Rodriguez sees the character as “truly a super hero”, and this film looks to turn him directly into one. In this film, Machete is “recruited by the U.S. Government for a mission which would be impossible for any mortal man. Machete must battle his way through Mexico to take down a madman cartel leader and an eccentric billionaire arms dealer who has hatched a plan to spread war across the planet with a weapon in space. Machete takes on an army in an effort to dismantle a plan for global anarchy.”

Side by Side is a documentary that takes a look at the battle raging between film purists and digital mavericks. The doc is produced by Keanu Reeves, and takes an in-depth look at the digital revolution and how it could change the future of filmmaking. It features interviews with David Lynch, Robert Rodriguez, Chris Nolan, Steven Soderbergh, James Cameron and Marty Scorsese. Check it out and let us know how you feel about the subject.

Side by Side Official Trailer (2012) from Company Films on Vimeo.

He obviously isn’t too anxious to get this another off the ground, and Twentieth Century Fox probably isn’t either. The film made just over $150 million worldwide, so they wouldn’t have another at the top of the list. But hopefully a sequel happens soon.

Rodriguez was recently interviewed by We Got This Covered, and revealed the film has its financing, and is ready to start shooting, but the script is still in the making. “Sin City 2 is going good, we’re just finishing the script for that, we already got the money. We have everything we need so we can just start shooting as soon as we get the pages,” he said. No word on when that would be completed, but hopefully it’ll be soon.

However, Rodriguez also mentioned the same thing about Machete 2 that was announced recently as well (here). “And it’s the same thing for Machete 2. We’ve already got the budget, just waiting for the script. As soon as we’re finished writing we get to start the shoot,” he said. So, it’s unknown if he would choose to do one over the other depending on which script gets completed first.

At SDCC 2011, Rodriguez mentioned he’s adapting Fire & Ice into live-action and now EW has the first look at the concept art.

They do look like Frazetta’s paintings, almost to the very brush stroke. “I want it to look like you just stepped into one of his paintings, where you get to see his world, and how he saw people, anatomy, and composition and color,” Rodriguez told EW. “It will feel like it’s real, but not real. It’ll be his reality. He saw things differently. He painted from his imagination. He didn’t take a photograph and just paint it.”

No word on a start date.

Rodriguez explained that he wished to use Frank Frazetta’s wonderful paintings as inspiration like he did for Frank Miller in Sin City. No start date or stars announced.

In 1983, Ralph Bakshi used rotoscoping to try to adapt Frazetta’s work into animation. The film has since gone to become a cult item, much like the other Bakshi films (Fritz the Cat, Wizards). A tiny village is destroyed by a surging glacier, which serves as the deadly domain for the evil Ice Lord, Nekron. The only survivor is a young warrior, Larn, who vows to avenge this act of destruction. The evil continues, however, as Nekron’s palace of ice heads straight towards Fire Keep, the great fortress ruled by the good King Jarol. When Jarol’s beautiful daughter, Teegra, is abducted by Nekron’s sub-human ape-like creatures, Larn begins a daring search for her. What results is a tense battle between good and evil, surrounded by the mystical elements of the ancient past.

Fire & Ice is currently on Blu-ray and DVD from Blue Underground.

Source: Coming Soon

Rodriguez announced at Comic-con (via Cinema Blend) that both Machete Kills and Machete Kills Again have been greenlit. Nothing is known about either film, but the third film is being described as “a space opera”, and the trailer for the film may debut with the second film. No word if Danny Trejo will return, but it’s safe to assume he will.

A mother returns to her old profession — she’s a retired spy — in order to prevent a villain bent on stopping time.

Did anyone catch the “Dunk Contest” last night at the NBA All-Star festivities at the Staples Center in Los Angeles? From top to bottom the jams were amazing and out of this world. The weekend has become a surreal event, and now filmmaker Robert Rodriguez has teamed up with “The Black Mamba” himself, Kobe Bryant, for a mini-movie with some Grindhouse flair. Joining Kobe are some Rodriguez alumni like Bruce Willis and Danny Trejo.

Speaking with The Playlist, Jessica Alba (Machete, Sky Kids 4: All the Time in the World) hinted as the possibility of returning as the stripper, Nancy Callahan. “We were just talking about that actually in Austin, so we’ll see. We kind of talk about ‘Sin City’ every now and again, it comes up. We both love doing it, and we’d like to do it again it’s just kind of, you know, a matter of time I think,” she said. So, she doesn’t exactly dismiss the idea of returning, but the amount of time it takes to get things moving could hurt the chances. That goes for most of the cast as well.

“I asked him when he was going to write it and he says it’s written, so we can get started pretty quick. We went all over the world with that movie and people kept having me sign these Machete action figures, it was a lot of fun. I don’t even think Robert Rodriguez even expected that reception and now everyone is waiting for Machete 2 so hurry up Robert Rodriguez! (laughs)”

So if in fact Rodriguez has written the script, how long till the film does get underway? Rodriguez is currently finishing up work on Spy Kids 4, and after that who knows?

Personally I’d rather a Sin City 2 before a Machete 2, so we will wait and see what happens.

Source: The Press Association

According to Blu-ray, the only special features included will be deleted scenes that promise “more guns, more girls and more Machete action.”

In a Facebook Livechat (via The Playlist), Rodriguez is revealed that Sin City 2 is next on his schedule, and will happen IF the script is completed. “It’s slated to be the next one, but if the script is not ready, then we’ll have to move to the next one,” he said. When last reported, Rodriguez mentioned that he was re-writing the script (here), and is working with Frank Miller to complete it in time. It’s unknown what Rodriguez means by “the next one”, but it’s possible it could be a sci-fi film titled, Nervewracker. It’s also unknown what impact this would have on him directing Deadpool for Fox, who are wanting the film to get off by next year.

As for what stories we could expect to see for the sequel, Miller was wanting to use the Hell and Back storyline, which was apparently written for Johnny Depp.  ”It’s quite possible,” he said. However, that was back in 2007, and it’s uncertain if that’ll be used for the sequel. One character Rodriguez does want to bring back is Hartigan (Bruce Willis).  “I wanna bring him back for Sin City because he’s so bad-ass,” he said. However, for those who have seen the first know that may prove difficult depending on where the film will go. For all we know the sequel could feature a prequel to That Yellow Bastard storyline.