Robert Rodriguez- Maverick
by Di

Known as a ‘renegade’, Robert Rodriguez made his successful debut as a film director in the independent Spanish language film, “El Mariachi” in 1992 for a total cost of $7,000. After winning the coveted Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, major studios quickly offered to finance a sequel which brought us the first pairing with Antonio in his first action role as the no-name, musician-turned-gunslinger out for revenge in “Desperado”.

A solid friendship developed between the two who went on to collaborate on five more films: “Four Rooms”, “Spy Kids”, “Spy Kids 2-Island of Lost Dreams”, “Spy Kids 3-Game Over” and “Once Upon A Time In Mexico”.

Robert has chosen to shun the typical Hollywood scene, choosing rather to fill his garage with high-tech gadgetry and make his movies the way he wants – digitally. This keeps major Hollywood studios off his back and puts him in control of his projects.

Antonio has often referred to working with Robert as a type of family reunion where everyone can bring their kids and just have a great time. A true testament to Robert’s style, many of the people he has worked with in the past jump at the chance to come back to do cameos, etc. in the new films he is directing.

A self confessed ‘control freak’, Robert does most of the writing, directing, shooting, editing and scoring of his films, producing many of them through Troublemaker Studios with his wife, Elizabeth Avellan. A father of four young boys (maybe five by now!), Robert and his wife live and work in Austin, Texas where they have been hugely influential in promoting the film industry in that area.