Robert Rodriguez

He could be referred to as the King of the ultra-low budget film. From his award winning short film Bedhead to the $7,000 feature film, El Mariachi, to the $6 million Desperado, Robert Rodriguez has brought his amazing talents to Hollywood. This 25 year old filmmaker is one of the brighest stars in the film industry. He works cheap, fast, and makes amazing films. He's an editor, a director, a writer, a D.P, a cameraman, and a steadicam operator. He was the one man crew on El Mariachi. His third film was a segment of the critical and box office bomb, Four Rooms. Of the four filmmakers involved, Rodriguez was the only one to come out unscathed with easily the best segment of the bunch. His last feature film was the modest box office success From Dusk Till Dawn, a vampire-crime-action film from a screenplay by fellow Independent Quentin Tarantino. He's the American version of John Woo. This is the one man who could walk away from a film like Zorro: The Mask of the Blade when the studio balked at a request of an additional $1 million budget. Rodriguez wanted $42, the studio refused and offered $41. (After Rodriguez left, Martin Campbell (Goldeneye) came onto the project and the budget skyrocketed to $74 million.)

This, among other studio trespasses, and his Austin, TX roots, have seen his rise as a fiercely independent filmmaker, going so far as to make many of his films out of his house. (along with the incredible talents of VFX houses across the country.) With blockbuster hits such as the Spy Kids series, and the groundbreaking Sin City, (not to mention the disappointments of Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl), Rodriguez has become an incredible force in the film industry making films the way he wants to, and his film's credit sequences now reflect that he no longer wishes to hide his true influence on the films. While on El Mariachi he made up names and used family to avoid having his name all over the credits, most of his current films list his name between 5 and 10 times, showing just how much control over his film he really does have. (or has the ego changed?) When you do it all, no else can call the shots. Long as you keep it under an NC-17. :-)

As well as being a filmmaker, Rodriguez had his diary of the making and selling of El Mariachi published as a book in 1995. Titled Rebel Without a Crew: or How a 23 year old filmmaker with $7,000 became a Hollywood player. This book is without a doubt one of the best books ever written on film. Right up there with Sidney Lumet's amazing book, Making Movies.

"Good luck with any dreams or ideas that you want to follow." - Robert Rodriguez

Table Of Contents

The Holy Grail of Rodriguez

-Sony Interview- Robert Rodriguez's interview with Sony.

-AOL Interview- Robert Rodriguez's interview on AOL.

-Total Film Interview- An interview with Rodriguez from Total Film magazine.

The Screenplays

- Desperado - Transcript

- El Mariachi - The complete original screenplay.

- Four Rooms - Transcript

- Sin City - Transcript

- Spy Kids 3:D - Transcript

The Rest of the Series

The Independents - Main Page

Quentin Tarantino

Martin Scorsese

John Woo

Drew's Script-O-Rama (Scripts to over 600 films and TV shows)