Robert Rodriguez may be known now for his studio movies like Sin City and Spy Kids, but his debut was completely different. His 1992 debut, El Mariachi, is an indie classic, having been produced for a meager $7000. No, I didn’t forget a couple of zeros. Take THAT Indie Spirit Awards! The film was a smash, breaking the Guinness World Record as the cheapest film to ever gross $1M. It also launched semi-sequel, Desperado, which starred Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek. It did not cost $7000.
Now Rodriguez is going back to his low-budget roots. For his upcoming unscripted series Rebel Without a Crew, Rodriguez is challenging five directors; Scarlet Moreno, Alejandro Montoya Marin, Bola Ogun, Bonnie-Kathleen Ryan, and Josh Stifter, to complete a feature film just as he did with only $7000. No crew, either.
Guess who will be joining them? Rodriguez himself. He’ll try to recapture that El Mariachi magic with his own movie, playing by the same rules as his competitors. Each director will have two weeks to shoot and wrap their film. The series will air on Rodriguez’s El Rey Network (If your cable network doesn’t have it, you must rectify that!) and on Verizon’s go90.
This seems like a mismatch, doesn’t it? Not only does Rodriguez have more experience than everyone else, but he’s got specific experience under these rules. And while he’s made plenty of expensive studio movies, he’s done a respectable job of working fast and keeping budgets tight, especially with his Machete movies.
I’m willing to bet Rodriguez will include some kind of viewer voting system to see which movie is best, and then air the completed project on El Rey. Or perhaps he’ll consider a theatrical release of some kind? I mean, at only $7000 there should be some easy profit to be made, right? [IndieWire]
