Director Robert Rodriguez has a movie in theatres right now, ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL, that had a production budget said to be in the range of $170 million. He has certainly come a long way since his debut film EL MARIACHI, which was made on a production budget of just $7000. But his latest project proves that he hasn't lost touch with his roots: he has made a horror thriller called RED 11 on a budget of $7000.
Rodriguez wrote the screenplay for RED 11 with his son Racer, adapting it from a script he first wrote twenty-five years ago. The film is set
in a dark, twisted version of the Legal Drug Research world. At these Facilities, young guys become Lab Rats to make quick money, but our hero RED 11 is here to buy his way out of a huge debt to the tune of $7,000.
That story may sound familiar to anyone who has followed Rodriguez's career, because he volunteered to be a lab rat at a medical research facility himself to help raise some of the money he needed to make EL MARIACHI.
RED 11 is said to show
the quirks, characters, and comedy of Robert’s experiences of being a human Lab Rat, but with a sci-fi and horror twist, because while under the influence of experimental drugs, Red 11 doesn’t know if what’s in front of him is fact or fiction.
RED 11 will have its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival tomorrow, March 12th. The making of the movie was documented with a series called Rebel without a Crew: The Robert Rodriguez Film School, which consists of six 30 minute episodes. Rodriguez will be showing clips from the docu-series while leading a SXSW Masterclass at the festival tomorrow.
I have read Rodriguez's "making of EL MARIACHI" book Rebel without a Crew, which included a look into his time as a lab rat, several times, so I'm really looking forward to seeing this horror movie that was inspired by his experience. I'm also excited to check out the docu-series. I think it's really cool that he has returned to the world of $7000 filmmaking with this project.