A few more details on Robert Rodriguez’s ‘Machete’
“Yes, bro…I mean Padre.”
I just got a press release with some character and plot info on Robert Rodriguez’s Machete which I thought I’d pass along even though I’ve only really been tracking this project with one eye open. Before I get to that, a bit of history for those of you who don’t even know what the hell I’m talking about.
Many of the highlights of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s Grindhouse were the cheesy fake trailers in between films. Among the more entertaining of those trailers was Machete starring Danny Trejo. In fact, I’d actually rather have seen a full length Machete than the entirety of Rodriguez’s feature entry, Planet Terror.
Even so, I pretty much ignored reports that Rodriguez was going to turn Machete into an actual film. Even a few weeks back when rumors started to crop up about Robert De Niro and others being cast in the film, I didn’t give it much thought. Yesterday though, the internet went crazy with confirmation in Variety that pretty much all the casting rumors were true.
Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Lindsay Lohan, Cheech Marin, Jeff Fahey, Don Jonson and Steven Seagal will all appear alongside Danny Trejo on the film set to begin shooting shortly in Austin, Texas.
I don’t know if anyone has been talking about the plot or who plays what, but here’s what just came in my email verbatim:
The feature version of the trailer finds Machete (Trejo) a renegade former Mexican Federale, roaming the streets of Texas after a shakedown from drug lord Torrez (Seagal). Reluctantly, Machete takes an offer from spin doctor Benz (Fahey) to assassinate McLaughlin (De Niro) a corrupt Senator. Double crossed and on the run Machete braves the odds with the help of Luz (Rodriguez), a saucy taco slinger, Padre (Marin) his “holy” brother, and April (Lohan) a socialite with a penchant for guns. All while being tracked by Sartana (Alba), a sexy ICE agent with a special interest in the blade slinger.
As I said, I’ve only been paying attention to this with maybe one eye open, but watching the trailer again and reading this crazy cast sort of has me getting enthusiastic.
Source: Press Release
Filed under: Development
Tags: Cheech Marin, Danny Trejo, Don Jonson, Jeff Fahey, Jessica Alba, Lindsay Lohan, Machete, Michelle Rodriguez, Robert De Niro, Robert Rodriguez, Steven Seagal
Finally.
And after all of the uninspired parts De Niro has taken, I’m oddly thrilled to see that he’ll be in this. I hope he relentlessly hams it up. We need a bigger-than-life De Niro performance again. He’s appeared so sleepy in so many recent films… Last night I took another look at Taxi Driver and wondered, what happened?
You know, I wasn’t really jazzed about this one until I started typing up this post and as I watched the trailer and started thinking about this crazy cast I started getting enthused.
Agreed about De Niro. After the work he did he could’ve retired with honor, but I almost wish he did.
You gotta figure he’s not doing this one for the money or the prestige so hopefully he’s doing it for fun and he brings some energy.
Where’s Jeff Fahey?
I honestly have no idea how Robert Rodriguez gets A-list talent to keep lining up for his films, one after the other. I’ve heard he’s quite a cook, but come on! Amazing roster of names, hope he delivers.
Jeff Fahey is there.
Oh. Duh.
Fun fake trailer. I never saw Grindhouse, actually.
Most exciting thing about the casting for me? Jeff Fahey. He’s a scene stealer on Lost.
As I said above, the fake trailers were half the fun.
I saw it opening night with a full, adoring house who were totally in the right groove and it was a lot of fun.
Saw it again later with people who were a little more skeptical and it wasn’t as much fun.
Fahey steals scenes in GRINDHOUSE too…
I wasn’t a fan of Death Proof, and never saw Planet Terror but the mock trailers crack me up. I love the line ‘but they soon realized they just fucked with the wrong Mexican’.
Even as a fan of Grindhouse I have to say the trailers were a highlight. Not sure how this will play run out to feature length. But it could be violent, goofy fun.
I”m still a little stunned De Niro is going to be in it