First Films by Famous Directors: Robert Rodriguez

Before the mega-budgets and A-list talent, some of the biggest directors in Hollywood started out making little films with friends and family. Others made student films. But however the filmmaker started, these are the movies that launched their careers.

Independent movies have been around since the D.W. Griffith, but it wasn't until the 1990s that independent movies became the vogue, alternative to standard studio fare. Independent movies were hot, and one of the filmmakers to jumpstart the era of independent movies was Robert Rodriguez.

Robert Rodriguez
Born on June 20, 1968, Robert Rodriguez was raised in San Antonio, Texas. Robert Rodriguez was a middle child in a family of ten. Many filmmakers get their start after being inspired by a particular film, and Robert Rodriguez was no different, although, his film of choice might be. After seeing John Carpenter's Escape from New York when he was 12, Rodriguez knew he wanted to make movies for a living.

Rodriquez began experimenting with a video camera that his father, a salesman, brings home one day. The camera came bundled with the VCR he'd brought home. Rodriguez's large family now became an asset - he had a ready-made cast of characters to star in his home movies (and inspire many of the scripts).

Rodriguez applied to UT Austin's film school but due to low grades was not immediately accepted. Rodriguez turned his creative energy into producing a daily comic strip, "Los Hooligans" that ran successfully in The Daily Texan, UT Austin's campus newspaper, for three years. In 1990 Rodriguez beat out many of the school's top students in a film competition and was accepted into the program. Once accepted into film school, Rodriguez uses $400 of his own money to make his first "real" film, a 16mm comedy short entitled Bedhead. Starring his big, extended family, Bedhead is a fun eight-minute look at family life, but what sets it apart is how Rodriguez handles the material. The quick cuts and camera movement that Rodriguez would use later were already evident in his first "professional" short.

You can watch Bedhead HERE.

The success of Bedhead encouraged Rodriguez to push forward on a career in filmmaking. Inspired by John Woo films, Rodriguez decided to film a more ambitious project for his next movie - a feature entitled El Mariachi.

Made for a paltry $7,000, El Mariachi showed the world what a little bit of money and a lot of hard work can do. The miniscule price was one of the selling points for the film. How could someone make a feature film for so little? The answer was something Hollywood has seemed to forget - be creative. Working as director, writer, producer, editor, camera operator, cinematographer, gaffer, etc... Rodriguez created a one-man-show that featured inventive camerawork blended with compelling action. Originally intended as a straight-to-video action film shot for the Latin American market, El Mariachi wound up winning the Audience Award at the 1992 Sundance Film Festival. It was purchased by Columbia Pictures, which then promptly sank a few hundred thousand dollars in production costs to prepare the film for theatrical release. Columbia released the film theatrically. It did modest business, but with such a low cost, generated enough of a stir (and a profit) to launch Rodriguez's career and open the doors to other independent filmmakers working on shoestring budgets.

Other films by Robert Rodriguez include:

Roadracers (1994)

Desperado (1995)

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

The Facuty (1998)

Spy Kids (2001)

Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)

Sin City (2005)