One of the deciding moments in the making of the neo-exploitation, ultra-violent-comedy thriller “Machete” came when star-to-be
“He took pictures and e-mailed them to me,” laughed director
Up until then, “Machete” — which opens Friday and co-stars
movie, “Grindhouse” (2007), the Rodriguez-Quentin Tarantino homage to
trashy ’70s drive-in movies. In between the two “features” that made up
“Grindhouse” — “Death Proof” and “Planet Terror” — were trailers for
equally cheesy-albeit-imaginary features, including “Werewolf Women of
the SS,” “Hobo With a Shotgun” and “Machete,” the story of a Mexican
federale who becomes embroiled in the cross-border drug trade.
Except “Machete,” for which
“
and he talked funny. So when I showed up on the set all the people on
the set gravitated toward me because they’d seen me in 80 movies.
That’s when Robert came up and said, ‘I have this idea for this movie.
It’s called ‘Machete,’ kind of in the Clint Eastwood-Charles Bronson
genre.”
Which it is, except with a level of cartoon violence
that’s only palatable because it’s funny. (Rodriguez said that when
they showed their soon-to-be-infamous scene involving a bad guy’s large
intestine at July’s Comic-Con in
“It was like a rock concert. People were screaming.”) But Machete is
also a hero, one who finds himself at the center of a
criminal/political conspiracy involving an immigrant-baiting
state senator (De Niro), his malevolent aide (Fahey), the aide’s
licentious daughter (Lohan), a border vigilante (Johnson), a
taco-flipping insurrectionist (
Immigration agent (Alba), and Machete’s brother, a radical priest
(Marin). The timing of the film, in terms of current events, couldn’t
be more on-the-money.
“It’s amazing how sometimes the stars align for a
project and make it feel really timely,” said director Rodriguez.
“Because in the exploitation days, that’s what they would have done,
move really quickly with a low-budget production and done the whole
‘ripped from today’s headlines’ thing. This happened in reverse: We
shot ‘Machete’ over a year ago, the first trailer was five years ago
and the script was 15 years ago.”
For Trejo, his first starring role came with some
perks. “I love to work with women who God worked overtime on,” he said
of his three female co-stars. “But they weren’t Sally-come-lately’s —
they were strong ladies.
Lohan, who’s presence in the film will bring it a
little extra notoriety, does in fact use a nun’s habit and some
automatic weaponry. (Her character’s nude scene makes pretty obvious
use of a body double). In terms of screen time, though, she takes a
backseat to Alba and
“He called me up,”
I think you might be good for it” and I said, ‘That’s awesome. As long
as I don’t have to rip my clothes off and die at the end, I’m a happy
camper.” He said “We’ll see about that.”
One of the things that attracted
low-rent movie, was the director’s irreverent attitude, something
that’s been at the heart of everything from “El Mariachi” to the “Spy
Kids” franchise. “There’s not a lot of people who do what he does,” she
said. “I just think when you play that joker card, you can get away
with murder.” The ‘joker card,’ she said, is about making films that
are “too crazy to be taken seriously in any way, shape or form.” And
thus being able to say whatever you want without getting in trouble.
“Machete” is brewing with trouble, political and otherwise. But
has an innate ability to make everybody in his movies look sexy. Even
the 60-year-old (he’s 66)
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A LATINO SUPERHERO
Still, the actor with the indelible face has never
played the lead, not until “Machete,” the title character of which is
arguably the first Latino superhero. “It feels pretty cool,” he says,
“because we haven’t really had one. And I don’t have to wear tights.
And I get to kill
He has played a Machete before — namely, the kindly uncle in the “Spy Kids” series directed by his second cousin,
“I have heard, ‘Look Mom, its Uncle Machete’ in 40 different languages
all over the world,” Trejo said. “And the funny part is, I always know
which parents monitor what their kids are watching, because when the
kids go crazy and the parents don’t know who I am, I say, “Aha, you
just let them sit in front of the TV and watch whatever they want …”
Part of the satisfaction for Trejo — who spent years in
prisons and is a recovering drug addict and a 12-step advocate — is
what his acting career has done for his own children: Danny Boy, a
computer whiz (“I call him a vidiot; he invents games and stuff”);
Danielle, an actress; and Gilbert, who Trejo said is about to produce a
movie called “Skinny-Dip.”
“He better hire me,” Trejo joked. “I don’t want to hear, ‘Dad, you’re too old for the part.'”
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(c) 2010, Newsday.
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