30 Facts About Robert Rodriguez

1. Robert Rodriguez was awarded the Outstanding Young Texas Award in 1999.

2. In 2010, Robert Rodriguez directed the film Machete, featuring his cousin Danny Trejo as the main protagonist.

3. In 2001, Robert Rodriguez stepped away from the adult action and horror genres and into brand-new territory.

4. Robert Rodriguez calls his style of making movies "Mariachi-style" in which (according to the back cover of his book Rebel Without a Crew) "Creativity, not money, is used to solve problems.

5. Robert Rodriguez announced in April 2006 that he and his wife Elizabeth Avellan, with whom he had five children, had separated after 16 years of marriage.

6. In March 2017, it was announced that Robert Rodriguez will direct Escape from New York, a remake of the dystopian sci-fi action film with original director John Carpenter producing.

7. In November 2015 it was announced Robert Rodriguez directed the film 100 Years, which will not be released until 2115.

8. In October 2015, it was reported that Robert Rodriguez will direct and produce Alita: Battle Angel with James Cameron and Jon Landau co-producing.

9. In May 2007 it was announced that Robert Rodriguez had signed on to direct a remake of Barbarella for a 2008 release.

10. On May 5, 2010, Robert Rodriguez responded to Arizona's controversial immigration law by releasing an "illegal" trailer on Ain't It Cool News.

11. Robert Rodriguez 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.

12. Robert Rodriguez was presented with the Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking Award at the 2010 Austin Film Festival.

13. Robert Rodriguez initially planned to release a third "Cooking School" with the DVD release of Planet Terror but then announced on the "Film School" segment of the DVD that he would put it on the Grindhouse DVD set instead.

14. Robert Rodriguez has a series of "Ten Minute Film School" segments on several of his DVD releases, showing aspiring filmmakers how to make good, profitable movies using inexpensive tactics.

15. Robert Rodriguez wrote and directed the film Planet Terror as part of the double-bill release Grindhouse.

16. Robert Rodriguez released The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 2005, a superhero-kid movie intended for the same younger audiences as his Spy Kids series.

17. Robert Rodriguez co-directed Sin City, an adaptation of the Frank Miller Sin City comic books; Quentin Tarantino guest-directed a scene.

18. Robert Rodriguez operates a production company called Troublemaker Studios, formerly Los Hooligans Productions.

19. In 2001, Robert Rodriguez enjoyed his first Hollywood hit with Spy Kids, which went on to become a movie franchise.

20. Robert Rodriguez has worked with Kevin Williamson, on the horror film The Faculty.

21. Robert Rodriguez went on to collaborate with Quentin Tarantino on the vampire thriller From Dusk till Dawn, and he is currently writing, directing, and producing the TV series for his own cable network, El Rey.

22. Robert Rodriguez described his experiences making the film in his book Rebel Without a Crew.

23. Robert Rodriguez won the Audience Award for this film at the Sundance Film Festival in 1993.

24. Robert Rodriguez went on to shoot the action flick El Mariachi in Spanish; he shot it for around $7,000 with money raised by his friend Adrian Kano and from payments for his own participation in medical testing studies.

25. Robert Rodriguez went to the College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin, where he developed a love of cartooning.

26. Robert Rodriguez began his interest in film at age eleven, when his father bought one of the first VCRs, which came with a camera.

27. In December 2013, Robert Rodriguez launched his own cable television channel, El Rey.

28. Robert Rodriguez directed From Dusk till Dawn in 1996 and developed its television adaptation series.

29. Robert Rodriguez directed the 1992 action film El Mariachi, which was a commercial success after grossing $2 million against a budget of $7,000.

30. Robert Rodriguez shoots, produces, and scores many of his films in Mexico and his home state, Texas.