Robert Rodriguez (and Sons) explains how films like Hypnotic are a family business

At one point during our Zoom conversation about the movie, family, and Ben Affleck starring hypnoticDirector Robert Rodriguez and I briefly discuss the definition of “lace”.

Robert broke out as an independent filmmaker in the early 1990s, when his first feature film won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival among other awards; mariachi It was made for just $7,225 — a budget Rodriguez partially earned money from by participating in a drug-testing study.

Today, Robert has built his own studio in Austin, Texas, where he can make whatever movies he wants on his terms. Several of his children work with him there, among them Racer co-writer and producer Max Rodriguez and composer Rebel Rodriguez who began working on Robert’s films at a very young age, and join their father to discuss life as a member of Rodriguez’s family business: the film industry.

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Racer and Rebel don’t hesitate to say how much they enjoyed it. “We realized we didn’t want to do this alone or without family,” says Reaser. “Because for us there’s the pressure of, ‘Oh, well, you’re doing it because it’s your dad, and he’s a filmmaker, and he pushed you into it, so you’re scared to get out of it.'” And she’s like, “No, we don’t do that.” He’d be the first to kick us out the door if we had the urge to do it. But, to us, this is just family time, and there’s no one else I’d rather work with than family.

For some, working on their father’s films may not have been seen as an introductory process — and certainly, Racer or Rebel didn’t have to sign up for medical trials to produce their first feature film. But Robert says trying the drug was “my own choice. I could have borrowed from my grandparents like most people did. But I wanted it on my own.”

On the other hand, being part of the Rodriguez film-making machine has been an exciting part of his sons’ lives, but it hasn’t always been easy — like the 2005 shoot The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-Dbased on a story by Racer (who was eight years old at the time of the film’s release), also features Racer and Rebel as younger versions of the titular Sharkboy.

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Behind the scenes of Hypnotic (Ketchup Entertainment)