Danny Trejo seems like a cool dude. In an interview with the bad movie podcast How Did This Get Made (after making fun of his movie BAD ASS) he revealed that he'll sometimes work on student films if asked, and will even do it pro bono, just so people can have his name in their project. He's also been known to help at-risk youth in his spare time.
But Trejo wasn't always so cuddly. If fact, he used to be closer to the kinds of bad motherf*ckers he plays in his films. And apparently there's a new documentary coming out about his early life and his rise as a Hollywood actor called INMATE #1: THE RISE OF DANNY TREJO. It will be directed by Brett Harvey (ICE GUARDIANS).
Here's what producer Adam Scorgie had to say about the project:
Today, Danny Trejo is temperate, benevolent and likely one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. But he wasn’t always this way…Growing up in the mean streets of Pacoima, California, he was raised and mentored by his uncle, a drug addict and armed robber. By the age of 12, he had tried heroin. By age 15, he was introduced to his first jail cell. At 23, he was sentenced to San Quentin for selling a $30,000 bag of heroin to an undercover agent.
The story goes that after Trejo got out of prison in 1969, at the age of 25, he found work as a boxing coach and landed a job on the set of the 1985 film RUNAWAY TRAIN, where he trained star Eric Roberts in boxing. This got his foot in the door in the entertainment industry, eventually working in such films as CON AIR, HEAT, and of course MACHETE (as well as a memorable role in BREAKING BAD). He currently has DEATH RACE: ANARCHY coming out soon.
Here's a poster for the upcoming film as well:
While there's no firm release date for INMATE #1 at this time, it is expected to come out sometime in 2018.