Robert Rodriguez

Filmmakers

Robert Anthony Rodriguez (June 20, 1968) is an American filmmaker and visual effects supervisor. He shoots, edits, produces, and scores many of his films in Mexico and in his home state of Texas. He made his feature directorial debut with the independent action film El Mariachi (1992), which was a commercial success after grossing $2 million against a budget of $7,000. The film spawned two sequels known collectively as the Mexico Trilogy: Desperado (1995), with Antonio Banderas, Joaquim de Almeida, Salma Hayek, Steve Buscemi, Cheech Marin, and Danny Trejo; and Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003), with Banderas, Hayek, Johnny Depp, Mickey Rourke, Trejo, Marin, and Willem Dafoe.

Other notable films in the 1990s include the TV movie Roadracers (1994), with David Arquette, Hayek, John Hawkes, Jason Wiles,and William Sadler; the anthology film Four Rooms (1995), with Tim Roth, and was co-directed by Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell, and Quentin Tarantino; From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), with George Clooney, Harvey Keitel, Tarantino (who also wrote the script), Juliet Lewis, Hayek, Marin, Trejo, Tom Savini, and Fred Williamson; and The Faculty (1998), with Jordana Brewster, Clea DuVall, Laura Harris, Josh Hartnett, Shawn Hatosy, Famke Janssen, Piper Laurie, Bebe Neuwirth, Robert Patrick, Usher Raymond, Jon Stewart, and Elijah Wood.

Rodriguez also created the Spy Kids franchise (2001, 2002, 2003, 2011, 2023), collectively with Alexa PenaVega, Daryl Sabara, Trejo, Banderas, Carla Gugino, Alan Cumming, Teri Hatcher, Marin, Patrick, Tony Shalhoub, Mike Judge, Ricardo Montalbán, Holland Taylor, Christopher McDonald, Buscemi, Sylvester Stallone, Jessica Alba, Joel McHale, Rowan Blanchard, Mason Cook, Ricky Gervais, Jeremy Piven, Gina Rodriguez, Zachary Levi, Connor Esterson, Everly Carganilla, D.J. Cotrona, and Billy Magnussen.

Other films from the 2000s include Sin City (2005), with Alba, Benicio del Toro, Brittany Murphy, Clive Owen, Rourke, Bruce Willis, Wood, Alexis Bledel, Powers Boothe, Michael Clarke Duncan, Rosario Dawson, Devon Aoki, Gugino, Rutger Hauer, Jaime King, Michael Madsen, Nick Stahl, and Makenzie Vega; The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl (2005), with Taylor Lautner, Taylor Dooley, Cayden Boyd, Arquette, Kristin Davis, and George Lopez; Planet Terror (2007), with Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, Michael Biehn, Jeff Fahey, Josh Brolin, Marley Shelton, and Michael Parks; and Shorts (2009), with Jon Cryer, William H. Macy, Leslie Mann, James Spader, Jimmy Bennett, and Kat Dennings.

Films in the 2010s include Machete (2010), with Trejo, Steven Seagal, Michelle Rodriguez, Fahey, Marin, Lindsay Lohan, Don Johnson, Alba, Felix Sabates, Savini. and Robert De Niro; Machete Kills (2013), with Trejo, Mel Gibson, Demián Bichir, Amber Heard, Sofía Vergara, Lady Gaga, Banderas, Cuba Gooding Jr., Vanessa Hudgens, PenaVega, Sadler, Marko Zaror, and Charlie Sheen; Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014), with Rourke, Alba, Dawson, King, Boothe, Willis, Brolin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Eva Green, Dennis Haysbert, Ray Liotta, Christopher Lloyd, Jamie Chung, Piven, Christopher Meloni, Stacy Keach, Lady Gaga, PenaVega, Julia Garner, and Juno Temple; Alita: Battle Angel (2019), with Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, Jackie Earle Haley and Keean Johnson; and Red 11 (2019), with Roby Attal, Lauren Hatfield, Alejandro Rose-Garcia, Eman Esfandi, Steve Brudniak, Brently Heilbron, Pierce Foster Bailey, Katherine Willis, Ulysses Montoya, and Carlos Gallardo.

Films in the 2020s include We Can Be Heroes (2020), with YaYa Gosselin, Lyon Daniels, Andy Walken, Hala Finley, Lotus Blossom, Dylan Henry Lau, Andrew Diaz, Isaiah Russel-Bailey, Akira Akbar, Nathan Blair, Vivien Lyra Blair, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Adriana Barraza, Pedro Pascal, Boyd Holbrook, Christian Slater, and Sung Kang; Hypnotic (2023), with Ben Affleck, Alice Braga, J.D. Pardo, Finley, Dayo Okeniyi, Fahey, Haley and William Fichtner.

Each review will be linked to the title below.

(*seen originally in theaters)

(**seen rereleased in theaters)

  • Bedhead (1991) – short
  • El Mariachi (1992)
  • Roadracers (1994) – TV movie
  • Desperado (1995)
  • Four Rooms (1995) – directed with Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell, & Quentin Tarantino – anthology
  • From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
  • The Faculty (1998)
  • Spy Kids (2001)
  • Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams (2002)
  • Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003)*
  • Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)*
  • The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl (2005)
  • Sin City (2005)* – co-directed with Frank Miller
  • Grindhouse (2007)* – double feature, directed Planet Terror
  • Shorts (2009)
  • Machete (2010)* – co-directed with Ethan Manaquis
  • Spy Kids: All the Time in the World (2011)
  • Machete Kills (2013)*
  • Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) – co-directed with Frank Miller
  • Alita: Battle Angel (2019)*
  • Red 11 (2019)
  • We Can Be Heroes (2020)
  • Hypnotic (2023)
  • Spy Kids: Armageddon (2023)