STACK Mar #137

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32 MARCH 2016
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"Y o Australia, you’re on my
bucket list!” growls Danny
Trejo down the phone
from LA.
With over 300 acting credits to
date and 20 films currently in various
stages of production, it’s hard to
believe that the beloved – and busy
– tough guy actor has yet to venture
Down Under to make a movie. When
we speak, he’s only just arrived back
in the States from Moscow, where
he has been filming action-comedy
Maximum Impact.
“I just got back from Russia last
night, so I’m still on Russian time right
now,” he explains in that distinctive
gravelly voice that’s a Trejo trademark,
not a by-product of jet lag.
Having tended bar at the Titty
Twister in the original 1996 film From
Dusk Till Dawn, Trejo was conspicuous
by his absence from the first series
of Robert Rodriguez’s recent TV
series adaptation. However, given the
director’s penchant for stunt casting, it
was only a matter of time before we
laid eyes on his craggy countenance;
Trejo joins the series in season two.
From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series
continues the exploits of the bank-
robbing Gecko brothers, as well as
expanding the mythology of the
Mexican vampire cult coiled at the
heart of the notorious stripper bar.
“When you see it, you’ll be blown
away,” promises Trejo. “Robert
doesn’t push the envelope, he is the
envelope – everybody follows his
ideas. For me it’s an e-ticket ride. You
think you know what’s gonna happen,
but you really don’t. I was here from
the start and it’s all new to me.”
As a longtime associate of
Rodriguez, he was already privy to the
director's plans to bring the cult film
to television.
“I loved it because he’d been
talking about it for a while,” Trejo
says. “You gotta remember, Robert
Rodriguez told me about Machete
when we were doing Desperado 20
years ago. He’s always has visions
of what he wants to do.
He’d been planning on
doing From Dusk Till
Dawn [as a series]
for a while, so
I’m just glad
that he finally
did it.”
Trejo's
guest role in
series two is,
naturally, a villain
– an ancient vampire
bounty hunter who is
resurrected to track down
the errant Gecko brothers. But how
does swallowing a cop’s eyeball in an
early episode assist in his quest?
“I’m the Regulator, I’m the baddest
guy on the planet!” he explains. “I eat
your eyeball so I can see what you’ve
seen, and if I want to know what you
hear, I’ll eat your ears. Basically I’m a
connoisseur of body parts.”
And as the face of Old El Paso’s
TV commercials, Trejo is
also a connoisseur of
tortillas and tacos,
revealing a more
benevolent side
as he cooks up
a Mexican feast
for the whole
family.
So when it
comes to tacos,
which does he
prefer – soft-shell or
hard-shell?
“Soft-shell tacos, hard-
shell tacos, vegan tacos, cauliflower
tacos… every taco known to mankind.
I love ‘em all!”
And we all love you,
Danny Trejo.
I'm the
Regulator.
I'm the baddest
guy on the
planet!
• From Dusk
Till Dawn:
Series 2
is out now
WILL MACHETE
KILL AGAIN…
IN SPACE?
Following his
appearance in a faux
trailer attached to
Grindhouse (2007),
Danny Trejo’s avenging
federale Machete was
given a full-length
feature in 2010. Sequel
Machete Kills followed
in 2013, with a coda
promising “Machete
will kill again… in
space!” Although there’s
been no further word
on this intergalactic
installment, Trejo says
it’s still happening. “In
Russia they were asking
me about Machete Kills
in Space. I was just
talking to Robert about
that, and he said ‘we
gotta do it this year’.
So that sounds cool.”
If it’s a Robert Rodriguez production, you can bet your hard-shelled tacos that Danny
Trejo is involved. A starstruck Scott Hocking spoke with the ubiquitous actor and cult
icon about his guest role in the second season of From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series.