Robert Rodriguez
speaker
1,180 appearances
3 recordings
3 series
first heard Apr 2025
last heard 16 Nov
Robert Rodriguez’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Nov 2025 with 1.
Appearances
I know you all want to give me 80, but I want to be a hero and come in at 50 because one, it'll make it better. And then two, you'll make three of them instead of just one. I don't want to just go spend the farm. And how many filmmakers would do that? Don't try to get as much money as they can. But when you're spending less, it's a win-win situation.
And you have more creative freedom because they're going to leave you alone. You can do whatever you want. So I like the creative limitations that come from less money. That's why I like brass knuckle films. We're going to make them for less so that they are better. Not to make them shitty. So many people have come up to me and said, you know what part I love in your movie? Tell me some scene.
And I'm like, oh, well, that's because we ran out of sun. And we had to do that jump with just... him jumping on a pad three times or whatever it is, it's something that you fumbled together. And that's what they're drawn to. They're drawn to that imperfect thing.
And so I wouldn't judge it because somebody's, you know, if you called your movie shitty, that's like John Carpenter saying, yeah, nobody liked the thing. And it's a shitty movie and everyone hated it. So it must not be good. And then 10 years later, it's a masterpiece. So don't judge it because of you. Words we use on ourselves are very powerful.
So if you say, well, you know, I'm kind of an artist sometimes. I make a lot of shitty stuff. Well, that's going to be your lot in life. You know, I'm in pretty good shape for a director. It's not because I'm operating the camera, because I work out, right? But I always hated working out. I was not into sports. I was a filmmaker. I was a cartoonist. In high school, I was really tall.
They would say, come work, come be in our team. We need, it's a small school. We need you. And I'm like, I don't know how to play any of these things.
There's a line in the faculty that was my line to my coaches when they would say, you got to come run with everybody. I would say, I don't think a person should run unless he's being chased. I gave that to the Elijah Wood character because that's the guy I identified with. He's there with his camera. And that was me. So I hated it.
And then because I was a cartoonist, you know, drawing like this for hours, four hours, my back would go out, like out for a month. It would just go out from being so tall and crunched over. And then when I started making movies, operating the camera and doing steadicam, every year would go out to where I would need cortisone shots to get up again if I'm filming or just be out for a month.
And on Spy Kids 2, Ricardo Montalban had bad back surgery that went wrong and he was in a wheelchair. So he's in a wheelchair and I'm in a walker. And he's like, I'm 84. What's your excuse? And I was like, I don't know. I just was operating. He goes, you have to work out, Robert. work out. And I was like, yeah, okay, yeah, I know, I know.
And so then I thought, okay, next year I'm working with Stallone. I'll ask Stallone, I'll ask Stallone, how do you get in shape? Because I need to get in shape. My back's always going out. He goes, get the trainer. Anyone who you ever saw in Hollywood got in shape, they had a trainer. I said, even you? Anybody? Oh, I need a trainer. He has a trainer. I said, I don't know, I need a trainer.
I can't train. He's like, well, shit, if You can't even train on your own. And what do us mortal men have? So I got a trainer. And guess what happened? Hated it. I would feel sick when he's coming over because I hate working out. And then some years of doing that, I just can't stand it. But I know it's good for my health. So the desire's there.
So if you can't accomplish something in your life, it's not a lack of desire. Like if you want to be more creative, it's not a lack of desire. It's a lack of identity. Like the fact that you went... you were comfortable about saying creative, it's because there's a lack of identity there. You have lots of desire. You got to get the identity up and then suddenly you're making shit.
So a friend of mine from Mexico, she comes over, I have to stop smoking.
I said, well, you're going to go back to smoking because you just told me your identity is a smoker. So right now you're a smoker who's not smoking. What's going to happen eventually? You have to say I'm a non-smoker. You know, like just that lesson I had forgotten. You have to say, I'm a non-smoker. I'm a non-smoker. What does a non-smoker do? If you believe you're a non-smoker, you hate smoke.
Start choking at the smell of smoke.
I go, shit, I forgot about my own. I wonder where in my life I could apply that. Working out. Of course. My God, I hate working out. No wonder I am so miserable. I'll tell my trainer and anyone who will listen. I can't stand working out. I don't understand sports. So that day I said, I'm an athlete. I'm an athlete. That's the last thing I would ever call myself all through my entire life.
This was 2012. I'm an athlete. By the next day, not only did my life completely change, and it's easier if it's opposite day. Like if you're just doing it by degrees, that's bullshit. You got to go complete opposite. Because if there's like a donut, if you say, well, I'm going to only eat half of it, you got to go, no, I'm going to get an apple. Opposite is much easier.
Not only did I change my life working out, I never needed a trainer. I have not had a trainer since all those years. Cause I'm an athlete. I'll just do it.
An athlete loves working out. An athlete will make time to work out and they'll eat right. I was, I would never be the person that would call themselves an athlete, but that's how much it can change your life by changing your identity. So if you want to be more creative, you've already got that in your, that desire. You've got enough of that. You don't need more desire. You need more identity.
So you got to say, I'm a creative person. with a straight face. So when I say, hey, are you a creative person? You go, yeah. Because then if you say that, what do you do? You're going to do more creative stuff because that's what a creative person does.
Showing 1101–1120 of 1,180 · page 56 of 59
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