freddy rodriguez Tagged Articles at Cinematical

If the current financial crisis is getting you down, how about a post-apocalyptic vision of poverty and murder to cheer you right up? Or, then again, maybe not. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Dominic Monaghan (LOTR) and Freddy Rodriguez (Planet Terror) have signed to star in the horror-thriller, Fortuna.

The flick is set in a future of extreme wealth and poverty. The world's elites have devised a way to reduce poverty by offering citizens the chance to compete in a mysterious game known as Fortuna, in which one person will be whisked away to life of riches and luxury -- what could go wrong? Well, if you have ever seen a movie before you can probably guess that maybe the prize isn't all it is cracked up to be.

Writer-director Barthélémy Grossmann will appear alongside Rodriguez and Monaghan as one of the contestants, and the film is expected to start shooting on location in Bulgaria. According to THR the production is already underway, and, "ghetto like sets are being built for a film Zilber compares to 1973's post apocalyptic thriller "Soylent Green."

Grossmann is a relative unknown to most of us in North America, and this appears to his first foray into English film making (but the recognizable faces of Monaghan and Rodriguez should help the project earn a little attention). Even though it might not be the most original idea for a film (I like to think of it as Running Man meets Regannomics) but I guess everyone has financial collapse on the brain anyway, why not turn it into big-screen entertainment?

This might be slightly off-topic, but if they ever make the life story of Lucille Ball then the top contender has to be Debra Messing. Not only does she kind of resemble the classic comedienne, she even stole a few tricks from Ball's book when it comes to her own comedic style. Variety has announced that Debra Messing (Better known as 1/2 of the famous TV coupling of Will and Grace) has joined the cast of Humboldt Park. The Latin family 'dramedy' was written by Rick Najera, Ted Perkins, and Alison Swan, and the script centers on two brothers who come home for the holidays to their old Chicago neighborhood, Humboldt Park.

The film stars Freddy Rodriguez (Planet Terror) and John Leguizamo as the two brothers. Messing will play the wife of Leguizamo's character and will probably serve as the 'fish out of water' in the mainly Latin cast. Other cast members include Alfred Molina, Jay Hernandez, Mercedes Ruehl, Luis Guzman, Melonie Diaz and Vanessa Ferlito (Death Proof).

Messing is also heading back to the small screen with her new series, The Starter Wife. That show is set to air on USA this summer -- kind of a far cry from 'Must-See TV', but what are you going to do? Messing will also be filming the remake of George Cukor's classic film, The Women. So as much as that news of that particular remake still makes me a little nauseous, I am confident that at least Messing has the style to pull off that particular brand of fast-talking dame. Humboldt Park is set to start production on location in Chicago by next week.

I'm a fence-sitter when it comes to Freddy Rodriguez. He mixes enjoyable stints that are fun to watch with characters that make me want to scratch my eyes out in annoyance over their stupidity and ego. After the crap Frederico pulled on Six Feet Under, and Rodriguez's character in Harsh Times, I never thought I could watch him again. Then came Grindhouse. I begrudgingly accepted that I'd have to watch another Freddy flick, and his El Wray wiped away all of my Rodriguez apprehension with ease. So now, I can only hope that him heading home for a holiday flick will continue the trend.

The Hollywood Reporter has posted that Rodriguez will be heading home to the windy city of Chicago with John Leguizamo for a family ensemble dramedy called Humboldt Park, to be helmed by Alfredo De Villa (Washington Heights). From the pens of Rick Najera, Ted Perkins, and Alison Swan, the film is about a holiday family reunion held in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood. No further details about the plot have been released yet, but I imagine that it will be some sort of Latin holiday flick, considering the movie's two stars. Since the script was finished before the strike, Overture Films hopes to get production started early next year so they can release the flick next fall. So that means we should have more casting announcements soon. Who would you like to see join their family? Me, I'm happy with anyone as long as it's not J-Lo and Marc Anthony.

Kurt Russell

How did Quentin first approach you about the film? "Well, I was in Tahiti actually. I was on vacation, and I had worked with Freddy Rodriguez on Poseidon and Dreamer. The release of Poseidon was still in the future. I forget how I got this message, but I called him back, and we played a little phone tag, and finally when I got ahold of him, he said 'I'm doing this movie with Robert Rodrigeuz and Quentin Tarantino is doing his own movie, and they're gonna put 'em together for a double feature under the name Grindhouse. And I said 'that sounds like fun, that sounds interesting.' And he said 'yeah, I think Quentin is gonna come to you with this, I know Mickey Rourke is maybe happening, maybe not happening.' Then I found out later there were also other people -- Ving Rhames was a name. I kind of got the gist of what the character might sort of be in the vein of. Then somewhere along the line, Quentin called and then I called him back, and we played phone tag, but in our phone messages we began to strike up a relationship.

Then all of a sudden, he just said 'I want you to do this.' He said 'I want you to add this to your rogue's gallery of characters.' He said 'you've played some phenomenal characters and I want you to do this one.' And I remember sending a message back to him saying 'I suppose it is about time we worked together.' I knew what he meant. I had spent an hour with him, and I knew that he knew a lot of the things I'd done, and I knew that he was specifically interested in some of the stuff I'd done with John Carpenter. And I knew that Rodriguez was, because he came down to the set of Escape from L.A., when he was just kind of getting going. So I got the drift, the gist of what was going on. Then I read the script and my only concern was, as has happened sometimes in the past, there's a director you want to work with, but then you read the part and you go 'ehh ... I don't wanna do that guy,' or 'that's not the kind of movie I want to do with this director'...It would be like getting a script from Sam Peckinpah and he wants you to play, I don't know, the gay smithee. And you go, 'well, that could be fun ... but I don't want to do that with him.'

The Weinstein Company wasn't content to just hit people over the head with a Grindhouse-sized double feature from Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. No, they also thought they'd issue a double-whammy and hit the press over the head with a massive junket, providing no less than fifteen actors, and the two directors, for our pleasure. If you can imagine trying to take notes while Quentin Tarantino goes off on tangents at a million miles a minute, then you have a small taste of what we were exposed to. Next time, bring on the mutant zombies, I say.

Thankfully, we got to sit down with practically everyone in this film (no Bruce Willis or Michael Parks, sadly) and chat. Who surprised me the most? Hands down -- Freddy Rodriguez. He is one cool cat with a really great attitude and background. Who knew he was from Chicago? Well, er ... clearly not me, until he told me. He also seems to have shed himself of the Poseidon baggage as well, and rolled over right into Grindhouse. Get it?

Who seemed the most perplexed at all the hubbub surrounding Grindhouse? Naveen Andrews, without a doubt. He had a bemused attitude about the whole thing, and about the appeal of these types of films. In all honesty, he sounded a bit Lost. Get it? Sorry. It's just too easy. Check out the various interviews below, which should sate you until Grindhouse finally hits theaters. Then we can start the whole "Whose half was better?" debate in earnest.

Plus, as an adding warning -- if you don't like spoilers, then you might not want to read these. There's some juicy information in here, including details about stuff that'll be included in the international and DVD releases of the films. So either avert your eyes, or go full-speed ahead, readers.


Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez

How did you first get into Grindhouse cinema? RR: "He's been educating me in Grindhouse cinema for the past twelve years, showing me all these double features and triple features at his house -- either stuff he'd already seen in the theater back when he was growing up, or stuff he'd discovered, that he turned me on to. Didn't really think to do anything with it, because I'm kind of slow, then about three years ago I started thinking 'wouldn't it be cool to do a double feature?' Because I just finished a 3-D movie, and I was trying to think of something else that would bring people to theaters for a theatrical experience. I went crazy with that idea for a few months, then got sidetracked and did Sin City, then I went to show him my cut I did of his scene in Sin City. I went to his house, and laying on the floor with a bunch of other junk was a double bill poster for Rock All Night and Dragstrip Girl, which was the same one I had at my house, on my floor.

That was inspiration for my double feature, just the layout of it. I said 'I've got that same poster, and it's on my floor! I had this idea I was crazy about, I was gonna make two short features, but you should do one and I'll do the other one,' and he said 'Oh, I love double features -- we gotta call it Grindhouse!' and I said 'allright!' Then later he came up with the idea for the fake trailers. When he does show a double feature at his house, he always puts trailers in between -- it wouldn't be a complete experience without them."

With his directorial debut, David Ayer chose to create a film around subjects he knows all too well: Military veterans, law enforcement, the ghetto and violence. To completely understand Harsh Times, you should be aware that Ayer grew up on the streets of South Central Los Angeles and was exposed to "ghetto life" at a very young age. He later went on to join the Navy, only to return home to a life full of various jobs in construction. That is until he discovered writing, and finally had some sort of output for all the characters and life experiences running rampant throughout his mind.

Shortly after leaving the military and long before he struck Hollywood gold with a script called Training Day, Ayer tapped into all those unforgiving memories from his youth and penned Harsh Times. While Training Day was his meal ticket to a successful screenwriting career, Harsh Times was more personal; it was his heart and soul. Ayer was so protective over this script that he refused to give it to anyone else, hell-bent on directing it himself. So, he took out a mortgage on his house, managed to attach an up-and-coming star in Christian Bale and set out to bring his long gestating vision to the big screen. But was it worth it?

It was about 15 months ago when I sat down at a Toronto Film Festival screening and enjoyed the hell out of David Ayer's Harsh Times. It's a stark, dark and (yes) harsh piece of 70's-style hard-boiled character study, and one that features two fantastic performances: one from Freddy Rodriguez and the other from the mega-chameleon known as Christian Bale. It's the story of a frantic Gulf War veteran who desperately wants to earn a career in law enforcement -- despite the fact that the guy's maybe three whiskers short of Postal Mode. Anyway, it's a damn good flick, so I kept my eye out to see when the thing would hit the cinemas already.

(Harsh Times was obviously a labor of love for Ayer, who, after penning the screenplays for The Fast and the Furious, Dark Blue and Training Day (among others), decided it was time to re-finance his house and use the money to direct his first feature. And so he did.)

The New York Times just published a rather excellent article that details what went on after the upstart Bauer Martinez boys offered Mr. Ayer $4 million for his movie. Needless to say, bitterness and animosity bubble just beneath the surface: Ayer hasn't received his full paycheck, Martinez claims to have dropped $15 million on advertising, although that money most likely came from MGM. Oh yeah, apparently MGM will be doing the distributing for Bauer Martinez ... which is weird because Bauer Martinez was supposed to be, well, a distribution company.

Long story short: Harsh Times will (finally) hit about 800 screens come November 10th, although most of you movie fans will have to be content with catching it on DVD some time early next year. Bale's performance is pretty much a force of nature, but I doubt a flick this "low profile" will be yielding any Oscar nominations. And that's a shame, because Bale's long overdue for some award-time affection. Isn't he?

dys·func·tion also dis·func·tion  -- n. Abnormal or impaired functioning, especially of a bodily system or social group

When I think of the word 'dysfunctional,' part of me wonders why no one ever suggested taking my picture and placing it next to said word in the dictionary. And if such a picture was ever presented before me, what sort of face do I put on in front of the camera? Do dysfunctional people smile? Should I frown? What if I kind of half-smile and squint my eyes, alluding to the fact that there's something missing -- ya know, leave it up to the reader to make their own assumptions.

Then again, aren't we all a little dysfunctional sometimes? Aren't we abnormal? What is abnormal? Heck, what's normal? And, if there is a person out there who is completely normal, not a worry or problem in the world -- wouldn't that classify them as abnormal? Where am I going with this? Did I even have a point? Do I need one?

Needless to say, the following films all deal, in some way, shape or form with dysfunction. Seeing, feeling and wanting things that, to the average, functional person, may seem a bit bizarre. Be it ghosts, dreams, people out in the middle of the woods with mutilated hands or any film that stars Christian Bale -- this week we're delving into the world of the abnormal ... or normal, depending on which dictionary you subscribe to. Welcome to another edition of Trailer Park:

So, it turns out that reports of Grind House's demise were greatly exaggerated. Either that, or Robert Rodriguez and Dimension Films are in complete denial, because they've just officially announced the cast (much of which has already been revealed by glorious internet rumors) for Planet Terror, Rodriguez's segment of the film -- guess he didn't quit, huh? According to Variety, in addition to Rose McGowan and Michael Biehn (both of whom we already knew about), the movie will star Freddy Rodríguez, Josh Brolin, Jeff Fahey, and that great thespian Fergie, from Black Eyed Peas (who knew a roll in an epic bomb would lead to more work?).

Just to review, Rodriguez's film is scary and involves zombies. And that's pretty much all we know -- but hey, who doesn't like zombies? If all goes well and no more directors "quit" or anything, Dimension plans to release Grind House next April, during the long Easter Weekend.