Rodriguez Will Shoot 'Machete' This Summer

When Robert Rodriguez announced this week that he would reboot the Predator franchise as Predators, the writer-director-producer-everything-else also said he'd shoot it in Austin to take advantage of new tax incentives in Texas. He also said he had plans to shoot Sin City 2, The Jetsons, and a sci-fi movie called Nerverackers in his hometown, plus Machete, the offshoot of Grindhouse. Machete was just a fake trailer when it appeared in the Rodriguez-Tarantino double feature, but now it will be a feature, and Variety reports that Rodriguez and co-director Ethan Maniquis will shoot it beginning in June. Obviously, Danny Trejo will reprise his role and if it keeps with the exploitation flick trappings, it could be a lot of fun. Variety also indicates that the film won't be made by a major studio, marking the first time since Rodriguez broke on the scene with El Mariachi that he hasn't had a studio deal in place. To me, that means nothing at this point. The film won't cost much, even by Rodriguez' very frugal standards, and this way they can make the movie they want to make and worry about finding a distributor later.