{"id":142898,"date":"2020-12-28T20:00:33","date_gmt":"2020-12-28T17:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/we-can-be-heroes-and-mandalorian-film\/"},"modified":"2020-12-28T20:00:33","modified_gmt":"2020-12-28T17:00:33","slug":"we-can-be-heroes-and-mandalorian-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/we-can-be-heroes-and-mandalorian-film\/","title":{"rendered":"#We Can Be Heroes and & Mandalorian \u2013 \/Film"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#We Can Be Heroes and & Mandalorian \u2013 \/Film<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n

\"Robert<\/p>\n

Robert Rodriguez\u00a0<\/strong>has made a throwback to his\u00a0<\/strong>Spy Kids<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>and The Adventures of\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Sharkboy <\/em>and Lavagirl\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>days.\u00a0We Can Be Heroes\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>is another Rodriguez kids\u2019 movie full of rainbow colors, unrestrained giddiness, and childlike imagination. The original Netflix superhero movie is wish-fulfillment for children. It\u2019s also another movie that feels hand-crafted by Rodriguez, a famously do-it-yourself filmmaker.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a big month for the director, who reintroduced audiences to Boba Fett in a killer episode of\u00a0The Mandalorian<\/em>. Both the director\u2019s entry in the\u00a0Star Wars <\/em>universe\u00a0and addition to Netflix\u2019s library bears his signature eye for playful escapism. With almost 30 years in the business, Rodriguez\u2019s childlike wonder for filmmaking remains firmly intact.<\/p>\n

That enthusiasm comes through on-screen and even over the phone when you interview the Austin-based director, who recently told us about the benefits of creating original properties, lessons from\u00a0George Lucas\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0James Cameron<\/strong>, and his fond memories from making\u00a0Alita: Battle Angel<\/strong><\/em>.
\n
\nThis movie has a nice child-like imagination you don\u2019t see a lot.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For sure. Those are very rare kind of films, especially with live-action family films. I think that\u2019s why Netflix came to me originally, asking for this. They said, \u201cCould you make us something like Spy Kids<\/em>\u00a0or Sharkboy\u00a0<\/em>that played so great on our service?\u201d I went, \u201cWow, really? I would love to do that.\u201d I loved those films. I kind of stopped making them because the parents will take their kids maybe a few times at the most. They\u2019d now say, \u201cAh, you can watch it later on video.\u201d They\u2019d watch it again and again on video and on TV, but you could never keep track of how much they watched it. It didn\u2019t really reflect how successful they were. They\u2019re not economically feasible, because they will be watched mostly at home.<\/p>\n

With Netflix, they can keep track of how many times they\u2019re watched and show the true success of the film. I was excited that kids wouldn\u2019t need their parents to drive them to a theater to see it. When my daughter wants to watch something, she can watch it as many times as she wants on Netflix. I don\u2019t have drive her to the theater.<\/p>\n

I thought this was the best delivery system for a film like this, where kids have instant access. To be able to watch it with their parents, great, but if they want to watch it 50 more times, they can just go at it. I was thrilled to go and do something in that vein, that has that level of repeatability, a lot of jammed in there, a lot of different effects and jokes and ideas and twists so that kids will be thrilled to watch it multiple times.
\nSharkboy and Lava Girl<\/em>, that\u2019s a movie that has remained in pop culture. People even just enjoy still saying the title of that movie.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

They didn\u2019t even see it at the box office. It didn\u2019t do that well at the box office, because their parents thought, \u201cOh, well, that\u2019s garbage. It sounds like something that my kids will be interested in watching, but we\u2019ll wait for it to come home on video.\u201d We\u2019d see it, maybe once, and then that\u2019s it. We\u2019ll wait until later because the kids would want to see it again and again.<\/p>\n

I had one actress, I remember her telling me, \u201cMy son will still not take those Sharkboy<\/em> 3-D glasses off. He still runs around the house with them on.\u201d This was a year after I\u2019d made the film. I couldn\u2019t understand what the fascination was. But it\u2019s just, my son came up with it when he was the age of the little girl who played Guppy [in We Can Be Heroes<\/em>].<\/p>\n

When kids make jokes to other kids, as adults, we don\u2019t know what they\u2019re laughing at. It just makes no sense. Kids like to speak their own secret language. And so, it spoke to them on a very empowering level, to be half-boy and half-shark is very empowering. Kids crave that at that age. Or to have lava powers, they crave that. It\u2019s why they watch it again and again.<\/p>\n

The people who grew up with that movie and Spy Kids\u00a0<\/em>are now adults, too.\u00a0So with We Can Be Heroes<\/em>, are you still thinking about the audience, those kids that you made those movies<\/a> for almost 20 years ago?<\/strong>
\nYeah, yeah. Now they\u2019re parents and they can watch it. For their kids who think Guppy\u2019s cool, parents can be like, \u201cWell, we grew up with the OG, the parents.\u201d\u00a0Those are my favorites.\u00a0Sharkboy and Lava Girl<\/em>, that movie didn\u2019t do that well. Some people wondered why I was even making that film. In the commentary, I say, \u201cThis is my favorite film I\u2019ve made.\u201d I don\u2019t think people believe me, but it\u2019s good to be validated some 15 years later.<\/p>\n

Over the years, I imagine you\u2019ve been offered superhero properties, but has that just never been an interest for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah. I mean, I learned that from George Lucas. He wanted to do Flash Gordon<\/em>, but he couldn\u2019t get the rights, so he went with Star Wars<\/em>. It worked out much better for him. I haven\u2019t even tried lobby to do like a James Bond movie. Just go make your own, make it Spy Kids<\/em>. I would always create my own thing.<\/p>\n

Sometimes when you get a superhero script<\/a>, by the time they get to me, they\u2019re not the scripts ready to shoot. It needs a lot of work, and they know that. They go, \u201cHere, this is a project, we\u2019ve got a title, we don\u2019t like the script. Could you put this together for us?\u201d Well, no, then they own it, control it, and I don\u2019t really want to work for people. I\u2019d rather, if I\u2019m going to put that much work into something, it might as well be something that I own and I control and that I can say is mine.<\/p>\n

So that\u2019s usually why I would shy away from doing one unless it was a title like Alita<\/em>. There\u2019s a lot that\u2019s going on there. That\u2019s a cool character, but also, working with Jim, or going and doing Star Wars<\/em>, that\u2019s cool. Normally, you\u2019re much better served to create your own intellectual property. It gives you more control. You can cast very diverse, as I\u2019ve always done. You can end it the way you want. You can focus it on the children instead of the adults. You have to understand, when Spy Kids<\/em> came out, it got very low ratings in the test screening.<\/p>\n

Really?<\/strong>
\nIt tested lower than Inspector Gadget<\/em>. The parents were like, \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong with this movie? It\u2019s all wrong. The parents are in it for just a few minutes, and then they\u2019re gone for most of the film.\u201d They just weren\u2019t used to that, but it\u2019s the kids\u2019 adventure. It was just a very new genre, so it was cool to have that freedom when you write your own projects. People couldn\u2019t say, \u201cWell, that\u2019s not quite right.\u201d You can have it be as weird as you want it to be and then have the audience discover it and love it for that strangeness and being different.<\/p>\n

\"We<\/p>\n

Your kids\u2019 movies have this live-action Saturday morning cartoon aesthetic. What influenced that style of yours? Was it Johnny Quest<\/em> and all the shows you grew up watching?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh, I loved Johnny Quest<\/em> growing up. Brad Bird<\/strong> and I talked about that show. The Incredibles<\/em> is very much inspired by Johnny Quest<\/em>, those things that we grew up with. I also want it to feel like it kind of came from the mind of a kid. We did that in Spy Kids<\/em> too. If they had pint-sized gadgets, they would look different than James Bond gadgets. They would look like it was made for a kid, so you would use rounder shapes and simpler shapes.<\/p>\n

I took it further in this one because I actually made that part of the storyline, that if you\u2019re wondering why it\u2019s so colorful and why the shapes are so simple and intuitive, it\u2019s because they\u2019re designed by children of another planet. It\u2019s why things are more purple and pink and round and tentacle-like, it\u2019s because that is the aesthetic, by nature, of the story. I really got to push it far. And then my son who\u2019s 15, working on his game<\/a> engine program, designed all the interiors for the alien ships. I wanted it to be like the mind of a child.<\/p>\n

I miss that in big action movies. I was watching Thunderball<\/em> recently.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thunderball<\/em>!<\/p>\n

And that underwater fight, it\u2019s like something a kid would imagine with action figures.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the stuff that is just pure. I can remember showing my kids that movie and they were blown away. They just thought \u201cThunderball<\/em> rules.\u201d They couldn\u2019t believe it. And now, you see why this character was so popular. It\u2019s why that actor is so iconic. And, to put it in context, nobody had seen anything like it. It was the biggest movie of all time at that time.<\/p>\n

What other movies were exciting to introduce to your kids?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh man, so many. They\u2019re older now. They had never seen a James Bond movie, so I was saving it for a big screen, room screen. They were just floored. We watch all kinds of stuff. I make a list, and once they get age-appropriate, where they can really appreciate it, really get it on multiple levels, we watch it on a big screen. It depends, since I have a wide range of ages in my family, from 14 to 24. Sometimes the little kids get the old movies.<\/p>\n

For We Can Be Heroes<\/em>, did the visual storytelling in superhero comics influence you at all?<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s interesting. I was a cartoonist, I started as a cartoonist, so I just have that approach to things. I usually draw out shots and draw out how things are going to look. I have sort of a comic book aesthetic. It\u2019s kind of how I trained. And so, that\u2019s probably why it feels that way. I draw a lot.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to tell how much this movie cost. What were some techniques and tricks you used to stretch the budget here?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh man, it goes to back El Mariachi<\/em>. If you watched that movie, you would never guess it\u2019s a $7,000 movie. So, the same with this. I would do that even on my bigger budget movies. Netflix, although it seems like they have unlimited cash, I told them just to give me a little. \u201cI\u2019m going to do this for a price because I want you to bring me back to make more.\u201d I want to do one that just blows your mind, looks so big, makes you question all your other budgets.<\/p>\n

The whole time they were asking, \u201cAre you sure you have enough money? This doesn\u2019t seem possible based on our other movies.\u201d I go, \u201cNo? Watch this.\u201d I also had this great relationship with WETA because they did Alita<\/em>, and they offered to come do it for the budget I had, even though I didn\u2019t have nearly the funds to pay for them to do this movie. They really over-delivered.<\/p>\n

If you compare it to my Spy Kids<\/em> films, that I had the same budget for the effects, they just came in, out of love for these movies, and just threw down. I actually can\u2019t believe what was on the screen. It\u2019s why you see my name so many times in the movie because you really have to be the writer, the director, the editor, the cameraman, the cinematographer, know the visual effects. Because you\u2019ve only got six hours with the kids. You\u2019ve got half the amount of time you normally have on a shooting day, with kids, because all 11 of them are in the shot together. So you have to get twice the work done, in half the time. You have to cast correctly, you have to know what you\u2019re shooting, you have to shoot like an editor. You have to get only the pieces you need, otherwise, it\u2019ll be astronomical.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just the methodology I\u2019ve created over the years, that helps make these feel much bigger than they are. It should look like a really big movie, but it\u2019s because it\u2019s not budget-wise, it gives me freedom. Because they were spending so little money, that if it didn\u2019t do well, it\u2019s still successful, and if it did well, it was a huge hit because the budget was lower.<\/p>\n

I find that the limitations help you be more creative. My favorite characters are Rewind and Fast Forward, because of the effect. All they\u2019re doing is rewinding footage we already filmed. There\u2019s nothing being done there. The idea is bigger than anything. It doesn\u2019t have to really cost money. When you use those clever ideas that don\u2019t cost money, those are the ideas that most people on a big-budget will never use because it\u2019s so simple, they probably think it\u2019d get laughed out of the theater. They\u2019re kind of charming and interesting and they capture a kid\u2019s imagination really well. So, I defaulted to a lot of that thinking.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve spoken before about how much you learned working with cinematographer Bill Pope and James Cameron on Alita: Battle Angel<\/em>. What were some lessons from working with them you kept in mind when making\u00a0We Can Be Heroes?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh yeah, right away I was doing We Can Be Heroes\u00a0<\/em>after working with Bill Pope on Alita<\/em>. Seeing how he lit a set, which light fixtures he would use, which diffusion he would use. Bill would light a broad area for special effects. I had my own bag of tricks, but you always can learn from somebody else who\u2019s using technology<\/a>. I know I used some of his techniques in this, for sure.<\/p>\n

Bill came over to me during filming Alita\u00a0<\/em>and went, \u201cYou\u2019re editing this in your head, aren\u2019t you?\u201d \u201cYeah.\u201d He goes, \u201cYeah, yeah, that\u2019s interesting. We\u2019re not shooting shots we normally would have to shoot, that we know we would never use, that we always have to get on other movies. We\u2019re not wasting time with those.\u201d And I go, \u201cYeah, we\u2019re not.\u201d He goes, \u201cOh, that\u2019s interesting. That\u2019s really great.\u201d [Laughs] So often, he\u2019s required to shoot things that he knows that no one will use. Some productions require that to cover all your bases, but I was just always getting the shot I needed.<\/p>\n

I learned a lot from Bill. Seeing how he does big productions like this, with a lot of effects and working with WETA, that\u2019s what really got me able to do this film. I learned a lot from Jim, too. Everything you do, it\u2019s going to be a learning experience and then it\u2019ll enhance your own personal project when you go on to that next. I go to school on one movie and then I go do my project. I go to school on the next movie and then I go do my project. Always got to be learning.<\/p>\n

\"alita<\/p>\n

Alita<\/em> is now my favorite movie of yours.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I appreciate that. And why do you think that is? I think it\u2019s because of her, she\u2019s such a wonderful actress and her life\u2019s force comes through in such a big way. Rosa\u2019s eyes are so big that she\u2019s almost more human than human. You see every emotion she has. There\u2019s something about her character that I just love.<\/p>\n

Same. I think it\u2019s how endearing that character is, how believable the world is, and your sensibility with James Cameron\u2019s on an IMAX screen, that was a great experience.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh, man, I appreciate it. When Jim loves a movie, he goes right at it. He told me, \u201cIt just gets better every time I see it.\u201d We really enjoyed making it. He cracked the code early with work he had started on it back in 2005. Can you imagine, he was going to do it back then? He was bold. Without the technology even being there, that was really crucial to making it what it was.<\/p>\n

Jim just had the coolest ideas. We were trying to figure out how to show that she\u2019s mourning in the end. To figure out a way to shoot that, with a montage of images, it\u2019s going to look cheesy. Jim said, \u201cWell, there was an old idea I had where you slice a tear with a blade.\u201d\u00a0Bingo. You\u2019d send him a question like that, and he\u2019ll throw out something, like, \u201cOh, okay, I was thinking about this\u2026\u201d It\u2019s gold. I learned so much from him.<\/p>\n

Have you all talked to Disney about the odds of a sequel?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No, Jim has just been so busy. I think he\u2019s just getting back from New Zealand now, but it\u2019s something we wanted to see what would happen. Fox got bought by Disney, so we\u2019re not sure what movies they\u2019re making. We haven\u2019t had official talks yet, but hopefully, we will.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve been asked before about revisiting old properties of yours, like\u00a0Spy Kids\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Sharkboy<\/em>. Even\u00a0El Mariachi<\/em>, do you want to return to any of your old films or continue with sequels?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, I would like to. There\u2019s a certain amount of time that can pass where it\u2019s too late to do a sequel, but then when enough time passes by, you can do a reboot. The guy who inspired me to do that was George Miller<\/strong>. When he came back for Max Max: Fury Road<\/em>, I realized that some of those ideas could be brought back. Yeah, I\u2019ll look at that. I\u2019ve got a lot of original stuff coming up, but then at some point, that would be really fun to go back and do something from the old days, in a different way, in a way for a new audience, when enough time\u2019s passed.<\/p>\n

How about another book?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been working on it. I hope I can finish it this year. I keep adding to it. New crazy stuff keeps happening. So, it\u2019s really crucial. I think it would be helpful for people more than just in films. It\u2019s about creativity in general<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s great. You also got to play in George Lucas\u2019 sandbox recently. Did you talk to him about your episode?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh my gosh, that was the best. George and I have been friends for a long time. We go way back in history. George once came by and saw that I was my own sound-mixer. He\u2019s also the one who showed me how he was going digital. He said, \u201cWow, come check this out.\u201d He showed me new tests for these new digital cameras that he was going to use, and that\u2019s when I thought about the future.<\/p>\n

I flipped out and got the cameras right away and shot my next three films in a row on those cameras. And he also showed me green-screen stuff that blew my mind. That\u2019s what made Spy Kids 3<\/em> and Sin City<\/em> possible. That\u2019s why I seemed so ahead of the curve back then. I was the only one shooting digital. It was because he showed me the magic behind the curtain, about what was coming in the future. I knew he was always 10 years ahead of everybody.<\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t wait to show him\u00a0Sin City<\/em>. I showed it to him, and he just went, \u201cThis is going to show what digital can do, finally.\u201d People were having a hard time thinking that that was the future back then if you can believe it. Now, of course, nobody uses film very much at all. It always took people a long time to catch on, but he was always 10 years ahead of everybody. We go back a long time.<\/p>\n

Digital has come a long way since then. What are your favorite advancements now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think the cameras have just gotten better. I can always deal with them being smaller. I like that it got down to the El Mariachi-<\/em>size, that was the best, to have an old 16-millimeter camera, just enough weight to get a shot smooth, but not have that much stuff hanging on it. Every time they did put out something new, I was always trying it because I\u2019m into technology. It\u2019s just a tool, but sometimes the tool is inspiring.<\/p>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#We Can Be Heroes and & Mandalorian \u2013 \/Film” Robert Rodriguez\u00a0has made a throwback to his\u00a0Spy Kids\u00a0and The Adventures of\u00a0Sharkboy and Lavagirl\u00a0days.\u00a0We Can Be Heroes\u00a0is another Rodriguez kids\u2019 movie full of rainbow colors, unrestrained giddiness, and childlike imagination. The original Netflix superhero movie is wish-fulfillment for children. It\u2019s also another movie that feels hand-crafted by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":142899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/d13ezvd6yrslxm.cloudfront.net\/wp\/wp-content\/images\/mandalorian-robertrodriguez-babyyoda.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[1568,1513,74780,1570,23988,10294,19122,1377,56772,43341,88011,1418,43670],"class_list":["post-142898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-featured-stories-sidebar","tag-action-adventure","tag-alita-battle-angel","tag-features","tag-george-lucas","tag-interviews","tag-james-cameron","tag-netflix","tag-pedro-pascal","tag-robert-rodriguez","tag-sharkboy-and-lavagirl","tag-the-mandalorian","tag-we-can-be-heroes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}