Machete (film)
Encyclopedia
Machete is a 2010 action film
directed by Robert Rodriguez
and Ethan Maniquis. The "Machete" character originates from the 2001 Spy Kids
film, written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. This film is an expansion of a fake trailer that was released together with Rodriguez's and Quentin Tarantino
's 2007 Grindhouse. Machete continues the B movie
and exploitation style of Grindhouse, including some of its footage. Danny Trejo
stars in his first lead role as the title character.
The film also stars Robert De Niro
, Jessica Alba
, Don Johnson
, Michelle Rodriguez
, Steven Seagal
in his first theatrically released film since 2002's Half Past Dead
, and Lindsay Lohan
, who filmed scenes for the film during the autumn of 2009. Cheech Marin
and Jeff Fahey
returned to portray their characters from the original trailer.
Machete was released in the United States
by 20th Century Fox
and Rodriguez's company, Troublemaker Studios
, on September 3, 2010.
), a former Mexican
Federale
. The film opens in Mexico with Machete on a mission to rescue a kidnapped girl. During the operation he is betrayed by his corrupt Chief to the powerful drug lord, Rogelio Torrez (Steven Seagal
) who kills Machete's wife and daughter, before leaving him for dead.
Three years later, a down and out Machete roams Texas
looking to do yard work in exchange for money. Michael Booth (Jeff Fahey
), a local businessman and spin doctor, explains to Machete that the corrupt Texas State Senator
McLaughlin (Robert De Niro
) is sending hundreds of illegals out of the country. In order to stop this, Booth offers Machete $150,000 to kill McLaughlin. Machete accepts the murder contract after being threatened by Booth if he does not.
While Machete is watching McLaughlin from a rooftop during a rally, he begins to snipe him, but before he can, he sees one of Booth's henchmen, who shoots him in the shoulder and then shoots Senator McLaughlin in the leg. It is revealed that Booth orchestrated the attempted assassination as part of a false flag
operation to gain public support for McLaughlin's campaign so that a more secure border is put in place. By setting up Machete as the gunman, the conspirators make it appear that an outlaw illegal Mexican immigrant has tried to assassinate the senator.
An injured Machete escapes capture by Booth and is taken to a hospital to be treated for wounds, escaping once again from Booth's henchmen at the hospital. Agent Sartana Rivera (Jessica Alba
), a persistent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
agent, is sent by her superior to find and capture the injured Machete. Machete, with the help of Luz (Michelle Rodriguez
), aka Shè, the leader of an illegal immigrant aid movement known as the Network, recruits Padre (Cheech Marin
), Machete's "holy" brother. To take revenge on Booth, Machete kidnaps Booth's wife and his daughter, April (Lindsay Lohan
), after "starring" in an amateur adult film with them. He also collects evidence from Booth's house linking Senator McLaughlin and the Mexican drug lord in a major drugs trafficking deal. After encountering Machete, Sartana begins to develop an interest in him.
Booth and a hitman kill Padre after finding Machete's hideout, but do not find his wife and daughter, and unbeknownst to Booth the church has hidden cameras. Through the CCTV recordings, the news of McLaughlin's corruption and faked assassination is eventually aired on national television. This causes McLaughlin to kill Booth out of anger and heads back to join Rogelio Torrez to kill Machete. In order to eliminate the people who double-crossed him, Machete gathers the Mexican Network and leads them to the base of the border vigilantes, led by Von Jackson (Don Johnson
).
During this confrontation, the Mexican immigrants triumph over the border vigilantes. Jackson is killed by a shot to the back of the head fired by Luz while trying to escape and Machete fights Torrez, culminating with the drug lord committing seppuku
with one of Machete's blades with which he had just been stabbed. April shows up wearing a nun's habit after escaping from the church and attempts to kill Senator McLaughlin after figuring out that he had killed her father.
McLaughlin escapes, but he is later killed by the last remnants of his own border vigilante group (led by the new recruit who was seen earlier in the film) who mistake him for a Mexican. The film ends with Machete being brought legal status papers by Sartana Rivera and riding off with her into the night.
Before the credits roll, the announcer says that Machete will return in Machete Kills and Machete Kills Again.
. He says, "When I met Danny, I said, 'This guy should be like the Mexican Jean-Claude Van Damme
or Charles Bronson
, putting out a movie every year and his name should be Machete.' So I decided to do that way back when, never got around to it until finally now. So now, of course, I want to keep going and do a feature." Rodriguez stated, "There weren't any action movies that with a Latin flavor that could play to a broad audience. When I watched [director] John Woo
's movies, they made me want to be Asian. Woo and [actor] Chow Yun-Fat
's Hard Boiled
and The Killer really inspired me to make films that would create that feeling in the Latin arena."
In an interview with Rolling Stone
magazine, Rodriguez said that he wrote the screenplay back in 1993 when he cast Trejo in Desperado. "So I wrote him this idea of a federale
from Mexico who gets hired to do hatchet jobs in the U.S. I had heard sometimes FBI or DEA
have a really tough job that they don't want to get their own agents killed on, they'll hire an agent from Mexico to come do the job for $25,000. I thought, 'That's Machete. He would come and do a really dangerous job for a lot of money to him but for everyone else over here it's peanuts.' But I never got around to making it."
Instead, during the filming of Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino
's Grindhouse, Rodriguez shot lobby cards and sequences from parts of the original script in 2006 for a fake trailer featuring Danny Trejo, Cheech Marin
, and Jeff Fahey
. At South by Southwest
in March 2007, Rodriguez announced that he would be expanding his trailer for Machete into a feature-length film. He announced that it would be a bonus feature on the Planet Terror
DVD, but the film ended up being produced as a theatrical release.
During Comic-Con International 2008
, he took the time to speak about Machete, including such topics as the film's status, possible sequel
s, and production priorities. It was also revealed that he has regularly pulled sequences from it for his other productions including Once Upon a Time in Mexico
.
" technique. In April 2009, it was announced that Ethan Maniquis, who is a long-time editor of Rodriguez's films, would be co-directing the film with Rodriguez. At the Comic-Con 2010 event in San Diego, Trejo commented on Rodriguez: "He's a genius. He's an absolute genius. He makes movie-making fun. You know, he makes you wanna go to work. A lot of people wake up saying 'I woke up before my alarm went off' just 'cause you're excited to work with him. You wonder 'what is he going to come up with today?', because every day, he's like inventing something new. So it's awesome to work with somebody like that." "Robert has an incredible vision and is very precise, and [working on his films] you feel like you're in the middle of something both big and experiential. And that anything is possible," states Jeff Fahey, who has collaborated with Rodriguez on Machete and Grindhouse.
, as said by Rodriguez. The two had met during the filming of Rodriguez's film, Desperado
. "Nobody really knew about Desperado, yet the local townspeople would flock to see Danny, thinking he was the star of the movie, even though his part was very small," Rodriguez remembers. "He has incredible presence, and I knew I had found Machete. So, I handed him a knife, and told him to start practicing."
Trejo, Cheech Marin
, and Jeff Fahey
were announced to be reprising their characters in the trailer for the film. Tito Larriva
did not reprise his primary role as the sniper who shoots Machete and was replaced by Shea Whigham
. Michelle Rodriguez
was the first actor to be cast in the film who wasn't in the original trailer. Chris Cooper
was approached for the role of Senator McLaughlin. After Cooper turned down the role, Robert De Niro
was cast instead. "From the point you get Robert De Niro in your movie, all the other actors come running," says Robert Rodriguez on De Niro's involvement in the film.
"What I liked about the character was that it was a fun thing to do in a sense of irony and it's not taken seriously. He's not taken seriously on one level so that frees you to have fun without being weighted down by some requirements," says Robert De Niro on the role. Lindsay Lohan
was revealed to be cast in the film in July 2009. "Lindsay's cool. There's actually a cool part in the movie for her if she takes it." Lohan portrays April Booth, the socialite daughter of Booth, the man who double-crosses Machete. "April was born into a life of privilege and takes everything she has for granted," says Lohan. "But she undergoes a big change. As an actress, I like pushing the envelope." Lohan recolored her hair from auburn red to platinum blonde.
Jonah Hill
was originally cast as Julio, but was replaced by Daryl Sabara
, who had worked with Rodriguez, Marin, and Trejo on the set of the Spy Kids franchise. Jessica Alba
said of her role of Agent Sartana, "My character is an Immigrations Officer and she hunts him (Machete) down and she finds out that he was double-crossed himself. She wrestles with her own right-wing kind of mentality because she's all about forcing the law and doing what the system tells you."
"The cast may have sounded bizarre to some people when first announced. But when you watch Machete, you see that the actors fit their roles very well. The eclectic mix really works. Danny's worked in hundreds of movies and probably worked with everyone in Machete at some point. Everyone just loves Danny and appreciated the fact he was finally getting to be the star of his own film. I remember Robert De Niro, who worked with Danny in Heat telling him that, '[Machete] is going to be really good for you.'"
Regarding the nudity that was present in the film, Rodriguez mentioned that he deliberately set the first scene with a nude woman (actress Mayra Leal) as that makes people think that subsequent scenes show more than they actually do. Jessica Alba mentioned that for her shower scene, "I had undies on, and I had other stuff on, and they just sort of etched it out in post [production]. That's not really me. I'm better covered up."
. The scenes that Rodriguez shot only consisted of scenes involving Danny Trejo
, Cheech Marin
, Jeff Fahey
, and Tito Larriva
. Some of the scenes filmed for the trailer were left intact in the film, while others have been re-shot.
Principal photography
began on July 29, 2009 in and around the city of Austin, Texas
. Lindsay Lohan filmed her role in three days, two in August and one in September. On August 27, 2009, Rodriguez filmed a pseudo political rally at the Capitol building in Austin, Texas
. Principal photography of the film ended on September 24, 2009.
held on September 1, 2010, at a special midnight screening, followed by the general theatrical release on September 3.
The film was released in the U.S. on September 3, 2010, by 20th Century Fox
. The film appeared on 3,400 screens at 2,670 locations.
The film was released in Australia on November 11, and in Mexico on November 12, 2010.
A fake trailer for the film was released on May 5, 2010, through Ain't It Cool News
. The trailer opened with Danny Trejo saying, "This is Machete with a special Cinco de Mayo
message to Arizona
," followed by scenes of gunfire, bloodshed, and highlights of the cast. The fake trailer combined elements of the Machete trailer that appeared in Grindhouse with footage from the actual film, and implied that the film would be about Machete leading a revolt against anti-immigration politicians and border vigilantes. According to Fox News, critics of illegal immigration were offended by the contents of the movie trailer. Production of the film predates the legislation, however.
Several film websites, including Internet Movie Database
, reported that it was the official teaser for the film. However, Rodriguez later revealed the trailer to be a joke, explaining "it was Cinco de Mayo and I had too much tequila
." The official theatrical trailer was released on July 8, 2010. It was then attached with Predators, which Rodriguez produced. It is also shown before The Expendables
. A red band trailer featuring more gruesome scenes from the film was released on July 23, 2010.
Machete opened in 2,670 theaters in the United States
on September 3 and earned $14,102,888 for its four-day weekend, placing second at the box office behind The American
. The film opened at #2 behind The American and took in $3,866,357—$1,448 per theater—on its opening day and $14,102,888—$4,001 per theater—on its opening weekend. Machete placed fourth at the box office by the end of the week after Resident Evil: Afterlife
opened in theaters, totaling $20,916,709.
Machete has made $26,593,646 in the United States as of December 4, 2010. The film has made an extra $11,038,073 in foreign markets, bringing the gross total of $37,631,719, as of December 4, 2010.
Review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes
reports that 72% of critics have given the film a positive review, based on 163 reviews, with an average rating of 6.3 out of 10 giving the film a "certified fresh" rank. The site's general consensus is that, "Machete is messy, violent, shallow, and tasteless -- and that's precisely the point of one of the summer's most cartoonishly enjoyable films." Another aggregator, Metacritic
, gave the film a "Mixed or average reviews" weighted mean score of 60, based on 29 reviews.
Jessica Alba
won a Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress, along with her other roles in The Killer Inside Me
, Little Fockers
and Valentine's Day
.
will be released on home media.
The R-rated theatrical version of Machete was released on DVD
and Blu-ray
on January 4, 2011.
On the week ending January 9, 2011, Machete topped the DVD Sales chart in America debuting at Number 1. The DVD sold 691,317 copies in its first week of release.
In the Blu-ray deleted scenes Rose McGowan is featured as one of Osiruses henchmen named 'Boots McCoy'. In other deleted scenes Jessica Alba is also playing the role of 'Sis'. (Sartana's twin sister)
, Rodriguez has scripts for the first of two Machete sequels, tentatively titled Machete Kills and Machete Kills Again. Both these titles appear in the end credits of the film's theatrical release. At the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con, Rodriguez confirmed that the sequels have been both greenlit, and that the trailer for the third would follow the credits of the second film.
In August 2011 Rodriguez said that financing was already in place for the film and once the script was done, they could begin shooting.
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
directed by Robert Rodriguez
Robert Rodriguez
Robert Anthony Rodríguez is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, editor and musician. He shoots and produces many of his films in his native Texas and Mexico. He has directed such films as Desperado, From Dusk till Dawn, The Faculty, Spy Kids, Sin City, Planet...
and Ethan Maniquis. The "Machete" character originates from the 2001 Spy Kids
Spy Kids
The Spy Kids series is a series of family action adventure films written, produced and directed by Robert Rodriguez. The main plot follows the adventures of two Cortez children who become involved in their parents' espionage. The rest of their family are spies as well, including their estranged...
film, written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. This film is an expansion of a fake trailer that was released together with Rodriguez's and Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
's 2007 Grindhouse. Machete continues the B movie
B movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
and exploitation style of Grindhouse, including some of its footage. Danny Trejo
Danny Trejo
Dan "Danny" Trejo is an American actor who has appeared in numerous Hollywood films, most notably in roles as an antagonist, or anti-hero.-Early life:...
stars in his first lead role as the title character.
The film also stars Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
, Jessica Alba
Jessica Alba
Jessica Marie Alba is an American television and film actress. She began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in Camp Nowhere and The Secret World of Alex Mack . Alba rose to prominence as the lead actress in the television series Dark Angel...
, Don Johnson
Don Johnson
Donnie Wayne "Don" Johnson is an American actor known for his work in television and film. He played the lead role of James "Sonny" Crockett in the 1980s TV cop series, Miami Vice, which led him to huge success. He also played the lead role in the 1990s cop series, Nash Bridges...
, Michelle Rodriguez
Michelle Rodriguez
Mayte Michelle Rodríguez , known professionally as Michelle Rodriguez, is an American actress. Following on from her breakthrough role in 2000's Girlfight, she is best known for playing tough-girl roles and starring in Hollywood blockbusters such as The Fast and the Furious, Resident Evil,...
, Steven Seagal
Steven Seagal
Steven Frederic Seagal is an American action film star, producer, writer, martial artist, guitarist and reserve deputy sheriff. A 7th-dan black belt in Aikido, Seagal began his adult life as an Aikido instructor in Japan...
in his first theatrically released film since 2002's Half Past Dead
Half Past Dead
Half Past Dead is a 2002 action movie in which a criminal infiltrates a prison to interrogate a prisoner about the location of a fortune in gold while an undercover FBI agent has to stop him. The film stars Steven Seagal, Morris Chestnut, Ja Rule, Nia Peeples, Kurupt, and Claudia Christian...
, and Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan is an American actress, pop singer and model. She began her career as a child fashion model before making her motion picture debut in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap at the age of 11...
, who filmed scenes for the film during the autumn of 2009. Cheech Marin
Cheech Marin
Richard Anthony "Cheech" Marin is an American comedian, actor and writer who gained recognition as part of the comedy act Cheech & Chong during the 1970s and early 1980s, and as Don Johnson's partner, Insp. Joe Dominguez on Nash Bridges...
and Jeff Fahey
Jeff Fahey
Jeffrey David "Jeff" Fahey is an American film and television actor. He has portrayed Captain Frank Lapidus on the ABC series Lost and the title role of Deputy Marshal Winston MacBride on The Marshal.-Early life:...
returned to portray their characters from the original trailer.
Machete was released in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
and Rodriguez's company, Troublemaker Studios
Troublemaker Studios
Troublemaker Studios is a film production company founded and owned by filmmaker Robert Rodriguez and producer Elizabeth Avellan. The company is based in Austin, Texas and is located at the former site of the Robert Mueller Municipal Airport...
, on September 3, 2010.
Plot
The story revolves around Machete Cortez (Danny TrejoDanny Trejo
Dan "Danny" Trejo is an American actor who has appeared in numerous Hollywood films, most notably in roles as an antagonist, or anti-hero.-Early life:...
), a former Mexican
Mexican people
Mexican people refers to all persons from Mexico, a multiethnic country in North America, and/or who identify with the Mexican cultural and/or national identity....
Federale
Federales
Federales is a short term for the Mexican Federal Police or any of its predecessors, including the Federal Investigations Agency or the Federal Preventive Police. The term gained widespread usage by English-speakers due to popularization in such films as The Wild Bunch, The Treasure of the Sierra...
. The film opens in Mexico with Machete on a mission to rescue a kidnapped girl. During the operation he is betrayed by his corrupt Chief to the powerful drug lord, Rogelio Torrez (Steven Seagal
Steven Seagal
Steven Frederic Seagal is an American action film star, producer, writer, martial artist, guitarist and reserve deputy sheriff. A 7th-dan black belt in Aikido, Seagal began his adult life as an Aikido instructor in Japan...
) who kills Machete's wife and daughter, before leaving him for dead.
Three years later, a down and out Machete roams Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
looking to do yard work in exchange for money. Michael Booth (Jeff Fahey
Jeff Fahey
Jeffrey David "Jeff" Fahey is an American film and television actor. He has portrayed Captain Frank Lapidus on the ABC series Lost and the title role of Deputy Marshal Winston MacBride on The Marshal.-Early life:...
), a local businessman and spin doctor, explains to Machete that the corrupt Texas State Senator
Texas Senate
The Texas Senate is the upper house of the Texas Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing 31 single-member districts across the state with populations of approximately 672,000 per constituency. There are no term limits, and each term is four years long. The Senate meets at the...
McLaughlin (Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
) is sending hundreds of illegals out of the country. In order to stop this, Booth offers Machete $150,000 to kill McLaughlin. Machete accepts the murder contract after being threatened by Booth if he does not.
While Machete is watching McLaughlin from a rooftop during a rally, he begins to snipe him, but before he can, he sees one of Booth's henchmen, who shoots him in the shoulder and then shoots Senator McLaughlin in the leg. It is revealed that Booth orchestrated the attempted assassination as part of a false flag
False flag
False flag operations are covert operations designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by other entities. The name is derived from the military concept of flying false colors; that is flying the flag of a country other than one's own...
operation to gain public support for McLaughlin's campaign so that a more secure border is put in place. By setting up Machete as the gunman, the conspirators make it appear that an outlaw illegal Mexican immigrant has tried to assassinate the senator.
An injured Machete escapes capture by Booth and is taken to a hospital to be treated for wounds, escaping once again from Booth's henchmen at the hospital. Agent Sartana Rivera (Jessica Alba
Jessica Alba
Jessica Marie Alba is an American television and film actress. She began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in Camp Nowhere and The Secret World of Alex Mack . Alba rose to prominence as the lead actress in the television series Dark Angel...
), a persistent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security , responsible for identifying, investigating, and dismantling vulnerabilities regarding the nation's border, economic, transportation, and infrastructure security...
agent, is sent by her superior to find and capture the injured Machete. Machete, with the help of Luz (Michelle Rodriguez
Michelle Rodriguez
Mayte Michelle Rodríguez , known professionally as Michelle Rodriguez, is an American actress. Following on from her breakthrough role in 2000's Girlfight, she is best known for playing tough-girl roles and starring in Hollywood blockbusters such as The Fast and the Furious, Resident Evil,...
), aka Shè, the leader of an illegal immigrant aid movement known as the Network, recruits Padre (Cheech Marin
Cheech Marin
Richard Anthony "Cheech" Marin is an American comedian, actor and writer who gained recognition as part of the comedy act Cheech & Chong during the 1970s and early 1980s, and as Don Johnson's partner, Insp. Joe Dominguez on Nash Bridges...
), Machete's "holy" brother. To take revenge on Booth, Machete kidnaps Booth's wife and his daughter, April (Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan is an American actress, pop singer and model. She began her career as a child fashion model before making her motion picture debut in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap at the age of 11...
), after "starring" in an amateur adult film with them. He also collects evidence from Booth's house linking Senator McLaughlin and the Mexican drug lord in a major drugs trafficking deal. After encountering Machete, Sartana begins to develop an interest in him.
Booth and a hitman kill Padre after finding Machete's hideout, but do not find his wife and daughter, and unbeknownst to Booth the church has hidden cameras. Through the CCTV recordings, the news of McLaughlin's corruption and faked assassination is eventually aired on national television. This causes McLaughlin to kill Booth out of anger and heads back to join Rogelio Torrez to kill Machete. In order to eliminate the people who double-crossed him, Machete gathers the Mexican Network and leads them to the base of the border vigilantes, led by Von Jackson (Don Johnson
Don Johnson
Donnie Wayne "Don" Johnson is an American actor known for his work in television and film. He played the lead role of James "Sonny" Crockett in the 1980s TV cop series, Miami Vice, which led him to huge success. He also played the lead role in the 1990s cop series, Nash Bridges...
).
During this confrontation, the Mexican immigrants triumph over the border vigilantes. Jackson is killed by a shot to the back of the head fired by Luz while trying to escape and Machete fights Torrez, culminating with the drug lord committing seppuku
Seppuku
is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. Seppuku was originally reserved only for samurai. Part of the samurai bushido honor code, seppuku was either used voluntarily by samurai to die with honor rather than fall into the hands of their enemies , or as a form of capital punishment...
with one of Machete's blades with which he had just been stabbed. April shows up wearing a nun's habit after escaping from the church and attempts to kill Senator McLaughlin after figuring out that he had killed her father.
McLaughlin escapes, but he is later killed by the last remnants of his own border vigilante group (led by the new recruit who was seen earlier in the film) who mistake him for a Mexican. The film ends with Machete being brought legal status papers by Sartana Rivera and riding off with her into the night.
Before the credits roll, the announcer says that Machete will return in Machete Kills and Machete Kills Again.
Cast
- Danny TrejoDanny TrejoDan "Danny" Trejo is an American actor who has appeared in numerous Hollywood films, most notably in roles as an antagonist, or anti-hero.-Early life:...
as Machete Cortez, "a legendary ex-Federale with a deadly attitude and the skills to match." - Robert De NiroRobert De NiroRobert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
as Senator John McLaughlin, a politician campaigning to incite hatred against illegal immigrants. - Jessica AlbaJessica AlbaJessica Marie Alba is an American television and film actress. She began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in Camp Nowhere and The Secret World of Alex Mack . Alba rose to prominence as the lead actress in the television series Dark Angel...
as Sartana Rivera, "a beautiful Immigrations Officer torn between enforcing the law and doing what is popular in the eyes of her familia," and Sartana's twin sister (deleted scenes only) - Michelle RodriguezMichelle RodriguezMayte Michelle Rodríguez , known professionally as Michelle Rodriguez, is an American actress. Following on from her breakthrough role in 2000's Girlfight, she is best known for playing tough-girl roles and starring in Hollywood blockbusters such as The Fast and the Furious, Resident Evil,...
as Luz/Shé, "a taco-truck lady with a rebellious spirit and revolutionary heart." - Lindsay LohanLindsay LohanLindsay Lohan is an American actress, pop singer and model. She began her career as a child fashion model before making her motion picture debut in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap at the age of 11...
as April Booth/The Sister, "a socialite with a penchant for guns" and "a nun with a gun." - Jeff FaheyJeff FaheyJeffrey David "Jeff" Fahey is an American film and television actor. He has portrayed Captain Frank Lapidus on the ABC series Lost and the title role of Deputy Marshal Winston MacBride on The Marshal.-Early life:...
as Michael Booth, "a ruthless businessman with an endless payroll of killers." - Cheech MarinCheech MarinRichard Anthony "Cheech" Marin is an American comedian, actor and writer who gained recognition as part of the comedy act Cheech & Chong during the 1970s and early 1980s, and as Don Johnson's partner, Insp. Joe Dominguez on Nash Bridges...
as Padre Benicio Del Toro, Machete's brother, "a priest who's good with blessingBlessingA blessing, is the infusion of something with holiness, spiritual redemption, divine will, or one's hope or approval.- Etymology and Germanic paganism :...
s, but better with guns." - Steven SeagalSteven SeagalSteven Frederic Seagal is an American action film star, producer, writer, martial artist, guitarist and reserve deputy sheriff. A 7th-dan black belt in Aikido, Seagal began his adult life as an Aikido instructor in Japan...
as Rogelio Torrez, a drug lord. - Don JohnsonDon JohnsonDonnie Wayne "Don" Johnson is an American actor known for his work in television and film. He played the lead role of James "Sonny" Crockett in the 1980s TV cop series, Miami Vice, which led him to huge success. He also played the lead role in the 1990s cop series, Nash Bridges...
as Von Jackson, "a twisted border vigilanteVigilanteA vigilante is a private individual who legally or illegally punishes an alleged lawbreaker, or participates in a group which metes out extralegal punishment to an alleged lawbreaker....
leading a small army." The character was originally known as "Lt. Stillman" and was meant to be Sartana's superior. - Shea WhighamShea WhighamFranklin Shea Whigham, Jr. , best known as Shea Whigham, is an American actor notably starring as Elias "Eli" Thompson on the HBO dramatic series Boardwalk Empire.-Early life:...
as Sniper, Booth's first henchman. - Tom SaviniTom SaviniThomas Vincent "Tom" Savini is an American actor, stuntman, director, award-winning special effects and makeup artist. He is known for his work on the Living Dead films directed by George A. Romero, as well as Creepshow, The Burning, Friday the 13th, The Prowler, and Maniac. He directed the 1990...
as Osiris Amanpour, a hitman hired by Booth to kill Machete. - Felix SabatesFelix SabatesFelix Sabates is an entrepreneur and philanthropist living in the United States. He is currently a minority shareholder in Chip Ganassi Racing, which fields teams in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series , GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series and the IZOD IndyCar Series...
as Doc Felix - Electra and Elise AvellanElectra and Elise AvellanElectra and Elise Avellan are Venezuelan actresses. They are best known for their roles as the "Crazy Babysitter Twins" in the 2007 film Grindhouse and as Nurses "Mona and Lisa" in 2010’s Machete. They are nieces of director Robert Rodriguez and his former wife Elizabeth Avellan...
(The "Crazy Babysitter Twins") as Nurses Mona and Lisa - Cheryl "Chin" CunninghamCheryl ChinCheryl Chin is a Singaporean television and film actress. She was formerly known as a Singapore television actress and fashion model who competed in and won the Star Search Singapore finals in 2003. She also received the best actress award.She has appeared mostly on Singapore's television drama...
as Torrez' henchwoman - Daryl SabaraDaryl SabaraDaryl Christopher Sabara is an American film and television actor. He is perhaps best known for playing Juni Cortez in the Spy Kids film series, as well as for a variety of television and film appearances, including Wizards of Waverly Place, Father of the Pride, The Polar Express, Keeping Up with...
as Julio - Alicia Marek as June Booth, the socialite wife of Michael Booth and April's mother.
- Ara CeliAra CeliAra Celi is an American actress active in American film and television. She had a starring role in the minor 1997 dance movie Looking for Lola, but she is probably best known for her role as Ampata Gutierrez aka "Inca Mummy Girl" from season two of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.-Early life:Celi, a...
as Reporter - Tito LarrivaTito Larriva-Early life:Larriva was born in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, and grew up in Fairbanks, Alaska, and El Paso, Texas. As a child he played the violin in the school orchestra and sang in the church and school choirs where he met his wife Janet Carroll. In 1972 Larriva snuck into Yale University for a full...
as Culebra Cruzado - Nimrod AntalNimród AntalNimród E. Antal is a Hungarian American film director, screenwriter and actor.-Life and career:...
as Booth's bodyguard #1 - Rose McGowanRose McGowanRose Arianna McGowan is an actress and singer. She is known for her role as Paige Matthews in The WB Television Network supernatural drama series Charmed. She played Ann-Margret alongside Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Elvis Presley in the CBS mini-series Elvis...
as Boots McCoy (Deleted Scene)
Production
Development
According to Rodriguez, the origins of the film go back to DesperadoDesperado (film)
Desperado is a 1995 action thriller film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. The film stars Antonio Banderas as the former mariachi who seeks revenge on the drug lord who killed his lover....
. He says, "When I met Danny, I said, 'This guy should be like the Mexican Jean-Claude Van Damme
Jean-Claude Van Damme
Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg , professionally known as Jean-Claude Van Damme, is a Belgian martial artist and actor, best known for his martial arts action films, the most successful of which include Bloodsport , Kickboxer , Double Impact , Universal Soldier , Hard Target , Timecop ,...
or Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson , born Charles Dennis Buchinsky was an American actor, best-known for such films as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Rider on the Rain, The Mechanic, and the popular Death Wish series...
, putting out a movie every year and his name should be Machete.' So I decided to do that way back when, never got around to it until finally now. So now, of course, I want to keep going and do a feature." Rodriguez stated, "There weren't any action movies that with a Latin flavor that could play to a broad audience. When I watched [director] John Woo
John Woo
John Woo Yu-Sen SBS is a Hong Kong-based film director and producer. Recognized for his stylised films of highly choreographed action sequences, Mexican standoffs, and use of slow-motion, Woo has directed several notable Hong Kong action films, among them, A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, Hard...
's movies, they made me want to be Asian. Woo and [actor] Chow Yun-Fat
Chow Yun-Fat
Chow Yun-fat, SBS is an actor from Hong Kong. He is best known in Asia for his collaboration with filmmaker John Woo in heroic bloodshed genre films A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, and Hard Boiled; and to the West for his role as Li Mu-bai in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon...
's Hard Boiled
Hard Boiled
Hard Boiled is a 1992 Hong Kong action film directed by John Woo. The film stars Chow Yun-fat as Inspector "Tequila" Yuen, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai as Tony, an undercover cop, and Anthony Wong as Johnny Wong, a leader of criminal triads. The film features Tequila, whose partner is killed in a tea...
and The Killer really inspired me to make films that would create that feeling in the Latin arena."
In an interview with Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine, Rodriguez said that he wrote the screenplay back in 1993 when he cast Trejo in Desperado. "So I wrote him this idea of a federale
Federales
Federales is a short term for the Mexican Federal Police or any of its predecessors, including the Federal Investigations Agency or the Federal Preventive Police. The term gained widespread usage by English-speakers due to popularization in such films as The Wild Bunch, The Treasure of the Sierra...
from Mexico who gets hired to do hatchet jobs in the U.S. I had heard sometimes FBI or DEA
Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...
have a really tough job that they don't want to get their own agents killed on, they'll hire an agent from Mexico to come do the job for $25,000. I thought, 'That's Machete. He would come and do a really dangerous job for a lot of money to him but for everyone else over here it's peanuts.' But I never got around to making it."
Instead, during the filming of Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
's Grindhouse, Rodriguez shot lobby cards and sequences from parts of the original script in 2006 for a fake trailer featuring Danny Trejo, Cheech Marin
Cheech Marin
Richard Anthony "Cheech" Marin is an American comedian, actor and writer who gained recognition as part of the comedy act Cheech & Chong during the 1970s and early 1980s, and as Don Johnson's partner, Insp. Joe Dominguez on Nash Bridges...
, and Jeff Fahey
Jeff Fahey
Jeffrey David "Jeff" Fahey is an American film and television actor. He has portrayed Captain Frank Lapidus on the ABC series Lost and the title role of Deputy Marshal Winston MacBride on The Marshal.-Early life:...
. At South by Southwest
South by Southwest
South by Southwest is an Austin, Texas based company dedicated to planning conferences, trade shows, festivals and other events. Their current roster of annual events include: SXSW Music, SXSW Film, SXSW Interactive, SXSWedu, and SXSWeco and take place every spring in Austin, Texas, United States...
in March 2007, Rodriguez announced that he would be expanding his trailer for Machete into a feature-length film. He announced that it would be a bonus feature on the Planet Terror
Planet Terror
Planet Terror is a 2007 American action horror film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez, about a group of people attempting to survive an onslaught of zombie-like creatures as they feud with a military unit, including a go-go dancer searching for a way to use her "useless talents." The film, a...
DVD, but the film ended up being produced as a theatrical release.
During Comic-Con International 2008
Comic-Con International
San Diego Comic-Con International, also known as Comic-Con International: San Diego , and commonly known as Comic-Con or the San Diego Comic-Con, was founded as the Golden State Comic Book Convention and later the San Diego Comic Book Convention in 1970 by Shel Dorf and a group of San Diegans...
, he took the time to speak about Machete, including such topics as the film's status, possible sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
s, and production priorities. It was also revealed that he has regularly pulled sequences from it for his other productions including Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Once Upon a Time in Mexico
Once Upon a Time in Mexico is a 2003 action film written, edited and directed by Robert Rodriguez. It is the final film in the "Mariachi Trilogy", which also includes El Mariachi and Desperado. Antonio Banderas reprises his role as El Mariachi...
.
Direction
Rodriguez had always planned on being the head-director of the film, since he usually uses his "one-man crewRebel Without a Crew
Rebel Without a Crew is a 1995 non-fiction book by Robert Rodriguez...
" technique. In April 2009, it was announced that Ethan Maniquis, who is a long-time editor of Rodriguez's films, would be co-directing the film with Rodriguez. At the Comic-Con 2010 event in San Diego, Trejo commented on Rodriguez: "He's a genius. He's an absolute genius. He makes movie-making fun. You know, he makes you wanna go to work. A lot of people wake up saying 'I woke up before my alarm went off' just 'cause you're excited to work with him. You wonder 'what is he going to come up with today?', because every day, he's like inventing something new. So it's awesome to work with somebody like that." "Robert has an incredible vision and is very precise, and [working on his films] you feel like you're in the middle of something both big and experiential. And that anything is possible," states Jeff Fahey, who has collaborated with Rodriguez on Machete and Grindhouse.
Casting
The film's lead character had always been intended for Danny TrejoDanny Trejo
Dan "Danny" Trejo is an American actor who has appeared in numerous Hollywood films, most notably in roles as an antagonist, or anti-hero.-Early life:...
, as said by Rodriguez. The two had met during the filming of Rodriguez's film, Desperado
Desperado (film)
Desperado is a 1995 action thriller film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. The film stars Antonio Banderas as the former mariachi who seeks revenge on the drug lord who killed his lover....
. "Nobody really knew about Desperado, yet the local townspeople would flock to see Danny, thinking he was the star of the movie, even though his part was very small," Rodriguez remembers. "He has incredible presence, and I knew I had found Machete. So, I handed him a knife, and told him to start practicing."
Trejo, Cheech Marin
Cheech Marin
Richard Anthony "Cheech" Marin is an American comedian, actor and writer who gained recognition as part of the comedy act Cheech & Chong during the 1970s and early 1980s, and as Don Johnson's partner, Insp. Joe Dominguez on Nash Bridges...
, and Jeff Fahey
Jeff Fahey
Jeffrey David "Jeff" Fahey is an American film and television actor. He has portrayed Captain Frank Lapidus on the ABC series Lost and the title role of Deputy Marshal Winston MacBride on The Marshal.-Early life:...
were announced to be reprising their characters in the trailer for the film. Tito Larriva
Tito Larriva
-Early life:Larriva was born in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, and grew up in Fairbanks, Alaska, and El Paso, Texas. As a child he played the violin in the school orchestra and sang in the church and school choirs where he met his wife Janet Carroll. In 1972 Larriva snuck into Yale University for a full...
did not reprise his primary role as the sniper who shoots Machete and was replaced by Shea Whigham
Shea Whigham
Franklin Shea Whigham, Jr. , best known as Shea Whigham, is an American actor notably starring as Elias "Eli" Thompson on the HBO dramatic series Boardwalk Empire.-Early life:...
. Michelle Rodriguez
Michelle Rodriguez
Mayte Michelle Rodríguez , known professionally as Michelle Rodriguez, is an American actress. Following on from her breakthrough role in 2000's Girlfight, she is best known for playing tough-girl roles and starring in Hollywood blockbusters such as The Fast and the Furious, Resident Evil,...
was the first actor to be cast in the film who wasn't in the original trailer. Chris Cooper
Chris Cooper (actor)
Christopher W. "Chris" Cooper is an American film actor. He became well known in the late 1990s. He has appeared in supporting performances in several major Hollywood films, including The Bourne Identity, American Beauty, Capote, The Town, The Kingdom, Syriana, October Sky, Seabiscuit, and...
was approached for the role of Senator McLaughlin. After Cooper turned down the role, Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
was cast instead. "From the point you get Robert De Niro in your movie, all the other actors come running," says Robert Rodriguez on De Niro's involvement in the film.
"What I liked about the character was that it was a fun thing to do in a sense of irony and it's not taken seriously. He's not taken seriously on one level so that frees you to have fun without being weighted down by some requirements," says Robert De Niro on the role. Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan is an American actress, pop singer and model. She began her career as a child fashion model before making her motion picture debut in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap at the age of 11...
was revealed to be cast in the film in July 2009. "Lindsay's cool. There's actually a cool part in the movie for her if she takes it." Lohan portrays April Booth, the socialite daughter of Booth, the man who double-crosses Machete. "April was born into a life of privilege and takes everything she has for granted," says Lohan. "But she undergoes a big change. As an actress, I like pushing the envelope." Lohan recolored her hair from auburn red to platinum blonde.
Jonah Hill
Jonah Hill
Jonah Hill Feldstein , known professionally as Jonah Hill, is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, and comedian. Hill is best known roles for his roles in Superbad, Knocked Up, and Get Him to the Greek. He made his theatrical debut in I Heart Huckabees, alongside Jason Schwartzman and Dustin...
was originally cast as Julio, but was replaced by Daryl Sabara
Daryl Sabara
Daryl Christopher Sabara is an American film and television actor. He is perhaps best known for playing Juni Cortez in the Spy Kids film series, as well as for a variety of television and film appearances, including Wizards of Waverly Place, Father of the Pride, The Polar Express, Keeping Up with...
, who had worked with Rodriguez, Marin, and Trejo on the set of the Spy Kids franchise. Jessica Alba
Jessica Alba
Jessica Marie Alba is an American television and film actress. She began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in Camp Nowhere and The Secret World of Alex Mack . Alba rose to prominence as the lead actress in the television series Dark Angel...
said of her role of Agent Sartana, "My character is an Immigrations Officer and she hunts him (Machete) down and she finds out that he was double-crossed himself. She wrestles with her own right-wing kind of mentality because she's all about forcing the law and doing what the system tells you."
"The cast may have sounded bizarre to some people when first announced. But when you watch Machete, you see that the actors fit their roles very well. The eclectic mix really works. Danny's worked in hundreds of movies and probably worked with everyone in Machete at some point. Everyone just loves Danny and appreciated the fact he was finally getting to be the star of his own film. I remember Robert De Niro, who worked with Danny in Heat telling him that, '[Machete] is going to be really good for you.'"
Regarding the nudity that was present in the film, Rodriguez mentioned that he deliberately set the first scene with a nude woman (actress Mayra Leal) as that makes people think that subsequent scenes show more than they actually do. Jessica Alba mentioned that for her shower scene, "I had undies on, and I had other stuff on, and they just sort of etched it out in post [production]. That's not really me. I'm better covered up."
Filming
Filming for the fake trailer for Grindhouse began in the summer of 2006, while Rodriguez was also filming Planet TerrorPlanet Terror
Planet Terror is a 2007 American action horror film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez, about a group of people attempting to survive an onslaught of zombie-like creatures as they feud with a military unit, including a go-go dancer searching for a way to use her "useless talents." The film, a...
. The scenes that Rodriguez shot only consisted of scenes involving Danny Trejo
Danny Trejo
Dan "Danny" Trejo is an American actor who has appeared in numerous Hollywood films, most notably in roles as an antagonist, or anti-hero.-Early life:...
, Cheech Marin
Cheech Marin
Richard Anthony "Cheech" Marin is an American comedian, actor and writer who gained recognition as part of the comedy act Cheech & Chong during the 1970s and early 1980s, and as Don Johnson's partner, Insp. Joe Dominguez on Nash Bridges...
, Jeff Fahey
Jeff Fahey
Jeffrey David "Jeff" Fahey is an American film and television actor. He has portrayed Captain Frank Lapidus on the ABC series Lost and the title role of Deputy Marshal Winston MacBride on The Marshal.-Early life:...
, and Tito Larriva
Tito Larriva
-Early life:Larriva was born in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, and grew up in Fairbanks, Alaska, and El Paso, Texas. As a child he played the violin in the school orchestra and sang in the church and school choirs where he met his wife Janet Carroll. In 1972 Larriva snuck into Yale University for a full...
. Some of the scenes filmed for the trailer were left intact in the film, while others have been re-shot.
Principal photography
Principal photography
thumb|300px|Film production on location in [[Newark, New Jersey]].Principal photography is the phase of film production in which the movie is filmed, with actors on set and cameras rolling, as distinct from pre-production and post-production....
began on July 29, 2009 in and around the city of Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
. Lindsay Lohan filmed her role in three days, two in August and one in September. On August 27, 2009, Rodriguez filmed a pseudo political rally at the Capitol building in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
. Principal photography of the film ended on September 24, 2009.
Marketing
The first trailer was released and attached to Planet Terror in 2007. On July 28, 2010, it was confirmed that Machete would headline the Venice Film FestivalVenice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
held on September 1, 2010, at a special midnight screening, followed by the general theatrical release on September 3.
The film was released in the U.S. on September 3, 2010, by 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
. The film appeared on 3,400 screens at 2,670 locations.
The film was released in Australia on November 11, and in Mexico on November 12, 2010.
A fake trailer for the film was released on May 5, 2010, through Ain't It Cool News
Ain't It Cool News
Ain't It Cool News is a website founded and run by Harry Knowles, dedicated to news, rumors and reviews of upcoming and currently playing films and television projects, with an emphasis on science fiction, fantasy, horror, comic-book and action genres...
. The trailer opened with Danny Trejo saying, "This is Machete with a special Cinco de Mayo
Cinco de Mayo
Cinco de Mayo is a holiday held on May 5. It is celebrated nationwide in the United States and regionally in Mexico, primarily in the state of Puebla, where the holiday is called El Dia de la Batalla de Puebla...
message to Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
," followed by scenes of gunfire, bloodshed, and highlights of the cast. The fake trailer combined elements of the Machete trailer that appeared in Grindhouse with footage from the actual film, and implied that the film would be about Machete leading a revolt against anti-immigration politicians and border vigilantes. According to Fox News, critics of illegal immigration were offended by the contents of the movie trailer. Production of the film predates the legislation, however.
Several film websites, including Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
, reported that it was the official teaser for the film. However, Rodriguez later revealed the trailer to be a joke, explaining "it was Cinco de Mayo and I had too much tequila
Tequila
Tequila is a spirit made from the blue agave plant, primarily in the area surrounding the city of Tequila, northwest of Guadalajara, and in the highlands of the western Mexican state of Jalisco....
." The official theatrical trailer was released on July 8, 2010. It was then attached with Predators, which Rodriguez produced. It is also shown before The Expendables
The Expendables (2010 film)
The Expendables is a 2010 American ensemble action film written by David Callaham and Sylvester Stallone, and directed by Stallone. Filming began on March 28, 2009, in Rio de Janeiro, New Orleans, and Los Angeles, and the film was released in theaters on August 13, 2010 in North America.The film is...
. A red band trailer featuring more gruesome scenes from the film was released on July 23, 2010.
Box office performance
| Film | Release date | Box office revenue | Box office ranking | Budget | Reference | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | United States | International | Worldwide | All time United States | All time worldwide | |||
| Machete Machete (film) Machete is a 2010 action film directed by Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis. The "Machete" character originates from the 2001 Spy Kids film, written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. This film is an expansion of a fake trailer that was released together with Rodriguez's and Quentin Tarantino's... |
September 2010 | $26,593,646 | $17,499,670 | $44,093,316 | #2,179 | Unknown | $10,500,000 | |
Machete opened in 2,670 theaters in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on September 3 and earned $14,102,888 for its four-day weekend, placing second at the box office behind The American
The American (2010 film)
The American is a 2010 American thriller film directed by Anton Corbijn and starring George Clooney, Thekla Reuten, Violante Placido, Irina Björklund, and Paolo Bonacelli. It is an adaptation of the 1990 novel A Very Private Gentleman by Martin Booth...
. The film opened at #2 behind The American and took in $3,866,357—$1,448 per theater—on its opening day and $14,102,888—$4,001 per theater—on its opening weekend. Machete placed fourth at the box office by the end of the week after Resident Evil: Afterlife
Resident Evil: Afterlife
Resident Evil: Afterlife is a 2010 Canadian-German 3D science-fiction horror action film written and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. It stars Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Kim Coates, Shawn Roberts, Spencer Locke, Boris Kodjoe, and Wentworth Miller. The film marks Anderson's second time to direct in...
opened in theaters, totaling $20,916,709.
Machete has made $26,593,646 in the United States as of December 4, 2010. The film has made an extra $11,038,073 in foreign markets, bringing the gross total of $37,631,719, as of December 4, 2010.
Critical reception
| Film | Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance... |
Metacritic Metacritic Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,... |
Entertainment Weekly Entertainment Weekly Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture... |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Critics | Top Critics | Audience | |||
| Machete Machete (film) Machete is a 2010 action film directed by Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis. The "Machete" character originates from the 2001 Spy Kids film, written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. This film is an expansion of a fake trailer that was released together with Rodriguez's and Quentin Tarantino's... |
73% (173 reviews) | 72% (29 reviews) | 65% (97,421 reviews) | 60/100 (29 reviews) | B |
Review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reports that 72% of critics have given the film a positive review, based on 163 reviews, with an average rating of 6.3 out of 10 giving the film a "certified fresh" rank. The site's general consensus is that, "Machete is messy, violent, shallow, and tasteless -- and that's precisely the point of one of the summer's most cartoonishly enjoyable films." Another aggregator, Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, gave the film a "Mixed or average reviews" weighted mean score of 60, based on 29 reviews.
Jessica Alba
Jessica Alba
Jessica Marie Alba is an American television and film actress. She began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in Camp Nowhere and The Secret World of Alex Mack . Alba rose to prominence as the lead actress in the television series Dark Angel...
won a Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress, along with her other roles in The Killer Inside Me
The Killer Inside Me (2010 film)
The Killer Inside Me is a 2010 American film adaptation of the 1952 novel of the same name by Jim Thompson. The film is directed by Michael Winterbottom and stars Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson, and Jessica Alba. At its release, it was criticised for its graphic depiction of violence directed toward...
, Little Fockers
Little Fockers
Little Fockers is a 2010 American comedy film and sequel to Meet the Parents and Meet the Fockers . It stars Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Blythe Danner, Teri Polo, Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand...
and Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day (film)
Valentine's Day is a 2010 American romantic comedy film directed by Garry Marshall and based on the novel by Michael Connelly. The screenplay and the story was written by Katherine Fugate, Ivan Reitman, Jason Reitman, Akiva Goldsman, Rob Reiner, P. J...
.
Home media
Rodriguez has expressed in an interview that an even more violent director's cutDirector's cut
A director's cut is a specially edited version of a film, and less often TV series, music video, commercials, comic book or video games, that is supposed to represent the director's own approved edit...
will be released on home media.
The R-rated theatrical version of Machete was released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
and Blu-ray
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
on January 4, 2011.
On the week ending January 9, 2011, Machete topped the DVD Sales chart in America debuting at Number 1. The DVD sold 691,317 copies in its first week of release.
In the Blu-ray deleted scenes Rose McGowan is featured as one of Osiruses henchmen named 'Boots McCoy'. In other deleted scenes Jessica Alba is also playing the role of 'Sis'. (Sartana's twin sister)
Sequels
According to Danny TrejoDanny Trejo
Dan "Danny" Trejo is an American actor who has appeared in numerous Hollywood films, most notably in roles as an antagonist, or anti-hero.-Early life:...
, Rodriguez has scripts for the first of two Machete sequels, tentatively titled Machete Kills and Machete Kills Again. Both these titles appear in the end credits of the film's theatrical release. At the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con, Rodriguez confirmed that the sequels have been both greenlit, and that the trailer for the third would follow the credits of the second film.
In August 2011 Rodriguez said that financing was already in place for the film and once the script was done, they could begin shooting.