Robert Rodriguez Targets June Start for ‘Machete’

Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on April 23, 2009

If you are someone who follows movie news on the web closely you may have seen stories coming left and right today about how Robert Rodriguez is developing a Predators movie in which he takes a team of human military types into the battle zone to fight an army of Predators. And yes, that sounds really cool. But what you might have missed in all of this Rodriguez centric news is the real story: Robert Rodriguez is eying a June start date for a feature length Machete film. This has to interest some of you.

The news came from a press conference that was held here in Austin today at Trouble Maker Studios where Texas Governer Rick Perry signed into law a bill that will provide incentives for film productions in the state. The bill is intended to help reignite the once booming Texas film industry and bring major Hollywood productions back to the state. On hand was Rodriguez, quite possibly Texas’ most famous working filmmaker. When commenting about the bill, Rodriguez had this to say:

“I’m going to be able to shoot my upcoming Machete here, a sci-fi action film called Nervewrackers, a re-boot of the Predator series called Predators, and a couple of smaller movies called Sin City 2 and The Jetsons.”

While the Predators announcement is interesting — because if you ask me, Rodriguez has a great visual style that could work well for such a project — but it amazes me that more people aren’t thinking about Machete. Had I told you that we had a confirmed date for a Machete production at any point last year, it would have caused a riot. And now Rodriguez is planning to start production in June in Austin.

Machete — which will be once again played by Danny Trejo as he did in the fake trailer that appeared with the Grindhouse double feature in ‘07 — is a Mexican ex-Federale with a gift for wielding a blade, who hides out as a day laborer, who is double-crossed by a corrupt state senator. Of course it is not yet known whether this non-studio film will keep the trailer’s brilliant tagline: “This time, they fucked with the wrong Mexican.”

Personally I am most excited about Sin City 2 and The Jetsons, but I would also never pass on a Machete film. As for this Predators project, I’m not 100% sold on why it is necessary, but it could be fun. Either way, Rodriguez will be making all of these movies here in Austin, so look for me to be lying, cheating and sleeping my way onto the sets over the next few years.

Of the projects that Rodriguez mentioned, which would you like to see hit theaters first?

Read more articles by Neil Miller