Robert Rodriguez was always an independent self starter. He made his first movie, El Mariachi, for $7000 and kept doing things his own way. He started his own studio facility, Troublemaker Studios, where hes shot Sin City, Machete, Predators and more. Now he has his own company.
Quick Draw Productions is a step above the production facility Rodriguez already has in Austin, TX. As a production Company, Quick Draw will produce sequels to Machete and Sin City, as well as remakes of Heavy Metal and Fire and Ice. This year Quick Draw partnered with computer giant AMD to use their technology for Quick Draw Animation.
Todays movie lovers are reaping the benefits of many of Rodriguez innovations. He actually made Spy Kids 3-D before the current wave of 3-D films, and the green screen movie (like 300) was largely innovated on Sin City. He was a pioneer in shooting digitally, he gave George Clooney his first leading role in From Dusk Til Dawn and he introduced stars like Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek and Danny Trejo to English speaking audiences. During a trip to Rodriguez home base of Austin, I got to catch up with the busy Rodriguez. This was even before he announced Sin City: A Dame to Kill For was starting production, but we had plenty to talk about with his new production company, animation studio and even his own network. We also talked about the state of independence, since Rodriguez is now a major player in the industry.
SG: What is the latest on Quick Draw?
RR: A couple of new announcements. Quick Draw Animation weve been working on this the past year. We didnt mention it at Comic-Con. We mentioned Quick Draw Productions which is where we come up with the ideas, we have a financing facility but at the same time I was building out Quick Draw Animation and AMD is helping to power that. We teamed up with another media company that has given us the development money to not just have artists there, a core group of artists to create animated features including Heavy Metal which I showed there, but this is exactly how were going to do it is with Quick Draw Animation which we just formed today. El Rey Network is something that were also going to be talking to AMD about because we really want to be able to blow that out and really democratize that way of working, get a lot of content providers to be able to provide stuff in a really cool way.
SG: Was this always in the works for Heavy Metal?
RR: I knew I was going to do Heavy Metal. I wasnt sure where it was going to be. When I got this animation company together, I said, Well, as long as were going to do this other family film, why dont we also do this more adult animated? and they were really into the idea. They loved Heavy Metal so that became part of it.
SG: Is the family film Fire and Ice?
RR: No, its another one. Fire and Ice isnt all CG. These are just CG kind of like Pixar type animation movies which is a real 3D animation company which I never had before. I did effects in my movies but I didnt have my own animation company. So Quick Draw Animation, thats what thats going to be.
SG: We havent seen the anthology style like Heavy Metal done with CG yet, have we?
RR: No.
SG: Why do you think its taken this long and now is the time?
RR: You really needed somebody who was a real fan of it. I think conventional wisdom says anthologies dont really work that well, and I always believed in it. I made an anthology once that didnt work that well. It was called Four Rooms and after making that I thought, You know what, I bet if you do it a certain way, theres a way you could do it. I tried it again on Sin City and that worked really well so Im going to use that format for Heavy Metal, three stories and a wraparound and theres a common thread. Like Sin City is sort of a destination and a place that wraps that up, thats what the idea of Heavy Metal will be as well.
SG: Are there some classic Heavy Metal stories you want to include?
RR: Theyre new ones but if you write down what makes a classic Heavy Metal story, you can get all your pieces together and mix and match and go, The ultimate Heavy Metal story would be this. After seeing so much of the material, you can say what are the sort of themes that keep coming up? Thats pretty exciting is reverse engineering it like that.
SG: You were so instrumental in bringing so many Latin faces to the screen. What can you do with Quick Draw to further that?
RR: Well, Quick Draw as well as El Rey. Quick Draw Productions is a great example. When I first made El Mariachi I came to make movies and it wasnt like I was trying to make Latin films. I was just doing something that reflected my own personality and person. So they were going to have Latin actors and there were no Latin actors working in Hollywood. So not only did I have to go and cast guys like Antonio and Salma, I had to make stars out of them so that I wouldnt have that problem again. Thats why theyre shot so amazingly in those movies, so people would go, Wow, those guys are stars. When I put them in another movie there would be no problem of Oh, you cant use them. Hollywood wont do anything until someone does it first successfully. Then theyll imitate. So once we did that then there was imitation. For Quick Draw, whats great about having my own production company now is now not only producing films but we can finance them as well. We just announced last week Richard Kelly had this great script called Corpus Christi, it had a Latin lead, he wanted Edgar Ramirez in it. So we went, we got Edgar for him, Im producing it. Im financing it as well so we can make sure these things get done right from the get go instead of it going through a studio and they go, Oh, well, change it. Dont make it Latin, make it somebody else. I can say, No, lets keep the integrity of what you wrote. Richard isnt even Latin but he just knew that was the character he wanted and he really loved Edgar Ramirez.
SG: I didnt even mean that it was political, just that they could be the stars of the movie.
RR: Yeah, be the stars of the movie and thats the key to the movies that Ive done is you dont go see Machete or Desperado or Spy Kids even or Dusk Til Dawn because theyre Latin films. You go because theyre just cool films. So thats always whats got to be first. First is a great film and if youre Latin, that means something more. By making it so specific it becomes more universal. Like you dont have to be British to watch James Bond. But because hes British that makes him so specific and makes that particularly cool. Thats what my goal always was in making films that spoke to a generation that I grew up in that didnt see themselves reflected on the screen.
SG: Youre such an individual self starter, how do you work with big companies like AMD?
RR: Its the kind of company you work for. Right there, how could you go work at a studio if youre so independent? Well, I find an independent studio, someone independent minded like the Weinstein Brothers. Thats why Quentin [Tarantino] and I have always worked for them. We dont go to Warner Brothers, nothing against those guys, theyre all great but you dont want to get lost in some system. Then the same thing when it came to technology, I always just follow what George Lucas does. I ask what is George doing? He goes, Im shooting digital now. Its going to take 10 years for people to catch up, Ill do that too. Who do you use as an alliance for your technology? I hook up with AMD. Well, Im going to AMD because hes very much like that too, he doesnt want to get lost in some corporate structure. So you find those likeminded corporations that are also very renegade like that and know how to give you a lot for very little. Thats the right kind of partner so its the kind of partnerships that you want to foster. Weve been doing this since 2002 so I dont even think about it anymore.
Theyre very proactive about bringing me new technology and new ideas. Theyre constantly thinking of cutting edge things that can help me because they know already how I think. If its forward thinking theyre going to bring it to me to try out because its a great testing ground. They know I can put it through all the paces in my studio because were doing so much.
SG: Do they have technologies that just need artists to work out the kinks?
RR: Thats just how it is. You have creative people and you have technical people. Creative people couldnt come up with these machines. They come up with the idea for them but they have these amazing technicians who can build it. Then they need the creatives to go just test it out and see what its capable of. You need to have relationships like that. Theyre good for both companies.
SG: You brought up George Lucas. I know you were inspired by how he couldnt make Princess of Mars so he did Star Wars. You created your own Spy Kids too. What do you think of the real John Carter coming out and not connecting with people?
RR: Oh, I don't know, I havent seen it. So I reserve judgment. I know Andrew Stanton, hes a really cool guy. Thats a tough one. I almost worked on that for a while too. It was hard to crack because people have imitated it for so many years. Everything from Avatar to Star Wars, were all inspired by the books. Then when you see the material, when we wrote the script and we were visualizing, its like people have seen all this because people ripped it off already so theyre going to think we ripped them off and it was the other way around. So that was the hardest thing to crack but I havent seen the movie.
SG: Were excited that Machete Kills is coming and the new poster. Is it possible to make Danny Trejo look any more angry?
RR: Probably not. You know what that was? We were taking his photo for that poster, the inspiration behind it will be a famous story but its true. Youre the first person to ask. We were shooting that picture, we shot that when we were doing some reshoots on Predators. We kept that picture because we thought this is a great photo. We cant use it in the first Machete but lets save it in case we do a part two. What we said was, Give us the face that you would give your kids when they did something wrong. Now look at the poster again. He just did that on his own. I don't know if that was the real face or he was screwing around but I wouldnt want to be his kid.
SG: Is it amazing that people just love Danny?
RR: Theyve always loved him. When I met him, I saw him and just handed him a knife and said, Here, go practice. Youve got the role. I didnt even see if he could act. He didnt need to. He had such amazing presence and its really the presence that makes someone a star. You cant replicate that. You walk in the room and you either have presence or you dont. Not that thats bad if you dont have presence. Youre just a background player and then some people are the front and center stars. When I went down to shoot Desperado no one knew who Antonio was because he was from Europe. Everyone in the streets thought Danny was the star. They were just all around him, signing autographs and he didnt even have any lines. They just saw him and they go, Well, hes got to be the star. People just connected with him on such a visceral primal level, thats why people like him.
SG: Why didnt you just do Machete Kills In Space as the second one?
RR: I aint givin anything away, but if you think Im waiting til part three to show space Im glad Im reading my audience correctly.
SG: Youre all about the creativity of working within restrictions. Does having your own facility make it too easy?
RR: No, this is a lot of restrictions. There are still restrictions on budget, on crew, on time. Its very scrappy but the best thing, and I used to be a cartoonist, the best thing about having a blank canvas is that when you have inspiration, you can just start working. Youre not being stopped. Theres nothing busting your groove. Thats what I love about AMD technology is its so high powered, I dont have to wait ever. I can just move at the speed of thought. So I love that I had a blank piece of paper and I could just start drawing and I would know I would have something that didnt exist before. You want it that immediate when you have filmmaking as well. I had the idea for Sin City, I didnt have to go to the studio and try to convince them. All those steps, it would just kill the idea. So you want to be unlimited there, but then you still have to work within a set of resources. But to be able to go and put your idea to work, thats the best gift you can give yourself. Imagine if I were a cartoonist and I had to keep constantly going and asking people for paper. Youre not going to get anywhere like that. Youve got to have your own basic studio to be able to create as an artist. Theres certainly tons of limitations with that. I dont just have an open checkbook where I can just do anything I want. You have to be very strategic in what you do and really go only for the best ideas because youve got one shot at it.
SG: How are you excited to bring Frank Frazetta images to life in Fire and Ice?
RR: Well, I loved those images since I was a kid. I used to have those paintings up on my wall, the prints from the print books. I used to cut them out and paste them on my wall. So I have the earliest memories of those. I had them when I was 10, 11, 12 years old. I grew up with them. So to get to work with Frank Frazetta on a Dusk til Dawn poster, seeing him react to Salma, she looks just like that lady hes been painting all those years. He was like, Whered you find her? This is the girl of my dreams. I wouldve been painting her. I said, You were painting her. I made her look like your painting. Thats why she has the headdress. That was totally based on a Frazetta painting, that image of her. So when he passed away, the family knew that I knew him pretty well and they wanted me to help with the artwork and being an overseer of that and work in the IP. One of the first things I wanted to do was make a movie of his stuff. John Carter for instance, Andrew Stanton had to tell his crew, Stop bringing me Frazettas. Thats all everyone had in their head. They think Princess of Mars they think Frazetta. It had such a mark on them that people have to try not to imitate him. Well, no ones done him head on. No one has done him head on where everyone has seen those images through their lifespan and its just ingrained in the fantasy culture and theyve never seen anyone do it justice. So I want to make a movie, like Sin City immersed you in the graphic novel, I want you to feel like you walked into one of his paintings and see his world the way he saw it for real, as if hes there codirecting with me. I knew him pretty well. I would know very well, just by seeing something, Frank would say, Screw that. Thats not right. Youve got to stand like this. Youve got to suck in that gut and youve got to put out your chin and youre going to need calves that are this big. I would be very, very particular about that.
SG: You talk about Salma looking like a Frazetta painting. Are those good images to put back into the culture?
RR: Thats what Frank believed. And Frank is co-directing this with me. He would say, Thats how I want it. And I would have to agree. Salma wouldve been perfect as Teegra.
SG: Are you interested in performance capture?
RR: I think it still has a way to go but maybe eventually. I really love working with actors. I love the mix, doing the mix of it where you work with an actor and you create everything around them but then you have that reality that you can tap into. I think humans are just capable still of so much more emotion than computers can generate. Thats just what I like to do. I like that immediacy of working with them.
SG: Is Red Sonja still a possibility?
RR: No, because I didnt own that. Thats why it took so long. When someone else owns a property, now I just abandon those kind of things because thats what stalls. The only productions I never got off the ground were something where someone else controlled it because then theyre indecisive. Theyre like, Well, lets see how Conan does first. So Conans probably not going to make (it) so Im just doing movies like Fire & Ice and Heavy Metal, things where I now own the rights so I can just go make them so I dont have to ask someones permission. Again, thats the thing. You dont want to be asking permission. Look how that slows you down. Thats why having your own studios so important and having your own production place like Quick Draw where you can finance your own movies, or your own animation and you have technology partners. You dont need anything else. Thats whats so great. You can just go, go, go.
SG: You did get Predators done.
RR: Well, that one was only as a test. I had written the script for that. I wouldnt have done that had I not written the script 15 years before because I dont own it. So if they wanted to do another one, Id probably pass because Id rather produce stuff like Richard Kellys movie or my own movies, other people that I can control the content more and it benefits the whole studio. Why go make someone else rich? You really should just cultivate your own talent and your own pool of ideas and your own entity.
Quick Draw Productions is a step above the production facility Rodriguez already has in Austin, TX. As a production Company, Quick Draw will produce sequels to Machete and Sin City, as well as remakes of Heavy Metal and Fire and Ice. This year Quick Draw partnered with computer giant AMD to use their technology for Quick Draw Animation.
Todays movie lovers are reaping the benefits of many of Rodriguez innovations. He actually made Spy Kids 3-D before the current wave of 3-D films, and the green screen movie (like 300) was largely innovated on Sin City. He was a pioneer in shooting digitally, he gave George Clooney his first leading role in From Dusk Til Dawn and he introduced stars like Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek and Danny Trejo to English speaking audiences. During a trip to Rodriguez home base of Austin, I got to catch up with the busy Rodriguez. This was even before he announced Sin City: A Dame to Kill For was starting production, but we had plenty to talk about with his new production company, animation studio and even his own network. We also talked about the state of independence, since Rodriguez is now a major player in the industry.
SG: What is the latest on Quick Draw?
RR: A couple of new announcements. Quick Draw Animation weve been working on this the past year. We didnt mention it at Comic-Con. We mentioned Quick Draw Productions which is where we come up with the ideas, we have a financing facility but at the same time I was building out Quick Draw Animation and AMD is helping to power that. We teamed up with another media company that has given us the development money to not just have artists there, a core group of artists to create animated features including Heavy Metal which I showed there, but this is exactly how were going to do it is with Quick Draw Animation which we just formed today. El Rey Network is something that were also going to be talking to AMD about because we really want to be able to blow that out and really democratize that way of working, get a lot of content providers to be able to provide stuff in a really cool way.
SG: Was this always in the works for Heavy Metal?
RR: I knew I was going to do Heavy Metal. I wasnt sure where it was going to be. When I got this animation company together, I said, Well, as long as were going to do this other family film, why dont we also do this more adult animated? and they were really into the idea. They loved Heavy Metal so that became part of it.
SG: Is the family film Fire and Ice?
RR: No, its another one. Fire and Ice isnt all CG. These are just CG kind of like Pixar type animation movies which is a real 3D animation company which I never had before. I did effects in my movies but I didnt have my own animation company. So Quick Draw Animation, thats what thats going to be.
SG: We havent seen the anthology style like Heavy Metal done with CG yet, have we?
RR: No.
SG: Why do you think its taken this long and now is the time?
RR: You really needed somebody who was a real fan of it. I think conventional wisdom says anthologies dont really work that well, and I always believed in it. I made an anthology once that didnt work that well. It was called Four Rooms and after making that I thought, You know what, I bet if you do it a certain way, theres a way you could do it. I tried it again on Sin City and that worked really well so Im going to use that format for Heavy Metal, three stories and a wraparound and theres a common thread. Like Sin City is sort of a destination and a place that wraps that up, thats what the idea of Heavy Metal will be as well.
SG: Are there some classic Heavy Metal stories you want to include?
RR: Theyre new ones but if you write down what makes a classic Heavy Metal story, you can get all your pieces together and mix and match and go, The ultimate Heavy Metal story would be this. After seeing so much of the material, you can say what are the sort of themes that keep coming up? Thats pretty exciting is reverse engineering it like that.
SG: You were so instrumental in bringing so many Latin faces to the screen. What can you do with Quick Draw to further that?
RR: Well, Quick Draw as well as El Rey. Quick Draw Productions is a great example. When I first made El Mariachi I came to make movies and it wasnt like I was trying to make Latin films. I was just doing something that reflected my own personality and person. So they were going to have Latin actors and there were no Latin actors working in Hollywood. So not only did I have to go and cast guys like Antonio and Salma, I had to make stars out of them so that I wouldnt have that problem again. Thats why theyre shot so amazingly in those movies, so people would go, Wow, those guys are stars. When I put them in another movie there would be no problem of Oh, you cant use them. Hollywood wont do anything until someone does it first successfully. Then theyll imitate. So once we did that then there was imitation. For Quick Draw, whats great about having my own production company now is now not only producing films but we can finance them as well. We just announced last week Richard Kelly had this great script called Corpus Christi, it had a Latin lead, he wanted Edgar Ramirez in it. So we went, we got Edgar for him, Im producing it. Im financing it as well so we can make sure these things get done right from the get go instead of it going through a studio and they go, Oh, well, change it. Dont make it Latin, make it somebody else. I can say, No, lets keep the integrity of what you wrote. Richard isnt even Latin but he just knew that was the character he wanted and he really loved Edgar Ramirez.
SG: I didnt even mean that it was political, just that they could be the stars of the movie.
RR: Yeah, be the stars of the movie and thats the key to the movies that Ive done is you dont go see Machete or Desperado or Spy Kids even or Dusk Til Dawn because theyre Latin films. You go because theyre just cool films. So thats always whats got to be first. First is a great film and if youre Latin, that means something more. By making it so specific it becomes more universal. Like you dont have to be British to watch James Bond. But because hes British that makes him so specific and makes that particularly cool. Thats what my goal always was in making films that spoke to a generation that I grew up in that didnt see themselves reflected on the screen.
SG: Youre such an individual self starter, how do you work with big companies like AMD?
RR: Its the kind of company you work for. Right there, how could you go work at a studio if youre so independent? Well, I find an independent studio, someone independent minded like the Weinstein Brothers. Thats why Quentin [Tarantino] and I have always worked for them. We dont go to Warner Brothers, nothing against those guys, theyre all great but you dont want to get lost in some system. Then the same thing when it came to technology, I always just follow what George Lucas does. I ask what is George doing? He goes, Im shooting digital now. Its going to take 10 years for people to catch up, Ill do that too. Who do you use as an alliance for your technology? I hook up with AMD. Well, Im going to AMD because hes very much like that too, he doesnt want to get lost in some corporate structure. So you find those likeminded corporations that are also very renegade like that and know how to give you a lot for very little. Thats the right kind of partner so its the kind of partnerships that you want to foster. Weve been doing this since 2002 so I dont even think about it anymore.
Theyre very proactive about bringing me new technology and new ideas. Theyre constantly thinking of cutting edge things that can help me because they know already how I think. If its forward thinking theyre going to bring it to me to try out because its a great testing ground. They know I can put it through all the paces in my studio because were doing so much.
SG: Do they have technologies that just need artists to work out the kinks?
RR: Thats just how it is. You have creative people and you have technical people. Creative people couldnt come up with these machines. They come up with the idea for them but they have these amazing technicians who can build it. Then they need the creatives to go just test it out and see what its capable of. You need to have relationships like that. Theyre good for both companies.
SG: You brought up George Lucas. I know you were inspired by how he couldnt make Princess of Mars so he did Star Wars. You created your own Spy Kids too. What do you think of the real John Carter coming out and not connecting with people?
RR: Oh, I don't know, I havent seen it. So I reserve judgment. I know Andrew Stanton, hes a really cool guy. Thats a tough one. I almost worked on that for a while too. It was hard to crack because people have imitated it for so many years. Everything from Avatar to Star Wars, were all inspired by the books. Then when you see the material, when we wrote the script and we were visualizing, its like people have seen all this because people ripped it off already so theyre going to think we ripped them off and it was the other way around. So that was the hardest thing to crack but I havent seen the movie.
SG: Were excited that Machete Kills is coming and the new poster. Is it possible to make Danny Trejo look any more angry?
RR: Probably not. You know what that was? We were taking his photo for that poster, the inspiration behind it will be a famous story but its true. Youre the first person to ask. We were shooting that picture, we shot that when we were doing some reshoots on Predators. We kept that picture because we thought this is a great photo. We cant use it in the first Machete but lets save it in case we do a part two. What we said was, Give us the face that you would give your kids when they did something wrong. Now look at the poster again. He just did that on his own. I don't know if that was the real face or he was screwing around but I wouldnt want to be his kid.
SG: Is it amazing that people just love Danny?
RR: Theyve always loved him. When I met him, I saw him and just handed him a knife and said, Here, go practice. Youve got the role. I didnt even see if he could act. He didnt need to. He had such amazing presence and its really the presence that makes someone a star. You cant replicate that. You walk in the room and you either have presence or you dont. Not that thats bad if you dont have presence. Youre just a background player and then some people are the front and center stars. When I went down to shoot Desperado no one knew who Antonio was because he was from Europe. Everyone in the streets thought Danny was the star. They were just all around him, signing autographs and he didnt even have any lines. They just saw him and they go, Well, hes got to be the star. People just connected with him on such a visceral primal level, thats why people like him.
SG: Why didnt you just do Machete Kills In Space as the second one?
RR: I aint givin anything away, but if you think Im waiting til part three to show space Im glad Im reading my audience correctly.
SG: Youre all about the creativity of working within restrictions. Does having your own facility make it too easy?
RR: No, this is a lot of restrictions. There are still restrictions on budget, on crew, on time. Its very scrappy but the best thing, and I used to be a cartoonist, the best thing about having a blank canvas is that when you have inspiration, you can just start working. Youre not being stopped. Theres nothing busting your groove. Thats what I love about AMD technology is its so high powered, I dont have to wait ever. I can just move at the speed of thought. So I love that I had a blank piece of paper and I could just start drawing and I would know I would have something that didnt exist before. You want it that immediate when you have filmmaking as well. I had the idea for Sin City, I didnt have to go to the studio and try to convince them. All those steps, it would just kill the idea. So you want to be unlimited there, but then you still have to work within a set of resources. But to be able to go and put your idea to work, thats the best gift you can give yourself. Imagine if I were a cartoonist and I had to keep constantly going and asking people for paper. Youre not going to get anywhere like that. Youve got to have your own basic studio to be able to create as an artist. Theres certainly tons of limitations with that. I dont just have an open checkbook where I can just do anything I want. You have to be very strategic in what you do and really go only for the best ideas because youve got one shot at it.
SG: How are you excited to bring Frank Frazetta images to life in Fire and Ice?
RR: Well, I loved those images since I was a kid. I used to have those paintings up on my wall, the prints from the print books. I used to cut them out and paste them on my wall. So I have the earliest memories of those. I had them when I was 10, 11, 12 years old. I grew up with them. So to get to work with Frank Frazetta on a Dusk til Dawn poster, seeing him react to Salma, she looks just like that lady hes been painting all those years. He was like, Whered you find her? This is the girl of my dreams. I wouldve been painting her. I said, You were painting her. I made her look like your painting. Thats why she has the headdress. That was totally based on a Frazetta painting, that image of her. So when he passed away, the family knew that I knew him pretty well and they wanted me to help with the artwork and being an overseer of that and work in the IP. One of the first things I wanted to do was make a movie of his stuff. John Carter for instance, Andrew Stanton had to tell his crew, Stop bringing me Frazettas. Thats all everyone had in their head. They think Princess of Mars they think Frazetta. It had such a mark on them that people have to try not to imitate him. Well, no ones done him head on. No one has done him head on where everyone has seen those images through their lifespan and its just ingrained in the fantasy culture and theyve never seen anyone do it justice. So I want to make a movie, like Sin City immersed you in the graphic novel, I want you to feel like you walked into one of his paintings and see his world the way he saw it for real, as if hes there codirecting with me. I knew him pretty well. I would know very well, just by seeing something, Frank would say, Screw that. Thats not right. Youve got to stand like this. Youve got to suck in that gut and youve got to put out your chin and youre going to need calves that are this big. I would be very, very particular about that.
SG: You talk about Salma looking like a Frazetta painting. Are those good images to put back into the culture?
RR: Thats what Frank believed. And Frank is co-directing this with me. He would say, Thats how I want it. And I would have to agree. Salma wouldve been perfect as Teegra.
SG: Are you interested in performance capture?
RR: I think it still has a way to go but maybe eventually. I really love working with actors. I love the mix, doing the mix of it where you work with an actor and you create everything around them but then you have that reality that you can tap into. I think humans are just capable still of so much more emotion than computers can generate. Thats just what I like to do. I like that immediacy of working with them.
SG: Is Red Sonja still a possibility?
RR: No, because I didnt own that. Thats why it took so long. When someone else owns a property, now I just abandon those kind of things because thats what stalls. The only productions I never got off the ground were something where someone else controlled it because then theyre indecisive. Theyre like, Well, lets see how Conan does first. So Conans probably not going to make (it) so Im just doing movies like Fire & Ice and Heavy Metal, things where I now own the rights so I can just go make them so I dont have to ask someones permission. Again, thats the thing. You dont want to be asking permission. Look how that slows you down. Thats why having your own studios so important and having your own production place like Quick Draw where you can finance your own movies, or your own animation and you have technology partners. You dont need anything else. Thats whats so great. You can just go, go, go.
SG: You did get Predators done.
RR: Well, that one was only as a test. I had written the script for that. I wouldnt have done that had I not written the script 15 years before because I dont own it. So if they wanted to do another one, Id probably pass because Id rather produce stuff like Richard Kellys movie or my own movies, other people that I can control the content more and it benefits the whole studio. Why go make someone else rich? You really should just cultivate your own talent and your own pool of ideas and your own entity.