'Spy Kids' creator makes his films at home

By Andy Seiler
USA Today

Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara star in "Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams." Associated Press

Spywalker Ranch, as Rodriguez jokingly refers to his lakeside home and movie studio (a nod to George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch), is the heart of the writer, director, producer, editor, soundtrack composer, production designer, director of photography and re-recording mixer. It's also where "SK2's" more than 1,000 special-effects shots were created, more than twice as many as in the 2001 original, which grossed $112.7 million.

"I am using the latest technologies to free myself as an artist," Rodriguez, 34, says. "The old system was designed to save time. But now it's slow compared to what you can do on your own in your room."

He likens the movie industry's next level of filmmaking to the music industry embracing CDs. "We're at the stage where people are looking at vinyl records and saying, 'But this is as good as it gets.' "

It isn't.

Rodriguez shot and edited "SK2," and he's approaching his next big goal: creating movies at the speed of thought.

Meanwhile, he is winning over economy-minded big-studio honchos, who are discovering that Rodriguez, 34, can bring in a polished and expensive-looking movie at a fraction of the cost and in a fraction of the time of more traditional Hollywood moviemakers.

"Everything you need to make a movie, he has it there," says Antonio Banderas, who has appeared in five of Rodriguez's films, including "SK2" and the "Once Upon a Time in Mexico," the third in Rodriguez's Western series, opening early next year.

That franchise began with the 1992 Spanish-language "El Mariachi" and continued with "Desperado" three years later.

"This is where filmmaking is headed," says Bob Weinstein, co-founder of Miramax's Dimension division, which is releasing "SK2" today. "Robert's kind of filmmaking will help bring the cost of movies down and therefore give the directors who know how to use it a boost. He can make a movie right in his own back yard, meaning Texas."

As with the first film in the series, Rodriguez shot almost all of "SK2" in and around Austin. (Two days in Costa Rica supplied a volcano and ocean waves.) And he reunited the same crew and actors, including Alexa Vega as Carmen Cortez and Daryl Sabara as her little brother, Juni, who play a pair of top juvenile secret agents enlisted to (once again) save the world.

They are, of course, still grappling with their worried parents (Banderas and Carla Gugino) and new-to-the-scene grandparents (Ricardo Montalban and Holland Taylor).

Though it would be even cheaper if Rodriguez shot his movie in Canada or Australia, he would rather cut corners in other ways. Consider the results:

• Rodriguez estimates that he can shoot in two days an action scene that would normally take two weeks, with no loss in quality. Similarly, he knows where the dialogue and sound effects are going to be, so he makes sure to compose any particularly cool music going on at the same time.
• A production schedule on a big-budget action film might take more than 100 days, with the director on one set, a "B" unit shooting action scenes and a "C" unit shooting special effects. Rodriguez, using one crew, shot "SK2" in about 65 days. "If you walk onto my set, I'll be looking through a Steadicam (a portable camera)," he says. "And we all move faster because I lead by example. We have a much smaller crew because if everyone does 10 jobs, it's a lot more fun."
• Rodriguez shot "Mexico" in seven weeks with a big cast. "You'd never believe we shot this movie in a fraction of the time of most regular movies, not even an action film. It just looks huge."
• Like Lucas, he has left film behind. Rodriguez shot "Spy Kids "digitally, using customized "hot-rodded" high-definition video cameras.
• He used animatics, a quick-and-dirty animation system, to shoot and edit the film in advance, determining the pace of a scene and every shot needed before he sets foot on the actual location.
• Back at home, he edited, worked on effects, and recorded and mixed the final sound. He wrote the atmospheric, sometimes comic orchestral score without being particularly good at reading music, enlisting a computer program to write out what he plays.

Still, Rodriguez swears he's no tech whiz.

"It's so hard to read these manuals," he says. "I only know it enough to be able to use it."

In fact, Rodriguez says, he only developed those techniques because he loves his home so much. He doesn't like to leave his sons (Rocket, Racer and Rebel, all under 7) and definitely doesn't dig Hollywood.

"I'm a real family man. In fact, when I married my wife 13 years ago, I told her, 'I don't really like to work. I like staying home and making stuff: cartoons, little movies.' I was going to stay home and be Mr. Mom. Now I get to do that and make my movies." (He works while his kids are sleeping and sleeps while they are at school.) Rodriguez's wife, Elizabeth Avellan, is his longtime co-producer.

"So many people go to Hollywood and lose themselves," Weinstein says. "They forgot why they went there; they lose touch. You hang out in Hollywood long enough, all you want to know about is the deals."

Rodriguez does not want to know about the deals, he says, as he sits amid computer screens, gadgets and models in his informal work space.

"Most people, if they're a producer and they just want a hit movie, they'll do what it takes to get that. Me, I like the actual creative process of making the movie. I don't want to be a director who just tells people what to do."

There aren't many filmmakers like that, he admits. "You don't usually get someone from outside of Hollywood in the movie business," Rodriguez says.