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Tarantino on the Grindhouse Trailers:

"Our whole thing is that we were actually going to let the fans dictate that," Tarantino explains to us while out promoting Grindhouse this weekend. "Machete could genuinely be done grindhouse[-style]. About a half-hour is already put together and [Rodriguez] could expand it and literally show up for just another six or seven days and just wrap it up. That'd be extremely New World Pictures style."

This is the second reference I've seen of late talking about the potential release/completion of Rodriguez' "Machete". Last we heard, Rodriguez himself confirmed that there would be a direct-to-video release of the feature. He didn't specifically say whether or not he would finish it himself, but now these comments from Tarantino seem to support that idea. A whole half hour already? Wow. More and more Rodriguez is giving credence to those "he can finish a movie over a weekend" jokes.

It wouldn't surprise me if it were completed and released concurrently with Grindhouse on DVD.

Rodriguez to film Machete Movie during Sin City 2

Grindhouse: Rodriguez to turn They Call Him Machete into Feature Length Movie

Check out the above articles, which seems to confirm your post that Machete would be released when Grindhouse came out on DVD. It would be completed during production of Sin City 2 and they even hint that some kind of theatrical window may be possible.

Wow, it didn't take long for a Wikipedia page to spring up on this film-to-be.

I love Danny Trejo.

P.

Rodriguez is amazingly prolific even if his films are uneven, I wish Tarantino would do the same.

Roger_Thornhill wrote:Rodriguez is amazingly prolific even if his films are uneven

I've seen all of his films outside of the family features (Spy Kids, Shark Boy/Lava Girl), and I gotta say I've found something valuable in almost all of those. The Faculty is by far the most derivative and disappointing mess out of the bunch (Kevin Williamson only made one good film), but I've been able to ignore it and it really helps that Rodriguez has decided to do the same. Actually, I was so turned off by the film at the time of its release that I stopped paying attention to his career until I found out he shot another Mariachi sequel in 2001. I've been pretty adamant about keeping up with his projects since then.

The thing that frustrates me right now is that even though he's one of the Weinstein's biggest guns, there's still films of his they don't want to release. Even though I found Roadracers to be a little bit of a letdown, it really seemed to fit his extended filmography and I've been itching to revisit it for years. Unfortunately, it's just another movie Dimension is going to continue sitting on... the same with his written/produced horror movie, Curandero. Hell, nobody even seems to realize that movie exists! I think they played it at maybe 2 or 3 festivals before it disappeared into limbo with the Weinstein's exit from Miramax.

Anyway, I'm hoping that with the DVD release of two entirely new Rodriguez films, they might be keen on finally putting out the other two. They did plan on releasing Roadracers to coincide with Sin City's DVD, but they pulled it at the last minute.

DrewReiber wrote:I've seen all of his films outside of the family features (Spy Kids, Shark Boy/Lava Girl), and I gotta say I've found something valuable in almost all of those. The Faculty is by far the most derivative and disappointing mess out of the bunch (Kevin Williamson only made one good film), but I've been able to ignore it and it really helps that Rodriguez has decided to do the same.

Yeah, it was Rodriguez basically indulging his fanboy love of Carpenter's The Thing so I'm willing to give him a pass on that one. I'm a big fan of his films too and I love his whole attitude towards films and filmmaking as evident in the extras he does for the DVDs of his movies... if he ever stops making movies, he'd make an excellent teacher as his passion for filmmaking is engaging.

As for Roadracers I really wondered what the hell happened with the DVD? Rodriguez has yet to address why it got yanked last minute and his silence must mean for some kind of legal reasons. I know he had a real rough time making that movie (as covered in a diary-style book a la Rebel Without A Crew that has long gone out of print and very hard to get).

Good news for anyone who is interested... Machete is still planned to go ahead.

Empire Magazine just did followup interviews with Tarantino and Rodriguez on the fallout as a result of Grindhouse's commercial failure. Rodriguez is still interested in Sin City 2 and confirmed that Machete is on the cards, which likely means that it's still to be incorporated into the production schedule for the Sin sequel.

EMPIRE: Are you actually going to do it?
RODRIGUEZ: Oh yeah. We have a script. It's not gonna be hard to make. There's so many scenes that I wanna actually direct. It'll be a hoot...

According to Danny Trejo, Machete is still in the works, though unfortunately, Dimension is looking to make a trilogy.

Full Machete Cast Revealed wrote:In an article at Variety talking about Overnight Productions, the trade revealed that production began this week on Machete, a feature version of the fake trailer that was included in Grindhouse.

Danny Trejo is returning as the title character and Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Steven Seagal, Lindsay Lohan, Cheech Marin, Don Johnson and Jeff Fahey play supporting roles.

Robert Rodriguez is co-directing with protege Ethan Maniquis.

Robert DeNiro?

Fuck, Machete had a lot of potential to be actual b-movie fun, but it's no fun watching A-listers running around pretending to be slumming it (ie. Shoot 'Em Up, Inglorious Basterds). I would've rather seen Danny Trejo and a bunch of largely unknown actors doing this.

Well, at least the film still has Lindsay Lohan in it. That guarantees at least one viewing of the film from me. :^o

Antoine Doinel wrote:Fuck, Machete had a lot of potential to be actual b-movie fun, but it's no fun watching A-listers running around pretending to be slumming it (ie. Shoot 'Em Up, Inglorious Basterds). I would've rather seen Danny Trejo and a bunch of largely unknown actors doing this.

Yeah, but even you gotta admit a curiosity to the sparks that will arise when Bobby and Sensei Seagal share the screen.

anvilscepe wrote:Well, at least the film still has Lindsay Lohan in it. That guarantees at least one viewing of the film from me.

?

His post made more sense when it included the following smiley: :^o

domino harvey wrote:His post made more sense when it included the following smiley: :^o

Too right Domino! ..and yeah, I think she's smokin'. Smiley reinstated.

Aside from DeNiro, who are the A-listers on that list?

Kick-snare-crash!

anvilscepe wrote:

domino harvey wrote:His post made more sense when it included the following smiley: :^o

Too right Domino! ..and yeah, I think she's smokin'. Smiley reinstated.

So the truth is that it guarantees at least ten viewings?

I know the temptation isn't that strong to begin with, but don't call Steven Seagal an actor:

Alba also threw in a hilarious anecdote about co-star Steven Seagal. After she "kind of called him an actor," the cult actor reportedly "kind of got mad at me and corrected me and said he was an officer of the law.["]

How ironic that the fake trailer looked and felt more like a genuine article than this preview of the film proper does. Still going to see it but with lowered expectations.

Mr Finch wrote:How ironic that the fake trailer looked and felt more like a genuine article than this preview of the film proper does. Still going to see it but with lowered expectations.

Agreed, 100 percent. Much of the self-conscious, winking "badness" in the footage seemed all-too close to legitimate badness. Alba and DeNiro in particular provided some painful moments. Fahey, somehow, seems to have struck the right tone (this likely being my first and final moment of praise for Jeff Fahey!). Also, the mention of Lohan's role seemed to have been snuck in, as if they hoped no one would notice.

Jeff was actually pretty good in Eastwood's White Hunter, Black Heart.