellan. The titles of the “songs” listed are Rocket’s first words and phrases, such as “Nene” and “Cahwol.” One-year-old Racer Maximiliano’s CD is still being recorded . The Rodriguez-Avellan partnership reflects both the team effort essential to modern moviemaking and the couple’s resolve to raise a family in the middle of pursuing fast and furious careers. The division of labor was born of necessity when Rodriguez made the leap from low-budget joe nick patoski / 1998 31 guerrilla wunderkind to big-time studio dude after El Mariachi, his 1992 paean to the Mexican shoot-’em-up, became a hit. Critics raved, and the $7,000 movie grossed $5 million. Rodriguez, with a little help from his wife, filmed the sequel, Desperado, in 1994 for $7 million. “I always wanted to clone myself,” Rodriguez says, nodding to his wife sitting across the table. “Since this was always a hobby, and it turned into work—it still doesn’t feel like work—I want to do it all.” Nice sentiment, but the reality is, when you’re dealing with eight-figure budgets and a staff and crew of more than a hundred, you can’t do it all. The next best thing is Elizabeth. The thirty-year-old Rodriguez’s public image is that of a gregarious, wildman auteur who insists on doing his own editing and camera work— and everything else on the set. But, says Avellan, who is also thirty, “He’s actually the shy, quiet one.” She’s the people person. At first, says Rodriguez , there was some skepticism about her co-producing Desperado. The doubters quieted when it became apparent she could actually do the job without resorting to screaming or intimidation. “Early on, I worked very quietly around the set, making sure everyone was getting what they needed,” she explains. “We know the drill. He’s the hardest working man on the whole set, and he needs to have someone like me by his side. We trust each other. We don’t need to confer all the time. We know.” Actually, they knew almost from the very start. Both come from large Latin Catholic families. Avellan grew up a child of privilege in Venezuela with six brothers and sisters; her grandfather was a broadcasting pioneer . Rodriguez grew up with nine siblings in a Mexican American family in San Antonio. They met at the University of Texas at Austin in 1988. She worked as an administrative associate for UT executive vice president and provost Gerhard Fonken. He was scratching out a living as a file clerk in the provost’s office while making short films, drawing a cartoon strip for the student newspaper, and trying to raise his grades to get into film school. It wasn’t love at first sight so much as love of the big screen. “We both loved movies—watching them, reading about them, talking about them,” she says. They spent their first date at his place, where he showed her some short films he’d made. “He was doing all this wonderful work without any of the tools normally associated with moviemaking...

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