But I'm not going to switch because I think aquamarine would look a lot better." So I kind of follow direction but still bring what I can for the character. And they say, "I would like this house painted Swiss coffee." And I say, "OK, but do you think that maybe the trim would look better with some off white?" And they go, "Yeah. And I bring what I can to the character, but basically the director and the producers, they're the owners of the house. Well, I kind of think of acting as my job. Is there a certain kind of role you're hoping to get or movie that you want to make? You've gotten to play so many cool roles. And any problem you have is going to get better without them." And somebody that knows and that had these problems says, "You know, any problem you have is going to get worse with drugs and alcohol. Especially if you came from where I came from, and these kids are getting in trouble or these kids are having problems. There's no bigger thrill than making some kind of an impact on somebody's life. Well, I walk out with the blessing of life. What do you take out of those experiences, personally? So it gives me an open communication with them. They want to hear what those characters have to say. Not Danny Trejo, but the guy from “Spy Kids,” the guy from “Heat,” the guy from “Desperado,” the guy from “Blood In, Blood Out.” Those guys have their attention. But the blessing that I've got is when I walk onto a campus, I have their complete attention. They don't want to hear what you got to say because if you're 10 years older than them, then you're just not cool. And education is the key to anything you want to do."īut anybody can deliver that message. And I just go in and just kind of tell them, "You know, if you take drugs and alcohol out of your life, it will get better. And usually, in the worst high schools – if there's such a thing as a "bad" high school – high schools have a lot of trouble. And wherever I'm at, my agent, Gloria, always finds a high school for me to go talk. Well, I still go to high schools and juvenile halls and youth authorities in prisons and do a lot of talking, about three times a month. When you get a chance to talk to them, what do you want to make sure they come away with? A lot of kids look up to you and young men and women. You know better than anybody what can happen if you go down the wrong path. And I would have loved that character, even if it wasn't me. And then when we did the fake trailer for “Grindhouse,” everybody just fell in love with that character. And we just built on him and built on him and built on him. Robert Rodriguez told me about that character when we were doing “Desperado” 20 years ago, and just by the mere name, "Machete," you know he's a badass. What do you love about that collaboration, and that character? You're going to be holding onto somebody's guts and use it as a rope." "Uh, OK." But when you see it on screen, it's amazing. Who else would think of jumping out of a window holding onto somebody's guts? He's like, "You're going to be jumping out of this window. So Robert, he's a genius when it comes to that stuff. He just says "Come up with ideas." So I get an idea, I just call him and tell him. Has he given you a sense of the story at all? You just start realizing, "Wow! I'm here for the whole thing!" You're not just a – I can't say not just a day player, because day players make movies I think they're all just as important. So I started getting to stay for the whole movie, and it's like, all of a sudden you're like part of this whole thing. And the bad guy kind of gets lost somewhere, dies somewhere along the middle of the movie. I did “From Dusk Till Dawn” and the Rodriguez series – “Desperado” and “Once Upon a Time in Mexico” - I really started to be identified, and “Heat,” the Robert De Niro/Al Pacino movie! Man, just everybody just kind of started recognizing me … I think the difference between playing a good guy and a bad guy is the good guy gets the girl and stays until the end, you know. So I mean, it's like a dream.īecause you didn't really have a big master plan in your career, what do you think was the big turning point for you? That thing that shifted you from recognizable character actor to name player … And I just wrapped “The Ridiculous Six” with Adam Sandler I'm doing “From Dusk Till Dawn,” the TV series with Robert Rodriguez I finished that “Bad Ass” trilogy that just came out, and that's doing really well. I just got back from Canada, was doing an autograph signing up there. I never thought I was getting out of prison, you know? And so right now, my life is a dream. I don't remember! I got into this thing by accident. Did you ever think you would be making kid-friendly type of projects when you started out?
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