| Subject: A $7,000 movie
Date: Sun, 14 Mar 93 18:08:04 PST
HOLLYWOOD (UPI) -- It's hard to believe anyone anywhere could make a
feature-length motion picture for $7,000. Impossible.
That wouldn't cover a teamster's pay on "Lethal Weapon," whose
star, Mel Gibson, earns a thousand times that much.
But Texan Robert Rodriguez spent a mere $7,000 to make "El Mariachi"
for his Los Hooligans Productions by driving to Mexico to film in the
border town of Acuna Coahuila.
He saved money with borrowed equipment and by doing almost everything
himself. The 24-year-old filmmaker used non-actors who worked for free.
He was producer, director, writer of both story and screenplay, director
of photography, editor, camera operator, special effects specialist,
sound and music editor and still photographer.
Rodriguez doesn't take credit for such menial jobs as prop man and
set decorator, caterer, water boy and a dozen others.
Rodriguez, third oldest in a Mexican-American family of 10, was
astounded when "El Mariachi" was picked up by Columbia Pictures for
distribution in American theaters.
"Nobody in this country was supposed to see my picture," he said
recently. "I made it as a practice movie for the Spanish home video
market.
"I'd made a lot of short films using my brothers and sisters for
actors at home in Austin for fun and to learn the craft. Two years ago I
made 'Bedhead,' a short film about a kid. It ran eight minutes and cost
$800. It won 13 film festival awards and gave me the idea for 'El
Mariachi."'
Audiences will be more intrigued by the pace, the look and feel of
"El Mariachi" than the story, which involves a young would-be mariachi
guitar player seeking a job in a dusty Mexican town.
He is mistaken for an infamous gangster, also dressed in black, who
carries his machine gun in a guitar case, leading to a series of deadly
misadventures.
"El Mariachi," like a pre-Columbian artifact, is powerful and
crudely fashioned. It is sometimes tender and always offers a fresh
perspective. The picture is quintessentially Mexican, a delightful
change from Hollywood's slick, predictable formula action films.
"When 'Bedhead' did so well I thought about coming to Hollywood to
make a real movie," Rodriguez said. "I knew I'd probably fall on my
face. You read about filmmakers producing great movies and you never
hear from them again. They never had a chance to experiment or fail
quietly or develop a style.
"I was 23 and I didn't want to come to Hollywood fresh off the boat.
I needed more experience to be really prepared. I'd decided to make
three feature films before anyone knew who I was.
"Those three pictures would be my film school, becoming my own crew
working at every job. I planned to make 'El Mariachi' and two sequels
within one year. Then I'd cut the best scenes of all three films
together and try to get backing for a real movie."
But Rodriguez's plans jumped the tracks when he came to Los Angeles
to deal with Spanish-language video operators. One distributor, Mex-
American, offered him $10,000 for American rights and $7,000 for Mexico
rights, but the deal would have entailed months of haggling across the
border.
"The negotiations were too time-consuming," Rodriguez said. "So I
dropped my demo tape off at ICM, one of the biggest agencies in the
world. I wanted an honest professional opinion of my work and maybe get
some guidance.
"Next day they called to say they would represent me as a writer and
director. I didn't know what that meant. I was a nobody. They sent
copies of 'El Mariachi' all over Hollywood with their endorsement. I got
calls right away from Disney, Paramount, Columbia and TriStar to talk
about future projects.
"Columbia signed me to a two-year writing-directing deal. But I
still couldn't sell 'El Mariachi.' Four months later I asked Columbia if
I could spend more money to remake it, the first action-adventure film
produced in the U.S. with a mostly Latino cast and a Latino hero.
"They took a closer look at my video version. The big guys at
Columbia, Peter Guber and Mark Canton, made a film print of the video
and had audiences look at it.
"I didn't want that because there's a lot of camera tricks and goofy
experimental stuff in it. It's not the movie I wanted people to see. But
it won some festival awards and they decided to release it just as it
was -- in Spanish with subtitles.
"So my home movie is being released. People were never supposed to
see it but I hope they enjoy it."
Rodriguez may be undone by success. Columbia has given him $6 million
for a new movie that begins shooting in May.
"It won't spoil me," he said. "I'm writing, directing, editing and
operating the camera again. The money is the least any studio can give
you. I could make a thousand movies for that. Maybe I should make it for
$7,000 and give the rest to charity."
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