Director Robert Rodriguez worries about glorifying gun violence in future movies. Rodriguez is the director of numerous popular action films, including Desperado and From Dusk Till Dawn, and the children’s series Spy Kids. The former title is part of a popular trilogy of films that includes El Mariachi and Once Upon a Time In Mexico. Made over the course of a decade, the Mexico Trilogy is among Rodriguez’s most notable works, leading some audiences to crave more from the series.
Speaking on the future of the Mexico series, Rodriguez told The Wrap about his reservations about returning to the franchise. While he finds the universe “so fun,” he finds “anything with guns” hard to make in this current era where news of shootings breaks so frequently. In thinking about continuing the Desperado universe, Rodriguez admits that “the glorification of it would be hard for me to pull off responsibly.” Check out the full quote from Rodriguez below:
I would love to revisit the “Desperado” series. I thought it was way ahead of its time. It’s really hard to do today, for me, anything with guns. Gun violence has gotten out of control. Even those are very tongue-in-cheek and kind of fun. It’s just hard to do. There’s always some terrible shooting and you just go, I don’t know if I can responsibly do anything with guns. I really love those films, they are so fun. They’re like “Spy Kids” for grownups, with guitar cases that fired missiles and gadgets galore. It was still made by kid. Still the glorification of it would be hard for me to pull off responsibly.
Robert Rodriguez’s Gun Control Stance Poses A Challenge for Desperado Sequel
This reflective statement represents a huge reversal of opinion from the Rodriguez viewers know of the past. Even the posters for El Mariachi, Desperado, and Once Upon a Time in Mexico feature guns, a staple of that series. The movies have a heightened sense of reality with firearms, including guitar cases that act as rocket launchers or machine guns based on the film. Desperado also features frequent collaborator Quentin Tarantino in a small role.
Thus, it makes sense for Rodriguez to fear the “glorification” of guns if he were to attempt another Desperado sequel. Too many action films–such as last year’s Top Gun: Maverick–are blase in their depiction of guns, taking them for granted as mechanisms for action and drama. As gun violence grows “out of control” in the United States, however, in a way that it was not when the Desperado series was first released, the need to change the passive portrayal of guns becomes all the more vital.
Unfortunately, Rodriguez’s aversion to guns, albeit moral and responsible, may be a non-starter when it comes to a Desperado sequel. Given how the films are set up, it would be near impossible to make another El Mariachi-like film without the excessive use of gun violence. Desperado may be inextricable from guns, but luckily Rodriguez will not let that pressure him to still make another sequel.
