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A wounded Machete is taken to a hospital to be treated for wounds, and escapes from the guards before he can be arrested. Agent Sartana ([[Jessica Alba]]), a persistent [[U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement]] agent, is sent by her superior, Lt. Stillman ([[Don Johnson]]), to go find and capture the injured Machete. Machete, with the help of Shé ([[Michelle Rodriguez]]) recruits Padre Benito del Toro ([[Cheech Marin]]), Machete's "holy" brother. To take revenge on Benz, Machete kidnaps Benz's wife and his daughter, April ([[Lindsay Lohan]]), who has a penchant for guns. After encountering Machete, Sartana begins to develop an interest in him. Machete rallies a group of illegal immigrants together, and begins to hunt the people who double crossed him.<ref name="movies.ign.com">{{cite web|last=Vejvoda |first=Jim |url=http://movies.ign.com/articles/101/1010909p1.html |title=All-Star Machete Cast |publisher=IGN Entertainment |date=August 5, 2009 |accessdate=August 23, 2010}}</ref>
A wounded Machete is taken to a hospital to be treated for wounds, and escapes from the guards before he can be arrested. Agent Sartana ([[Jessica Alba]]), a persistent [[U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement]] agent, is sent by her superior, Lt. Stillman ([[Don Johnson]]), to go find and capture the injured Machete. Machete, with the help of Shé ([[Michelle Rodriguez]]) recruits Padre Benito del Toro ([[Cheech Marin]]), Machete's "holy" brother. To take revenge on Benz, Machete kidnaps Benz's wife and his daughter, April ([[Lindsay Lohan]]), who has a penchant for guns. After encountering Machete, Sartana begins to develop an interest in him. Machete rallies a group of illegal immigrants together, and begins to hunt the people who double crossed him.<ref name="movies.ign.com">{{cite web|last=Vejvoda |first=Jim |url=http://movies.ign.com/articles/101/1010909p1.html |title=All-Star Machete Cast |publisher=IGN Entertainment |date=August 5, 2009 |accessdate=August 23, 2010}}</ref>

The secondary plot (message) of the film is the rise of the La Raza movement in the United States. The white man, evil in nature, takes advantage of illegal immigrants at every turn. “Wetbacks” is a common term throughout the movie. Machete won’t stand for the white mans evil – he will justify the oppression through murder. There is Christian symbolism throughout the movie showing that the La Raza movement is backed by GOD. The script was originally reviewed by the following website: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9tIoJBhp18


==Cast==
==Cast==

Revision as of 15:31, 1 September 2010

Machete
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
Written by
  • Robert Rodriguez
  • Álvaro Rodriguez
Produced by
  • Robert Rodriguez
  • Aaron Kaufman
  • Iliana Nikolic
  • Rick Schwartz
  • Quentin Tarantino
Starring
CinematographyJimmy Lindsey
Edited byRebecca Rodriguez
Music byJohn Debney
Production
companies
Distributed by20th Century Fox[1]
Release date
  • September 3, 2010 (2010-09-03)
CountryUnited States
LanguagesEnglish
Spanish
Budget$25 million[1]

Machete is an upcoming 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' and Quentin Tarantino's 2007 Grindhouse. Machete continues the B movie and exploitation style of Grindhouse,[2] including in part the same footage. Danny Trejo stars in his first lead role as the title character. He also played the role of a character named Machete in the Spy Kids franchise, which Rodriguez directed. However, they are not intended to be in the same fictional universe.

Cheech Marin and Jeff Fahey return to portray their characters from the original trailer, while Michelle Rodriguez, Steven Seagal, Lindsay Lohan, Don Johnson, Jessica Alba, and Robert De Niro filmed scenes for the film during the fall of 2009.

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

Plot

The story revolves around Machete (Danny Trejo), a former "Mexican Federale" turned renegade. After a shakedown with a druglord (Steven Seagal), Machete roams Texas looking to do yard work in exchange for money. Michael Benz (Jeff Fahey), a local businessman and spin doctor, explains to Machete that the corrupt Senator McLaughlin (Robert De Niro) is sending hundreds of illegal immigrants out of the country. In order to stop this, Benz offers Machete $150,000 to kill McLaughlin. Machete accepts the murder contract. As Machete attempts to assassinate McLaughlin during a rally, he is double-crossed and one of Benz' henchmen shoots him. It is revealed that Benz orchestrated the entire attempted assassination as part of a false flag operation to gain public support for McLaughlin's harsh anti-immigration laws. By setting up Machete as the patsy, the conspirators make it appear that an outlaw illegal Mexican immigrant has tried to assassinate the senator.

A wounded Machete is taken to a hospital to be treated for wounds, and escapes from the guards before he can be arrested. Agent Sartana (Jessica Alba), a persistent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, is sent by her superior, Lt. Stillman (Don Johnson), to go find and capture the injured Machete. Machete, with the help of Shé (Michelle Rodriguez) recruits Padre Benito del Toro (Cheech Marin), Machete's "holy" brother. To take revenge on Benz, Machete kidnaps Benz's wife and his daughter, April (Lindsay Lohan), who has a penchant for guns. After encountering Machete, Sartana begins to develop an interest in him. Machete rallies a group of illegal immigrants together, and begins to hunt the people who double crossed him.[4]

The secondary plot (message) of the film is the rise of the La Raza movement in the United States. The white man, evil in nature, takes advantage of illegal immigrants at every turn. “Wetbacks” is a common term throughout the movie. Machete won’t stand for the white mans evil – he will justify the oppression through murder. There is Christian symbolism throughout the movie showing that the La Raza movement is backed by GOD. The script was originally reviewed by the following website: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9tIoJBhp18

Cast

Production

Development

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."[12] 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."[13]

At South by Southwest in March 2007, Rodriguez announced that he would be expanding his trailer for Machete into a feature-length film.[14] 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.[14][15]

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.[16] It was also revealed that he has regularly pulled sequences from it for his other productions including Once Upon a Time in Mexico.

Pre-production

Robert Rodriguez had always planned on being the head-director of the film, since he usually uses his "one-man crew" technique. In April 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.[17][18] 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."[19]

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 [19]

Danny 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."[20] Robert De Niro will portray McLaughlin instead. "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.[21]

Jonah Hill was originally cast as Julio,[22] but was replaced by Daryl Sabara, who had worked with Rodriguez, Marin, and Trejo on the set of the Spy Kids franchise. On casting the role of Benz's daughter, April, Rodriguez revealed, "Lindsay's cool...There's actually a cool part in the movie if she takes it."[23] Lohan dyed her auburn hair to a platinum blonde for the film.[24]

"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.[25] Alba also portrays her character's twin sister.[26]

"This movie has the most 'out-there' amazing cast. People were wondering 'Why this mix of actors? What kind of project is this to have Robert De Niro in the same movie as Steven Seagal with Don Johnson and Lindsay Lohan, Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Jeff Fahey, Cheech...and with Danny Trejo in the lead'. It just sounded bizarre but when you watch the movie, everyone has their place and everyone fits in very well. Everyone plays their character really well," says Robert Rodriguez.[27]

Filming

Principal photography began on July 29, 2009 in and around the city of Austin, Texas. On August 27, 2009, Rodriguez filmed a pseudo political rally at the Capitol building in Austin, Texas.[28] Lindsay Lohan filmed her role in three days, two in August and one in September.[29] On August 13, photographs of Lohan on-set with make-up artists and her younger sister, Ali, were leaked.[30]

This film will be Steven Seagal's first worldwide theatrical release since Half Past Dead (2002).

Release

The US release is set for September 3, 2010[31] by 20th Century Fox.[32] On July 28, it was confirmed that Machete will headline the Venice Film Festival held on September 1, followed by the theatrical release on September 3.[33]

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, blood shed, and highlights of the cast.[34] The fake trailer combined elements of the Machete trailer that appeared in Grindhouse with footage from the actual film,[35] and implied that the film would be about Machete leading a revolt against anti-immigration politicians and border vigilantes.[35] According to Fox News, critics of illegal immigration were offended by the contents of the movie trailer.[36] Production of the film predates the legislation, however.[34]

Several movie websites, including Internet Movie Database, reported that it was the official teaser for the film.[35] 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.[35] It was then attached with Rodriguez's other film Predators. It is also shown before The Expendables [35] A red band trailer featuring more gruesome scenes from the film was released on July 23, 2010.[37]

References

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ Zeitchik, Steven (July 23, 2010). "The unlikely politics of Robert Rodriguez's 'Machete'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  3. ^ "20th Century Fox Shreds With 'Machete' This September". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  4. ^ Vejvoda, Jim (August 5, 2009). "All-Star Machete Cast". IGN Entertainment. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "Official website 'Story'". Vivamachete.com. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  6. ^ "'Machete' Website Launched, Even MORE Images!". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  7. ^ "Lindsay Lohan Has a New Habit in This Machete Poster". Dread Central Media. July 14, 2010. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  8. ^ "AFM '09: Promo One Sheet for 'Machete'". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  9. ^ "The Crazy Babysitter Twins Become Sexy Nurses in 'Machete'!". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  10. ^ a b Machete at IMDb Cite error: The named reference "Machete" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  11. ^ "Machete to feature a fake trailer by Quentin Tarantino?". Screenjabber. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  12. ^ Moro, Eric (March 11, 2007). "SXSW 07: Machete Movie Coming". IGN Film Force. Retrieved 2007-03-27.
  13. ^ Edwards, Gavin (April 2007). "Horror Film Directors Dish About Grindhouse Trailers". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-04-04.
  14. ^ 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).
  15. ^ Machete movie greenlit![dead link], Moviehole, May 14, 2007
  16. ^ “”. "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)
  17. ^ "Rodriguez Co-Directing Machete with Editor Ethan Maniquis «". Firstshowing.net. April 23, 2009. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  18. ^ "Robert Rodriguez Brings In Help To Direct 'Machete' Movie". Screen Rant. April 24, 2009. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  19. ^ a b "Danny Trejo and Michelle Rodriguez Machete Interviews Video". Video.about.com. July 27, 2010. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  20. ^ "Trivia for Machete (2010)". Internet Movie Database.
  21. ^ "Machete Interview - Robert De Niro". Trailer Addict. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  22. ^ "Exclusive: Jonah Hill talks MACHETE – Says He is Reading the Script Tonight –". Collider.com. July 19, 2009. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  23. ^ "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.
  24. ^ by Celebuzz (July 30, 2009). "Lindsay Lohan News - PHOTO GALLERY: Lindsay Lohan's A Blonde". Celebuzz. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  25. ^ "Machete Interview - Jessica Alba". Trailer Addict. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  26. ^ "Jessica Alba Bringing Out The Twins For 'Machete'". Thefilmstage.com. February 11, 2010. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  27. ^ "Machete Interview - Robert Rodriguez". Trailer Addict. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  28. ^ "No real rally, it's Rodriguez movie shot in Austin". Retrieved 2009-09-09.
  29. ^ Trivia for Machete, Internet Movie Database
  30. ^ "Lindsay Lohan on "Machete" Set". Crushable.com. August 13, 2009. Retrieved 2010-07-09.
  31. ^ "Make a Date with Machete". Dread Central Media. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  32. ^ "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.
  33. ^ Vivarelli, Nick (July 28, 2010). "Venice to wield Rodriguez's 'Machete'". Variety. Retrieved August 19, 2010.
  34. ^ a b Watson, Bruce (May 8, 2010). "'Machete' Trailer Takes a Smart Slash at Arizona's Immigration Law". Daily Finance. Retrieved August 18, 2010.
  35. ^ 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).
  36. ^ "Violent movie declares war on Arizona for immigration law". Fox News. New York Post. May 6, 2010. Retrieved August 18, 2010.
  37. ^ 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.
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