Robert Rodriguez: Sin City, Desperado, El Mariachi, Alita, and Filmmaking | Lex Fridman Podcast #465

I write the script in December. January,

Josh Arnett, Marley Shelton come down,

fly Franken. We're shooting for 10 hours

on my green screen. We shoot that

opening sequence. Incredible opening

sequence. And the visual look, we've

never seen that. I want to just take

this and make it move. I just want the

comic to move. Any other studio would

just go make it look like any gritty

crime movie and they would they would

miss the point that it's the visual is

half of it. I want it to look just like

this because it would be the boldest

movie anyone's seen because that's how

it reads when I read the book. It's like

if this was moving, it would be the most

phenomenal movie. Just by being around

him and working with him, you get by

osmosis, you learn stuff and it just ups

your game because they're just swing way

beyond you. Jim Cameron was like that.

So like when I first met him, I was

trying to impress the hell out of him,

you know, cuz I was such a big fan. I

was about to go do this and I went,

"Hey, I just took a 3-day steady cam

course cuz I can't afford a steadyic cam

operator, so I'm going to operate

steadyic cam myself on this bar." Now,

if he was just my peer, he'd say, "Oh, I

I did the same thing, and I'm going to

do the same thing." That that would be

like hanging out with somebody of your

ilk. But you don't you want somebody

who's above that. Do you know what he

said? He goes, "I bought a steady cam,

but not to operate it. I'm going to take

it apart and design a better

one." Us mere mortals trying to learn

how to operate the camera. He's

designing all new systems. That's the

guy you want to hang out with, not

someone who's doing what you're doing.

We put so much of the world around them.

Like when you see the city, we put like

a blue screen way in the back to just

make the city keep going. But we built

the sets there, the town, we built the

real set so everything was very tangible

and real. And that way she had to fit

into that world and be as real as that.

Because if it was all done in CG, well

then now you can fudge everything. But

if you put her in a real environment,

that's a real challenge. And just like

with our movies, you watch it all fall

apart. You watch this thing blow up. You

watch this thing not work. everything

just falls apart in front of your face.

Then that's when you roll up your

sleeves and creatively figure out a way

around it. And by the end, you have a

result that's better than what you

sought out. Sift through the ashes of

your failure, and you'll find the key to

your next success is in there. But if

you're not looking for it, you don't

find it.

The following is a conversation with

Robert Rodriguez, a legendary filmmaker

and creator of Sens City, El Mariachi,

Desperado, Spy Kids, Machete, From

Dustel Dawn, Alita, Battle Angel, The

Faculty, and many more. Robert inspired

a generation of independent filmmakers

with his first film, El Mariachi, that

he famously made for just

$7,000. on that film. In many sins, he

was not only the director, he was also

the writer, producer, cinematographer,

editor, visual effects supervisor, sound

designer, composer. Basically, the full

stack of filmm. He has shown incredible

versatility across genres including

action, horror, family films, and sci-fi

with some epic collaborations with

Quinton Tarantino, James Cameron, and

many other legendary actors and

filmmakers. He has often operated at the

technological cutting edge, pioneering

using HD film making, digital backloths,

and 3D tech. And always through all of

that, he's been a champion of

independent film making, running his own

studio here in Austin, Texas, which in

many ways is very far away from

Hollywood. He's building a new thing now

called Brass Knuckle Films, where he's

opening up the film making process so

that fans can be a part of it as he

creates his next four action films. I'll

probably go hang out at his film studio

a bunch as this is all coming to life.

His work has inspired a very large

number of people, including me, to be

more creative in whatever pursuit you

take on in life and have fun doing it.

This is the Lex Freedman podcast. To

support it, please check out our

sponsors in the description. And now,

dear friends, here's Robert

Rodriguez. Has there been a a time when

there was like one take and you only

have one take to get it right? Oh, all

the time where you're just like or just

you know how long it'll take to reset

and you're just But then you know what

you you you got to just work with what

you got. You know, you got to look work

with your result. You get nervous or no?

In that moment, oh yeah, you're you're

nervous going like just I hope it goes

off cuz then to fix it I'll have to go

do a bunch of other steps which we don't

have time for. But a lot of times, you

know, I've just learned that if

something happens, it's just meant to be

that way. And uh and I got used to doing

things in one take and and just living

with it. It didn't bother me. In one

movie, it was even a low budget movie,

they had um rigged a car to implode cuz

I was going to throw a guy at it. So, we

needed a car to implode and then we're

going to throw them and marry it

together, right? And um the stunt and

the the car guy goes, "Yeah, we're going

to have three cars rigged." Three cars?

just why you have to prove well in case

one doesn't work and then we have a

second one after third. we don't have

all night to go shoot take after take

we're doing just just get one car and if

it doesn't work we'll figure it out

because you don't have time to do it

again sometimes it's such a long setup

so I go no I'm I'm good with just going

what in a grind house movie they only

had one take so that'll make it more

authentic when it all goes to shit when

it fails you just what's the next

thought so I'll tell you two things

happened on Destl Done first was okay

you know how those explosions when

somebody walks away in slow motion from

an explosion that's become kind

You know that started with Desperado.

Desperado is the first. If you look at

all the montages, Desp. That's right.

That is the meme because it was an

accident was just supposed to be it was

just two grenades, not a nuclear bomb.

He throws them over the side. I just

wanted like some body parts or you know

something to fly up some shrapnel. I

literally said shrapnel and my effects

guy was so ragged running so ragged. We

get to there and I go, "Do you have any

body parts and stuff we can throw up or

or something you can shoot up, Pat? I

didn't realize it's so high to get past

that second floor." He's like, "No, I

don't. I can give you a fireball. I can

give you a nice, you know, um, fireball

with propane, but it burns away really

quick. Like, how fast? Like that, but

it'll be big and orange. Okay, we we'll

shoot it in slow motion so it lasts a

little longer because it just goes poof.

So, I told the actors, I don't know how

big this fireball is going to be, but

just walk really fast and just look real

determined and then just keep walking.

Don't stop and turn around cuz you might

get your eyebrows singed. So, they take

off and boom, it goes and in slow motion

it looks great, right? Mhm. I remember

showing it to Jim Cameron before it came

out and his hand went up like you never

seen that before, you know. 6 months

later, Dust Told Dawn came out. So I I I

liked how much it looked so much that in

Dust Told Dawn I did it again. So those

movies came out within 6 months of each

other. That's why it turned into a thing

cuz people saw it. And so I thought, how

about for the opening of George Clooney

and Quinton walking out of the uh gas

station that we have the whole place