#465 – Robert Rodriguez: Sin City, Desperado, El Mariachi, Alita, and Filmmaking

0:00:02 The following is a conversation with Robert Rodriguez,
0:00:09 a legendary filmmaker and creator of Sin City, El Mariachi, Desperado, Spy Kids,
0:00:14 Machete, From Dusk Till Dawn, Alita, Battle Angel, The Faculty, and many more.
0:00:21 Robert inspired a generation of independent filmmakers with his first film, El Mariachi,
0:00:24 that he famously made for just $7,000.
0:00:29 On that film, and many since, he was not only the director,
0:00:35 he was also the writer, producer, cinematographer, editor, visual effects supervisor,
0:00:40 sound designer, composer, basically the full stack of filmmaking.
0:00:48 He has shown incredible versatility across genres, including action, horror, family films, and sci-fi,
0:00:53 with some epic collaborations with Quentin Tarantino, James Cameron,
0:00:56 and many other legendary actors and filmmakers.
0:01:02 He has often operated at the technological cutting edge, pioneering using HD filmmaking,
0:01:07 digital backlots, and 3D tech, and always, through all of that,
0:01:12 he’s been a champion of independent filmmaking, running his own studio here in Austin, Texas,
0:01:16 which, in many ways, is very far away from Hollywood.
0:01:21 He’s building a new thing now, called Brass Knuckle Films,
0:01:26 where he’s opening up the filmmaking process so that fans can be a part of it,
0:01:29 as he creates his next four action films.
0:01:34 I’ll probably go hang out at his film studio a bunch, as this is all coming to life.
0:01:40 His work has inspired a very large number of people, including me,
0:01:44 to be more creative in whatever pursuit you take on in life,
0:01:46 and have fun doing it.
0:01:49 And now, a quick few second-mentions to be sponsored.
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0:02:29 Let’s go.
0:02:33 This episode is brought to you by InVideo AI,
0:02:37 a video-generating app that allows you to create full-length videos
0:02:39 using just text prompts.
0:02:43 Perhaps, obviously, InVideo is the perfect sponsor
0:02:47 for this conversation with Robert Rodriguez.
0:02:49 He has been, for decades,
0:02:52 the guy willing to use cutting-edge technology.
0:02:56 Digital HD, VR, 3D.
0:02:58 And now we’re in a time and a space
0:03:00 where it is not quite used by the big filmmakers
0:03:02 because they’re not really sure
0:03:04 how to leverage its power.
0:03:06 And so I think it’s really the role
0:03:07 of the independent filmmakers
0:03:10 to start playing with video generation.
0:03:13 Start playing five seconds,
0:03:14 ten seconds at a time,
0:03:15 seeing what you can do
0:03:17 in a storytelling art form.
0:03:19 I do think it’s a skill
0:03:21 I’ve used in video a lot.
0:03:22 There’s some aspect of it
0:03:24 you have to kind of nudge the system
0:03:25 into that direction.
0:03:27 I mean, it really is like having two directors.
0:03:30 And there’s things that humans are really good at,
0:03:31 and there’s things that AI is really good at,
0:03:33 and the dance between the two
0:03:34 is where the art form is.
0:03:37 Anyway, you can try InVideo AI for free,
0:03:39 saving you lots of time and money
0:03:41 you’d otherwise spend on editing,
0:03:42 animating, and other production costs.
0:03:45 Go to invideo.io slash lexpod.
0:03:48 That’s invideo.io slash lexpod.
0:03:50 This episode is also brought to you
0:03:52 by brain.fm,
0:03:53 a platform that offers music
0:03:56 specifically made for focus.
0:03:58 I remember thinking that focus,
0:03:59 or the lack of focus,
0:04:03 was 100% the consequence
0:04:05 of your mind and nothing else.
0:04:08 That you should be able to shut off the world
0:04:12 and deeply focus on a particular thought,
0:04:13 or line of thought,
0:04:14 or on nothingness,
0:04:14 or on your breath,
0:04:15 you know,
0:04:17 like you do in meditation.
0:04:18 You should be able to do that
0:04:19 just with the power of your mind.
0:04:21 And in some sense,
0:04:23 I still believe that.
0:04:26 But I think there’s just some things
0:04:27 that make it easier.
0:04:30 I first discovered that,
0:04:31 I don’t know how long ago now,
0:04:34 but listening to different kinds of noise,
0:04:35 white noise, brown noise,
0:04:36 and realizing,
0:04:38 whoa, something is happening here.
0:04:42 The mind is just much more naturally,
0:04:43 much quicker,
0:04:44 much more efficiently,
0:04:47 able to achieve that state of focus
0:04:49 where you shut off the rest of the world.
0:04:52 And so brain.fm takes it just to another level.
0:04:54 There’s just so much variety
0:04:56 for any working environment
0:04:57 where you want to optimize
0:05:00 the kind of audio landscape.
0:05:03 Increase your focus and try brain.fm free
0:05:04 for 30 days
0:05:05 by going to brain.fm slash lex.
0:05:09 That’s brain.fm slash lex for 30 days free.
0:05:12 This episode is also brought to you by NetSuite,
0:05:15 an all-in-one cloud business management system.
0:05:19 Boy, are we really getting to understand
0:05:22 the inner workings of individual businesses
0:05:24 and the interaction between those businesses
0:05:27 within the supply chain domestically
0:05:29 and internationally now
0:05:32 with the new evolving trade policy.
0:05:35 I’ll probably have several conversations
0:05:37 with the top leadership on this topic soon.
0:05:40 The economy is both an incredibly resilient
0:05:41 and a fragile system.
0:05:45 Whenever you have these centralized,
0:05:48 big, giant hammer type policies,
0:05:51 they can have an impact that reverberates
0:05:54 not just through the direct consequences
0:05:55 of those policies,
0:06:00 but just second, third, fourth order effects.
0:06:04 Plus, they create the psychological effects
0:06:05 within human minds
0:06:08 of uncertainty, of fear.
0:06:10 And based on that,
0:06:11 they make decisions
0:06:13 which are often suboptimal for the economy.
0:06:15 So you get to see
0:06:16 the inner workings of businesses
0:06:19 and how they function in response to those,
0:06:20 almost like an immune system
0:06:21 within each business
0:06:23 to see how can we survive,
0:06:26 how can we turn a profit still.
0:06:28 And all of that comes into play,
0:06:29 all the HR,
0:06:30 all the inventory,
0:06:31 all of that.
0:06:32 I’m deeply grateful
0:06:33 for the wisdom
0:06:34 and the power of the market.
0:06:36 We should be careful
0:06:38 not to mess with it too much.
0:06:40 Download the CFO’s Guide
0:06:42 to AI and Machine Learning
0:06:43 at netsuite.com slash lex.
0:06:46 That’s netsuite.com slash lex.
0:06:48 This episode is also brought to you
0:06:49 by Shopify,
0:06:50 a platform designed
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0:06:53 with a great-looking online store.
0:06:55 Speaking of capitalism,
0:06:56 I’ve also been reading
0:06:59 a large amount of literature on China
0:07:00 to understand
0:07:01 the culture,
0:07:02 the peoples,
0:07:05 the mechanism used by the government.
0:07:07 All that to help me understand
0:07:09 and break through
0:07:10 some of the propaganda
0:07:11 of the Western perspective.
0:07:12 Of course,
0:07:13 there’s truth to it,
0:07:15 the skepticism
0:07:15 and the caution
0:07:16 that the West has.
0:07:18 But I think there’s a lot
0:07:20 of interest at play here
0:07:21 and a lot of warmongers
0:07:23 that want to wage war
0:07:24 instead of make peace.
0:07:27 I do think that the economy
0:07:29 and economic relationships
0:07:30 and trading and buying
0:07:31 and selling,
0:07:32 all of that
0:07:35 is a fundamentally peaceful action
0:07:36 that protects us
0:07:37 from escalating
0:07:38 military conflict
0:07:39 and otherwise.
0:07:40 I continue to hope
0:07:41 we’re past all that
0:07:42 military conflict.
0:07:43 But anyway,
0:07:44 the thing I love about America
0:07:46 is the companies,
0:07:48 the huge number
0:07:49 of entrepreneurs
0:07:50 building stuff,
0:07:51 creating stuff,
0:07:51 dreaming,
0:07:53 buying and selling
0:07:54 from each other.
0:07:55 I don’t know.
0:07:57 That just fills me with hope
0:07:59 that individuals can dream
0:08:00 and have the power
0:08:01 to bring that dream
0:08:02 to a reality.
0:08:04 Anyway,
0:08:06 sign up for a $1 per month
0:08:07 trial period
0:08:08 at shopify.com
0:08:08 slash lex.
0:08:09 That’s all lowercase.
0:08:11 Go to shopify.com
0:08:11 slash lex
0:08:12 to take your business
0:08:14 to the next level today.
0:08:16 This episode was brought to you
0:08:16 by Element,
0:08:18 my daily zero sugar
0:08:19 and delicious electrolyte mix
0:08:20 that I’m drinking now
0:08:22 as I’m traveling
0:08:23 in the middle of nowhere.
0:08:25 Barely know where I am.
0:08:26 Barely know who I am.
0:08:28 Barely know what time it is.
0:08:30 I’ve been feeling lost
0:08:31 and out of balance
0:08:32 for many reasons.
0:08:34 hoping there will be
0:08:35 a sign of some sort.
0:08:37 Some sort of
0:08:39 little miracle
0:08:40 that will help me
0:08:40 find my way.
0:08:42 This conversation
0:08:42 with Robert
0:08:44 was an inspiring one.
0:08:47 He really did
0:08:48 everything he’s done
0:08:50 against all odds.
0:08:52 Fearless and bold.
0:08:55 When shit goes wrong,
0:08:56 he just figures it out.
0:08:58 There’s something about him.
0:09:00 Just being around him,
0:09:01 the energy
0:09:04 of urgency
0:09:06 of creative excitement
0:09:07 to just
0:09:09 take on the problems
0:09:09 of the day.
0:09:11 It’s not like
0:09:13 excitement to create.
0:09:14 It’s excitement
0:09:15 to take on
0:09:16 the problems
0:09:17 that will for sure
0:09:18 come when you try
0:09:18 to create.
0:09:19 The different angle
0:09:21 is a more honest one.
0:09:23 It’s a more inspiring one.
0:09:24 More energizing one.
0:09:26 Yeah.
0:09:27 Anyway,
0:09:28 while we’re talking
0:09:29 about Element,
0:09:30 watermelon salt,
0:09:31 get a sample pack
0:09:32 for free
0:09:33 with any purchase.
0:09:34 Try it at
0:09:35 drinkelement.com
0:09:36 slash Lex.
0:09:38 This is the Lex Friedman
0:09:39 podcast.
0:09:40 To support it,
0:09:41 please check out
0:09:41 our sponsors
0:09:42 in the description.
0:09:43 And now,
0:09:44 dear friends,
0:09:46 here’s Robert
0:09:47 Rodriguez.
0:10:05 has there been
0:10:07 a time when
0:10:07 there was like
0:10:08 one take
0:10:08 and you only have
0:10:09 one take
0:10:09 to get it right?
0:10:10 Oh,
0:10:11 all the time
0:10:11 where you’re just like,
0:10:12 or just you know
0:10:13 how long it’ll take
0:10:14 to reset
0:10:14 and you’re just,
0:10:16 but then you know
0:10:16 what you,
0:10:17 you got to just
0:10:18 work with what you got.
0:10:18 You know,
0:10:19 you got to work
0:10:20 with your results.
0:10:21 You get nervous
0:10:22 or no in that moment?
0:10:23 Oh yeah,
0:10:24 you’re nervous
0:10:24 going like,
0:10:26 just I hope it goes off
0:10:26 because then
0:10:27 to fix it,
0:10:28 I’ll have to go do
0:10:28 a bunch of other steps
0:10:29 which we don’t have
0:10:30 time for.
0:10:31 But a lot of times,
0:10:31 you know,
0:10:32 I’ve just learned
0:10:33 that if something happens,
0:10:34 it’s just meant
0:10:34 to be that way.
0:10:37 And I got used
0:10:37 to doing things
0:10:38 in one take
0:10:39 and just living with it
0:10:39 didn’t bother me.
0:10:40 One movie,
0:10:42 it was even a low budget movie,
0:10:44 they had rigged a car
0:10:46 to implode
0:10:46 because I was going
0:10:47 to throw a guy at it.
0:10:47 So we needed a car
0:10:48 to implode
0:10:48 and then we’re going
0:10:49 to throw them
0:10:50 and marry it together,
0:10:50 right?
0:10:54 And the car guy goes,
0:10:55 yeah,
0:10:55 we’re going to have
0:10:56 three cars rigged.
0:10:57 Three cars?
0:10:57 Why do you have to
0:10:58 Well,
0:10:59 in case one doesn’t work
0:11:00 and then we have
0:11:00 a second,
0:11:01 we have a third one.
0:11:01 We don’t have all night
0:11:02 to go shoot
0:11:03 take after take.
0:11:03 We’re doing just
0:11:04 get one car
0:11:05 and if it doesn’t work,
0:11:06 we’ll figure it out.
0:11:07 You don’t have time
0:11:08 to do it again sometimes.
0:11:10 It’s such a long setup.
0:11:11 So I go,
0:11:11 no,
0:11:12 I’m good with just going.
0:11:13 In a grindhouse movie,
0:11:14 they only had one take,
0:11:16 so that’ll make it
0:11:16 more authentic.
0:11:19 When it all goes to shit,
0:11:19 when it fails,
0:11:20 you just,
0:11:21 what’s the next thought?
0:11:22 So I’ll tell you,
0:11:23 two things happened
0:11:23 on Just Till Done.
0:11:25 First was,
0:11:26 okay,
0:11:26 you know how those
0:11:27 explosions,
0:11:28 when somebody walks away
0:11:29 in slow motion
0:11:29 from an explosion
0:11:30 that’s become kind of,
0:11:31 you know that started
0:11:32 with Desperado?
0:11:33 Desperado’s the first.
0:11:35 If you look at all the montages,
0:11:35 Desperado’s the first.
0:11:36 That’s right.
0:11:37 That is the meme.
0:11:38 Because it was an accident,
0:11:39 it was just supposed to be,
0:11:40 it was just two grenades,
0:11:41 not a nuclear bomb.
0:11:42 He throws them over the side
0:11:42 and I just want to like
0:11:43 some body parts
0:11:44 or something to fly up,
0:11:45 some shrapnel.
0:11:46 It literally says shrapnel.
0:11:47 And my effects guy
0:11:48 was so ragged,
0:11:49 running so ragged.
0:11:50 We get to there
0:11:50 and I go,
0:11:52 do you have any body parts
0:11:53 of stuff we can throw up
0:11:55 or something you can shoot up?
0:11:56 I didn’t realize it’s so high
0:11:58 to get past that second floor.
0:11:58 He’s like,
0:11:59 no, I don’t.
0:12:00 I can give you a fireball.
0:12:01 I can give you a nice,
0:12:02 you know,
0:12:03 fireball with propane.
0:12:05 But it burns away really quick.
0:12:06 Like, how fast?
0:12:07 Like that,
0:12:08 but it’ll be big and orange.
0:12:09 Okay, we’ll shoot it in slow motion
0:12:11 so it lasts a little longer
0:12:12 because it just goes poof.
0:12:13 So I told the actors,
0:12:15 I know how big this fireball
0:12:15 is going to be,
0:12:17 but just walk really fast
0:12:18 and just look real determined
0:12:20 and then just keep walking.
0:12:21 Don’t stop and turn around
0:12:21 because you might get
0:12:23 your eyebrows singed.
0:12:24 So they take off
0:12:24 and boom,
0:12:25 it goes.
0:12:26 And in slow motion,
0:12:27 it looks great, right?
0:12:29 I remember showing to Jim Cameron
0:12:31 before it came out
0:12:32 and his hand went up like,
0:12:33 you’ve never seen that before,
0:12:33 you know.
0:12:34 Six months later,
0:12:35 Dusk Till Dawn came out.
0:12:38 So I liked how much it looked so much
0:12:39 that in Dusk Till Dawn,
0:12:40 I did it again.
0:12:41 So those movies came out
0:12:43 within six months of each other.
0:12:44 That’s why it turned into a thing
0:12:45 because people saw it.
0:12:46 And so I thought,
0:12:47 how about for the opening
0:12:50 of George Clooney and Quentin
0:12:53 walking out of the gas station
0:12:55 that we have the whole place
0:12:55 just blowing up
0:12:56 and they just keep talking
0:12:57 like it’s not happening.
0:12:59 take it another step further
0:12:59 so I’m not just doing
0:13:00 the same thing.
0:13:01 Okay, that one,
0:13:02 it’s like,
0:13:03 okay, you’re going to walk out
0:13:05 and it’s all in one take.
0:13:06 So we only can do one take.
0:13:08 We’re going to blow the thing up.
0:13:09 We’re going to start
0:13:10 with just some smaller explosions
0:13:11 and then when they’re further away
0:13:12 and it’s safer,
0:13:13 then we’ll do the big fireballs.
0:13:15 So we’re going
0:13:16 and you’re nervous
0:13:17 because if one of them
0:13:18 trips up a line
0:13:19 and the pressure’s on them,
0:13:21 it’s not just you that’s nervous.
0:13:21 You’re nervous for them.
0:13:22 They’re the ones
0:13:23 who got to walk out,
0:13:25 do that whole speech,
0:13:26 get in the car
0:13:27 and drive away.
0:13:28 what if the car doesn’t start?
0:13:28 What do you know?
0:13:29 There’s a lot of things
0:13:29 that could happen.
0:13:31 Well, guess what happens?
0:13:33 The thing you would not expect,
0:13:35 they go in,
0:13:37 they come out,
0:13:38 they start talking,
0:13:39 shoot it,
0:13:40 it’s perfect,
0:13:40 great,
0:13:41 we can move on
0:13:41 and the camera guy goes,
0:13:43 I don’t know what happened,
0:13:44 but just like you had
0:13:45 a little snafu here,
0:13:45 he goes,
0:13:48 we have an autofocus
0:13:49 on the steadicam,
0:13:50 we have a focus thing,
0:13:52 it just went like this.
0:13:55 I felt it go whack all the way
0:13:55 out of focus
0:13:57 and whack for a second
0:13:57 back,
0:13:59 like it just reset itself.
0:14:00 I don’t know why it did that,
0:14:00 you know,
0:14:01 because it’s radio controlled
0:14:02 and we can’t tell
0:14:03 because we’re shooting film,
0:14:04 you know,
0:14:04 so we’re like,
0:14:05 oh shit,
0:14:06 let’s watch the dailies,
0:14:06 sure enough,
0:14:07 let’s see if we can get,
0:14:09 maybe I can scratch the film
0:14:09 right there.
0:14:10 No,
0:14:11 it goes completely out of focus
0:14:12 and back in focus
0:14:13 within a second.
0:14:14 now we got to reshoot it.
0:14:16 So we had to wait
0:14:17 till we’re back
0:14:18 in that location.
0:14:19 We rigged it
0:14:20 for two more takes
0:14:20 just in case.
0:14:21 So that thing
0:14:22 that was supposed to be
0:14:22 the one take
0:14:23 is three takes.
0:14:25 The other thing
0:14:25 that happened
0:14:27 was the front
0:14:29 of the Dust Till Dawn bar.
0:14:31 That same guy
0:14:32 that did those explosions,
0:14:34 he packed a bunch
0:14:34 of explosives
0:14:35 behind the actors.
0:14:36 When the actors
0:14:37 come running out
0:14:39 of the bar
0:14:40 at the end of the movie
0:14:42 and there’s an explosion
0:14:42 through the door
0:14:43 because all the vampires
0:14:44 are blowing up,
0:14:45 he didn’t just,
0:14:47 he put like 10 times
0:14:47 in that stuff.
0:14:49 It blew,
0:14:50 you see it in the movie,
0:14:51 you see this huge fireball
0:14:51 going up
0:14:52 and if you watch closely
0:14:53 you see it already
0:14:54 start to catch
0:14:55 the whole place on fire.
0:14:56 The whole front of that
0:14:57 which is foam
0:14:59 is catching on fire
0:15:00 and I cut
0:15:01 just before you see
0:15:01 that it’s on fire
0:15:03 and we,
0:15:05 that was the first shot
0:15:05 at that bar
0:15:06 because we weren’t
0:15:07 going to start shooting
0:15:07 the other stuff
0:15:08 till night.
0:15:10 So the first shot
0:15:11 is that
0:15:12 and the set’s ruined.
0:15:13 burned to a crisp.
0:15:16 The neon lights
0:15:17 blew up
0:15:18 so we couldn’t even shoot.
0:15:19 Cheech goes,
0:15:20 well I guess
0:15:20 I’m not doing
0:15:21 my speech tonight.
0:15:23 And,
0:15:24 but right away
0:15:24 this is what,
0:15:25 this is what happens.
0:15:26 My first AD,
0:15:27 Doug Arnachowski
0:15:28 comes over to me
0:15:30 and I go over to him.
0:15:31 The guys came out
0:15:32 with the fire hoses.
0:15:33 The fire hoses
0:15:34 weren’t even adding
0:15:34 any water.
0:15:34 It was like,
0:15:36 the thing was just scorching.
0:15:37 The whole production design team
0:15:38 was in tears
0:15:39 because they had just
0:15:40 spent weeks
0:15:40 building this thing
0:15:42 and it was up in smoke
0:15:42 and charred.
0:15:44 I said,
0:15:45 let’s just keep shooting.
0:15:46 Let’s just keep shooting
0:15:47 because
0:15:48 it looks
0:15:49 really kind of cool
0:15:49 like this.
0:15:50 Yeah,
0:15:50 they’re going to have
0:15:51 to come repair it
0:15:52 and we’ll have to come back
0:15:53 but it’s all black
0:15:54 and charred.
0:15:54 That’s why
0:15:54 that whole scene
0:15:55 with George Clooney
0:15:56 and Cheech
0:15:57 and that the building’s black.
0:15:58 We didn’t go over there
0:15:59 and touch that up.
0:15:59 That’s real flame
0:16:00 that burned
0:16:01 and it ended up
0:16:02 looking great.
0:16:03 So then the next week
0:16:04 when we came back
0:16:05 to shoot that other shot
0:16:05 that didn’t work
0:16:06 we came back
0:16:07 and they had repaired it
0:16:08 and we shot
0:16:09 all the night stuff
0:16:10 which is the majority
0:16:11 of the stuff
0:16:12 in front of it.
0:16:13 So sometimes
0:16:14 you got to roll with it
0:16:15 and look at the blessing
0:16:16 you get
0:16:17 because of this mistake.
0:16:18 You probably actually
0:16:19 got a better take
0:16:19 by doing it
0:16:20 later with them
0:16:21 and then you had
0:16:22 this incredible look
0:16:23 for the end of the movie
0:16:24 that looked apocalyptic.
0:16:25 If it had looked just clean
0:16:27 you would have actually seen
0:16:28 that it was kind of
0:16:29 a foam set.
0:16:29 This made it look better.
0:16:31 So I kind of
0:16:31 let the universe
0:16:32 push you
0:16:33 where you’re supposed to go.
0:16:33 Just roll with it.
0:16:34 You got to roll with it
0:16:35 because you don’t know
0:16:36 what the grand plan is.
0:16:37 You have your plan
0:16:38 just know it’s probably
0:16:39 all going to fall apart.
0:16:40 It’s just like the movies.
0:16:42 You come up with your plan
0:16:42 of what you want to accomplish.
0:16:43 That’s like your script.
0:16:45 Then you go
0:16:46 scout your location
0:16:47 and figure out
0:16:48 what your project’s going to be
0:16:49 and you go try to make it
0:16:50 as bulletproof as possible.
0:16:52 Then you go to do your project
0:16:53 and just like with our movies
0:16:54 you watch it all fall apart.
0:16:55 You watch this thing blow up.
0:16:56 You watch this thing not work.
0:16:59 Everything just falls apart
0:16:59 in front of your face.
0:17:01 Then that’s when you roll up
0:17:01 your sleeves
0:17:03 and creatively figure out
0:17:04 a way around it.
0:17:05 You turn chicken shit
0:17:06 into chicken salad
0:17:07 and by the end
0:17:08 you have a result
0:17:08 that’s better than
0:17:10 what you sought out.
0:17:10 But that’s the process
0:17:11 and that’s life
0:17:13 and that’s wash, rinse, repeat.
0:17:13 The rest of your life
0:17:14 that’s what everything’s
0:17:15 going to be like.
0:17:16 It’s just like a movie
0:17:17 because when you think about it
0:17:19 you’re writing a story
0:17:20 for a film
0:17:22 and you’re also writing
0:17:23 the story of your life
0:17:23 at the same time.
0:17:25 How are you going to react
0:17:25 to things?
0:17:26 How do you make your character
0:17:27 react to things?
0:17:28 You make him kind of superhuman.
0:17:29 Why don’t you just
0:17:30 make yourself that way?
0:17:31 You’re writing your own story
0:17:32 and you start really seeing
0:17:34 the more you get into storytelling
0:17:36 that life imitates art
0:17:37 and art limitates life
0:17:37 but the process
0:17:38 is also the same.
0:17:40 So you write the story
0:17:41 the script
0:17:42 and then you have it
0:17:43 collide with the chaos
0:17:44 of reality
0:17:45 and in that moment
0:17:46 when you said
0:17:47 you see the chicken shit
0:17:48 like you have to
0:17:49 be able to keep
0:17:50 your eyes open
0:17:51 and notice
0:17:53 you have to do that.
0:17:54 Wait a minute.
0:17:54 Okay.
0:17:55 Stuff change.
0:17:55 Discipline.
0:17:56 Where’s the
0:17:57 not to be cliche about it
0:17:58 but where’s the silver lining
0:17:58 of this?
0:17:59 Where’s the path
0:18:00 to actually make something
0:18:01 good out of this?
0:18:02 And that’s a skill, right?
0:18:03 I call it
0:18:04 and it’s one of my favorite
0:18:05 stories.
0:18:06 I was doing one of these talks
0:18:07 and they said
0:18:08 come talk about creativity.
0:18:08 I go
0:18:09 I understand
0:18:10 because a lot of people
0:18:10 read my book
0:18:11 Rebels Had a Crew
0:18:11 and told me
0:18:13 oh it made me be a filmmaker
0:18:14 but a lot of people said
0:18:15 it helped me start my own business
0:18:16 because they just see
0:18:17 how you can go
0:18:18 be entrepreneurial like that
0:18:19 and go where
0:18:20 no one else is going
0:18:21 and I’m giving all this talk
0:18:23 about this kind of positive stuff
0:18:23 and this one woman goes
0:18:25 you’re real positive
0:18:26 but what do I tell myself
0:18:27 when I just wasted
0:18:28 a year and a half of my life
0:18:29 doing something
0:18:29 that didn’t work?
0:18:30 And I was like
0:18:32 that’s a real negative way
0:18:32 to ask that.
0:18:33 Can you just rephrase
0:18:34 the question a little more positively
0:18:35 before I even attempt
0:18:36 to answer it
0:18:37 because already
0:18:37 her point of view
0:18:39 is exactly what you’re saying.
0:18:40 She’s not looking
0:18:40 at all.
0:18:41 She’s just concentrating
0:18:42 on what
0:18:44 didn’t follow her plan
0:18:46 and not seeing
0:18:46 the gift of everything
0:18:47 else that’s there.
0:18:48 So she goes
0:18:50 very reluctant
0:18:51 it was so perfect
0:18:52 I wish we had filmed it.
0:18:52 She goes
0:18:54 I learned a good lesson
0:18:55 the hard way
0:18:56 and I said
0:18:57 that still sucks.
0:18:58 And I say
0:19:00 when you follow your instinct
0:19:00 like if you follow
0:19:01 your own instinct
0:19:02 to go start a business
0:19:03 or go make this movie
0:19:03 or whatever
0:19:04 it wasn’t someone saying
0:19:05 go over there
0:19:06 and you’ll make a million dollars
0:19:06 you know
0:19:07 it was your instinct
0:19:08 and you fail.
0:19:09 Sometimes the only way
0:19:10 across the river
0:19:12 is to slip on the first two rocks.
0:19:13 You fail
0:19:14 you have to really
0:19:15 sift through
0:19:16 it’s like the silver lining
0:19:17 but I call it
0:19:18 sift through the ashes
0:19:19 of your failure
0:19:20 and you’ll find
0:19:21 the key to your next success
0:19:22 is in there
0:19:23 but if you’re not looking for it
0:19:23 you don’t find it.
0:19:24 I’m going to tell you one
0:19:25 and I tell them
0:19:26 the four room story.
0:19:27 I said
0:19:27 I made a movie
0:19:28 called Four Rooms.
0:19:29 I
0:19:32 didn’t make any money
0:19:32 right?
0:19:33 When Quentin asked me
0:19:33 hey
0:19:34 do you want to make a movie
0:19:35 with me
0:19:36 and two other filmmakers?
0:19:37 It’s an anthology
0:19:39 it’s on New Year’s Eve
0:19:40 it’s in a hotel
0:19:41 you have to use the bill hop
0:19:41 we’re not going to know
0:19:42 what each other’s making
0:19:43 and we make it
0:19:44 we put it together.
0:19:45 My hand went up right away
0:19:46 just instinctually
0:19:48 yeah I’ll do that
0:19:49 I’ll go make that with you.
0:19:51 Now should I ask the audience
0:19:53 I like to throw it to the audience
0:19:54 and her
0:19:56 should I have not raised my hand
0:19:56 that quick?
0:19:57 Shouldn’t I have done
0:19:58 a little studying first
0:19:59 or should I just go
0:20:00 blind instinct
0:20:01 or should you do
0:20:03 instinct with some studying?
0:20:05 Okay well
0:20:06 I could have gone and studied
0:20:07 and I would have found
0:20:08 that anthologies never work
0:20:10 like even when it’s Coppola
0:20:11 Scorsese
0:20:12 Woody Allen
0:20:12 they bomb
0:20:13 because people can’t
0:20:14 quite rip their hand
0:20:14 what is this
0:20:15 Twilight Zone?
0:20:15 I don’t want to go see that
0:20:17 but that’s not
0:20:18 I still said yeah
0:20:19 I think I should still
0:20:20 go by instinct
0:20:21 so my instinct was
0:20:21 to raise my hand
0:20:22 we’re going to make that movie
0:20:24 because I love short films
0:20:26 I made like bedhead
0:20:27 in short films
0:20:27 and I thought
0:20:28 oh here’s a way
0:20:28 if this works
0:20:29 I can make short films
0:20:30 in anthologies
0:20:31 and I can have the best
0:20:32 of both worlds
0:20:33 and by the way
0:20:34 anthologies is when
0:20:34 there’s multiple
0:20:35 more than multiple
0:20:35 one story
0:20:36 in one movie
0:20:37 yeah one movie
0:20:38 so if you did the research
0:20:39 you would know that
0:20:40 very few people
0:20:41 ever got that to work
0:20:43 yeah the audience
0:20:44 can’t quite wrap their end
0:20:45 and it feels like
0:20:45 the movie’s starting
0:20:46 three times
0:20:46 you know
0:20:48 so I make that movie
0:20:50 it bombs
0:20:52 now I could feel
0:20:53 real bad about that
0:20:54 but if you really
0:20:54 think about it
0:20:55 you go well
0:20:57 why did I sign up
0:20:57 for it?
0:20:58 Did I raise my hand
0:20:58 because I thought
0:20:59 it was going to go be
0:21:00 this big financial success?
0:21:01 No I did it
0:21:02 to work with my friends
0:21:03 to do something creative
0:21:04 to try something
0:21:05 but that’s still
0:21:05 not good enough
0:21:06 I need to really
0:21:07 sift through the ashes
0:21:07 and if I look
0:21:08 through the ashes
0:21:08 of that failure
0:21:10 I find two keys
0:21:11 to my biggest successes
0:21:12 in there
0:21:14 while I was on the set
0:21:16 they said it has to be
0:21:16 New Year’s
0:21:17 so I thought
0:21:18 I’m just going to do
0:21:19 like bedhead
0:21:19 I’m going to have
0:21:20 two little kids
0:21:21 that are running around
0:21:21 in this room
0:21:23 and we have to use
0:21:23 the bellhop
0:21:24 as a babysitter
0:21:24 well it’s New Year’s
0:21:25 let’s dress everybody
0:21:26 in tuxedos
0:21:27 because it’s New Year’s
0:21:28 they’re all going to go out
0:21:28 but the parents
0:21:29 leave without them
0:21:30 when I saw Antonio
0:21:31 and his wife
0:21:32 I thought
0:21:33 wow they look like
0:21:34 a really cool
0:21:35 international spy couple
0:21:37 what if they were spies
0:21:38 and these two little kids
0:21:38 one of them
0:21:39 keeps falling asleep
0:21:39 on the set
0:21:40 he’s so young
0:21:41 they barely tie their shoes
0:21:42 they don’t know
0:21:42 parents are spies
0:21:43 they have to go save them
0:21:44 okay there’s five
0:21:45 of those movies now
0:21:45 right
0:21:46 the other one
0:21:47 was
0:21:49 I really love
0:21:49 making short films
0:21:51 I really want
0:21:52 this anthology thing
0:21:52 to work
0:21:53 what if it’s
0:21:54 three stories
0:21:54 like a three extra
0:21:55 not four
0:21:57 same director
0:21:58 not four different directors
0:21:59 I’m going to try it again
0:22:01 why on earth
0:22:02 would I try it again
0:22:03 well because
0:22:04 I had already done
0:22:05 one and figured out
0:22:06 how I could do it better
0:22:06 and that’s Sin City
0:22:07 those are by far
0:22:09 two of my biggest successes
0:22:10 that came directly
0:22:11 from that failure
0:22:12 so I always say
0:22:13 follow your instinct
0:22:14 if it doesn’t work
0:22:15 just go
0:22:17 sometimes the only way
0:22:17 across the river
0:22:19 is to slip on the first two rocks
0:22:19 so what is
0:22:20 where’s the key
0:22:21 in that
0:22:22 in the ashes of the failure
0:22:23 because if I had an instinct
0:22:25 that means I was on the right track
0:22:26 I didn’t get the result I want
0:22:27 that’s because the result
0:22:29 might be something way bigger
0:22:31 that I don’t have the vision for
0:22:31 and the universe
0:22:32 is pushing me that way
0:22:33 by the way
0:22:33 a lot of people
0:22:35 that look back to four rooms
0:22:37 see a lot of creative genius in there
0:22:38 so you say it flopped
0:22:39 it flopped financially
0:22:39 financially
0:22:40 but you know
0:22:42 there’s so many ways
0:22:43 to measure
0:22:44 totally
0:22:45 but like I said
0:22:46 like I would say
0:22:47 well it was successful
0:22:48 because you know
0:22:49 even Roger Ubert said
0:22:49 hey you furnished
0:22:50 my favorite room
0:22:51 you know
0:22:51 I was like hey
0:22:52 I could take that
0:22:53 but now I think
0:22:54 there’s something else
0:22:54 still there
0:22:55 I keep sifting
0:22:55 and it’s like
0:22:56 oh yeah
0:22:57 two big successes
0:22:58 came from that
0:22:59 that’s an amazing lesson
0:23:00 to have
0:23:01 because it makes you
0:23:02 feel better about
0:23:03 failure
0:23:03 think of like
0:23:04 The Thing
0:23:05 by John Carpenter
0:23:06 he put that movie
0:23:07 out the same weekend
0:23:07 as E.T.
0:23:08 that thing bombed
0:23:09 critics were calling it
0:23:10 pornography
0:23:10 you know
0:23:11 because of all the
0:23:13 all the weird
0:23:14 special effects
0:23:14 and audiences
0:23:15 didn’t go either
0:23:17 and he thought
0:23:18 he made a great movie
0:23:18 so you know
0:23:19 it makes you question
0:23:20 your instincts
0:23:21 well 10 years later
0:23:22 turns out
0:23:23 oh it’s a classic
0:23:24 so sometimes
0:23:25 it takes the audience
0:23:25 a while
0:23:26 so if you
0:23:28 have some kind
0:23:28 of failure
0:23:29 on something
0:23:29 you
0:23:30 don’t let it
0:23:30 knock you down
0:23:31 just go
0:23:32 maybe in 10 years
0:23:33 they’ll think it’s great
0:23:34 I’m just gonna commit
0:23:35 to making a body
0:23:36 of work
0:23:37 a body of work
0:23:39 some will succeed
0:23:40 some will overperform
0:23:41 some will underperform
0:23:42 it’s not your job
0:23:43 you just want to be
0:23:44 a creative person
0:23:45 just create
0:23:46 I tell me
0:23:46 just create
0:23:48 stop thinking about
0:23:48 movie per movie
0:23:49 and worrying so much
0:23:50 about each one
0:23:52 or project to project
0:23:52 if you’re a business person
0:23:53 just commit
0:23:54 to making a body
0:23:55 of work
0:23:55 like an artist
0:23:56 would do
0:23:57 and you don’t
0:23:57 you don’t know
0:23:58 what the masterpieces
0:23:59 are gonna be
0:23:59 or which
0:24:00 you know
0:24:00 someone’s gonna come
0:24:01 and say
0:24:01 oh that one
0:24:02 that bombed
0:24:03 there is some
0:24:04 really creative
0:24:04 stuff in there
0:24:05 and it’s not
0:24:06 for you to decide
0:24:07 you just go
0:24:07 and do it
0:24:08 sometimes I think
0:24:10 it takes some time
0:24:10 to process
0:24:11 the failure
0:24:12 to make sense
0:24:12 of it
0:24:12 like
0:24:14 at least for me
0:24:15 don’t rush
0:24:16 making sense
0:24:17 of what
0:24:17 didn’t work
0:24:19 what lessons
0:24:19 do I
0:24:21 take from it
0:24:22 how do I
0:24:22 sift through the ashes
0:24:23 as you said
0:24:24 yeah
0:24:25 like it takes time
0:24:25 you have to sleep
0:24:26 on it
0:24:27 sometimes it’s right there
0:24:28 and then sometimes
0:24:29 you come back
0:24:30 revisit it
0:24:31 you know later
0:24:32 because you might not
0:24:33 have had some information
0:24:34 you have now
0:24:34 that makes you look
0:24:35 at it a lot differently
0:24:37 like when I did
0:24:38 I just did the audio book
0:24:40 for Rebel Without a Crew
0:24:41 yeah thank you for that
0:24:41 by the way
0:24:42 I hadn’t read it
0:24:43 since I wrote it
0:24:44 so I didn’t remember
0:24:45 a lot of the details
0:24:46 and you actually
0:24:47 it’s voiced by you
0:24:48 I voiced it
0:24:49 so I was reading it
0:24:49 real time
0:24:50 yeah I highly
0:24:51 recommend people
0:24:51 because you comment
0:24:52 you add additional
0:24:53 comments to it
0:24:54 it’s great
0:24:54 most of the time
0:24:55 I’m laughing
0:24:56 I can’t believe
0:24:57 how crazy that story
0:24:58 is I forgot a lot
0:24:58 of details
0:24:59 and when you’re younger
0:25:00 you know when you’re
0:25:00 21 22
0:25:02 six months feels
0:25:02 like six years
0:25:03 I didn’t realize
0:25:04 how short that window
0:25:05 was until I reread it
0:25:07 and how impossible
0:25:07 most that is
0:25:08 but you see some places
0:25:10 where a setup
0:25:11 falls in my lap
0:25:12 and then pays off
0:25:13 immediately in a big way
0:25:13 like magic
0:25:14 over and over again
0:25:15 it’s clear
0:25:15 I don’t know
0:25:16 what I’m doing
0:25:17 it’s clear the universe
0:25:18 is just pushing you places
0:25:20 so you can’t fight it
0:25:20 because I remember
0:25:22 I was really disappointed
0:25:23 and it says in the diary
0:25:24 I’m really bummed
0:25:25 that I go home
0:25:25 that Christmas
0:25:26 not having sold it
0:25:28 to the Spanish home
0:25:28 video market
0:25:29 which was my goal
0:25:30 I walked home
0:25:31 penniless
0:25:32 and I was like
0:25:33 Merry Christmas
0:25:35 I feel like a freaking failure
0:25:37 good thing I didn’t sell it
0:25:37 then
0:25:38 you know
0:25:39 with time
0:25:39 you look back
0:25:40 and you go
0:25:40 wow
0:25:41 I got an agent
0:25:42 the next month
0:25:43 he wasn’t even
0:25:43 going to help me sell it
0:25:44 he said
0:25:44 if you can get
0:25:45 $20,000 for it
0:25:45 take it
0:25:47 I chased those people down
0:25:48 for those contracts
0:25:50 the Spanish market
0:25:51 for months
0:25:53 and they never answered me back
0:25:55 and then Columbia
0:25:55 ended up buying it
0:25:56 for like 10 times as much
0:25:57 and we made it
0:25:58 we released it
0:26:00 and did a sequel
0:26:01 and did another sequel
0:26:03 if you look back in time
0:26:05 good thing I didn’t get my way
0:26:07 my way had this for a vision
0:26:09 and it needed to do that
0:26:11 which you would never know
0:26:11 you know
0:26:12 you don’t know that going through
0:26:12 so just
0:26:14 if you don’t have the answer
0:26:14 right away
0:26:15 or even in 10 years
0:26:16 go
0:26:17 maybe it’s coming in 20 years
0:26:18 don’t let anything slow you down
0:26:20 just keep plowing forward
0:26:21 committing to making
0:26:22 your thing happen
0:26:24 don’t get shook up
0:26:26 by something that you might not
0:26:27 have an answer for
0:26:27 yeah
0:26:28 every aspect of your journey
0:26:29 is super inspiring
0:26:30 we’ll talk about it
0:26:31 let’s go to the beginning
0:26:32 because there’s a few technical things
0:26:33 that are fascinating
0:26:34 about your beginning
0:26:36 so you started making films
0:26:37 when you were very young
0:26:38 yeah
0:26:39 with an old Super 8 camera
0:26:41 and you were editing on a VCR
0:26:42 you see
0:26:43 I’ve met a lot of filmmakers
0:26:44 who you know
0:26:45 they start a certain way
0:26:47 but then they finish another way
0:26:48 they get to be big filmmakers
0:26:48 and all that
0:26:50 I still do it that way
0:26:51 like I still
0:26:53 I like doing things that way
0:26:54 I have a new company
0:26:55 called Brass Knuckle Films
0:26:56 where the audience
0:26:57 can actually participate
0:26:58 by investing
0:26:59 in this movie
0:27:00 being investors in these movies
0:27:01 that are done the same way
0:27:02 they’re action films
0:27:03 like we did with Mariachi
0:27:05 but 10 to 30 million
0:27:06 it doesn’t take a lot of money
0:27:08 to start a billion dollar franchise
0:27:09 you know like
0:27:10 John Wick only cost 20 million
0:27:11 the first one
0:27:13 second one was 40
0:27:13 third one was 80
0:27:15 fourth one was 100
0:27:16 because the audience
0:27:17 kept growing and growing
0:27:17 by the way
0:27:18 you say
0:27:19 you know
0:27:19 20 million
0:27:20 like it’s not a lot of money
0:27:21 we should mention
0:27:22 it’s not for an action film
0:27:22 yeah
0:27:22 that’s right
0:27:23 but also
0:27:24 we should say
0:27:25 that El Mariachi
0:27:26 the film
0:27:27 on which the book
0:27:29 Rebel Without a Crew
0:27:30 is $7,000 movie
0:27:31 so let’s put it all
0:27:32 in context
0:27:32 but you know
0:27:34 you’re gonna hire bigger actors
0:27:35 you can get a big actor
0:27:36 like Tiana Reeves
0:27:37 for a $20 million movie
0:27:37 you know
0:27:38 I asked Jim
0:27:39 I said
0:27:39 Jim Cameron
0:27:40 I said
0:27:40 you know like
0:27:42 Terminator costs $5 million
0:27:42 and he goes
0:27:43 I wish we had that much
0:27:45 he had less than $5 million
0:27:45 for that
0:27:46 so you can start
0:27:47 a billion dollar franchise
0:27:49 using these methods
0:27:51 and with the audience
0:27:52 investing
0:27:52 they get to make
0:27:53 money on them
0:27:55 and that’s what I’m gonna say now
0:27:56 about how I started
0:27:57 you see that DNA
0:27:59 of how I give out
0:27:59 you know
0:28:00 I want people to know
0:28:01 how I did things
0:28:02 with Rebel Without a Crew
0:28:03 or with these methods
0:28:04 that I started with
0:28:05 you see that’s how
0:28:06 we kept going
0:28:07 Hollywood spends way too much
0:28:08 and when you can make
0:28:09 stuff for less
0:28:10 your profit margin
0:28:11 is much better
0:28:13 so when I first started
0:28:14 I didn’t have any money
0:28:15 so I still play
0:28:16 like I don’t have money
0:28:18 so I had Super 8
0:28:19 my dad had a Super 8 camera
0:28:20 but I couldn’t afford it
0:28:22 I shot two roles
0:28:23 that you had to get
0:28:25 you had to buy the film
0:28:27 shoot two minutes
0:28:28 I shot two roles of that
0:28:29 it’s another
0:28:30 same amount of money
0:28:31 that it cost to buy it
0:28:32 whatever that was
0:28:32 12 bucks or whatever
0:28:34 to develop it
0:28:34 you get it
0:28:35 there’s no sound
0:28:37 most of the shit’s
0:28:38 out of focus
0:28:38 you know
0:28:39 but then my dad
0:28:40 who sold cookware
0:28:41 had a VCR
0:28:43 one of the first VCRs
0:28:44 home VCRs for the market
0:28:45 that he would play
0:28:46 his sales tapes
0:28:46 to his salesman
0:28:48 and it came with
0:28:49 a camera attached
0:28:50 like this cable
0:28:51 you got coming out
0:28:51 imagine if that
0:28:53 had to go into your VCR
0:28:54 for you to even
0:28:55 see what it’s shooting
0:28:57 this is old camera
0:28:58 manual focus
0:28:59 manual iris
0:29:00 and 12 foot cable
0:29:01 and I would start
0:29:02 making movies with that
0:29:03 instead now I have
0:29:03 for $8
0:29:05 I have a two hour
0:29:06 erasable tape
0:29:07 of sound and picture
0:29:09 so I got into digital
0:29:10 basically really early
0:29:11 I was doing
0:29:13 which was really frowned
0:29:14 upon back then
0:29:16 and continued to be
0:29:16 all the way to
0:29:17 when I was using it
0:29:17 for real
0:29:19 in the early 2000s
0:29:20 before everyone realized
0:29:21 oh that’s the future
0:29:22 yeah that’s fascinating
0:29:22 because you were
0:29:23 rebel in that way
0:29:24 too using digital
0:29:25 yeah well because
0:29:26 of the means
0:29:27 and the democratizing
0:29:28 of that
0:29:30 the elite didn’t like
0:29:30 that you could just
0:29:31 go make a movie
0:29:32 like that
0:29:34 but I started practicing
0:29:35 and it’s much easier
0:29:36 to practice
0:29:36 when it doesn’t
0:29:37 cost any money
0:29:38 like if you want
0:29:39 to be a rock star
0:29:40 right if you want
0:29:40 to learn how to play
0:29:41 guitar really well
0:29:41 you’re not going
0:29:42 to just jump on stage
0:29:43 and suddenly be able
0:29:43 to play you have
0:29:44 to practice
0:29:45 till your fingers
0:29:45 bleed
0:29:46 well the same
0:29:46 with movies
0:29:47 you got to keep
0:29:47 telling stories
0:29:48 and cut them
0:29:48 together
0:29:49 and you just
0:29:49 can’t afford
0:29:49 that on film
0:29:50 nobody can
0:29:51 with a two minute
0:29:51 roll
0:29:52 costing as much
0:29:53 as a two hour
0:29:53 tape
0:29:54 so I was
0:29:55 moving all these
0:29:55 doing all these
0:29:56 movies
0:29:56 first I would
0:29:57 cut in camera
0:29:58 and that VCR
0:29:59 that old VCR
0:30:00 had a really great
0:30:00 pause button
0:30:01 that they stopped
0:30:01 making
0:30:02 that when you
0:30:03 hit pause
0:30:03 it stopped
0:30:04 right there
0:30:05 and it stopped
0:30:05 with a clean cut
0:30:06 it didn’t have
0:30:06 all this
0:30:08 color bars
0:30:08 like the later
0:30:09 ones had
0:30:10 so I
0:30:10 that was my
0:30:11 and it had
0:30:11 an audio
0:30:12 dub feature
0:30:13 where you could
0:30:14 add another
0:30:15 second soundtrack
0:30:15 to it
0:30:16 so if I
0:30:16 have people
0:30:17 talking
0:30:17 I could hit
0:30:18 audio dub
0:30:19 and add sound
0:30:19 effects
0:30:20 so I could
0:30:21 have two tracks
0:30:21 on the same
0:30:21 one
0:30:22 so I
0:30:23 that was my
0:30:23 filmmaking
0:30:25 kit for a while
0:30:26 until I needed
0:30:27 to start doing
0:30:27 real editing
0:30:29 and my dad
0:30:30 bought a second
0:30:31 VCR for his
0:30:31 business
0:30:32 because I stole
0:30:33 his other one
0:30:34 and I found
0:30:34 that if I
0:30:34 hooked them
0:30:35 together
0:30:36 I could play
0:30:36 on one
0:30:38 and use that
0:30:38 pause button
0:30:39 on the second
0:30:40 and this was
0:30:41 the limitation
0:30:41 this is what
0:30:42 taught me
0:30:42 how to edit
0:30:43 in my head
0:30:44 is that
0:30:45 if I shot
0:30:45 a bunch
0:30:45 of footage
0:30:46 I needed
0:30:47 to shoot
0:30:47 very little
0:30:47 footage
0:30:48 so I could
0:30:48 find it
0:30:49 sometimes you
0:30:49 shoot out
0:30:50 of order
0:30:50 so when I
0:30:51 cut it
0:30:51 I have to
0:30:51 cut in
0:30:52 linear order
0:30:53 because if you
0:30:54 push pause
0:30:54 it’s a nice
0:30:55 clean cut
0:30:55 but only
0:30:56 it only holds
0:30:56 for five minutes
0:30:57 you have five
0:30:58 minutes before
0:30:58 the machine
0:30:59 shuts off
0:31:00 so you got
0:31:00 to find your
0:31:01 next shot
0:31:01 within five
0:31:01 minutes
0:31:03 and do that
0:31:03 otherwise
0:31:03 if you have
0:31:04 to start
0:31:04 the machine
0:31:05 over
0:31:05 it added
0:31:06 all these
0:31:06 color bars
0:31:07 and it would
0:31:07 be all
0:31:08 screwed up
0:31:09 so I’d
0:31:09 have to sit
0:31:09 there and
0:31:10 not move
0:31:11 for like
0:31:11 all day
0:31:12 while I
0:31:12 cut
0:31:13 knowing
0:31:13 what the
0:31:14 next shot
0:31:14 was
0:31:15 and once
0:31:15 I had
0:31:16 it cut
0:31:17 I would
0:31:18 then add
0:31:19 some sound
0:31:19 effects to it
0:31:20 remember
0:31:20 because I have
0:31:20 the audio
0:31:21 dub function
0:31:21 but now
0:31:22 if I want
0:31:22 to add
0:31:23 music
0:31:23 I take
0:31:24 that tape
0:31:24 which has
0:31:25 two tracks
0:31:25 now
0:31:25 into the
0:31:26 first deck
0:31:28 and put
0:31:28 it into
0:31:29 the VCR
0:31:29 again
0:31:30 one generation
0:31:30 of loss
0:31:31 but I have
0:31:31 a little
0:31:32 cassette tape
0:31:32 player
0:31:33 with the
0:31:33 music
0:31:34 and I do
0:31:34 a Y
0:31:35 splitter
0:31:36 so I can
0:31:36 add the
0:31:36 music
0:31:39 that’s
0:31:39 like being
0:31:40 resourceful
0:31:41 with what
0:31:41 you have
0:31:43 and I
0:31:43 made a
0:31:44 award winning
0:31:44 short films
0:31:44 that way
0:31:45 on video
0:31:45 there were
0:31:46 some festivals
0:31:47 that would
0:31:47 allow video
0:31:48 not many
0:31:49 but they
0:31:49 would always
0:31:49 win
0:31:50 and they
0:31:50 were always
0:31:51 funny
0:31:52 as I
0:31:53 stumbled
0:31:53 upon
0:31:54 spy kids
0:31:55 that way
0:31:55 like I
0:31:56 wanted to
0:31:56 make these
0:31:57 action movies
0:31:57 in my
0:31:57 backyard
0:31:58 but when
0:31:58 you’re a
0:31:59 teenager
0:31:59 you don’t
0:32:00 know anybody
0:32:00 who can
0:32:00 come be
0:32:01 your action
0:32:01 star
0:32:02 and if
0:32:02 you just
0:32:02 bring your
0:32:03 high school
0:32:03 buddies
0:32:03 well they
0:32:04 just look
0:32:04 like high
0:32:05 school kids
0:32:06 so I
0:32:06 used my
0:32:06 little
0:32:07 brothers
0:32:07 and sisters
0:32:07 because I’m
0:32:08 one of
0:32:08 ten
0:32:09 they’re
0:32:11 just sitting
0:32:11 around watching
0:32:12 cartoons anyway
0:32:12 and I
0:32:12 made them
0:32:13 the action
0:32:14 stars just
0:32:14 to like
0:32:15 learn
0:32:15 and I
0:32:16 found those
0:32:16 things would
0:32:17 be a winning
0:32:17 formula
0:32:18 they’d win
0:32:18 every festival
0:32:19 I’d send
0:32:19 them to
0:32:21 so bedhead
0:32:22 was my
0:32:22 first time
0:32:22 using a
0:32:23 film camera
0:32:24 it was a
0:32:24 wind up
0:32:25 film camera
0:32:25 I got in
0:32:26 film school
0:32:26 I went to
0:32:26 film school
0:32:27 for one
0:32:27 semester
0:32:28 and realized
0:32:29 I already
0:32:30 knew more
0:32:30 than the
0:32:31 film students
0:32:31 because they
0:32:32 taught you a
0:32:32 whole other
0:32:33 outdated way
0:32:34 of doing it
0:32:34 so I thought
0:32:35 I’m just
0:32:35 going to use
0:32:35 that film
0:32:36 camera to
0:32:37 make a
0:32:38 low budget
0:32:39 movie
0:32:40 a definitive
0:32:41 film version
0:32:41 that I can
0:32:42 send to all
0:32:42 film festivals
0:32:43 of these
0:32:44 action kids
0:32:44 which is a
0:32:45 precursor to
0:32:45 spy kids
0:32:46 bedhead’s a
0:32:47 precursor to
0:32:47 spy kids
0:32:48 and we should
0:32:48 say that
0:32:48 bedhead was an
0:32:49 award winning
0:32:50 short film
0:32:51 that was probably
0:32:52 a big sort of
0:32:53 leap for you
0:32:54 that probably
0:32:54 opened the door
0:32:55 to you to
0:32:55 then make
0:32:56 tell me
0:32:57 your brain
0:32:58 especially
0:32:59 because those
0:33:00 video festivals
0:33:01 I would win
0:33:01 like a trip
0:33:02 to New York
0:33:03 and a director’s
0:33:03 chair with a
0:33:04 video shorts
0:33:04 that I would
0:33:05 put in festivals
0:33:06 but I knew
0:33:07 the film festival
0:33:07 if I could get
0:33:08 into film festivals
0:33:08 I could send
0:33:09 that all over
0:33:09 the world
0:33:10 so I made
0:33:11 that little
0:33:11 short film
0:33:13 sent it
0:33:13 and was winning
0:33:14 all the festivals
0:33:14 and I thought
0:33:15 wow I made
0:33:15 that with a
0:33:16 wind up
0:33:17 camera
0:33:18 film camera
0:33:19 filming
0:33:20 just one
0:33:21 take
0:33:22 each shot
0:33:24 just
0:33:25 no slates
0:33:25 because I’m
0:33:26 the editor
0:33:27 and that
0:33:28 cost 800 bucks
0:33:30 and it was
0:33:30 eight minutes
0:33:32 I bet I can
0:33:32 make
0:33:34 an 80 minute
0:33:34 movie
0:33:35 for $8,000
0:33:36 if I’d use
0:33:36 the same method
0:33:37 so that movie
0:33:38 I did
0:33:39 six months
0:33:40 later I was
0:33:40 making mariachi
0:33:41 because it
0:33:41 opened up my
0:33:42 mind that I
0:33:42 could try it
0:33:43 in a feature
0:33:44 can we actually
0:33:44 pause on that
0:33:45 because I think
0:33:46 bedhead has a
0:33:47 really great
0:33:48 really unique
0:33:48 story
0:33:49 shot in a
0:33:49 really unique
0:33:50 way
0:33:50 I think what
0:33:51 I’m trying
0:33:51 to say is
0:33:52 it’s very
0:33:52 important to
0:33:54 write the
0:33:55 right script
0:33:57 write the
0:33:58 right story
0:33:58 let me tell
0:33:59 you the trick
0:33:59 to that
0:34:00 and mariachi
0:34:00 is the same
0:34:01 way
0:34:03 this really
0:34:03 helped people
0:34:04 even Kevin
0:34:05 Smith from
0:34:05 Clerks said
0:34:06 wow Robert
0:34:07 said when
0:34:08 mariachi was
0:34:09 success I
0:34:09 talked about
0:34:09 how I did
0:34:10 it I said
0:34:11 I looked at
0:34:11 everything I
0:34:13 had what do
0:34:13 I have we
0:34:14 have a pit bull
0:34:15 we have a
0:34:16 turtle we’ve
0:34:16 got a bus
0:34:17 that Carlos
0:34:18 his cousin
0:34:18 owns his
0:34:19 cousin is a
0:34:20 brother as a
0:34:20 brother-in-law
0:34:21 has a bar
0:34:22 and he
0:34:22 owns a ranch
0:34:23 so the bad
0:34:24 guy lives at
0:34:24 the ranch
0:34:25 the fight scene
0:34:26 is going to
0:34:26 be in the
0:34:27 bar he’s
0:34:27 going to hit
0:34:27 a bus at
0:34:28 one point
0:34:29 he’s going to
0:34:29 the girl’s going
0:34:30 to have a dog
0:34:31 and a turtle’s
0:34:31 going to cross
0:34:32 the road
0:34:32 it gives you all
0:34:33 this production
0:34:33 value so you
0:34:34 write backwards
0:34:36 so for bedhead
0:34:37 I even did that
0:34:37 with a camera
0:34:38 so I’ve been
0:34:38 shooting video
0:34:39 all this time
0:34:39 and one thing
0:34:40 I wished I
0:34:40 could do on
0:34:41 video I never
0:34:41 could was slow
0:34:43 motion or stop
0:34:44 motion even so
0:34:45 when I got that
0:34:46 crappy world war
0:34:46 two camera they
0:34:48 gave us in film
0:34:48 school I mean
0:34:49 I was so pissed
0:34:50 like this is the
0:34:50 camera I’ve been
0:34:51 trying to get my
0:34:51 hands I could have
0:34:52 bought this for 50
0:34:53 bucks at a bond
0:34:54 shop old Bill
0:34:55 and how wind up
0:34:55 you couldn’t even
0:34:56 see through the
0:34:57 lens you were
0:34:58 seeing through an
0:34:59 approximation of the
0:35:01 lens but you
0:35:01 could shoot slow
0:35:03 motion I could do
0:35:04 reverse photography
0:35:05 if I filmed
0:35:06 upside down I
0:35:07 could do because
0:35:08 if I do a fast
0:35:09 push into her I’ll
0:35:10 never get the
0:35:11 focus in right so
0:35:12 I started with it
0:35:13 in focus went
0:35:14 back pulled
0:35:15 backwards on a
0:35:17 chair and then
0:35:17 reversed it
0:35:18 flipped it and
0:35:19 now it looks like
0:35:20 it stops on a
0:35:21 diamond focus
0:35:21 the number of
0:35:22 times I’ve seen
0:35:22 you shoot
0:35:23 backwards is
0:35:24 incredible like to
0:35:25 achieve a certain
0:35:26 feeling a certain
0:35:27 experience a certain
0:35:30 effect sometimes
0:35:31 shooting in reverse
0:35:33 plus the sound
0:35:35 effect layer you
0:35:37 can create this
0:35:38 reality that’s
0:35:39 surreal that then
0:35:40 results in the
0:35:41 story that you
0:35:42 wanted like you
0:35:43 have to be
0:35:44 functioning some
0:35:45 kind of different
0:35:45 space-time
0:35:46 continuums
0:35:48 start putting it
0:35:49 together right so
0:35:50 I’ve got this
0:35:50 different camera
0:35:51 well what now I
0:35:52 go like I don’t
0:35:53 want to shoot the
0:35:54 same kind of movie
0:35:54 if I got a camera
0:35:55 now that can do
0:35:56 that I can do
0:35:56 stop motion so
0:35:57 that’s why there’s
0:35:58 an animated title
0:35:59 sequence at the
0:35:59 beginning because I
0:36:00 go wow I’m a
0:36:02 cartoonist if I set
0:36:03 the camera up here
0:36:04 I can slow it down
0:36:06 enough it’s not it’s
0:36:06 not a frame by
0:36:07 frame but if I get
0:36:08 it down like two
0:36:09 frames a second I
0:36:11 can just tap it and
0:36:12 it’ll maybe get one
0:36:13 frame off so I did
0:36:14 300 drawings by
0:36:15 hand for that
0:36:16 opening title
0:36:17 sequence holy
0:36:18 shit that was that
0:36:19 was you doing it
0:36:20 by hand yeah so
0:36:21 you watch that and
0:36:22 this is a throwaway
0:36:24 title sequence but I
0:36:25 really want this thing
0:36:26 to win awards okay
0:36:27 hold on a second
0:36:27 how long does that
0:36:28 take to draw that
0:36:29 that’s a lot that’s
0:36:30 a lot of work I
0:36:32 drew it I drew it
0:36:33 over well I was a
0:36:34 daily cartoonist by
0:36:34 then so I was pretty
0:36:35 fast but still it’s
0:36:36 that’s why it’s only
0:36:37 penciled it’s not
0:36:37 inked but it looks
0:36:38 great I mean it’s
0:36:39 the cameras going
0:36:40 around and all kinds
0:36:41 of crazy stuff but
0:36:43 it’s just all fake
0:36:44 by paper it took
0:36:45 me all night to
0:36:46 shoot it because I
0:36:46 remember I walked
0:36:47 into the film school
0:36:50 the next day you
0:36:50 know like all
0:36:51 sleeping I told one
0:36:51 of the fellow
0:36:52 students you know
0:36:53 wow I was up all
0:36:54 night doing this
0:36:54 animated title
0:36:55 sequence and he
0:36:56 went why are you
0:36:56 putting so much
0:36:57 work in this they’re
0:36:57 not gonna they’re
0:36:58 not gonna grade you
0:36:59 any differently and
0:37:01 I was like grades get
0:37:02 an A walking in
0:37:03 here I’m trying to
0:37:04 get out of this town
0:37:05 I’m not doing this
0:37:07 for fucking grades I
0:37:07 got I want people to
0:37:08 see what I can do
0:37:10 now and I want to
0:37:11 see what I can do
0:37:12 now with this so a
0:37:14 lot of the story came
0:37:15 from the limitations
0:37:16 or actually the
0:37:16 freedoms of that
0:37:17 camera I couldn’t
0:37:18 have done that story
0:37:20 on video so when I
0:37:21 saw wow okay I can
0:37:22 do reverse photography
0:37:23 I can do stop
0:37:25 motion she has to
0:37:26 have special powers
0:37:27 because if she has
0:37:28 special powers and I
0:37:29 can utilize I can
0:37:30 really milk this
0:37:31 camera for all it
0:37:31 can get there’s one
0:37:32 of my shots I love
0:37:33 the most is where
0:37:35 she’s standing there
0:37:36 and the and the
0:37:39 chair she makes a
0:37:40 chair come all the
0:37:41 way up to her and it
0:37:41 goes all the way up
0:37:43 to her face now if I
0:37:44 do that normally where
0:37:45 would I even put the
0:37:47 strings for that right
0:37:49 to pull the chair so I
0:37:50 start here with the
0:37:51 camera upside down I
0:37:52 have the strings in the
0:37:52 back you’re not going
0:37:53 to be looking at the
0:37:54 back and as it goes
0:37:56 back you pull it back
0:37:57 and then when you
0:37:59 reverse it it goes and
0:38:00 it looks so good you
0:38:01 can’t spot this if you
0:38:02 look close you see the
0:38:02 strings are in the
0:38:03 back but your eyes
0:38:05 so I did stuff like
0:38:06 that and then just
0:38:07 her like getting the
0:38:08 hose and then I just
0:38:09 do stop motion for the
0:38:10 hose turning on you
0:38:11 know the faucet that’s
0:38:12 why I gave her special
0:38:13 powers so that and it
0:38:14 made the story better so
0:38:16 sometimes the limitations
0:38:17 you have with equipment
0:38:19 or location you can use
0:38:20 it to make you know
0:38:21 take chicken shit turn
0:38:23 in chicken salad take
0:38:23 this camera that
0:38:24 everyone was like what’s
0:38:26 this and I go I can do
0:38:29 so much with this but I
0:38:30 tell you today I look at
0:38:31 that camera I can’t
0:38:31 believe I ever made a
0:38:32 movie with that thing
0:38:34 it’s so ridiculously
0:38:35 primitive I’m just like
0:38:36 how did I even think I
0:38:38 could get anything done
0:38:39 with this and it even
0:38:40 exposed and mariachi the
0:38:41 same way you have to
0:38:42 think about it I shot
0:38:43 mariachi on film and
0:38:45 with a bar 16 millimeter
0:38:46 camera I didn’t know
0:38:48 how to use it I called up
0:38:49 a place in Dallas that
0:38:49 rented that kind of
0:38:51 equipment and I said I
0:38:53 have an airy 16s here
0:38:57 two motor looking things
0:38:59 one has a 24 yeah and
0:39:00 one has a bunch of
0:39:01 numbers oh that’s a
0:39:02 variable speed motor that
0:39:03 means you can do a
0:39:04 different speed I can
0:39:04 shoot slow motion with
0:39:06 this oh wow do you have a
0:39:07 torque motor I don’t know
0:39:08 what is that is there
0:39:09 something on the side of
0:39:10 the magazine like it does
0:39:13 yeah now you can just look
0:39:14 up on YouTube and it shows
0:39:15 you how I was doing it by
0:39:17 phone that way and then I
0:39:17 went and shot the movie
0:39:19 right then yeah and I
0:39:21 didn’t know if any of it
0:39:23 was exposing or if the film
0:39:25 camera was working until I
0:39:26 finished the whole movie so
0:39:27 imagine you have to go
0:39:28 down to Mexico shoot for
0:39:30 two weeks come back send
0:39:31 it off to the lab you
0:39:32 want to talk about being
0:39:35 nervous yeah just hoping
0:39:37 something exposed and when
0:39:39 I saw it come back and the
0:39:40 tape you know they
0:39:41 transferred it to a tape so
0:39:42 I could edit it deck to
0:39:44 deck again I was so
0:39:45 relieved some things didn’t
0:39:46 come out but I can cut
0:39:47 around that it’s like oh
0:39:48 yeah because I’m doing
0:39:49 everything like right here
0:39:50 you’re doing everything
0:39:51 imagine if you forgot to
0:39:52 stop down and it’s open
0:39:53 all the way and one shot
0:39:54 is blown out you know I’d
0:39:56 have stuff like that because
0:39:56 I’m moving fast and I’m
0:39:57 doing it wait a minute
0:39:59 you shot I’m gonna actually
0:40:01 the whole thing without
0:40:02 knowing if some of the
0:40:03 footage is damaged wrong
0:40:05 without any of it that’s
0:40:06 why I only did one take
0:40:09 so my idea was this how
0:40:10 gangster is that well it
0:40:13 was a test film right right
0:40:14 I thought it was I thought
0:40:15 it was going to be a test
0:40:16 film yeah it’s the only
0:40:17 movie in history ever made
0:40:20 where the filmmaker did not
0:40:22 think anyone would see it
0:40:24 and expect it and even set
0:40:25 it up that way I mean why
0:40:25 would I make an action
0:40:26 movie for the Spanish
0:40:28 market called basically the
0:40:29 guitar player promises no
0:40:30 action no one’s gonna watch
0:40:32 it but I thought if someone
0:40:33 actually picks it up and has
0:40:34 the balls to watch this
0:40:35 thing they’re gonna be
0:40:35 surprised I put a lot of
0:40:37 action it was just to learn
0:40:38 from I just needed to make
0:40:39 it for as little as
0:40:40 possible see how much I
0:40:42 could sell it for if I
0:40:43 could double my money great
0:40:44 I can make another one and
0:40:45 just get more practice it
0:40:47 was just I was so intrigued
0:40:49 by this idea because you’ve
0:40:50 heard advice about screen
0:40:52 writing I heard advice back
0:40:53 then that I thought was
0:40:54 ridiculous it said it’s
0:40:55 gonna take you a long
0:40:56 time to be a good
0:40:57 screenwriter so write three
0:40:58 scripts and throw them
0:41:00 away the fourth script will
0:41:00 be the good one I was
0:41:02 like it’s so hard to write
0:41:03 a script who’s gonna write
0:41:05 three full scripts knowing
0:41:05 they throw them away
0:41:07 wouldn’t it be better if
0:41:08 you write three scripts and
0:41:10 then shoot each one and be
0:41:11 the cameraman be the sound
0:41:13 guy be everything because
0:41:13 that way you’re learning not
0:41:14 just writing you’re
0:41:15 learning how to make a
0:41:17 movie so that was my idea
0:41:18 I’m gonna make three of
0:41:20 these hide it on Spanish
0:41:21 video but make money back
0:41:22 that’s like my own film
0:41:24 school paying me paying me to
0:41:26 learn so the first one I
0:41:27 thought let me just shoot
0:41:30 it one take each because my
0:41:31 friend Carlos lives in
0:41:33 Mexico if we shoot two
0:41:34 takes most of the cost is to
0:41:35 film I’ve just doubled my
0:41:37 budget so let me just shoot
0:41:39 one take some of it’s gonna
0:41:40 not come out but I’m not
0:41:40 gonna know what I’m not
0:41:42 gonna shoot a safety one
0:41:43 that doubles my let me let
0:41:44 me see some things might come
0:41:47 out I expected like 70% of
0:41:49 it to maybe be okay but 30% I
0:41:50 might have to come reshoot
0:41:51 which is fine I just drive
0:41:52 back there and then I just
0:41:53 reshoot just those shots
0:41:56 right so I just went let’s
0:41:58 shoot we stop we come back
0:41:59 then I send it off to
0:42:01 develop because we’re
0:42:02 shooting two weeks
0:42:03 consecutively to get film
0:42:05 shipped back and forth from
0:42:06 Mexico to see if it came out
0:42:07 you just couldn’t do it I
0:42:09 just had to you know double
0:42:11 down on it do it one take
0:42:12 everything I remember one
0:42:12 time I was still an actor
0:42:14 man I told you to run
0:42:15 through that shot and you
0:42:16 and you go oh let me do it
0:42:18 no one take dude just think
0:42:19 about next time do what I
0:42:20 say I didn’t think anyone
0:42:21 was gonna see it so you and
0:42:22 because you don’t think
0:42:24 anyone’s gonna see it you end
0:42:25 up doing something remarkable
0:42:26 which is well I’m just gonna
0:42:27 make something for myself
0:42:28 because if I was making a
0:42:29 movie that was gonna go to
0:42:31 Sundance I wouldn’t have
0:42:32 made that movie I would have
0:42:33 thought okay I gotta get
0:42:34 serious but because I made
0:42:35 this movie that was just
0:42:36 entertaining myself like
0:42:38 bedhead it entertained
0:42:42 audiences so that naivete is
0:42:43 really important when you’re
0:42:44 starting out or at any point
0:42:46 in your life be naive about
0:42:47 what things gonna and just do
0:42:48 something for yourself that
0:42:49 taught me a very valuable
0:42:50 lesson because I didn’t
0:42:51 want anybody to see it I
0:42:53 just thought one take one
0:42:55 take when I got back home a
0:42:56 bunch of stuff didn’t come
0:42:57 out but I’m like I’m not
0:42:59 going back to Mexico I’ll
0:43:00 figure out a way to edit
0:43:01 around it and make the movie
0:43:04 shorter and that’s just gonna
0:43:05 be the movie and then that’s
0:43:06 the one that went one
0:43:08 Sundance that was your first
0:43:09 feature film that’s one you
0:43:09 made for seven thousand
0:43:10 dollars you mentioned your
0:43:12 friend Carlos there’s the
0:43:13 star of the movie everything
0:43:16 one take and you know I
0:43:17 highly recommend people go
0:43:18 back and watch that movie it’s
0:43:20 it’s just incredible movie it’s
0:43:22 fun and it’s it’s an action
0:43:24 film moves really fast the
0:43:26 story is really interesting so
0:43:26 the script is really
0:43:28 interesting all the actors you
0:43:30 could tell they all kind of
0:43:32 stepped up and played their own
0:43:33 they weren’t actors that’s
0:43:36 right friends of ours which is
0:43:38 why and because and this is
0:43:40 the magic of not having a crew
0:43:41 they didn’t feel like they’re
0:43:44 making a movie it’s like this you
0:43:45 know we’re we’re just here yeah
0:43:48 me with my one camera in fact
0:43:52 the gal uh carl said this one
0:43:53 girl i forgot she’s in town maybe
0:43:54 she would work because we try to
0:43:56 get a soap star she backed out so
0:43:58 we got this gal over she goes but i
0:43:59 don’t know how to act and i said
0:44:00 here let’s watch i want to show you
0:44:02 some on mexican tv a telenovela was
0:44:05 on and you see someone you know all
0:44:07 over over i said that’s acting i don’t
0:44:09 want you to do that i want you to just
0:44:12 talk like you’re that the love
0:44:14 interest the woman in that that’s
0:44:15 you’re talking about that’s what
0:44:16 you’re talking about she’s amazing
0:44:18 she’s amazing because i got a video
0:44:20 of her i said i want you to just do
0:44:22 this one line pretend like you’re just
0:44:24 talking to your boyfriend yeah and i
0:44:26 showed her i showed her the video that
0:44:27 was cool because i couldn’t show her
0:44:29 the film because we have to develop it
0:44:31 but i showed her a video test of
0:44:32 herself doing it and she saw herself
0:44:34 doing it she suddenly had the
0:44:35 confidence we went through her
0:44:37 closet this red dress you can wear
0:44:38 that and everyone just brought their
0:44:40 own clothes she really had like a
0:44:42 sexuality attention like a romantic
0:44:44 tension that was real those isn’t it
0:44:46 was a it was in part a great love
0:44:48 story that i mean as ridiculous as it
0:44:51 is to say yeah and yeah in part like a
0:44:53 dramatic love story yeah the idea was
0:44:55 that you know i thought a guitar player
0:44:57 you know originally what i wanted to do
0:44:59 was like road warrior i said i want a
0:45:00 guy with a guitar case full of weapons
0:45:02 going from town to town like road
0:45:03 warrior but i don’t have enough money
0:45:05 for the first one to do that that’ll
0:45:08 be the second movie i do how we do a
0:45:10 genesis story how he became that guy
0:45:12 so let’s do mad max basically how he
0:45:14 becomes that guy so maybe he is a
0:45:16 guitar player so that you start writing
0:45:17 it out i was going to show you my
0:45:20 writing method i write on on index cards
0:45:23 and i carry one of these a little
0:45:25 packet of index cards i keep one always
0:45:28 in my bag and i smile when i run across
0:45:30 it because i go i’ve made a million
0:45:32 dollars one of these before you know
0:45:35 it’s like this is the key to your next
0:45:37 success cards because you know when you
0:45:39 go see a therapist you’re not going to
0:45:40 them for the answers you’re going to
0:45:42 them for the questions you got the
0:45:44 answers inside which you don’t have
0:45:45 other questions a lot of times we ask
0:45:47 ourselves very unempowering questions
0:45:49 like why am i such a loser you know i
0:45:51 can think of 10 answers right now but if
0:45:53 you could but if you go what three
0:45:54 things can i do today that’ll not just
0:45:56 change my life but everyone around me
0:45:59 take steps to that take out your cards
0:46:01 you start writing them down you won’t
0:46:02 come up with three you’ll come up with
0:46:05 15 like wow because you’re asking
0:46:07 yourself and you’ll see him so when i was
0:46:09 doing that movie i thought okay he’s a
0:46:13 guitar player for real and he gets mixed
0:46:16 up with the guy with a case so how about
0:46:18 he walks into a bar so right down there
0:46:21 he walks into a bar bar trying to get
0:46:24 work bartender looks at him we don’t
0:46:25 hire maria she’s get the hell out of
0:46:29 here so he leaves after that whole scene
0:46:30 explaining who he is and what his story
0:46:32 is then the shooter comes in with a
0:46:34 guitar case full of weapons he’s also
0:46:35 dressed in black and he shoots the
0:46:38 place up now that was a short film
0:46:40 that’s how you start a short film but
0:46:42 this is a feature movie so shit i gotta
0:46:44 figure out how to tell a feature i’m
0:46:46 gonna need a few more cards before that
0:46:50 so i’m gonna need well who’s this bad
0:46:51 guy how about he’s in jail i’d read a
0:46:54 story it’s a crazy story about a guy who
0:46:56 was in jail mexico and he was running his
0:46:58 drug business from the jail his protection
0:46:59 he could walk out anytime but he was it
0:47:01 was to have the cops be his enforcers
0:47:04 basically so introduce that guy he’s in
0:47:08 jail making phone calls and someone puts a
0:47:09 hit on him so we have action right away
0:47:12 there’s a hit on him he kills those guys
0:47:15 because it’s his operation he’s not in
0:47:18 jail all the cops are working for him and
0:47:20 he tells that guy on the phone the main
0:47:22 bad guy i’m gonna come to town i’m gonna
0:47:24 kill all your guys i’m gonna come kill
0:47:27 you so then he gets in his truck and you
0:47:30 see them bring him a guitar case full of
0:47:35 weapons he passes the mariachi on the way
0:47:37 to town and now it’s his story the baton
0:47:40 gets turned to mariachi mariachi’s doing a
0:47:42 voiceover easy to shoot we can do the
0:47:44 voice later we don’t have to sing sound
0:47:47 there was even a scene when he walks into
0:47:49 town where we saw these coconuts a guy
0:47:50 cutting coconuts and we go let’s go film
0:47:52 over there so we film the guy giving him
0:47:55 a coconut with a straw in it and he walks
0:47:56 out i’m like shit man you forgot to pay
0:47:59 the guy well let’s shoot that no there’s
0:48:01 one take i’ll just put in the voiceover
0:48:02 that they give away free coconuts in this
0:48:05 town and for years people in other
0:48:06 countries would go they really give away
0:48:08 free coconuts no it’s because we forgot
0:48:09 to show him pain you know little happy
0:48:11 accidents so now look you’re already
0:48:13 building a movie so it’s like now he
0:48:15 goes in the bar now he’s mixed up and
0:48:17 the bad guy says find the guy with a
0:48:19 guitar case full of weapons then he goes
0:48:22 it meets the girl so you just start your
0:48:24 movie visually you can start seeing your
0:48:26 movie and i’ve used this for business
0:48:28 things i’ve used this for ideas for
0:48:30 manifesting stuff it’s brilliant are you
0:48:33 doing this alone usually are you it’s
0:48:35 coming and it comes so fast it’s like
0:48:36 free association maybe i have the ending
0:48:38 oh i know i want his hand shot he’s
0:48:41 gonna get his hand shot because he’s a
0:48:43 musician and those ballads are always
0:48:47 really tragic so the girl has to die the
0:48:48 girl has to die because if it’s a it’s
0:48:50 going to be a tragic song for his song
0:48:52 book each movie should be like a tragedy
0:48:56 that’s going to be over here you know
0:48:57 you know you got the ending and then
0:48:59 your brain starts filling in the rest
0:49:00 because you’re asking yourself these
0:49:03 prompt questions that you already have
0:49:05 answers for from a past life from a vision
0:49:06 you had that you don’t even know are
0:49:09 there this prompts it it’s kind of a
0:49:10 puzzle that you’re figuring out what
0:49:12 happens if you get stuck like this
0:49:14 doesn’t make sense like some aspect of
0:49:17 structure doesn’t make sense all there
0:49:18 you won’t yeah you just start you just
0:49:19 start writing in the ones you do know
0:49:22 yeah like okay i know i know at some
0:49:25 point she’s going to betray him or he’s
0:49:28 going to think she does she betrays him
0:49:31 okay that’s in the middle somewhere uh
0:49:32 the other ones will come yeah those are
0:49:34 all like crossroads for the story
0:49:35 doesn’t that like how do you know she
0:49:37 has to die can that can you change your
0:49:39 mind about that i can yeah but for now i
0:49:43 felt like if i really want the story’s
0:49:44 telling me now what it is i didn’t know
0:49:46 i was going to make a genesis story i
0:49:48 wanted to do the road warrior guy but the
0:49:50 road warrior he lost his family so
0:49:52 really to propel him to become a guy who
0:49:54 has a guitar case full of weapons he has
0:49:57 to lose everything so that he needs a
0:50:00 ghost so this is a genesis story of a
0:50:01 character well look bruce wayne lost his
0:50:02 parents you could say well does the
0:50:04 parents have to die well no but it’s not
0:50:06 going to propel him like it’s not going
0:50:08 to it’s not going to drive him like that
0:50:10 thing so it just kept it’s just coming to
0:50:13 me so this is my other trick and this is
0:50:14 the main thing you got to learn about
0:50:17 if you take any way this isn’t me doing
0:50:19 it i totally believe that because when
0:50:22 you start doing this you go where are
0:50:24 these answers coming from i’m asking the
0:50:25 right question but why how come the
0:50:27 answers just keep coming like this
0:50:30 i believe because i do so many different
0:50:32 jobs i’ve learned this over the years
0:50:35 america when it was in 2002 i was like
0:50:38 how is it that i’m the production
0:50:40 designer the composer which i don’t even
0:50:42 know how to read or write music and i’m
0:50:44 writing orchestral score and i’m doing
0:50:45 the editing and i’m doing the
0:50:48 cinematography i haven’t been trained for
0:50:49 any i never went to school for these
0:50:52 specifically must be something about
0:50:54 creativity so i went on amazon it’s
0:50:59 2002 i look up creative books anything
0:51:01 that has creativity in the title i just
0:51:03 ordered it and i’ve got a bunch of books
0:51:06 on creativity and i was reading them
0:51:08 through one of them was like really
0:51:09 speaking to me yeah that’s that’s it
0:51:11 that’s the process is it and then it says
0:51:13 gels and mediums and i’m like oh this is a
0:51:17 book specifically about painting but it
0:51:20 applies to music editing cinematography
0:51:23 writing it’s all the same so that’s when i
0:51:27 realized that creativity is 90 of any of
0:51:30 those jobs the technical part of setting
0:51:33 up the cameras of writing a script in
0:51:35 format or reading or writing music that’s
0:51:38 10 of that how many musicians you know
0:51:39 don’t read or write music and they’re
0:51:42 fantastic because 90 what they do is
0:51:44 creative now i believe that that same
0:51:47 person even if they only do music could
0:51:49 literally jump from job to job
0:51:52 creatively and do a superior job than
0:51:54 most technicians and there’s also
0:51:55 something to say there about the
0:51:58 learning the technical aspects of an
0:52:01 art you you collide with the uh
0:52:06 uh with the experts what happens is i’ve
0:52:07 experienced this a lot with like with
0:52:09 using cameras and so on i don’t know
0:52:11 shit about cameras and that you roll in
0:52:13 and then there’s all the experts almost
0:52:16 talking down to you and telling you how
0:52:17 things are supposed to be everything is
0:52:19 wrong i talked to somebody about like
0:52:22 soundproofing a room and they said they
0:52:25 gave me prices they’re insane and like
0:52:26 the amount of effort is insane and this
0:52:29 the the i’m telling you something the
0:52:30 dynamics of this room are all wrong i’m
0:52:32 like why can’t i just fucking hang up
0:52:34 some curtains like what it seems like
0:52:36 that kills most of the echo like i don’t
0:52:37 i don’t understand and they’re like no
0:52:39 this is all wrong is there’s corn the
0:52:41 corners are gonna have some so and i’m
0:52:43 like fuck it i’m just gonna try i’m
0:52:44 gonna see what it sounds like a and b
0:52:47 okay here’s audio with curtains here’s
0:52:48 audio without curtains seems like this is
0:52:50 fine as a move on to the next thing
0:52:53 i think that when you say creativity
0:52:57 some of that is being a rebel like not
0:52:59 listening to the experts yeah well you’re
0:53:00 going on your creativity which is what
0:53:02 is that that’s like an do you consider
0:53:04 yourself a creative person i think you
0:53:06 play guitar yeah guitar piano yeah
0:53:07 everything piano okay but you could be
0:53:08 would you call yourself a creative
0:53:09 person
0:53:12 yeah i think so good you should i think
0:53:14 that’s a positive i would just suggest
0:53:16 to anybody is just own it own it and
0:53:19 just say i like when i do so many
0:53:21 different jobs it sounds crazy when
0:53:23 they would introduce me hey robert he
0:53:24 does this blah blah blah blah and i was
0:53:26 like i get tired just hearing that list
0:53:27 but when i think about it there’s really
0:53:29 only one thing i do and i live a
0:53:30 creative life and when you live a
0:53:32 creative life that means anything that
0:53:33 has to do with creativity whether it’s
0:53:36 filming or piano guitar sculpting or you
0:53:38 can just you can do it you can take it
0:53:39 on and do it because it teaches you more
0:53:41 about your main job i become a better
0:53:43 director by doing all those jobs because
0:53:45 when somebody just does one job they
0:53:47 barely know that job you have to do
0:53:49 more to learn about creativity and this
0:53:51 is the main thing i learned was that
0:53:54 i’m writing music you know for an
0:53:56 orchestra i’m like how did i i don’t
0:53:57 even know what i’m doing why is that
0:53:59 coming out i don’t feel like i’m doing
0:54:02 it i feel like i picked up the pen i feel
0:54:05 like i had the idea to do the cards but
0:54:06 then when everything just starts coming
0:54:08 out so quickly like that’s how fast i
0:54:12 wrote that movie i go i really feel like
0:54:13 something else has taken over so this
0:54:16 is what my belief is and because i hear
0:54:17 it in different realms like you ask
0:54:18 keith reggie how do you come up with
0:54:19 these riffs because i don’t i don’t
0:54:21 they’re floating around the sky and i
0:54:23 pull them out first you know yes as you
0:54:24 know jimmy vaughn how do you play
0:54:26 guitar those solos goes it’s like a
0:54:28 radio you know once you get a tune just
0:54:29 right you can’t even believe what’s
0:54:32 coming through so i believe i call it
0:54:33 the creative spirit there’s a spirit
0:54:35 assigned to all of us it’s creative
0:54:38 that doesn’t have hands it needs you to
0:54:40 pick up the pen pull out the cards
0:54:42 and then when you start getting in the
0:54:44 flow and you’re like whoa it’s writing
0:54:46 it’s that’s that and if you can have
0:54:49 that mindset you take your ego out of
0:54:51 it and go all i need to do is be a good
0:54:53 conduit for this thing be a good pipe and
0:54:55 it’s going to come through so you don’t
0:54:57 ever have to get hung up on that question
0:54:59 you had well well what happens when you
0:55:00 can’t come up it wasn’t me to begin
0:55:03 with if it’s not coming out it’s because
0:55:05 i’m blocking it and if i were to do
0:55:08 this and i’m flowing and if i were to
0:55:11 say wow i just wrote 10 cards i don’t
0:55:12 know if i can write more how did i do
0:55:14 that you just shut the pipe because your
0:55:16 ego got in the way you just clogged it
0:55:18 because it gets pissed off that you think
0:55:20 it’s you it’s not you it’s like dude just
0:55:22 open up let me through pick up the
0:55:25 fucking pen and i learned this in uh when
0:55:27 i was 19 when i had a daily cartoon
0:55:29 strip i had to draw a comic strip every
0:55:33 day to get paid and i would be like i’d
0:55:35 have to draw like one drawing draw
0:55:36 another drawing then it’s like okay
0:55:38 these kind of go together it was a
0:55:40 process you know and sometimes i just
0:55:42 felt like i wish i could just envision
0:55:44 it sit back i’m gonna try that method i
0:55:46 went home and i would sit back and just
0:55:49 try to get in my sofa try the sofa method
0:55:50 i’m just gonna try a picture the comic
0:55:51 strip and then as soon as i got one i
0:55:53 think it’s funny then i’ll just go draw
0:55:55 that right doesn’t be done in a half
0:55:58 hour why why it’s three hours i’d sit
0:55:59 there and sit there and sit there my
0:56:00 deadline be coming up got like 30
0:56:02 minutes like oh shit gotta go sit and
0:56:04 draw it out it’s like okay i got this
0:56:06 drawings kind of oh this kind of goes
0:56:08 with that if i make another drawing i have
0:56:10 my strip that’s the only way to do it
0:56:12 if you don’t get up the creative spirit
0:56:13 ain’t gonna come visit you if you’re
0:56:17 doing this yeah it needs your hands and
0:56:19 it’s not gonna reward you for sitting
0:56:21 there waiting for you have to jump in and
0:56:23 do it and people when they say oh well
0:56:26 i’m not ready how pissed off is that
0:56:29 it’s waiting for you to feel like you’re
0:56:31 ready it’s not you just start doing the
0:56:33 action and it’s gonna come through and
0:56:35 the ideas will come and the answers will
0:56:36 come because it’s not you and if you can
0:56:38 take your ego out of like you’ll be
0:56:40 blessed with this never-ending flow of
0:56:43 ideas because don’t take ownership for
0:56:44 it and know that you’re if it’s not
0:56:46 coming out because you’re just clogging
0:56:47 it because this thing’s got endless
0:56:50 ideas and you give that same advice for
0:56:52 for making films which is you know don’t
0:56:54 plan if you want to be a filmmaker don’t
0:56:56 plan like the movie don’t think about
0:56:58 making them would just go in and start
0:56:59 yeah i would meet a lot of people who
0:57:02 introduce themselves as aspiring i’m an
0:57:04 aspiring filmmaker and i wonder how what
0:57:05 would you tell an aspiring filmmaker i
0:57:08 said stop aspiring because if you call
0:57:11 yourself that you are that and you’re
0:57:12 always going to feel like you’re not
0:57:14 ready and you don’t you just jump in
0:57:16 before you’re ready you don’t feel like
0:57:17 you’re ready till i didn’t feel like i
0:57:19 was ready to do mariachi till i was
0:57:20 probably in my last few days of filming
0:57:22 you became ready as you went you didn’t
0:57:23 know all that stuff i couldn’t have
0:57:26 figured all that out in advance when my
0:57:27 kids worked with me on a project that
0:57:30 we did similar by the end they realized
0:57:31 they did an interview with my son who
0:57:33 after just two weeks of doing one of
0:57:34 those projects you’re a different
0:57:36 person he’s suddenly waxing
0:57:38 philosophical about the creative
0:57:39 process and going i never knew how my
0:57:41 dad did mariachi until we did this
0:57:43 project together and i realized he
0:57:44 didn’t know either he didn’t know i
0:57:45 was going to do it he figured it out
0:57:47 day by day every challenge that got
0:57:50 thrown at him he had to figure it out
0:57:52 and that’s the biggest lesson most
0:57:55 people never start and that’s the
0:57:56 biggest thing don’t wait till you’re
0:57:57 ready or they’ll be on your tombstone
0:57:59 here lies so-and-so he was never ready
0:58:01 and you don’t want to be that guy jump
0:58:04 in no it’s not you you just got to be
0:58:06 the hands and that that that relieves a
0:58:07 lot of pressure from you because then
0:58:09 you don’t have to ever have to do
0:58:11 anything really you just have to be the
0:58:12 hands can you talk through some of the
0:58:14 hats some of the many hats you wore
0:58:16 with the el mariachi it’s that’s an
0:58:18 interesting case study and you’ve done
0:58:19 the same thing over and over in
0:58:21 completely different innovative ways
0:58:23 in all the films but el mariachi is such
0:58:27 a radical leap for you i was crazy i
0:58:28 was that thing’s held together with
0:58:30 scotch tape rubber bands because of the
0:58:33 camera i borrowed you directed you did
0:58:37 cinematography you did the sound it’s
0:58:38 better to just say what i didn’t do i
0:58:39 didn’t act in front of the camera
0:58:42 everything else i did everything else i
0:58:44 was the whole crew yeah it’s just like
0:58:47 you’re doing here except you’ve got
0:58:50 sound recording um right onto the
0:58:52 cameras right or do you have it to the
0:58:54 system uh separately but it’s synced i
0:58:56 mean all the modern technology i didn’t
0:58:58 have sync camera yep so i had a camera
0:59:01 that yep it was not it was not a sync
0:59:04 camera and the thing was it was so loud i
0:59:05 would have had to blimp the shit out of
0:59:07 it i didn’t have a blimp and then i
0:59:08 would have needed a sound guy just to be
0:59:10 clear so people don’t understand this
0:59:12 you’re shooting basically no sound
0:59:14 because the camera sounds like this
0:59:18 it’s like it sounds like all your
0:59:19 money’s going away first of all so i
0:59:20 would go like this
0:59:24 action you start running yeah and i shoot
0:59:24 my edit
0:59:30 yep you know they’re still running you
0:59:31 know like i’m only using this part
0:59:34 and there’s no slates there’s no nut
0:59:35 there’s there’s guys holding up their
0:59:36 fingers at the beginning of roll like
0:59:38 this is real seven yeah for just a few
0:59:39 frames so i know which real it is
0:59:41 and then that 10 minutes of film
0:59:45 is just one shot after another and i
0:59:47 use almost every frame of those shots
0:59:50 i was cutting in the camera now after i
0:59:52 shoot like let’s say you know tell me
0:59:53 your name
0:59:55 lex what’s your last name
0:59:57 friedman where do you live
1:00:00 austin texas i would do the whole scene
1:00:02 then i’ll get the sound bring the mic in
1:00:04 close like that say it again lex
1:00:07 friedman austin texas that’ll probably
1:00:11 now if you were going on and on there’s a
1:00:13 place where it’d go out of sync i hate
1:00:16 rubbery lips so i would cut away to the
1:00:19 dog or to the knife or to the girl and
1:00:21 then i cut back when you’re back in sync
1:00:23 and since these were non-actors they say
1:00:25 everything the same way each time they
1:00:27 would say their line just like they
1:00:28 weren’t they weren’t performing it to
1:00:29 where they didn’t remember how they
1:00:30 performed the thing before they were just
1:00:32 talking in their own rhythm so a lot of
1:00:34 times it’s anytime you see anyone on
1:00:36 camera talking they’re in sync with
1:00:38 themselves and as soon as it cuts away
1:00:40 they’re out of sync and it created this
1:00:42 really fast cutting style that i probably
1:00:44 wouldn’t have had on such a low budget
1:00:45 movie but it was the only way to keep
1:00:46 things in sync so when i would shoot two
1:00:48 people talking i would make sure i’d
1:00:51 film a couple shots of like the dog or a
1:00:53 stuffed cat or something just so i’d have
1:00:54 something to cut away to to get them
1:00:56 back in sync that’s so brilliant it’s
1:00:58 that i call it it’s just resourceful it’s
1:01:00 just being very resourceful you allow it to
1:01:02 get maybe a little bit out of sync
1:01:03 sometimes i didn’t allow it but oh
1:01:05 yeah i would let it if i just didn’t
1:01:07 have a way to cut away right and i would
1:01:09 try to sync it as best i could but we as
1:01:11 the audience like do you understand
1:01:13 where the threshold is where we notice
1:01:15 something yeah it seems like you can get
1:01:17 away with a lot you can get away with i
1:01:19 just don’t i’m just particular about
1:01:22 that i just don’t like seeing a dub movie
1:01:24 where it just feels canned it makes you
1:01:26 not believe in it anymore so i just cut
1:01:29 away where the lips are just way off i
1:01:31 just didn’t want any of that i just
1:01:33 felt like i wanted it to just be
1:01:35 believable and there they could be
1:01:37 really believable if they’re in sync but
1:01:39 i didn’t shoot two takes of film or even
1:01:41 two takes of audio but just one take we
1:01:43 just went to the and what’s cool is that
1:01:45 because i just had them go through the
1:01:48 whole scene again so i would go ahead and
1:01:49 record them like grabbing the bottle or
1:01:51 any action they did opening the suitcase i
1:01:52 have all the sound effects too i just
1:01:54 have to sync it by hand that’s a lot of
1:01:57 work for me but i got great sound that
1:01:59 way because if i had had a sync camera
1:02:02 the mic would have been so far we wouldn’t
1:02:04 have we would have had to go get new sound
1:02:06 effects but because the camera is off i
1:02:08 could record everything close up so there
1:02:11 was some blessing to that you uh and
1:02:13 quentin tarantino had a great conversation
1:02:14 about a lot of topics but one of them is
1:02:16 how to bring out the best in the actors
1:02:18 like what in that el mariachi how do you
1:02:21 bring out the best in these non-actors
1:02:23 and then maybe what’s the thread that
1:02:25 connects to your future work too
1:02:28 what really helped for those non-actors
1:02:30 was that they just look across and and
1:02:32 it’s me filming they didn’t feel like
1:02:33 they’re so they’re being so natural
1:02:35 when i think i who played the bad guy i
1:02:37 met him in the research hospital where i
1:02:39 was sold my body to science he was my
1:02:41 bunk mate and i said dude you look kind
1:02:42 of like rudger howard and then it’s like
1:02:44 we saw another movie man you look like
1:02:45 james spader shit you should be the bad
1:02:47 guy in my movie and it’d be cool to have
1:02:48 you as the bad guy he goes but i don’t
1:02:50 speak spanish well that’s okay all right
1:02:52 and i’ll teach you phonetically and
1:02:54 you’re going to wear sunglasses and if
1:02:56 you look close he’s holding the he’s
1:02:57 holding the lines here and he’s
1:02:59 looking at the lines like that and just
1:03:01 smiling so can’t believe he’s getting
1:03:03 away with this he’s smiling and he’s
1:03:05 got the sunglasses on i read that
1:03:06 somewhere in the pool there’s like a
1:03:08 scene in the pool he’s like with the
1:03:11 sunglasses on with an oh man but but he
1:03:13 was doing it phonetically and i tell you
1:03:15 what he was so great that guy right
1:03:17 yeah when we do desperado i brought him
1:03:19 back didn’t even have to do any
1:03:21 dialogue watch that movie when he
1:03:22 shows up in the opening scene when
1:03:25 desperado he’s playing the guitar and the
1:03:27 opening with the credits to tie it into
1:03:30 the first movie he shows up again and all
1:03:31 he has to do is light a cigarette and you
1:03:32 see this
1:03:35 yeah because he’s so nervous because now
1:03:37 there’s a crew behind me now it’s real
1:03:40 before it was just me and him and it
1:03:41 didn’t feel like a real movie so everyone
1:03:44 gave a great performance so how do you
1:03:46 recreate that later on a big movie is
1:03:48 just building a report making a safe
1:03:51 zone for your actors quentin once told
1:03:52 me sometimes being you know we’re
1:03:52 talking about directing is yeah
1:03:54 sometimes being a great director is
1:03:55 just being a great audience you know
1:03:56 being a great audience for them
1:03:58 because you’re you’re the you’re
1:03:59 taking the place of the audience for
1:04:01 the actor they try something if you’re
1:04:02 enjoying it they know that the
1:04:04 audience is going to enjoy it or if
1:04:06 you’re you know makes you cry you
1:04:07 know so sometimes you just you don’t
1:04:09 have to tell them a lot sometimes and if
1:04:11 you do have something very specific to
1:04:13 tell them they usually you know go
1:04:15 with it but I always just like to see
1:04:17 what they do and a lot of times they
1:04:19 just are in the zone because again
1:04:21 they’re getting that flow to you create
1:04:22 the right environment everyone’s
1:04:24 getting this inspiration that’s all
1:04:26 tied together that you never could have
1:04:27 directed it’s just like you just
1:04:29 create that space where we’re all
1:04:31 going to be open to it and it’s going
1:04:32 to drop in our lap and I’m going to
1:04:35 point it out when it does because you
1:04:36 may not feel like you know how to play
1:04:40 this role yet but I say not knowing is
1:04:41 the other half of the battle and the
1:04:42 more important part and part that’s
1:04:44 the part we’re going to discover and
1:04:45 when it happens I’m going to point it
1:04:46 out and it’s going to be like magic
1:04:47 and we’re just going to go okay we’re
1:04:48 accepting it and we do it and it gets
1:04:50 people in that kind of headspace and
1:04:52 then we’re all open to it to where the
1:04:54 character is supposed to go with the
1:04:55 what it’s supposed to sound like
1:04:57 instead of me being very you know
1:04:59 manipulative to get a certain thing I
1:05:00 don’t know it’s it’s just whatever
1:05:02 feels good yeah there’s such an
1:05:03 intimate connection between the actor
1:05:04 and the director I’ve seen some of
1:05:05 the behind-the-scenes footage with
1:05:08 you you are just a fan enjoying the
1:05:10 scene when it’s done well but I
1:05:11 think there’s an aspect if I were to
1:05:13 put myself in the headspace of the
1:05:15 actor they want you as the audience
1:05:17 like to earn that happiness you know
1:05:19 because when a director approves yeah
1:05:21 well you’re a performer and you want
1:05:22 and there’s no other you know it’s not
1:05:23 like a live show where you get the
1:05:25 approval of the audience and you’re
1:05:26 like oh wow they they like that joke
1:05:28 let me do more you know really the
1:05:30 director is it and a lot of times the
1:05:31 director’s way behind a monitor
1:05:32 somewhere that’s why I still like to
1:05:34 operate the camera so I’m operating the
1:05:36 camera it’s like this we can have a
1:05:37 hundred people here we wouldn’t
1:05:38 know because they go away it’s just
1:05:41 us they just disappear when it’s the
1:05:43 camera guy is the director and we’re
1:05:45 going let’s do that again so there’s a
1:05:47 shot and I’m lighting sensitivity
1:05:48 myself there’s all about my crew
1:05:51 setting lights and I have this great
1:05:53 shot of Clive Owen where he’s holding
1:05:54 down Benicio’s head in the toilet you
1:05:55 know Benicio’s not there it’s just a
1:05:58 close-up of him at this point and I’m
1:05:59 practicing my shot I’m zooming and
1:06:01 slow in his face and people are still
1:06:02 walking behind him on the green screen
1:06:04 setting lights and I’m like I’m
1:06:05 rolling we’re ready to go we’re
1:06:06 getting this I can already tell we’re
1:06:08 already in the moment what you’re
1:06:09 doing right now just keep holding that
1:06:11 look now one jolt like you’re like
1:06:13 he’s starting to fight back but you
1:06:15 don’t even flinch cut okay never mind
1:06:16 you guys can stop moving that shit we
1:06:18 already got holy shit it’s like that
1:06:20 wow yeah it’s like that because you’re
1:06:22 so that’s a great scene by the way
1:06:25 great right and it’s holy shit if I
1:06:26 wait for these guys this moment will be
1:06:28 gone and then another one was Mickey
1:06:30 Rourke you know he had so much
1:06:32 freaking dialogue he had just done this
1:06:33 whole big dialogue scene he had
1:06:35 another one it said let’s go ahead
1:06:38 and start with a wide shot where the
1:06:40 two actors if I’m the camera you know
1:06:42 Mickey and Elijah are here let’s get a
1:06:43 two-shot and we’ll come around on
1:06:45 Mickey close-up we don’t we’ll turn
1:06:47 Mickey around for the close-up let’s
1:06:48 start with the wide thing get used to
1:06:50 the lines and most of it’s going to be
1:06:51 sold in the close-up we sit down Mickey
1:06:54 starts delivering the take hold on hold
1:06:56 a second I brought my camera over zoom
1:06:57 in just adjust that light real quick
1:06:58 because I’m the DP because if I had
1:07:00 another director of photography
1:07:01 they’re like oh no no we have to
1:07:02 relight and all this stuff it’s like
1:07:04 no no let’s just do this this let’s go
1:07:06 he’s doing it right now and I go and
1:07:09 that performance is just right then and
1:07:12 so you can feel that when you’re also
1:07:14 you’re operating and you’re the camera
1:07:17 guy and you’re the DP it’s like high-tech
1:07:18 guerrilla filmmaking yeah we’re on a
1:07:20 green screen but it’s like all the crew
1:07:23 needs or you know marching orders just
1:07:26 put a light back there hitting them harder
1:07:28 like that’s a this is a 5k make that a
1:07:29 10k it’s got to be stronger they don’t
1:07:30 need to know that I’m going to make that
1:07:32 a lamppost later they just need it
1:07:34 marching orders for the moment so I can
1:07:35 just kind of tell people do this do this
1:07:37 do that and then I know what I can
1:07:38 accomplish with the actor and then
1:07:40 everything else falls into place later
1:07:41 because I’m going to put all that in
1:07:43 later you know things once you know how
1:07:45 to do a lot of jobs like that you can
1:07:46 just move at the speed of thought which
1:07:48 is where the actors love being
1:07:51 creatively because they nobody knew what
1:07:52 green screen was back then they’re like
1:07:54 what is this again so I explained it as
1:07:56 well it’s kind of like doing theater
1:07:58 but instead of a black curtain behind
1:07:59 you with a prop it’ll be a green
1:08:02 curtain and you might just have a cup
1:08:04 or just a steering wheel but it’s just
1:08:06 you and the other actors just like this
1:08:08 and everything else will be painted in
1:08:10 later we’re just talking we’re locked
1:08:12 in if we stay locked in we’ll look great
1:08:13 when there’s rain coming down and we’re
1:08:16 on a ship later but it comes down to
1:08:19 this right and the more it was so fun to
1:08:20 do those kind of movies to this day you
1:08:22 try to be close to the action
1:08:24 connected with the actor that’s because
1:08:27 it’s like a dance you end up that’s so
1:08:29 like here I remember on dust till dawn
1:08:31 Michael Parks in the opening scene he’s
1:08:34 talking about the two guys that are
1:08:36 running around killing people just before
1:08:38 he gets shot and there’s a I just start
1:08:40 doing this slow zoom I remember this take
1:08:43 eight start doing the slow zoom on him
1:08:46 and I’m like I hope I get all the way up
1:08:48 to where it stops zooming when he finishes
1:08:50 that speech because there’s no set way and
1:08:52 I don’t know how he’s gonna say but
1:08:54 you’re just locked almost telepathically
1:08:56 and as he’s delivered there’s no edits
1:08:58 he’s just going yeah they killed four
1:09:02 rangers two hostages it’s just like wow
1:09:04 and you’re just so pulled in I’m just
1:09:06 like oh my god and then it stopped it’s
1:09:07 like I ran out of zoom right as he
1:09:09 finished that speech so how can a
1:09:11 director because there’s a lot of great
1:09:13 directors that stay in the in the bag I
1:09:15 know it’s back you know they just trust
1:09:16 that whatever they get from their crew
1:09:18 they just you accept it just like you
1:09:19 know you would get a take there’s so
1:09:21 much I like I like that intimate
1:09:24 connection because I could not be behind
1:09:27 a monitor even if I had communication
1:09:28 with my cameraman okay now start zooming
1:09:31 in you’re not gonna know you have to
1:09:32 feel it you have to be in there it’s
1:09:33 like a dance it’s like trying to do a
1:09:35 dance with a partner and you’re across
1:09:36 the room you know it’s like no you got
1:09:39 to be there up close feeling the energy
1:09:41 and and it’s the the creative spirits
1:09:43 whispering to your both you know it’s
1:09:45 not your own idea it’s you’re
1:09:46 capturing a moment that’s magic and
1:09:48 there’s true magic that happens on a
1:09:49 set and that’s what brings you back
1:09:52 because you know I didn’t direct that
1:09:54 and they didn’t act that that came
1:09:56 through us and we just had the cameras
1:09:59 rolling and we captured a ghost it’s
1:10:00 like you said though you had a pen in
1:10:02 hand and you were you were there like
1:10:05 that crazy all right your friendship
1:10:07 with Tarantino is just fascinating and
1:10:09 just the whole timeline of the history
1:10:11 of movies and the two of you collided and
1:10:13 met is is just a fascinating part of the
1:10:17 story you first met him in 1992 at the
1:10:19 Toronto Film Festival can you just talk
1:10:21 about meeting Tarantino and we both had
1:10:24 films at the same time with first films
1:10:29 guys in black action violence in fact I
1:10:31 had seen this movie already my first film
1:10:32 festival was a few months before that
1:10:34 the Telluride Film Festival and Reservoir
1:10:35 Dogs was there but Quentin couldn’t be
1:10:36 there he was at Sundance earlier that
1:10:39 year and the guy who became my agent he
1:10:40 saw it he said hey you’re gonna like
1:10:41 this guy Quentin Tarantino I told him
1:10:43 about you you’re gonna meet him he’s
1:10:45 gonna be in Toronto oh cool cool okay and
1:10:46 so I went ahead and saw his movie and
1:10:48 tell you right and I was like holy shit
1:10:50 guys in black again just like the
1:10:53 mariachis dressed in black and action I
1:10:54 said oh we’re gonna like each other
1:10:56 he’s gonna like me when he sees so then
1:10:58 in Toronto we met and we met first on
1:11:00 because I knew I was gonna be doing a
1:11:02 panel discussion with him they asked us
1:11:04 to do a panel discussion about violence
1:11:06 and movies in the 90s even though it was
1:11:09 only 92 so we’re on a panel together
1:11:11 that’s where I met him and he’s like
1:11:13 hey Robert Rodriguez told me about you
1:11:14 and I was like yeah I saw your movie
1:11:16 Reservoir Dogs and he goes oh you gotta
1:11:18 come to my screening and I’m gonna come
1:11:20 see yours so he came to mariachi and I
1:11:22 videotaped the audience reactions
1:11:24 because they were insane insane
1:11:27 reactions to it but I have the first
1:11:30 screening he saw mariachi sitting next
1:11:32 to me laughing he’s laughing and
1:11:34 everything he was just the best audience
1:11:35 I have his recording of the first time
1:11:37 he saw mariachi oh no really yeah
1:11:40 because I tape it and he’s so loud
1:11:41 because he’s right next to me well just
1:11:43 like you but even probably even more
1:11:47 than you he’s a fan he watches he just
1:11:50 loves movies he loves movies in fact I the
1:11:52 next time I heard him laugh that way was
1:11:55 it that his own premiere for Kill Bill we’re
1:11:57 watching Kill Bill and he’s laughing like
1:11:59 it’s somebody else’s movie he still enjoys
1:12:01 the movies it’s so he loves but all the
1:12:03 actors did and it’s like that’s the kind
1:12:05 energy you really love but I tell you
1:12:08 what what what happened I’m not a very
1:12:09 shy person you know very shy I’d have to
1:12:11 go talk I’m sure you probably feel like
1:12:13 you’re not an orator or anything you know
1:12:16 just have to go do it I thought well man
1:12:17 I’m gonna have to introduce my film and
1:12:19 talk about it afterwards I’m afraid of
1:12:20 that what am I gonna do I don’t remember
1:12:22 talking in front of more than five people
1:12:24 before so I went to see this other movie
1:12:27 and it was good and I was watching and
1:12:30 and then the director comes up at the
1:12:32 end goes yeah well that was my movie and
1:12:35 you know you know here’s the writer and
1:12:37 it’s like I don’t like the movie anymore
1:12:39 this guy’s kind of a dick so I cannot do
1:12:43 that I’m gonna have to go be who they
1:12:46 imagine made that movie so I wrote out my
1:12:48 whole intro it was like a 20-minute
1:12:50 intro because no one had ever heard of
1:12:52 anybody making a movie for no money much
1:12:56 less without a crew much less you know
1:12:58 the way I did it was just very new nobody
1:13:01 knew it was possible so my whole intro
1:13:04 is like you’ll see the Columbia logo
1:13:06 slapped in front it’s probably cost more
1:13:08 than the whole movie and then I go
1:13:09 through this is how I made it with a
1:13:11 wheelchair for a dolly a turtle you know
1:13:13 I wrote around things I had I mentioned
1:13:16 the turtle the pit bull the bus the ranch
1:13:18 all that stuff right so that when they see
1:13:20 the movie in fact I think my wife was in
1:13:22 the audience she said at Sundance people
1:13:24 are laughing so much at your intro they
1:13:26 just wanted to hear a story like this
1:13:27 so badly I heard someone next to me say
1:13:29 I’m gonna vote for his movie they
1:13:31 hadn’t even seen the movie just because
1:13:33 the story was so good they wanted that
1:13:35 movie to be great and when they see the
1:13:39 turtle big cheers when they see the pit
1:13:41 bull big cheers when they see the school
1:13:43 bus cheers but then when they see how we
1:13:45 use it and he slams into it and falls in
1:13:47 it they freaking lose their minds because
1:13:49 they know how I put it together they
1:13:50 know that the rubber bands and the
1:13:54 popsicle sticks I already set it up and so
1:13:56 that’s why that audience I just hate the
1:13:59 reaction they’re so with it the context
1:14:01 is so key like you can watch mariachi and
1:14:04 go hey yeah this looks like a $7,000
1:14:06 movie but if you know the story behind it
1:14:08 suddenly I was curious I hadn’t seen it a
1:14:10 long time I was watching it for the 20th
1:14:13 anniversary we did a screening and the
1:14:14 first few shots come up and I’m like oh
1:14:17 yeah well it looks like a $7,000 movie and
1:14:19 then it keeps going and it’s in the once
1:14:20 we’re in the jail cell and the shootings
1:14:22 happening and I realized oh my god we had
1:14:26 these blanks that only fired one shot and
1:14:31 it would jam so I had to show it going use
1:14:32 the sound effect cut to the other guy cut
1:14:35 back to have another one go I had to do
1:14:36 these editing tricks to make it look like
1:14:37 and then repeat a few frames so it goes
1:14:40 so it looks like a machine gun all this
1:14:42 stuff that I’m start sweating as I’m
1:14:44 watching it going I can’t believe I made
1:14:46 this movie with that freaking camera I
1:14:47 don’t know how I did I couldn’t even
1:14:49 see I’m there with this long lens
1:14:51 pulling my own focus when I finally had
1:14:54 to do a real movie I was operating the
1:14:56 camera on my first real movie with a
1:14:58 crew I get the camera and a guy comes
1:15:02 over and he focuses for you that’s your
1:15:04 job you focus shit I had to do my own
1:15:06 focusing on the last movie I didn’t have
1:15:08 so hard you’re trying to focus on a guy
1:15:10 while you’re filming you don’t know
1:15:13 where you are and it’s just I was
1:15:14 couldn’t believe how much easier it is
1:15:16 when you have a crew it’s extremely
1:15:18 valuable to know that the pain of that
1:15:21 the the spectrum of creativity that’s
1:15:23 allowed within that even just the
1:15:25 focusing yeah like how focusing fucks up
1:15:27 on all the cameras on your cameras what
1:15:29 what are the different artifacts that
1:15:30 come off just to know yeah the
1:15:32 battlefield in order to be a great
1:15:34 general you have to know how to be a
1:15:35 soldier on the battlefield yeah yeah it’s
1:15:37 good to know all that stuff but you know
1:15:39 it’s like the end of the day you could
1:15:41 shoot something on a phone if you have a
1:15:43 great story no one’s gonna even notice
1:15:44 I’ll be oh we shut that on a phone I
1:15:45 didn’t notice you know so sometimes
1:15:47 people get caught up on what kind of
1:15:48 camera should I have it’s like it’s not
1:15:50 the camera that’s just the tool that’s
1:15:52 just the pen that’s just like yeah you
1:15:54 can have different paint brushes but you
1:15:55 can go I’m gonna I’m gonna limit my
1:15:57 palette I’m only gonna use a fan brush
1:16:00 and a detail brush and I’m gonna make a
1:16:01 painting do you think that painting is
1:16:03 gonna suffer no it’s gonna take on an
1:16:04 identity that you wouldn’t have had if
1:16:06 you had all the other tools so
1:16:07 sometimes the limitations help you
1:16:10 because when you can do anything you
1:16:12 come it can be crippling when I knew I
1:16:13 could only use those things for
1:16:14 mariachi it’s like all right well it’s
1:16:16 very it’s very simple now let me show
1:16:18 you how cheapskate I was like I did not
1:16:20 spend on anything so when you see him
1:16:22 walking around with a guitar case it’s a
1:16:24 shitty cardboard one you know like I got
1:16:27 from home I had to get a heavier one to
1:16:31 put the guns in so we borrowed one but it
1:16:34 had this material ripped off the top so
1:16:35 you could see the wood it’s just the
1:16:37 wood on top so didn’t match the other
1:16:38 one because it wasn’t all black and I
1:16:40 was too cheap to paint it black I didn’t
1:16:43 want to spend money on paint so you see
1:16:46 that cardboard case he puts it down and
1:16:48 when he goes to open it I cut to the
1:16:51 other one once the wood is is yeah watch
1:16:53 the edits you’ll see it all but now it’s
1:16:54 a completely different case for the guns
1:16:57 and when he goes to cut it when close it
1:16:59 it cuts to the other one and he goes oh
1:17:01 that’s how I did that whole movie again
1:17:02 it was a practice film I don’t want to
1:17:04 waste any money on it I don’t know if
1:17:05 it’s going to be even I won’t be able
1:17:07 to make five bucks from it yeah but
1:17:10 this you’re one of the one of the few
1:17:12 great directors where both the movies
1:17:15 genius and the process of making it is
1:17:17 creative genius it’s like fun to watch
1:17:19 both to know of both you know what I
1:17:21 believe right it’s like it’s from
1:17:23 somewhere else I have to say you’re just
1:17:26 that thing is freaking I didn’t get in
1:17:28 its way this basically would help and
1:17:30 people say that you know don’t get in
1:17:32 your own way this is a little bit easier
1:17:34 to understand it’s like keep the pipe
1:17:37 clear don’t block it with your ego don’t
1:17:38 say you’re gonna be shocked but don’t
1:17:41 ever say oh shit how do I do that I don’t
1:17:42 know if I can do that you didn’t do it to
1:17:44 begin with except that it just came through
1:17:46 you and try to get back into that head
1:17:47 space especially when you go to make a
1:17:49 second film or a third film or follow up a
1:17:52 success that’s when artists get really
1:17:54 crippled because sometimes they start
1:17:55 tiptoeing around as an artist going like
1:17:57 oh shit now it’s my second film my first
1:17:59 one did really well they might not like
1:18:02 my second one so much that’s not the
1:18:03 headspace you were in when you made the
1:18:06 first one you weren’t hesitant like that
1:18:07 you’re just so try to keep that very
1:18:10 naive and and that’s why I say commit to
1:18:11 a body of work because I know a lot of
1:18:13 filmmakers get stuck on their second one
1:18:14 and then go further because they get
1:18:16 crippled by the success of the first one
1:18:18 and they start asking oh shit how did I
1:18:20 do that how can I do that again and you
1:18:22 get deeper and deeper in a hole you
1:18:23 can’t get out of I think you’ve spoken
1:18:25 about that filmmakers especially early on
1:18:28 on their journey critics and the audience
1:18:31 can destroy them meaning like it creates
1:18:35 too much of a burden too much just wear
1:18:37 them down to where they’re almost scared
1:18:39 to be creative can you just speak to that
1:18:40 how to ignore the critic I’ll tell you
1:18:42 something that my best advice ever got
1:18:46 early on I was so fortunate from an
1:18:50 unlikely place because he’s such a
1:18:51 he sounded like Clint Eastwood when he
1:18:54 said it was funny when you said that but I
1:18:57 got uh the desperado and had Antonio
1:18:59 banderas I brought Antonio to be in it
1:19:02 from Europe big action movie and so
1:19:05 Spielberg saw it and he said um hey I
1:19:08 want you to do Zorro with Antonio so we’re
1:19:10 working on it for a while I did I was
1:19:11 working on the pre-production got to work
1:19:13 with Spielberg doing that it ended up
1:19:15 stalling me as the there was like two
1:19:16 studios involved and ambling was moving
1:19:19 or it was some weird thing where but I
1:19:20 got to work with him for about five
1:19:22 months you know and I started getting
1:19:24 really nervous because it’s like oh shit
1:19:26 you start thinking about even movies of
1:19:28 his that people would say oh you know
1:19:29 Temple of Doom’s not as good as Raiders
1:19:31 have you seen Temple of Doom I’d been
1:19:33 killed if I can do that movie yeah if I
1:19:35 can make Zorro as good as that one the
1:19:37 one that people said it’s like people
1:19:38 don’t know how good they had it with
1:19:41 that guy but I started thinking I even
1:19:43 said man I just re-watched Temple of
1:19:44 Doom last night I don’t know how I’m
1:19:46 gonna do this Zorro movie like I’ve just
1:19:48 never done anything like that you start
1:19:50 getting you know afraid because you go
1:19:53 the second thing he said all right just
1:19:56 just you’re gonna do fine but then I
1:19:59 started thinking this guy at that time
1:20:01 you don’t know the era but this was like
1:20:06 mid-90s he was making the biggest best
1:20:07 movies of all and people would shit all
1:20:09 over this guy they would throw so much
1:20:12 they were so jealous press audience
1:20:14 everyone was just like hits at him just
1:20:15 throwing rocks at him for everything
1:20:18 Spielberg yeah you can’t imagine it now
1:20:21 you had to been at that time now
1:20:23 everyone has respect for him but they
1:20:25 made him run a fucking gauntlet and
1:20:28 they were like drastic park yeah you can’t
1:20:29 even imagine it now but you should have
1:20:31 seen the climate it freaked me out
1:20:34 because I’m like maybe I should just stay
1:20:36 under the radar where I’ve been you know
1:20:38 not poke my head out so much yeah
1:20:39 because this guy has a head out and
1:20:43 they’re unwarranted just you can’t even
1:20:44 fathom it now because you weren’t here
1:20:46 at that time it was crazy you would
1:20:48 never even think of him that way I’m
1:20:49 glad it changed because back then it
1:20:51 was just it made people not want to be
1:20:55 successful and I made me be worried like
1:20:56 maybe I shouldn’t be go making a movie
1:20:58 that has his name on it that’s going to
1:20:59 put my head out in a whole different
1:21:01 realm of filmmaking at a studio level
1:21:04 because if I make it even if I make a
1:21:06 good movie if I make a great movie he’s
1:21:07 making great movies he’s getting this
1:21:10 dog shit I don’t know if I could take
1:21:12 it you know so I asked him because you
1:21:15 don’t know how resilient you can be so I
1:21:18 said damn and pan how do you do it how
1:21:20 do you how do you what do you do when
1:21:23 people just throw rocks at you all day
1:21:26 long he goes oh Robert you just don’t
1:21:31 blink and I was like whoa now I see how
1:21:34 he got through it just don’t blink just
1:21:38 like you know it’s coming don’t blink and
1:21:39 to him say it’s like a Clint Eastwood line
1:21:42 right but it was like you could see he
1:21:44 was telling the truth and you could see
1:21:48 that’s how he did it he just avoided all
1:21:51 criticism by just not blinking it’s like
1:21:53 it’s designed to make you blink and you’re
1:21:54 just not going to blink because you’re
1:21:55 committing to a body of work he just
1:21:57 keeps cranking out movies whatever he
1:22:00 feels like doing he does and that was
1:22:01 like the most pop and it never bothered
1:22:03 me again I just like always kept in mind I
1:22:05 tell that to my actors I tell that people
1:22:08 that story has traveled I even had some
1:22:10 little actors who were like starting to
1:22:12 get up and I said remember tell you a
1:22:14 couple of things some people have told
1:22:15 me you’re never as good as people say you
1:22:17 are and you’re never as bad either
1:22:20 so I remember that and then the second
1:22:26 one Spielberg don’t blink don’t blink but
1:22:27 there has to be a kind of vision for
1:22:31 yourself of what what you’re reaching for
1:22:35 what you’re trying to do again yeah sort
1:22:38 of sort of like I think if you told me
1:22:39 what would be my vision for the future
1:22:41 just committing to a body of work which
1:22:43 I’ve just kept doing like that’s it’s
1:22:44 about as far as you can see do you have
1:22:47 a sense do you have a vision of the body
1:22:49 of work you’ll make in the next 20 years
1:22:51 like yeah or is it just like I wasn’t
1:22:53 sure because you don’t always know what
1:22:54 the you might not have the vision yet
1:22:56 because you don’t have the information yet
1:22:57 so you just commit to a body of work
1:22:59 you’ll start figuring out more reasons
1:23:01 to keep doing that body of work so when
1:23:05 I turned 50 I was like I guess I could
1:23:07 just keep making movies I mean I guess
1:23:09 that’s been good for me yes I guess I
1:23:11 could just make more I kind of done that
1:23:13 already but it’s always fun and it’s
1:23:16 always new and I guess I can make but it
1:23:17 wasn’t a lot of drive right it’s like
1:23:19 that’s not it’s like well I guess I
1:23:20 could just keep doing the body you know
1:23:22 that’s not as much as I can’t wait to
1:23:25 keep doing another season but I know
1:23:28 how to get to that point so I said you
1:23:30 know what I got to this job so early I
1:23:33 was in the early 20s I bet there’s some
1:23:34 other job out there that exists that I
1:23:35 don’t even know about because I don’t
1:23:37 know other jobs so I looked up you
1:23:39 don’t believe it but I literally bought
1:23:42 jobs for dummies nice it was just like I
1:23:43 don’t even know what I just have a basic
1:23:45 jobs we’ve been out there turning the
1:23:46 page oh yeah don’t want that job don’t
1:23:48 want that job don’t want that job just
1:23:50 going through and it gets to filmmaker
1:23:52 there’s a little icon behind these job
1:23:55 this icon is a guy like this literally
1:23:57 you look it up it’s a and it says this
1:23:59 is the best job ever you get to just be
1:24:02 creative with your friends sit back watch
1:24:05 the money roll in across the desk and I
1:24:08 said but 99% of film students don’t get
1:24:11 this job so give up that dream I guess I
1:24:13 got the best job but then I started
1:24:17 working with my kids when we did I had a
1:24:19 TV show called Rebel Without a Crew based
1:24:21 on that right I found filmmakers who had
1:24:22 only made a short film they hadn’t made
1:24:24 a feature I picked this diverse group of
1:24:27 filmmakers gave them $7,000 and we
1:24:29 documented them making a feature two
1:24:31 weeks like I did you can bring one
1:24:32 person like I had Carlos guy out of the
1:24:35 producer and star of Mariachi bring one
1:24:36 person be your cameraman we can be your
1:24:38 sound guy whatever but it’s only that for
1:24:39 the shoot and you’d have to do the
1:24:43 whole thing and I saw those guys by the
1:24:44 time they’re they’re like I don’t know
1:24:45 how we’re going to make this movie by
1:24:46 the first week of shooting they’re
1:24:48 already talking about their next feature
1:24:50 they became so confident because their
1:24:52 idea of what impossible is drops really
1:24:55 quick when you yeah anyone interested in
1:24:57 unlocking their creativities they’re not
1:24:58 even just filmmaking I highly recommend
1:25:00 that show and I highly recommend the
1:25:04 kind of the follow-on show which is
1:25:06 where you make red 11 yes that’s the
1:25:07 one I did so then it came time for me to
1:25:09 do one so I made a movie called red 11
1:25:11 based on my experiences in the medical
1:25:14 hospital but I’ll turn it into a sci-fi
1:25:15 thriller just to use that as so that I
1:25:18 can use like somebody getting stabbed in
1:25:19 the eye so I can still gonna have more
1:25:21 elements to show how you can do camera
1:25:23 tricks and stuff with no money and the
1:25:24 old days make it for less than seven
1:25:26 thousand dollars which I think we’re
1:25:28 like five thousand dollars many because
1:25:29 you know had a lot of actors I wanted
1:25:32 to pay but the movie itself can make it
1:25:34 for nothing but I brought my son aboard
1:25:36 as my number one who hadn’t been
1:25:38 working with me in a while I mean he
1:25:39 wrote Sharkboy and Lava Girl when he was
1:25:40 seven but then he hadn’t really been
1:25:42 working on my crew so he didn’t know
1:25:44 how to operate the sound equipment the
1:25:45 separate sound system and all that I
1:25:47 didn’t show him until the day of
1:25:48 filming because I knew we’re
1:25:49 documenting it would make a better
1:25:52 tutorial so by getting them working on
1:25:55 the movies together they came to be
1:25:56 super excited by the end of the day I
1:25:57 thought for sure oh they’re gonna hate
1:25:59 this even though it’s only two weeks
1:26:01 they’ve got other interests they don’t
1:26:03 want to be filmmakers I thought they
1:26:05 were gonna be like all right I’m out
1:26:07 of here after one day but instead he
1:26:08 came to me and his brother who acted
1:26:12 in it and he went dad the actor didn’t
1:26:14 show up after the first day the
1:26:16 location didn’t match the script at all
1:26:19 we asked you how we’re gonna solve the
1:26:20 problems and you’re like I don’t know
1:26:23 figure it out we thought dad stumped for
1:26:25 once he’s he stumped finally but then by
1:26:27 the end of the day his eyes were all
1:26:30 white we figured it out I went oh they
1:26:31 don’t realize this is the creative
1:26:33 process every day is like that and in
1:26:35 life too every day you don’t know
1:26:37 your machine’s gonna not work or you’re
1:26:39 gonna get a flat tire or you get fired
1:26:43 that day so life is very unpredictable
1:26:45 just like a movie set so I realized I’m
1:26:47 gonna make them all work on my movies
1:26:49 now because it’s teaching them about
1:26:50 life I’m teaching them very little
1:26:54 about the film make it’s about life
1:26:55 lessons about how you take on something
1:26:57 impossible turn chicken shit to chicken
1:27:00 salad and make it work and that’s the
1:27:01 strong that’s life that’s the process of
1:27:03 life so many people say well I’m not
1:27:05 ready to make my projects like you’re
1:27:06 not ready for life either you’re like
1:27:08 this all day you’re you’re dodging
1:27:11 shit that’s going on how come art has to
1:27:12 be perfect it’s like it should be the
1:27:14 same life and art should be the same
1:27:16 and I think filmmaking in general is full
1:27:20 of unpredictable things and in a short
1:27:22 little microcosm to within one project
1:27:24 you got a whole blueprint for how you’re
1:27:25 going to solve life because you’ve just
1:27:27 done it on a creative level I think of
1:27:29 all the art forms of all the art
1:27:31 mediums like that it just has so many
1:27:32 different components a lot of
1:27:34 components to it and so like there’s so
1:27:35 many ways to fuck things up yeah to
1:27:38 learn from but any of the disciplines if
1:27:40 you add those to it like I teach my
1:27:44 actors to paint in between takes we’ll go
1:27:46 and we’ll I’ll take a picture of them
1:27:48 and character I show them a canvas I show
1:27:49 them paint you don’t need to know how to
1:27:52 paint this is to show you the brush is
1:27:53 going to know where to go you just got
1:27:55 to pick it up pick the colors you want
1:27:56 no matter how crazy they are whatever
1:27:58 speaking to you you lay it down I’ll
1:27:59 show you some of the pictures you’re
1:28:01 not gonna believe the masterworks these
1:28:04 actors did like in a day they just start
1:28:06 doing it Lady Gaga had her fingernails in
1:28:07 there you know Josh Brolin’s doing his
1:28:09 thing then I take a picture of them in
1:28:10 character do a line drawing of it we
1:28:12 project it on top and mostly it’s the
1:28:13 painting coming through their line
1:28:14 drawing with a little bit of their eyes
1:28:15 painted in you’re not gonna believe
1:28:17 these things they couldn’t believe it
1:28:19 but it teaches them that that thing
1:28:21 about that the creativity is gonna come
1:28:23 through so even though they’re already
1:28:24 acting they’re already being creative
1:28:26 we’re already making a movie like you
1:28:27 said that’s already a really great
1:28:29 creative endeavor when we would sneak
1:28:31 off and paint you could tell it’s
1:28:33 firing a whole other part of their
1:28:37 brain it was funny I think Josh Brolin’s
1:28:40 girlfriend said Josh say hey my
1:28:42 girlfriend just said she said his wife
1:28:46 now but time are you guys doing drugs
1:28:49 leave the set and you come back and
1:28:51 you’re all like no we’re painting we’re
1:28:53 painting but that makes sense that you
1:28:54 say that because it creates when you get
1:28:56 your creativity firing is more powerful
1:28:58 than any drug and we would come back
1:29:01 and and he’d be on the set going is it
1:29:02 bad that I’m still thinking about the
1:29:03 painting and I’m like no I think it’s
1:29:05 good I think it’s all good but it’s you
1:29:07 can tell it’s opening a whole other
1:29:08 part of their creative brain so you can
1:29:11 be doing acting in a movie and the
1:29:12 painting’s still gonna tap it shows how
1:29:14 much untapped potential your creative
1:29:17 brain has so the more you can do the
1:29:19 more you’re firing off and them and it
1:29:21 was so cool like I remember we did one
1:29:23 Joseph Gordon Levitt was painting we came
1:29:24 in and the table was like this and they
1:29:26 said we have a problem you want them to
1:29:28 throw the cards out the playing cards out
1:29:31 but it’s so slick they go sliding off the
1:29:33 table and we both look at it and we both
1:29:34 got the solution at the same time oh we
1:29:37 just just just have them just have them
1:29:39 throw them wherever they go and then we’ll
1:29:43 place them and then digitally it’s even
1:29:45 better that he looks like he gets them all
1:29:47 perfectly laid out to show what a card
1:29:49 shark is that’s but that’s what we have to do
1:29:51 we’re not gonna we can’t we’ll be here
1:29:53 all day we’re trying to get if we’re
1:29:55 gonna worry about where they go just go
1:29:56 bump bump bump bump bump bump and then
1:29:58 we’ll place the cards down and everyone
1:30:01 will pick them up and then we’ll marry
1:30:03 the two in post you know you’re just you
1:30:04 just come up with creative solutions
1:30:06 better easier because you were just
1:30:09 solving crazy creative solutions in the
1:30:10 other one like what paint medium do I
1:30:12 use what kind of gel am I gonna use so
1:30:14 when you come back to your main job
1:30:16 which is filmmaking you’re like oh I
1:30:18 can figure this out in two seconds you
1:30:19 know so it helps you creative problem
1:30:21 solve so that basically working with my
1:30:22 kids made me realize oh now I know
1:30:24 exactly what I want to do for the next
1:30:25 10 years I only want to make movies with
1:30:27 my kids because I’m mentoring them but
1:30:29 they’re teaching me shit because they’re
1:30:31 the age I was when I made mariachi and
1:30:34 desperado and their their ideas are really
1:30:36 sharp so the mentoring goes both ways and
1:30:38 it’s like the greatest parenting you can
1:30:40 do because you’re building a project
1:30:41 together and in the same boat together
1:30:44 figuring it out and it’s family time
1:30:45 you’re like checking all the boxes so I
1:30:48 thought my filmmaking going forward is
1:30:49 going to be checking all the boxes in
1:30:51 life so I’m not not spending time with
1:30:53 my family we’re actually giving them
1:30:55 lessons that they can go do anything
1:30:56 they want in life because they’re going
1:30:58 to have different interests but now it’s
1:30:59 kind of like going to college and this
1:31:01 college is like the best college because
1:31:03 it pays you to learn you get to do these
1:31:06 crazy skills like my son is you know
1:31:09 conducting the orchestra the James Bond
1:31:11 orchestra in London for the spy kids score
1:31:13 and a score he wrote because I can’t
1:31:14 write at his level because he was always
1:31:18 our best piano player and they get you get
1:31:20 the charge out of working with them and
1:31:23 then and by making a label there’s a
1:31:26 there’s a weird phenomenon that happens if
1:31:27 you guys want to take your game to
1:31:30 another level I stumbled upon this idea my
1:31:34 son that was my counterpart on that movie
1:31:36 racer he was my sound guy like I said
1:31:37 came up with shark point lava girl when
1:31:40 he’s little he became my writer co-writer
1:31:42 co-producer he’d come to me and said I want
1:31:48 to do vr type movie I said oh let me show
1:31:50 you as an example of creativity and
1:31:51 manifesting I said let me show you how it
1:31:54 works let’s let’s make a company we’ll
1:31:57 make a company called double r double r
1:31:58 productions because we all have double r
1:32:00 names all the kids so if anyone ever
1:32:01 wants to do anything we can use our
1:32:04 company so let’s make a logo and I’ll
1:32:05 make t-shirts and notepads and stuff
1:32:08 because once you have a company you have
1:32:10 now have to make things for that
1:32:12 company just like the advice I gave to
1:32:13 people stop aspiring make a business card
1:32:16 that says writer director cinematographer
1:32:18 I did editor because then now you have to
1:32:20 conform to that identity so now if I
1:32:22 create a label like double r we’re going
1:32:24 to come up with ideas we’ll call up vr
1:32:26 companies and say hey we have a company a
1:32:28 vr company would you like us to make you a
1:32:31 film for your soul your headset so yeah
1:32:33 they gave us a budget they’re dying for
1:32:35 content they gave us a budget we shot a
1:32:37 20 minute action movie called the limit
1:32:39 with michelle rodriguez and norman
1:32:40 read us where you’re in an action movie
1:32:42 with them and it was killer we they made
1:32:45 us a big double r logo animated logo
1:32:49 later that year we did red 11 same logo
1:32:52 that movie went to directors fortnight and
1:32:55 can festivals were paying us to come talk
1:32:57 about how we made that movie that’s when
1:32:58 we’re doing the cards throwing the cards
1:33:01 out because they wanted their audiences
1:33:03 they knew they would love that so we
1:33:05 could have had a whole gig just continuing
1:33:07 to get paid to go to the fed usually pay
1:33:08 to feds go to feds you don’t get paid
1:33:11 that’s how what a success that was but
1:33:13 then we had to make we can be heroes so
1:33:15 we had to stop but we can be heroes was
1:33:18 a netflix movie where they asked me to
1:33:20 make a spy kids type thing and so I
1:33:21 thought oh okay I’ll just do it with
1:33:24 superheroes that’s there I wrote it with
1:33:26 my kids based it on some of their
1:33:29 personalities it’s the most watched and
1:33:31 re-watched movie in netflix history like
1:33:33 nothing in touch because kids just keep
1:33:35 watching it over because this kids with
1:33:36 superpowers no one’s ever done that
1:33:38 before and they can’t they couldn’t
1:33:40 believe it like I’d heard anecdotally
1:33:42 that’s how the spy kids people said oh
1:33:43 that kids watch it over and over on
1:33:45 video but you can’t keep track of that
1:33:47 you can’t on netflix because their
1:33:48 biggest thing is people completing a
1:33:49 movie a lot of people don’t complete a
1:33:51 movie and it still counts as a view they
1:33:52 may watch five minutes and change the
1:33:55 channel so do you complete a movie
1:33:56 that’s really where they you know
1:33:59 really value not only to complete but
1:34:01 re-watched re-watched re-watched per
1:34:02 household so many times and
1:34:06 that one has a double r logo as well
1:34:07 and my kids are like dad
1:34:10 it really worked I was like I know
1:34:12 better than I thought I didn’t know I
1:34:14 didn’t know that me manifesting that
1:34:16 company was gonna turn into that and
1:34:18 we just keep making stuff so I want to
1:34:19 do that with brass knuckle films now with
1:34:22 the audience because it works so I said
1:34:25 as soon as you have a logo and a
1:34:27 company your brain starts coming up with
1:34:29 all kinds of ideas and it’s a filter
1:34:32 like like I said sometimes the freedom
1:34:36 of limitations is all freeing when I
1:34:37 had to do four rooms and it’s like we
1:34:39 have to use one hotel room oh well then
1:34:40 there’s gonna be a dead body there’s
1:34:42 gonna be you can do a lot with
1:34:43 limitations if they said you could use
1:34:45 the whole city would have been harder to
1:34:47 come up with something well brass
1:34:49 knuckle films has a filter only action
1:34:51 action movies because that’s the stuff
1:34:54 that there’s always an appetite for if
1:34:55 you ask Netflix right now what do you
1:34:57 need more of they’ll say action action
1:34:59 action we don’t have enough action the
1:35:00 last regime didn’t leave us enough
1:35:01 action we need action they’ll pay a
1:35:03 premium for an action film that we can
1:35:05 make at a lower cost a 20 million
1:35:07 dollar action film is very cheap
1:35:09 studios don’t know how to make them
1:35:11 that cheap that’s why they’ll pay for an
1:35:13 independent to go do it and right now
1:35:14 that’s the key is to be independent
1:35:15 because a lot of studios that can’t
1:35:17 even green light anything things are so
1:35:18 expensive they don’t want to lose their
1:35:21 ass but they need action films so let’s
1:35:23 make something that everybody needs and
1:35:25 let’s make it at a price we’ll make it in
1:35:26 my studio because I got my own studio
1:35:27 and I can keep all the costs down
1:35:29 because we have all the costumes and
1:35:32 props and sets from 25 years of
1:35:35 filmmaking to keep the cost down and
1:35:37 we’ll have the audience gets to invest
1:35:40 it’s not crowdfunding or kickstarter
1:35:42 you’re actually an investor anyone who
1:35:45 puts money in can pitch their idea for
1:35:48 an action film to me and I’m gonna make
1:35:51 one of the four films in that slate from
1:35:52 one of those ideas because I want the
1:35:54 audience to win I want the audience to
1:35:55 win and be a part of it because the
1:35:56 audience is an afterthought in
1:35:59 Hollywood they make a movie they show
1:36:00 the audience the movie go tell your
1:36:02 friends now so y’all spend money on our
1:36:04 movie where’s your cut of that so I want
1:36:05 them to be successful so if any of the
1:36:07 movies in the slate do well they make
1:36:10 money off that one and then sequels or
1:36:12 anything but they’re all gonna do well
1:36:14 because everyone needs an action movie
1:36:15 we’re gonna keep the cost down can I
1:36:18 actually ask you just to focus in on
1:36:20 action you’ve created a lot of epic
1:36:23 action films what makes for a great
1:36:25 action film it comes down to the
1:36:27 character you know like if you think
1:36:29 about what are the best action films
1:36:31 what are your favorite films like die
1:36:34 hard he’s a cop so he’s still capable but
1:36:36 he’s not Superman the fact that he’s like
1:36:38 in over his head and you’re rooting for
1:36:41 him that’s a great character you know
1:36:44 John Wick he is Superman but he’s retired
1:36:47 and now he’s pissed off and he’s going
1:36:48 back into a job you know so the care is
1:36:50 comes down to the character really being
1:36:52 very important because the action will
1:36:55 then have a character to it I think
1:36:57 Leon the professional does what’s a
1:37:00 character I mean that’s all now that
1:37:01 when I say we’re gonna do action movies
1:37:02 I mean movies that are really action
1:37:04 first like there’s some movies that are
1:37:06 more dramas that have action where’s the
1:37:09 boundary so John Wick is action that’s
1:37:11 more action but it has character in it but
1:37:13 it’s action driven what about like
1:37:16 predator predator is the sci-fi action
1:37:17 film so that’s kind of a hybrid which I
1:37:19 like yeah but sometimes it’s hard for
1:37:21 the audience to know what they’re buying
1:37:23 into but like they focused a lot on the
1:37:25 action in the trailer you know and then
1:37:26 they felt there was some other worldly
1:37:27 thing but you didn’t really know but it’s
1:37:29 a great movie so die hard is a is a good
1:37:31 example it was a good example right I
1:37:32 can think of right off where there’s a
1:37:33 character that really made the difference
1:37:35 and then everyone repeated that you know
1:37:37 for a while there’s like under siege
1:37:39 I was like a regular guy who’s really
1:37:41 actually has some training on a ship
1:37:44 now and then on the bus you got a cop
1:37:46 he’s a cop but he’s not super cop yeah
1:37:47 so that’s why you root for him you know
1:37:49 that became a an element that people
1:37:51 repeated a lot uh what about taken that’s
1:37:53 a great one that’s a great character who
1:37:56 is superhuman yeah who’s also retired you
1:37:59 know so there’s like a superhero type
1:38:01 character in an extraordinary circumstance
1:38:03 like that’s now his daughter’s taken
1:38:06 right and then there’s ordinary people like
1:38:08 the Terminator that’s a great character not
1:38:09 the Terminator he’s a villain but Sarah
1:38:12 Connor who is a waitress doesn’t think
1:38:14 her life’s going anywhere and she finds
1:38:15 out she’s the mother of the guy who’s
1:38:19 going to save the human race and she’s
1:38:20 got to train him you know suddenly she
1:38:21 has to become someone else those are
1:38:23 cool movies because it’s a genesis of a
1:38:26 character and you see a character go from
1:38:29 waitress to revolutionary step up yeah
1:38:32 what about mob movies I mean some of
1:38:33 them like Godfather is really not about
1:38:35 it’s not actually not an action movie
1:38:37 drama that has some action right I mean
1:38:39 John Wick is a mob film in some sense
1:38:40 Goodfellas I mean there’s a lot of
1:38:43 dynamic action but there’s really not
1:38:44 action first that’s really a character
1:38:47 type piece great freaking amazing and it
1:38:49 feels like action by the way he does it
1:38:51 it’s just like that it’s like fast pace
1:38:54 fast talking fast moving like escape from
1:38:55 New York’s one of my favorites since I was
1:38:58 a kid because every movie you’ll notice
1:39:00 this now that I tell you even like a
1:39:03 romantic comedy there’s a timeline every
1:39:05 movie has to have like a ticking clock so
1:39:06 the audience knows the stories are not
1:39:08 just going to take over a period of years
1:39:09 though suddenly someone in the movie
1:39:13 around 20 or 30 minutes in will say we’ve
1:39:16 got to go find the groom before the
1:39:17 wedding this weekend you know it’ll be
1:39:19 just like that escape New York has the
1:39:21 best example of a ticking time clock
1:39:23 because he’s literally got bombs in his
1:39:25 neck and he’s got a watch that shows
1:39:27 him he’s constantly clocking it how
1:39:29 little time he has and he gets you so
1:39:32 like oh my god is he gonna make it that’s
1:39:34 like the best use of that and no one’s
1:39:37 ever top that ticking time clock all the
1:39:39 other ones seem artificial in comparison
1:39:42 you know aliens you know we got to get
1:39:44 off this planet now because this whole
1:39:47 thing’s gonna blow up you know they like
1:39:48 there’s a timeline you’re it’s already
1:39:50 urgent enough but now there’s an extra
1:39:52 timeline on it yeah this is what happens
1:39:54 you mean as you’re talking you’re just
1:39:56 making me fall in love more and more with
1:39:59 action films I I sometimes you forget how
1:40:01 much you love actually a really good action
1:40:04 film yeah fact like the Terminator the
1:40:06 original Terminator just came out in 4k
1:40:07 I’m watching it again it looks like
1:40:08 better than most movies look today and
1:40:10 that’s a four million dollar movie it
1:40:12 looks incredible you can see every beat
1:40:15 of sweat in this movie I was watching it
1:40:17 again with somebody a female and there’s
1:40:19 always a point when you’re watching that
1:40:22 movie where she’ll turn and say I love
1:40:25 this movie you know a point that is it’s
1:40:28 a point where Michael Bean tells her I
1:40:30 came across time for you Sarah I love
1:40:33 you which is you know I always have and
1:40:34 you’re just like oh my god there’s like a
1:40:37 real emotional love story there that he
1:40:39 put into Titanic that he put into
1:40:43 Avatar he figured out that thing that
1:40:44 makes those movies work by the way I
1:40:47 should say that I mean there is an
1:40:50 aspect of El Mirachi that is a love
1:40:52 story to me yeah there was a rough I
1:40:53 don’t know you see it that way but I got
1:40:56 when I yeah just rewatched it I was a
1:40:57 tragic love story but I was like
1:40:59 heartbroken that she’s dead I got
1:41:01 heartbroken twice let me tell you the
1:41:03 second time and I haven’t one that you’re
1:41:04 making that and you go okay this is how
1:41:05 it has to go but then now you’re
1:41:06 invested in this person you go man she
1:41:08 has to die it’s gonna be really sad in
1:41:11 fact the studio even when they said
1:41:13 they were gonna remake it a good thing I
1:41:15 put that ending on that’s the only
1:41:17 reason they showed it to an audience we
1:41:18 were gonna remake it they weren’t gonna
1:41:21 put that movie out they showed it said
1:41:22 we need to show this movie to an
1:41:24 audience because they might not like the
1:41:26 fact that we kill the girl before we
1:41:28 remake it all right it showed to an
1:41:29 audience audience liked it the way it
1:41:31 was so they said we’re gonna take this
1:41:33 movie to some film festivals and I was
1:41:36 like no not this movie this is my
1:41:38 practice movie no one’s supposed to see
1:41:40 this movie yeah and they go no no that
1:41:42 you got something no no dude if I knew
1:41:43 anyone was gonna see this I would have
1:41:44 shot it completely give me two
1:41:46 thousand dollars I’ll go reshoot half
1:41:48 of it just knowing people are gonna see
1:41:49 it I want something and the head of the
1:41:51 studio is really smart he said um you
1:41:52 don’t know what you have here it’s
1:41:53 there’s something real special let’s
1:41:54 just take it tell you right see what
1:41:56 happened tell you right Toronto did
1:41:59 great like I said in one Sundance so now
1:42:01 we had to put it out but I was like I
1:42:03 would have said don’t show that movie
1:42:06 but they also questioned the ending and
1:42:07 didn’t come into play because we ended
1:42:09 up making Desperado and the girl in
1:42:10 Desperado doesn’t die you know we
1:42:11 didn’t do that we didn’t kill Salma
1:42:13 but that’s what needed to happen to
1:42:15 Mariachi I’m quitting call me one time
1:42:17 people would always say like oh
1:42:19 Reservoir Dogs he he borrowed from this
1:42:21 movie Hong Kong action film called City
1:42:23 on Fire about these guys they’re all
1:42:24 criminals and they kill each other
1:42:27 whatever and he said hey they’re
1:42:28 showing a double feature called East
1:42:30 Looks West and West Looks East they’re
1:42:32 showing Reservoir Dogs with City on
1:42:34 Fire the one they say I borrowed from and
1:42:37 they’re showing Mariachi with a Hong Kong
1:42:39 film called Run where they ripped off
1:42:40 Mariachi like they just took the whole
1:42:42 story it had two you know Chinese
1:42:44 actors in Mexico with the guitar cases
1:42:46 ones like they just followed it beat by
1:42:49 beat so we’re watching it and it was
1:42:50 like scene by scene they just they
1:42:52 just rebate it without even getting the
1:42:54 rights or anything it was so fun to
1:42:55 watch so we saw Mariachi first then we
1:42:57 watched that one and I’m like what’s
1:42:59 this big brothel scene though this is in
1:43:02 my movie oh the back oh there’s a scene
1:43:04 in my movie where the bad guy has two
1:43:05 girls in bed with him and they figured
1:43:07 that was a whorehouse but it was just
1:43:08 this apartment yeah so they got this
1:43:10 whorehouse and they’re reinterpreted
1:43:13 and they have helicopter shots and all
1:43:14 kinds of big thing and the action was
1:43:17 awesome yeah but then and the girl’s
1:43:18 really good and then midway through the
1:43:20 movie I’m like oh shit she’s gonna die
1:43:23 because I killed her in mine I don’t want
1:43:25 her to die I like this actress is really
1:43:26 great and they have a really great love
1:43:28 story I go I hope they change that part
1:43:31 no they kill her so I felt bad twice
1:43:34 because I sealed I feel I sealed her fate
1:43:37 I sealed her fate because yeah I have a
1:43:39 line in spite kids too because I started
1:43:41 thinking when you create stuff you start
1:43:44 thinking I wonder if that’s how our
1:43:47 creator is he’s like oh shit I just kind
1:43:49 of threw that in a memo and now that
1:43:52 whole town’s gonna get wiped out yeah you
1:43:53 know I didn’t even think about the
1:43:56 implications of that because there’s a
1:43:59 line I was making a character that
1:44:01 Steve Buscemi plays in spy kids too and
1:44:02 he’s a creator he just wanted to make a
1:44:06 little miniature zoo for kids and then he
1:44:07 thought well what if I put some together
1:44:11 like a lizard with a snake and it’s a
1:44:13 slizzard or you have a spider monkey
1:44:15 which is like literally spider legs and a
1:44:18 monkey top so he makes that and then he
1:44:20 thought hey why don’t I make make him a
1:44:21 little bit bigger for kids that have big
1:44:24 hands and it got out of control and they
1:44:25 turn into these huge creatures and now
1:44:28 they’re trying to eat him so he’s hiding
1:44:30 the kids find him hiding and he says this
1:44:32 one line that people keep coming it’s on
1:44:34 the internet a lot this meme about this
1:44:37 why is this line this movie it’s so
1:44:40 wild I thought I wanted Steve to come
1:44:42 up to the camera and like he’s just he’s
1:44:45 lost in his own creative world and he
1:44:48 says I can’t even go outside because my
1:44:50 own creations are gonna eat me then he
1:44:52 comes up to the camera he goes do you
1:44:54 think God hides in heaven because he too
1:44:57 lives in fear of what he created here on
1:45:00 earth it’s like really just for a moment
1:45:02 this thing and it’s like because you feel
1:45:03 like that way when you’re when you’re
1:45:05 creating stuff like you’re creating
1:45:06 something and then now it’s taking on a
1:45:08 life on its own and like oh no now this
1:45:09 character has to die I didn’t want that
1:45:11 you know this this domino effect of
1:45:14 creation and you start thinking well
1:45:16 that must be what creation maybe he is
1:45:18 hiding up there because look at he didn’t
1:45:20 expect all this shit to happen giving us
1:45:23 free will and all that I mean this
1:45:25 particular context that you are the
1:45:27 creator of the story and it for some
1:45:29 reason makes me feel good to know that
1:45:30 you feel the pain of this character
1:45:33 dying yeah absolutely because like if
1:45:36 I’m I’m writing it but if it’s not
1:45:38 coming from me I’m as surprised
1:45:41 sometimes and Quentin would say that you
1:45:41 know he’d say you just get two
1:45:43 characters talking when I’m writing my
1:45:45 script and then suddenly they’re just
1:45:46 talking to each other and I was like
1:45:47 what does that mean and now I know what
1:45:49 that means it’s like he just gave them
1:45:52 life and now now the dialogue’s coming
1:45:54 through him let me just ask you you’re
1:45:56 the perfect person to ask about the
1:45:58 genius of Quentin Tarantino what makes
1:45:59 him special as a director as a creative
1:46:03 mind what do you see in him that’s
1:46:04 beautiful that’s brilliant
1:46:08 since I met him he was just like this
1:46:15 brilliant ball of energy and you know
1:46:17 like if you see him I walk around his
1:46:20 house and I’ll see like a few sheets of
1:46:22 paper all handwritten out like what’s
1:46:24 that he goes oh that was something I was
1:46:25 starting to write and I you know not
1:46:28 going to finish I’m like can I take
1:46:31 these and go turn it into like a whole
1:46:33 trilogy of films you know like what he
1:46:34 throws away all this mortal men would
1:46:37 kill for you meet people like that I tell
1:46:40 people you know your parents say watch
1:46:42 out who your peers are you know when
1:46:43 you’re younger that means one thing but
1:46:45 once you get older surround yourself
1:46:48 around people who swing much farther than
1:46:50 you you know that’s just like but that’s
1:46:54 really true I mean just by being around
1:46:57 him and working with him you get by
1:47:00 osmosis you learn stuff and it just ups
1:47:02 your game because they’re just swing way
1:47:05 beyond you Jim Cameron was like that so
1:47:06 like when I first met him I was trying
1:47:07 to impress the hell out of him you know
1:47:09 because I was such a big fan I was about
1:47:11 to go do the Esperado and I went hey I
1:47:12 just took a three-day Steadicam course
1:47:14 because I can’t afford a Steadicam
1:47:15 operator so I’m gonna operate Steadicam
1:47:18 myself on Desperado now if he was just my
1:47:20 peer he’d say oh I did the same thing
1:47:22 and I’m gonna do the same thing that that
1:47:23 would be like hanging out with somebody
1:47:25 of your ilk but you don’t you want
1:47:26 somebody who’s above that you know what
1:47:29 he said he goes I bought a Steadicam but
1:47:31 not to operate it I’m gonna take it apart
1:47:35 and design a better one us mere mortals
1:47:37 trying to learn how to operate the camera
1:47:40 he’s designing all new systems that’s the
1:47:41 guy you want to hang out with not
1:47:42 someone who’s doing what you’re doing
1:47:45 so surround yourself by those kind of
1:47:46 people and that’s when you learn things
1:47:48 like don’t blink you know like somebody
1:47:51 who’s like really swinging for the fences
1:47:53 and accomplishing so much and Quentin was
1:47:56 like that so I met him at the festivals
1:47:59 he saw Mariachi he loved it we came up we
1:48:00 talked and he said you don’t like my next
1:48:01 film I’m writing right now Pulp Fiction
1:48:05 so I thought man I’m gonna put this guy
1:48:06 he’s so he’s so fun I’m gonna put him in
1:48:08 I’m gonna write him in my Desperado
1:48:09 script which I was writing so that was
1:48:11 before Pulp Fiction and all that when I
1:48:13 cast him I didn’t know he was gonna go
1:48:15 become such a household name I just was
1:48:17 drawn to his energy and I’d already
1:48:19 written him in and I met Steve Buscemi
1:48:21 there and I was like I’m writing a
1:48:22 character for Steve Buscemi but then I
1:48:24 went back to the Sony lot where I was
1:48:26 working on Desperado and Quentin and I
1:48:28 ended up having offices right next to
1:48:29 each other on the Sony lot by accident
1:48:31 I didn’t even know that I just met him
1:48:33 and I go back and he just because
1:48:35 originally Pulp Fiction was for TriStar
1:48:37 because Danny DeVito was a producer and
1:48:38 he was gonna make it for TriStar so he
1:48:40 was there writing Pulp Fiction and I
1:48:42 was writing Desperado so I’d go show
1:48:43 him like storyboards from Desperado
1:48:45 he’d come act out scenes of Pulp
1:48:47 Fiction and we got to be really good
1:48:48 friends that way we’d go eat lunch at
1:48:51 Versailles across the street the Sony
1:48:55 lot and then Sony passed on Pulp
1:48:58 Fiction it’s too weird too long eight
1:49:01 million dollar movie or seven million
1:49:02 they’re like yeah we’re gonna go make
1:49:03 the next Pauly Shore movie instead you
1:49:04 know like we don’t understand this
1:49:07 thing and Miramax got it and they’d
1:49:08 just been bought by Disney so they
1:49:09 produced their first film was Pulp
1:49:11 Fiction and so and then that thing
1:49:13 went to Cannes and it was a whole
1:49:17 thing but what I loved about his story
1:49:20 is that when he made Pulp Fiction he
1:49:22 had a director screening he showed it to
1:49:23 some directors and I wasn’t able to go
1:49:25 but anyway I had dinner with him once
1:49:26 and it was in my journal because I keep
1:49:29 a journal at 2 40 a.m. when after he
1:49:31 had dropped I dropped him off at his
1:49:33 house I said oh wait how did your movie
1:49:35 come out you know Pulp Fiction he
1:49:38 just finished it anyway it’s still still
1:49:40 feels like a movie Quentin would make
1:49:42 doesn’t feel like a real movie and I was
1:49:45 like that’s fine what does it mean it
1:49:46 feels like one of those movies I would
1:49:48 make like Reservoir Dogs and it doesn’t
1:49:50 feel like a real movie and I was trying
1:49:51 to be the supportive friend going oh man
1:49:53 he was so excited about this movie now
1:49:55 he’s bummed about it and I was like
1:49:57 well it should be different should be
1:50:01 like he’s like wouldn’t have it drove
1:50:02 off so I don’t know I guess that wasn’t
1:50:04 the one so I went home and I called some
1:50:05 of the directors that were at the
1:50:07 screening and they go yeah this isn’t
1:50:09 the one for him it’s not they had none
1:50:12 of them saw it none of them saw it but
1:50:13 that I know you’re like surprised yeah
1:50:15 but that happened with George Lucas too
1:50:18 with Star Wars everybody saw that movie
1:50:19 and was like poor George they showed it
1:50:21 to all his director friends for George
1:50:22 what he’s wasting all this time with
1:50:24 this for only Spielberg was the one who
1:50:26 said it’s naive and it’s gonna do
1:50:28 really good because it’s naive and kids
1:50:30 will like it but everyone else was like
1:50:32 what’s he doing we’re artists we’re
1:50:33 making our film what’s he doing this
1:50:35 garbage for because nobody knows it shows
1:50:37 no one knows anything not even the
1:50:38 filmmaker when you’re being
1:50:39 groundbreaking you don’t know what
1:50:41 groundbreaking is not you or anyone
1:50:43 around you except maybe one or two
1:50:44 people so he said there’s one person
1:50:46 like oh yeah who is your Spielberg
1:50:48 goes Catherine Bigelow without a doubt
1:50:50 she’s the only one who said there’s
1:50:51 something here no one else was seen
1:50:53 was saying that he said in fact because
1:50:55 he remembered suddenly he’d forgotten
1:50:57 the story but it wasn’t in my journal I
1:50:59 would have forgot it too because in fact
1:51:01 one of my friends Simon said I want to
1:51:03 sit you down and tell you all the
1:51:04 things that are wrong with your movie
1:51:06 but I’ll wait till you get back from the
1:51:08 Cannes Film Festival and he goes and he
1:51:09 wins the Palme d’Or then his friend’s
1:51:11 like oh what the hell do I know I’ve only
1:51:12 made one movie myself so I never mind I
1:51:15 guess I guess we’re all wrong so even he
1:51:17 didn’t expect that at all so that was a
1:51:21 shock you know even to him so think
1:51:23 about that yeah that means what do you
1:51:25 do commit to a body of work just do that
1:51:27 you don’t know you don’t know what’s
1:51:28 gonna be a Pulp Fiction what’s gonna be
1:51:30 a Jackie Brown what’s gonna be you know
1:51:32 you don’t know and they and you’d like
1:51:34 to think they know but they don’t know
1:51:35 either they feel it like I asked Jim
1:51:37 Cameron I said do you see your movie
1:51:40 really clearly like can you see it like
1:51:42 with hyper focus because it seems like
1:51:45 that he goes it’s like really far it’s
1:51:47 out of focus as you work on it you work
1:51:49 on it starts coming that’s okay good so
1:51:51 that’s that’s normal I thought maybe he
1:51:53 had laser vision or something but no even
1:51:55 him he doesn’t really know but he feels
1:51:57 that he can make decisions and he
1:52:00 understands what a creative drive is and
1:52:02 how to just keep being relentless about
1:52:04 it but it’s not like they have all the
1:52:11 proximity is huge proximity will change
1:52:13 your life did for me just being around
1:52:16 those guys they didn’t teach me hey I’m
1:52:17 gonna teach you how to make a movie just
1:52:19 being next to them being in their world
1:52:23 just ups your game and you just you’re
1:52:24 able to do things you weren’t able to do
1:52:26 before you get ideas you didn’t get to do
1:52:28 before I did I’ll show you uh one of my
1:52:31 painting things you’re not gonna believe
1:52:33 this freaking thing I had a painter friend
1:52:36 in Germany Sebastian Kruger he gives a
1:52:38 workshop once a year that I’m gonna go
1:52:40 there and I bet I’ll learn more about
1:52:42 directing by watching this guy paint than I
1:52:44 will by watching another director because
1:52:45 that’s just now I know how creativity
1:52:48 works you’re gonna learn lessons outside
1:52:51 of the box by doing that and I try to
1:52:53 practice before going out there I was
1:52:54 doing a Danny Trejo I’ll show you the
1:52:55 before and after you’re not gonna
1:52:57 freaking believe what you see but this is
1:53:00 a it really tells a story of how
1:53:03 important proximity is so I’m I do this
1:53:06 painting it’s like ah it looks garbage I’ll
1:53:08 show you it looks like garbage I’m not
1:53:11 used I can’t do paintings that are just
1:53:13 like see I never should say I can’t you
1:53:15 just cut your leg off but I couldn’t at
1:53:18 the time paint just paintbrush into paint
1:53:19 and then right on the canvas like that
1:53:22 without using some kind of medium which
1:53:24 this guy Sebastian Kruger would do so
1:53:26 first I did a digital painting of Danny
1:53:28 Trejo like just to get the framing and
1:53:30 all that and then I created that’s just
1:53:31 like that’s like on a Wacom tablet but
1:53:33 then I did it with paint and it’s like
1:53:35 oh it’s all cruddy and it’s too thick
1:53:38 the paint and it just looks it looks and I
1:53:40 just gave up right away I went I was
1:53:41 trying to pre-practice I wouldn’t be a
1:53:43 total buffoon there because I was going
1:53:45 the next week and I thought he’s using a
1:53:47 different brush obviously he’s using a
1:53:49 better paint the stuff just is clogging
1:53:51 up and it’s crap I’m sure when I get
1:53:54 there so I get there and he’s doing a
1:53:57 Mick Jagger and he starts with a mid
1:53:59 tone he starts blocking in the face with
1:54:01 a little tiny drawing of where the face
1:54:04 goes he starts doing that he starts
1:54:06 adding some highlights there’s the photo
1:54:09 his reference and I’m like why why you
1:54:12 why are you concentrating so much on the
1:54:15 cheek first and he’s like Stefan every
1:54:19 time and go why do you what what paints
1:54:21 are you using and he’s like it was
1:54:23 regular acrylic paint what brushes do you
1:54:25 have regular brushes I’m like how come
1:54:27 mine doesn’t look like yours let me try
1:54:29 what he’s doing I mean you start with a
1:54:30 midtone I’m gonna do that Danny again
1:54:32 yeah start with a midtone I’ll start
1:54:36 adding some highlights and I did that and
1:54:38 everybody kept coming over going like did
1:54:39 you just do that and I was like yeah I
1:54:41 don’t know how but it’s very cartoony
1:54:44 still he’s doing a very realistic Mick
1:54:49 Jagger look how real that is and you’re
1:54:50 just watching and he doesn’t teach you
1:54:54 anything so he just starts painting so
1:54:55 this is the photo he had as a reference
1:54:59 but then this is his painting right yeah
1:55:01 because I’m there he’s not teaching you
1:55:03 how to paint through osmosis you’re like
1:55:05 learning somehow you’re seeing there isn’t
1:55:07 a trick yeah I thought he had a trick and
1:55:10 that’s why I couldn’t get any further he’s
1:55:11 using the same brush and the same paint
1:55:14 well how come I can’t do that and you go
1:55:15 you do it I’m gonna try and do something
1:55:17 realistic I’ve never done realistic before
1:55:19 because I’m a cartoonist and everything I
1:55:21 was cartoony and that was just easier
1:55:24 for me because I thought I would need too
1:55:26 much training I did another trejo I
1:55:28 started doing a realistic I finished out
1:55:31 just one section of his face and put the
1:55:33 pen down because I did that yeah the same
1:55:36 day nice I got out of my way because
1:55:40 seeing him get out of his own way I think
1:55:42 that’s why sometimes people need to go to
1:55:44 school for stuff like that because then
1:55:46 now well I just did four years of school so
1:55:48 now I must know now you’re giving yourself
1:55:50 permission but you could give yourself
1:55:51 permission right away and it’s gonna come
1:55:53 through and drawing Danny Trejo of all
1:55:55 people it’s like there’s so much going on
1:55:57 there it’s like he’s so expressive
1:56:00 I mean you’ve worked with him a lot and
1:56:03 you’ve I mean he’s one of those badass
1:56:05 humans on the screen you’ve created
1:56:07 that can you just talk about what it’s
1:56:10 like creating those characters what was
1:56:12 exciting about desperados I went to go
1:56:14 make it and there were no Latin actors
1:56:15 working in Hollywood because no one was
1:56:17 creating roles for them so I thought wow I
1:56:20 gotta go create my own stars we’ll bring
1:56:22 Antonio from Europe because they kind of
1:56:25 know his name from the Almodovar movies and
1:56:27 I saw him in tie me up tie me down when I
1:56:29 was in the hospital riding mariachi we’re
1:56:32 watching TV while I was a patient and
1:56:34 there’s a scene where he like headbutts
1:56:36 Victoria Abril you know he just like
1:56:38 gives her headbutt he goes like that I
1:56:40 was like whoa I bet that guy would want
1:56:42 to be in an action movie he’s got
1:56:43 something inside so I called him when
1:56:45 we were doing desperado and I said would
1:56:47 you ever consider doing an action oh man
1:56:50 I’d love to do action so I said I got a
1:56:51 movie for you I got a movie for you it was
1:56:56 sequel to mariachi and so Salma I found
1:56:59 Mexico television you know doing she
1:57:01 couldn’t get work in the US because of
1:57:04 the roles in her I mean this is one of the
1:57:05 greatest actors in the world one of the
1:57:07 best stories I was really determined to
1:57:10 hire a real Latin especially Hispanic and
1:57:12 then she’s Mexican actress to be the
1:57:15 Mexican character that’s like as
1:57:16 authentic as you can get and there was
1:57:18 no one who was getting any jobs because
1:57:20 no one was creating any so there was no
1:57:21 one that had any movies be under their
1:57:23 name because there was no one it was a
1:57:25 whole systemic problem right this was
1:57:31 94 93 so I was watching a Paul Rodriguez
1:57:34 show on Univision because he I was trying
1:57:36 to practice my Spanish because I was
1:57:37 having to do all these Spanish interviews
1:57:38 because mariachi was in Spanish that was
1:57:40 the other part I didn’t tell you I didn’t
1:57:42 speak Spanish when I made that movie we
1:57:44 didn’t grow up with it so I never I left
1:57:46 that part out of the mariachi story
1:57:47 because I thought people already didn’t
1:57:49 believe I made the movie by myself they
1:57:50 knew I made it in a language I didn’t
1:57:52 speak I should have said it because it’d be
1:57:55 even more inspiring like now you have no
1:57:57 excuse yeah I would wrote the English
1:57:59 subtitles basically yeah I wrote the
1:58:02 titles what became the subtitles and then
1:58:04 we take it to the actors and the actor
1:58:07 would translate it for me and I was like
1:58:09 that is so inspiring I’d be like holy I
1:58:11 would try to speak Spanish and say vamos a
1:58:13 recordar like let’s record and they’d be
1:58:15 looking at me like that means let’s
1:58:18 remember the record doesn’t mean record
1:58:20 that means can I’m out now I know back
1:58:23 that I know so I’m watching Univision and
1:58:26 then there’s Salma as a guest and she’s a
1:58:29 big soap star down there in Mexico and she
1:58:30 comes out she’s beautiful she’s funny
1:58:32 everyone’s laughing she’s Salma everyone
1:58:35 that we know now and she starts talking
1:58:37 about you know what I gather from what
1:58:39 she’s saying that she’s having trouble
1:58:40 finding any work in the U.S. because of
1:58:41 her accent and then
1:58:44 Barbara Juga said well say something in
1:58:45 English and then she says then she
1:58:47 sounds just like she does now and he
1:58:49 goes that’s great she goes I know I know
1:58:52 and I went I think this is the girl so I
1:58:54 called her in my office and I videotaped
1:58:56 our first meeting together so I have that
1:58:58 somewhere that’s awesome telling me about
1:59:01 it’s Salma it’s Salma yeah her with her
1:59:04 energy with her passion is funny she
1:59:05 became instant friends with my wife you
1:59:07 know before they walked over your wife
1:59:08 and I are best friends she already was
1:59:10 like part of the family she’s godmother to
1:59:15 my kids and I thought I’m gonna help you
1:59:16 you’re gonna help me I need to have a
1:59:18 Mexican actress in this and you’re gonna
1:59:20 be phenomenal the studio didn’t see it
1:59:23 they were like what she hasn’t done
1:59:24 anything why don’t you just hire somebody
1:59:28 else who you know already has a name so
1:59:30 if we just give her one movie then she’ll
1:59:31 be someone who’s in a movie and then you
1:59:33 can keep casting so I made a whole other
1:59:35 movie with her in English called Road
1:59:36 Racers it was my second film for Showtime
1:59:39 really cool little rebel without a cause
1:59:42 type movie and she’s and I gave her a role
1:59:43 and that’s we have an example of her doing
1:59:46 English and they still were like we need
1:59:48 a screen test we need to have a screen
1:59:51 test with a bunch of other actresses you
1:59:54 know so I said sure let’s do that so I
1:59:55 went over to her house the night before
2:00:00 before the screen test and we worked on the
2:00:02 scene which is the best scene where she’s
2:00:04 operating on his arm and they’ve got all
2:00:05 this chemistry and I was just directing her
2:00:08 through it like completely down to when you
2:00:09 pick up the water and you hand him the
2:00:12 water don’t scream oh hot water just be
2:00:14 like hot water and while he’s spitting it
2:00:15 out and it’s gonna be a big dramatic
2:00:18 action with like a very light delivery and
2:00:20 so we got it down to a science the next
2:00:23 day we show up Antonio does a scene with
2:00:26 all the girls come in he does it with her
2:00:31 clearly they’ve got amazing chemistry she
2:00:34 just nails it he’s great he loves her too
2:00:38 studios like okay you can hire reluctantly
2:00:41 like that right but once they saw the
2:00:43 footage come as we’re shooting and they
2:00:44 saw it on the big screen when they’re
2:00:46 watching the dailies then they were like
2:00:49 oh my god then they saw it then they saw
2:00:51 what I saw when I met her but they it
2:00:53 sometimes you like you say what do you do
2:00:55 when people are like hey why come you’re
2:00:57 using this just know that not everyone’s
2:00:59 gonna see it you may have the only vision
2:01:02 just keep going there’s an instinct that
2:01:04 tells you to keep going that way you’ll
2:01:05 get proved right or wrong or maybe you’re
2:01:07 slipping on the first two rocks or
2:01:09 whatever but follow your instinct because
2:01:11 you can everyone’s going to have an
2:01:13 opinion and it’s not necessarily the right
2:01:14 one and when you’re an independent
2:01:17 filmmaker you can make those decisions
2:01:19 to change people’s career that changes the
2:01:21 world and that’s why you want to remain
2:01:23 independent that’s why what’s happening
2:01:25 now in the industry is great because I
2:01:27 have to make movies like the way I started
2:01:29 which is what I’ve always liked to do
2:01:31 which is just doing it where we create
2:01:32 our own destiny we go hey we’re going to
2:01:33 make a movie we’re going to make it for
2:01:35 this budget so we can make it and the
2:01:37 story is going to be so character driven
2:01:38 and cool we’re going to get big actors to
2:01:39 be in it because they’re going to want to
2:01:41 be in it so Danny Trejo you asked me about
2:01:43 Danny Trejo yes yes yes yes okay Danny
2:01:46 Trejo we’re doing Desperado now I’m
2:01:48 casting all kinds of people now I have
2:01:49 this character that I want to have a
2:01:51 bunch of knives he opens up his vest and
2:01:54 there’s a bunch of knives so bring me all
2:01:55 the coolest looking you know Latin
2:01:58 actors we can find and before he even
2:02:00 walked in there’s a picture of him he
2:02:02 already looked like the guy but he was
2:02:04 younger he always just played prison
2:02:06 inmates it was a picture of him as an
2:02:08 inmate in a prison I want to give him a
2:02:09 cool role you know this wherever this
2:02:11 actor is he walks in and I see him
2:02:14 Danny Trejo he sits down and I had the
2:02:17 prop knife already made and I say you
2:02:19 need to have this in your hand and look
2:02:21 like you sleep with it like just practice
2:02:23 flipping it around your hand and I gave
2:02:25 it to him you got the role just start
2:02:26 practicing with that he gets up and
2:02:27 walks out you don’t have to say anything
2:02:31 there’s no dialogue he walks out we get
2:02:33 to the set he kept saying put me a coach
2:02:35 give me a line give me a line say no no
2:02:36 you’re such a nice guy you’re gonna blow
2:02:37 the whole mystique I want this guy to
2:02:40 feel like the most evil scary guy of all
2:02:42 and you’re such a nice guy I didn’t let
2:02:44 him talk till dusk till dawn but one thing
2:02:47 I noticed was that the town we’re shot in
2:02:49 the Mexican town which is the same town I
2:02:51 shot Mariachi we went back there because
2:02:53 I wanted to pay back the city and so we
2:02:56 had this big movie there and they didn’t
2:02:58 really know Antonio because he was in
2:03:00 European movies Salma hadn’t come to the
2:03:02 set yet but they saw Danny Trejo there in
2:03:05 his vest looking like a Mexican icon they
2:03:08 would go like this everyone thought he
2:03:12 was the star and I just know magnetism when
2:03:14 I see it and I went this guy’s got
2:03:17 something so I went to him and I said I
2:03:19 got a movie we’re gonna do someday this
2:03:21 was 94 we didn’t make this movie for 15
2:03:26 years machete you’re gonna be machete I
2:03:28 had I had an idea for machete then it
2:03:30 wasn’t the same story I’d seen a story
2:03:33 actually Mariachi there a guy from our
2:03:34 send me this funny story say hey look at
2:03:39 this story that the USDA and FBI sometimes
2:03:41 would hire a Mexican federale to come do a
2:03:43 job for 25 grand that they didn’t want to
2:03:46 get their own guys killed on I said that’s
2:03:50 machete the guy that they pay but he’s not
2:03:51 doing it for the money it turns out he
2:03:53 has to get this guy that escaped Mexico
2:03:55 and that’s the twist so that was the
2:03:56 original story I had so we’re gonna do
2:03:58 this someday and we talked about it for
2:04:00 years and never did it never had it got
2:04:02 around to doing it so when I did spy kids
2:04:05 I put him in spy kids and I said hey
2:04:06 let’s pay tribute to that character we
2:04:08 never got to make and you’ll be uncle
2:04:10 machete he’s a gadget guy but he’s got a
2:04:13 mysterious past but then a few years
2:04:14 later Quentin and I were doing grindhouse
2:04:17 and he’d already done industrial dom with
2:04:19 me you know I was building my own Latin
2:04:21 star system Salma showed up in a bunch of
2:04:22 my movies Cheech shows up in every movie
2:04:24 Danny shows up there I brought Cheech out
2:04:26 of retirement put him in my movie I needed
2:04:28 to create my own Latin star system because
2:04:29 all my scripts because when you write in
2:04:31 your own voice you’re gonna write
2:04:33 probably somebody that’s Latin you know so
2:04:35 you need to have a star system that
2:04:36 matches that so that you don’t have
2:04:38 trouble casting and people are like well
2:04:39 you can’t hire this person so I built up
2:04:41 my own star system so Danny was one of
2:04:44 my stars so after we’re doing grindhouse
2:04:46 we had to do fake trailers for grindhouse
2:04:50 and I told Quentin I know what trailer
2:04:52 I’m gonna do for the movie I never got to
2:04:54 make with Danny Coleman Shetty that’ll be
2:04:56 so fun finally get that out of our system
2:04:58 and doing a trailer is so fun it’s two
2:05:00 days of shooting just still being that
2:05:03 resourceful guy we asked this company
2:05:05 that had a digital camera we wanted to
2:05:06 use can you let us send it to us for a
2:05:08 couple of day screen test I mean camera
2:05:10 test instead of shooting a camera test
2:05:11 we shot the trailer so we got a free
2:05:14 camera shot the trailer with him it’s
2:05:15 just the money shots him opening his
2:05:17 vest full of machetes you know him
2:05:19 aiming that gun him in a waterfall with
2:05:22 two gals and I just came up with this
2:05:25 really funny trailer and we shot it people
2:05:27 were screaming at the premiere you
2:05:29 couldn’t even hear it they just wanted
2:05:32 that movie so badly because there was
2:05:33 blaxploitation in the 70s there was
2:05:35 never exploitation it felt like this
2:05:37 should have existed but it didn’t it’s
2:05:39 Mexican superhero they just never seen
2:05:40 anything like that you know now you
2:05:42 know but like even his mom calls him
2:05:45 machete like he just became this guy and
2:05:47 about 250 movies that he’s been in
2:05:51 machetes is most famous one so for five
2:05:55 years five years people would come up to
2:05:58 us and say where’s machete why aren’t
2:06:00 you where’s the when’s that movie coming
2:06:02 out we’re like it’s not a real movie
2:06:03 but when it looks real we want to see
2:06:05 that movie so we finally made the movie
2:06:08 because people just asked for it and I
2:06:10 used I wanted to I was adamant about
2:06:12 being resourceful again all those shots
2:06:13 that are in the trailer are really
2:06:15 great I got a reverse engineer the
2:06:17 trailer into a movie so that I can use
2:06:20 that shot that’s in the trailer like
2:06:21 this girl in the waterfall why would
2:06:22 this girl be in the waterfall don’t
2:06:23 have a really clever way that he gets
2:06:25 the bad guy her hair’s kind of her face
2:06:26 is kind of covered by this hair we’ll
2:06:29 cast Lindsay Lohan there or the
2:06:30 senator will switch it out for Robert
2:06:33 De Niro well I just reverse engineer it
2:06:34 so every time there’s a shot in the
2:06:37 trailer it’s in the movie but I shot
2:06:38 all the footage around to lead up to it
2:06:40 that’s another fun creative exercise is
2:06:42 to reverse engineer something you just
2:06:44 did like this on the day you just threw
2:06:46 a bunch of cards out basically with that
2:06:47 trailer and now you got to go make a
2:06:49 movie using all those cards that’s like
2:06:52 a creative exercise that I thought so
2:06:54 satisfying so fun yeah that was
2:06:57 beautiful you’re actually known in part
2:06:59 maybe you can correct me but do pretty
2:07:00 unexpected surprising kind of
2:07:03 interesting casting so Robert De Niro
2:07:05 is an example of that and that’s just a
2:07:07 great role the second aspect of that I
2:07:09 heard the story that you can just get an
2:07:11 actor in and out in just a few days
2:07:14 really fast the Robert Rodriguez
2:07:15 experience as they call it how do you
2:07:17 make that happen can you just tell the
2:07:19 story I’m the editor I’m the cameraman
2:07:23 I’m the DP and so when I call him and
2:07:27 say I’ve got you as the villain in this
2:07:29 whole movie but I’m gonna shoot I swear
2:07:31 I’m gonna shoot you on four days you come
2:07:32 down four days like there’s a scene where
2:07:34 he’s in the hospital he’s just smiling
2:07:36 he’s having such a good time because he
2:07:37 couldn’t believe I said guess what when
2:07:39 you wake up from your hotel room at the
2:07:41 Stephen F Austin you just cross the
2:07:43 hallway that’s the set the room the room
2:07:44 next to yours we’ve turned into the
2:07:46 hospital set so you’re just gonna come
2:07:48 laying there in your pajamas really
2:07:49 that’s what you did yeah we had to save
2:07:51 time we only have four days so everything
2:07:53 had to be very thought out to be like
2:07:54 boom boom boom let’s shoot the money
2:07:55 get him out of this we don’t have to
2:07:57 spend a lot of money on him book a room
2:07:59 in a hotel set up to look like a
2:08:01 hospital yeah that’s their scent it’s
2:08:02 real you don’t have to dress it and
2:08:03 it’s just right there all you do is
2:08:05 put like a little tube there you know
2:08:07 like a for his IV and then you have a
2:08:09 couple of nurses and it looks like
2:08:11 just genius it was Robert De Niro
2:08:14 resourceful resourceful next door but I
2:08:15 said you’re gonna think about me when
2:08:17 you’re on your next meet the fuckers
2:08:18 movie and you’re on there for six
2:08:20 months but they have you sitting in a
2:08:22 trailer I don’t like to do that so you
2:08:23 know I gave Lady Gaga her first two
2:08:27 movies because after Machete she said
2:08:30 publicly she said I saw Machete and my
2:08:32 song Americano should have been in
2:08:34 Machete I thought she saw Machete so I
2:08:36 called her up and I said hey I’m making
2:08:38 a sequel and I would certainly use your
2:08:39 music but have you ever thought about
2:08:40 acting because you’re an amazing
2:08:42 performer I think I’ve worked with a lot
2:08:43 of actors who are also musicians and
2:08:44 they’re always great because I already
2:08:46 know how to be a persona be on stage
2:08:47 be in front of a bunch of people which
2:08:49 most actors can’t do and she said
2:08:51 actually I studied acting before I
2:08:53 became a singer so well you’ll never be
2:08:54 able to be in a movie because you
2:08:55 know what they don’t know how to shoot
2:08:58 people out they want six months of your
2:09:00 time and you’ve got and you’re always
2:09:02 on tour but if you come be here I have a
2:09:05 part for you I can shoot you out in half
2:09:07 a day this whole section of a movie and
2:09:09 I’ll shoot your movie poster she’s like
2:09:11 okay so she shows up I had all the sets
2:09:12 like a conveyor belt right next to each
2:09:14 other shoot shoot shoot shoot she’s in
2:09:16 the car that’s why she had me do her
2:09:18 music video for rain on me later she
2:09:19 said we should just go to Austin Robert
2:09:21 put me on a grease I was throughout that
2:09:23 whole movie I don’t know how we did
2:09:25 that it was half a day she was there
2:09:27 half a day I did the same for Sin City
2:09:29 too I was like I have a set here
2:09:31 waiting for you if you’re on tour in
2:09:32 Houston just driving to Austin I’ll
2:09:34 shoot you out in half a day you could be
2:09:35 in a scene with Joseph Gordon-Levitt
2:09:36 sure she came down so wait how do you
2:09:38 take Robert and you know how do you take
2:09:41 Lady Gaga and like solve the puzzle of
2:09:43 all the scenes that have to be in how do
2:09:45 we shoot them quickly efficiently
2:09:48 conveniently you have to edit your own
2:09:51 movie I have this analogy a food analogy
2:09:54 that works really well script is like
2:09:57 your grocery list filming it’s like
2:09:58 grocery shopping getting the best
2:10:00 performances getting the best beat
2:10:01 getting the best ingredients right
2:10:06 editing is like the cooking too much of
2:10:08 this and not enough that you fuck the
2:10:09 whole thing up so there’s so many
2:10:12 filmmakers do not edit yeah and they give
2:10:14 it to some other guy who might look at
2:10:15 all your ingredients and go this is all
2:10:17 great but I’m gonna go make a fucking
2:10:20 souffle and he makes something else so
2:10:23 by doing that job I mean like I’ve
2:10:25 worked on some big stuff and I realized
2:10:26 finally after many years because I’ve
2:10:28 always edited I realized this is why
2:10:31 movies cost so much there could be 150
2:10:33 200 people on the crew but I swear not
2:10:36 one of them knows how to edit not one so
2:10:38 they’re getting the wrong stuff they’re
2:10:40 having to reshoot shit the editor is in a
2:10:42 room somewhere useless calling after the
2:10:44 fact we still need to get this close-up
2:10:45 you got to reshoot that because it
2:10:47 doesn’t match because no one knows
2:10:52 editing so if you just know that you’re
2:10:54 already miles ahead of 99% of Hollywood
2:10:57 but that’s just how I learned by accident
2:11:00 so I kind of stumbled upon it but and I
2:11:01 realized that’s what the problem is
2:11:03 because across the board I’m watching
2:11:05 them going that’s not gonna match you
2:11:07 guys are just spending money sending
2:11:09 crews out shooting stuff for this it’s
2:11:11 just it’s a clusterfuck let me show you
2:11:14 and that’s how it’s in city Bruce Willis
2:11:16 nine days well Brittany Murphy’s and all
2:11:19 three stories one day Benicio La Toro three
2:11:22 days it’s just like you’re just shooting
2:11:24 this stuff Mickey Rourke is in a sequence
2:11:26 with Redgar Hauer we shot eight months
2:11:29 apart I didn’t have Redgar Hauer so I was
2:11:31 doing Sharkboy Lavagirl so I just shot
2:11:32 Mickey acting with me and then it’s not
2:11:33 regular acting with me and I just come
2:11:36 together what’s weird is like editing
2:11:37 exercises or like I used to do these
2:11:39 editing exercises where I went to my
2:11:41 VCRs together and I would cut my movies
2:11:42 but sometimes I would just cut a music
2:11:44 video and I cut a music video once because
2:11:46 I was a big fan of Redgar Hauer and a big
2:11:48 fan of Mickey Rourke so I said I want to
2:11:49 make it look like they’re in a movie
2:11:50 together so I cut this music video
2:11:52 together but and so it shows like
2:11:55 lightning on Redgar and the hitcher and
2:11:58 lightning on Mickey from Rumblefish but
2:12:00 Rumblefish is black and white so I made
2:12:01 the whole thing black and white I was
2:12:04 like 19 I was 19 years old and then
2:12:06 years later I’m making Sin City I shot
2:12:08 Mickey not knowing who the other actor
2:12:09 was gonna be until I cast him eight
2:12:11 months later and it was Redgar I’m
2:12:12 cutting them together to look like
2:12:13 they’re in the same movie and it’s in
2:12:16 black and white I’m like I’ve done this
2:12:20 before oh my god I found that old video
2:12:21 it’s like oh my god I already made a
2:12:22 movie then in black and white that’s
2:12:25 weird shit right that’s the magic of
2:12:27 creativity it’s like sometimes when you
2:12:30 have a vision it’s not clear but it’s
2:12:32 coming to you from the future so you
2:12:34 gotta just follow the voice no matter
2:12:35 what anyone says about your curtains
2:12:38 just follow the voice you got in your
2:12:40 head because you don’t know and you’re
2:12:43 not smart enough to know and you don’t
2:12:45 need to know you just need to do you
2:12:47 just need to be the hands so this is
2:12:50 like what you can do with no time or
2:12:52 money when you know all those jobs it’s
2:12:53 the benefit of knowing those jobs like I
2:12:56 said the more you know those jobs the
2:12:58 more you know your main job which is
2:13:00 being creative but on the day thinking
2:13:02 on your feet so I’m going to show you
2:13:06 this um this test okay so for dustled on
2:13:07 the TV series I would always shoot the
2:13:09 first episode and the last episode of
2:13:11 like a seven or eight episode season
2:13:14 there’s three seasons by the time we got
2:13:16 to the third season I was doing Alita so
2:13:19 I couldn’t do the big finale episode in
2:13:21 my actor who plays the George Clooney
2:13:23 character DJ Katrona he’s somebody who
2:13:25 fucking wanted to be a writer was
2:13:27 writing he’s wrote fight and flight is
2:13:28 this movie that’s gonna come out with
2:13:30 Josh Arnett that’s his he wrote it
2:13:32 after doing this he was like man hearing
2:13:34 you talk you know what I got this is what
2:13:36 I love about you inspire people the
2:13:38 feedback loop inspires you back he said
2:13:41 man hearing your talk for red 11 and the
2:13:43 cards and I’ve got a script that’s
2:13:45 partially written I’m just gonna go I’m
2:13:47 gonna go crank it out in 3d I’m gonna
2:13:48 cut off the phone in 3d I’m gonna finish
2:13:50 that thing in three fucking days and he
2:13:52 came back and he said I finished the
2:13:54 script and I read it I go when you read
2:13:56 it in three days and oh I wrote something
2:13:59 before but I just kept thinking I wasn’t
2:14:00 ready and then you told me the thing
2:14:01 about not being ready and you said that
2:14:03 really resonated I went and I finished it
2:14:05 in three days I go man I’m gonna do that
2:14:06 I’m gonna go do the DJ method I call the
2:14:08 DJ method I have a bunch of half-baked
2:14:10 ideas that I’m just gonna go turn off the
2:14:12 phone and finish the thing in three days
2:14:15 and I’ll fix it later but does three
2:14:17 days it’s gonna be pure pipe it’s just
2:14:18 gonna be coming through because you’re
2:14:20 just gonna be picking up the pen so
2:14:21 anyway he once he came to me with this
2:14:23 idea he said oh man I was hoping you’d
2:14:25 do the last episode of dust till dawn
2:14:26 because I had this great idea for a
2:14:28 scene we’re in a zombie town western
2:14:30 town we have those ones those guns
2:14:32 where you have to pull the trigger you
2:14:33 know the hammer back before you can
2:14:35 fire so I thought what if I have a gun
2:14:37 that’s empty and I got bullets in the
2:14:39 other hand and I bump into a zombie the
2:14:41 bullets go flying I jump and I catch all
2:14:43 the bullets and shoot the guy before I
2:14:45 hit the ground okay that’s kind of a
2:14:47 real cool like desperado type thing but
2:14:50 dude this is a seven-day shoot for
2:14:53 these episodes every one of the crew
2:14:54 will have a different idea on how to do
2:14:57 that stunt guy will put you on wires
2:14:59 because you have to do all that action
2:15:02 or the DP isn’t even operating the
2:15:04 camera it’s a camera guy the director
2:15:05 doesn’t know how to shoot he’s not
2:15:08 operating the camera your editors in a
2:15:12 room somewhere VFX guys aren’t there
2:15:13 you’re not gonna be able to ask them how
2:15:16 to do it but I and my own VFX I came
2:15:17 up with how we did all the shots in
2:15:18 Sin City and all this bike and we thought
2:15:22 we need one guy to come do it I’ll come
2:15:24 do it for you I’ll come do it because
2:15:26 I’m already gonna be there because I
2:15:27 have to shoot a second unit fight scene
2:15:28 for the other actor who wanted a cool
2:15:30 fight scene so I was already doing that
2:15:32 when it comes to your scene we’ll switch
2:15:33 places because it’s got to be done
2:15:34 quick because you’ve got you got to
2:15:36 shoot it in 20 minutes because you got
2:15:37 a ton of other shit you got to shoot
2:15:39 and you’ll just never get it you won’t
2:15:41 even get it in a film schedule you
2:15:42 know in a regular movie schedule it’s
2:15:45 just too crazy you need somebody with a
2:15:47 vision to do the whole thing so this
2:15:49 is what it would look like if you’re on
2:15:50 the set I’m gonna show you the footage
2:15:52 and I’m gonna show you the scene I have
2:15:53 to show it to you a couple of times
2:15:54 you’re not gonna believe what you’re
2:15:58 about to see so if you were on the set
2:15:59 this is what it would look like so I get
2:16:01 there they said we’re ready for that
2:16:02 scene so I get over there to the set and
2:16:04 I go okay where where are you coming
2:16:07 out of this building where are you
2:16:09 getting the bullets from that body okay
2:16:12 bring that body closer okay stunt guy
2:16:14 bring a pad over I want to see you just
2:16:16 jump and start to twist as if you’re
2:16:17 turning I just want to see how much
2:16:19 airtime you can get to get any action
2:16:22 before you hit the pad he starts to jump
2:16:23 he’s barely starts jumping he’s already
2:16:24 hitting the pad so I was like okay that
2:16:25 ain’t gonna work you get out of here
2:16:28 DJ you’re gonna do it I have no idea I’m
2:16:29 gonna do this I hadn’t thought about it
2:16:30 before but now you’re there so awesome
2:16:32 and now the options are very limited
2:16:34 yeah you’re very look at the sun you’re
2:16:35 gonna see the sun not move you see
2:16:36 that’s the point where the sun starts
2:16:38 getting lost I have to shoot this in 20
2:16:41 minutes you’re gonna do three jumps and
2:16:43 I’m gonna cut it to look like one jump
2:16:45 all the bullets are gonna miss only one’s
2:16:48 gonna go in so here just follow what I’m
2:16:49 saying is gonna have time what cameras do
2:16:51 we have what’s on the a camera a long
2:16:53 lens oh yeah that’s my camera I’ll
2:16:54 operate that what’s on the b camera
2:16:56 steady cam leave it on steady cam no
2:16:59 chance no time to convert it at one
2:17:02 point I want to lower it so just flip
2:17:04 it upside down we’ll flop it later give
2:17:05 me the main camera okay DJ start running
2:17:08 towards that bullets and grab it and
2:17:09 pretend like it gets shot out of your
2:17:10 hand I shoot it in slow motion but I’m
2:17:12 showing you how it would look on the set
2:17:14 okay now the bullets are flying I’m
2:17:15 gonna add those digitally I’m gonna hold
2:17:17 the bullets up to the light and each
2:17:19 angle so that they know what it’s
2:17:20 supposed to look like so they can match
2:17:22 that otherwise it’ll look phony now
2:17:25 first jump I just want you to commit to
2:17:28 just jumping out and just look at the
2:17:30 barrel just look at the barrel on your
2:17:32 hands when you’re jumping because that’ll
2:17:33 look like you’re looking at the bullets
2:17:36 and just don’t even think about that
2:17:37 you’re gonna catch a bullet don’t think
2:17:39 about that you’re gonna start turning
2:17:41 just stretch your body out get a really
2:17:44 graphic look how cool that looks and
2:17:45 then the side view it’s shot this at the
2:17:50 same time you can already tell it’s gonna
2:17:52 look like bullets are missing right okay
2:17:55 now I need now I need this part though I
2:17:57 need the part where he’s catching the
2:18:00 bullet this little window there how am I
2:18:04 gonna do that with a lens that long it’s
2:18:05 gonna be all out of focus it’s not gonna
2:18:08 be slow motion enough he even knows me and
2:18:08 he’s like what the hell am I doing so I
2:18:11 just lay on the pad and rock up and down
2:18:13 and as you’re coming down that’ll look
2:18:16 like you’re falling as I’m zooming in
2:18:17 because I’m operating the camera and I’m
2:18:20 cutting this in my head yeah and I’m
2:18:21 saying just do it again he’s like what
2:18:23 is it rock up and then as you go down
2:18:25 it’s gonna look like you’re falling well like
2:18:27 done bullets okay well done you’ve
2:18:29 caught a bullet one went in now second
2:18:33 jump when you do the next jump as if we
2:18:34 just passed those other moments you’ve
2:18:36 caught a bullet already so now you’re
2:18:38 gonna snap it closed and start your turn
2:18:40 it’s all you’ll get before you hit the
2:18:44 pad snap turn right so like okay this is I
2:18:46 want the cameras to feel like they’re
2:18:48 dropping with them that’ll give you more
2:18:49 of the sensation so let’s actually lower
2:18:52 that steady cam shot flip it upside down
2:18:54 and get a low angle so yeah look at the
2:18:55 sun’s right there hasn’t gone behind
2:18:57 the building yet that and then my
2:18:59 camera I lowered my camera down and I
2:19:03 got that angle right okay now last jump
2:19:06 I bury a thin I said just bear me bring me
2:19:08 a thin mattress because I want him to do
2:19:09 all the stuns I don’t want a stunt guy
2:19:12 because he does this himself he just did
2:19:13 it in three jumps but the audience will
2:19:15 know they’ll just be like we believe that
2:19:18 this guy can do anything I want you just
2:19:22 to finish by turning and cocking the
2:19:23 hammer back and firing before you hit the
2:19:25 ground I’ll give you two takes for that
2:19:29 almost gets it there then we do a second
2:19:31 take boom down there that other one was
2:19:32 probably a little better even though you
2:19:34 don’t really see it I’ve got to go do
2:19:36 everything now I got to cut it I got to
2:19:37 add the sound effects myself I got to put
2:19:38 the music in myself because music guys
2:19:40 would just end up filling it with music
2:19:42 and ruin it sound effects guys would just
2:19:43 fill it full of sound effects and ruin it I
2:19:46 want all the sound to drop out so as he’s
2:19:48 jumping all you hear is the wind in his
2:19:51 jacket the clinking of the bullets as
2:19:53 they’re bouncing off so you have this
2:19:55 breathless moment no music cut the music
2:19:58 and that moment you cut it so that you’re
2:19:59 like I wonder if he’s going to make it
2:20:03 right so I go home I cut it before I even
2:20:05 have the visual effects in I just cut it
2:20:07 that night because I cut my own sound
2:20:09 effects I cut my sound effects in you can
2:20:10 already tell it’s going to work you can
2:20:12 already see even with the bullets not
2:20:14 there you can tell by the sound where
2:20:16 they’re going to be it’s going to work
2:20:18 I call him up said dude this is going
2:20:19 to work great so then I go to the effects
2:20:22 guys and I go okay there’s bullet in
2:20:23 this frame and the next frame is here
2:20:24 because I used to animate in the next
2:20:26 frame it’s there then it hits the barrel
2:20:28 and then it starts bouncing this way I
2:20:30 want it that clear so we can follow that
2:20:31 a bullet was supposed to go in and that
2:20:33 it bounced way over there and then this
2:20:35 bullet bounced way over there and then
2:20:37 they send it back and a bunch of
2:20:38 bullets come down now guys listen to
2:20:39 what I say I’m gonna show you again
2:20:42 I’m gonna draw it to you again just the
2:20:44 sound will play like there’s multiple
2:20:46 bullets flying I don’t need to see all
2:20:47 those bullets or the eyes not going to
2:20:49 know where to go so then they got it
2:20:51 right brilliant yeah and then check this
2:20:52 out I’m gonna show it to you twice
2:20:53 because you’re gonna believe
2:21:18 wow changes direction wow wow crazy well done you
2:21:20 don’t even see that in a feature film much
2:21:22 that’s a tv show just as a director well
2:21:24 done oh thank you here just one more
2:21:26 time and I’ll show you something you
2:21:27 didn’t notice both times
2:21:49 that’s amazing just those decisions coming
2:21:51 together perfectly coming together and like
2:21:55 this you got you got minutes just uh moving
2:21:57 the camera like you decided to do really
2:21:58 worked really well the balancing of the
2:22:00 mattress whatever and it’s not like you
2:22:01 have this whole plan figured out ahead
2:22:02 you’re literally in the moment you’re
2:22:04 it’s coming through you but you’re
2:22:06 seeing it right I’m seeing it because
2:22:07 I’ve done it enough that’s why you
2:22:09 really want to learn all those jobs
2:22:10 because it come you come to a moment
2:22:12 like this when the shit’s fucking in the
2:22:14 fan you got to know how to pull it out
2:22:15 you could have gotten all those people
2:22:16 together and they never would have
2:22:18 figured that out you had one person had
2:22:19 to see it all the way through you’re
2:22:21 seeing the bullet how it’s gonna go in
2:22:22 the in the result I’ve done enough
2:22:23 times to know that if you don’t do it
2:22:25 just right you’re gonna you’re gonna
2:22:27 lose the image you’re not gonna know
2:22:28 where to follow and you’ll miss the
2:22:30 point and also yeah I love that you’re
2:22:32 thinking about where the the eyes of the
2:22:34 audience will go and that’s like you
2:22:37 like I feel like too many people might
2:22:41 think about some more general concept of a
2:22:44 scene versus like the audience where’s
2:22:45 their eye is their eye well you’re
2:22:47 drawing you’re drawing it through sound
2:22:49 to picture I’m gonna show you if you
2:22:51 notice without the sound you don’t
2:22:53 really see him click that thing back
2:22:55 the sound is so central here watch this
2:22:58 you you don’t really right I thought I
2:23:00 saw it you think you saw it but you hear
2:23:01 it so you feel like see but watch it’s
2:23:04 actually he’s already finished you don’t
2:23:06 really see him do it you know but you
2:23:08 swear you saw it in a close-up because
2:23:09 the sound is in a close-up I put the
2:23:11 sound in a close-up now here’s another
2:23:13 thing you didn’t notice he hits this
2:23:16 ground in the first shot watch one two
2:23:20 three four five six seven eight you
2:23:21 didn’t notice it because I didn’t play
2:23:23 the sound there so if you don’t hear it
2:23:25 you don’t see it and if you don’t see it
2:23:28 but you play a sound you hear it then
2:23:30 you see it in your mind right so check
2:23:32 that out now with the sound on and
2:23:34 you’ll see both those parts play
2:23:35 completely different now
2:23:47 now you hear it like I know you can
2:23:48 get away with that because I know
2:23:50 editing and I like if I don’t play the
2:23:51 sound I can go ahead and milk that shot
2:23:53 as long as I want I’ll make him be in
2:23:55 the air longer even though he’s
2:23:56 actually touching the ground by not
2:23:58 playing the sound and that comes from you
2:23:59 said directing but it’s not directing
2:24:01 like people can direct and say this is
2:24:04 what I want but to actually execute it
2:24:07 you need to be a craftsman and to be a
2:24:08 craftsman you have to learn all those
2:24:10 crafts and not just with the visuals but
2:24:13 with the sound the sound is so important
2:24:16 sound is half the picture sound and if
2:24:18 you cut sound you realize how important
2:24:20 sound is I would learn so much by doing
2:24:22 those movies like Desperado action
2:24:24 movies where you go wow the sound I can
2:24:25 add an extra sound effect of an extra
2:24:27 punch he didn’t even throw and it
2:24:29 sounds like he’s beating the shit out
2:24:31 of this guy and you only need to see one
2:24:32 or two hits and you can hear five you
2:24:33 know you know you know where you can
2:24:35 push your limits because you’ve done it
2:24:36 you’ve done it and you’ve got the
2:24:38 experience it’s so amazing that you can
2:24:40 use sound to make a person believe they
2:24:43 saw something that wasn’t actually there
2:24:45 on the screen yeah your brain fills it in
2:24:46 that’s crazy and that’s why that’s so
2:24:48 important because if you don’t know that
2:24:50 you’ll be on the set shooting 10 takes
2:24:52 of that because you’re like no he didn’t
2:24:53 you know I didn’t see him click it back
2:24:55 I didn’t see I didn’t see him click it
2:24:57 back it’s that’s really needed I can do
2:24:59 that with sound let’s just go let’s just
2:25:00 keep moving when you say sound close up
2:25:02 was I so like the sound all the other
2:25:04 sound dropped away and all you hear is
2:25:06 like the sound like the mics right on
2:25:09 that thing so that you hear it so big in
2:25:12 your ear that you swear it was in close
2:25:14 up too but just the sound was close how
2:25:16 do you sorry just to give an insight into
2:25:19 like that process of sound design what are
2:25:23 you like listening to the sound and just
2:25:26 like experiencing the feeling that creates
2:25:27 and then you’re like that’s just right
2:25:29 playing and post a lot so I have a whole
2:25:31 library of sound effects from all my movies
2:25:34 so I can pull up like the gun sound we
2:25:35 created for Bruce Willis and Sensity and
2:25:38 use that and mix it with Antonio’s gun
2:25:40 from Desperado you know I remember in
2:25:42 four rooms there’s a scene where the
2:25:45 bellhop goes into the hotel room jams his
2:25:48 key into it and clicks it and I used all
2:25:49 gun sounds for the sound of the key
2:25:51 instead of key sounds because it wasn’t
2:25:53 sound close up enough so if you listen to
2:25:56 you hear you hear like all these sounds
2:25:58 from gun to do the key is it’s like that
2:26:00 conveys the sound better you know I’ll use
2:26:01 different kinds of sounds that just have
2:26:04 impact and put it somewhere like when he
2:26:06 hits the ground or so I like playing with
2:26:09 all that in post when I’m editing because
2:26:11 it makes my editing job easier sometimes
2:26:13 it’s like oh the sound is covering me I
2:26:15 don’t I don’t need to keep trying to
2:26:16 massage this the sound is actually selling
2:26:19 it and so I keep those sound effects into
2:26:21 the final movie so it’s just all part
2:26:22 necessary it’s like it’s like being a
2:26:23 chef you’re there cooking and you’re
2:26:25 going like I know the recipe says this
2:26:27 but I think it really could use
2:26:29 jalapenos and some extra pepper or maybe
2:26:31 a little more salt and then it needs an
2:26:32 acid of some kind so I’m gonna add some
2:26:34 lemon juice yeah you made me realize I’m
2:26:35 not sure where I saw that but you were
2:26:37 you were talking about making sort of
2:26:40 almost like home films for fun and I
2:26:43 think you mentioned how exciting you can
2:26:45 make a very mundane scene by just adding
2:26:47 sound oh yeah there was I think there was
2:26:50 like a little kid for this car you have
2:26:52 one of those little and but I added a
2:26:54 motor sound to it and it’s like wow it
2:26:56 sounds realistic somehow like I don’t
2:26:57 and then we’re playing doing and then
2:26:59 we’re playing with these little cars
2:27:00 filming ourselves playing with the cars
2:27:03 but then I replace it with real car
2:27:08 sounds and it just your brain links the
2:27:10 reality of the real thing crazy you
2:27:12 realize how unimportant the visual is and
2:27:15 how important the sound is actually sound
2:27:16 is everything that’s what I was really
2:27:18 lucky in mariachi that my camera didn’t
2:27:20 work for sound because then I got really
2:27:22 good sound that I would have gotten with a
2:27:24 shitty mic out of frame because that’s
2:27:26 the first telltale sign of a low-budget
2:27:28 movie is bad sound bad sound right away
2:27:29 you can already hear all this hiss and
2:27:32 all this mic was too far and you’re like
2:27:34 low-budget movie before your eyes even
2:27:36 tell you the sound gives it away isn’t
2:27:39 that amazing the audio is first sound is
2:27:41 first really even though it’s a visual
2:27:46 medium that’s so crazy just on the what’s
2:27:49 the plan with the with the four action
2:27:51 films like what what what are the next
2:27:53 steps I’ll probably direct more than one
2:27:54 because there’s already several that I
2:27:56 want to do but I was I’m going to direct
2:27:57 at least one but I’m producing all three
2:28:00 all four and they’re at my studio it does
2:28:02 draw you in it draws you in and it makes
2:28:03 you go now think of ideas you never
2:28:05 would have thought of for mainly because
2:28:07 it has a filter well now I don’t have to
2:28:10 think of all these ideas I can only I
2:28:12 actually have like that like me on that
2:28:14 set there’s only very few things I can
2:28:15 actually come up with that are just
2:28:16 action driven first when they have a
2:28:18 great character you’ll get to it a lot
2:28:20 faster with a filter that’s the beauty of
2:28:22 a filter is that now you’ve just shrunk
2:28:26 your your target and now you can hit that
2:28:28 target and people are coming up with ideas
2:28:30 because now they’ve got proximity and
2:28:31 they’ve got a reason to come up with the
2:28:33 idea and they’ve got a deadline which is
2:28:35 the best thing you can do is have a
2:28:37 deadline because when you have a deadline
2:28:39 you can freaking move mountains you know
2:28:41 I had a spike is in the theater every
2:28:44 year three years in a row not being
2:28:45 pre-planned every year there was a spike
2:28:48 is now the third one was the biggest
2:28:51 one biggest cast mostly green screen video
2:28:53 game and the first digital 3d movie ever
2:28:56 so getting visual effects companies to
2:28:58 make that we realized oh I shot it with
2:29:01 two cameras that means each effect shot
2:29:02 has to be done twice from a different
2:29:05 angle so I went to the studio midway
2:29:07 through that and said there’s not going to
2:29:09 be a movie in the theaters in time
2:29:11 you’re going to have to push the date
2:29:13 back and they said okay we’ve never
2:29:15 heard you panic we’ll push the date back
2:29:17 for you they called back 10 minutes
2:29:19 later I was like oh thank god because
2:29:20 it’s really complicated I know it’s gonna
2:29:22 be this complicated but I wanted a
2:29:25 challenge and they said McDonald’s will
2:29:26 sue us for 20 million dollars if you
2:29:28 move the date you have to have a movie
2:29:30 in the theater we started shooting that
2:29:34 movie in January of 2003 it was in 3d in
2:29:38 theaters by July that’s the fastest any
2:29:41 effects movie has ever been done that’s
2:29:43 insane because you had no choice so
2:29:46 deadline makes you do things and make
2:29:47 decisions really quickly and it was the
2:29:50 biggest of the three deadlines are good
2:29:52 and it’s hard for us to self-impose a
2:29:54 deadline sometimes because we know it’s a
2:29:55 bullshit deadline and your brain knows
2:29:58 it’s bullshit but why do deadlines work
2:30:00 because when the deadline’s coming up what
2:30:05 do you do you can’t you start you start to
2:30:07 put the pen to the paper and it starts
2:30:10 just flowing you have no choice you have
2:30:11 to get out of the way and open the pipe
2:30:14 and it just comes out and you’re shocked
2:30:15 you’re like oh my god I should do
2:30:16 everything at the last minute well no you
2:30:18 don’t have to but if you just learn how
2:30:21 to open that pipe earlier you wouldn’t be
2:30:23 in a rush but you had to get out of your
2:30:25 way because your deadline was up and you
2:30:27 had to come up with it so many people are
2:30:28 going to come up with all these extra
2:30:30 great ideas at the last minute they’ve
2:30:32 already but I looks like everyone who’s
2:30:35 already signing on because they didn’t
2:30:36 it’s cool they don’t know when the
2:30:37 deadline is they keep writing in saying
2:30:39 when is the deadline for this and we say
2:30:41 well when when we close the funding in
2:30:44 May but we didn’t say when still so I
2:30:46 think that gives them like a sense of a
2:30:48 deadline like shit it might be May 1st
2:30:49 or maybe May 2nd so we better get my
2:30:51 idea going so I think it works in your
2:30:52 favor because then you come up with
2:30:54 stuff and you’re going to feel so
2:30:56 enriched by doing the idea that you’re
2:30:57 not going to care if it gets picked or
2:30:59 not you’re going to love this idea so
2:31:01 much it could turn into 10 other
2:31:02 things you never even thought about
2:31:04 that’s the beauty of doing a project
2:31:06 nothing ever goes to waste so many
2:31:08 ideas that were sitting around that I
2:31:09 come up with and put a lot of time in
2:31:12 are now like oh I can do these now I
2:31:15 have I know how to finish it now I have
2:31:17 to ask you about Alita so you’ve done so
2:31:19 many incredibly innovative projects this
2:31:21 is one of them it turned out to be this
2:31:23 visual masterpiece there’s a bunch of
2:31:26 complexity beautiful complexity about it
2:31:28 in that it started out as a film that
2:31:30 James Cameron was supposed to make yeah and
2:31:32 then you started to collaborate with him
2:31:35 on it and these two I would say brilliant
2:31:36 directors but with different styles like
2:31:39 you were talking about and so plus there’s
2:31:41 the complexity of for people haven’t seen
2:31:45 it you’re putting this artificial creation
2:31:49 this beautiful photorealistic artificial
2:31:53 creation of a human being into a real world so you
2:31:56 have to capture the the performance not just
2:31:58 the motion but the performance of this
2:32:01 actor put them into this with the power of
2:32:03 technology into the real world to convey all
2:32:06 the emotion the richness of the human face
2:32:08 can you just speak to the process of bringing
2:32:10 that world to life sure I mean one I never
2:32:12 would have attempted if it wasn’t Jim because
2:32:15 Jim has has figured all this out so just to
2:32:17 get you again remember like I said hey Jim I’m
2:32:19 operating a study can what do you think of
2:32:21 that well I’m designing a new system that’s
2:32:23 always how it is between him and I so when I
2:32:24 went to show him Desperado when it was done
2:32:28 he said you might not want to sit through if
2:32:29 you don’t want to sit through it while I’m
2:32:30 watching it it’s fine do you want to read any
2:32:33 of my scriptments my treatment treatment scripts
2:32:35 you know called scriptments that sure it
2:32:38 goes I have spider-man and I got avatar so this
2:32:42 was in 95 he was showing me the scriptment for
2:32:45 avatar which there was no technology for that he
2:32:50 was already doing stuff that didn’t exist yeah
2:32:52 and I was reading it going like it’s a great
2:32:54 story and he’s like I don’t know how the fuck’s
2:32:57 gonna do this it’s impossible it’s not even he’d
2:32:59 just done you know Terminator 2 a few years
2:33:01 before it’s like that was thing of the art
2:33:05 so Alita was going to be the movie he did
2:33:08 first to prepare for avatar and so he had
2:33:11 already done some prep work on it it was based
2:33:14 on a manga but before they did that they just
2:33:17 started doing some tests for avatar and then
2:33:18 as they got deeper into the test for avatar to
2:33:21 prepare for Alita they went I guess we’re making
2:33:25 avatar first so Alita got kind of pushed to the
2:33:27 side and they ended up doing it which ended up
2:33:29 becoming such a journey to make that movie to
2:33:32 get the technology to build it to make it because
2:33:33 I remember visiting him on the set I mean I’ve
2:33:35 known him so long I was on the set of Titanic
2:33:38 that’s how long I’ve been around this guy I was
2:33:39 on the set of Titanic I was on the set with
2:33:42 Sarah Connor and Arnold Schwarzenegger and Eddie
2:33:45 Furlong for the 3d ride he made for Universal a
2:33:48 few years later so I mean I feel like I’ve been
2:33:52 around him a lot of his career and to be able to
2:33:55 visit the set you know of avatar and remember him
2:33:59 showing me like artwork they did very photo
2:34:02 realistic and he goes curious to see how photo
2:34:05 real it’ll be when we’re finally done with this
2:34:06 process because you don’t get to see it till
2:34:09 it’s almost done and I was like wow he’s just
2:34:12 shooting blind he’s really talk about me
2:34:14 shooting mariachi not seeing the footage he’s
2:34:16 making this whole movie not even knowing what the
2:34:18 end result’s gonna look like at all because
2:34:20 you’re not gonna know till you get there and when
2:34:22 you get there if you don’t like it there’s not a
2:34:26 lot you can do so it’s just seeing him do that and
2:34:28 have that success really made it easier for me to
2:34:30 do Alita because then it’s like okay we don’t
2:34:33 know again we don’t need to know we know we’ll get
2:34:36 there but we don’t know how we’re gonna do it we’re
2:34:39 gonna start and anything that I would come up with on
2:34:41 this movie and his team because he had all his
2:34:43 weather people working on it he had them all working
2:34:48 on it too I do a fast version of his process because
2:34:51 it’s a lot of live action avatars mostly CG I have
2:34:54 live action sets you have to come to my studio because I
2:34:57 still have the whole Alita city in my back lot well here
2:35:00 the troublemaker studio yeah that’s where it was yeah it was
2:35:03 shot here so when you go see my city I built it very
2:35:06 resourceful this is weird it looks just like the town
2:35:09 for mariachi it’s in my backyard I’m like it looks
2:35:12 better than the town for mariachi yeah 90,000 it’s the
2:35:14 biggest largest standing set in the country because
2:35:17 sets are always mowed down for the next movie but I just
2:35:19 kept it there so we should shoot it all the time for
2:35:22 Mexico or South America or Europe or whatever it’s
2:35:25 seven streets and we add it digitally above it the
2:35:29 ceilings are 20 feet high you got to come see you don’t
2:35:32 believe that it’s here it’s unbelievable where is it
2:35:34 north of Austin it’s where the old airport was so it’s
2:35:37 like on 51st street you know it’s like really close to
2:35:39 town I would love to you gotta come see you’re not gonna
2:35:42 believe it all my props all my stuff from all my movies so
2:35:45 people who are you know investing in brass knuckle that’s why
2:35:48 they say it’s like a Willy Wonka movie because they’re gonna
2:35:51 get to come check out all that stuff and and and be in
2:35:55 proximity and see oh like me with that painter it’s not a
2:35:58 trick he’s just doing it I can then you realize you can do
2:36:02 it too but um we thought let’s shoot mostly live
2:36:05 action and we’ll just replace her but we still have to figure
2:36:08 her out you have to cast the right actress and when I saw
2:36:10 Rosa Salazar she was just amazing she made me cry in
2:36:13 audition for the first time I was like oh my god this person
2:36:16 has some if we can capture even a a fourth of her facial
2:36:20 expression it’ll bring so much life and they got it one to
2:36:27 one and uh it really helped Jim on the next Avatar and Weta because
2:36:30 they got to try out a bunch of things that’s why Avatar the
2:36:34 second Avatar Way of Water looks so much more refined than the
2:36:37 first Avatar because of that middle step of doing Alita it was
2:36:39 training ground for them can you actually educate me on the Weta
2:36:43 process is this like a performance capture technology where I have
2:36:48 her in a suit for capturing her body movements but also facial
2:36:51 facial capture it’s a performance capture of all her performance all
2:36:55 her emoting and we have witness cameras around everywhere to pick
2:36:58 up where she is and everything else is real and we’re just replacing
2:37:02 her but with someone even smaller in size so you have to erase everything
2:37:05 behind her there’s like a bunch of technical things you need to do but the
2:37:09 idea is to whatever performance she gives she’s such a great actress is to
2:37:13 capture all of that because then this character that doesn’t even exist will
2:37:17 feel very emotional and you have to you have to be tied to it you have to feel
2:37:21 it’s hard she was the heartbeat of it so she’s acting with all this acting with
2:37:23 all that but it just disappeared you know she’s not even it’s like it’s not
2:37:27 even there like we don’t notice this year it’s like that she can just perform
2:37:31 through it what was some interesting unique challenging things about you
2:37:37 directing her performance in this in this kind of world I just I just knew she
2:37:40 had to be her it was gonna be just so easy with her she’s just so great she
2:37:44 everything was just so real and everything was like she’s that character she
2:37:48 becomes that character who’s seen this world for the first time no special
2:37:51 effects gonna help you with that if the performance isn’t there so it was all
2:37:54 about getting the performance and casting the right actors that’s why you get
2:38:01 Christoph Waltz there and you get Jennifer Connelly you know these masters are all in
2:38:07 on the set Mahershala Ali you know you’ve got an amazing cast of people and that’s really
2:38:12 the heart the heart of it so that the technology kind of goes away how hard is it to get the
2:38:20 actors to act when like the full world is not around you we put so much of the world around
2:38:24 them like when you see the city we put like a blue screen way in the back to just make the
2:38:29 city keep going but we built the sets there the town we built the real set so everything was
2:38:34 very tangible and real and that way she had to fit into that world and be as real as that
2:38:40 because if it was all done in CG well then now you can fudge everything but if you put her in a real
2:38:44 environment that’s a real challenge and that really helps them on avatar because that whole place is
2:38:48 created an avatar you could get away with a lot but they wanted to commit to that kind of detail
2:38:51 and on the next avatar that’s why it just feels like you’re really there
2:38:57 it’s just stunning and you get there by having something to work on like this to take the
2:39:02 technology to the next level so it was cool to be able to help you know uh knowing they should be
2:39:07 helpful to him in his process and not just distracting him but then also he liked that his
2:39:13 artist had something else to work on besides just avatar to just work on something you know different
2:39:19 to freshen up their perspective on things and methodology and so yeah that was a really exciting
2:39:23 movie to work on and that we got to shoot it here a jim cameron movie here in austin that was the best
2:39:29 having him here and that my whole crew who’s worked with me 25 30 years everyone had an extra spring in
2:39:34 this step because they’re like we’re working on a jim cameron movie i mean that’s just like a high bar
2:39:38 of achievement for everybody you know working on it since we talked about a few other directors can you
2:39:43 speak to the genius of james cameron like what what makes him special you talked about some of the
2:39:49 difference in your approach in his uh he’s created some of the most special movies ever also what’s
2:39:55 behind that what would you say is interesting about the way his creative mind works i think any of those
2:40:02 guys george lucas you know him you know john lassner when he did pixar it’s a mix of and this is i got
2:40:07 really lucky my first job was a photoshop because my dad had a friend who owned a photoshop he said
2:40:13 your summer job when i was 16 go work for my friend mario so i go to mario’s photoshop and i’m you know
2:40:19 developing pictures or you know think you develop photos from film and he said here take this camera
2:40:23 home give me one of his cameras take this camera home and some film i need you to learn how to use the
2:40:27 camera so you can help me sell the cameras yeah so i went home and you know i have a bunch of siblings
2:40:32 so like well the stars are bedhead taking all these pictures of everybody i take it back and he looks at
2:40:37 the pictures when he develops he’s like whoa these are really creative you’re a creative person
2:40:44 sometimes people tell you something yeah that don’t you can’t unhear and he goes that’s a gift
2:40:50 which you need to know now now you need to become technical because most creative people need
2:40:52 technicians and technicians always need creative people because they’re not usually the same
2:40:59 you’re born with creativity it’s against your nature to be technical but you can learn if you
2:41:05 apply yourself and if you’re both technical and creative you’ll be unstoppable and i was like
2:41:11 stop wow so here i want you to learn zone photography you know like i want you to learn this this the
2:41:16 technical part of it so that’s why i didn’t take a crew mariachi because i knew if i’m just a creative
2:41:23 person and i i need a crew to go actually technically make the movie i’ll always need something and when
2:41:31 you want to really change your life you want to get your i need list down to little as possible
2:41:35 because if you’re like well i want to shoot my movie but i need a cameraman and i need somebody
2:41:40 who knows how to light it your i need list keeps growing that’s further and further and further you
2:41:46 will be from what you need to accomplish so i kind of went down there without any help so that remember
2:41:51 that script analogy where the guy said throw away three scripts i said no i’m gonna write three scripts
2:41:55 and then shoot each one so i get better at each one of those jobs so i can learn to be technical
2:42:01 my technical capability was so little like i’m literally calling the guy on the phone how do i
2:42:06 use this camera you know that’s how little i knew about it but i knew by doing the job i would learn
2:42:12 by being both that’s really the key so jim cameron is like that jim cameron when you think of those guys
2:42:17 george lucas very technical and very creative john lastner very technical but very creative pixar
2:42:23 jim cameron very technical very creative putting those two things together is really what sets you
2:42:28 apart from other technicians and other creative people and it’s very very powerful a lot of creative
2:42:32 people again it’s against their nature to be technical they don’t want to do it make yourself
2:42:38 do it read the manuals take the lessons it frees you up because then you can go do like you know i just
2:42:43 showed you in that demo you’re able to now be a technical person and creative and then you’re
2:42:48 unstoppable he’s one of the best at it and he just knows how to craft a story he’s very analytical
2:42:55 as well like we we bounce off each other in a funny way he goes man he came down to visit my studio
2:43:03 before he did alita and he went you only surround yourself with people for like you like you exude
2:43:08 creativity you know from every pore and so does everyone at your studio and i go yeah and everything
2:43:11 i didn’t hire them that way on purpose but i think if you’re not that way you kind of know you don’t
2:43:16 belong there and you kind of leave yeah and then i went to his studio and there are a bunch of jim
2:43:22 camerons there they’re like oh my god they’re all very technical yeah you can’t get all kind of fuzzy
2:43:27 with the with the logic or the you can’t get you can’t get really creative with the physics or anything
2:43:33 they’re like no that’s not how it would work it would be like and they’re just wow super great at
2:43:39 what they do bar is sky high and they’re all like that because yeah if you’re not part of it if you’re
2:43:45 not like that you can’t hang with those guys you can’t hang with him very long i heard a story where
2:43:50 the guitar case being a rocket launcher where to you you create this real world where everything is
2:43:55 possible the magic feels real and for james cameron he has to know how a guitar case would work that
2:43:59 would actually be able to double as a rocket launcher when i show him the trailer for greenhouse and he
2:44:05 sees the machine gun laying all that he just goes whoa that’s unbridled filmmaking from the id it makes
2:44:09 sense only the second you’re watching it not a second after but the second you’re watching and you
2:44:16 believe it yeah but he’s uh he’s really interesting in that he’s so prolific i walked into his writing
2:44:23 studio and it’d be like on one of the tables like do you have those papers there imagine them that thick
2:44:29 that thick that thick all scripts scripts what are these he goes this is a whole you know space opera
2:44:33 version of this movie we’re not making that one it’s like he’s just cranking out stuff like again
2:44:40 can i take this and go yeah right yeah we bounced off each other because i loved his analytical part
2:44:44 of his brain i’m not that analytical i’m just kind of like hey i’m really creative feeling i’m like
2:44:50 whoo i’ll go this way and then we will go that way and he likes that about me but i like i put it i
2:44:56 i want to because i think about things too much like you think about things like what makes a movie
2:45:02 a billion dollar hit what are the elements that you need and i’m going to analyze that and i’m going to
2:45:09 make sure my movie does that and he engineers a submarine that can break the world record he
2:45:13 engineers a movie that can break the world record you know he’s like he has that engineering mind but
2:45:19 the creative part that’s very rare so that’s very rare and he’s capitalized on both he had this submarine
2:45:25 model like this big on his desk the one that he broke the world record for going and just seeing
2:45:31 it and knowing him have kids and stuff and wife and i’m like weren’t you afraid going down there with
2:45:38 you know something could happen it’s like no i wasn’t afraid like why not because i designed the
2:45:43 escape vehicle yeah if it was any other bozo i’d be afraid but he designed the escape that kind of
2:45:49 confidence that’s him he just knows if some other bozo had designed the escape vehicle i would be
2:45:55 afraid but total confidence because he did it the confidence of extreme competence is brilliant just
2:46:01 to get you like excited about how creative this stuff is so desperado was the only movie on the sony lot
2:46:09 being edited digitally not only was i editing on a computer i was editing in my house which in 1994 was
2:46:13 just unheard of so i’m there in my house and they made me cut in la because they were because at first
2:46:17 i told the studio i want to edit desperado myself because it’s important that i edit it they go no you
2:46:25 can’t why not we’ve never had a director edit his own movie here so we don’t want to set a precedent
2:46:32 case they thought it would give you too much power so this is the power of precedent i said well you
2:46:38 bought mariachi and i edited that so i said okay but you’re gonna have to edit in la so we can watch
2:46:43 we don’t think you know what you’re doing we saw the footage and the shots are really short it’s too
2:46:48 short i was like shots are too short oh because i was shooting my cuts you know like they’re used to
2:46:52 seeing footage of antonio walks into the bar and it’s going to be a dialogue scene they expect the
2:46:56 whole thing done from a wide shot i would shoot the wide shot he walks in cut move the camera let’s
2:47:00 get over here because we wanted to because i’m not going to use it for the rest of the scene i know
2:47:02 we’re going to get into coverage because i’ve already cut it so i was like huh that’s interesting
2:47:06 so i cut the first scene if you’ve ever seen desperado the first scene is the best scene
2:47:08 steve was telling the story he’s talking about the myth of the mariachi
2:47:12 he’s doing oh yeah it’s crazy it’s crazy great scene so then they come over i say you come see
2:47:19 my first scene so they come over to my house they watch it okay you know what you’re doing but i was
2:47:23 cutting desperado in my house that i rented there and then we shot dusk till dawn at the same time so i
2:47:27 was cutting desperado four rooms and dusk till dawn myself i’m the editor i don’t have an editing team
2:47:33 other than the ones who import it into the machine so del toro came over soderberg came over
2:47:38 can i borrow it for schizophilus that no one had heard of somebody having an avid in their living
2:47:44 room jim comes over and he goes i hear you have an avid in your living room and i go yeah come check it
2:47:49 out i’m just like i roll out of bed it’s like something’s unremarkable because that’s what you
2:47:55 do right now but back in 94 it was unheard of i’m cutting three movies at the same time myself i roll out
2:48:01 bed i come here i can cut desperado and cut dust till then he went that’s it i hate working with
2:48:06 editors you know when i was doing terminator 2 they wouldn’t even let me put the bad to the bone song
2:48:10 in terminator 2 because they didn’t think it would work and i had to sneak into the edit room at night
2:48:15 on the weekend to cut it in then show them the next day it’s like that’s your own movie you can’t give
2:48:19 that kind of power to people he said i hate working with editors i’m gonna i’m gonna do this i’m gonna
2:48:23 tear down a wall in my house i’m gonna put it in avid i’m gonna cut my next movie yeah and he did he
2:48:27 got an oscar for editing titanic can’t do other editors but now no one ever took him for a ride
2:48:32 like that again he edits on every movie he has other editors but he can go do his own cuts when
2:48:38 he shows me like footage he’s showing me himself on his own machine and it’s like again it gives you
2:48:43 all those tools to be able to really find your vision that you’re looking for because you can’t
2:48:47 always explain it to somebody because you don’t always know yourself it’s part you kind of come up
2:48:51 with it as you do the process it’s just a small tangent about the different software and the
2:48:55 technologies involved so you mentioned avid as premiere pro premiere was still in its early
2:49:00 stages then i think soderberg looked at it and it said yeah i can’t afford an avid for this movie i’m
2:49:05 gonna go do it i think he started cutting on premiere but um i’m sure it’s all better now i just have
2:49:10 always used an avid because i just always read it back to the same production i think i’ve just i i don’t
2:49:13 have to buy a new one but there’s lots of goods i’ve heard about all kinds of systems i just use the
2:49:18 same one i guess that’s the question i have for you it’s just interesting for people it’s very
2:49:22 interesting to me just the the details use avid like what do you like multiple monitors one
2:49:27 monitor i have a couple monitors and then one big monitor to watch it if i’m watching the scene back
2:49:31 because the monitors are still a little wacky i mean if i were to design my own system i’d probably
2:49:37 design it differently but i’m literally i’ve worked on that thing since 94 i still don’t know all the
2:49:43 shortcuts and all this shit i still use it like my tape deck play rewind pause and i can cut so fast
2:49:49 with that just i don’t use the mouse for shortcuts i’m just like so you found your way yeah preferred
2:49:55 way the workflow of using it and now you can sort of let go of the technical and then be creative
2:49:58 yeah just be creative it’s just a tool it’s just a tool and it’s like it doesn’t matter which system
2:50:03 it is it’s like if you can get it to work for you great like there’s a lot of problems i have with it
2:50:06 that i would i know are probably fixed on another system but that they’ll have a whole other set of
2:50:11 problems so it’s like well why bother with that you know there’s limitations i think that it has that
2:50:16 would need to be fixed but not for what i’m doing i mean i can still do what i need it feels like
2:50:21 part of the artistry is every system has limitations and you learn how to work around those limitations
2:50:28 i mean oh yeah well every single thing my first vcrs like those things those things were i was always
2:50:33 known for taking what little basic equipment and milking the shit out of it what it could pushing the
2:50:39 boundaries of what it can do and now it’s flipped now you’re working on a program and you can spend 10
2:50:43 years on this thing and you’re scratching the surface of what it’s capable of it’s totally
2:50:48 flipped the other way i’m not milking anything anymore i’m i’m barely getting you know the smallest
2:50:54 capability of it because i would have to spend a lot of time to figure out all the stuff that it can
2:50:58 possibly do and i’m sure it’s all great fantastic stuff but what a different world than when i grew up
2:51:04 where it was like okay let me splice these two sound things together and it was so hard to get
2:51:08 it to do where people would be like you got that movie out of that equipment where now it’s the other
2:51:13 way around you know it’s like all this equipment is great so when people come to me and say i’ve got
2:51:18 well i’ve only got this camera i was like that camera’s 10 times better than anything i had for my
2:51:24 first 15 years of filmmaking so you have no complaints this is like you can just start now and just start
2:51:29 making stuff uh i have a lot of friends who are huge fans of your uh movies so one of them asked
2:51:34 me that i absolutely must ask you do you know if there’s a sequel of elita coming we’re working on it
2:51:39 we’re definitely working on it jim and i both want to make it that’s usually when we meet we talk about
2:51:45 it um i gave him something to read you know he’s a little busy with his avatar movie but i’m gonna get
2:51:49 i’m gonna see him again soon and we’ll see where it’s at but we would love to make another one we have
2:51:54 ideas on how to do it because it was always built to be a trilogy and uh he sees that there’s a lot
2:52:00 of love for it it was just weird because it was fox movie and they got bought by disney you know and
2:52:04 then so they weren’t really making fox movies because they had enough disney had enough work
2:52:08 with their disney movies but now they’re starting to make some fox movies like they did deadpool and
2:52:15 some fox movies are starting to get made so time might be right for us to come back and do it alita
2:52:22 no i hope you do soon it’s uh but it is i mean you do so many different kinds of movies that’s a whole
2:52:26 different kind of puzzle right yeah no but it’s not a bad one it’s a good it’s a cool it’s one
2:52:32 one of the few like usually i made kids family kids kids movies or r-rated action horror movies and that
2:52:36 was the first time i got to do a pg-13 movie which was kind of like it had a lot of action but it was for
2:52:41 families could watch it too and it’s kind of like the best of all worlds have to ask you about sin
2:52:47 city one of my favorite films of all time it was a visually stunning world what are some maybe
2:52:54 interesting detailed aspects about you creating that world this is why you just got to follow your
2:52:58 nose and go do something you know jim and i were both into 3d early on like i visited his set for the
2:53:05 terminator 3d ride just till dawn i wanted to be 3d actually when they got to the bar if you watch from
2:53:08 that point on everything’s kind of set up for 3d everything was shooting into the camera and all
2:53:14 this but the cameras they had for 3d and film were those old shitty ones that were so bad that i went
2:53:18 okay we can’t do it but i really wanted people to have to put on glasses when they got into the bar
2:53:23 and it was going to turn into a 3d different movie i got to do that on spike it’s 3d
2:53:30 so when i did spike it’s 3d i thought oh if i get jim’s cameras that he’s done for these underwater
2:53:39 3d you know documentaries i can make the first digital 3d film for theaters and so i did and it
2:53:43 seemed like the easiest way was to utilize that when you put on the glasses when you go into a game
2:53:47 world so there’s a green screen and we shot all the actors on green screen for all the game stuff and
2:53:53 we can do a lot of 3d stuff coming at kids faces when they’re reaching my 3d is is not like the kind
2:53:58 they have in theaters where it’s very polite mine’s like theme park 3d where kids are doing
2:54:03 like that trying to grab that’s why it was such a big hit nobody does 3d like that but i wanted that
2:54:07 i want shit falling in people’s laps you know so you remember so you go okay this is why i’m wearing
2:54:13 the glasses and i’m wondering why and when i went to go make my next movie so this is how crazy is what
2:54:19 we shot spike is 3d remember actually how fast they came out that was in the summer of 2003 a few
2:54:24 months later once upon a time mexico came out two number one movies both were finishing
2:54:32 trilogies of mine and each one starred antonio danny trejo cheech marin when i was editing those
2:54:35 at the same time you’d be like whoa they’re killing people and the other ones are like with the kids
2:54:41 going like hey family so it was really you know fun it was fun to it’s easier to do very different
2:54:45 things than to do like two action movies or two family movies at the same time but i was like okay
2:54:51 what’s my next movie going to be oh shit how crazy is this okay so antonio is on the set i’m going to
2:54:57 shoot him out in half a day for spike is 3d because he’s only in the last scenes on the green screen
2:55:01 shoot him till lunch okay now go away put on your desperado outfit because we owed some shots for once
2:55:06 upon a time mexico on the green screen he finished two trilogies in the same day that’s gotta be a
2:55:12 first if ever no one’s ever finished two trilogies in the same day and it’s just kismet you know it’s
2:55:18 just how it happened to happen that day was just luck or the universe or whatever but i needed to
2:55:24 make something new now so i was looking through my bookshelves of inspiration and i picked up my sin
2:55:29 city books which i’ve had i used to be a cartoonist and i always loved how he drew that every time i’d
2:55:33 see a different edition i’d buy it go home and go oh i already have this i got like three copies of this
2:55:38 already it would just always grab me by the throat and i liked that he was a writer director in a way
2:55:42 because he would not just wrote the comic but he drew it too a lot of times it’s a different writer
2:55:47 or different comic artist he’s like a real like a kinship you know this is someone who writes and
2:55:52 directs his own thing but i was looking at it and i went oh shit i know how to do this now i just did
2:55:56 it on the green screen if i shoot this on green screen the actors on green screen i can make the
2:56:01 backgrounds look just like this and i can contrast up the actors and i could get this very graphic look
2:56:06 which sometimes for a window it’s just a white box so it’s even got a sliding scale for budget
2:56:11 if i run out of money just put the actors in black and white just put like a white dot behind him for
2:56:18 street light and that looks just like the book so i’m going to bring the book to life so i’ll show you
2:56:25 how fast we go from development at troublemaker it was october once upon a time mexico would come out
2:56:32 i was like oh shit i know how to do this now sin city i’m gonna do a test i went to my green screen
2:56:34 here in my studio you’ll see my green screen where i shot all these movies
2:56:39 and i shot you know my sister myself put it black and white
2:56:46 looks just like the comic but it’s moving so i i call a a comic book artist friend of mine
2:56:51 mike allred and i said uh do you have frank miller’s number and he goes yeah i do okay i’m gonna call
2:56:56 whoops i call frank miller hey it’s rob rodriguez i have a test i’m gonna show you for sin city i’m
2:57:01 gonna be in new york tomorrow he’s like tomorrow okay yeah sure come by meet me at this bar okay
2:57:08 book a flight for new york i fly up there i have my laptop just like this yeah that’s good i go to the
2:57:15 bar i show him what looks like an image from his comic and it starts moving and he’s like wow how did
2:57:19 you do that i said i got my own studio and all this and then i started telling man let’s make this movie
2:57:25 because no one had the rights to it he never gave the rights to a studio a lot of comics oh wonder
2:57:30 brothers bought this a while back you know or then you got to go through the studio he still owned his
2:57:35 own rights in fact he’d gotten burned by hollywood so many times as a screenwriter that he said fuck
2:57:40 it i’m gonna go back and draw a comic that’s so raw that can never be made into a movie so of course i
2:57:45 call him hey let’s make a great movie so i show him how we can do it and i go i know you don’t know
2:57:49 me and you’re not gonna you’re gonna have to earn i have to earn your trust for you to give me your
2:57:57 baby uh but we can make this right away and he’s like uh he’s all excited for about two seconds and
2:58:03 then he goes oh no then we gotta write a script and the studio’s gonna have notes all that shit he’s
2:58:07 been through before and it’s not like that i have a whole different setup i got my own studio in austin
2:58:12 this is how it’s gonna be if you like this idea i’m gonna you’re not gonna have to take any risk
2:58:18 let me take all the risk i’m gonna go write the script myself next month it’s gonna be unremarkable
2:58:20 because i’m gonna write it right out of your book i’m gonna just go to i’m gonna edit three of the
2:58:24 stories down i’m gonna just take stuff out really it might add a few things to connect it but i’ll
2:58:29 write the script in december myself no money involved then we’ll call some actor friends of mine
2:58:34 we’ll have them come to my green screen we’ll shoot the opening scene as a test but it’s also the
2:58:40 opening scene i’ll do the effects myself i’ll do the sound do the music i’ll do fake credits
2:58:46 we’ll watch it together if you like what you see we’ll make the movie you give me the rights then
2:58:50 if you don’t like it keep it it’s a short film to show your friends
2:58:56 let’s be really cool so he’s like all right there’s nothing on him to do it’s all on me i write the script
2:59:03 in december january josh harnett marley shelton come down fly frank in shooting for 10 hours on my
2:59:08 green screen we shoot that opening sequence incredible opening sequence record his voice
2:59:13 over right then in my little voiceover booth marley shelton comes up why did i hire him to kill me
2:59:18 i don’t know let’s go ask frank he’s right here let’s go ask frank i want to know myself so he tells
2:59:24 her and he’s like i want to do this movie he’s already as i tell you frank i used to be a cartoonist
2:59:29 it’s the same thing you’re already a director you’re just using a pen instead of a camera the performances
2:59:35 you get out of your paper actors are phenomenal the shots you do are like beyond any dps ever done
2:59:40 and the visual look we’ve never seen that i want to just take this and make it move i just want the
2:59:45 comic to move any other studio would just go make it look like any gritty crime movie and they would
2:59:49 they would miss the point that it’s the visual is half of it i want it to look just like this because
2:59:53 it would be the boldest movie anyone’s seen because that’s how it reads when i read the book it’s like
2:59:59 if this was moving it would be the most phenomenal movie in fact i asked him do you ever feel like
3:00:03 directing any any of these short ones i thought about directing the big fat kill maybe as a short
3:00:07 film you should come direct that one shit you should direct all of them with me because i’m really copying
3:00:11 it right out of the book you should direct it with me all right let’s go so then uh january okay so
3:00:17 remember i met him in november i wrote it in december january we shoot the test took me a couple weeks
3:00:23 to do the effects he loves it i make a meeting with bruce willis show it to bruce willis what’s so
3:00:28 cool about doing that opening scene is that any actor i show it to now i show him the book which is
3:00:33 awesome you’d be playing this character but look at this test let me show you the book what it looked
3:00:41 like before i turned this test into a test watches it josh arnett voiceover music titles come on
3:00:46 first name on the screen bruce willis and i go hey look you’re in the credits you have to do it now
3:00:53 manifesting it right he’s like shit man this is great i’m in he’s in wow go get everyone else from
3:01:03 that was just easy to get and we were filming the movie so february right building the few little sets
3:01:06 we had like the bar i told frank we don’t need to build a bar but i’m gonna go ahead and build a bar
3:01:09 so we have a place to go have script meetings everything else will be green screen we’ll build
3:01:14 fake steps and things out of green so we’re doing that and i’m casting the first one we’re shooting the
3:01:18 movie by march the beginning of march and i remember because my son was born march 3rd
3:01:27 and i was in la for his birth because i was also recording the orchestra for the score i wrote
3:01:34 somehow in the past few months for kill bill 2 that’s how much stuff was going on yeah yeah you know
3:01:41 that’s like when you just let it flow you’re just riding the wave you’re not doing any of that
3:01:48 so that’s what’s by staying in that like urgent there’s always the deadlines are just pushing you
3:01:53 to create stuff and we shot the movie so fast in record time now not only that i shot a whole other
3:01:58 movie that year i shot the adventures of shark boy and lava girl with kids that came out two months
3:02:02 after sin city the next year within less than a year sin city was out you’re shooting that and then
3:02:05 parallel with sin city that’s hilarious that great yeah like sometimes we’d be shooting with the kids
3:02:09 and then the afternoon rudger howard would come and some of the sin city girls to finish you know
3:02:14 shooting stuff that we needed to film it was just insane how fast we had to move i was doing it in my
3:02:23 i was editing i just edited it and then i would scan the uh artwork into the uh computer and i would edit
3:02:28 the storyboards with the sound effects and i would do the voiceover i would imitate mickey and i would
3:02:33 imitate bruce and lay out the how fast it was going to move and you were like wow so now we have a
3:02:38 template with the real drawings and the lighting on how we’re going to do it as funny as i i could do
3:02:42 pretty good in bruce willis because i know in his career so long if you’re doing his voiceover and he
3:02:47 would hear my guide voice for the timing and be like is that me is that you can’t tell
3:02:55 that was me but just do that man it sounds like me first of all why haven’t films like that been
3:03:01 made well it’s a very specific look because it went to that comic the first piece of music i wrote for
3:03:04 that was the main title and i called it descent i wanted the notes to descend because it felt like
3:03:08 you were descending into this dark world and you don’t come out to the end of the movie you’re just
3:03:14 like in this world where all these layers of unreality like water doesn’t photograph that
3:03:18 way snow doesn’t but it’s there and you’re seeing and you’re seeing the actors so you’re just really
3:03:24 it’s like a dream world yeah so i was really into it and i did tests for the most difficult shots first
3:03:30 like how do i get his his tape to glow in the dark like in the comics what’s still in the shadow and i
3:03:35 realized oh use fluorescent tape and a fluorescent light that way i can keep it we can still key it like i
3:03:41 started just doing my own visual effects like that early on because i knew technology was changing so
3:03:48 fast that i would need to just know how to do it like i’m like a magician shooting digital nobody wanted
3:03:52 to touch digital back then dps were all afraid of digital they didn’t have to learn something new so i
3:03:59 had to dp it so me photographing it i’m like it’s so fun to cut because i mean to to light like you have
3:04:03 to have that light out of frame right now but i could bring the lights in right here as long as it was
3:04:08 they’re not crossing it i’m just going to take it out of the green anyway so i could have the
3:04:12 coolest light on everybody cool edge lights you can have an edge light back here an edge light back
3:04:17 here a fill light here but you don’t erase them i just take him out can you educate me and people
3:04:23 curious about this like what is the power of light when you’re telling a story when you’re creating a
3:04:28 feeling and experience like what’s the artistry of that well if you look at the drawings too sometimes
3:04:33 it’s the absence of light like you would see this face but then this would be completely black but
3:04:37 you would still see my eye yeah which is like impossible right but you believe it when you see
3:04:42 it because it’s there so things like that were a lot of the tricks i tried first because i like that about
3:04:47 it it’s like you have a guy completely backlit so there’s no light on his face but yet his glasses
3:04:51 are glowing white yeah so we’d put fluorescent tape in there hit that with a light then we could turn it
3:04:57 white later the black and white really helps and then just upping the contrast but i mean it’s just
3:05:01 something that you have a feeling for but you’re able to try it in fact when i took it to george
3:05:06 lucas who george lucas said this to me early on because i was we’re the only guy shooting digital
3:05:13 he said man it’s so good you live in austin that’s why i’m in marin county because when you live outside of
3:05:18 this box of la hollywood you think outside of the box automatically you’re just going to stumble
3:05:22 upon innovations and he was right it was like yeah what’s this why why aren’t we shooting digital
3:05:25 let’s shoot digital why are we shooting digital 3d let’s do that why don’t we just use green screen
3:05:30 for the background you just start innovating because you’re away from anyone saying hey you can’t do it
3:05:35 that way which they would say if i was in la so we just came up with a whole other method so i took
3:05:41 him sin city to check out the first thing i was going to show at comic-con he said um now this will
3:05:46 really show people what digital is capable of this really shows how avant-garde you can get with that
3:05:53 that you could never have done that on film you know and so by me versing myself in that technology
3:05:57 early i was able to make a movie like that and then everyone had to play catch-up you know so
3:06:02 you should always just follow your that’s why if people say don’t use those curtains as i’m gonna work
3:06:06 just blow past those guys go innovate your own thing because
3:06:13 sometimes not knowing is better you know being too naive to like don’t you know you shouldn’t have
3:06:17 been able to make that movie that way people with people would say like that how did you make
3:06:21 march for seven thousand dollars just you know it’s impossible it’s like why do you keep using
3:06:26 that word because it can’t be impossible if i did it because i’m not that smart and it’s like saying
3:06:32 how did you get to the top of mount everest it’s impossible well i just kept walking i didn’t realize
3:06:36 it was kind of at a slope i didn’t really realize it was going up that high yeah you you’ve talked about
3:06:42 like a big part of your approach to filmmaking to life is manifesting manifesting the reality you want
3:06:49 in fact i should sort of comment and i’d love to ask you about manifesting that you asked me at the
3:06:54 beginning of this conversation do you consider yourself a creative person i should just sort of
3:06:58 reflect on that because i was very uncomfortable answering that yeah i noticed a little bit and i was
3:07:03 like i’m gonna i’m gonna free you up so that you’re never uncomfortable again it’s scary to say that
3:07:07 about about yourself because you think there’s a lot of there’s a lot of people who go well you’re
3:07:10 not an artist you’re not a creative but no you’re not saying i’m an artist i’m saying i’m a creative
3:07:15 person but that’s an artist too isn’t it no you artist isn’t necessarily a guy with a the french
3:07:19 mustache and the funny hat that’s not necessarily what art artists are regular people yeah and regular
3:07:23 people relate to art that’s imperfect if you can make art that’s perfect don’t want to relate to it
3:07:29 so when you think about it like that you go well i can make imperfect art so yeah i’m an artist and if
3:07:33 you have doubt you’re an artist that’s an artist real artists always wonder if they’re good enough
3:07:39 so you are an artist just by the fact that you had uncomfortable saying it you’re a real artist
3:07:45 yeah and there’s some degree i don’t know if you could speak to this but um you know there’s a fear of
3:07:52 creating shitty things you know i’ve created a lot of really shitty things in my life and it always feels
3:07:58 like that’s really important to do okay but you’re judging something that that you have no business
3:08:04 judging right like i have so many people that’s why i like making movies on purpose that have less
3:08:10 money and less time on purpose like the biggest movie i said all time on netflix is we can be heroes i
3:08:13 told them i don’t want to spend more than 50 million dollars i know you all want to give me 80
3:08:18 but i want to be a hero and come in at 50 because one it’ll make it better and then two you’ll make
3:08:22 three of them instead of just one i don’t want to just go spend the farm and how many filmmakers
3:08:26 that do that don’t try to get as much money as they can but when you’re spending less it’s a win-win
3:08:30 situation and you have more creative freedom because they’re going to leave you alone you can do whatever
3:08:35 you want so i i like the creative limitations that come from less money that’s why i like brass knuckle
3:08:40 films like we’re going to make them for less so that they are better not because they’re not to make
3:08:46 them shitty so many people have come up to me and said um you know what part i love in your movie
3:08:51 you know tell me some scene i’m like oh well that’s because we ran out of sun and we had to like
3:08:57 do that jump with just him jumping on a pad three times or whatever it is it’s something that you fumbled
3:09:02 together and that’s what they’re drawn to they’re drawn to that imperfect thing and so i wouldn’t judge
3:09:07 it because somebody’s you know if you called your movie shitty that’s like john carpenter saying yeah
3:09:13 nobody liked the thing and it’s a shitty movie and everyone hated it so it must not be good
3:09:18 and then 10 years later it’s a masterpiece so don’t judge it because if you words we use on
3:09:26 ourselves are very powerful so if you say well you know i’m kind of an artist sometimes i make a lot
3:09:31 of shitty stuff well that’s gonna that’s gonna be your lot in life you know i i’m pretty good shape
3:09:36 for a director it’s not because i’m operating the camera because i work out right but i always hated
3:09:44 working out i was not into sports i was a filmmaker i was a cartoonist in high school i was really tall
3:09:48 they would say come work come be in our team we need it’s a small school we need you and i don’t
3:09:53 know how to play any of these things i’m an artist there’s a line in the faculty that was my line to
3:09:56 my coaches when they would say you got to come run with everybody i would say i don’t think a person
3:10:01 should run unless he’s being chased i get that to the to the elijah wood character because that’s the guy
3:10:07 i identified with he’s there with this camera and that was me so i hated it and then because i had i
3:10:12 was a cartoonist you know drawing like this for hours four hours my back would go out like out for a
3:10:16 month it would just go out from being so tall and crunched over and then when i started making movies
3:10:21 operating the camera doing steady cam every year would go out to where i would need cortisone shots
3:10:28 to get up again if i’m filming or just be out for a month and on spy kids 2 ricardo montalban
3:10:33 had bad back surgery that that went wrong and he was in a wheelchair so he’s in a wheelchair and i’m
3:10:41 in a walker and he’s like i’m 84 what’s your excuse and i was like i i don’t know i just was operating
3:10:45 steady goes you have to work out robert you have to work out i was like yeah okay yeah i know i know
3:10:50 and so then i thought okay next year i’m working with stallone last stallone last stallone
3:10:55 how do you get in shape because i need to get in shape my back’s always going out he goes get the
3:11:00 trainer anyone who ever saw in hollywood got in shape they had a trainer i say even you everybody
3:11:05 oh i need a trainer he has a trainer so no i need a trainer i can’t train it’s like well shit if
3:11:10 you can’t even train on your own then what what do us mortal men have so i got a trainer and guess
3:11:14 what happened hated it i would feel sick when he’s coming over because i hate i hate working it
3:11:21 and then um some years of doing that i just i can’t stand it but i know it’s good for my health so
3:11:25 the desire is there so if you can’t accomplish something in your life it’s not a lack of desire
3:11:31 like if you want to be more creative it’s not a lack of desire it’s a lack of identity like you’re like
3:11:35 the fact that you went you were comfortable about saying creative it’s because there’s a lack of
3:11:40 identity there you have lots of desire you got to get the identity up and then suddenly you’re you’re
3:11:45 making you’re making shit so i a friend of mine from mexico she comes over i have to stop smoking
3:11:51 my doctor said i have to stop smoking for my health so i have to i’m not smoking right now so i’ve been
3:11:55 smoking since i was eight years old he said well you’re gonna go back to smoking because you just
3:12:00 told me your identity is a smoker so right now you’re a smoker who’s not smoking what’s gonna happen
3:12:06 eventually you have to say i’m a non-smoker you know like just that that lesson i’ve forgotten
3:12:11 you have to say i’m a non-smoker i’m a non-smoker it’s what does a non-smoker do if you believe you’re
3:12:16 a non-smoker you hate smoke start choking at the smell of smoke okay i’ll try that she walks off
3:12:23 i go shit i forgot about my own i wonder where in my life i could apply that working out of course my
3:12:28 god i hate working out no wonder i am so miserable i’ll tell my trainer and anyone who will listen
3:12:35 i can’t stand working out i don’t understand sports so that day i said i’m an athlete i’m an
3:12:41 athlete yeah that’s the last thing i would ever call myself all through my entire life this was 2012
3:12:49 i’m an athlete by the next day not only did my life completely change and it’s easier if it’s opposite
3:12:54 day like if you’re just doing it by degrees that’s bullshit you got to go complete opposite
3:13:00 because if there’s like a donut you know if you say well i’m gonna only half of it you got to go
3:13:06 no i’m gonna get an apple opposite day much easier not only did i change my life working out i didn’t
3:13:11 ever needed a trainer i have not had a trainer since all those years because i’m an athlete i’ll just do
3:13:17 what does an athlete do an athlete loves working out an athlete will make time to work out and they’ll
3:13:22 eat right i was i would never be the person that would call themselves an athlete but that’s how much
3:13:28 it can change your life by changing your identity so if you want to be more creative you’ve you’ve
3:13:32 already got that in your that desire you’ve got enough of that you don’t need more desire you need
3:13:38 more identity so you got to say i’m a creative person with a straight face with a straight face so
3:13:42 when i say hey are you going to be are you a creative person you go yeah because then if you say
3:13:46 that what do you do you’re going to do more creative stuff because that’s what a creative person does
3:13:50 it doesn’t make sense to me how manifesting works but it does seem to work like basically
3:13:56 visualizing visualizing a path towards a certain kind of future i guess everything around you
3:14:02 everything within you kind of makes way for that makes way for the possibility of that it’s weird
3:14:06 it’s weird but it kind of it’s a kind of a nice to know that you can do that but you have to just
3:14:14 have that conviction and just say start with a label yeah the r yeah the double r or the label you just
3:14:19 give yourself like i changed my label my label was i hate working out i’m an athlete i’m an athlete i’m
3:14:24 not a non-athlete anymore i’m changing my label and you get so inspired because now you know what to do
3:14:29 because you can’t help but conform to your identity you’re always going to conform to your identity so
3:14:33 just change your identity and you’ll change your life but and it’s not that hard i didn’t have to go
3:14:38 get hypnotized or anything it was literally i just told myself if i could do that go from a guy who
3:14:43 doesn’t want to work out hates it hates it i had the desire i was already hiring the guy
3:14:48 i lacked the identity as soon as i changed my identity boom well one of the things for me like
3:14:52 that is probably music just playing guitar are you a musician yeah music
3:15:00 i would definitely not i mean i’m i’m going along with it now but if we’re honestly if we’re just
3:15:04 you wouldn’t have said i wouldn’t have said but i heard you rip on fucking guitar and i’ve heard you
3:15:09 play it kind of amazing in all different kinds of contexts oh but i i should be like freaking
3:15:13 santana by now because i’ve had a guitar in my hands since i was a kid but since i’m not a full-time
3:15:21 musician i don’t get to play it that often so i’m not as good as i should be but you know when you
3:15:26 apply yourself to just rehearse for you know a couple shows you book some shows look at this this is me
3:15:32 just like playing our first arena show opening for george lopez that was crazy to be on the stages
3:15:37 where you’re heroes that you saw them now you’re seeing what their point of view was it blows your
3:15:41 mind you need to just get on stage you get on stage once and you’ll see that it’s not as bad as you
3:15:45 think you’re not you’re not like terrified because you’re playing pretty complicated things i’ve seen
3:15:50 you play live yeah and i mess up a bunch of times but you don’t want to focus on that and you just go
3:15:54 like okay i got it through because when you’re up there it’s not that you’re like screaming nervous but
3:15:58 your hands will just won’t work anymore something will happen but that happens to everybody if you
3:16:03 really watch even the best in their live performances watch really close and you see they screw up a
3:16:07 couple things but you just want to notice they just go right through it it’s like it’s about the live
3:16:14 performance and that’s how you know it’s real so i think if you can really just lean into it more
3:16:18 change really work on the identity part because you’ve got the desire you want to play guitar
3:16:25 but as soon as you say yeah but i can’t play live you just chopped off your leg at the start of the
3:16:32 race if you say i i don’t know you just chopped off your you’re doing this to yourself yeah you’re
3:16:37 literally doing this to yourself i mean just you i mean anybody who’s just like who pauses who hesitates
3:16:42 you don’t have to have doubts why would you have a doubt because you know the process now it’s like
3:16:46 if i don’t know how to do something i know how to figure it out like i didn’t know how i was going to do
3:16:52 that scene with him jumping and flipping i didn’t know that but do i have doubt that i’m going to go
3:16:57 in there and be able to do it if you if you say that you do you now you’re a doubtful person that’s
3:17:01 how powerful that is but if you say no i don’t have any doubt because i know i’m going to figure it out
3:17:07 when i get there somehow it’ll fall in my lap i trust the process you don’t have to you don’t have
3:17:12 to know so if you trust the process that you’ll figure it out but here’s the thing like sometimes
3:17:18 you fail and there’s audience yeah then you get four rooms yeah yeah and then what happens
3:17:22 right don’t blink is the don’t blink and then you go sift through the failure yeah exactly you go wait
3:17:27 a minute what did i get out of that yeah i’ve done that a bunch it’s great look what’s the worst that
3:17:32 can happen you go on a stage and you bomb it’s not going to be the first stage and it’s one of those you
3:17:36 can talk about so that when you do the next one and it all sometimes they all go right i’ve had a
3:17:42 couple shows we did we did a couple shows where we had video cameras set up for the second day let’s
3:17:46 say let’s not film the first day because we’re going to be freaking just finding our feet let’s film the
3:17:54 second day first day it was fucking flawless flawless because no cameras it’s like you just go second day
3:17:59 we’re we weren’t as into it as we had just done it it felt like the second take you know it just didn’t
3:18:04 have magic and that’s the one that’s recorded and we’re like oh kicking ourselves we didn’t film
3:18:11 both nights we should have filmed both nights i love how much of a mess this human existence life
3:18:18 is yeah uh you’ve talked about the importance of journaling because so living is reliving i love
3:18:23 that phrase i came up with that because it’s like wow i see so many people who get after you for like
3:18:29 filming a concert and they go live in the moment i’m like dude counterintuitive the moment goes by like
3:18:35 this yeah we’re not gonna remember any of this the fact that we taped it thank god because later on
3:18:39 it’s gonna be a file photo of me remembering you three pound me computer all i’m gonna have is a file
3:18:46 photo you may be in a suit and you picturing me and maybe a black t-shirt and the metadata narrative is
3:18:52 gonna say had a great talk about if we remember creativity you know like your brain doesn’t remember
3:18:59 but when i pull up old home movies like show my kids that i just found and they’re like they don’t
3:19:05 remember it i don’t remember filming it and it’s like new adventures of it becomes iconic and it sticks
3:19:09 in our head and all our jokes are based on old things that we used to do and say so reliving living is
3:19:13 reliving so keeping a journal is very important because i found that anything that passed 15 years
3:19:17 on it’s like i’m reading someone else’s journal i’m like i didn’t even know that’s where i got that
3:19:22 i thought i bought that guitar it was given to me it’s like a ten thousand dollars santana it was
3:19:27 given to me my birthday by the studio that i made that movie how did i not remember that it’s like
3:19:32 crazy what you don’t remember and it’s the brain is very it’s not a it’s not a very you know reliable
3:19:38 computer it’s it’s made out of freaking butter that’s a really profound idea that so much of our life
3:19:45 is lived through replaying our memories and then watching stuff is a one of the ways to sort of
3:19:52 refresh give some more you know texture and details makes it iconic it makes it iconic in
3:19:57 your life and part of your life otherwise it just went by it went by like i’ll ask people like we
3:20:02 just had a really what did we do last week what did we do last wednesday i can tell you because i wrote
3:20:07 it down but i’m gonna remember and and then when you see when you go through your journal like i go
3:20:14 back and i find wow life-changing thing happened friday another life-changing thing i didn’t know at the
3:20:20 time until now i know that that really set me on him happened saturday and another big freaking thing
3:20:25 happened on sunday like they come in threes sometime you start being able to predict the future a little
3:20:31 bit because you you see the patterns and it’s pretty wild to do that and i i’ve i’ve talked to people
3:20:35 big group of people 500 people how many people hear journal
3:20:41 two hands three hands i couldn’t believe it it’s like man you guys if there’s anything i’m going to
3:20:45 part on you is journal your life is way more interesting than you think because it’s not going
3:20:49 to feel like anything while it’s going by but in retrospect you look back like i can just go through
3:20:57 i keep a journal one file per year so i started a new one in 2025 if i want to look up like i’m going
3:21:02 to do a director’s chair episode i look up michael man michael man michael man all the conversations
3:21:07 we had since 94 that i wrote down that i felt and it’s like oh my god i can’t believe we said that
3:21:11 that’s how i knew about that thing with quentin i had forgotten about that story with quentin saying
3:21:16 ah pulp fiction i had forgotten that because from the moment i asked him that question to the success
3:21:22 at can was very quick so it was a lost moment in time where i had it recorded down to the time down
3:21:26 of the hour when i asked him that question he thought it wasn’t he didn’t think that was the
3:21:33 one for him yeah and there’s a i don’t know when it when it’s private journaling there’s an honesty
3:21:37 there’s an innocence that about like the dreams you have about the future the conceptions you have
3:21:42 about the future i mean that’s what this thing is journal is a journal it’s just a journalist like
3:21:47 but the profundity like comes out of it’s crazy yeah you didn’t and so much i figured out then i was
3:21:51 i’m talking like a professor by the end of that like i have people come up to me and they’re
3:21:55 asking me all these questions about stuff i wrote in there and i’m like i wrote that in that book
3:22:01 shit i was smart back then what happened i don’t remember half of that but i think that it’s the
3:22:07 same thing when you go to teach someone your mouth opens and stuff comes out i i’m always taping myself
3:22:13 like when i go to give a talk because that’s also the pipe working someone else is talking to you
3:22:18 sometimes so the act of sharing that’s why i’ve always liked to share information because the feedback
3:22:24 loop is insane like me inspiring daisy dj to go right he writes the script in three days comes
3:22:29 back tells me now i’m doing that method and it’s like wow people come back with their version and i
3:22:36 love telling my kids stuff that i learned that i wish i could tell myself but i can’t take a time
3:22:40 tell your kid because then they can take that information and process so many times they’ve come
3:22:46 back and said wow dad that lesson you taught us about this is really it’s really become big in our minds
3:22:52 yeah what was that and they tell me i’m like i never told you that they said yeah you told us well i told you
3:22:57 maybe 10 of that all the rest you added oh yeah well we embellished it over like they turned it into
3:23:04 something else and it’s like wow that’s so cool but yeah that thing about reliving like that was a
3:23:10 one of my favorite was just yeah my mom turning 75 and not wanting to do anything for her 75th birthday
3:23:14 i said why not she goes the whole family’s gonna you have 10 kids they’re all gonna want to do something
3:23:19 for your 75th birthday nothing can top my 65th i was like what are we doing your fifth 65th i didn’t
3:23:24 remember even i’m the one who orchestrated it all she goes oh you flew everyone in from all over the
3:23:32 country you gave me a car i gotta have a journal of that so i’m sure i have video i go back 10 years
3:23:39 i see what tape i had it on find the tape pop the tape in forgot about all this stuff so i cut together
3:23:45 a 10 minute version of it showed it at her 75th birthday just watching the old one everybody was like
3:23:51 oh my god look how young everybody was like how small the nieces and nephews were she starts bawling
3:23:56 as soon as she gets the key the gift of the key in the video because she realizes now what it’s going
3:24:02 to mean that she’s going to get this car and so it’s like wow let’s just play the old tapes we don’t
3:24:09 even have to do anything anymore we banked so much amazing stuff that we’ve all forgotten that you know my
3:24:14 kids just love watching their old home movies they they hardly remember any of it but
3:24:22 even a vhs to them is virtual reality because compared to our memories it is virtual reality
3:24:26 they’re like leaning into the screen to see what’s around the corner and they’re remembering the place
3:24:32 and the sounds and they say oh we left the we left the living room it’s like we’re there
3:24:37 it’s like wow i was always afraid they would see this old footage and go ah that dog shit
3:24:41 kind of camera was that this is the limitations of you know you put up one of those files on your
3:24:46 screen it’s like this big on your laptop now that’s how low res shit was back then but that
3:24:51 didn’t matter it’s like compared to our memories that stuff living is reliving like pull up that
3:24:56 shoot as much as you can take as many pictures but write the journal because you’ll have a picture
3:24:59 swear you’re not going to know what it’s from even 10 years from now you want to know what that picture
3:25:04 is from you read the diary oh that’s what that is oh my god you can piece together all these things
3:25:09 that are important to you or that become more important with time actually and uh you know
3:25:14 what’s important later compared to what’s happening at the time to add on top of that so journaling is
3:25:20 a kind of raw or like home films is a raw projection of what’s going on in the moment i think it’s also
3:25:26 really powerful because i’ve done that is to do a high effort description of where your life is for
3:25:31 you just for yourself so sometimes journaling is like low effort yeah sometimes it’s just i just want
3:25:34 to mark that you know we had this conversation i had to go do something at five i did that
3:25:38 met somebody that i know last night i met somebody that’s going to be life changing i’m going to write
3:25:43 a little bit more on that because i could just now i know but i’m going to just record it so later if i
3:25:48 look it up so one of the cool things you could do is you know like for example somebody uh uh jamie mr
3:25:53 beast does does these videos which are great i think i think it’s a great exercise to do for yourself
3:25:59 which is a video he records uh for himself that he doesn’t look at to be published 20 years from now
3:26:04 this is a message to myself 20 years from now here’s where i hope you end up
3:26:09 you’re basically a younger version of yourself speaking to an older version yeah and then you
3:26:14 get you know time flies and like you get to a point where it’s like holy shit it has been 10 years has
3:26:20 been 20 years you get to listen to a younger version of yourself like you it would have been hilarious if
3:26:25 you shot videos like that to yourself because it was just like the incredible journey your career has
3:26:32 been on and just to think about that like the delta the difference between what your dreams were where you
3:26:38 ended up usually you outdo yourself in many ways sometimes your life goes in a totally different
3:26:47 trajectory that’s um and the result is kind of funny it’s a it’s a nice it’s a nice illustration of the
3:26:52 non-linearity of life i i would film stuff like that with my kids i couldn’t do it but i would film my
3:26:58 kids saying hey turn to the camera now and say hey rebel it’s me rebel rebel in the future yeah
3:27:03 so you have shots like that yeah and then they show them like cool like that 10 years later and they’re
3:27:09 like whoa just to see it talking to them and saying yeah and uh i would do this thing where
3:27:17 i would film them watching it and then pan off so that 10 years later i could get
3:27:22 hey rebel him reacting pan off to the new rebel watching it it’s just like keeps going so i have
3:27:26 one like that where it just keeps panning and they’re watching themselves within the movie within
3:27:30 the movie within the movie it’s like an ongoing project you know it’s just so fun to just play with
3:27:40 memory and make you realize how fast time moves and to go they go like i kind of remember that but i
3:27:46 don’t remember being that tiny yeah i had that memory it’s like wild how time moves and it makes
3:27:53 them feel much more precious about how quick time moves and how important every little moment is
3:27:58 because you see the fragility of it too you know does it make you sad break your heart that you know
3:28:04 the number of memories we get to create is finite that this life ends eventually the story is over
3:28:10 i had this theory i’m gonna put this in a movie i don’t think i’ve ever seen this before because i
3:28:14 was woke up from a dream and it was like trying to remember it you know you’re like god it’s so
3:28:21 so real if you don’t write it down right away right it kind of fades away but you while you’re
3:28:27 dreaming it it’s really real it’s like you can almost see the walls by the time i went to go tell
3:28:31 somebody it’s like shit i forgot most of it but i wonder if that’s what it’s like when you wake up
3:28:36 in your consciousness after you die you wake up in your next consciousness getting ready to move
3:28:42 into whatever your next body is and you’re like wow i was a filmmaker had five kids
3:28:50 and oh well i’m gonna be a fish now it’s like it’s like a dream it’s like that gone that way
3:28:55 and it’s like that’s what past lives are they’re like distant memories like a dream that’s faded away
3:29:00 that’s why you barely feel remnants of it do i feel sad about that when i tell people they flip out
3:29:05 when i tell them that yeah like i said i want a character to be like that like he’s dying he’s
3:29:09 like i don’t want to forget this dream i don’t want to forget don’t let me wake up don’t let me wake
3:29:14 up but you forget especially the moment you try to tell somebody yeah until the next fish yeah the
3:29:21 next is there’ll be a fish next but uh uh yeah yeah like it feels like i’m a little sad about it but
3:29:25 then it just makes you even more double down to be precious about the life you’re in now
3:29:28 what do you think is the meaning recorded recorded what do you think is the meaning of this
3:29:37 whole thing of life why are we here i mean i really feel like uh my kids and i were just
3:29:42 talking about this last night we were just blown away we did this asterian astrology thing was the
3:29:50 oldest form of astrology just nails each person and it’s like yeah because when you have a kid
3:29:55 you realize right away this isn’t my kid this is not my i’m just in charge of him it’s a completely
3:30:00 different soul he’s a different soul that ended up in my hands it’s not there’s physical characteristics
3:30:06 that get passed on because of just how biology works even sometimes posture and movement is the same
3:30:11 but the actual person is somebody else and all the kids i have five kids and i had nine brothers and
3:30:18 sisters they’re all different and you realize we made a pact in a past life to gather together
3:30:25 because every time it’s like so good you were born in this family because you were given free reign to
3:30:30 go find who you’re really supposed to be and you and you find out everyone is doing what they were supposed
3:30:37 to be doing but what’s cool almost like this clarity you get by just saying it they now know that they were
3:30:41 always supposed to be like this creative person or that and now they can double down on it because they know
3:30:45 that’s who they were supposed to be they don’t have to have any doubt anymore they don’t have to wonder well
3:30:50 am i supposed to be more business minded or can i be creative isn’t that some kind of frivolous is that
3:30:55 a real job can i do that um now they realize no you’re supposed to be doing that for these these these
3:31:00 these reasons and now they can double down you can skip all that and just decide i feel like i want to be
3:31:06 that person so i’m just going to declare i am that person and as soon as you say it you are that
3:31:15 and tomorrow your your activities will conform to that that’s how powerful that decision is so when
3:31:21 you walk out of here it’s going to be with a complete commitment i’m a technical and creative
3:31:27 person like my first boss i’m unstoppable because my boss told me that and he was right
3:31:32 i became technical and creative and you’re just unstoppable you can just keep going and just go
3:31:37 i’m unstoppable that’s me you’re going to use your powers for bad but you’ve just changed your
3:31:43 life by just declaring that and i’m also a creative person who lives his life creatively i’m going to find
3:31:49 creative ways to use that technology if somebody says you’re not the same kind of artist i was expecting
3:31:55 that’s their own opinion don’t blink just keep going you know all these things that you’ve learned
3:32:00 that people were supposed to tell you along the way they’re telling you for a reason anytime you got
3:32:05 pushed like if you go back to your life at your really critical moments in your life
3:32:10 where you went that way instead of that way there was probably somebody there who said something to
3:32:17 you that kind of pushed you i there was a there was one guy when i was in high school it was like
3:32:23 senior year i wrote a paper and i wasn’t a great writer at all i wrote a paper for a latin american
3:32:30 studies class gave it to the teacher and uh he said wow you you’re going to be rich and famous in four
3:32:39 years based on what i read because i really flight home like 17 or 18 four years later i’ve done
3:32:44 mariachi and i went to him later at a reunion and i said you called it you said i was gonna be why did
3:32:48 you say that and he’s like i said that i don’t say it looked like he would never say that to somebody
3:32:53 you think he would own it and say oh yeah i knew and i told you no he was like you look like he didn’t
3:32:58 even know who that was asking i feel like he never would have said that in a million years so again
3:33:02 sometimes things come out of our mouth that’s not us that comes through us so if you think of it that
3:33:09 way why are we here we’re here for a reason we’re gonna get nudged along listen to the signs own who
3:33:13 you’re supposed to be because you’re you are that person don’t let your human doubt get in the way
3:33:17 that’s like the guy closing the pipe i don’t know if i’m really creative i don’t know if i’m really a
3:33:23 businessman and you’re just closing the pipe you’re not gonna let it flow just be a good pipe just say i just
3:33:29 want to be a i just want to be a good pipe clean open and then that’s when the magic happens and no
3:33:35 matter what don’t blink don’t blink no matter how many that dude was getting so much shit thrown at
3:33:39 him i wish you knew that time period because then you would you would go like yeah that’s right it’s
3:33:43 incredible it was unbelievable i can’t even convey there was no internet and stuff back then this was
3:33:51 like literal press reviews public it was like why are they targeting this guy you know they just did not
3:33:58 like he just had unprecedented success and was a really great guy and was making amazing shit so it was
3:34:05 the the triple threat of make people jealous you know pissed off well he’s one of the great artists of all time
3:34:11 so are you it’s a huge honor to talk to you thank you for everything you’re doing in the world for creating
3:34:16 the world and for inspiring millions of people to also be creators in the world and for your new project that’s
3:34:21 bringing people in robert i’m as i told you i’m a huge fan i appreciate that honor to talk to you
3:34:26 brother so great talking with you great questions you’re gonna change your life thank you a million
3:34:32 dollars yeah right there thank you for listening to this conversation with robert rodriguez to support
3:34:37 this podcast please check out our sponsors in the description and now let me leave you with some
3:34:47 words from alfred hitchcock in feature films the director is god in documentary films god is the director
3:34:51 thank you for listening and hope to see you next time
3:35:21 Thank you.