Rebel Without a Crew: Or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker with $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player
No one has landed on the cinematic map with more explosive force than Robert Rodriguez, director of "El Mariachi." Just how did this amateur filmmaker from Texas - with only one camera, no crew, and a budget largely raised by subjecting himself to medical experimentation - manage to complete a feature film for $7,000 and get himself wined and dined by Hollywood's biggest movie moguls? Now, in his own witty and straightshooting style, Robert Rodriguez discloses all the unique strategies and innovative techniques he used to make "El Mariachi" on the cheap. You'll see firsthand Rodriguez's whirlwind "Mariachi-style" filmmaking, where creativity-not money -is used to solve problems. Culminating in his "Ten-Minute Film School, " this book may render conventional film-school programs obsolete.
Book Details
- Publisher: Plume Books
- Publish Date: Sep 1st, 1996
- Pages: 320
- Language: English
- Dimensions: 8.12in - 5.42in - 0.81in - 0.57lb
- EAN: 9780452271876
- Recommended age: 18-UP
- Categories: • Entertainment & Performing Arts• Film - Direction & Production• Memoirs
About the Author
ROBERT RODRIGUEZ is an independent screenwriter and director of more than fifteen feature films. He pioneered the "Mariachi-style" and "one-man film crew" styles of filmmaking, and is the founder of the production company, Troublemaker Studios. Some of Rodriguez's films include Sin City, Desperado, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, The Faculty, Sharkboy and Lavagirl, Spy Kids, Planet Terror, and Machete. He has collaborated with Quentin Tarantino on From Dusk Till Dawn and Grindhouse.
Praise for this book
"Robert Rodriguez won critical acclaim and the attention of every studio in Tinseltown with his action-packed debut feature, El Mariachi--but the question remains: However did he write, direct, shoot, and edit the flick all by his lonesome...and for a paltry $7,000? You'll find that out and more in this straight-talking and highly entertaining memoir-cum-moviemaking primer... you will never view an independently made movie (or $7,000) the same way again."--Entertainment Weekly "There's no one in the American film business quite like Robert Rodriguez, who plays completely outside the rules imposed by Hollywood studios... Given his success rate, it's clear his method works... Rodriguez has long been a hero to independent filmmakers."--The Daily Telegraph "A hero to the independent film crowd."--The New York Times "Only someone very young or ignorant would attempt to make a feature film with $7,000 dollars and no crew. This is because most people know such an endeavor is impossible. Not only did Robert Rodriguez create 'El Mariachi' under those conditions but at 23 he became a Hollywood success overnight... Rebel Without a Crew is the kind of book one would expect from someone who had the courage to break with convention and enough talent for it to pay off almost immediately."--The Los Angeles Times