Judd Apatow DVD Commentaries Are Pretty Fantastic

Back in college, I was a big fan of listening to director's commentaries. I had only recently been introduced to the world of DVDs with their tons and tons of extra features. The commentaries became a favorite because I could listen to them while working on a paper or while making the drive from home to school on my portable DVD player. After that I kind of fell off the wagon, but a couple weeks ago I hopped back on with a triple feature of commentaries all related to Judd Apatow. Superbad (2007), Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) and Knocked Up (2007) were all on the docket and they were all hilarious.

In college, my favorite commentaries were for Kevin Smith movies where he would cram as many people involved in the movie as possible to sit around and offer their two cents. That's why I like the Superbad one so much. I can't seem to find a full list online anymore, but I know it included Jonah Hill, director Greg Mottola and Producer Apatow in New York (along with Apatow's oldest daughter Maude who wasn't listening in on headphones, but was still in the room which meant Hill couldn't swear) while the rest were in California. "The rest" included Michael Cera, Seth Rogen, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and co-writer Evan Goldberg. As someone interested in the creation of films, I found this commentary very interesting, though I got a lot of the same information from the podcast Rogen and Goldberg did for Creative Screenwriting Magazine (which you can listen to here or download from iTunes). You of course get all kinds of behind the scenes information, great stories and shout outs to people and things you might have missed. It's especially fun listening to Hill try and not curse like a sailor. He does slip a few times and gets admonished by Apatow. There's also a part where Apatow leaves with his daughter and Hill starts yelling at him about being professional. I'm guessing it's another big gag, but it still left me feeling confused and awkward. Good stuff.

The Forgetting Sarah Marshall commentary was another big group affair with director Nick Stoller, writer and star Jason Segel, Mila Kunis, Russell Brand, executive producer Rodney Rothman, producer Shauna Robertosn and Jack McBrayer live from New York. Apatow wasn't on the commentary, but his company did make the movie, so it still counts. Seeing as how FSM was my favorite comedy of 2008, it's probably not a big surprise how much I liked the commentary. I like when the people who worked on a movie together seem like they really like each other. Kind of like in the Ocean's 11 movies. It really seems like those guys have a great time together, which makes the movie even more fun to watch. Like with Superbad, there's lots of interesting tidbits, with Segel commenting on how specific scenes were taken from his life and how the Dracula musical was something he actually wrote seriously. Sure, a lot of this information can now be read on IMDb, but I'd always rather hear it from the horse's mouth than just read something on a forum that hundreds of thousands of people can and do contribute to. I guess it's the reporter in me.

The Knocked Up commentary was a much different animal as it only had three people involved: writer and director Apatow, star Seth Rogen and...Bill Hader? Sure Hader has a bit part in the movie, but he's basically there to do impressions, toss out mini-factoids and ask questions. Hader explains how he met the Knocked Up gang (the friends in the movie are friends in real life and often hang out together) and also explains that he worked in the same building they shoot his scenes as a film editor. He apparently used to be a librarian on The Surreal Life and a PA on The Scorpion King and a documentary about Star Wars. Like with the others you get plenty of information about the origins of the story, what events were taken from real life, specifics about some of the actors (Ken Jeong was an actual doctor before his turn as the doctor and his eventual role on the excellent Community) and that sort of thing. I especially liked hearing about him working with his wife Leslie Mann and their two daughters. I think she's hilarious and am really looking forward to seeing Funny People, which will hopefully be coming in my queue this week.

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My Monday Morning Links

Remember how I kept saying how busy I was last week with freelance? Well, some of those things I was working out went live today. This week's installment of We Like To Watch over at Maxim.com is up, it's got everything from How I Met Your Mother to Bon Jovi jokes.

I've also got a brand new list up over at the newly re-deigned Topless Robot called The 10 Longest and Awesomest Movie Fight Scenes of All Time. I had a lot of fun combing through my memory, DVD collection and YouTube trying to nail the list down. Of course that doesn't mean everyone agrees with me. Apparently I missed Old Boy, but what are you gonna do? Can't see everything.

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Casting Internets

Hope everyone had a great Halloween, I'll be posting a couple pictures from the superhero costume contest we went to this weekend later today. In the meantime, check out these links.

This has already been linked around like crazy, but the new Marvel Superheroes What The--?! from my buddies at Marvel.com not only has a Stan Lee voiceover, but also a zombie version of Howard the Duck. Amazing. Good job guys!

According to THR, Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor -- the brains behind Crank and Crank 2 -- are working on a show called Zeroes that focuses on a paramilitary group called the Zeroes who jump in to put an end to a huge crisis event at the zero hour (hey, I wonder if that's where the name comes from). NBC is supposedly interested. So am I.

io9 has a bunch of photos like the one below from Sandy Collora's Hunter Prey. After completely geeking out over his fan film/video resume Batman: Dead End years ago, I've been waiting for him to bow on the big screen and this is it. io9 reports that the movie is done, fun and finishing a distribution deal now.



Finally, I don't know anything about Astro Boy, but my buddy and fellow TTT collaborator Jon Gutierrez does and he wrote this hilarious post about AB's humble and disturbing origins over on Comics Alliance. Definitely worth a gander.

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Smokin' Aces 2 Trailer

Crave posted this trailer for Smokin' Aces 2: Assassin's Ball which will be out on DVD January 19th. Even though I felt burned by the first Smokin' Aces, but a boy can dream, can't he? I have zero expectations, so at least I won't be disappointed.

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Casting Internets

Check out these rad interpretations of Michael Myers and Freddy from Methane Studios. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if I could draw, this is the kind of stuff I would create. (via Super Punch)


There's gonna be a new Excitebike game from WiiWare called Excitebike: World Ralley. I haven't really gotten into the downloadable game fun and I rarely play my Wii, but the combination of this and the upcoming A Boy And His Blob might pull me right back in. (via /Gamer)

Topless Robot's 10 Most Embarrassingly Collectible Star Wars Toys of the '90s is both informative and sad. I was all over the Star Wars toys when they were coming out, but I don't think I ever paid more than whatever Target was charging. I've still got a nice collection in a shoebox in my closet.

/Film is telling me that Steve Carr, the guy who directed Paul Blart Mall Cop, will be directing the Short Circuit remake. I'm very curious to see how this movie turns out. I loved Short Circuit as a kid and remember watching Short Circuit 2 in the theater (there was a Nightmare On Elm Street title card that popped up and made my friend hide behind the seat in front of him). Not being one of these "How dare they remake my childhood movies!!!" people, I'm excited.
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There's Gonna Be a Cocktail Musical!!!!

I say this with absolutely no irony, but I am crazy excited for the Cocktail musical I just read about on /Film. They don't share the affinity I do for the movie, which I could have sworn I talked about on the blog before, but my search is returning nothing more than brief praise. I love this movie and have since I was a kid. Well before I understood what happened to the Australian guy or why they had their falling out and Tom Cruise moved away, I loved all the drink flipping. In fact, I've always wanted to be a bartender and I'm pretty sure it's because of all the flipping. Love that stuff. This might be the first musical I drag Emily to. I've gone with her to see Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Producers and Mary Poppins. Meanwhile Evil Dead, High Fidelity and Toxic Avenger have come and gone since I moved out here. I will not let this one pass me by!

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Halloween Scene: The Funhouse (1981)

Blerg. I'm starting to understand why slasher movies got such a bad rap in the 80s. I knew nothing about Funhouse going in, not even that it was directed by Tobe Hooper, which I learned in the opening credits. I really only rented it because the title sounded cool. I still automatically think of Texas Chainsaw Massacre when I see his name, so I got a little more intrigued, and wondered how he's scary-up a carnival (which are already pretty scary considering they're filled with carnies). But the truth is that there isn't much to be scared of in Funhouse.

There's a lot of weirdness going on with this movie and I'm not talking about the carnival folk. You start off with a Psycho homage in the beginning with a girl who looks way too young to be topless in a movie, topless in a movie. We've all seen Psycho and our fair share of homages, so this was a pretty obvious fake. what was weird about it was the fact that it was a younger brother fake-stabbing his old sister in the shower. That's weird right? I don't have an older sister, but that seems like crossing a line into grossness, even for an adolescent horror fan. This starts a subplot that seems completely pointless as our final girl's little brother follows her to the carnival, gets scared, gets found and then a nice carnie calls his parents to pick him up. It has nothing to do with the main story and doesn't cross over into what's going on with his sister and her friends. It's a little disappointing because I like the idea of a kid alone against a threat, but like I said it goes nowhere. For more, hit the jump.

Which leads us to our final girl and her friends. I think she knows the blonde girl, her Rick Moranis-looking boyfriend and the final girl's date for the night Buzz. The two girls don't have much personality, Rick is a stoner douche and Buzz is a pretty nice guy. All in all, they're boring. And usually that's not a bad thing because the killings start pretty quickly and we're off in running. This time, it's slow going. Really freaking slow. They hang out in the carnival. Look at weird animals and a baby in the jar (do they ever say that's the big weird monster's brother? I assumed it was). Then they decide to spend the night by jumping off inside the funhouse.

At this point the movie finally gets started. The kids witness some craziness involving a bruiser wearing a Frankenstein masks (he turns out to be the gross thing on the poster), we find out that he has a history of killing people and the movie turns into your basic "we have to protect our family" plot you've seen dozens of times. Even then, it's still very slow. That's what happens when you've got four potential victims (five if you count the kid, but like I said, he's hardly in danger).

I also take issue with how freaking enormous the actual funhouse is. Not only is one level high enough to drop a rope around his neck and pull him up so high that the others couldn't even reach his feet, but there's also enough below it for a trap door to open and seriously injure someone and the final battle ground which shows all the gears and moving parts underneath the funhouse (which also seems to have 8-10 foot ceilings. I'm also not sure how they're looking down on events happening. Structurally it's confusing. Are they up a floor somehow? I kept asking myself these questions and, not being able to nail it down, kept getting distracted. Stories have to make sense, even on an architectural level!

If you're looking for a rad carnival movie, check out Freaks, Ghoulies 2 and the HBO series Carnivale, as Funhouse doesn't really take advantage of the setting, in fact, we only see two evil carnies. Where are all the other ones while all this craziness is going on in the funhouse? Blah. Next!
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The Expendables Trailer Is Awesome

I was pretty bummed out last week when I heard that the trailer for The Expendables had been leaked and taken down in the matter of a night. I'm not sure if this is still a leaked version or if it's official (let's hope official), but it looks like this movie will be everything I hoped it would be.

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Casting Internets

Check out this video from Maxim.com with all the best limb losses in movie history! Probably NSFW unless you work at the places that most of my friends do.

I'm not a huge fan of the A-Team, in fact, I don't know how many episodes I've ever actually seen, but, like most other children of my generation, I have an affinity for Mr. T. I also like Bradley Cooper and think this should be a fun action movie. The image looks cool at least. (via /Film)


Nearly every other blog has already linked to this Tauntaun cake that Great White Snark dug up. What can I say? We geeks like our Tauntauns and cake.


I haven't picked up Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 yet, but I keep getting more and more excited as I see these new downloadable characters on Marvel.com. Cable's the latest addition and he looks to be wearing his modern duds. Hopefully, huge shoulder pads and pouches will be an extra skin.

In other news you've probably already heard, a dude in Iowa City, Iowa got punched in the face last night by a man accusing him of being a zombie. Twice. (via The Huffington Post)

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Freddy Krueger & Hulk Together 4 Ever

Hey, wanna watch something really freaking weird? This video comes to the logical conclusion that Freddy Krueger and the Hulk are absolutely perfect for each other and sees them meeting, dating and hanging from clothesline. And hey, that's not the weirdest aspect of the whole thing. Just as Hulk and Freddy sit down to watch Freddy vs. Jason, Robocop bursts in with an intent to blast them, which ends when a bowl of popcorn lands on his head. And the only logical conclusion? Action figure dance party! It's like a much tamer version of Topless Robot's Fan Fiction Friday. Just watch the thing.

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How The Mighty Have Fallen

Wow. So I saw this over at io9 today. I guess this is NSFW, but the effects are...not great, but still bloody.

According to the story this is for a movie Corey Feldman is doing with Joe Dante as a Netflix original. Now, part of me wants to think that this is Dante's way of trying to bring an awesome new horror movie to fans in a new way. Because, otherwise, this is the director who did The Howling, Piranha, Gremlins 1 and 2, Innerspace, The 'burbs, Matinee and several episodes of Eerie Indiana working on a low budget movie with a mostly-washed up actor and a pretty lame viral video. Let's hope it's the former, not the latter.

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Class of 1991: Toy Soldiers & If Looks Could Kill

I had the pleasure of watching two movies about teenagers kicking ass that both happened to come out in 1991 last week. You know what's funny? The very next year Kevin Smith's Clerks and Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs brought all kinds of attention to the world of film, but just the year before we got treated to Toy Soldiers and If Looks Could Kill.

I had never actually seen Toy Soldiers (starring Sean Astin, Wil Wheton, R. Lee Ermey and Louis Gossett Jr.. The idea is that, this dude whose dad has been arrested for being a drug dealer decides to take a private prep school hostage in order to take a kid hostage. The kid is someone from the government's, but what the terrorists don't know is that that kid was moved off campus the day before. Now, Astin, Wheton and their friends have to put a stop to things. See, Astin's kind of the bad boy of the school, but he's got a good heart and is willing to risk his life for the safety of his fellow students.

Watching TS was definitely an experience. They really don't make movies where kids can try and kill terrorists with an uzi anymore and that's kind of a shame. I was talking to Rickey about this movie and he said it lead him to all kinds of kid empowerment fantasies. Kids need that kind of stuff to keep them sane or at least to weed out the lameazoids and give the free thinkers something to think about (though hopefully shooting people with uzis isn't the only thing they think about).

The other Class of 1991 movie I checked out was one that I had seen before but only once: If Looks Could Kill. It's a case of mistaken identity movie in which a high school senior gets mistaken for a James Bond-like secret agent. There's plenty of Bond references in this badboy (including a sexily named lady, cool car with gizmos and a look at a gadget testing lab). ILKC stars Richard Grieco in the only role I ever remember seeing him in (though, did you know he played Ghost Rider on the Fantastic Four cartoon? weird).

This movie is definitely played more for laughs than TS, but Grieco, a high school student, does still straight-up murder some people with an uzi (I guess he's 18 though, so it's not such a big deal). I didn't enjoy ILCK as much as Toy Soldiers, but I think that's because, aside from the humor, I was only looking for the few things I remembered about this movie from what I was a kid: the sneakers that walk down walls, the short lady's extending necklace whip and the exploding gum ("borrowed" in the first Mission: Impossible movie by the way). I think this empowered me to some extent as a youngin, or at least made me want someone to invent high tops that would allow me to walk down walls. Come on science, where are those kicks already?!

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New Nightmare On Elm Street Trailer

I just realized that I never really talked about the Friday the 13th remake on here. Well, it was the last horror movie I saw in the theaters (the first in over a year I think) and I dug it, which was great, because I didn't really like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake and hated the Halloween one. I'm long past being outraged over these kinds of remakes, I mean, you can always go back and watch your favorites again and we've all seen what happens when these franchises go on for too long and, if nothing else, maybe they'll keep our favorite horror icons in the consciousness enough to get kids to check out those old movies.

Anyway, with all that being said, today /Film linked to the new Nightmare On Elm Street trailer.

A Nightmare on Elm Street in HD


I'm no NOES expert--I haven't watched one of the flicks since my burgeoning days as a horror fan as it was one of the few series' that they had all the tapes of--but it seems like they used a fair amount of material from the first flick. I'm looking forward to a mix of both old and new, but hopefully not so much new that I already know all the beats. What I don't want is too much back story on Freddy, which is what the trailer starts off with. That's where the Halloween remake went wrong, so hopefully that's not where we're going this time around, but we shall see. Plus, getting Jackie Earle Haley to play Freddy was a stroke of genius, so that's at least some early points in the positive column. This trailer adds a few more, in my opinion.

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Casting Internets

I was hard at work today on my first freelance assignment for Marvel.com, an interview with comic fan and Chicago Bear Lance Briggs (I'll keep you posted when it goes live), so I didn't post as much during the day today. I'm also working on an X-Men piece that turned out to be a lot longer than I expected so I'll probably break it up into pieces, but I didn't want to draw attention to a few things I saw today.

Topless Robot's got a great list of the 17 Coolest G.I. Joe and Cobra Animal Sidekicks. I have way too many of these in my collection.

/Film has a story about a robot boxing movie. I'm sure it's no Robot Jox, but I love this image they ran with it.


There's also a CGI Night of the Living dead movie called NOTLD: Origins that Romero has nothing to do with. It's also being said it'll be in 3D. I'm in! (via /Film)

Rickey's got another awesome Swayze tribute piece up, this one's from Point Break.


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Casting Internets

First off, I just wanted to thank everyone for coming to the site, as of today I've gotten 5,007 hits since the site launched in April. I hope you guys are enjoying this as much as I am. I was planning on updating the site away from the basic Blogger template, but since I'm no longer employed, that will have to wait. Do keep an eye out for a brand new logo coming your way soon and a few other original art do-dads.

A lot's been going on and I'm still playing catch up, but I wanted to link to a few things I've seen on the net lately.

First off, check out Rickey's awesome Patrick Swayze tribute. He's planning on doing a different Swayze drawing every day for the rest of this month and I can't think of a better tribute to a dude we both loved.


In lighter news, the Brickehousebunny21/Topless Robot/WHOSE RESPONSIBLE THIS shenanigans got kicked up a notch today as Brickehousebunny21 threatened Rob with "Everyone here is in trouble now..." Do yourself a favor and read the full post and if you have no idea what I'm talking about, you can get all the info you need from this post I did yesterday.

In Wires Science news, a couple of college students built a camera that took pictures of the edge of space for under $150. Kinda makes me wish I had a knack for science. Also, here's a picture of a girl in zero gravity sporting a Supergirl costume. I didn't really readthe article, but that's a rad pic.


Over on Enemy of Peanuts, Jim posted some pictures from All Points West, looks like it would have been a lot of fun and I'm super jealous of him for getting to see Jay-Z live even if he was replacing the Beastie Boys. I gotta see Hova one of these days.


Meanwhile, over at The Cool Kids Table, Ben's been posting like crazy, whether it's about the original Suicide Squad run (a great book he turned me on to), the X-Men arcade game (in the top 3 up there with TMNT and The Simpsons) or going away presents that former and formerly former ToyFare staffers got (awesome custom toys), it's all goodness.

And finally, a note to the ladies, if you're going to kiss Captain Kirk, watch out for that last step, it's a doozey:

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RIP Patrick Swayze

Though his IMDb pages hasn't even been updated with the information as of this writing (8:47PM EST), I've heard the news about Patrick Swayze passing away and am definitely bummed out. These kinds of things don't usually bother me too much because it's hard to mourn for someone you don't really know. But, thanks to movies like Road House (one of my all time favorite movies, movie watching experiences and movie to turn others onto), The Outsiders, Donnie Darko, Red Dawn and Point Break (and even Dirty Dancing which I saw for the firs time a few years ago with Em because it's one of her favorite movies), I do feel like Swayze gave me so many hours of entertainment that I can legitimately mourn the man. Hell, Road House was the highlight of the very first Many Movie Night we had.

In honor of the man, here's a look at my favorite posters and images from his movies.













So, pour one out for your homey Swayze and remember. "All you have to do is follow three simple rules. One, never underestimate your opponent. Expect the unexpected. Two, take it outside. Never start anything inside the bar unless it's absolutely necessary. And three, be nice."
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Casting Internets

Again, thanks for all the kind words on the internets I've been hearing and reading online. In addition to the ones I mentioned the other day,Josh Wigler created the above glorious piece of original art featuring Jim Gibbons and myself. Kiel also gave us a shout out on Linko XXI over at the Cool Kids Table.

Speaking of Mr. Gibbons, his interpretation of "The Hills Are Alive With The Sound of Music" perfectly encapsulates what I wished that movie was actually about when I had to watch it over and over and over as a kid.


In other news, Curt over at Groovy Age of Horror finally saw the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I'm glad he liked it and completely agree with his assessment at the end that it really does depend on when you see a movie like this in your horror movie watching career. The sooner really is the better.

Chris Ward worked his magic on this awesome Dungeons and Dragons ad (pun not intended, but also not deleted):



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2007 Danny Trejo Interview

With all the buzz flying around the Machete movie, especially the news that Robert De Niro, Lindsay Lohan, Jessica Alba, Cheech Marin, Don Johnson (Nash Bridges reunion!!!) and Steven Seagal will all be in it, I figured I would dig up an interview I did with Mr. Trejo right before the release of Rob Zombie's Halloween hit on DVD along with a drawing I did a few weeks back when I was relatively bored of Machete. I'm not sure if anything ever happened with the interview (it was originally done for wizarduniverse.com, but I can't find it on the net), but the interview went down on November 30, 2007 and it was absolutely one of the most fun I've ever conducted. Danny was a joy to talk to and really sounds like a dude you could just hang with. Maybe someday... Anyway, here's the full interview.

Dietsch: How are you doing, man?
Trejo: I was just in TJ [Tijuana]. Who was it with? It was Andy Garcia and Ray Liotta and Eli Morales.

Dietsch: I looked at your IMDB page and you seem busy all the time.
Trejo: Yeah, yeah. Thank God. A busy man who's trying to do everything.

Dietsch: So I want to start with a few Halloween questions.
Trejo: Sure. Great movie by the way.

Dietsch: Were you a fan of the series, the previous series, before you worked on this one?
Trejo: You know what, I hate to say it, but no I wasn’t. I knew the movie, but I didn't really get into horror movies until I did From Dusk Til Dawn. I thought, “Wow, this is cool.” And horror fans are probably the most loyal fans that you can get. It's either horror fans or John Wayne fans.

Dietsch: Do you have any favorite horror movies?
Trejo: Well, I go back to Frankenstein and Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney, that era. I think that one of my favorite movies of all time is Bram Stoker’s Dracula. But wait a minute, I don't know if you saw this kind of comedy that was called Dracula: Dead and Loving It. I laugh thinking about that [laughs]. Me and my son watch that and just go hysterical for it.

Dietsch: You’ve worked with a lot of directors in the past. What did Rob Zombie bring to the table for this one? Was there anything that you hadn’t experienced before?
Trejo: You know what, I say it all the time. Rob Zombie brings the same thing that Robert Rodriguez does. They love what they’re doing and any time that you work with anybody that loves what they’re doing it's just a joy. It’s a joy to show up for work. If you’re working with a plumber that loves what he’s doing it’s a joy to be around him because he not only likes what he’s doing, but he likes teaching you. If you’re ever around with Rob [Zombie] or with Robert Rodriguez or Quentin [Tarantino], if you’re standing by them – I hate to say this because I’m a lot older than them, but they’re actually holding class. “And the reason we’re shooting this is because if we get this angel we can edit it like this.” They’re holding class because they love doing what they’re doing.

Dietsch: That’s got to make it really fun to be on set, I’m sure.
Trejo: Oh, yeah. It just makes it really fun.

Dietsch: Now, when you’re working on a horror movie do you ever get creeped out by the atmosphere of the whole thing, especially with something like Halloween where your character gets killed? Is that strange to see?
Trejo: No. I think it’s a lot of fun and people who work on horror movies especially really have to love what they’re doing. Even the stunt guys. If you think that jumping off a building is tough try it in a guerilla suit or try it in a werewolf suit. It makes it a lot more difficult. So everybody that’s on the set loves the costumes and the makeup and everything like that. So I think it just brings a lot more fun to the table.

Dietsch: Would you say that there’s a different energy on set when making a horror movie, more excitement?
Trejo: Yeah, absolutely because people are comparing it to this horror movie and that horror movie. It's tough to compare a drama or something like Gone With The Wind, but with horror you've got all these little different quirks.

Dietsch: Michael Myers is a character who’s been around for a long time. Do you have your own take on him? Do you see him as pure evil or that he was abused and this is kind of the result of his growing up?
Trejo: Well, I’ve taken the abuse so far [laughs]. I mean, come on. It’s funny because Michael Myers, at first he didn't kill me. At first I lived and then after they saw the movie everybody noticed that, “Hey, he didn't kill Trejo”' So this kind of gave him a redeeming quality which they didn't want him to have and so they brought me back for it. Rob called me back and said, “Hey, Danny. You know what? We have to kill you.” I said, “Get your other checkbook out.” [laughs] They killed me and re-shot it. I think it was better that they didn’t let me live because tthat took away his redeeming quality.

Dietsch: Do you have a preference for the kinds of movies that you work on?
Trejo: I love action movies. I love action movies. What’s the body count?! Even my agent knows that if the first five pages don’t have a body count of at least three to pass on it. I go to movies to be entertained. Don’t give me anything too heavy because I don’t want to walk out of there going, “Oh, I’m thinking.” [laughs] Not too much plot for me. Just shoot ‘em up.

Dietsch: Do you have a favorite action movie hero like maybe Dirty Harry or somebody?
Trejo: Like I said, I love John Wayne and Kirk Douglas and all the old action hero guys. [Clint] Eastwood was awesome. What can I say? I love movies. I love good movies. I love good action movies.

Dietsch: Do you think that Machete could take Michael Myers?
Trejo: Oh, yeah, absolutely. Machete can take out Superman. We’re going to do that. This is a Robert Rodriguez quote here. You can quote this from Robert Rodriguez. He promises all his fans that we are going to start Machete in January. So that’s a go. I call him every day and I tell him, “Robert, everybody is asking me when we’re doing Machete. He said, “Well, tell them we're doing it in January.”

Dietsch: Is there a projected release time yet?
Trejo: Probably in the summer. He wants to get it done pretty quick.

Dietsch: We heard that it was going to originally be direct to video, but now it’s theatrical?
Trejo: Oh, yeah, definitely. That’s another quote by Rodriguez.

Dietsch: Can you talk about the plot at all?
Trejo: Well, you know that he’s a federal agent that comes out here from Mexico and he’s double crossed by the mob who’s trying to kill this senator. They double cross him and so he just comes back with a vengeance and I love it because it’s a Charles Bronson Death Wise-type, take no prisoners [movie]. I cut guys in half on that one.

Dietsch: Everyone here is super excited to see it when it comes out.
Trejo: Put that in your article and send it to Robert [laughs].

Dietsch: So the trailer that was in front of Grindhouse, is that still the trailer for the movie or was that a goof?
Trejo: That was just kind of a preview. There’s a whole lot more stuff that they’re doing. There’s stuff when I land that motorcycle. There’s stuff where I cut one guy in half and his legs keep running – some funny shit. It’s really, really heavy stuff.

Dietsch: So the scenes in the trailer will be in the movie?
Trejo: Oh, yeah, absolutely, but the continuation of those scenes because those were just short little scenes.

Dietsch: You’re slated right now to be in Sin City II. Do you know anything about your character or when that will start?
Trejo: Not a thing. I was supposed to be in Sin City and what happened was that I was shooting another film and Robert said, “I have to do this, Danny.” I said, “Go ahead. Go ahead.” So they re-started Mickey Rourke’s character and I'm glad that he did that. He was great in that.

Dietsch: Have you read any of the comics and have a favorite character?
Trejo: Yeah. I met what's his name [Frank Miller?], but it's like I said, I have no idea what they’re going to do with me. You never know with Robert. I mean, Robert, that line of his, “Are you a MexiCan or a MexiCan't?” Robert made that up on the set, right before me and Johnny Depp shot that scene [from Once Upon A Time In Mexico]. It was like, “Here Danny, say this.”

Dietsch: Do you have a favorite Robert Rodriguez movie, one you’ve been in or one that you just love even though you're not in it?
Trejo: A favorite Rodriguez movie? God, when Salma Hayek was pouring that wine down her leg [in Desperado?], I could've watched that for the whole movie [laughs]. That's what I love. I love those action movies. I loved Spy Kids and that movie gave me this whole new audience.

Dietsch: Do you get recognized a lot when you’re out? I would imagine that you do because you’ve doing films for a long time.
Trejo: Oh, yeah. It’s funny. It’s like people complain about the paparazzi and all that stuff, but I kind of make a decision before I leave the house that I’m going to deal with this. If not, I’ll send someone out and I won’t go out. I tell all actors that if you don’t want to be bothered, don’t go outside. You can avoid it. I see all these people yelling at these camera guys and stuff and I just laugh. It’s like, “Shut up. You did it.”

Dietsch: I wouldn’t think that they get in your face too much.
Trejo: No, no. They’re polite and they ask real nice. “Hey, can we take a picture with you” [And I say,] “Yeah, sure.”

Dietsch: My wife wanted me to ask you what it was like when you did Desperate Housewives.
Trejo: [laughs] You know what, let me tell you something. At first I said no to that. My agent said, “They want you to do Desperate Housewives. They called you.” I said, “No way. Come on, Danny Trejo on Desperate Housewives? That doesn’t fit.” My wife happened to walk by and heard that. She goes, “Are you crazy?! That’s the most popular show on TV.” So I ended up doing it and it’s funny because I hang out at this place called Chubby’s Automotive. It’s over in Sylmar on Polk and San Fernando Road. All of my old ex-convict friends and all my old drug addict friends, ex-drug addict friends, they all hangout there. So they’re always ragging on me when I walk up, like, “Ooh, here comes the movie star,” and all of that stuff. I walked up there and they said, “Ooh, here comes the movie star. What are you working on now?” So I told them Desperate Housewives and if you can imagine all these guys with tattoos and all buffed up and wife beaters on going, “Oh, that's my favorite show!” They love Desperate Housewives. “Say hello to Eva [Longoria],” [they said].

Dietsch: What was that shoot like? How long were you on the set?
Trejo: About three days and it was blast. They’re so fun and Eva Longoria is like – I love basketball and so I got an autograph picture [of her husband, Tony Parker]. She kind of cracked up because I went over to her and asked her, “Can I have an autographed picture of your old man?” She was a doll.

Dietsch: You’ve done quite a few videogame voices and animated voice work. How is that different than going to the set and working on an actual live action movie?
Trejo: Just showing up. You can show up in pajamas if you want to [laughs]. No makeup or nothing. You just show up in pajamas and say, “Hey, what’s up?” You do it and I hate to say it, but it's EM: “easy money.”

Dietsch: Do you ever play the games that you’re in?
Trejo: God, no. It takes a genius to play them games.

Oh, DO go on.

Casting Internets

Woah. Disney bought Marvel.

The trailer for The Tournament looks awesome. Like the /Film writer, it reminds me of Smokin' Acestoo, but hopefully it'll be good for the whole thing and not just the last 20-30 minutes.



I don't care what anyone else thinks, I'm psyched for a Bad Boys 3! (via /Film)

Ben remembers his going away presents from Wizard. Look at those handsome devils in the top left corner. I'm on the bottom left. Cooler by far, though is the Nova and Flash playing frisbee piece. You'll have to click through to check that out though. Plug!


Check out Topless Robot's 12 Least Appropriate Smurf Figures for Children.
Oh, DO go on.

Casting Internets

Today would have been Jack Kirby's 92nd birthday had he not passed away in 1994 on my birthday (which was weird to say the least as a young comics fan). To celebrate his life Kirby-Vision presents several images of Kirby drawn by its many contributors. Above is my favorite by Uriel A. Duran.

Over at Topless Robot, Rob calls out the British (newspapers) for being filthy liars. Plus, he uses it as an excuse to run yet another sexy shot of Megan Fox. Double whammy!

On my way home from work yesterday I caught an interview with Quentin Tarantino on NPR's Fresh Air. You can find a transcript and podcast here. I'm waiting to listen to the whole thing for fear of even the most remote Inglourious Basters spoilers, which I'm hopefully going to see tonight.

Check out this awesome NASA patch that real astronauts actually wore. Wired dug this and some other pretty amazing ones here.


My buddy Jesse over at Maxim.com collected these 10 crazy Predator tattoos. It's both glorious and kind of stomach churning.

Fans of urban legends should definitely check out legendsrevealed.com where you'll get a triple dose of info with every click. Today's Photography Legends Revealed talks about naked photos from Ivy league schools, photoshopping in the 1800s and where a photo was staged or not. Fascinating.

Finally, I really hope you check out Awkward Family Photos on a regular basis. Here's a recent post called Monkey Love!


Oh, DO go on.