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1[[quoteright:245:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/robertrodriguez.jpg]]
2
3->''"You know, this logo probably cost more than my whole movie."''
4-->-- Describing the Creator/ColumbiaPictures VanityPlate in the commentary to ''Film/ElMariachi''
5
6[[JustForFun/DescribeTopicHere Describe Robert Anthony Rodriguez (born June 20, 1968 in San Antonio, Texas) here.]]
7
8Easy. He's that hard-edged filmmaker who directed the ''Film/ElMariachi'' trilogy, the ''Film/{{Machete}}'' films, ''Film/FromDuskTillDawn,'' ''Film/SinCity'', and [[Film/PlanetTerror half]] of ''Film/{{Grindhouse}}''.
9
10No, wait! He's that family-friendly guy who gave us the ''Film/SpyKids'' tetralogy, ''Film/TheAdventuresOfSharkboyAndLavagirl'', ''Film/AlitaBattleAngel'', ''Film/{{We Can Be Heroes|2020}}'', and ''Series/TheBookOfBobaFett''.
11
12Or, [[TakeAThirdOption is he both?]]
13
14Whoever Robert Rodriguez is, he's someone with a ''deep'' interest in and appreciation for filmmaking, owing to his reputation for not only producing, directing and writing his films, but [[CopiouslyCreditedCreator oftentimes also serving as video[=/=]sound editor, cinematographer, camera operator, composer, production designer, and visual effects supervisor.]] He's also [[PatrioticFervor very proud to be Mexican]], as most of his movies can attest.
15
16Rodriguez's first notable success was with 1992's ''Film/ElMariachi'', his feature directorial debut, which made over $2 million on a $7,000 budget. His experiences starting out as a filmmaker all the way up to selling and promoting the film in Hollywood were written out and published as ''Rebel Without A Crew'', a book that's been touted as required reading for aspiring indie/low-budget filmmakers.
17
18He and fellow director Creator/QuentinTarantino have worked together on a couple of each other's projects, their biggest collaborations being ''Film/FromDuskTillDawn'' (which Rodriguez directed and Tarantino scripted) and ''Film/{{Grindhouse}}'' (with Rodriguez directing ''Film/PlanetTerror'' and Tarantino directing ''Film/DeathProof'').
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20Creator/DannyTrejo has been in numerous films of Rodriguez's, and [[RealLifeRelative the two of them also happen to be cousins]] -- but there's no {{nepotism}} involved. In fact, the two of them didn't even learn that they were related until after the filming for ''Film/{{Desperado}}''[[note]]which was released on August 25, 1995[[/note]] had wrapped up.
21
22Rodriguez is also the founder of the Creator/ElReyNetwork, an American television network turned streaming service formerly co-owned by Creator/{{Univision}} which specializes in classic grindhouse-style cinema and shows, as well as the co-creator of the professional wrestling promotion and El Rey original series of the same name, ''Wrestling/LuchaUnderground'', which sports talent from famed Mexican promotion Wrestling/{{AAA}}.
23
24See also Creator/HybrideTechnologies, the VFX firm that Rodriguez works with in most of his films.
25----
26!!Partial Filmography:
27
28[[index]]
29* ''Film/ElMariachi''
30* ''Film/{{Desperado}}''
31* "Room 309 - The Misbehavers", one segment in ''Film/FourRooms''
32* ''Film/FromDuskTillDawn''
33* ''Film/TheFaculty''
34* ''Film/SpyKids'' series
35** ''Film/SpyKids1''
36** ''Film/SpyKids2IslandOfLostDreams''
37** ''Film/SpyKids3DGameOver''
38** ''Film/SpyKidsAllTheTimeInTheWorld''
39** ''Film/SpyKidsArmageddon''
40* ''Film/OnceUponATimeInMexico''
41* ''Film/TheAdventuresOfSharkBoyAndLavaGirl in 3-D''
42** ''Film/WeCanBeHeroes2020'', a Creator/{{Netflix}} spin-off of ''The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl''
43* ''Film/SinCity''
44** ''Film/SinCityADameToKillFor''
45* ''Film/PlanetTerror'', one half of the ''Film/{{Grindhouse}}'' collab with Creator/QuentinTarantino
46* ''Film/{{Shorts}}''
47* ''Film/{{Predators}}'', as producer (but still enough to evoke fandom rejoicing)
48* ''Film/{{Machete}}'', a spinoff from one of the fake trailers featured in ''Grindhouse'' and takes place in the Spy Kids universe.
49** ''Film/MacheteKills'', sequel to the above.
50* ''100 Years'' - filmed in 2015 but won't be released until 2115. [[http://variety.com/2015/film/news/john-malkovich-robert-rodriguez-100-years-1201644846/ Yes, really.]]
51* ''Film/AlitaBattleAngel'', Creator/JamesCameron's pet project, for which he was given the helm by the man himself, once it turned out that Cameron would be tied by the ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' [[Film/AvatarTheWayOfWater sequels]] longer than he'd like.
52* ''WesternAnimation/{{Uglydolls}}'', based on the [[Toys/{{Uglydolls}} toyline of the same name]]. Was originally set to both direct and produce the movie, but was replaced by Kelly Asbury as director late in production, though is still producing it, along with contributing the story.
53[[/index]]
54* ''Franchise/StarWars''
55** ''Series/TheMandalorian''
56[[index]]
57*** [[Recap/TheMandalorianS2E6Chapter14TheTragedy Chapter 14: "The Tragedy"]]
58** ''Series/TheBookOfBobaFett'' (also executive producer on the whole show)
59*** [[Recap/TheBookOfBobaFettS1E1StrangerInAStrangeLand Chapter 1: "Stranger in a Strange Land"]]
60*** [[Recap/TheBookOfBobaFettS1E3TheStreetsOfMosEspa Chapter 3: "The Streets of Mos Espa"]]
61*** [[Recap/TheBookOfBobaFettS1E7InTheNameOfHonor Chapter 7: "In the Name of Honor"]]
62[[/index]]
63* The ''[[ShowWithinAShow Stab]]'' segment in ''Film/{{Scream 2}}''.
64
65!!Robert Rodriguez provides examples of:
66
67* ActionGirl: Most, if not all, of his movies feature as many badass women as there are badass men, including protagonists, supporting characters, mooks, or villains.
68* AuthorAppeal: Westerns, crime films, grindhouse and exploitation movies, and Latin-American culture. He also has a more technical liking for digital film-making and 3D.
69* AttentionDeficitCreatorDisorder: Rodriguez suffers from this from time to time. After ''Film/SinCity'' came out, he began talking about a pair of sequels filmed back-to-back with new original material written by Creator/FrankMiller. After Miller failed to produce (mostly due to his new love of film directing) the sequels hit a major snag and even Creator/MickeyRourke publicly announced he wasn't waiting up. Then, after ''Grindhouse'' was released Rodriguez was not only attached to ''Sin City 2/3'' but a ''Film/{{Machete}}'' feature film (which happened years later) and a remake of ''Film/{{Barbarella}}''. The ''Sin City'' sequel only came out of DevelopmentHell in 2012. Nobody believes any news regarding future Rodriguez projects until the cameras start rolling.
70** Just another thing him and his buddy Tarantino [[BirdsOfAFeather share in common.]]
71* {{BFG}}[=/=]{{BFS}}: There's almost always at least one character who's carrying some ridiculously large weapon.
72* BlackAndGreyMorality[=/=]GreyAndGrayMorality: His more adult films. His kids films are either BlackAndWhiteMorality or WhiteAndGreyMorality.
73* BlackComedy: Death and violence are constantly played for laughs in his adult films. Special mention goes to Film/{{Machete}}, where the titular character disembowels a man and then uses his intestines as an escape rope.
74* ChromaKey: He is a huge advocate of CGI and digital effects, and it shows by the high amount of digitally-made backgrounds and sets in his films, at the expense of physically-made sets. This is mostly pragmatic on his part, given that it takes less time, though he employs this for stylistic purpose in ''Film/SinCity'' and ''Film/TheAdventuresOfSharkboyAndLavagirl''.
75* CopiouslyCreditedCreator: Usually directs, writes, produces, and composes the score of his movies. He also mixes the sound, and has some input in special and visual effects and edits. Occasionally, he also manages to have a CreatorCameo. On ''Planet Terror'' he's also (half)jokingly credited as his own chef.
76* CreatorsOddball:
77** ''Film/AlitaBattleAngel'' has a much larger budget than any of his other movies and deviates from their OffTheShelfFX look with state of the art production values.
78** While his [[Film/SpyKids3DGameOver previous]] [[Film/TheAdventuresOfSharkBoyAndLavaGirl kids movies]] were partially CG animated, ''WesternAnimation/UglyDolls'' marks his first movie to be entirely CG animated and has been noted by viewers like [[WebVideo/RebelTaxi Pan Pizza]] for being more down to earth compared to his previous kids movies in his [[https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=%23&ved=2ahUKEwiu1r3jxs7jAhXhv1QKHRQTBmUQwqsBMAB6BAgIEAU&usg=AOvVaw0VTJzWxrN8ZFOD4xbU2nov review]].
79* DashingHispanic: Take any Mexican-themed Rodriguez film and you'll find plenty of really badass macho men.
80* {{Gorn}}: There's a ''lot'' of violence in his movies. It's mostly over-the-top and cartoonish though.
81* GunPorn: Gun imagery dominates his action movies; one character in'' Film/{{Machete}}'' even drinks out of a gun-shaped bottle.
82* LaterInstallmentWeirdness: After making ''Film/MacheteKills'', Robert took a break from filmmaking to expand his production company towards television with the El Ray Network for a few years. Even when he returned to the big screen he directed a [[CreatorsOddball high budget Hollywood epic]] and produced an animated feature that's considered by critics as the most normal entry in his family movie lineup.
83* NeverBareheaded: Rodriguez is almost never seen without a hat, wheter it's his famous Stetson or his recent baseball cap.
84* NoBudget: Rodriguez first made a name for himself by making mainstream movies as cheaply as possibly while hiding their budget by sticking to tight schedules, shooting around cheap props, reusing stunt doubles and keeping resources to whatever was readily available. As documented in his book ''Rebel Without A Crew'', his first film ''Film/ElMariachi'' was a personal challenge to make $7,000 look like $1,000,000. ''Film/{{Desperado}}'', similarly, was an attempt to make $7,000,000 look like $10,000,000.
85* [[PlayingAgainstType Directing Against Type]]: When ''Film/SpyKids'' first came out, his name on the posters provoked numerous [[DoubleTake DoubleTakes]]. By now, his family-friendly films may represent an alternative type.
86* DoingItForTheArt: Rodriguez left the Director's Guild of America so that Frank Miller could work and be credited as the co-director of ''Film/SinCity.'' It is against the Guilds policy for non-members to be credited as co-directors, and Rodriguez decided to leave rather than compromise his principles.
87* ProductionPosse: Creator/AntonioBanderas, Creator/SalmaHayek, Creator/DannyTrejo, Creator/RobertPatrick, Creator/ElijahWood, Creator/GeorgeClooney, Cheech Marin, Creator/JessicaAlba, and Creator/PedroPascal are in a few of his movies and shows.
88* RealMenCook: Many of the DVD releases of his films include "Ten Minute Cooking Schools" in the special features, where he teaches the audience how to prepare some of his favorite meals.
89-->''I've got a lot of friends who don't know how to cook, which I could never understand because not knowing how to cook is like not knowing how to [[PrecisionFStrike fuck]].''
90* RenaissanceMan: As mentioned above, when Robert isn't in the directing chair he's also working as a producer, screenwriter, editor, cinematographer, composer, author, film teacher, makeup and effects artist, TV host, chef, and an occasional actor. He also operates his own production company and television channel, is the guitarist for his own rock band ''Chingon'', is fluent in both English and Spanish, and dabbled as a cartoonist and animator with the comic strip ''Los Hooligans''.
91* RuleOfCool: Taken up to eleven on occasion, to the point of parody; gratuitous violence, [[MoreDakka guns galore]], a lot of [[StuffBlowingUp stuff blowing up]], [[SmokingIsCool cool smoking]] and dialogue rife with [[OneLiner one-liners]], among other things.
92* ShoutOut: The names of three of his children are revealed to be part of Juni Cortez's full name in ''[[Film/SpyKids Spy Kids 2]]''.
93* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: His family films are incredibly idealistic. His more adult films can be in the middle or a tad closer to the cynical end.
94* SoMyKidsCanWatch: Why he directed ''Film/SpyKids'' and all that lot.
95* SouthOfTheBorder: Loves having fun with Mexican stereotypes.
96* StylisticSuck: His exploitation film pastiches are made like this, consisting of continuity errors, deliberately bad acting, cheap-looking VFX, and digitally added film grain[=/=]damaged footage.
97* ThemeNaming: His children are called Rocket, Racer, Rebel, Rogue, and Rhiannon.
98* WhiteAndGreyMorality[=/=]BlackAndWhiteMorality: The morality in his kids films.
99* WorldOfBadass: Again, there is hardly a character in his action movies who isn't badass in some form.

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