During a set visit to the new film Predators directed by Nimrod Antal and currently filming at Troublemaker Studios in Austin, Texas, Bloody-Disgusting had the chance to catch up with Robert Rodriguez (who is producing the film) and Danny Trejo (one of the stars) to ask them about their upcoming film Machete, which is being released next April. Trejo gave us a little more background on the project, which actually was an idea Rodriguez had back in the early days of their collaboration.
“Everybody thinks that ‘Machete’ came out of a trailer, but it didn’t,” said Trejo. “Robert told me that he wanted to do this movie called ‘Machete’ when we were doing ‘Desperado’.”

The actor also hinted that the film might possibly have a few similarities to Rodriguez’s ‘From Dusk ‘Til Dawn’, although whether that means we’ll see anything more horror-related in ‘Machete’ remains to be seen.

“It is a culmination of ‘Desperado’, ‘Once Upon a Time in Mexico’…there’s even a little bit of ‘From Dusk `Til Dawn’ in there,” he hinted. “I think it’s gonna be one of his best…I think everybody’s gonna walk away from that movie with some opinion. It’s a battle for our border, you know? People are really serious about what’s going on with the border, and it shows the negative side of both sides. Not just, you know, we want everybody to cross, or we don’t want anybody to cross. It shows the negative side of both sides. Everybody’s gonna be pissed off.”

In the film, Trejo stars as Machete, a Mexican ex-Federale with a gift for wielding a blade, hides out as a day laborer, and is double-crossed by a corrupt state senator.

As for sequel possibilities, Trejo threw out some possible titles he and Rodriguez have discussed.

“We want ‘Machete’, ‘Machete Kills’, and ‘Machete Kills Again’,” said Trejo.

For his part, Rodriguez said he’s currently editing the film, and also writing the score for it. He also confirmed that the ‘Mariachi’ trilogy will be released on Blu-ray next year, and that there will be something new included on the discs.

“There’s something we’re working on,” said Rodriguez. “I can’t say what it is…I know its no fun when you don’t say anything but I just can’t.”

For those that loved the faux-’70s look of ‘Grindhouse’ and its trailers, you can also can look forward to more of the same in the feature version of ‘Machete’. The “print” will indeed utilize the same raw, scratchy “grindhouse” aesthetic. As for those sequels, Rodriguez had his own title to offer after being asked whether they would indeed be calling the next two ‘Kills’ and ‘Kills Again’.

“We always talked about making him a franchise character…they’re fun titles,” he said. “I do like ‘Machete in Space’ though.“