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AGGIELIFE
icsday, February 22, 2(XK)
THE BATTALION
Page 3
Monday
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m. in Kleberg 113.
Tuesday
ans Treehouse: Jo
fun, and fellowship
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Northgate.
tasters: Learn public
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?mic Programs, andliloi
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fered at TAMU.
Tuesday
Director
Robert
Rodriguez
Robert Rodriguez is an oddity in the film world. He stands
me for having made the smallest budgeted movie ever to be
eleased by a studio. I lis feature film debut, El Mariachi, cost
mere $7,000 to make and was picked up by Columbia Pie
ties for release. Rodriguez has since directed four highly ac-
med films which include Desperado, From Dusk TillDcn\ n,
[oadracers, and The Faculty. At a press conference held here
Texas A&M Saturday afternoon. The Battalion was able to
sk the renowned director a few questions.
leaving the project was because everyone got fired — because
they were not going to announce it for four months. So we had
to say [it was due to] creative dilferences. I didn't really want
to wait around.
and they are just slugging around, in Texas everyone is still re
ally excited to be working on movies. They are really enthusi
astic. It helps because you are not having to go around and try
to lift people’s spirits.
ROBERT HYNECEK/1 HI Battalion
film Austin, but they don’t have a place to shoot interior set
scenes, so it drives a lot of business away.
Q
• The period in between El Mariachi and Desper-
• ado was when you directed Roudracers, right?
Q
How do von feel about violence in the movies?
Q
# So, it’s already going, you’ve already bought it?
Society: There will be;
nth a guest speaker?
;xas city pharmacyif
Q
• Explain why you selected El Mariachi to screen
• here at this festival?
Yeah. I was looking for something small.
• Can you talk a little bit about that project?
Q
Well, I really never felt like I needed to be every
one’s parent, but it does kind of bug you. That’s why 1 am mak
ing Spy Kids — because I wanted something like Desperado
that my kids could watch.
We are not even buying it. They are just going to
lease it to us and the money that gets made goes back to the city
to develop the site after we’re gone. It is only for an interim
use, we’ll only be using it for a few years until they need the
space. We are not really putting money in, it is not a commer
cial venture.
asters: Learn publics
lewing skills with pos
Will be in Rudder all
le screen. For morel
contact Laura at 6932
did not select it. They [the festival directors] selected it.
"hey told me to come and they were going to show Mariachi,
aid 1 was like, “Sure.”
Q
Talk a little bit about what the Texas Film Festi
val is trying to showcase here with independent
films and talk a little about your experiences.
I w anted to take advantage of the dow ntime for me to go
work with a film crew and practice with 35 mm. Someone of
fered me Roadracers, and I thought that was good. In a month’s
time I could write, shoot, direct and edit and get done with the
whole feature and get some of that experience before going and
doing Desperado. It was just to get some practice.
Q
Can you talk about going from El Mariachi w ith
a budget of $7,000 to a film like Desperado w ith
a budget of $7 million?
Q
Are you going to try to get some more time there
allotted?
ns Treehouse: Joirii
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they had told me to pick a movie, I would have picked
Mariachi because that’s the one that I did by myself and it is
he one that 1 find the most inspiring to people who want to be
filmmakers also.
Iniversity Women's Hi I didn’t think it w as a real picture and the way I made it be-
A Newcomers Poll cause it wasn’t following the rules of filmmaking. It still came
ormation Session# out and people still enjoyed it, and people still went to see it. I
11:30 a.m. Our tel would use that as an example for people to show them how you
2 May, 208 Cecilia Cos can really bend the rules and make up your own rules as far as
»- For more information making an independent film. It can be anything you want, and
694-9198. ForcfiK atthat time nobody was doing movies like that.
I Carolyn at 6907227. It just goes to show' that you can make it any way you want.
. A lot of people cite it as something they used as an influence
ednesday I on their careers.
Q
Do you have any more botched project stories
like The Mask of Zorro’l
With Mariachi, 1 was limited with what I had and what I
had access to. When you can do anything, that almost makes
it more difficult. You are thinking, “I can do anything. Now
what should I do?”
No, after that I was a bit wary of signing on before there
was a script. Which was why 1 turned down some big movies.
Q
• What can you tell us about the hangars that are
• being converted to sound stages in Austin?
Q
Do you have more fun doing your own projects
than doing some of the bigger stuff?
Yeah, because you can still make a really big movie. When
you see the new movie, it’s going to look huge. It only cost $29
million, but it’s going to look like $100 million movie because
I can control the costs.
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• What does that mean for you?
Q
Tell us about the sequels for From Dusk Till
Dawn. Was that something you always wanted to
do?
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It’s great for me because people inspired me. People like
Spike Lee and Steve Soderbergh really made me think, “1
should really be trying to do something.” If I want to make it,
instead of griping about what I don’t [have], 1 should be fo
cusing on what 1 do have.
Q:
What ever happened with you not directing The
Mask of Zorrol
That was a project that had just been plagued for a long time.
Before I had gotten on, it had been started up and stopped a few
times. It was really difficult to get it going.
Each time you start a movie and stop it, that incurs cost. It
was almost going to go. That studio was in a lot of trouble at
that time.
They had experienced a long slate of disaster-type films,
i it was almost time for them to all get fired by Sony. That
was when it happened. Everyone got fired, but they weren’t
going to announce it for four months.
So everybody was just sitting around, nobody really had
any power. The movie was just going to get shut down, and we
were going to have to wait. I could not say that the reason I was
No. That’s just the nature of the company. Dimension is
very much of a sequel type place.
They have the movies that they make and if it is a title that
will get the rental business, they will make a lesser videos for
it and people always rent those. That’s how some of the extra
revenue comes in.
Quentin [Tarantino, director of Pulp Fiction] and I both feel
like we are kind of helping build that company up. They want
ed me to do The Faculty, so I was like, “OK, I’ll do that.” You
let me do two kids movies and a Stevie Ray Vaughn movie,
and I’ll do that.
It’s something we have been looking at for awhile. We’ve
been wanting to put up some sort of studio space. I’ve been
shooting in Austin for awhile, hut I’ve had to rent out ware
houses from people and it’s a pretty high premium right now
because everyone has occupied Austin.
It’s really hard to get space that you can use as stages. So
when the airport was vacated, they just had these hangars sit
ting around. They were going to mow them down, and it is go
ing to take them 20 years to develop the site. So some of the
filmmakers got together and tried to convince the city to allot
a couple of them to sound stages.
We’ve been doing pretty good. I’m not sure exactly where
it is [in the process]. We’ve got to make it more of a multi-cul-
tural, multi-media center and get other media involved other
than film. It would be a non-profit. Part of the money we make
would go to renovating and upgrading the stages because they
are not really stages right now, just warehouses.
We would like to attract more business there —keep the
filmmakers there. A lot of the crews we have are really good.
We’ve lost a lot of our movie business to Canada and other
places. We hope it will attract business back to Austin.
Maybe if it works out; then we can probably
keep it there longer. If the community likes it there and if it does
everything we say it is going to do, then we are going to be giv
ing a lot back to the community. Getting people in the area to
come get internships, especially the East Side of Austin be
cause that is where it is. We have a lot of things we want to do.
If we don’t, they can always get rid of us, but we are not putting
a lot of money into it. Each production, instead of rent they
would come renovate it. Put in air conditioning, put in sound
proofing, leave something to make the stages a little better.
Q
You seem very self-assured and very confident.
# In the filmmaking process, is there ever a mo-
• ment when you experience self-doubt?
Yeah. There a lot of times when you are not sure. But you
get to trust your instincts and sometimes it is hard. Sometimes
you will cover yourself, and then you will find your original
inspirational idea was right. After awhile, you know when you
have a greater force driving you. I have seen filmmakers who,
somewhere along the line, lose it, though. They are really hot
for awhile, and then all their films start going down. It all comes
back to self-doubt.
Q
Can you tell us about the importance of coming
• to smaller festivals like this one, and the impor-
• tance of having film festivals like the Texas Film
Festival?
Q
• You always talk about wanting to stay in Texas,
• what is that about?
When I was younger I never thought I would be a filmmaker
because I didn’t want to go to L.A. You feel vindicated when
you can stay in Texas and make movies and never go anywhere.
Q
Q
# So will these be used for stuff other than just
# film?
It can be for film, commercial, multi-media, games.
# Is it going to be a big studio?
I know that it really benefits a lot of people who come to
these, and they want to leam something. A lot of time it bene
fits me just as much to come and talk about what you are do
ing. You don’t really reflect on things that are past, and then,
you look back and you are like, “Yeah. I really did do that all
by myself.” It makes you remember where you came from. It
gives you more confidence in a way. You see what you did to
what you are doing now.
Q
• What do you see for the future of Texas filmmak-
• ing? Is there a point you don’t want it to reach?
Unlike in L.A. where everyone is so jaded by the movies
It’s really not even a big studio. I’ve never even shot in a
real studio. I’ve always just used warehouses that we convert
ed. But you build your sets and they are pretty soundproof. You
need a space that is big enough, has enough parking and has
enough freespan, which those do. No support posts, so you can
build sets and shoot all your interiors. A lot of people come to
Q
So festivals give you the chance to reflect?
Yeah. You have a much better perspective of what happened
to you later on. It makes you put all kinds of things together. It
makes you think about where you are going. It’s great to see
someone’s face light up when they get inspired by something.
Oscar time marks Hollywood’s own ‘season of giving’
ON
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Is there anybody left
in Hollywood who hasn’t been nominated for some
kind of award this year?
Entertainment awards are proliferating, with
332ceremonies last year, up from 252 in 1997, ac
cording to the trade publication Variety.
The industry has ovations and backslaps for di
rectors, writers and cinematographers, and salutes
for the best movie trailers, the best publicity cam
paigns and the best raising of awareness on social
issues. Even the awards shows can win awards.
'Tirehoopla all builds up to Hollywood’s grand
est night, the Academy Awards, on March 26.
Awards by groups such as the Directors Guild
and Screen Actors Guild offer a sneak peek at how
some top Oscar categories might play out, while
organizers of other ceremonies schedule their
awards to feed off Oscar excitement.
“We definitely wanted to do ours before the Os
car nominations,” said Laurie Silvers, president of
the entertainment Website Hollywood.com, which
presented its second annual awards for top movie
trailers about two weeks before the Academy
Award nominations came out last week. “We want
ed people thinking about whether the best movie
trailers have any association with the best movies.”
Some of the award ceremonies this season:
—Faces and follicles get their due at the first
Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist Guild
Awards on March 19.
Guild Awards chairman Alan Fama said movie
makeup and hairstyles often are overlooked and the
awards are meant to “bring attention to the fact that
our work is not just for a beauty-shop clientele. You
don’t just spray an actor’s hair and have them come
back next week.”
“We definitely wanted
to do ours [awards]
before the Oscar
nominations/'
— Laurie Silvers
President of Hollywood.com
Awards will be presented in such categories as
contemporary and period hairstyling and special-
effects makeup. Nominated films include Sleepy
Hollow, Tea With Mussolini and Austin Powers:
The Spy Who Shagged Me.
—Positive social and moral messages in film and
TV will be lauded at the 23rd annual International
Angel Awards, selected by two groups, Excellence
in Media and the National Association for Family and
Community Education. Contenders in the movie cat-
egory include The Green Mile, The Straight Story,
Music of the Heart and Runaway Bride.
—Animal welfare is the theme at the 14th an
nual Genesis Awards presented by the Ark Trust, a
humane group.
The awards this year will include honors for the
movie Instinct, which fosters respect for great apes,
and the animated feature The Iron Giant, which in
cludes a stark anti-hunting scene, said Ark Trust
founder Gretchen Wyler.
—Foul - days before the Oscars, the 37th annu
al awards for best promotional campaigns will be
held by the Publicists Guild of America.
Nominated for best movie publicity efforts are
American Beauty, The Matrix, Stuart Little, The
Talented Mr. Ripley and Toy Story 2.
“Publicists are always the last to be recognized
for anything,” said Henri Bollinger, who heads the
guild’s awards committee.
Ceremonies themselves sometimes gamer
honors. The Oscar, Grammy and Tony broadcasts
all won Emmys last fall, while last year’s Oscar
show is nominated in the TV musical variety cate
gory for the Directors Guild awards March 11.
There are also awards no one in the industry wants
to win. Several awards are for poor filmmaking.
The 20th annual Golden Raspberry Awards for
the worst movies of 1999 will be announced the
day before the Oscars. This year’s nominees for the
Razzies include the blockbusters Star Wars: Episode
I— The Phantom Menace, Big Daddy and The Blair
Witch Project.
*****
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Off Campus Aggies
Graffiti Party
X
X
When: To*iighti®7:30
Where: College Station
Conference Center
What: General Meeting
Theme: Graffiti Party
Ozx
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CO
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Wear an old t-shirt
that you do not
mind writing on and
bring high-lighters to write
cm under biacklight.
There will be t-shirts
sold for $3 if you don’t
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32
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Ft*
Office: Koldus 137 Phone# 845-0688 http://oca.tamu.ecfu
It t» never too late to join.
^ VI Tired of the same old movies?
Come view a foreign film!
What: “Cyrano de Bergerac - a dashing French officer falls
in love with a girl named Roxanne but must hide his
feelings due to a physical defect
Where: Gallery B at VISC Forsyth Center Galleries
"When: Thursday, February 24, 2000 at 7:OOp.m.
Admission is free and a short discussion
about the movie will accompany the viewing.
Presented by tHe International Students Association and the
JVISC L.T. Jordan Institute for International Awareness
<kZ°
of your special needs, please call 845-8770*5
or stop by MSC 223-1.