The Joe Rogan Experience - #2310 - Robert Rodriguez

Episode Date: April 24, 2025

Robert Rodriguez is a director, producer, and screenwriter known for films including "Desperado," "From Dusk Till Dawn," and "Machete." He is the founder of Troublemaker Studios and Brass Knuckles Films. www.brassknucklefilms.com This episode is brought to you by Visible. Join now at visible.com/rogan This video is sponsored by BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/JRE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Joe Rogan Experience. Trained by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. Oh man. Very, very nice to meet you. Incredible to meet you. I'm a fucking gigantic fan. Man, I appreciate that. I just love what you've done because like anybody who could start their career off and

make a movie for $7,000 is a hero. That's just an incredible accomplishment to make a movie that people still watch and talk about today for seven grand. It was an experience for sure. I had a really good plan and it backfired. So I tried to right away when it worked in a different way, I wanted to share that experience.

I wrote a book called Rebel Without a Crew that really inspired filmmakers. Cause you remember that time. You did the audio for it too. Just recently, I couldn't believe it. I hadn't read it since I wrote it. And I had forgotten a lot of the details. And now I can see why it inspired so many people

because it, you know, when you're in your early twenties, six months feels like six years right so when you read it now and go oh my god from inception to making it penniless by myself to toast to the town it's like that it was unbelievable I couldn't wait to shout from the move rooftops to all the other filmmakers like me who thought they couldn't get in how I did it exactly I wrote a book about it And I'd read it now and I'd go, oh my God, this is an impossible story. I keep laughing during the audio book going, okay, what you're reading right now never happened before

and it never happened again. It was like lightning in a bottle. And you would see every time I thought something wasn't going my way, and I was really bummed about it, within weeks, an upshot beyond. And it really taught you that you just got to follow your instinct. If you have an idea, go.

Even if you know no one else has ever done this before. And you'll end up someplace different. I want to ask you about that because I know you end up doing the same thing a lot. Yeah, for sure. Where it's not manifesting so much in that way. You're just kind of following your nose. You're doing something that just sounds ridiculous. Even when I try to tell one of my teachers when I was gonna go do that summer,

I said, I'm gonna go try and make a movie. And he goes, oh yeah, who's gonna be your director of photography? And I said, I didn't wanna tell him I'm the whole crew. And he said, I'm the DP. Oh, the actors are gonna hate you. You're gonna be there setting up your lights all the time. I'm like, okay, I'm not even gonna tell him

I'm the rest of the crew. It was just because I had read this advice that meant to be good advice, but it sounded really depressing. It was someone had written, if you want to write screenplays, write three full screenplays, throw them away. Your fourth screenplay will be it. It's OK to write a screenplay. It's very hard to write a screenplay.

It's hard to write. It's like three huge meals that you're just going to dump. Why not? OK, write the script, throw it away, but while you're throwing it away, why not also shoot it and direct it? Light it yourself, do the sound yourself, so that you're training yourself on each one.

So I thought, where can I do this where I can get paid to do that? Like my own film school, where I get paid to learn. So I discovered that there were these straight to Spanish movies that are action movies. You go to the, you've seen the H-E-Bs around here, there used to be a video section to rent movies and there was a Spanish section. The Spanish section had movies like, they were just action movies, they had a soap star,

they were made for 30 grand, 40 grand, shot on video, no action, but it had a title that looked kind of like a US title, like, Perros Raviosos Dos, written like Lethal Weapon 2. And you'd rent it, it'd be like, just crap, people in an apartment talking. So I looked at the back of those, and I thought, we can make a better one, probably for like $5,000. Because I had made a short film called Bedhead

by myself with a wind-up camera. It was eight minutes, and it cost $800. So I thought, multiply it times 10, I could do an 80-minute movie for $8,000. But with dialogue and everything, I bet I could get it for under eight, probably more like five or six. Let's go shoot a movie, write it, shoot it. I'll be the whole crew. So I learn all the jobs. And then we'll sell it to the Spanish home video market. No one will

know it's me because it's Robert Rodriguez, a bunch of Robert Rodriguez's. I'll make three of those because I was so young. I was winning a lot of film festivals with short films, but I thought if someone sees one of my short films, it's winning all these awards. They're not going to hire me to do a short film. They're going to hire me to do a feature and I've never practiced that. So I need practice. So I'm going to practice three films, take the best scenes from them, have a demo reel with the money I make from them. I don't know how much I can sell it for, so I got to make it really cheap. Let's just do the first one. Then we'll know. Then I'll take

that money and make my first American independent film. And that'll be more serious because I threw it away like that. I just thought, well, let me just make something fun. Action movie. I guess I could do action. I started as a cartoonist. I was more comedic than anything else. So I said, well, an action movie. Let's make it fun. Let's make it about a guy with a guitar case full of weapons, kind of like Road Warrior, who goes from town to town with a guitar case full of weapons. But I can't afford Road Warrior on the first one. So how about I just do a Genesis story? So I took out these cards and I go, okay, maybe he was a guitar player. In fact, that'll be a funny title because I have this comedic sense. I thought, I'm going to make a movie

that's got so much action and it's actually shot on film, but I'll call it, basically, The Guitar Player, which promises no action whatsoever. Put it on the shelf. And if someone happens to be so desperate to watch it, they'll be surprised. You know, that was like my joke to myself. But I just want to practice.

So I did this method where I just got the cards, and I go, because I'm used to making short films. Guy with a guitar case walks into a bar looking for work. They refuse saying, we don't hire people. We use a synthesizer now. He leaves. A guy with a guitar case full of weapons walks in after, shoots the place up, says he's going after the guy who owns it because he did him wrong. So I put those two cards down and I went, okay, that's how a short film would start, but shit, this is a feature. So let me put, it's gonna need like three scenes before.

This is how fast you write a script. I wrote that script because it was, again, I'm throwing it away. I'm just gonna make something that I want to see because no one else is gonna see it. You're getting paid to practice. If I can sell it, I'll be paid to practice. So I thought, okay, we got to figure out who this guy is. Okay, how about he's a control prior who's coming into town? But wait, who's the guy that shoots the place? So let's start with him in jail I read a story about a guy in Mexico who was running his drug business from his from his jail cell and he used it

As protection he could walk out at any time Someone puts a hit on him in jail. He shoots them up Tells the bad guy. I'm coming after you now. I'm coming to your town and shoot up your town He passes the mariachi on the road the mariachi is a mariachi. The guy just wants to be a musician. We get to know who he is. And then he walks in the bar. And then the guy comes and shoots the place up. Well, now he's got to leave and go to another place. So now he's got to go meet the girl. And now this is the guy. Oh, and because it's a movie about a guitar player, he's got to have some kind of tragic past because Road Warrior had a tragic past. Mad

Max, he lost his wife and kid. Oh my gosh, she has to die because that's got to have some kind of tragic past because road warrior had a tragic past mad max he lost his wife and kid oh my gosh she has to die because that's gonna be every movie is gonna be like a sad song in a songbook so it kind of just broke that fast I went and I shot it like that with index cards I do this right on a table I do this for everything for every people I do this talk where I I by the end of the talk I say, I keep these in my bag. It always makes me smile, because I know I've made a million dollars with this before.

And that's a tiny little stack. This is a tiny one you can carry anywhere. I gave this to my kids one Christmas. For people that are just listening, it's closed together with rubber bands. With rubber bands. I gave this in a cool little leather bag for my kids one Christmas.

I thought they would say, what's this shit? They loved it. I said, you can change your life with this thing. There's a lot of times, you know, you go to therapy, not for answers, you go for questions. We have the answers inside us. Usually we ask ourselves terrible questions. The therapist asks you questions like,

why do they make you feel? Why'd you do that? And what's going on? If we do our own questions, like what's next? What goes before this? Your mind comes up with the answer if you ask the right question. So I've used this for like, we usually ask unempowering questions. You know, the words we use in ourselves are so important, but some of the questions like, why am I such a loser? Well, I can give you 10 answers right now. But if I change it to, what three things could I

come up with to start this week that will not just change my life but everyone around me? You don't come up with three, you come up with like fifteen. Just keep coming out. And as you look at them, you go, these kind of go together and are actionable. I can actually start this right now. I mean, you can literally change your life. Business ideas, movie ideas, stories, just with a deck of cards. By the time I build up and show all the examples of it,

at the end of the talk, I hold up one of these with a rubber bands to the crowd. And I say, who wants to change your life? Everybody's hands go up. I toss one out, they catch it. In fact, I remember my nephew about seven years ago caught one, and it's funny, cause he's on Broadway now.

It's just like, lets you map out your life. Another friend of mine, DJ Cotrone, he's an actor, he caught one and he said, wow, that talk you gave was so empowering on how you wrote it. I went home and I picked up an old script that I hadn't picked up in a while and I just cut off the film for three days

and I finished it. And I said, you finished a script in three days? I like the feedback loop that happens when you inspire somebody. Well I'm gonna try that because I got a bunch of half-baked ideas that I've never gone and done that with. That's you did it in three days? Yeah if you shut the phone off you can do it in three days. And now he has that movie's out. It's coming out. It's called Fight or Flight with Josh Hartnett. He wrote it. Wow. After hearing the talk he went and picked up this old thing that he thought. And I get this a lot when I've

talked to people. It's really inspiring to them to hear other people. That's why I'll ask you questions about it too. Where did you develop this approach? Like, is this something you completely invented yourself just to map out life on index cards? Writers will often put index cards up to just kind of block out a scene. It's a very, it's a visual way to see your story. Like when you lay it out and you go, oh, this works, I'm missing a section here. But again, like this is asking you, what can I put there?

You'll come up with a bunch of ideas and it almost gives you like an overview. But I started it when I was a cartoonist. I had a daily cartoon strip. So I would draw on different cards, different drawings. And every day I had to come up with a comedic idea and a drawing and a story. And it was tough. You'd have to draw it out. And you would sometimes make two drawings that you really liked and go, oh, this kind of is the

setup 123 payoff for the joke here. And they come up with it like that. So I kind of use it for everything. It's kind of a more visual kind of person. So it helps you visually see something that's normally like written words and stuff. So it started off with cartoons and then worked into writing, but I haven't seen too many people apply it the way you're explaining it, like you could actually use that to fix your life.

Oh, fix your life completely, because this is another question. It's just questions, you're asking yourself. And the amazing thing is once you start doing stories, that's why I like doing a lot of original franchises. Probably like made the most original franchise of a film because I don't usually direct other people's stuff because you realize you're creating this story. Like I just made this guy's destiny happen and I can give him a good outcome or a bad outcome. It's in my control. And you realize you can do that with your own life.

So you're writing the story of your own life of who you're going to become, who you're going to be, and as a parallel. And you realize you've got that power. And when you realize you've got that power, you can make literally anything happen. And it's, you realize art and life should be the same. You know, so many people, I was telling this story to somebody and they said, wow, you realize art and life should be the same. You know, so many people, I was telling this story to somebody and they said, wow, you're really positive.

And that kind of makes a lot of sense. You know, I have a project that's pretty much altogether. Almost the pieces are there, but I guess I'm just not ready. It's gonna be on your tombstone. Here lies so-and-so. He was never ready. You can't wait to go do it.

Like, life, you don't know what's gonna happen. You wanted to work out today, what happens? Bunch of shit, right? Got in the way. Your tire's flat. Fires went up. You just got fired. You're not ready for life.

You're like this. But for some reason, people, artists, think that they need to be ready to create art. It's like, no, you gotta jump in and just start. You just need to start. You're not gonna to really feel ready until you're almost done with a project. I didn't feel ready to make that $7,000 movie

till the last few days when I was like, OK, now I wrap my head around it. I have to figure it out day by day. Yeah, the procrastination really cripples people. Yeah, we're thinking that they need to know more. And you don't realize the answers you get that you need are not going to be figured out sitting at a desk gonna be on the floor I think it's kind of a fear of incompetence and failure

Especially if you're undertaking something like starting a film like some people just for whatever reason they did they don't have the confidence to just Potentially fail and just to just try it just get moving just get you know Hemingway my friend Ari on his laptop is this quote top of his keyboard First draft of everything is shit. Yeah, and it's Hemingway What a great fucking it's like, you know important thing to know cuz he knows the process Yes, if you trust the process, yes, you don't have to worry and if you question well, I don't know if you're an artist That's what an artist should think but don't let that cripple you I call it fear forward like you should have some fear going into something. Yes. Like I might screw

up, but that's good. That means you're not wasting your time. I think it's really important for people to hear someone like you who's accomplished so much say it that way because they can internalize it and go, okay, this is what it is. I just have to do something. I just actually get moving. I just can't sit around waiting for the perfect time because it won't happen. It's not gonna happen. And there's that thing, like you have to, hey. You know, I always give people copies of the War of Art Pressfield book.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Amazing book. It's a great book. But it's all about that. That book is, if you're trying to figure it out, that book's the guidebook. Read that book, it's a short little book, super easy to read. And it gives you the tools to put in your head like oh this

is resistance like this procrastination this is weird fear of doing it yeah because it's not like the thing you're doing is painful which is really crazy like writing out cool plot lines and this is that's got to be fun really fun fun now the making of it might be very painful but it's a very short amount of pain versus a long-term pain of you not living your dream. That's the longest time you can spend. That's the longest time in pain. There's just rip the bandaid off and jump in.

I mean, I'm sure there's a bunch of people out there that are in the middle of that right now. And they're trying to figure out. We have to keep reminding ourselves because we know we got to remind ourselves. Sometimes we forget and we don to keep reminding ourselves, because we know, and we gotta remind ourselves. Sometimes we forget and we don't apply it to other areas of life. We'll talk about that.

That's when I really found success, was when I took these ideas and moved it to another area. But like, I tried to figure this out when I was doing that other method, the wrong method when I was cartooning, because it would be so hard to come up with a cartoon strip each day. But I needed the money, and I had a daily cartoon strip here at UT.

We had the biggest comics page in the country. It was really, everybody wanted to be the next Burke bread that he'd come out of there, he did Bloom County. He was a UT student. His college art was like national stuff. So we all wanted to be him. And so I would go like, this has gotta be an easier process. Then sitting here and working it out.

I wanna come home and develop a process where I sit on my couch and I just picture it first. I picture the comic, I picture the jokes, I picture the drawing, then I just go draw it, right? I'd be there two hours, three hours, my deadline's coming up, shit, it's not working, so I have to go, Fox, start drawing again, and then be like, okay, this kinda goes with that one,

oh, here it is, and I realize something really profound. Back at 19, and it's really carried into mariachi which is when you pick up the pen or the keyboard or the camera and you start it starts doing itself you realize it's not you it's coming through you because there's a creative spirit assigned to us that needs hands and it's not going to reward you if you're doing that because they can do that but as soon as you pick it up it takes over so I realize oh I just have to be a conduit or a pipe and if I just start I'm gonna be like whoa and you gotta keep your ego out of it

because then you go wow how did I do that I wonder if I could do it again you just shut you just shut it right back up because you think it's you and it's not you. And I know this works because I taught it to my kids when they were younger. I thought, I gotta teach it to my kids. And since they hadn't learned any bad habits, they went, oh, so we didn't have to do anything?

We just have to start writing? It's gonna come out and go, yeah. And they went and they wrote all this amazing stuff. And I was like, they don't have to be reversed, you know. Reversed. But that was like, they don't have to be reversed, you know, reversed. But that was a very powerful thing. And I saw when I did another $7,000 movie recently, I had a TV series based on Rebel Without a Crew,

where I got independent filmmakers. So it only made short films. And I gave them two weeks. So you got to do like Mariachi. You can bring one person to be either a cameraman or your sound guy. But you got to do the whole movie yourself. Write it, direct it, edit it, and be shot in two weeks. That's how long it took me to shoot Mariachi. And they're all, I don't know how

we're going to do it. By the week they started shooting, they're already talking about their next three films. Like they changed their idea of what was impossible has just dropped out. So I was really curious to do mine. I was doing one based on my medical experiments I did to pay for Mariachi, which is another story. And I brought my son, I brought my son racer, because I knew he hadn't been working with me on the movies for a while. I'm going to make him my second guy. He's gonna be my co-writer, my co-lighter, and he's going to be doing the sound. I didn't show him how to use the sound equipment till we're filming because we're documenting it. We made a documentary about it. And people

really loved about how we made this movie today for $5,000. And he was fumbling around and we're going. And I thought, he's going to hate this. He's got his own interests. He doesn't want to work on a movie. But I need him. And so he comes to me at the end of the day with his brother

and goes, Dad, the actor didn't show up. The set didn't match. The location didn't match the script at all, everything was falling apart. We asked you how we're going to finish the day and you said, well, I don't know, we'll see what happens. And we thought, oh my God, is this the movie that finally, you know, he can't figure out? But by the end of the day, we figured it out.

Their eyes were all wide open. Oh, they don't realize that's the creative process and that's every day in life and in work. Life you don't know. You're gonna figure it out as you go. Art should be the same way. And by the end of the two weeks shoot, they're interviewing him, he's all waxing philosophical about the creative process

like he's been doing it for years. He goes, I never knew how my dad did mariachi. And then now I know, cause I just did this project. He didn't know either. He just started and he figured it out day by day. Most people never start. I mean, he succinctly encapsulated everything I tried to say in my book, which was you just gotta go.

And identity is key. Identity is the main thing. All these people who are out there, you gotta tell them this. If you are listening and there's something you're not getting in your life that you really want, it's not a matter of desire. You have the desire. There's a

missing element that I talked about in the book and I'd forgotten myself. You know, we forget our own good advice. Over the years, people would say, hey, in your book it says this. I'd go, I wrote that? I was so smart back then. What happened? I got to go reread my own book. But it was this thing where I told people, because they would come up to me a lot, because I was making films really early on and say I'm an aspiring filmmaker. You might hear that I'm aspiring comic, you know, I'm an aspiring filmmaker. I go stop aspiring. You're calling yourself an aspiring filmmaker. That's now your identity. You're always gonna be

aspiring. Just say you're a filmmaker. Take one of these cards and make a business card, even if you have to hand write it, who you are. I'm a direct, I wrote, I did one. I had it printed up. Director, cinematographer, editor, composer. That's who I am. Now you're gonna have to conform to that. And you're gonna start making films.

I started making these films even for Spanish video. And so you have to think it for, and I've forgotten that lesson. So, and I wanted to use your gym because use your gym because I like to work out now. I never did. You started as a cartoonist, I'm surprised. I was always an artist. I was really tall for school.

Yeah, I started, I was an illustrator when I was a kid. I wanted to do comic book illustration. Yeah. That was my thing. Yeah. Yeah. This episode is brought to you by Visible. Now you know, I tend to go down a lot of rabbit holes. I want to know everything about everything. And if you're like that, you need wireless that can keep up.

Visible is wireless that lets you live in the know. It's the ultimate wireless hack. You get unlimited data and hotspot so you're connected on the go. Plus Visible is powered by Verizon's 5G network, meaning fast speeds and great coverage. And with the new Visible Plus Pro plan, you get premium wireless without the premium cost. And the best part, it's all digital, no stores. You can switch to Visible right from your phone. It only takes about 15 minutes and then you manage your plan in the app. Ready for wireless that lets you live in the know?

Make the switch at visible.com slash rogan. Plan start at $25 a month. For the best features, get the new Visible Plus Pro plan for $45 a month. Terms apply, see visible.com for plan features and network management details. It's fun, right? Love it. Because it's fun, right? Love it.

Because it's just, it's not you. You know, you start drawing and then suddenly. When did you learn that as a, I don't think I knew that. I think I was doing that, but I didn't know it. And until I started reading about it, like the concept of the muse, the concept of like, that you just have to sit down and do the work and it comes to you.

Yeah, well, it started when I was 19 doing the comic, but then it kept getting repeated later. But you realized that at 19, it was you. I realized at 19 that that was the process. That it wasn't you, that it was. It felt like something else, but then it really hit me later on. And I'll get to that one.

It really hit me later on where I kind of put it all together around 2001, 2002, when I was doing a movie where I was again kind of going back to the way I did Mariachi. I was on a big movie though. I was the writer, the director, the producer, the cinematographer, the editor, the composer. I was doing all these things. Plus, I was doing the production design now and I was taking on more jobs to make it more like a handmade film or like a lot of factory movies are being made. I said, I want people just to feel different.

I think they'll get a feeling from it they don't get from a McDonald's process. They're still good, but there's something about a home-cooked meal. And I didn't even know how to read or write music. And I was writing music for a hundred piece orchestra. And I was like, how am I figuring it out by notes going, eh, eh, there's only 12 notes. Even less than a scale. So you hit three notes, four notes. That's a bad note.

Okay, that's pleasing to the ear. And I was just writing a note by note because it's a kids movie. So I figured it should sound like a kid wrote it and I'm like a kid. It's just sound like that. And I was writing pretty complex stuff, not knowing what I was doing. I go how is this even possible that I'm doing all these jobs I wasn't trained in? So I went on Amazon and I looked up any book that had the word creative or creativity in it. I just ordered it. I didn't know what section it came from. They just arrived and I'm thumbing through them and one of them is really speaking about

the creative process, how it worked. And I was like, wow, wow, that's how it is. That's how it is. And then it said gels and mediums. I was like, oh, this is a book particularly about painting But it applies to all the other things I'm doing. That's when I realized that It's all linked. Yeah, that creativity is 90% of any of those endeavors 90% of it is just being creative the technical part like right reading or writing music and it's a lot of great musicians who don't

Read or write music. They're fantastic the technical part, like reading or writing music, and there's a lot of great musicians who don't read or write music, they're fantastic. The technical part, you can fudge that, like how to shoot the movie. You can fudge a lot of the technical stuff. 90% is created, and if you know how to be creative, you can literally jump from job to job and do it really well because you're coming with your own experience, your own point of view.

That's why I teach my actors to paint on the set because they've never painted before. And they're already being creative by acting, but in between takes we'll go paint a portrait of their character, where I take a photo of them in character and have them paint a background. I said, just pick up the paint,

you can use these three methods, any color you want. The paintbrush is gonna know where to go, even though you've never painted before, it's gonna know where to go. And they do it, and I put a stencil of a line drawing of their face over it. I'll show you some, you're not going to believe it. Josh Brolin was way into it.

Lady Gaga did one, Bruce Willis did one. And it's just like magic, how it comes together. And it's to teach them that you don't have to know. You know, we always think, I need to know this, I need to know that. What about the other side? Half of the battle is knowing, what about the other half? Not knowing, I think, is the more beautiful and where the magic is, because you don't need to know this, I need to know that. What about the other side? Half of the battle is knowing, what about the other half? Not knowing, I think, is the more beautiful

and where the magic is, because you don't need to know what's gonna happen, you just need to show up, you just need to pick up the pen, you need to do the keyboard. Because it just starts coming through you, and they see it, and it helps them go back to the set and solve any creative problem, because it was much harder in the faint room

figuring out gels and mediums and all this stuff. They go back to the set, and they can solve any problem instantly. And you'd think that they are already in a creative mode by acting, but it fires off a whole other part of your brain to go do something else creative at the same time. Remember on the set, Josh goes, is it okay I'm still thinking about the painting? I go, I think so. I think it's all right.

Let's see. Let's see how it does. That sounds like something he would say to you. That is so right. Let's see. Let's see. Say to you is so fun. That's a like a Miyamoto a Masashi quote from the book of five rings, right? Once you know the way broadly you could see it in all things. Yeah, you start see and that's where I started piecing together that It was something because I really wanted to look it up because it would feel like when I would go to write the music I Don't have to write very many notes before it feels like I'm being pulled by the hand. Like I didn't make that. I didn't make that.

Right. I didn't do that. And I didn't do that. A lot of musicians say that and a lot of comedians say that too. Well, if you ask in all the disciplines, I asked Jimmy Vaughn, how did you play that lecture? That solo was amazing. Did you have that worked out? It's kind of like tuning a radio. If you get it just right,

you can't even believe what's coming through. You always hear everyone's version of that. And so I called it something. I thought, I'm going to call it the creative spirit. Like there's a creative spirit. Imagine the creative spirit that's assigned to you. And if you're someone who's just like, I don't think I can do this or that. And they don't pick up the pen. They don't actually start. How frustrated that spirit must be. Hovering over going, oh my god, will you just pick up?

It's not you. It's not you. Will you just let me through? And it's crazy that that concept has been around forever. This concept of the muse. But yet still, even though it's like that, where it's like, it still feels like you have to do a lot about it you just go I would still need to be a pipe yeah a clean pipe a conduit so more stuff comes through and that means take your ego out of it I mean just just do the work just

show up and start yeah Pressfield literally thinks that it's like like an angel or like some sort of a divine presence that presents you. I think there's something to it, man. It sounds so kooky, but if something is super successful for amazing people and they're all telling you the same thing, like, why do you have to... Nah, man, I'm not stupid. I'm not gonna believe in the concept that whatever the fuck it is There's something that happens when you're creative Where you feel like an antenna you feel like you just take these ideas are coming to you. They're entering into your mind It's not physical effort. It's not like you're picking up bricks and stacking them on the wall. Like something is happening to you Yeah, you're tapped into I

Had a friend of mine, Tim Ferriss was over at my house and I was telling him about some kind of, it's a very creative house, really, because it's where I do a lot of my creative work and a lot of creatives like coming to this place. So you have to come check it out so you can see the Frazettas I have.

Oh, you have original Frazettas? Oh my God. We'll get to that. Oh my God. But it's just totally, totally, you have so much to say for this. Totally creative place. And I like people to come there, but it's just inspiring to be in an environment where everything around you is about creativity, because then you get in that headspace and you're able to do more because you realize it's not you.

It's just coming through you and you just have to witness it. And it just takes a lot of the load off you. A lot of people can start easier if they know, oh, it doesn't have to be me. Like my kids, oh, I don't have to witness it. And it just takes a lot of the load off of you. A lot of people can start easier if they know, oh, it doesn't have to be me. My kids are like, oh, I don't have to do it? I just have to actually pick up the pen? Yeah, it's very freeing. Yeah, it's something that everyone should learn.

With anything in life, anything that you're doing in life, is just to take action and trust this process that happens. But you have to do things. You can't just sit and wonder. And it's that procrastination and the anxiety about starting that's, like, crippling for people. It keeps them from getting off the ground. And they're doing that to themselves.

You're literally doing this to yourself. So when you say, well, I don't know if I can... You just chopped off your leg. Right at the beginning of the race. Right, right, right. You go, well, I tried it once before, you just cut the other one off.

I mean, you're literally doing, you're your own worst enemy. I had this one gal, and fear of failure, this is the best thing, one gal, one of the talks she said, okay, you're real positive, but what do I tell myself when I just spent a year and a half doing something and it didn't work out? I said, well, that's a very negative way to ask that.

Can you rephrase the question first, then I'll attempt? And she went, I learned a good lesson the hard way. She said, no, that still sucks. If you're focused on the failure, if you followed your instinct and it didn't work out, it doesn't mean you're wrong. Sometimes the only way across the river is to slip on the first two rocks.

It's the only way. And if you just stay there, you're not going to go. So you have to embrace the failure. Because if you're going on instinct, I mean, you're doing it literally on instinct, not like someone said, hey, go with it as a money-making scheme, go do that. Literally, you had the instinct.

And my best example is Four Rooms, a movie I did with Quentin. Because if you study the ashes of your failure, you'll find a key to your next success. That was the movie where there was four different stories playing simultaneously. Four different there was four different stories playing simultaneously. Yeah, four different movies, four different stories, and I love short stories because I had made a bunch of short films, so I thought, oh, I want to do that.

So when Quentin asks, and I asked the audience, I like asking the audience, how would you answer this? Quentin goes, hey, I'm going to make a movie called Four Rooms, four different directors. You got to use the bellhop, it's New Year's Eve, you're in a hotel, you can't leave your hotel room. You want to do it? Hand goes up. Now, just on on instinct now I asked the audience was I wrong to just go by instinct or should I study it a little bit nobody really

knows the answer what would you say would you study you anymore students you're more inst are you more instinctual 100% yeah I'm primarily instinctual it figured because that's why you're here right because we're not that smart I'm not that smart I couldn't figure this shit out It's because I was just at an instinct to go that way when everyone else was going that way and you're gonna stumble You're gonna fall but you're gonna stumble upon you're gonna stumble upon ideas No one thought of because you're going the way that's not picked clean already, right? Right, so I would just like four rooms. I said yeah now if I had just studied a little bit

I would have seen that anthologies like that never work. Like even when it's Scorsese, you know Woody Allen and Coppola, they did one. Nobody goes to see it because they don't want to wrap their head around it. What is this three movies? Is this anthology? It doesn't work. If I had studied first should I have changed my answer? Nobody knows that answer. Well I'm going to go on instinct. I'm going to say I say instinct anyway. Movie bombs doesn't do well at all. Now I could be really upset about that and go like, wow, I gotta be really careful now going forward. I have to tiptoe around as an artist. Well, that's not the state of mind I was

when I won Sundance. I was throwing stuff out. Can I offer a counter to that? Sure. It only bombed financially. Okay, no, no, no, I'm not done with this story. Artistically, it's a very good movie. There's a lot of great stuff in it,

but this goes even better than that. My whole thing is examine the ashes of your failure. And I don't find one, I find two keys in there to my biggest movies directly from that experience. So my instinct was right, but again, sometimes the only way to cross the river is slipping on the first two rocks. I was on the set, had to be New Year's,

so I dressed everybody up in tuxedos. And Antonio had just done Desperado. Next week he came and appeared in there. The little boy from Desperado, he had a little brother, so I hired him. And then I just found the best little actress who's a half Asian girl, Asian American, so I cast an Asian mom.

So it would look like they were a family. So I'm seeing Antonio and Tamalin Tamita all dressed up to deny someone. Wow, they look like a really cool international spy couple. What if they were spies and the two little kids that can barely tie their shoes don't know it? They get captured and the kids have to go save them. So spy kids, there's five of those now.

The other key to success that I got on that set was I love doing short films. That's why I signed up for it. It didn't work, but I'm gonna try it again. Not four stories, three stories, like a 3-X structure. Not four directors, but the same director. I'm gonna try. Why on earth would I try it again? Except that I had just done one and I figured out

there might be a different approach. That's Sin City. So Sin City and Spy Kids directly came from that thing you would call a failure. If you focused on the failure. Wow, wow. So go back and look, tell everybody, go back and look at something that you had a real instinct for,

that you did and it didn't work, and sift through the ashes of it, and you're gonna find either that you've already had the success from it and you didn't realize it, which you really need is a boost of confidence in your instinct, or you will find something that

will be the key to your success. Well that's also the magical part of the creative process is that it's not always going to work and that's actually good. That means when it does work it will be even more rewarding. Yeah, I mean mariachi didn't work. This episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. It's the end of tax season and I know by now you all are probably sick of numbers. But there's one more expense we need to talk about, and that's how much you're investing

in your well-being. The cost of traditional therapy can be outrageous, between $100 and $250 a month or even more. So how do you get the help you need without blowing your monthly budget? Use BetterHelp. With BetterHelp, you pay a flat fee for weekly sessions, saving you money and time. It could even help you save up to 50% per session and you still get quality care. Therapy is a good tool everyone can use. Whether you've experienced a major trauma or not, it can teach you valuable skills you can use in your everyday life, like how to better manage all that stress tax season brings, or how to communicate

better with your partner, or even how to be more mindful. Use better help to work towards your goals at a reasonable cost. It's also more convenient since everything is online. It's easier to work in a therapy session no matter how hectic your schedule gets. And as one of the largest online therapy platforms, BetterHelp has access to thousands of therapists with all sorts of specialties so you can find the right fit for you. Your well-being is worth it. Visit betterhelp.com slash JRE to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L e l p dot com slash J R E.

I failed at that. I was going to sell that to the Spanish home video. This what's blew me away about rereading the book. I went, Oh my God, I was so bummed. I finished making that movie and you see in the book, clearly I'm a penniless, clueless filmmaker making this movie. I think by myself, I think it's going to work. I don't know a borrowed camera. I didn't even know how to use it. I call a place in Dallas that rents his equipment and go go I got an airy 16s, you know on the phone Has two motor looking things one has one number and one's got many. Oh, that's a variable speed motor I mean you can I do slow motion with it, you know

I was literally learned like that and then I went and shot the whole movie and I had to shoot the whole movie in two weeks and I couldn't develop the film till I got back. So I shot blind, not knowing if that camera was even working. Is it true that you invented the walk away with the explosion behind you? Yeah, that was an accident. Yeah, yeah. If you look at all the compilations,

it starts with Desperado. Because it was an accident. I didn't think, this is what happens on Desperado. In the script, it says he throws some grenades over the side of this building to blow up the bad guys and him and Salma walk away. It was just supposed to see some body parts fly. It was just a grenade, you know, it wasn't supposed to be a nuclear explosion. Just some body parts, some shrapnel and some smoke.

But it's two stories up and we get there, we're shooting so fast. I went to my poor effects guy who was just, you know, so busy just having done a big shootout and I went, I know you don't have body parts Do you have anything we can just throw it's so high up. Is there anything you can launch up there? He goes no, I don't have anything so I need something To come up because I wanted some shit to fly up behind him. He goes I give you a fireball. Is that fireball like? Like what it'll go up 60 feet but it's a but it's prop. So it's gonna burn off like that.

How fast does it burn off? Like that. So, okay, I'll shoot slow motion. Okay, we'll shoot slow motion. I tell the actors, just keep walking. Don't turn around, because it's supposed to be pretty big and it might be really hot. I don't want you to sin your eyebrows.

Just walk fast. Walk fast and determined, but I'm gonna shoot. It's gonna feel funny, but when I shoot it in slow motion, it'll look like you're just walking normal speed and it'll slow down the explosion. Well, it looks fantastic. I remember when I showed you. Yeah, it looks, look like you're just walking normal speed and it'll slow down the explosion. Well, it looks fantastic. I remember when I showed you. Yeah, it looks, see they're just walking.

They don't know, look at, Tonyo's just like, look at her. She's just like so calm. But if you play that, if you sped that up and played it in normal motion, it goes by like that. It's crazy because that scene has been copied so many times. It became an action like staple. Look, so this could be-

They even used it for Fear Factor. Now that I'm thinking about it, we used so. They even used it for Fear Factor. Yeah. Now that I'm thinking about it we used it for one of the ads for Fear Factor. It's me walking away and they blew some shit up behind me. Because it's just like it's this cool attitude and yeah. I thought it was the dumbest shit ever. When I first saw. Because it was a TV show. Oh no but it's still funny. About people eating dicks. It wasn't an action movie. Well, it's kind of silly, but it was just an accident. Again, the accidents that you stumble upon. There it is. There you go. All right.

That's hilarious. That's where I came from. So that came out in August of 1995. Just six months later, Dust Till Dawn came out. And I made that. I enjoyed it so much. I fucking love that movie. Oh, thanks.

I love that movie. I showed this explosion shot, the movie, to Jim Cameron. He was watching it. I showed this explosion shot, you know, the movie to Jim Cameron. He was watching it. I was waiting for his, for Xeno. He was doing like, he was like, Terminator 2, blowing the shit out of everything. So I was wondering if he'd like my little rinky-dink thing. And his hand went up in the air when he saw that moment.

So I thought, yeah, I'm doing that. I'm going to do that in Dust Till Dawn. Dust Till Dawn, I had it where the actors come out doing the dialogue, though. And the explosion just keeps going. And they're walking away while having a conversation. Yeah. So within two, within six months you saw two versions of that. So people just started doing it. You see it in

Man in Fire. You see, I mean you see like whole combinations of it. But it's an accident. It's gotta be weird for you. Like you're like, bitch that's mine. No, no. Because it wasn't mine. Again, it came, it came, if I had engineered it, yeah I'd be really smart. But again, like I said, I'm not that smart. Sometimes you stumble upon. But it's gotta be pretty cool that it's become like a part of like action films. Yeah.

Dust till Dawn, so first of all, who knew Quentin Tarantino would play such a good fucking psychopath? Who knew? What's so fun is he's in Desperado now. I met him on the Film Festival Circuit. So in 1992, we both had movies with guys in black in violent movies. In fact, I met him at the Toronto Film Festival for Reservoir Dogs.

Had Mariachi because they put us on a panel together to discuss violence in the movies in the 90s, even though it was only 92. And so we met there, we became friends and he said, my next movie's in Pulp Fiction. And I just thought, this crazy guy, he's so funny. And I said, I'm going to ride him into Desperado. It was before he did Pulp Fiction or any of that. So by the time Desperado came out, Pulp Fiction was a phenomenon. And people cheer when he walks on stage, on set. But when we were doing that four rooms, here's

another thing that came from four rooms. If I hadn't done four rooms, it'd be no Dust Till Dawn. When we're doing four rooms, he takes me into a room and he starts reading me. It's on the internet, I put it out. Him reading me the first scene of Kill Bill. This was eight years before he made the movie. And then he said, my very first script I wrote and I didn't get paid shit for like 1500, was Dust Till Dawn. And now, because of the success of Pulp Fiction, they want to make all my old stuff.

And these producers have it. I didn't get paid dick. So I'll do a rewrite and you and I will go in together. You should be the director because it takes place in Mexico and you're Mexican. So I was like, all right. That's the second time he read to me the scene in 2001 There's one video where he's even younger in four rooms reading me a second version of it There's over the years He would read we had an office next to each other when I was writing Desperado and he was writing pulp fiction

So he'd read out scenes areas and I would read out, you know show him scenes from Desperado We just became friends there He was originally gonna make pulp fiction for a tri-, and then they passed on it because they thought, it's weird, it's long. And he went, did it for Miramax. Did he want to be the serial killer? I asked him to, because I knew he liked acting, and I just knew him as a person.

Like, a lot of times I'll cast somebody just by meeting them. I'm going to cast you in the movie, because you realize there's something about them that captures you that's gonna just be magnified when you put a 50-feet on screen. That's why I've discovered a lot of talent that way. So I found Salma. I just knew she was gonna be it. But he was so great, and I thought,

this is a really fun character. I bet he likes acting. I can get a performance out of him, and he'll come in with a take on it. So I said, I'll do Destal Don. Would you be interested in playing Richie? He goes, I'd love to play Richie. I said, okay, well, so he was the first person we cast. And he's fantastic in it. He's really great.

He's really scary. He got all into character. He was terrified. Kind of had this really cool haircut. I showed him a picture of Bert Reynolds in Deliverance. He said, dude, you got the haircut of Deliverance? It was really cool. He was like, oh, wow, you know, he just really slipped into it. And he was always in character and he said, dude, you got the haircut of deliverance. That was really cool. He was like, oh, wow, you know, he just really slipped into it. And he was always in character, and he was always

intense on the set. It was really fun to see him get to do that. He was very believable. He really enjoyed that performance. I said, dude, you're so good in this movie. Anyone talk shit, they're just talking shit. It's bullshit through gritted teeth. Don't listen to anybody.

You're really great in this movie. Yeah, no one can listen. You can't listen. If anybody's talking shit about Quentin in that movie, shut up. Oh, yeah. He nailed it. He scared the fuck out of me. You can't listen. If anybody's talking shit about Quentin in that movie, shut up. Oh, yeah. He nailed it. He scared the fuck out of me.

Well, when you get a lot of success, people would tend to, you know, it gets you a target, you know. Of course. So they would say stuff about him and being in a way he shouldn't be acting in his movie. You know, just bullshit like this. Like, dude, this'll shut him up.

And if it doesn't, it's just bullshit. Because you're really great in the movie. Yeah, you just have to tune out the noise. Yeah, how do you get past the noise? I just tune it out. I'm busy. Stay busy. I don't read anything about me.

That's the big one. Yeah, don't read it. Don't engage. Like, sometimes people send me things. I'm like, don't send me that, man. I don't want to read it. I'm not going to read it anyway. They send it to you?

Yeah, friends. Oh my god. If they don't know any better, or my sister might send me something. Yeah, it's just... I just feel like they're just slinging me out of it. I got some really good advice early on. I like to share this with people.

I share this with my actors, because they get a lot of shit sometimes. I was afraid to even do, like, a bigger movie, because I was flying under the radar with, you know, Mariachi and Desperado, and then Spielberg sees Desperado wants to do Zorro with Antonio and me directing, right? So I go, cool, I'm working with Spielberg. And it's like, oh, shit, I'm working then Spielberg sees Desperado wants to do Zorro with Antonio and me directing, right? So I Spielberg this shit I'm working with Spielberg

You probably remember this time cuz we're about the same age Remember the 80s and 90s people would just don't shit on him all the time all the time. No respect for this guy They're so jealous Yes public everything. He was like he couldn't catch a break and he was making like the cool I'm gonna be sucked. I drastic practice. I was Unbelievable, so I thought oh shit., and he was making like the coolest movie. Ah, that movie sucks. Ah, Jurassic Park sucks. I was like, unbelievable. So I thought, oh, shit, it's because he's got his head way up. Maybe I should fly into the radar and not go make... If I can make a movie with him, what chance do I have?

I went back and rewatched, you know, like, Temple of Doom, which people said, ah, that's not as good as Raiders. I watched it and go, if I can make a movie that's an eighth of that, I'd be lucky. So I called him and said... Bro, you made Close Encounters. I know, Jesus. That's a fucking incredible movie.'s an eighth of that, I'd be lucky. So I called him and said- Bro, you make Close Encounters. I know, Jesus.

That's a fucking incredible movie. It's one of the great movies. But do you get that much success? And then people kind of resent, right? Yeah, it comes with the territory. Yeah, but how do you get past it? I was curious for him. So I said, hey man, I just saw Temple of Doom.

I don't know how I'm gonna make this movie for you. He goes, oh, don't worry about that. Just make a great movie. So then I go to him and I say, I'm afraid that if I make you. He goes, oh, don't worry about that. Just make a great movie. So then I go to him and I say, I'm afraid that if I make a movie at the bigger level, I'm just gonna be a target like him. I mean, he's the best filmmaker and he's getting shit kicked out of him.

I say, how do you do it? How do you do it? You just, you get rocks thrown at you all day long. He goes, oh, Robert, you just don't blink. I was like, wow, it's not like a Clint Eastwood line. Wow, that's how he did it all this time. It's just like, just don't blink. Commit to making a body of work.

I try to tell filmmakers sometimes if they have a success for the first one, they get really afraid of the second one because they think, oh shit, now I might fail, right? The fear of failure cripples a lot of people. If you commit to just making a body of work, a body of work, like he did, he just made any movie he wanted, some hit, some don't, some over perform, some underperform, a movie like Mariachi that was not supposed to go anywhere, way over performs, and you can't tell what's going to be the one. So just commit to a body of work, and now

no one gives him any shit. I think it's also important to recognize that the people that are tossing shit your way, they're doing it to distract themselves from the fact that they're not contributing anything. It's almost always the case of that. Yeah, that's what the critic is. The critic would not be a critic if they had something to contribute. So they see other people that are taking that chance and going out there and they're they're acting on their instincts and they're putting something together and they try to attack all

those things as being garbage because really they're not contributing yeah and so they're very well very easy to attack and they may very well want to but they didn't hurt most of the year the bulls the same instincts that make them want to attack successful people are the same things that hold them back from being creative. Talk about closing that pipe. Yeah, I mean doing it to yourself. Doing it to yourself and by doing that to the people. If they would just commit to a body work, don't blink, and just keep making shit, don't

get somewhere. That's great advice. Commit to a body of work. A body of work. Like look at someone, I mentioned this in a friend of mine, a businessman, called me and said, wow, I really spoke to me, you know, I tend to look at all the different businesses that I have created that failed Instead of looking at the whole body of work And I fixate on the ones that didn't work and it's like you don't ever know what's gonna work or not

Don't that's not your concern Just make shit follow your instinct because again Maybe maybe that one that didn't work is your four rooms Then you've got and you got you get two other great ideas out of it I've forgotten that Dustle Don came out of that as well so that's the that's the third one out of that that thing gave and gave and gave so dumb was so fun because it was two different movies it was like this that's why I couldn't get made so when he first wrote it he couldn't get made because people okay so this is what happened it effects company hires him and they said, we want a movie that'll showcase our effects in this vampire bar.

It's about two brothers go to vampire bar. Quentin starts writing, he starts writing Quentin style. He gets way into the brothers, so much into the brothers and it turns into like a desperateperate Hours type movie. For half the movie, he waits half the movie to get to the bar. So now, for financiers, it's now like a mixed bag. It's like two movies in one, right? But it was a negative then. It was like, this movie's all wrong. It's like suddenly there, it's one thing and then suddenly it turns into a vampire bar.

This, we can't make this. But then Pulp Fiction comes out and now everybody wants to make it. Oh, it's two movies in one Whole different perspective change a little success will do for you for rooms for rooms. Oh, yes for rooms four times the fun You know never know so I told Quentin let's make it right now Because we made it our next movie right after four rooms So the Desperado four rooms and so Desperado came out in August

1995 four rooms in December dust till dawn was in January.. So Desperado came out in August 1995. Four Rooms in December, Dust Till Dawn was in January. That's how fast those came out. We're working that fast back then. So I said, let's make this right now because you're starting to steal from the script. That's Ezekiel's speech that Sam Jackson says in Pulp Fiction. That's from the original Dust Till Dawn script.

He just took it, he was pulling stuff out of it because it was just not gonna get made. So I said, before it gets picked clean, let's go make this thing. And we'll shoot it now, we'll shoot it right now. And it was so fun, it was so fun. I love that movie, it was so fun. Cheech is so great. You know, we did a table read,

and we have a table read with your actors, you only have your main actors there. So sometimes you'll assign other parts to other people who are there. So it was like, Cheech, why don't you go ahead and take, you play the main guy at the end, but go ahead and read for the, for the, oh no, he made it the guy who gives a speech in front. He was playing that character.

Read for the border guard and for the guy who comes at the end, Carlos, who I was going to get like, you know, Eric Estrada or something. So he starts reading and he does each one, you know, it's because in the median he does everything in a different voice. And we're like, by the end, I was like, wow, he should play all three characters. And so I asked Quinn, Quinn goes, hey, what if we get Cheech to play all three characters?

I was thinking the same thing. So I go and tell Cheech, Cheech is just freaking hilarious. And he goes, hey, man, you're going to play all three characters. Do I get paid three times? But this is why I love having comedians on the set, you know, because we're out there shooting that desert scene, you know, at the end,

when the cheech comes and the whole place is burned down, it's 125 degrees in the shade. We're in Barstow in a dry lake bed. So freaking hot. We're all just like not moving. Somebody had to go get something. We're all just, the cheech is like this in a suit with a hat. He goes, Hey, runner, can I, this is gonna be a walk,

can I go to my trailer? I was like, oh man, by the time you go, this guy's gonna be back and we'll have to start, we should just stay right here. Okay, okay, I'll go into my mental trailer. Okay, I just go drink, so air conditioning. It just lines up the whole set, okay. This guy's gonna be in every movie.

I do, he's been in 10 movies of mine, because there's that attitude, you like that that attitude somebody who can find levity and torture Movies can be torturous sometimes so having people like that that are really on your team that can really lighten up a sense It's just the best you've done so many different kinds of movies It's so interesting because you never got you know Quentin essentially these wild, chaotic action movies that just blow you away. You do everything. Like you're doing like kids movies, you did animated movies.

Yeah, there's a similarity to them. I'm still that cartoonist. So what they all have is they're all comedic. Like even the action movies are kind of just fun. I mean, think of Desperado. It's like a James Bond movie. He's got a guitar case that fires missiles. He's got this one that's got a weapon design. Spy kids is very much the same thing.

It's just summer for big kids and summer for little kids. But... Yeah, even Sin City is very playful. The Sin City one was so dark. I remember the first book, the one that Marv, that Mickey workplace, it was so dark. I was going, like, oh, my God, it's gonna be dark. I have to add some levity to this.

And Mickey will bring humor to it. And it's the funniest episode. It's really funny. But he's in the book. It's just like, oh, my God, it's going to be dark. I have to add some levity to this. And Mickey will bring humor to it. And it's the funniest episode. It's really funny. But he's in the book. It's just like, oh, my God, he's just killing everybody. But you're really with him because of the way he portrayed. We didn't change very much.

We just added some humor to it. And the gallows humor really, really helps. Yeah. Like when the yellow guy gets shot in the dick. Oh, that's the, yeah, that was a one Yeah, there's a really good use of color that by the way It was one of the fucking creepiest characters ever in a film and it looks like that in the drawing and I just wanted to My whole idea was because I'm so respectful of someone's artwork You read Sin City and you realize that art is half of it

Anyone else in Hollywood were to make that into a movie, they would just make it like a gritty crime thriller. Right. And take out the whole visual element, which is that stark black and white where people's eyes glow in the dark. Yeah. And it has all these layers of unreality. And I went to Frank Miller, I said,

I want to just make this move. I want this is like the coolest movie never made. And he actually wrote it because he had been in Hollywood writing a couple of screenplays and he got shit on and screwed around, the whole Hollywood thing. Jamie, can you show me the scene with Mickey Rourke and the yellow guy? Oh, this is Bruce Willis and the yellow guy.

Oh, excuse me, Bruce Willis and the yellow guy. There's three stories in it. I just wanna like, while you're talking about this, I wanna look at it. And yeah, so he went and made this comic, because he said, fuck Hollywood. I'm going to go make a comic that could never be made into a movie, because it's so dark, so sexy,

and so everything. And I'd call him up, man, let's make a great movie. And he's like, God, it's so interesting. Oh, Bruce loved this. I got to tell you, this is the fastest, I think, any Hollywood movie's ever gotten made. Really? Yeah. I gotta tell you this funny, so this is the fastest I think any Hollywood movie's ever gotten made. Really? Yeah, I'll show you the process.

It's kind of like this cards thing. It's gonna blow your mind. What is it now? It's April? Okay, so imagine this is, this is 2000, if this is 2004, April. Last year, I had two movies out.

In the summer was Spy Kids 3D, it was the number one movie. Couple months later, Once Upon a Time Mexico, another number one movie, but also both of them ended a trilogy that I had started. So I was looking for my next thing and I opened up my Sin City's again. I was like, oh shit, I know how to do this now.

I just did a whole movie on green screen, which was really new back then for Spike Kids 3D, because I wanted it in 3D. It was the first digital 3D movie. Because when you're in Austin, you just innovate a lot. George Lucas told me that. He said, it's a good thing you're in Austin. That's why I'm in Marin County.

When you live outside of that box, you think outside of that box automatically. You just stumble upon innovations. So I thought, I'm going to go take this process and utilize it to make Sin City. So I did a test, a little test of it. I went, oh shit, this is going to work. So it was October when I got that idea. I filmed it. I contacted Frank Miller, met him in New York. I showed him my laptop. It looks

like his art, but then it starts moving. It's actor. And he's like, wow. And he gets all into it, right? It's November. And he goes, oh no,, but then we have to write a script and the studio is gonna have notes and that's not how it works. I got my own studio. I'll write the script. It's gonna be unremarkable. I'm gonna copy right out of your book. And I'm going to edit it down and edit three of the stories together. I'll write it this month. I'll show it to you in December. And then January, we'll get a couple of actor friends, we're going to shoot the opening scene as a

test. You don't give me the rights yet. Because I understand this is your baby. You've never given up the rights I know what it's like for an artist to make something. Let me take all the risk I'll go ahead and write the script We'll shoot the opening scene you come and fly you down so you can watch brought Josh Harnett Marley Shelton that opening scene in Sin City that was our test 10-hour shoot day and Marley Shelton comes up to me and says, why did I hire this guy to kill me? I don't know, let's go ask Frank.

He should know, it's not in the book, but I'm curious myself. So Frank answered her question and said, I want to do this movie. And that's the way we had a whole process. I'm going to shoot the opening, I'm going to cut it together, I'm going to put in the effects,

I'm going to put in the music, I'm going to put in fake titles. Then we're going to watch it. And if you like what you see, then we do the rights and we make the movie. If you don't like it and you're still on the fence about it, just keep it as a short film. Keep the gift. So we committed to the process. We make the opening sequence. He loves it. He wants to do it. I take it to Bruce Willis first, which was cool about doing it that way,

what's cool about doing it that way, which is unheard of. When I went to his agent, his agent was like, wait, he leans forward very dramatically. You brought actors down. Oh, because I told him, this is Frank Miller, he's one of our greatest artists. He wrote in Hollywood and he got screwed around and the guy goes, welcome to Hollywood. You know, like that.

I was like, yeah, whatever, I just respect the artist. So I just thought, hey, you'll be a partner, you're gonna co-direct this with me. And we're gonna make this, we're gonna take all, whatever. I just respect the artist so I just thought hey you be a partner You're gonna co-direct this with me and we're gonna make this we're gonna take all I'm gonna take all the risks You're gonna come down we shot this opening which I have I want to show it to Bruce So we can see the book, but then you can see how it gets translated and that guy gets very dramatic He goes wait you brought the actors down You shot this you did the effects for it, and you didn't have the rights and I leaned in and went welcome to Texas All these little monkeys spit out water.

Frank was dying. It was super annoying. They said, okay, you can, then he saw it, he went, okay, you can go meet with Frank. Or you can go meet with Bruce. So I showed it to Bruce, and he's watching it, and he looks at the book, and he looks at the thing, and he goes, damn, this is really great.

And then fake titles come up, his names in the titles. And I go, look, you have to be in the movie, your names in the titles, and he's like, damn, this is really great. And then fake titles come up, his names in the titles. And I go, look, you have to be in the movie. Your names in the titles. And he's like, I'm in. So he was in and we were shooting the finished, we were shooting the actual movie by March. Wow. So April, we're already done with it.

We're filming the second story by April. It was out the next year. I mean, that's as fast as a movie's ever gone into production. All these actors jumped on right away once we had Bruce. And he loved, he loved doing this film noir type thing. And we're doing something very experimental, which is green screen.

Nobody knew what green screen back then was. And what I told them was, well, it's kind of like theater, but instead of being in front of a black curtain, you're in front of a green curtain. You'll still have some props. You might have a steering wheel, like Clive just there just had a steering wheel. You might have, but just mainly you and the actors and everything else goes away and I'll fill in the later

So what's cool is their performances are so focused on each other because there's no other stimulus around That you got these great performances. We only built the bar. Hey Frank We'll build the bar so that you have but we have a place to hang out with and you know Do our story meetings, but everything else will just be on the same. You're gonna come see the screen-screen when you come visit my studio. The whole movie was shot in an area smaller than this room by the time you bring your lights in,

where the actors actually had the playground. It's unbelievable. Wow. That's incredible. And it was so inspiring, too. That movie was so... When I left the theater, I remember thinking, I've never seen anything like that before. It was like the comic,. That movie was so... Because when I left the theater, I remember thinking,

I've never seen anything like that before. It was like the comic. Because the comic was that way. It was so different. And it just like, when someone does something that really just steps up and enters into like, kind of just a new area of art, because that's what it felt like.

It felt like a real, legitimate comic book art movie. And this is before 300. Yeah, 300 actually. So 300 kind of took that as well. Oh, yeah. how do you do that movie I said I just put on a DVD go I put all that I put all the secrets on there and they went and they shot the same way it was such a good movie and it was it was so fun it was also Frank Miller the thing about that yeah right same thing but the thing about those kind of films where someone like does something new it's like when

you see something new and I felt this way about pulp fiction to be like wow You leave the theater like everything's different You know like the world's different like that got made like this like I now I know and the thing about people today Like young people today that don't know like how revolutionary pulp fiction was when it came out Yeah, when it came when it came, it was like such a different kind of feeling that you got after you saw the movie. It was, there was so many what the fuck scenes that you left that theater like, Jesus Christ.

It's like, the world was different. The world was different. Quentin Tarantino changed the world with Pulp Fiction. That's how profound it was. And I'm not exaggerating. It changed what was possible in film after that. No, I was there during it. I remember the studios were just like,

we don't understand why this movie's big head. We don't have anything like this coming out except your movie, Desperado maybe, because Quentin was in it. And I was like, yeah, yeah, we got our pulse on what people want. It was like, we don't know. So I got to tell you really two things.

First of all, George Lucas told me that. And he's like, I showed him the Sin City thing, because we'd both been early adopters of digital. And DP's, directors of photography, didn't want to even look at digital. They were like, fuck that. They already spent all their time learning film. Which by sticking your head in the sand

and not seeing where the times are going to the detriment. Now the cameras are designed and they don't look as good as they could look. But they weren't a part of the conversation. Rob was shooting my own movies. I wasn't gonna let some DP who didn't wanna get in digital keep me from making Sin City, so I just shot it myself. I figured it out myself.

So I showed it to Lucas. He was like, this movie will show people what digital is capable of. Finally, more than the Star Wars movies I'm doing because it's just so avant-garde and so crazy looking. But I only made it for me. I really wanted to see it made. I literally didn't think it would be successful on its theatrical run.

In fact, we didn't even test screen it. They're like, can we do a test screen? I'm like, no, what for? Everybody's gonna say it's black and white. Why is we do a test screen? No, what for? Everybody's gonna say it's black and white. Why is it black and white? Why are there three stories? That's all wrong. It's voiceover. It's all voiceover. That's all wrong. We know it's that way. Why would we go here? People tell us that that's not what a movie is supposed to be. Let's just put it out, figure it won't do well theatrically because you'll just see the first trailer and go, okay,

black and white is not for me. It's very counterintuitive, which is most of the things I do just like always go a different way but they'll find it on video later and that's that's good enough for me but then it was a big hit yeah and let me tell you about Pulp Fiction because groundbreaking doesn't look groundbreaking to you or anyone around you necessarily when you're doing it I've forgotten about this but I journal and I ran across an old journal and I brought it up to Quentin when I interviewed him for my director's chair episode. I have a show called The Director's Chair,

where I interviewed writer-directors. His was so big, we did two episodes. We talked about all his movies. And I said, do you remember this time I found in my diary? Right down to the hour, we went out to dinner. I mean, he was so into Pulp Fiction. Ever since I met him, my next movie's gonna be Pulp Fiction. I visited the set. He was into it. He's into it. He finished the movie and I said hey

how did because I live here in Austin I get to hang out with him except when I go to LA. How did you how did your movie come out? He goes yeah it's not it's not the one. It's like still feels like a movie Quentin would make. I'm going what what do you mean? It's like it just doesn't feel like a real movie. It feels like another movie Quentin would make and I was trying to be the supportive friend because I knew how much he would put in. It should be different. He's like, man, I just wouldn't have it. It was like two in the morning.

I was dropping him off at home after we'd been out. And so I went back to Austin and he had had a screening for all his director friends that I couldn't be at because I lived in Austin. So I called one of them. I said, how was the screening? He was a little bummed about it. He goes, nah, this isn't the one for him. I was like, really? He's like really yeah, it's it's just too

Yeah, that's just not it. And I asked him this and he goes you're right, you know, he'd forgotten about that moment He goes fact. Yeah people didn't get it. And in fact, and he didn't get it either. He wasn't sure if it was it In fact one filmmaker even said I want to sit you down and tell you all the things that are wrong with this movie. But I'll wait till you get back from Cannes. He goes to Cannes, he wins Cannes, and the friend left him a message. What the hell do I know? I've only made one movie. Everyone's mind was changed.

So he was surprised by it too. So I just want people to hear that because you're making something groundbreaking. It's not like you're going, I'm making something groundbreaking. You don't know that it's going to do that. Sometimes things overperform. It's not like you're going, I'm making something groundbreaking. You don't know that it's going to do that. Sometimes things overperform. That's why if you just commit to a body of work, you're not going to know which one's

going to be your pulp fiction, which one's going to be your four rooms. And if you just do that, because I saw a lot of people get hurt. Like John Carpenter made the thing. He thought he made a great movie. He thought he made an amazing movie. Bombs. Critics called it pornography at the time, if you remember, like, this, the makeup effects

of it, the audiences didn't go. It came out the same weekend, unfortunately, as ET, right? Same week. Why do they call it pornography? Just because it was just so self-indulgent and gross and nasty. I mean, they really, like, reamed him to the point. So the special effects?

Yeah, the special effects were really crazy. Yeah, just, yeah. Really? If you don't remember the time, it was really like reamed him to the point. So the special effects? Yeah, the special effects were really crazy. Yeah. Really? Yeah. If you don't remember the time, it was really like that. There was repulsion towards this movie. Wow. I know you don't think that now because 10 years later,

and it took 10 years. I thought it was a hit. No, it was not. It was not. Wow. 10 years later, it was suddenly considered a classic. Now, if he had committed to a body of work, he would have just let that roll off his shoulders and just don't blink. But it really fucks you up if you think,

I made it, my instincts must be off. I thought I made a great movie. It's a great fucking movie. It's a great fucking movie, but if no one else is saying that. So I asked Quentin, who, George Lucas had the same thing. He showed famously Star Wars to all his director friends. And they were like, poor George, Just wasted all his time on this movie

And Spielberg was the only one who's like it's naive. It'll do good And so I asked Quinn it was there anybody in that directors group. He goes. Yes. There was one Katherine Bigelow she was the one who was championed and said this is something new and different. No one else was saying that But that's pretty amazing, right? That's super amazing. It's really, and I would have forgotten it if I had not written it down. So there's a lot of films that slip through the cracks

for whatever reason, or they don't get received. You know what I saw recently that I fucking loved? The Monkey. Did you see The Monkey? The Monkey, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a Stephen King book that or maybe might be a short story It was a short story one of it was adapted It's fucking fun man. I watched with my youngest daughter loves horror movies. We watched a lot of horror movies together and

We were you know looking for something the other night. We're like alright. Let's take a chance on this had no idea what it was Watch the trailer. I'm like you win She's like, okay. This is good. So it's fucking chaos. It's such a chaotic insane hyper violent movie and but funny and just You know kind of scary it was really good man It was fun was like a classic what I really love about the early Stephen King work Like his early work was like that's it. Here's one that fell through the cracks like and I was there at Sony when we were doing Mariachi desperado when this movie came out. I remember the marketing team said we have a really great movie

Unfortunately, no one's gonna see it because of the title. So what is it called Shawshank Redemption? Oh my god, and it bombed what? Oh Shawshank Redemption bomb Oh my God. And it bombed. What? Oh, Shawshank Redemption bombed. What? It was a bomb. How? Nobody went to see it. It's called Shawshank Redemption.

And what the hell, is the guy's in prison? Nobody went to see it. And there's the Sony marketing. They just couldn't get anybody to go see it. Wow. But history gets rewritten. Now again, you can be Frank Darabont and be like really down.

But fortunately, he didn't have to wait 10 years. As soon as it got to video, it became a phenomenon on video. And now it's considered if you go on IMDb, it's always neck and neck with The Godfather is the best movie of all time. As a movie nobody saw. So again, look, don't blink. Commit to a body of work. You may make a classic, it might be the thing and you're not going to hear about that for 10 years. Just keep going. Don't let it... Don't let it make you question your instincts, because your instincts... I would have never guessed Shawshank was a failure.

There's a lot of movies that are like... Incredible. That was a time when people could, um, really get a second life on video. Now it's different with streaming and all that. Look at this. Opening night to see the audience to view their film, Darabont and Glotzer went to the Cinerama Dome and found no one there

Oh my god. Oh my god imagine just like I thought I thought you know as an artist you're gonna be going I must be wrong I must have just don't have that's clearly a fault of the marketing. No, it's also just I'm blaming them Yeah, I mean because if anyone showed up they would have gone and screamed it to everybody else Sometimes it's just it's just the way it goes. Mmm. It's just it's supposed to go that way No, I'm gonna tell you an alternate one that there's a movie called body parts with a guy named Jeff Fahey I loved that movie body parts. Well, Eric read he did the hitcher He did you would never hear about it because the timing of it.

And Jeff Fahey was a big Jeff Fahey fan. I remember in the early 90s, I kept going. I was at my mother-in-law's, and across the street was a dollar theater showing Body Parts. I'd go every night at 7 PM. I'd go for a dollar. It was at the second run. I'd watch it just to hear how an audience responds to it. And he was just great in it.

I just felt a connection to this guy. I go, I wish I was making movies because that would work with this guy. He's really a cool actor. What is this about? It's about a guy who gets in a car accident, loses his arm, and he's given the arm of a killer just to kind of just replace him.

But suddenly he starts doing things. Oh, I remember this. Okay, so anyway. That's the same dude that was Lawn Mower Man. Yeah, he was in Lawn Mower Man too. another this should have been something that you know was it for him, but This week it came out They just caught Jeffrey Dahmer like the week before so they pulled back on the marketing completely And so he didn't get that boost his career, but but the silver lining they asked the key in the ashes was me. I saw it

every night So when I went to do grind house, he retired from acting he was in afghanistan I asked for him to send a tape. Yeah, he was working doing work out there. What kind of work? I remember some kind of you know, like helping people stuff Um, he sends me a tape and so I hired my him to be in it. And because he was in that movie, in fact, I'd already hired Michael Bean. And I went, Oh, shit, Jeff sent me a thing. God, Jeff's great, too. I'll just make them brothers. So they play brothers in greenhouse. Because he did that movie, he got lost. That show lost. He got he just his whole career

came back. So we're talking about it. I just recently was telling a man it just came out on 4k. You got to come see you probably never seen it. So we were talking about it. I just recently was telling him, man, it just came out on 4K. You gotta come see, you've probably never seen it. He goes, I never seen the finished movie. And I said, you're great in it. I was showing him some scenes, it was blowing his mind. He goes, yeah, this movie didn't do well. I remember now why,

because the Jeffrey Dahmer thing just went, that's just how it's supposed to go. But I saw it and that's why I hired you. And that's how you got that second career later on. Because I was there every night because it was in the Dollar Theater so quick. I wouldn't have been able to afford it any other way. So that's how weird shit happens, right? It's so cool.

It makes you see that you don't, it's just sometimes that's just how the balls roll, you know? It's just all interconnected. Yeah, somehow it's interconnected. And you have to trust the process. You just have to trust the process. I had someone in the audience recently, I was talking about brass knuckle films, and getting everybody all stirred up about it.

And one gal goes, you're real positive, but do you have any doubts? I was like, I wonder if I'd asked that question before. So whenever I don't have an answer, I'll ask them first. What do you guys think? How would you answer that? They ask you, do you have doubts? Do you have human doubts?

Everyone has doubts. Okay, so... It's what you do with them. Right. You let your doubts overwhelm you, or do you take them into consideration? Like, are these doubts valid? Right, like I...

And what do I have to do to make sure that these fears don't manifest themselves as reality? I have to do extra work? Do I have to work harder? Do I have to be more objective? Right. You know. I have to do extra work. Do I have to work harder? We have to be more objective, right? You know you have to you have to take into consideration than anything you're gonna do that's gonna be exciting also carries the possibility of risk and the risk of failure is a Thing that keeps a lot of people from acting. So if you're gonna commit to a body work and not blink you gotta be well

You know, you don't have to worry about that stuff. There's a Jiu Jitsu expression. A lot of people use it in MMA as well. You don't lose, you learn. Yeah, so if you know that's the process, this is my answer, I said no, I don't have any doubts. Because I like to be counterintuitive. Yeah, your process is long.

The thing is long. It's not a sprint. You're not running to a telephone pole. You're running to the other side of the world. Right. Yeah. So I tell them, no, I don't have any doubts. Just to be counterintuitive.

And I say why. Because if you understand the process, why should you have a doubt? You might fail, but it might be four rooms. If you have an instinct to go there, or you don't know how you're going to do it, what's half the battle? Not knowing.

That's what magic is. I don't have to know. I'm going to what's half the battle? Not knowing, that's where magic is. I don't have to know. I'm gonna figure it out when I'm almost done. You know, all those things come together. Risk averse early on and it becomes a pattern and it's very hard to break out of. And I always tell them, find something that you can have success in.

Find something that you enjoy doing. It doesn't have to be a career. It could be a game that you enjoy playing. It could be anything, painting, writing. It could be a game that you enjoy playing. It could be anything painting, writing. It could be a thing that you love it, you'll probably you will have success at it. Yes, yes, I'm sure you were drawing to you know, in school, I would be drawing all day in school, I'd make these flip cartoon books in the sides of the dictionaries,

paper dictionaries, flip cartoon movies, that get the dictionary, this biggest and fattest and make these very elaborate stick figure Animations and everyone in class loved him and I'd be like I'm gonna be broke I can't pay attention to class. I used to do cartoons of the teachers in high school. Yeah, and everybody loved them Yeah, I passed them around the class and I got in trouble a bunch of times for it And one time I had this science teacher. Mr. Holman, and Mr. Holman was very odd, very eccentric guy. And so I drew a cartoon of him behind his screen. So he had a screen

that he pulled down where he could show like films. And then when he pulls the screen up, he had no idea that on the chalkboard I had written, I had drawn this cartoon of him and the whole fucking class starts laughing like power the pen yet back Yeah, my first introduction to being a comedian Yeah, it was very satisfying but did you think you were gonna make a career out of that? No, of course No, you think I was thinking oh my god. I'm gonna be so broke. I can't understand what they're talking about I'm way behind. Yeah, and I'm not the best artist So it's not like I'm gonna like I'm some protege or something.

So I'm fucked. But that's ended up being my career, was just doing that stuff, because you love it so much. So I ask people, if you want to find what you're passionate about, what is that thing that you run off to do on the weekend? I was always going to make movies, and I was doing that. Once you're done punching the clock all week,

what is it that you go run to? That's probably your passion. Put more effort into that, and you'll actually find success doing it. 100%. You put stuff together, suddenly opportunities are going to fall in your lap. And if that's not it, at least you'll have learned that you could follow this process to get good at something or get really deeply involved in something and you can apply that

to other things. It might be a new thing that you get excited about. So this is what I applied it to because I've forgotten this lesson which was Just say you're this person stop aspiring right our words We use are so powerful if you say well, you know, I'm probably not gonna be successful. That's your lot in life You just you just did that. Yeah self-defining. So I had a friend of mine. I Mean like I I always hated working out. I didn't follow any sports, didn't know sports in high school. They go, we need you.

It's a small school. We need you on the team. You look tall and everything. You play basketball, but I don't know how to play any of these things. I hate working out. There's a line in the faculty that I gave to Elijah Wood. Cause that was my line to teachers when they'd make me want to run and go, I don't think a person should run unless he's being chased. And they would leave me alone.

But I hated it. And so then I became a filmmaker. Oh, when I was a cartoonist, my back kept going out. Nineteen, I'm like, I have a cane, and my back would be out for like a month, because I would sit... Oh, wow. ...kitchen table dry,

and I was so tall that it was just, it would throw my back out. I would just, disc would go out. And then when I started filmmaking, every year, it would just go out like clockwork. So I'm operating the camera, I'm operating the steady cam. And when I was doing, you know, Spy Kids 2, I think, with Ricardo Montalban, had a bad back

that he got surgery and it fucked him up. And he was in a wheelchair, he was paralyzed. So he's in a wheelchair and I'm with a walker because my back went out and he goes, Robert, I'm 84 years old, what's your excuse? You gotta work out Robert. He was always in shape, Ricardo. That chest in Star Trek II, that's his chest.

Yeah, God. I know, and he was in his late 60s, or his mid 60s. They fused his spine, is that what they did? Yeah, they did something and fucked him up. God damn it. So, I go okay, yeah. Every time I hear a story like that, I wish I could talk to that guy before he did that.

I know. And he went to a good place, but they just hit something wrong. They fucked him up. It happens to so many people. So I go, okay, I don't want that to happen to me. But I don't know how to work out. So the next year I worked with Stallone.

Slash Stallone. I gotta get in shape because my back keeps going out. I don't like to work. Get the trainer. Anyone you ever seen in Hollywood who got in shape, they had a trainer. What about you? Oh, I need a trainer is get the a trainer anyone you ever seen in Hollywood got in shape. They had a trainer Yeah, what about you? Oh, I need a trainer. You need a trainer. Well, then if you need a trainer, mr. Rocky That's what chance to us mortal men have so I hired a trainer and guess what happened hated it hated it

I hide from the guy you come to my house. I pay him not to show up. I'd hate it I'd hide I'd hide I'd be I'd call in sick and then when you think when he did get me I'd be like half-assed in it. I'd hide. I'd hide. I'd call in sick. And then when he did get me, I'd be like half-assed in the workouts, you know? Because I hated it. And then one year, it was just torture. I knew I had to do it, but... So this is my point, is that sometimes it's not

a lack of desire. So when people really want to become something and they're not getting it, it's not because they have to change their minds. There's something that goes with it. Desire, you have plenty of desire. I was paying this guy. I wanted to get in shape. There's something that goes with it. I have plenty of desire. I was paying this guy. I wanted to get in shape. I didn't want my back going out anymore.

I had the desire. I was missing out on the key element that I figured out. And it's a lesson I already knew, which was stop aspiring, but I forgot it. So this woman, a friend of mine from Mexico, shows up. She's a production manager. I have to stop smoking. My doctor said I have to stop smoking or I'm gonna die. I've been smoking since I was eight years old.

I said, well, you're gonna go back to smoking because you just told me that's your identity. You've been doing this since you were eight. So right now you're a smoker who's not smoking. Eventually, you're gonna conform to their identity. You have to change your identity. You have to say, I'm a nonsmoker. I'm a nonsmoker.

Because what does a nonsmoker do? He hates smoke. He gets sick of the smell of smoke. She was like, okay, I'll try it. I don't know what happened to her, I'm a nonsmoker. I'm a nonsmoker. Because what does a nonsmoker do? He hates smoke. He gets sick of the smell of smoke. She was like, OK, I'll try it. I don't know what happened to her, but I thought... The voice is killing me. The voice is killing me. She really talks like that. So then I go, wait, man.

Shit, I used to apply to filming, but that's all I was back there. Where else in my life can I do a 180? And it's got to be a 180. Because if it's just matter of degrees, it's bullshit. Yeah. It's much easier if it's just battered degrees, it's bullshit. Yeah. It's much easier if it's just opposite day.

So I went, oh my God, working out. I hate working out, of course I hate working out. Because I tell my trainer and everyone who'll listen how much I hate it. I'm an athlete. Ooh. I'm an athlete. The last thing I would ever call myself, Mr. Cartoon Guy.

Wow. I'm an athlete. By the next day, what does an athlete do? Loves to work out, makes time to work out, eats right. And it's gotta be opposite dates, much easier. One goes to lay on the couch and they just kind of, no, I'm gonna go work out. Or there's a donut, not gonna cut it in half

and eat half, that's bullshit. Those degrees fuck you up. Opposite day, there's a donut, no. I'm gonna reach for an apple. Not only was I able to work out, this was 14 years ago, I didn't need a trainer again, ever. I would just be like making myself do it because I'm an athlete.

That's how powerful the mind is. So I'm saying if someone says, I wanna go do this thing on the weekend, you might have the desire, but you've gotta get the identity too. You've gotta say you are that. And it sounds a little awkward. Like I asked somebody, Alex Friedman, I said, do you consider yourself a creative person? And

he went, well, you know, you guys, that's a good impression. I said, you're stuttering there, man. You're stuttering, you're stuttering. He goes, I know, I know. No, no, no, you got to say, are you technical? And he goes, yeah. Okay. You're technical and creative. That was the first thing that stuck in my ear. It's also what Jim Cameron is. It's also what George Lucas is. Technical and creative. When I first had my first job, my dad

had a friend who owned a Photoshop. And he said, go work for my friend Mario for your summer job when I was 16. Went to work for Mario processing film for photos. And he gave me a camera and film and said, go home and take pictures with this, because I need you to know how to use that camera so you can help me sell the cameras so I went home and I'm from a family of nine kids

ten kids nine siblings taking all these pictures of them doing cool stuff go back he looks at the pictures and he goes whoa these are really creative you're creative you got to now learn how to be technical because most creative people always need technicians and technicians always need creative people. Now it's against, it's just a gift you have. They can never really be creative, they'll just be technical, but because you have creativity, if you apply yourself, it's against your nature,

but if you apply yourself and learn the technical part, you'll be technical and creative, and you'll be impossible, and be unstoppable. And I was like, whoa, unstoppable, 16, you'll see. What a great advice. I know, sometimes, whoa, unstoppable, 16. He goes here. What great advice. I know, sometimes I'm going to ask you about who did that for you. Who was, because if you look at all the different turning

points in your life, there was probably somebody who sent you in a direction. It comes through him. Because if I were to go back and ask that guy, hey, that advice you gave me, he'd be like, what? I didn't remember saying that. Kind of just came through him. Because if I were to go back and ask that guy, hey, that advice you gave me, he'd be like, what? I didn't remember saying that. I just came through him at the time.

So he pointed me that way. And that's why I went and made him a ratchy by myself. I didn't want to take anybody because I wanted to learn. I didn't know how to use that camera. But if you go ask somebody to do it for you, your I need list, if you make a list of all the things you need before you can make your dream happen, the longer that list is, the less that's gonna happen.

You gotta reduce it down to nothing. Me, my hands, my bootstraps, this camera, I'm gonna figure it out on the day. Be technical and creative. So I told Lex, now you gotta own it. When I say, are you creative? He goes, yeah, I'm creative. And I'm technical and I don't blink.

I'm gonna create a body of work. He's like, walks out of there super charged. Lex needs a guy like you in his life all the time. He's too self-deprecating. He's such a brilliant guy. And it's nice to be self-deprecating is kind of a joke. But the words you use in yourself are very powerful. He beats himself up.

The words you use, and you're doing that to yourself. The guy throwing cabbages at you on stage, look close, that's fucking, it's you. You're doing that to yourself. You're the one who's like, you do that to yourself with your words. He'll make like Twitter posts about how down he is, and I wanna go over to his house

and fucking shake him like a baby. Yeah dude, you're down, you're gonna stay down. I have this theory called baseline. I taught this to my kids, and we just laugh about it. Okay, when shit fucks up, but shit's not going right, don't be down about it. Don't feel like you're in a slump, because now you just stuck yourself in a grave,

and it's going to be hard to climb out. When shit isn't going right, oh, tires flat. Oh, I got fired. I call that baseline. You're a baseline. Anything above baseline, like this right now. We're here having this great talk. This is way above baseline. I'm on the Joe, we're here having this great talk. This is way above bassline.

I'm on the Joe Rogan show. So, way above bassline. Celebrate that shit. Because it's not always there. Don't say that you're going to go down. You're just going to go to bassline. It's much easier to accept, and then you're not in a negative position. You're just kind of at a normal. I'm at a normal, and I'll really appreciate when anything above bassline happens.

My daughter and I are about to go play an arena show She's gonna sing I'm gonna play with my band. I told her way above baseline. We're gonna get a nice hotel We're gonna really celebrate this because this shit doesn't always happen and when everything is going really really wrong Baseline only when things are really down. Would you call yourself low and you don't want to do that Otherwise, you'll stay there for a much longer time. If you're just at baseline, that's just life. Oh yeah, I tried to go make that movie and it didn't work. Baseline, baseline.

That's such solid advice. It's really, it's mindset. It's all mind. It's all stuff you're doing to yourself. Yes. And these are things I like to pass on to people because when they come back and give it back to me, I don't know if you'd give your kids advice,

Liz, you learn it, because you learn so much. You've got the best job in the world. You're learning all day. I bet you don't know if it'd give your kids advice as you learn it, because you learn so much. You've got the best job in the world. You're learning all day. I bet you don't know if it's going to stick with them. I was shocked how much stuff not only sticks, but they come back and they feed it back to me. Oh, yeah. Dad, it's just like you taught me.

They also learn by watching you do it. Oh, yeah. I've seen you move through the world. Yeah, if you're the dad and you're making all these films, you're doing all this, you're involved, you have action and you're making all these films. You're doing all this. You're involved. You have action. There's a lot of action. You're constantly in motion.

You're doing things, creating things. That's inspiring to them. They like absorb that. If you're down on yourself all the time. Oh yeah. They go, okay, that's life. And I gotta look, that's gonna happen to me. Or you can reject that and be the opposite.

Like I have a friend and his family was alcoholics He's never had a drop of drinking in his life, and he's like super disciplined because of that I'll tell you my secret. I've never done drugs none none nothing never you don't even drink coffee You were saying I don't even coffee you were telling that story because it's so hilarious Friend of mine was named he was working at the Sony when I first got there for Mariachi. And I was like, this kid, and there are people my age who are assistants. And he was like, falling asleep at his desk. And I'm like, why are you falling asleep?

And he goes, I'm trying to get off coffee. And I was like, oh my God, I'm never going to get off coffee. I want those guys getting their hooks in me. And then over the years, he's like Starbucks showing up. Everybody's like zombies going in there having to get on coffee Like I want those guys getting their hooks in me and then over the years He's like Starbucks showing up when everybody like zombies going in there having to get their coffee went as I drink some right now marketing No, it's it's it's made to be addictive like nicotine and all that Oh, and then your buddy can't create that and already why I already stay up for days as it is You know, I don't want to anything like that. Do you really I can say I just I just did this What's your favorite workout music mine? Yeah tank land just I just did this uh, what's your favorite workout music mine? Yeah, I just did a

Little classic stuff like Van Halen is a bit I said a music video for Wolfgang Van Halen and We shot in two days and I was up two days cutting it cuz I just wanted to see what was gonna happen next Two days not two days. I was just like I want to see what happens next You don't even notice my shoulders getting all fucked up And I'm like, what's wrong with my shoulder? Did I pull a muscle and do some shrugs or something? I was like, I went back to sit in that chair. I was like, oh, because I've been sitting like this

for two days, sitting just doing this. That's insane. But it's really cool. Don't you hit a point of diminishing returns where it's like you're so tired that you really will be better off sleeping? It's different with editing. Editing is a weird, I was thinking that as I was doing it, I go, I wish I could do this with writing,

where I could just write for two days straight. But your words will knock me out, put me to sleep after a while. Editing is just visual stimulus, and you're so excited. I kept going, okay, one more hour, one more hour, and you just can't stop. You just can't stop, because now you're seeing it. It came out so cool, it's gonna drop.

38 hours later. It's gonna drop like next week. It rips your head off. It's out so cool. It's going to drop. 38 hours later. It's going to drop like next week. It rips your head off. It's a great workout song for sure, but it's just really entertaining. That's incredible. The kid's talented. He does all the instruments himself.

Really? Yeah, he plays every instrument. He plays the drums, the bass, the guitar, sings, writes the songs. When he goes on tour, he takes this really great band with him because he can't play all the parts, but the album's his third album. He's working on his... He plays all the parts. But the album, this third album he's working on, is all, plays all the instruments. Super talented, really, really fun. But I like working with people who just do more

than other people. They just, they're just at that level and it's so inspiring and inspires you. It's fuel. Yeah, definitely fuel. That's why I always tell people, if you can surround yourself with other people that are really getting after it in life,

it will 100% motivate completely a different way Instead of having that procrastination feeling you get up excited you have to and it's like, you know Your parents tell you careful your peers are you're younger because it means one thing Oh, yeah But later even more like when I started going to the film festival and there's Quentin and then I meet Jim Cameron And you meet like George Lucas. It's like you can't hang with these guys if you're not accomplishing something right so then when they say hey What are you up to? Well? I'm down in Texas and I got my own studio and I'm pioneering digital filmmaking and green screen technology

I want to make the first digital 3d movie. They go. Oh, okay cool God I gotta be doing something that's a great one But still compared to what they're doing, you know, when I first made Jim Cameron. Yeah, but it still looks exciting. When I first made Jim Cameron, that's why you don't wanna be around people who you're the best. You're better, you know.

Right. You wanna be the one that they're swinging higher than you. Yes, yes, yes. So surround yourself with those people and do something so that they let you hang with them, but you wanna learn. Like here's to Jim Cameron, for instance, when I met him. I really wanted to impress the hell out of him.

So I said, I'm about to go do Desperado and I can't afford a Steadicam operator. So I took a three day Steadicam course and I'm going to operate it myself on the movie. I'm going to operate the Steadicam, that big beast of a camera. And he went, I bought a Steadicam, but not to operate it. I'm going to take it apart and design a better one.

So I was like, that's completely who he is. Us mere mortals are like trying to operate the thing. He's designing whole new systems. And if you think of it, that's very consistent with who he is. That's the person you wanna hang out with. Not someone, the guy that said, oh, me too, I'm doing the same thing.

Didn't he go to the bottom of the Mariana Trench or some shit in the summary that he designed? It's only, yeah, it's on his desk desk It's like this big on his desk this green machine and I was looking at it going like Weren't you afraid I mean, I've got kids and wife you've got kids and a wife. What you afraid of going down that deep and happening he's like no, I Said why not? Oh I designed the escape vehicle.

If any other bozo had done it, I'd be afraid. Because he did it. He had all the confidence in the world. Talk about Simon and no doubt. No doubt. That's so insane. Is that hilarious? That's so insane.

That's him, though. It's like, yeah, if someone else had designed the escape vehicle, I'd be afraid. But no, I did it. So he didn't have no pause at all. That's so crazy. So that's kind of confidence that does look people you want to hang out with yeah that's a change in your genius it changes your perception in life and by osmosis you pick up I call it this proximity

phenomenon yeah you're just near I took a painting class with a Sebastian Kruger a painter in Germany as well as class that he gives for a week and went I'm gonna go do that class. Not to learn how to paint so much. I know I'll be a better director by learning paint because it's that another way into creativity. Again, you just wanna get better at creativity. So just do as many jobs as you can

that you're interested in. Because if you just do one job, you barely know that job. You have to do all these other ones to kind of inform it. So I went out there, he doesn't teach you anything. He just paints. I'll show you the examples before and after. Just by, I thought for sure, I did a pre-painting before we went out there.

It looks like crap. I went, I don't know what brushes he's using and the kinds of paints. It's a different method. I know he must have some trick. I go and he's painting this amazing Mick Jagger photo reel in front of us. And we all can paint alongside him.

I go, what paint are you using? It's regular paint. What brushes are you using? Regular brushes. How come I can't do that? I go back and suddenly it's a different painting. I'm gonna try one more, it's more photo real. When I show it to you, it's gonna blow you away.

It looks like, I dropped the brush, I was like, holy shit. It's cause I finally given myself permission to do it. Because you have the ability, but you're blocking it cause you go, I don't know. I don't know, there's something I've finally given myself permission to do it. Because you have the ability, but you're blocking it because you go, I don't know. I don't know. There's something I don't know. So again, you're just chopping off your own leg. And by being around somebody who's doing it at that level,

suddenly you can do it too. It's like breaking the M field. Like as soon as I made Mariachi, no one had ever done anything like that. Suddenly there's 10, 12, 13 movies made, very low budget, because they go, oh, it's possible. Now suddenly you can do it too. And when's in the room when you're right near it it's just a phenomenon that you can just glean off them without them teaching you

anything just by being around and seeing how they move through the world and seeing they've accomplished and that they're regular people that are just accomplishing at a high level it just blows your mind. That's really important in stand-up comedy. Yeah right. this conversation last night in the green room. We were talking about this area of the country that's falling apart, and I was like, comedy is top down, man. You have to have a bunch of assassins

all working together in the same location. They all feed off each other, and then all the people coming up below, they see that. They see these young guys that are coming up. They see these people working really hard and constantly creating and hustlingling doing all these different sets and Constantly working on new material and they get inspired by and then you see these guys get Netflix specials and do it It's all happening at the club

So this club that we're doing in Austin is all about that process You know, like we have specifically designed it to have two open mic nights Sunday and Monday So new people people no experience get up there people from all across the country moving here Yeah, they could be a part of the process, but there's like a real path to success that you could see because Guys like Ron white are there guys like Shane Gillis are there Tony Hinchcliffe and and these young guys Derek Post and all these Young guys that are coming up that are like really exciting You know it's like it's really fun. There's like a vibe of Creativity that everybody feeds off. I love what you've built you've come here We know me like four years, and you've already like built this whole community

Well the cat could built itself man. It's it's the same thing. We were talking about before with instincts I have first of all I had the instinct to escape LA. I'm like this. I is not gonna change. It's gonna get worse. I gotta get the fuck out of here and Ron had already been here Ron was here in 2018 and Once my family was interested in doing it It was pretty easy because I I'm one of those guys like I just can just pick up stakes and go I'm like Okay, life is different now. Let's live in Texas. Like, I want that. I like change.

I like not having any fucking idea what's gonna happen. I'm excited by that. And so then once we got out here, and then Ron's like, we gotta open up a club. Okay, we gotta open up a club. And so then I started looking for locations, and luckily, The Ritz was available. Wow, that's right.

We either had, we did, I'd been under contract for this one world theater that was owned by Colt. Oh right, I remember that one. That fell apart. There's a lot of issues. Ritz is cool, it's right down there with all the light bulbs. Oh, the Ritz was the perfect spot.

When the Ritz was available, it was like, oh my God, this is it. And then we walked in and it was still the Alamo, so it was like set up for a movie theater with like the angle, slope seating. And then we had to change everything, but I'm like, this is it. And then I started bringing in other comics to help me. I'm like, what would you do? And Louis CK came and he was like, I think you should make the stage smaller. Make the stage smaller. I think you should make the ceiling lower. Make the ceiling lower. Like, so we were able to do

whatever we wanted to do and design the club from scratch just for comics and Once everybody knew that it was happening people just start moving here man. So it's not bill that they will come It really was like that, but it was it was like the universe wanted it to happen and I say that it sounds so Self-important, but I know it's like I believe that it's just you you're stumbling upon so many things had to happen in This order for it to happen this way and then you had to have someone who's like me Who's accustomed to just going by instinct? Yeah, and I've always done that. I always my whole life. I'm like fuck it Let's do this. I'm like, that's what I do. And so when this came up, I'm like, okay Well, you're not gonna stop doing what you do now. Don't be a pussy. that's what I do. And so when this came up, I'm like, OK, well, you're not going to stop doing what you do now.

Don't be a pussy. This is what you do. You're going to throw a bunch of money at this thing. Let's make this happen. And tell everybody you're doing it. And call all your friends in LA. And call all your friends in New York. And come on down, man.

We're making this happen. Wow, wow. I tell people that after Mariachi, it's like I never thought I could get into the industry because I didn't live in LA and you need contacts and all that, so I just, you know, again, I made a practice film, but then when it got bought and it was getting released,

and it won Sundance, my practice film, I thought, I don't have to move to LA, but they won't even know I'm not there. Between that airplane flight and FedEx, I'll just stay here in Austin. So for the past, you know the past 35 years people are like, why do you live in Austin? I don't understand. It's like now they're all moving here. But it's because you could just think outside of the box here. So yeah, I would tell people,

filmmakers who all thought they needed to move to LA, stay where you are. Build up your community around you. We built this amazing community of filmmakers here. All they made here were Westerns before that. Suddenly I was making Spy Kids, Sin City, you know, these crazy movies that really changed. The ripple effects to the whole community is huge because you're changing the workforce. And so you just, by doing that thing, and it's like, it is like an instinct, it's like it's pre-planned, it's like it's pre-laid out.

I tell my artists, when you come to my house, you're gonna feel it. You'll feel like these connections. And I go, I think we realize we're not that smart. We're not smart enough to predict all that stuff. I think we've lived this life many times before, and we forget a lot of it. So we have a barely impression of what we're supposed to do.

But it's because we did it 1,000 times, and we forgot it each time. Like a dream when you wake up from a dream. That might be true. Because you wake up from a dream, and you go,. Because you wake up from a dream and you go, I was a filmmaker in that dream and I had five kids. That's what it's going to be like when our life is over. You'll wake up and it'll be like your past lifetime just

goes away and then you go start again. And only now you're a fish or something. But I had this thought, wow, what if I wake up and I can barely remember the dream? And that's it. Because it feels like sometimes you feel like you can predict the future but not like you can predict it It's what you recognize it once it happens like oh, yeah, this is this is right How did I know to go this way? I didn't on purpose like you said I didn't set all the all the things that needed to fall into place or two

Coincidental what is that about? So that's why I move even more just just follow your instinct follow your instinct even if it sounds bonkers Follow it and if it fails keep going because that might be your four rooms or something Just keep that really is an important piece of advice to do if you're outside of a hive of like-minded thinking you could When you're outside of that you can think on your own go another way. Yeah You I mean it's like high school you go back to that, you can think on your own. Go another way. Yeah. I mean, it's like high school. You go back to that, you know, someone famously leaves high school and goes off to college and goes off to see the world. And they come back to their old hometown

and they find their old friends still driving the same streets. That's LA. Yeah. They're still doing the same shit the same way. And you just went off the reservation and discovered the whole world. Their opinions are only based on what's popular. It's like you were talking about pulp fiction. Yeah. Like before they're like what the fuck is

this? And then they're like oh my god. Now we got to make something like this. Let's make Dustle Dawn. Yeah. Like that's what it is. Like they don't their opinions are bullshit. It's like it's all just based on they lick their finger and they find out which way the wind's blowing and that's how they think. And that's how they are politically. That's how they are socially. That's how they are socially, that's how they, it's like they're nonsense people. And you gotta get away from that. Get away and just create your own thing.

The problem with comics is that we all got trapped in the velvet prison of television. Right, right. So television's the velvet prison. The real art form is what we do on stage. That's what everybody really loves. What do you mean by being on television? You mean like sitcoms?

Yes. Okay, okay. Because right now it seems like it's come back the other way. So many comics have such great, like Netflix specials are massive. Yes. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Where it's basically them doing standard, but they've got a huge audience now. Exactly. Well, what happened was the internet came along and a bunch of unconventional people became very famous on the internet without the help of Hollywood. True, right. of unconventional people became very famous on the internet without the help of Hollywood. People that the Tim Dillons of the world that don't fit into this television box, but when

you get them on the internet and they can get buck wild like, oh my God, then they have this massive following, the Theo Vons, all these different people that have this very unconventional approach that for whatever reason wouldn't fit in. They couldn't host the tonight show Right, but you know once they get on their own and that now they develop these like there's more arena acts now for stand-up comedy Than ever before in the history of comedy. Wow. Yeah, that's amazing. Yeah, I mean not even close I mean the the only arena act in the like the 1980s was Andrew Dice Clay So first it was Steve Martin

Then it was Andrew Dice and Steve Martin kind of decided that the popularity of it all was so confusing to him that everything that he Said was funny and it didn't make any sense. It didn't feel and he stopped doing comedy I stopped doing stand-up, which you have a he had a very different kind of stand-up anyway He played the banjo and he sang songs and so Dice comes along and Dice Clay is selling out arena. It's like the first comedian ever to do that and then later in the 2000s it was Dane Cook because Dane Cook figured out how to use MySpace and developed this gigantic following online. Same kind of thing and so then when by the time the pandemic hit I was like we don't need to be

in LA. We're not going to be on TV. The only reason why we're in LA is the Comedy Store. And the Comedy Store is closed for the next fucking year and a half because these idiots that are running the city. And we came to Texas. And once we're out here, I was like, Oh, this is so much better. Because now instead of being around these Hollywood people that don't really have opinions, they just go which whatever way the breeze is going now. You're hanging out with regular folks Yeah, like regular people cut people that are cops and firemen and auto repair guys. You're just

Humans. Yeah, so all the people I interact with are just normal humans What I always loved about living. Oh, this is like we're in any filmmakers here so much better Yeah, it's infinitely better nicer. Yeah, Everyone's way better. You get a lot more done. I was cranking. Sometimes I'd have two movies out a year. I would be making so fast because I just had a studio where it's like, let's just make more stuff. There also has to be something cool feeling about doing it on your own, away from the hive. Way better, way better. That's why it's like I try to create original franchises. Because if you go direct one of the James Bonds,

you're one of the James Bond director. But if you create your own franchise, like a Spike, it feels so much better. Right. When that's successful and someone says, wow, I read that movie, you go, oh, I did that voice. Floop is a man, man, help us save us. That's you, oh my God, I grew up with that.

It's like, oh yeah, it's a homemade movie. So it's much more gratifying. And yeah, you did the right thing by moving out. One movie that seemed like it could be a franchise is Alita. Oh yeah, we wanna do another one for sure. For sure. It was part of a graphic novel series.

Yes. You gotta come to my studio. That whole set. I want to go. That city is still in my parking lot. Really? 20 foot ceilings, seven streets. It's like the largest standing set in the country, if not the world.

Can I come home Friday? Can I go Friday? Come Friday. You're not gonna believe what's here. Okay, we're in. And you're gonna go like, okay, because I'm putting you in a movie. Okay.

Because talking about what you just said about how people are different here, I just started a new label. Like the label I gave myself, I'm an athlete. When you create a label, it's a business thing too. It gives, what a label is is a filter. So I'm doing an action slate so that already you get a bunch of ideas because it's just action. An action slate of four pictures, it's called

brass knuckle films. And you're going to be in the first one because I'm going to direct the first one. I've already got what it is. I'll show you. It's a great part for you. You're going to come to the studio and I'll tell you about it. Okay. But breast-knuckle films is cool because it's the first time that it's an investable film slate. So fans can invest in a movie. They get perks and stuff, but it's not crowd sourcing or crowdfunding. Like you can get killed in the movie if you put in a certain amount of investment. But that's cool about it. I just want the audience to win because audience is an afterthought. Like you say, you go to the studios and the people in Hollywood and you go

They barely even watch movies and then you can meet the real audience and they're so into it. They're so Behind it's like where's your cut of it? Studios only show up to an audience at the end when they want you to go get your friends to come Spend money on their overpriced movies. So I'm gonna do this thing where even at $250, the lowest level, you put into this thing any of the four movies, one of which I'm gonna direct for sure, producing all of them there at Troublemaker to keep the cost down so they go to profit sooner, any one of these movies success, you you share in that success all the way through sequels. And for even the 250 bucks, anyone who

puts money in, you get to have that proximity effect, because we have a whole group together. That's such a great idea. And everybody gets to pitch their action movie idea. And I'm committed to making at least one of the movies on the slate from the fan investor's idea. So not only will you be an investor, but you'd be a creator. So we're almost already topped out.

We're going to hit our, we still have 20 days left, and it's going gonna surge again. We're gonna raise like 1.5 million development funds and we're, yeah, we're almost at a million already. 22 days left. So I'm telling everybody who's listening, come in at the lowest level. Just be part of our community because people who come here get proximity. And the lowest level is five bucks. 250 bucks. 250 bucks. 250 bucks, but you know, you make that back on success of any of the movies.

That's awesome. And it just hedges your bets. And it's just action, because there's always an appetite for action. Like if you ask Netflix right now, what kind of movies do they need? They'll say, action, action, action. We don't have enough action.

Of sure. And internationally, so we're going to make the thing that people always buy and they're also really fun to make and you're going to be perfect in it. I want to bring you back to Frazetta. Oh yeah. Because this is the thing that I wanted to pitch this to Quentin and maybe I could pitch this to you. Sure.

Somebody needs to make a real Conan the Barbarian. Yeah. A real Conan the Barbarian that's like the Robert E. Howard books. Yeah. The real Conan the Barbarian. The a real Conan the Barbarian. That's like the Robert E Howard books Yeah, the real real car man doesn't because the Arnold ones are great. They're fun and Momoa I think is the best Conan of all time because he was that the guy what was his name in? Game of Thrones. I remember. Yeah, I carry a little dr. Yeah in He he's the most realistic of all Conan's. That's what Conan's supposed to look like. Yeah.

It didn't look like a bodybuilder. He looked like a fucking super fit assassin. Yeah. Just a sword. From the mountains of Samaria. Yeah. But the books. Books are awesome.

They're fucking awesome. And it's right up your alley. It's about, the barbarian is actually the one who's got code. Yes. And who has morality. Yes. And all the bigwigs are the one who's got code and who has morality. And all the bigwigs are the ones that are like fucking crooked and shit. Yeah, it's just so classic. The barbarians got caught. That guy was from Texas.

That guy, Robert E. Howard, was from Texas. Outside of Dallas, right? In fact, where I have a house where I made all these movies, it's in the land that he looked over and saw and said, that's Samaria, that's where Conan is from. So I always felt this connection. I wanted to do Conan. So I almost did a Conan movie. I even wrote Jim Cameron into wanting to do it.

Really? Where we're gonna do kind of like what we did with Alita. I said, dude, let's do a Conan movie and we'll make it look like the paintings. Technology wasn't there yet. And I ended up doing Sin City instead. I'd already written it was going to be three movies so he does different occupations. It's kind of built like a James Bond series you

know where you follow him on his different so it starts with him as a thief and the second movie is him as a Buccaneer mercenary and the third one is when he becomes king so the actor can grow with the role you know the way you know like you took Daniel Craig and started him casino. Well, by the end, he's no time to die. You got to get an actor who does the whole journey. So I had a whole trilogy. Mark out, go. No, it's Netflix had it. I went and pitched it to them and then they let the light rights laps like they had too much. Sometimes it's too much baggage for a character dude let me call them and let me get on a phone with Ted Sarandos go make it already yeah can you pull up for Zetta Kona and the usurper it's probably a painting called chain is that the one with the chains which don't was

it the one where he's a bunch of the he named him different than the books because of the copyright issue. So whatever is on the cover, you'll find the cover of it, but the painting itself might be have a different name. If you just pull up Frazetta Conan, because he did a bunch of them. So you'll love this. Yes, here we go. Chained, the barbarian, man ape.

The one when he's standing over the bodies with the sword pointed to the ground. That's called the barbarian. Yes, that's the one when he's standing over the bodies with the sword pointing to the ground. That's called the barbarian. Yes, that's the one. I remember seeing that when I was a kid because I was always into graphic novels and I was always into comic books and I saw that when I was a kid at a comic book store. I was probably like 11 years old and I was like, holy shit. That is the coolest fucking thing I've ever seen in my life. And it's still a comic, even today, it's a day.

He has this very triangular way of composing that tells a story. The posters still look like this. That fucking... Look at the one with the snake. Again, if you see the triangular design, your head goes immediately to the snake and then down to him. And it tells a whole story. I have a theory of why his art is the way it is.

Now, you know, I knew him. Did I tell you? Really? Okay. So when I first see you get to Hollywood, right? So I'm just this kid who's an artist. You get to Hollywood, first thing you want to do is work with all your heroes. So, dusk till dawn, I said, I want to work with Frazetta.

Because he used to do some movie posters, like the Gauntlet with Clint Eastwood, that Gauntlet when he did. Uh-huh. Look up the Gauntlet, Clint Eastwood, Frazetta. Um, and so I called him and he said, yeah, I'll do it. In fact, when I showed him the movie, he goes, where'd you find this gal? And I said, uh, yeah, that was for Zetta.

Yeah. He did that. So I wanted to get that for dust till dawn. Right. So he said, where'd you find this gal? And I wish I had a gal like that to paint. Go, why she's based on all your paintings. All the girl that's always in your paintings.

I made Salma dressed like that because it's a frizzetta come to life. He goes, oh, that's all you need on the poster. I go, well, you gotta draw the other actors. So when you come to the house, you'll see the painting he did. It was the year he got his first stroke. So it took him, by the time he, I got the painting, we'd already made posters. We thought, okay, it's not going to come. And then it showed up at the last minute, but we gave it away at comic book stores, you know, but it's really cool. But at the bottom of the painting, there's the, some of the actors, even paint Harvey could tell. He just like comic book stores, you know, but it's really cool But at the bottom of the painting there's the some of the actors even paint Harvey could tell he just like the other actors

Quentin and then instead of vampires, he just did his monkey dudes. He always does and it's really cool It's really cool but I got to know him and I got to go visit his studio because we kind of begins that similar mindset and I didn't realize he had all his originals. I see a little monkey dudes on the bottom. He had all his originals next to his house in his museum. Like all those that you were just looking at. They were all there.

I didn't realize as an illustrative artist, sometimes you don't own your own material. He made it a point to own his own originals. So like the ones you just were salivating over, those were in my house. I wish I knew you seven years ago. Because his kids. Oh my God.

His kids are so impassioned about the art, even his granddaughter, Sarah Frizzetta, she has Frizzetta Girls. This is, they're so always, you know, bringing up his legacy and keeping it alive. So cool. But I really wanted to go do like a Conan type movie or a John Carter. I wanted to do one based on Fire and Ice, which is the only one he had actually, it

was an animated film. I thought, well, maybe if Conan's been used too much, let's do Fire and Ice as a movie because he worked on that as an animated film. Let's just make his, I just want his paintings to move like I had Frank Miller's art move, one for Zeta's paintings to move because he was transporting us to another world that we all recognized If you could make that That Conan would make him look like that. Yeah, go go back to that photo again, Jamie that with the sword It's called the barbarian

you It's You could say that Conan's been done to me. No the one with the sword. Yeah that one. Yeah, they never seen it like that. Yeah But the thing is it's like look that's not a guy that's just like been in a gym, right? He looks like a he's been swinging a sword and cutting off technology. You can do that That's why I'd gotten Jim interested in something. Let's make him look like that. Yeah, it's like a made-up Even anatomy in a way, you know The books were so fucking good man, even though Conan's been done a bunch of times. It has never been done the right way No, it hasn't been done like the books and it's so ripe

Like you because there was done that way first like with with with Arnold in it people just figured Oh, we'll just hire a bodybuilder to be you know, a barbarian type creature character from then on but to do it really like that He's more like a James Bond character. He goes from movie to movie. Yes. And he's really fucking smart. Yes.

And he's just, no. But I got to meet Frazetta. So keep that up for a second. So I went to his, we talked about his paintings and how he did it. And I got a theory on how he did this. But when I went and saw the originals, like, holy shit, you got all the originals. How did you make the and he really loved to live life like you go play golf, you play

baseball, you get an assignment. And he'd wait till the last minute and go and paint it. So what happens when you wait till the last minute, you have to just open up the pipe and let it through, right? Yeah, I guess what we all know this place, you know, we know this place. Collectively, Jim Cameron would come over to my house. Del Toro, George Miller, John Fabro. To see these originals in person, when you see them in person, it blows your mind. It feels like you're being transported.

I think because he did them at the last minute, they just came from the universe. Because that's why people relate to them. People would just buy these paperbacks for the art. Yes. Conan was created in the 30s. Yeah. These books came out in the 60s. They didn't become a big hit till these books came out cause of the art.

Exactly. And then when you read the stories, the stories were really great, but they got them for the art. 100%. And he was showing me his layout of paintings and he went two days, one day, three days. Wow.

Four days, two days. I was like, holy shit. Just locked in. Just locked in. And it's just coming out. Because he had to, and his wife would say, yeah, his pain was still wet when I was taking it to get shipped because he would wait till the last minute. But these masterpieces would come out.

And I just was really inspired by him. So when he passed away, you know, his kids said, what should we do with the art? So let's make a movie based on the art because- Who's got this now? So different people. They've sold some of them. But the kids like if you go to Frank Jr. Frank Jr. still has the museum up there. He still has a lot of the masterworks. The kid, each kid has some of the masterworks. And they're all great. And then keeping his legacy going. And I want to make a movie about it just to get his name back up. You know, we're blown.

We were all inspired by him. Oh, so inspired. So what was so cool was- How did he find out about those books? I think it was just an assignment. And he would barely read the book. He would just be like, ah, he would just do his own thing. So they start putting the books out,

more mass publishing in the 1960s. So he does these illustrations. He does the paintings. They flying off the shelves. Flying off the shelves. Flying off the shelves. Because of the paintings. He does the paintings they flying off the shelves flying off the show Because of the paintings because the paintings wow those paintings and those books no matter even the best art book today When you see the original can it cannot capture what the original has you'll be blown away You gotta say I've got like 14 different for that is to get it comes

You're gonna. That's you're gonna especially as an illustrator you're gonna freak out we have one of all the masterworks We have one of the prints of go back to those images one the one that we have Jamie with the him with the giant gorilla Yeah, we have one of those where he's fighting the gorilla. He's on its back. He's got a red cape I'm gonna yeah, that's called man ape man ape. No, we just pan over to the left and it's on the left side I saw it. There it is. That's it it We have was in that was in my house. Oh Okay, so the real one real okay. So here's what happened We have that out by the kids table the kids said fucking cool. That is the kids said Can you take our paintings for us and show them to influential people because hurricane season is coming

They lived in Florida and we don't want anything to have they're insured but oh my god could be gone We oh my god, can you take it? I was like, fuck yeah, I'll take it to my house. So for a year and a half, I had these, not the barbarian one, you were just throwing with a sword stand, I had that one in my house. Oh, my God. So I would have everyone who came to South by Southwest

or was just in town, they'd come to my house and make them pizza, and we would just stare and drool over the frizzettas. Those inspire me so much as a kid to be an illustrator. Yeah. Those, the frizzetta paintings and some of the drawings from the graphic novels that people had made of these inspired me so much as a kid.

It's just, it was dream imagery. It's like you knew what dreams were. Fantasy. You know, it would just feel like we dreamt this too and recognized it. Yes. And every young kid wanted wanna oh, I wish I was Conan Yeah, you know skinny little kid and you're going like is that what I'm gonna view? Yeah, yeah, so I don't know if you read these books but they were based on this comics they were based on the books that would

Just translate the books There was a comics code. So based on the books that would just translate the books. There was a comics code. So the Conan, the barbarian comic had to follow the code. But then there's a black and white magazine called Savage Sword of Conan. Oh, I read those. They didn't have to follow the code. Right. That's why people would get killed.

And they would just, and right time is we just like take the book and put the book in several chapters. Yeah, they were brutal. They're really great. Yeah. That's what, so size grew up with that. Drawing out of that, learning how to draw anatomy from the Conan. The Marvel comics were fun, but they were.

This was still under Marvel, but it wasn't under the code because it was considered a magazine. That's what I'm saying. Like the Marvel comics were fun, but they weren't brutal enough. They weren't brutal because they had a comics code. Yeah. Cause they're comic sized by doing a magazine. Yes. They got around it.

See if you can find the savage sword of Conan. Yeah, the savage sword of Conan number one. There it is. Yeah, look at the one where he's nailed to the cross. That's Boris Vallejo. Oh, this is a great Frisetta story. He's another one. He came out later in the 70s, so this is a great Frisetta story.

Several of his paintings, when you see them, they're not very big a lot of times because they were for paperbacks, so they didn't have to be that big. But there were some like in the early 70s that were big Silver warrior at the Earth's core and I asked for Zetta. I said what was this era here? Because a lot of these were in the 60s. What's this? This these four bigger ones you didn't what was that for? He was oh they were saying I was washed up that was finished It's cuz Boris for the air was coming out. They're like, oh, they were saying I was washed up. That I was finished. It's because Boris Vallejo was coming out. They're like, oh, he's the new Fresenna.

So I did one, two, three, four beauties, shut them all up. That was so cool. That was incredible. Shut them all up. Shut them all up. Pull up Boris Vallejo Conan. Because Boris had a different style. It was like a little more.

And also you could feel sexual or something. But you could, you know, I love his art, but you could almost feel the model in it. You could almost see that there was a model he was painting from. What was very cool, but it was a different feeling. Frazetta was more raw. Very raw.

Boris Vallejo, it was great, though. I mean, he's doing the Frazetta style. I mean, you know, Frazetta was the Jimmy Page of art, so everybody wanted to be him. So everyone couldn't... You couldn't unsee Frazetta's work when you were doing your own work. I mean, this know, Frazetta was the Jimmy Page of ours. Everybody wanted to be him. So everyone couldn't, you couldn't unsee Frazetta's work when you were doing your own work. I mean, this is Man-Ape.

Yeah, he's doing Man-Ape again. He's doing Man-Ape in a different version of it. And you know, I drew a lot of things that were like that, like a different version of Frazetta stuff. Everybody did. But yeah, I was more of a Frazetta guy than a Boris Vallejo guy. I loved it.

It was great. I was happy that he was doing it. There's several, like the one where he's crucified to the cross on the bottom. That's pretty dope. That one's pretty dope. Oh, and the one on the far bottom left is the first issue of Savage Sword.

That one was really cool. Yeah, I thought that was cool. Yeah. But it doesn't come close to, you know. No, it's just, for Zetta just had a, it was more fantastical. I think it's because of that process. It was just the way he did him. Yes. There were just, there were just,

there's some magic to them. And I'll show you a couple of things that'll blow you away when you see them in person. But the in-person thing will really floor you. Just how much even the best books cannot capture the art as it exists. I'm sure. I saw your gym. Your gym is awesome. I thought I had the best gym.

You've got a great gym, but I got one thing you don't got. You gotta come see. What? I had the best gym. You've got a great gym, but I got one thing you don't got. You gotta come see. What? I don't have mirrors up. You don't have mirrors on purpose? It's because I just have the original Drew Struzan painting for First Blood Stallone. Oh, wow. Because it's got glass over it, You can kind of see yourself in it But I just stand in front I go I'm not there yet. I'm not

Just say for form it's I can kind of see the form but that's my mirror when you come it's the it's the Stallone painting And that's why that one see like that one But it doesn't it doesn't capture it the painting at all These even this digital copy of it like look at the original poster of it with it has the writing on it The way they printed it was like ass. Yeah that thing it does when you see the original one. You're like, oh my god This is like fine art. Oh that's that still doesn't capture it, but it's closer than the poster But there's something about seeing the actual physical thing Inspiring and then you see the physique that he has you're just like

okay I'm gonna work harder but that's in my gym so you gotta check that out I've got a photo of Alexander Karelin out there that's my photo to remind me every day what a pussy I am his Alexander Karelin was like the greatest Olympic wrestler to ever come out of Russia there's a photo that should pull up the photo that we have in the gym. He was a freak They call them the science project because his parents were like five foot five And he was like six to three hundred pounds and just it was built like a panther. Look at that. That's him. Oh, yeah That's the picture that picture up in the gym. That's my inspiration every day workout But he was just such a fucking physical freak and it's just

that particular image that that intensity if I'm ever tired I look at that image what's your what's your workout routine how often do you get to work out I work out every day yeah basically every first thing occasionally I feel like I'd need a day off I'll take a day off but yeah first thing in the morning yeah that's the thing get up get going, get cobwebs out of your head. Well, it's like you said, like you decide, I'm an athlete. I sort of decide I'm this person who gets up and gets in the cold plunge first thing in the morning.

I'm this person that does these two and a half hour workouts then gets in the sauna. That's what I do. I do it every day. I do the thing, this might inspire some people, so I don't have a trainer, but I'll look at, like, I like watching other people see what they do in their routine,

so I adopt some of that. I saw Josh Brolin all freaking in shape for the Deadpool movie, and I was like, dude, I texted him, what is your workout? Could you tell me? He goes, oh, send it to you. He sends me a PDF of his whole workout routine that the trainers had given him.

It's intense, it was like, okay, if I do one fourth of this, I'll have a quarter of his results. It was like, okay, if I do one-fourth of this, I'll have a quarter of his results. I'm fine with that because I don't have this shit to do anyway. So I would be in and out of there in half hour. So you don't have to commit all the way, you know, if you, as long as you're doing something, you're getting up and you're working out

and you're doing it very strategically, if you don't have a lot of time, there's no excuse. You can make, you can make time. You can get a lot done in a short amount of time. You can get a lot done in a short amount of time. Yeah. Reverse pyramid train or something, you got three minutes in between each one,

you can get work done during that. You certainly can. In fact, there was a study that just came out recently that showed that you get more results from one set to failure than you do with three sets. Yeah. Sometimes I would then just keep holding the bar after I was done, just like for 10 more seconds.

Yeah, there was some study. See if you can find this. It was a very recent study. It was very counterintuitive because a lot of people think more work, better results. But in this study, they were showing that they got more strength gains and more muscle recruitment in one hard set to failure. There's a lot of counterintuitive stuff. Yeah.

I like when I hear stuff like that, I try it. I just roll it into the routine, give it a try. Yeah. Because you don't know what's gonna work for you. There's no one right way to do anything. So I try to just get advice and adopt it. I had this funny, Stallone once, did you ever write Stallone on the show?

He's a great interview. My best interview on the director's chair is him because it's the most one that any layman could identify with. The guy really is rocky. His story is unbelievable and he's really funny. And he called me. I interviewed him before for the UFC.

He called me and said, he asked if an actor friend of mine could be in one of the Expendables. He was like, my actor fell through, can you ask what's his name? You know actor friend of mine could be in one of the Expendables. He's like, my actor fell through. Can you ask what's his name? Friend of mine's, yeah, I'll ask. So I asked my friend. My friend goes, oh, no, it's too short notice, you know, because it was last minute replacement.

I need to get in shape. Okay, that makes sense. But it's not a physical role. You just want to be in a Stallone movie and not be in shape. So I have to get in shape. And I don't have enough time, you know, it's gonna shoot in a week So I go to slide. I say he's sly. Yeah, he said, you know figured sly would understand. Yeah, he has to get in shape Get in shape

Get in shape, you don't get in shape stay in shape Of Stallone walking around Malibu looking like he's nine months pregnant. Have you seen that photo? No. I don't know if he did that for a movie. It's probably for Copland. No, it wasn't for Copland.

It was recent. It was like within the last few years. Oh, well, what is he now? He's like 70. No excuses. No excuses. Stay in shape. Stay in shape.

Yeah. That dude, such a great interview because I've watched the Rocky movies You know when it was last time you saw the rock. Yeah here it is study finds higher training volume increases size not strength Oh, this isn't it. No, this is in May of 2024. It was very recently It was about one set Doing one set to failure shows strength and muscle recruitment benefits over three sets. Yeah, so I mean, I don't know when the last time we saw the Rocky.

Yeah, here it is. New research says you could build strength and muscle with single set training. No, this isn't it either. It might be December 2024. It might be it. So just one hard set per exercise delivers impressive results. Yeah, at least try that. Yeah Get out get in and out. They were saying it actually works better. So maybe this is another Because I read it just a couple of days ago, but doesn't matter we get it it so but that is also very counterintuitive Yeah, because most people think oh It's all about the amount of time you spend What I but I do a lot of different

Exercises and what I do full body workouts almost entirely a very rare in less one day a week I do heavy leg stuff or it's just legs, you know, because the leg there's so many muscles of the legs I don't you know when I want to make sure that I'm doing that I just takes too much time Yeah, cuz I'm doing leg curls and leg presses and lunges and Can't do other stuff, too But I like working out by myself. Yeah because It's time to think yeah time to really know what I've always is

Yeah, and you work in the body and the button you getting ideas and I keep my computer there and I write down ideas Oh nice. Did you, you know, did you see the, I was watching the Rocky movies again and I was like, we watched the first one, showed it to my lady, she loved it. So I said, we gotta watch the second one, watch the second one. The next time we watched the third one,

I finally, we got to the fourth one, I was like, okay, I'm gonna write Stallone. I said, dude, you were consistently moving that character through the different eras and you need to go back to directing Because he when I worked with him he'd done a bunch of movies in the 90s And he was telling me why the movies didn't work. I said you got to go back to directing No one was at your level directing yourself getting career bests out of your other actors

While you're also not just the star but the franchise and being in shape back then, which was way before anyone knew anything about training. You were probably in the gym much longer than you needed to be. And he said, very perceptive. You know? I was like, you probably were way over training, because then people didn't know. There were no science to it back then.

And getting all that work done. So how can you work with another director now? They can have their respect. You gotta go back to directing. Because you can't argue with the result. And have their respect. You gotta go back to directing. Because you can't argue with the result. And he was like, okay, go back to directing. Well, we did this movie together. It was his biggest opening ever, when Spy Kids 3D.

Two years later, or a year later, he goes, I'm writing another Rocky. And that was that new Rocky. He hadn't directed in 22 years. Whoa. He went back to directing and writing, did another Rocky, another Rambo, That was that new Rocky. He hadn't directed in 22 years. Whoa. He went back to directing and writing. Did another Rocky, another Rambo,

and then a whole new franchise, Expendables. Crazy, like, for your career to come back like that. Did stunts on Expendables and broke his fucking neck. But because he went back and that's sometimes, you know, that's the key to success. It's got to be late 60s. And he's doing his own stunts It's harder to go do it all yourself. But look you can't argue with the results. Look at the results you got back then

I'm so glad he went back to it. It inspires me all over you So it's a good, you know, I'm sure you've done that someone that really inspired you and you don't know who your heroes that you got To inspire back in some way and then you're just like oh my god They inspired me so that I could be here for them when they needed to hear that to go on. It was like all part of the universe of that creativity. You know, you're the one who goes whispers in their ear. Another one with him, because he inspired me, you know, so many times was I started working with my kids more. It's very counterintuitive. Like, I don't know if you work with your kids or whatever plan to work with your kids. But I would say to anybody, if you have an opportunity

to work with your kids, take it because when I your kids But I would say to anybody if you have an opportunity to work with your kids Take it because when I was like when I turned 50, I thought I guess I could keep making movies It's been good to me because I could just make more I mean I was way into it, you know when I was younger and my it's been good to me But I said I bet there might be another job I can take That with the knowledge I have I could probably make just as much money or something I don't even know what jobs exist. I got this job when I was 21. So I got jobs for dummies. And I started looking at what all the other jobs were. Oh, I want that job. I want that

job. And then I get to filmmaker. It has a little icon of a guy with his hands up like this. And it says, this is the best job. Just make movies with your friends. You sit back, watch the money roll in. But 99% of film students can't get this job, so give it up. So I went, I actually got the best job, so I'll stick with it. But there still wasn't enough desire until I made that $7,000 movie with my kids. And they got so into it, I realized that's my next 10 years. I'm going to work with my kids. I'm going to make them all work on movies.

Because it's not about making movies, it's about life lessons. It's a huge project that you have to, you don't know how you're gonna get through even the day, much less the project. But that's life. It's like, I felt so good afterwards saying, you know the process now.

If I get hit by a bus, you guys are gonna be fine. Because it's just like the movies. The story of life is just like the stories we make up. You go get your plan together, which is kind of like your script. You attack it, try to make it as bulletproof as possible. Go for your goal, whether it's building a comedy club or whatever.

Watch it all fucking fall apart. And then that's when you roll up your sleeves, turn chicken shit to chicken salad. The finished results way better than your original vision. Wash, rinse, repeat, that's life. It's a microcosm of how life works. So I made them work on the movies. And I did this manifesting thing.

My son said, well, I'd like to do a VR movie. So let's make a company together. We'll call it Double R. You all have Double R names. Double R Company. Watch, I'm gonna show you how this works. Because I did this with Brass Knuckle Films, which is creating a label.

Double R, that'll be our logo. And I made t-shirts and little notepads. And they got way into it. Because now that we have a company, you have to do stuff to fill the company. So we'll call a VR company and say, y'all need to sell hitsets. Give us some money to make a movie.

We'll make you a movie. We did one with Michelle Rodriguez and Norman Reedus called The Limit. That had the, they made us a big double R logo in the front. That was like in March. Later that year, we made that $7,000 movie. That also had the double our logo. Then I went to Netflix and they said, could you make us a spy kids type thing that always does well? I thought, okay, I kind of came up with

in the room, I thought little kids superheroes who have to save their superhero parents. That's We Can Be Heroes, another double our movie. My kids wrote it with me. It's the most watched and rewatched movie in Netflix history. Nothing can touch it. Kids cannot stop watching it because as little kids superheroes, no one's ever done that before. And my kids are like,

dad, it really works this thing. And I was like, shit, better than I thought. I was just making an example, but that's how it happens, right? Like it feels predestined, but also you're like, let me just show you how it works. And you go to show someone an example, and that becomes your bread and butter.

And so I just tell people, if you have an opportunity to work with your kids, you're mentoring them. They're mentoring you because they're the age I was when I was making Mariachi and Desperado. They got so many great ideas. And you're taking on this big project that's teaching them about life.

And because you're both in the same boat, you both know what it's going to take. And it's family time. So you're like checking all the boxes. And I was telling this to Sly, I was so excited back in 2019. And his wife, Jennifer, was like, you don't work with your daughters. She hits him, you don't work with your daughters.

And he's like, eww. I was like, oh shit, maybe I should dial this story back. I was so evangelical about it, but I get people in trouble. But they couldn't in here it. In the next year, the daughters went on started a podcast. He would show up for once in a while to like get brains up. Now they have a TV show second season, family still alone. They're all working together. They're all living the best life.

So I tell anybody who listens, because it's something I stumbled upon, because it's very counterintuitive, because you would think, oh, if I work with my kids, doesn't that look like privilege or whatever? So I'll tell you this, what happens when we die? Don't you just give everything that you created over your life to your kids because they have your last name? They weren't a part of it. If you have a chance to work with them and build it with you, you have that next-level mentorship relationship. Don't just parent, because after a while, once they're in the teens, they don't really need you

to peddling over them. Partner with them. Become their mentor, their OB-1, and they mentor you back. It gives them such a boost in confidence when they teach you some shit. And you'll have that next level experience. That way, when you pass on, you give them the stuff, they'll go, yeah, I made this with my dad.

That's great advice. So I tell people like do something like you do that's well, you know That's what you have find your version of you know Like not everybody can necessarily work with it But you have an opportunity to do it do it because I believe this thing that you were saying about jobs for dummies 99% of people are not gonna be able to do this. Well, that's the thing. It's like but yeah, but it's possible It is possible and part of the 99% not gonna do it because they don't know anybody who's done it Right. That's part of the problem Once you see like oh look how we did this

He just did I think I could he told me how he made El Mariachi I think it could be done that wasn't taught in film schools That was completely again, they don't teach you they teach you how to do one job So that you can go pull cables on someone else's movie my thing was like i'd be the owner be the creator be everything you cut the line is only you're at the film festival but i know it is no one has really done that nobody had done that before it was the first time that's why i even when i was doing it i was like i kind of have the ideas can do it so i did that short film and doing the math

but somebody must have done this already even when the studio in the book it shows even when the studios were flying me up because they saw mariachi and wanted to do a deal with me I went I've never heard of anyone getting the business like this this must happen all the time where they find some filmmaker student they wine and dine them and then you never hear from me again because I've never heard a story like this and I was the first one that's why that's why it was really crazy and I didn't even want them to release it I didn't want them story like this and I was the first one, that's why. That's wild. It was really crazy.

And I didn't even want them to release it. I didn't want them to release it because it was my practice film, I just threw it away. They said- Wasn't everything one take? One take because I was shooting on film and if I shot two takes of everything, I double my budget because most of the money went to the film.

I wrote the script around everything I already had so I wouldn't have to buy anything. So it's like, well, what do we have? We took stock in what we have. And this is a lesson for life. Like if you think you can't do anything, well, look around you. You've got a lot of resources. It's about being resourceful. Well, we have a turtle we found.

We have a dog. We've got a ranch. Your brother-in-law has a school line, I mean, a bus line. We'll bar one of the buses. When you see what we do with a bus, he crashes into it. You have to bar, let's ride everything around that. So we just have that. And if I shoot two takes, we double their budget.

How about let's shoot one take of everything. I know not everything's going to come out because I'm doing everything myself. I'm pulling focus. I might meter it wrong. Who knows? But I don't want to shoot a safety take or it's going to double the budget. We'll go home after I finish shooting the whole movie. I'll see what stuff didn't come out and I'll go just reshoot that. Of course you get home and you're not going to fucking go back to Mexico and reshoot anything.

I'll just figure out a way to edit around all the stuff that didn't come out. Not everything came out. But yeah, it was merely just following your nose and not knowing if it was going to work. Somebody must have thought to do this already, but no one had ever done that before because it's so counterintuitive you're told but that's how movie started you know you think back in the old days Charlie Chaplin and a guy behind the camera doing this they didn't have 200 people it turned into a business just like with comedy and it turns into a business to where you think that's the art form that's not the art form that's

the business of the art form the original art form is you by yourself doing it this is how by myself I was. It was like you got one guy here now right because you have all these digital cameras. I had one camera and I had the sound and I can't do them at the same time because the camera sounds like this really noisy and it sounds like all your money is going away so I had no slates. I would just say, run. Guy starts running. Stop filming. Cut. You know, like I would just shoot my little pieces

like this much. After I would do a whole scene, one take, one take, one take, one take. Put the camera down. Get the microphone really close to him like that. Okay, see all your lines again. Pick up the glass again. Do all that stuff again.

Wow. Cut it in by hand. So you cut in the audio by hand and try to sync it to the mouth? So when they're not because they're non actors a lot of times like repeat what you just said wait so you cut it by hand it would match right? Yeah. And if it didn't match I would cut away to the dog or to the knife or the other person. That's why it's got a really fast cutting style which became my cutting style, was just to get them back in sync because I didn't want it to look like a low budget,

rubbery lip thing. But if you watch it, you see them in sync. Every time they're on screen, they're in sync. And then as they start to go out of sync, it cuts, then it cuts back. But this is about being resourceful. But it saved me a ton of money doing it that way. And it made it actually interesting to watch.

It makes it more interesting to watch. Yeah. Oh, so anyway, so originally I didn't have any ideas. I was gonna make three of these movies before making my serious American independent film. But my first movie, I gave it to an agent in Los Angeles and he said, I can get you work off this right now as a writer director.

And I went, writer director? I'm not a writer. Well, I guess I wrote the script, but I guess that makes me a writer. Again, I didn't know how to own stuff yet. So you just gotta say you're a writer. I still thought, well, like, I didn't even have written a movie.

I didn't consider myself a writer. Yes, that's the shit we do to ourselves, right? So I said, okay. So he sent it around. All these studios were flying me up. It's in the book. It's just crazy how fast it happened. And they were offering me these deals

because they saw that I went and did something. That's why you just gotta go make something because people are sometimes they're so impressed that you even did anything. Most people never start. And they went, wow. And I thought, well, it's actually a good calling card now. If you like the cinematography, I did that.

Hire me as a cameraman. If you like the editing, I did that. Hire me as an editor. But they hired me as a writer director. And they said, what movie do you want to do? I go, this will happen so fast. I didn't really have a chance to think about it. I was going to do three of these practice films and then make a real one.

So but you like Mariachi, why don't we remake that? And they said, with Antonio Benerism, okay, okay. But audience might not like that the girl dies. So we're going to screen this version that you have now to an audience so we screen into an audience and they liked it the way it was So they said we're gonna take this to some film festivals I was like no don't show this movie is my practice movie literally no one's supposed to see this one They go no no you got something really special. I said no do I'm telling you I can do much better than that Give me two thousand dollars. I'll go we shoot half of it. Just knowing that

People are gonna see it now do completely differently and then you got something much better than that. Give me $2,000. I'll go reshoot half of it just knowing that people are going to see it now do completely differently. And then you've got something there's smart out Mark Kenton there said, you got something really special here. We're going to take it to the festivals. And we won Sundance because I made it for myself. It was a real lesson in that. Like if I was trying to think about what all the audience was going to want to see, I would have changed so many things. But because I knew no one was going to see it, it's probably the only movie in history ever made where people were guaranteed not to see it. Just by the title, I titled it that way so nobody would see it.

I didn't want anybody to see it. I wanted to just throw it away and practice. I figured maybe the third one might be the better one. You know, like that advice, throw three scripts away and then do a fourth. Well, I'm going to throw three movies away so that by the fourth I'm so savvy and know how to film and do all these things. This first practice one's not gonna be it. That's the one that's gonna be it. So commit to a body of work, throw shit away. Don't put, don't be precious about it. Just go make it. Don't blink when people criticize it and just keep going make a body of work. That's it. That's that's the secret and that's the secret to life too. Just keep just keep trying to make it body work. That's it. That's the secret. And that's the secret to life too. Just keep trying to make it the best.

That is phenomenal advice. And coming from a person like you that has accomplished so much, it's so resonant. That's why I accomplish it, by doing those things which everybody can do. It's not because I'm not that smart, I'm telling you, not that smart. I just follow your instinct like you've done. When you follow your instinct, you're letting the universe do all the talking. And it's something that sounds wonky, but I just call it that because it is from some other place. And you're just an instrument. You're just a pipe.

Yes. The soul that gets into your body. And you realize that when you have kids, I don't know if you had that experience. As soon as I had my first kid, I was like, this isn't my kid. You can just tell it's not my kid. I mean, it has physical characteristics, maybe mannerisms in my walk. But there's another soul in here that's from some other place. And each one is so different.

Five kids, and I have from nine siblings. They're from different planets. And so you realize that the soul is on a communication level with some other thing that our human bodies are just very primitive to do. So when we get a voice, we can't tell if it's coming from the universe, if it's from our own mind,

or if it's just... Because it all sounds like fucking Morse code. Because the brain is so... It's a three-pound meat computer, so why can't we remember shit? It's like we're limited by the body our soul got put into, just like we'd be limited if we were put in a fish, because they got an even smaller brain,

and you know, they only go forward and back That's why a lot of people say you have to learn how to get out of your own way Because you're you're you think I'm so limited. Yeah, but you actually Also, maybe you don't and maybe you're cocky which is equally bad. Yeah, because that's beginning your own way in a different way Yeah, it's a false. It's a false where you think I can do anything because I'm just so cool Well, you're saying no you can do anything because you're just a pipe Be that and then you'll see much more flow happening. Yeah, you'll see things just falling in your lap Yeah, don't think about you at all. Yeah get you out of it. It's not you have to be very humble

It's a very humbling thing the more humble you are The more shit happens not just for you, but everyone around you. Being creative and I figured this out like one year, there was a book called The One Thing, a business book called One Thing, like do one thing and just do that well. I thought, okay, that book's not for me. When I was doing this talk where they introduced me, they said, Robert Richie, writer, director, editor, composer, a long list of all the jobs I do. And I went up there like, wow, that I get tired just hearing that list.

And I keep seeing that book, the one thing. And I thought at first I thought that's not me, but I realized, you know what? I don't just do all those things. There's one thing I really do. The ties, all those together. When you think about it, I do one thing and it's, I live a creative life. And if you commit to live in a creative life, like literally applying creativity to everything you do, your workout in the morning,

how you interact with your kids, the meal you cook, what you're gonna do that night, a business call you take, be creative. I love my business meetings now the most. I make people pizza, I'm making my chocolate. We talk about creativity and they wanna be in business with you. It's like so good because you're adding creativity.

It enriches your life and everyone around you. And that way anything that touches creativity, whether it's painting, drawing, sculpture, music, is available to you because 90% of that job is just being creative. And if you're doing it all day, you're always gonna be in a flow. If you don't embrace that and you go about your daily life

and you don't apply creativity, well, when you go home that night to write your novel or something, you're gonna be blocked. Because you're not in a creative flow. But if you've just been applying creativity all day long to everything, I'm gonna do this, talk creatively. I'm gonna bring some cards, I'm gonna go do this.

You're applying creativity, you're always in a flow. So when you go back to go do your main job, you've already been doing it and you're living your best life. Because I found I was most successful, happiest, and most fulfilled when I was being creative. So why not just do that 24-7? And it's been a life changer.

It's been doing that like 15 years with consciousness. Like consciously say, because people don't like to say they're creative. Like when I ask, are you creative? And Lexi goes, well, yeah. Like stumbling through. Because people think being an artist means you have to have the mustache and the hat. And it's like, no, artists are regular people.

And regular people are flawed. And that's why you relate to something that they do, because it's flawed. If you made it perfect, they couldn't relate to it because humans are flawed. And if you think of it that way, you go, well, I can create flawed stuff. I can do that all day long. And then that gets out of your way. Because then somebody who comes to you and they go really love that part where the explosion is oh well that was an accident because I didn't get what I really wanted and I had to

make this work and that was an accident they like those acts they respond to those accidents in a big way because they're from another universe they're they're they're the part that's magic the part you didn't know the part you couldn't have predicted right and so if you set up I purposely make my budgets smaller and my shooting schedules shorter so that those more of that stuff happens because that's the stuff people will relate to and it gives you complete creative freedom.

Like you have a lot of creative freedom here. I probably the director who's worked with the most outcast, ostracized or people who are considered difficult than any other filmmaker, mainly because I'm independent. And I don't have to listen to a studio if they're like, oh, you can't work with that person. So like, Mel Gibson. Couldn't get a job back when I hired him on.

I was just always a big fan of his. I was like a creativity first and talent first, bullshit controversy. Not even distance, it's not even considered. And I get to work with these amazing people. Steven Seagal, Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Lohan. And then people who are considered difficult were like Michael Parks. I got this from Quentin. Michael Parks was in Dustal Dawn. He's the sheriff at the beginning, the Texas Ranger. Quentin said,

man, I love this guy, Michael Parks. He was going to be the next James Dean. He had a show on TV in the 70s called, then came Bronson. But then he kinda got difficult for people to work with and so he was relegated to these low budget grindhouse films, but check him out, he's always really great. I wanna put him in Dusseldome, but I hear him, he's been difficult to work with.

You work with him first. And if he's great to work with, I'll work with him. He's like, all right, sure. So I work with him. It was a dream, it was amazing, he was really great. No bullshit. Of all the people like that, sure. So I work with him. It was a dream. It was amazing. He was really great. No bullshit. Of all the people like that,

and then we both kept putting him in movies, Mickey Rourke was considered, it couldn't work, he couldn't get a job. I gave him once upon a time, but once I met him, I was like, oh my God, he's just like Mickey. In the old days, you know, Quentin and I actually wanted him in Dustal Dawn.

We both wanted Mickey Rourke in the lead role, but he retired from acting. He was just boxing. He won't even look at the scripts. We're like, oh man, we both wanted Mickey Rourke in the lead role. But he retired from acting, he was just boxing, he won't even look at the script. So we're like, oh man, we can hire Mickey Rourke and there's no Mickey Rourke now, we're so bummed. But then years later I went back to him and no one was hiring him. So I met with him, I said, okay, I'll meet with him.

He's like, holy shit, he still has that charm and everything. So I put him in, gave him a small role in Once Upon a Time Mexico, and I kept riding him more scenes. He was broke. I mean, I gave him money to go buy his own suits because he always dressed to the nines in his movies. It's like, I'm all out of time costume designing this thing.

I'll give you some money, go buy your own clothes. You were always going to dress. He came with these Billy Martin suits and stuff. I said, I'm going to put a bullet hole in the back of one digitally, just so you can keep, because he wanted to keep the clothes so that you can keep the clothes. Thanks, brother.

And then I put him in Sin City, and it relaunched his career. But he was always a dream to work with, and I would hear from people later, oh, he's been difficult again. I was like, really? So I come back again. No, again, 100% of the time, I've never had any difficulty

with even the difficult ostracized one. So it makes you think, and you know that, because you have anybody you want on your show. But it makes me wonder what environment are you putting them in that makes them like that? Because like somebody said that about Redger Hauer, it was amazing, hard to work with. Really? No, it wasn't at all. But for some people-

I didn't know he had the reputation. I don't know, but somebody told me- I fucking loved him in Blade Runner. Loved him and stuff. Blade Runner, The Hitcher. Bruce Willis people would tell me it was difficult to where it was like, Bruce, I've worked with him four times.

Let me tell you, this is what Bruce was like when he walks in the set. Hey, Heffy, what's going on, man? Heffy means boss. Does that sound like somebody who's difficult? That's gonna be somebody who's just so happy. One time I was doing be somebody who's just so happy. One time I was doing this Kobe Bryant Nike commercial. I was gonna be in with Kobe.

I was directing it and I was working out at the gym where Stallone works out Gunnar Petersen's gym and Bruce was there and I was trying to get an actor to do a cameo in this commercial. I was shooting that weekend. I was working out cuz I was gonna be on camera. And so then I go to Bruce and I go, hey, what are you up to? And he goes, I'm just looking for a job. And I said, well, are you a basketball fan? So I'm shooting a Kobe Bryant commercial Saturday.

What did you come by to set? It's downtown. You play this role. Bring a couple of suits because it's very last minute, but last minute replacement. Yeah, yeah, sure. Love to meet him. OK, good. So I went back to the Nike people said Bruce said he's gonna be in it well call his agent no no don't call his agents because he

probably didn't tell him and he said he'll come down I think he will because he's cool like that oh we think we should call him anyway so they call the agency just go Bruce Willis is not gonna be in a Nike commercial well he talked to Robert okay I guess he's gonna be so he is going to be in a Nike commercial. So then we're down there in the set. We're downtown LA. We're filming Kobe. We're filming everything else.

And it's like almost time for him to show up. And they're like, you sure he's going to come? He said he would. He said he'd bring two suits. And now I'm thinking how ridiculous that sounds, but I told him in the gym and said, come down with a couple of your suits from your own closet. Like there's no wardrobe,

no time to get a wardrobe fitting and just show up he shows up shows up does it so I'll film you out in an hour because he knows how we work together had a great time he's great in it takes off brought his two suits that's amazing it does not sound like somebody who's difficult no it's the environment that you put these totally the environment you put him in because I was watching like a dog whisperer and it's like If you have a pitbull Some of these guys can be alpha male pitbull if you put them in a situation where aggression is needed Like if you have a chaotic set and producers are coming down going. Yeah, no, you can't wear that

You can't talk like that. Of course, you're gonna piss these guys off But if you put them in an environment where they know there's somebody who's a boss, I mean they show up It's my studio. I'm operating the camera, I'm the DP, I'm there acting with them, we're shooting it in record time, getting them out of there fast, they're having a ball. Pitbull just wants to follow. He doesn't want to, he doesn't want to, if I can take over the show. And so everyone's really, that's my theory on it anyway. I think it's just the environment. Cause they always oh you have a dog is misbehaving It's the owner

It's the owner in the environment. It's not the dog Yeah, there's nothing wrong with the animal the animal is fine The animal could be very calm and assertive and even submissive. Well, it's also these exceptional actors with his eccentric personalities They're oftentimes like if you put them in a bad environment You're gonna get a fucking terrible result because it's part of what they are is, like, a little bit of chaos. Well, they're also just gonna have to protect themselves. Yes.

They have to protect themselves if this environment is fucked up. Think about the type of guy that told you that, like, wait, you filmed this and you didn't get the rights. Yeah, yeah. Those are the guys that are gonna drive you up a wall. Exactly. We've all encountered those executives. Yeah. I remember I talked those executives. Yeah. Yeah.

I remember I talked to Mick because I'd heard, he'd been in trouble and something. Maybe his head got big and he was in trouble. So I said, well, what was wrong? Everything had to be what Mickey wanted to say, what Mickey wanted to wear, what Mickey wanted to do. So OK, well, maybe he's gone back to some, I'm about to work with him again.

So he comes, no, he's a dream again. So at the end I go, man, you always bring it brother. You always bring it. It's just so great to see. Yeah, with some people, you deserve it. Most people don't deserve it. Because he remembers I gave him his shot back. So I was like, okay, he didn't give me any shit.

Maybe he gives other people shit. But he doesn't give me shit. That's awesome. Listen brother, I've really enjoyed this. Really enjoyed talking to you. Oh man, we'll have to bring you to the studio. A lot of things, I wanna see the studio, but I think a lot of things you said

are really gonna help a lot of people. Yeah, hopefully, hopefully. It's been helpful to me to then tell people, and then the feedback loop, they tell me back something I said, but they morphed it into something new. Like they've added their own thing to it. And I go, that's not what I told you.

Oh, we've added to it. So no shit, now I'm taking your advice that came from my advice. My kids do that all the time. They go, it all comes back to what you taught us, dad. What was that? What did I tell you? That one time you said, you know,

basically like the glass is half full, half empty. Okay, but I didn't tell you all this other stuff. Where'd that come from? Oh, we added to it. So I was like, well shit, that's the cool part. My son got on, was a Japanese knife maker, you know, in his teens. He just wanted to get into the Japanese.

Like this is a guy from another lifetime, you know, you obviously knew this was his path. That's when you know it's a soul born in there. Didn't get that from me. Making these Japanese style knives, selling them for like a thousand dollars a pop. By the time he was 18, he got on that show,ged in a Fire and won and

I was like how did you you didn't even know how to use most of the equipment they gave you you get ten thousand dollars how did you what was your mindset he said I imagined I had won already somehow I had won and so when I'd come up against a challenge that I wasn't sure how I would get by I just had to remember what I did to get by it rather than trying to be freaked out about it. I was like, whoa, that's some freaking samurai shit. You've obviously been in another life before to come in armed with that. You didn't learn that from me. It's like, well, it's kind of like, no, that's nothing like anything I ever told you. So the feedback loop when you share with people, I love people coming and telling me, hey, I was really inspired by your book and you said with people I love people coming and telling me hey

I was really inspired by your book and you said this I'm like, I don't remember saying that in the book I think you added to it a lot. It triggered something in you and we all keep compiling our ideas Yeah, we all interested in everybody else's perspective because we all have our own relationship to creativity in the universe Yeah, and the more you interact with things, the more you contribute. But come be in a brass knuckle film. That sounds like right up your alley. Let's do Conan or Frazetta something. You gotta come see that.

Definitely something. I can't wait to see your shit. Cause you'd be great. I can already tell you, I got a great part for you where you will knock it out. All right, we'll talk. Yeah, we'll talk. Thank you very much.

Thanks, sir. It was awesome. I really appreciate it. All right, bye everybody.