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While a student at the University of Texas at
Austin in 1991, Robert Rodriguez wrote the script to his first feature
film while sequestered at a drug research facility as a paid subject in
a clinical experiment. That paycheck covered the cost of shooting his film.
He planned to make the money back by selling the film to the Mexican home
video market.
The film was El Mariachi (1993), which Rodriguez
wrote, directed, photographed, edited and sound-recorded for
$7,000. While shopping it to the video market, Rodriguez signed
with a powerful
agent at ICM. Columbia Pictures then bought the rights and
signed Rodriguez to a two-year writing and directing deal.
'El Mariachi' went on to win
the coveted Audience Award for best dramatic film at the Sundance
Film Festival, and was honored at the Berlin, Munich, Edinburgh,
Deauville and
Yubari (Japan) festivals. El Mariachi became the lowest budget
movie ever released by a major studio and the first American
film released in
Spanish. Rodriguez wrote about these experiences in Rebel Without a
Crew, a book published by Dutton Press.
Although it was an astonishing debut for a 23-year-old,
Rodriguez was already a seasoned filmmaker. The third of ten
children born to Cecilio and Rebecca Rodriguez in San Antonio,
Texas, he had prepared
for film production classes at UT by making a series of his
own home movies. Family members were recruited as cast and
crew. His three youngest siblings
starred in Bedhead (1991), a 16 mm short film which was honored
at many national and international festivals. Rodriguez also
blossomed as a cartoonist
at UT with Los Hooligans, a comic strip in the Daily Texan featuring
characters based on his brothers and sisters.
Rodriguez went on to write, produce, direct and
edit Desperado (1995), a sequel to El Mariachi, for Columbia.
The film introduced American audiences to Antonio Banderas
as a leading man, opposite
Salma Hayek. Rodriguez also wrote, directed and edited The
Misbehavers again starring Antonio Banderas in 1995, one of
the four segments of Miramax
Films' Four Rooms. He then teamed up with Quentin Tarantino
on the outrageous From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) for Dimension
Films. Rodriguez directed a
cast including Tarantino, who wrote the script. He also edited
the film and served as executive producer. Rodriguez's next
directorial project
was Dimension Films' The Faculty(1998) starring Josh Hartnett,
Elijah Wood and Jordana Brewster.
In 2001, Robert fulfilled a lifelong dream and
created the family adventure film. Spy Kids, a critically
acclaimed and box office success, went on to break 100 million
domestically. He followed
that with Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams, which won
rave reviews and Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over, which hit theaters
July 25th,
2003.
The third installment to the El Mariachi trilogy, Once Upon a Time in Mexico was released on September 12,
2003, which Robert shot, chopped and scored himself.
He also served as writer of this film.
Rodriguez and his wife, producer Elizabeth Avellan,
make their home in Austin, Texas where they live with their three sons.
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