STACK #137 Mar 2016

DVD & BD FEATURE

visit stack.net.au

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 .

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

"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

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,

WILL MACHETE KILL AGAIN… IN SPACE? Following his appearance in a faux 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.” trailer attached to Grindhouse (2007),

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 the Regulator. I'm the baddest guy on the planet!

revealing a more benevolent side

I’m just glad that he finally did it.” Trejo's

as he cooks up a Mexican feast for the whole family. So when it comes to tacos, which does he prefer – soft-shell or

DVD & BD

guest role in series two is, naturally, a villain

– an ancient vampire bounty hunter who is resurrected to track down

hard-shell? “Soft-shell tacos, hard-

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

shell tacos, vegan tacos, cauliflower tacos… every taco known to mankind. I love ‘em all!” And we all love you, Danny Trejo.

• From Dusk Till Dawn: Series 2 is out now

MARCH 2016

32

jbhifi.com.au