Yesterday, we told you about Robert Rodriguez announcing that he was adding Predators, a revitalization of the Predator franchise, and wondered when he was going to find time to do all the projects he has been talking about.
Well, today we can tell you that he’ll be getting one of those planned projects quickly out of the way, as Variety has announced that Rodriguez will start filming Machete– a full-length film of the fake trailer he created for his 2007 collaboration with Quentin Tarantino, Grindhouse – this June in Austin. (You can see the original NSFW faux trailer below.)
Joining Rodriquez as co-director is his long time editorial partner Ethan Maniquis. The film, Rodriguez’s first non-studio film since his debut, El Mariachi, is being produced by Rodriguez, Rick Schwartz of Overnight Productions and Aaron Kaufman.
Danny Trejo, whom routinely appears in Rodriguez’s films, will star as an ex-Mexican Federale hiding out as a day worker in Texas who is hired to assassinate a Senator only to be double-crossed. Presumably Jeff Fahey and Cheech Marin, who both figured predominately in the mock trailer, will be back as well.
As a fan of Rodriguez’s films and of the faux Machete trailer that kicked off the whole Grindhouse theatrical experience, I am glad that he’s finally getting around to making the complete film. When Grindhouse first came out, there had been some talk of making it an ongoing type of project, with different directors contributing either a new low-budget explitation picture or fake trailer to subsequent Grindhouse sequel double-features. Some of those faux-trailers would then be developed into full blown features based on audience reaction. Unfortunately, with the box office receipts for Grindhouse being less than what was hoped for, the plan for Grindhouse sequels was quickly abandoned. A pity, as I also wanted to see full length films for two other faux trailers that were part of Grindhouse- Edgar Wright’s Don’t and Rob Zombie’s Werewolf Women Of The SS (with Nick Cage as Fu Manchu!).
Presumably, this will be a quick shoot before Rodriguez gets into work on Nerveracker, which is due for a summer 2010 release. Hopefully, he’ll keep the Grindhouse visual conceit and Machete will look like an old, 70s-era action/exploitation flick, complete with film scratches and bad splices.
