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Machete (2010 film)

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Machete
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRobert Rodriguez
Ethan Maniquis
Written byRobert Rodriguez
Álvaro Rodriguez
Produced byRobert Rodriguez
Elizabeth Avellan
Rick Schwartz
StarringDanny Trejo
Don Johnson
Robert De Niro
Jessica Alba
Michelle Rodriguez
Lindsay Lohan
Steven Seagal
Cheech Marin
Jeff Fahey
Daryl Sabara
Tom Savini
Shea Whigham
CinematographyJimmy Lindsey
Edited byRobert Rodriguez
Rebecca Rodriguez
Music byChingon[1]
Production
companies
Overnight Films
Troublemaker Studios
Distributed by20th Century Fox (North America)[2]
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Hyde Park International
Release dates
  • September 1, 2010 (2010-09-01) (Venice Film Festival, Italy)
  • September 3, 2010 (2010-09-03) (United States)
Running time
105 minutes[3]
CountryTemplate:FilmUS
LanguagesEnglish
Spanish
Budget$20 million[2][4]
Box office$33,399,114 [4]

Machete is a 2010 American action film co-written, produced, and directed by Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis. It is an expansion of a fake trailer that was released together with Rodriguez's and Quentin Tarantino's 2007 Grindhouse. Machete continues the B movie and exploitation style of Grindhouse,[5] including in part the same footage. Danny Trejo stars in his first lead role as the title character. He also played a character named Machete in the Spy Kids franchise, which Rodriguez also directed.

The film also stars Robert De Niro, Lindsay Lohan, Jessica Alba, Don Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez and Steven Seagal, who filmed scenes for the film during the autumn of 2009. Cheech Marin and Jeff Fahey returned to portray their characters from the original trailer.

The first screening took place on September 1, 2010, out of competition at the 67th Venice International Film Festival. Machete was then released in the United States by 20th Century Fox and Rodriguez' company, Troublemaker Studios, on September 3, 2010.[6]

Plot

The story revolves around an illegal immigrant, Machete (Danny Trejo), a former Mexican Federale turned renegade. The film opens in Mexico with Machete on a mission to rescue a kidnapped girl. During the operation he crossed his corrupt Chief as well as the powerfull druglord, Rogelio Torrez (Steven Seagal) who kills Machetes wife and daughter, leaving him for dead thereafter. Three years later a down and out Machete roams Texas looking to do yard work in exchange for money. Michael Booth (Jeff Fahey), a local businessman and spin doctor, explains to Machete that the corrupt Senator McLaughlin (Robert De Niro) is sending hundreds of illegals out of the country. In order to stop this, Booth offers Machete $150,000 to kill McLaughlin. Machete accepts the contract after being threatened by Micheal if he doesn't. While Machete is watching McLaughlin from a rooftop during a rally, he is double-crossed and one of Booth's henchmen shoots him and then shoots Senator McLaughlin in the leg. It is revealed that Booth orchestrated the entire attempted assassination as part of a false flag operation to gain public support for McLaughlin's campaign so that a more secure border is put in place. By setting up Machete as the gunman, the conspirators make it appear that an outlaw illegal Mexican immigrant has tried to assassinate the senator.

An injured Machete escapes capture by booth and is taken to a Mexican network hospital to be treated for wounds, escaping once again from Booth's henchmen at the hospital. Agent Sartana Rivera (Jessica Alba), a persistent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, is sent by her superior to go find and capture the injured Machete. Machete, with the help of Shé (Michelle Rodriguez) recruits Padre (Cheech Marin), Machete's "holy" brother. To take revenge on Booth, Machete romances and then kidnaps Booth's wife and his daughter, April (Lindsay Lohan), who has a penchant for guns. He also collects evidence from Booths house linking Senator McLaughlin and the Mexican druglord in major drugs trafficking deal. After encountering Machete, Sartana begins to develop an interest in him. The news of McLaughlins corruption and faked assasination is eventually aired on national television. This causes Mclauglin, Booth and Rogelio Torrez to become desperate to kill Machete. In order to elimanate the people who double crossed him, Machete gathers the Mexican Network and leads them to the base of the border vigilantes, led by Von Jackson (Don Johnson). During this confrontation the Mexican immigrants triumph over the border vigilantes and Machete takes his ultimate revenge by killing Rogelio Torrez. Senator Mclaughlin is later killed by the last remnants of his own border vigilante group who mistake him for a mexican. The film ends with Machete being brought legal status papers by Sartana Rivera and riding off with her into the night sky.

Cast

  • Danny Trejo as Machete Cortez, "a legendary ex-Federale with a deadly attitude and the skills to match."[7]
  • Robert De Niro as Senator John McLaughlin[8]
  • Jessica Alba as Sartana Rivera "a beautiful Immigrations Officer torn between enforcing the law and doing what is right."[7]
  • Michelle Rodriguez as Luz/Shé, "a taco-truck lady with a rebellious spirit and revolutionary heart."[7]
  • Lindsay Lohan as April Booth/The Sister, "a socialite with a penchant for guns" and "a nun with a gun."[9]
  • Jeff Fahey as Michael Booth, "a ruthless businessman with an endless payroll of killers."[7]
  • Cheech Marin as Padre, Machete's brother, "a priest who's good with blessings, but better with guns."[7]
  • Steven Seagal as Rogelio Torrez, a druglord.[10]
  • Don Johnson as Von Jackson, "a twisted border vigilante leading a small army."[7] The character was originally known as "Lt. Stillman."
  • Tom Savini as Osiris Amanpour: A hitman hired by Booth to kill Machete.
  • Electra Avellan as Nurse Mona[11]
  • Elise Avellan as Nurse Lisa
  • Cheryl Chin as Torrez' henchwoman[12]
  • Daryl Sabara as Julio
  • Shea Whigham as Sniper
  • Alicia Rachel Marek as June Booth: Socialite wife of Michael Booth and April's mother.[12]
  • Ara Celi as Reporter

Production

Development

The style and cultural lead character for the 1989 film The Killer sparked the idea of Machete.

According to Rodriguez, the origins of the film go back to Desperado. He says, "When I met Danny, I said, 'This guy should be like the Mexican Jean-Claude Van Damme or Charles Bronson, putting out a movie every year and his name should be Machete.' So I decided to do that way back when, never got around to it until finally now. So now, of course, I want to keep going and do a feature."[13] Rodriguez stated, “There weren’t any action movies that with a Latin flavor that could play to a broad audience. When I watched [director] John Woo’s movies, they made me want to be Asian. Woo and [actor] Chow Yun-Fat’s Hard Boiled and The Killer really inspired me to make films that would create that feeling in the Latin arena.”[14]

In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Rodriguez said that he wrote the screenplay back in 1993 when he cast Trejo in Desperado. "So I wrote him this idea of a federale from Mexico who gets hired to do hatchet jobs in the U.S. I had heard sometimes FBI or DEA have a really tough job that they don't want to get their own agents killed on, they'll hire an agent from Mexico to come do the job for $25,000. I thought, 'That's Machete. He would come and do a really dangerous job for a lot of money to him but for everyone else over here it's peanuts.' But I never got around to making it."[15]

Instead, during the filming of Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse, Rodriguez shot lobby cards and sequences from parts of the original script in 2006 for a fake trailer featuring Danny Trejo, Cheech Marin, and Jeff Fahey. At South by Southwest in March 2007, Rodriguez announced that he would be expanding his trailer for Machete into a feature-length film.[16] He announced that it would be a bonus feature on the Planet Terror DVD, but the film is now being produced as a theatrical release.[17][16]

During Comic-Con International 2008, he took the time to speak about Machete, including such topics as the film's status, possible sequels, and production priorities.[18] It was also revealed that he has regularly pulled sequences from it for his other productions including Once Upon a Time in Mexico.

Direction

Robert Rodriguez had always planned on being the head-director of the film, since he usually uses his "one-man crew" technique. In April of 2009, it was announced that Ethan Maniquis, who is a long-time editor of Rodriguez's films, would be co-directing the film with Rodriguez.[19][20] At the Comic-Con 2010 event in San Diego, Trejo commented on Rodriguez: "He's a genius. He's an absolute genius. He makes movie-making fun. You know, he makes you wanna go to work. A lot of people wake up saying 'I woke up before my alarm went off' just 'cause you're excited to work with him. You wonder 'what is he going to come up with today?', because every day, he's like inventing something new. So it's awesome to work with somebody like that."[21] “Robert has an incredible vision and is very precise, and [working on his films] you feel like you’re in the middle of something both big and experiential. And that anything is possible,” states Jeff Fahey, who has collaborated with Rodriguez on Machete and Grindhouse.

Casting

"He really understands the realm of that balance between masculinity and femininity, which is very important for me because if you don't that, then I can't really work with you. He has this artistic mindset behind what he does and he has fun doing it. I think that attracts a lot of people."
 — Michelle Rodriguez on working with director Robert Rodriguez [21]

The film's lead character had always been intended for Danny Trejo, as said by Rodriguez. The two had met during the filming of Rodriguez's film, Desperado. "Nobody really knew about ‘Desperado,’ yet the local townspeople would flock to see Danny, thinking he was the star of the movie, even though his part was very small,” Rodriguez remembers. “He has incredible presence, and I knew I had found MACHETE. So, I handed him a knife, and told him to start practicing.”[14]

Trejo, Cheech Marin, and Jeff Fahey were announced to be reprising their characters in the trailer for the film. Michelle Rodriguez was the first actor to be cast in the film who wasn't in the original trailer. Chris Cooper was approached for the role of Senator McLaughlin. He reportedly stated that the script was "the most absurd thing I've ever read."[22] After Cooper turned down the role, Robert De Niro was cast instead. “From the point you get Robert De Niro in your movie, all the other actors come running," says Robert Rodriguez on De Niro's involvement in the film.[23]

"What I liked about the character was that it was a fun thing to do in a sense of irony and it's not taken seriously. He's not taken seriously on one level so that frees you to have fun without being weighted down by some requirements," says Robert De Niro on the role.[24] Lindsay Lohan was revealed to be cast in the film in July 2009. "Lindsay's cool. There's actually a cool part in the movie for her if she takes it."[25] Lohan portrays April Booth, the socialite daughter of Booth, the man who double-crosses Machete. “April was born into a life of privilege and takes everything she has for granted,” says Lohan. “But she undergoes a big change. As an actress, I like pushing the envelope.”[23] To do that, Lohan recolored her hair from auburn red to platinum blonde.[26]

Jonah Hill was originally cast as Julio,[27] but was replaced by Daryl Sabara, who had worked with Rodriguez, Marin, and Trejo on the set of the Spy Kids franchise. "My character is an Immigrations Officer and she hunts him (Machete) down and she finds out that he was double-crossed himself. She wrestles with her own right-wing kind of mentality because she's all about forcing the law and doing what the system tells you," says Jessica Alba on her role of Agent Sartana. [28] Alba also portrays her character's twin sister.[29]

“The cast may have sounded bizarre to some people when first announced. But when you watch Machete, you see that the actors fit their roles very well. The eclectic mix really works. Danny’s worked in hundreds of movies and probably worked with everyone in Machete at some point. Everyone just loves Danny and appreciated the fact he was finally getting to be the star of his own film. I remember Robert De Niro, who worked with Danny in Heat telling him that, “[Machete] is going to be really good for you.”[23]

Regarding the nudity was present in the film, Rodriguez mentioned that he deliberately set the first scene with a nude woman (actress Mayra Leal) as that makes people think that subsequent scenes show more than they actually do.[30] Jessica Alba mentioned that for her shower scene, "I had undies on, and I had other stuff on, and they just sort of etched it out in post [production]. That's not really me. I'm better covered up."[31]

Filming

Filming for the fake trailer for Grindhouse began in the summer of 2006, while Rodriguez was also filming Planet Terror. The scenes that Rodriguez shot only consisted of scenes involving Danny Trejo, Cheech Marin, Jeff Fahey, and Tito Larriva. Some of the scenes filmed for the trailer were left intact in the film, while others have been re-shot.

Principal photography began on July 29, 2009 in and around the city of Austin, Texas. Lindsay Lohan filmed her role in three days, two in August and one in September.[32] On August 27, 2009, Rodriguez filmed a pseudo political rally at the Capitol building in Austin, Texas.[33] Principal photography of the film ended on September 24, 2009.

Release

On July 28, 2010, it was confirmed that Machete would headline the Venice Film Festival held on September 1, 2010, at a special midnight screening, followed by the general theatrical release on September 3.[34][35]

The film was released in the U.S. on September 3, 2010,[36] by 20th Century Fox.[37] The film appeared on 3,400 screens at 2,670 locations.[38]

The film will be released in Australia on November 11, and in Mexico on November 12, 2010.[citation needed]

Marketing

A fake trailer for the film was released on May 5, 2010, through Ain't It Cool News. The trailer opened with Danny Trejo saying, "This is Machete with a special Cinco de Mayo message to Arizona," followed by scenes of gun fire, bloodshed, and highlights of the cast.[39] The fake trailer combined elements of the Machete trailer that appeared in Grindhouse with footage from the actual film,[40] and implied that the film would be about Machete leading a revolt against anti-immigration politicians and border vigilantes.[40] According to Fox News, critics of illegal immigration were offended by the contents of the movie trailer.[41] Production of the film predates the legislation, however.[39]

Several movie websites, including Internet Movie Database, reported that it was the official teaser for the film.[40] However, Rodriguez later revealed the trailer to be a joke, explaining "it was Cinco de Mayo and I had too much tequila." The official theatrical trailer was released on July 8, 2010.[40] It was then attached with Predators, which Rodriguez produced. It is also shown before The Expendables [40] A red band trailer featuring more gruesome scenes from the film was released on July 23, 2010.[42]

Critical reception

The film has received mostly positive reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 71% of critics have given the film a positive review, based on 99 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4 out of 10. The site's general consensus is that, "Machete is messy, violent, shallow, and tasteless -- and that's precisely the point of one of the summer's most cartoonishly enjoyable films."[43] Another aggregator, Metacritic, gave the film a "Mixed or average reviews" weighted mean score of 59, based on 27 reviews.[44]

Box office

Machete opened in 2,670 theaters in the United States on September 3[45] and earned $14,102,888 for its four-day weekend, placing second at the box office behind The American.[46] The film opened at number two behind The American and took in $3,866,357—$1,448 per theater—on its opening day and $14,102,888—$4,001 per theater—on its opening weekend. Machete placed fourth at the box office by the end of the week after Resident Evil: Afterlife opened in theaters, totaling $20,916,709.

Machete has made $26,402,220 in the United States as of October 11, 2010.[4] The film has made an extra $5,080,073 in foreign markets, bringing the gross total of $31,482,293, as of October 11, 2010.[47]

Home video release

Director Robert Rodriguez has expressed in an interview that a more violent director's cut will be released on home media.[48]

The R-rated theatrical version of Machete was released in Russia on DVD and Blu-Ray on September 30, 2010. Because of licensing reasons, these releases only contain Russian and Ukrainian audio and no English-language track.

See also

References

  1. ^ Frank Scheck. "Machete -- Film Review". The Hollywood
    Carl Thiel Reporter. Retrieved September 5, 2010.     {{cite web}}: line feed character in |publisher= at position 36 (help)
  2. ^ a b Finke, Nikki (January 24, 2010). "Fox Wins Studio War For Robert Rodriguez' 'Machete'; Will Be His New Filmmaking Home". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 24, 2010.
  3. ^ "Machete (2010)". Moviefone. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
  4. ^ a b c "Machete (2010)". Box Office Mojo. September 5, 2010. Retrieved 2010-09-17.
  5. ^ Zeitchik, Steven (July 23, 2010). "The unlikely politics of Robert Rodriguez's 'Machete'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  6. ^ "20th Century Fox Shreds With 'Machete' This September". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  7. ^ a b c d e f "Official website 'Story'". Vivamachete.com. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  8. ^ "'Machete' Website Launched, Even MORE Images!". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  9. ^ "Lindsay Lohan Has a New Habit in This Machete Poster". Dread Central Media. July 14, 2010. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  10. ^ "AFM '09: Promo One Sheet for 'Machete'". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  11. ^ "The Crazy Babysitter Twins Become Sexy Nurses in 'Machete'!". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  12. ^ a b Machete at IMDb Cite error: The named reference "Machete" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  13. ^ Moro, Eric (March 11, 2007). "SXSW 07: Machete Movie Coming". IGN Film Force. Retrieved 2007-03-27.
  14. ^ a b "HispanicTrending: MEET MACHETE - on September 3rd only in theatres". Juantornoe.blogs.com. 2010-08-26. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
  15. ^ Edwards, Gavin (April 2007). "Horror Film Directors Dish About Grindhouse Trailers". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-04-04.
  16. ^ a b Sciretta, Peter (March 12, 2007). "Grindhouse: Rodriguez to turn They Call Him Machete into Feature Length Movie". /film. Retrieved 2007-03-27. Cite error: The named reference "Sciretta" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  17. ^ Machete movie greenlit![dead link], Moviehole, May 14, 2007
  18. ^ “”. "COMIC CON 2008: Robert Rodriguez talks Machete". YouTube. Retrieved 2010-07-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  19. ^ "Rodriguez Co-Directing Machete with Editor Ethan Maniquis «". Firstshowing.net. April 23, 2009. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  20. ^ "Robert Rodriguez Brings In Help To Direct 'Machete' Movie". Screen Rant. April 24, 2009. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  21. ^ a b "Danny Trejo and Michelle Rodriguez Machete Interviews Video". Video.about.com. July 27, 2010. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  22. ^ "Trivia for Machete (2010)". Internet Movie Database.
  23. ^ a b c "Meet Machete - on September 3rd, only in theaters". Hispanic Trending. Retrieved August 27, 2010.
  24. ^ "Machete Interview - Robert De Niro". Trailer Addict. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  25. ^ "Comic-Con: Robert Rodriguez Says Lindsay Lohan Has A Role In 'Machete'… If She Wants It » MTV Movies Blog". Moviesblog.mtv.com. July 24, 2009. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  26. ^ by Celebuzz (July 30, 2009). "Lindsay Lohan News - PHOTO GALLERY: Lindsay Lohan's A Blonde". Celebuzz. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  27. ^ "Exclusive: Jonah Hill talks MACHETE – Says He is Reading the Script Tonight –". Collider.com. July 19, 2009. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  28. ^ "Machete Interview - Jessica Alba". Trailer Addict. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  29. ^ "Jessica Alba Bringing Out The Twins For 'Machete'". Thefilmstage.com. February 11, 2010. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  30. ^ Kara Warner (2010-08-31). "'Machete' Director Robert Rodriguez Reveals Trick To Onscreen Nudity". MTV News. Retrieved 2010-09-06.
  31. ^ Kara Warner (2010-09-02). "Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez Reveal Secrets Of 'Machete' Nude Scenes". MTV News. Retrieved 2010-09-06.
  32. ^ Trivia for Machete, Internet Movie Database
  33. ^ "No real rally, it's Rodriguez movie shot in Austin". Retrieved 2009-09-09. [dead link]
  34. ^ Vivarelli, Nick (July 28, 2010). "Venice to wield Rodriguez's 'Machete'". Variety. Retrieved August 19, 2010.
  35. ^ "MACHETE (Midnight Opening Film) - ROBERT RODRIGUEZ, ETHAN MANIQUIS", 67th Venice International Film Festival, September 2010, website.
  36. ^ "Make a Date with Machete". Dread Central Media. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  37. ^ "20th Century Fox Shreds With 'Machete' This September, The film is being released in the U.K. on July 27. it will be premiered at Lindsay Lohan's wedding where she is marrying, newly famous Mason Stimson". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  38. ^ Gray, Brandon (September 3, 2010). "Weekend Briefing: 'Machete,' 'American' Hack Into Labor Day". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved September 4, 2010.
  39. ^ a b Watson, Bruce (May 8, 2010). "'Machete' Trailer Takes a Smart Slash at Arizona's Immigration Law". Daily Finance. Retrieved August 18, 2010.
  40. ^ a b c d e Knowles, Harry (May 19, 2010). "A family friendly Machete? What do you mean no race war? & A secret Frazetta project?? Exclusive Robert Rodriguez interview!!". Ain't It Cool News. Retrieved 20 May 2010. Cite error: The named reference "AICN" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  41. ^ "Violent movie declares war on Arizona for immigration law". Fox News. New York Post. May 6, 2010. Retrieved August 18, 2010.
  42. ^ Collis, Clark (July 23, 2010). "'Machete': Danny Trejo finds a new use for intestines in NSFW red band trailer". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 19, 2010.
  43. ^ "Machete (2010)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
  44. ^ "Machete". Metacritic. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
  45. ^ Gleiberman, Owen (September 4, 2010). "'Machete,' 'The American,' and 'Going the Distance': Did you agree with me? And which one did you like best?". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved September 4, 2010.
  46. ^ "Weekend Box Office Results for September 3–6, 2010". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved September 8, 2010.
  47. ^ "Machete (2010)". Box Office Mojo. 2010-09-03. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
  48. ^ "Robert Rodriguez and Danny Trejo Talk Machete and the Upcoming Ultra-Violent Director's Cut". DreadCentral. Retrieved October 10, 2010.
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