Four Rooms

Alexandre Rockwell

The director of such quirky, low-key films as In the Soup (1992) and 13 Moons (2002), filmmaker Alexandre Rockwell has had an uncanny penchant for making the most of the small, quiet moments that other filmmakers might gloss over in favor of meatier drama. As a result, Rockwell’s ability to craft complex, multi-dimensional characters — warts and all — gained him a dedicated following in the world of independent filmmaking. A native of Massachusetts and the grandson of animators Alexandre Alexeieff and Claire Parker, Rockwell spent most of his teenage years making short films in the suburbs of Boston. Instead of college, Rockwell chose instead to go to Paris and work with his grandfather. Later studying filmmaking at the Cinemateque Francois, the aspiring director had already crafted a number of short films by the early ‘80s and was able to display his work at both Boston’s Institute for Contemporary Art and New York City’s Association of Independent Video and Film. Both shows helped Rockwell’s reputation, and he soon got an opportunity to direct a feature film. An adaptation of a German novel that recounted a writer’s spiral into madness, Lenz (1981) was Rockwell’s feature debut and later became a fixture of the Berlin and Munich midnight movie circuit after being shown at the Berlin Film Festival in 1982. The film’s success was key to the German financing of Rockwell’s sophomore effort, and, in 1983, he released the symbolic road movie Hero. Documenting a group of misfits’ journey to Truth or Consequences, NM, it received a Special Jury Prize at the 1984 U.S. Film Festival. Though there would be a six-year lull until Rockwell returned to the screen with Sons in 1989, the film helped reinforce the filmmaker’s reputation as an “actor’s director,” despite receiving somewhat mixed reaction to his storytelling skills. It wasn’t until his fourth feature, In the Soup, that Rockwell truly hit his stride, garnering accolades at the Sundance Film Festival and beginning a prosperous creative partnership with character actor Steve Buscemi. The tale of a put-upon, wannabe filmmaker who falls prey to a charming con artist in his quest to get his massive screenplay produced, the film possessed a unique charm that was greatly benefited by Buscemi and Seymour Cassel’s memorable performances. Also in the cast was Rockwell’s then-wife Jennifer Beals, who turned in a series of winning roles in numerous low-key indies in her post Flashdance days. Somebody to Love (1994) proved something of a disappointment; Rockwell’s contribution to the disastrous Four Rooms (he directed the “The Wrong Man” segment) subsequently got lost in the shuffle; and many viewed Rockwell’s 1998 effort Louis & Frank (which utilized characters from In the Soup) as Rockwell’s weakest effort to date. Nevertheless, the director made something of a comeback with the 2002 comedy 13 Moons, once again using Buscemi, in addition to a great ensemble cast in what many considered his best work since In the Soup. —allmovie guide

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Robert Rodriguez

The man behind some of the most innovative, creative, and visually inventive action films of the late ‘90s and early 2000s, director Robert Rodriguez is the epitome of the do-it-yourself attitude and a renaissance man of cinema. Directing, shooting, and editing nearly every one of his films, Rodriguez’s energetic and self-immersing approach to filmmaking has resulted in some of the most stylish and exciting action films in modern cinema.

Born June 20, 1968 into a large family that included ten siblings, Rodriguez was never lacking in inspiration due to the antics of his brothers and sisters and became fascinated with cartooning and filmmaking at an early age. Prompted to jump behind the camera after becoming enamored by John Carpenter’s Escape From New York at age 12, the fledgling director’s brothers and sisters served as a capable cast and crew, and with his father’s Super-8 camera in hand, Rodriguez took his first steps toward auteurhood. Shocked by the cost of developing films, the junior director showed early signs of budget-consciousness when he switched to video due to its versatility and the room it gave him to experiment. Awarded a scholarship to the University of Texas at Austin soon after his graduation from St. Anthony’s High School, Rodriguez inked a popular comic-strip entitled Los Hooligans (inspired by the antics of his siblings) and continued to make films despite being rejected from the institution’s film school due to poor academic promise. Undaunted by the rejection, it was Rodriguez who would have the last laugh as his 16 mm film Bedhead won multiple awards and opened many doors. A humorous tale of a girl who gains psychic powers after receiving a bump on the head, the film’s unique humor stood out among the usually morose film-festival entries and charmed audiences and judges alike.

Also recognized by Columbia University for his skills as a comic writer and artist during this period, Rodriguez soon began setting his sights on making a feature-length film. Once again intimidated by the high cost of processing film, the resourceful director came up with one of the most unique forms of financing ever conceived by a filmmaker desperate for funding. Serving as a human guinea pig by subjecting himself to experimental drug studies, Rodriguez secured the 7,000 dollars he needed to get El Mariachi off the ground. With his good friend Carlos Gallardo serving as the hapless lead and a ragtag crew working round-the-clock in a Mexican border town, shooting was completed in 20 days for intended distribution in the Spanish video market. Bought by Columbia Pictures for distribution in the United States, El Mariachi was hailed for not only its unique style and energy, but also for the remarkably resourceful circumstances surrounding its creation as well. Brought in at the last minute to direct the made-for-cable feature Roadracers (1994) soon after, and helming “The Misbehavors,” arguably the most entertaining segment in the ill-received Four Rooms the following year, it wasn’t long before Hollywood was calling for a sequel to Rodriguez’s maiden effort. As much a remake as a sequel, though this time with the noted lead of Antonio Banderas (whom Rodriguez had worked with on “The Misbehavors”), Desperado displayed further indication of its director’s resourcefulness but failed to capture the core energy of the original. Re-teaming with his Four Rooms cohort Quentin Tarantino for the super-kinetic, schizophrenic crime/horror extravaganza From Dusk Till Dawn, the director continued to find his groove in the land of bloated budgets, and despite its dark humor and giddy energy, the film was criticized by many for not sticking to the conventions of a single genre. His follow-up, the subversive sci-fi teen romp The Faculty, was equally compelling, though lost in a sea of post-Scream (1996) self-conscious thrillers.

In subsequent years, Rodriguez would remain only slightly involved with the two straight-to-video From Dusk Till Dawn sequels, and many may have found it ironic that the director would receive his most substantial critical success yet with what was essentially a children’s film. A massive box-office hit that offered a family friendly adventure yarn served with a distinctively stylish and surreal twist, Spy Kids (2001) retained all the elements that had endeared Rodriguez to fans and critics, sans the graphic violence and adult elements that rendered his previous works unsuitable for the small fry. Alarmed by the fact that numerous kids had approached him and expressed their love of his very adult-oriented previous features, Rodriguez set out to craft an energetic adventure that called back to his more lighthearted early efforts. With its deliciously twisted Willy Wonka-inspired villain, bizarre set-pieces, high-tech gadgetry, and positive messages pertaining to the worth of a healthy self-image and the importance of family, Rodriguez won over a whole new generation of fans while simultaneously retaining his already solid and fiercely loyal fan base. Again turning out a stylish and flashy finished product on a remarkably tight budget (Rodriguez edited much of the film in his garage), the established director proved that his talent spanned numerous genres and his appeal was far reaching. Soon beginning work on a sequel to Spy Kids, Rodriguez also kept busy by beginning production on his longtime dream project, the epic final installment to his Mariachi trology, Once Upon a Time in Mexico.

In the wake of a visit with filmmaker and digital cinema advocate George Lucas, Rodriguez was soon convinced that the future of film lay not in celluliod but in digital video – and from Spy Kids 2 on the progressive-minded filmmaker would eschew tradition to shoot all of his future films on the versitile emerging format. Indeed Rodriguez’s subsequent digital films were as visually vibrant and aesthetically pleasing as ever, with Spy Kids 3 using the process to particularly pleasing effect in creating a fantasy world in which young protagonist Juni (Daryl Sabara) must journey into a living videogame to rescue his sister from a sinister foe known as The Toymaker (Sylvester Stallone in a particularly hammy performance).

If Once Upon a Time in Mexo – Rodriguez’s epic conclusion to the El Mariachi trilogy – failed to reach the delirious hights promised by it’s undeniably ambitious title in the eyes of some fans, the arrival of the visually striking and masterfully constructed Sin City in early 2005 proved without a doubt that Rodriguez was indeed still one of the most daring mainstream filmmakers in contemporary cinema. Despite the fact that Sin City author Frank Miller had made no secret of the fact that he had no desire to ever let the legacy of his notorious noir comic blighted by a sub-par film adaptation, Rodriguez secretly shot a scene showcasing his remarkably faithful vision for the film and offered it to Miller as a proposal for a feature length version of Sin City. Immediately recognizing the sincerity and respect with which Rodriguez had handled the source material—going so far as to use the panels of the graphic novel for storyboards—Miller agreed to let the director bring Sin City to life on the big screen and in turn, Rodriguez resigned from the Director’s Guild of America so that he could make Miller the official co-director of the film. When Sin City finally arrived in theaters in April of 2005, few fans of the comic could have realized what a faithful adaptation the film would be, and though it did draw some criticism for its stratospheric level of violence, longtime fans of Miller’s comic took to the film in droves and praised it for its unapologetic adherence to his dark vision.

Rodriguez finished off 2005 with another family adventure in the style of Spy Kids — although far less successful — called The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl. He then spent 2006 teaming up with friend and colleague Quentin Tarantino to work on the over-the-top double-feature project Grindhouse. The film set out to follow in the tradition of the genre it was named after — bang for your buck drive-in/Times Square exploitationers — and the final product would include a movie by each director, as grindhouse theaters were known for screening double or triple features. While the grindhouse movies of the ’70s made up for the lack of starpower afforded by their shoestring budgets with intense violence, wild action sequences, and shocking premises, Rodruigez and Tarantino reveled in the chance to make a movie just as outlandish and campy, but with big budgets and major stars as well. Released with a maximum of fanfare by the Weinstein Company on Easter weekend, 2007, the film became one of the surprise flops of the spring, despite strong reviews from critics. —allmovie guide

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Quentin Tarantino

Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, the son of Tony Tarantino, an actor and amateur musician who was born in Queens, New York, and Connie McHugh, a nurse. Tarantino’s father is Italian American and his mother is of Irish and Cherokee ancestry. He was raised by his mother, as his parents separated before his birth. When he was two years old, he moved to Torrance, California and later to the Harbor City neighborhood where he went to Fleming Junior High School in Lomita and took drama classes. He attended Narbonne High School in Harbor City for his freshman year before dropping out of school at age 15, to attend an acting class full time at the James Best Theater Company in Toluca Lake.

At age 22 he worked at the Video Archives, a now-defunct video rental store in Manhattan Beach where he and fellow movie enthusiasts, including Roger Avary, discussed cinema and customer video recommendations at length. He paid close attention to the types of films people liked to rent and has cited that experience as inspiration for his directorial career. Tarantino has been quoted as saying, "When people ask me if I went to film school I tell them, ‘no, I went to films.’

After Tarantino met Lawrence Bender at a Hollywood party, Bender encouraged him to write a screenplay. Tarantino directed and co-wrote a movie called My Best Friend’s Birthday in 1987. The final reel of the film was almost fully destroyed in a lab fire that occurred during editing but its screenplay would form the basis for True Romance. In January 1992, Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs screened at the Sundance Film Festival and was an immediate hit. The film garnered critical acclaim. Reservoir Dogs was a dialogue-driven heist movie that set the tone for his later films. Tarantino wrote the script in three and a half weeks and Bender forwarded it to director Monte Hellman. Hellman helped Tarantino to secure funding from Richard Gladstein at Live Entertainment (which later became Artisan). Harvey Keitel read the script and also contributed to funding, taking a co-producer role, and a part in the movie.
Tarantino has had a number of collaborations with director Robert Rodriguez.

Tarantino’s screenplay True Romance was optioned and eventually released in 1993. The second script that Tarantino sold was Natural Born Killers, which was revised by Dave Veloz, Richard Rutowski and director Oliver Stone. Tarantino was given story credit, and wished the film well. Following the success of Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino was approached by Hollywood and offered numerous projects, including Speed and Men in Black. He instead retreated to Amsterdam to work on his script for Pulp Fiction. After Pulp Fiction was completed, he then directed Episode Four of Four Rooms, “The Man from Hollywood”, a tribute to the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode that starred Steve McQueen. Four Rooms was a collaborative effort with filmmakers Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell, and Robert Rodriguez. The film was very poorly received by critics and audiences. He appeared in and wrote the script for Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk till Dawn, which saw mixed reviews from the critics yet led to two sequels, for which Tarantino and Rodriguez would only serve as executive producers.

Tarantino’s third feature film was Jackie Brown (1997), an adaptation of Rum Punch, a novel by Elmore Leonard. A homage to blaxploitation films, it starred Pam Grier, who starred in many of that genre’s films of the 1970s. He had then planned to make the war film provisionally titled Inglourious Bastards, but postponed it to write and direct Kill Bill (released as two films, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2), a highly stylized “revenge flick” in the cinematic traditions of Wuxia (Chinese martial arts), Jidaigeki (Japanese period cinema), Spaghetti Westerns and Italian horror. It was based on a character (The Bride) and a plot that he and Kill Bill’s lead actress, Uma Thurman, had developed during the making of Pulp Fiction. In 2004, Tarantino returned to Cannes, where he served as President of the Jury. Kill Bill was not in competition, Kill Bill Vol. 2 had an evening screening, while it was also shown on the morning of the final day in its original 3-hour-plus version with Quentin himself attending the full screening. Tarantino then went on to be credited as “Special Guest Director” in Robert Rodriguez’s 2005 neo-noir film Sin City for his work directing the car sequence featuring Clive Owen and Benicio del Toro.

The next film project was Grindhouse, which he co-directed with Rodriguez. Released in theaters on April 6, 2007, Tarantino’s contribution to the Grindhouse project was titled Death Proof. It began as a take on 1970s slasher films, but evolved dramatically as the project unfolded. Ticket sales were low despite mostly positive reviews.

Among his current producing credits are the horror flick Hostel (which included numerous references to his own Pulp Fiction), the adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s Killshot (for which Tarantino was credited as an executive producer although Tarantino was no longer associated with the film after its 2009 release.) and Hell Ride (written and directed by Larry Bishop, who appeared in Kill Bill Vol. 2).

Tarantino’s summer 2009 film Inglourious Basterds was the story of a group of guerrilla U.S. soldiers in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. Filming began in October 2008. The film opened on August 21, 2009 to very positive reviews and the #1 spot at the box office worldwide. It went on to become Tarantino’s highest grossing film, both in the United States and worldwide. –Wikipedia

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