Luz Maria Rojas and Eduardo Rodriguez adapted Robert’s original screenplay, and Robert stayed on as producer through his “RIP” (Rodriguez International Pictures). It is being distributed by Dimension Films, bringing on board his former wife Elizabeth Avellan and the Weinstein Brothers. Interestingly, IMDB lists the film from 2005, so it took a while for it to evolve and eventually find its way to the public.

Click here to get the DVD from Amazon.com

A commentary with Director Eduardo Rodriguez and Director of Photography Jaime Reynoso is also included on the DVD’s special features, and the Ultraviolet Digital Copy, for whoever uses Ultraviolet. If you have seen Curandero, comment below and let us know how you liked it.

• He is launching an animation company called Quickdraw Animation, with two feature-film projects already in the works, as well as a filmmaking contest with his technology partner AMD. The first film will be Heavy Metal, the other a family-friendly movie.

• He announced several new Quickdraw Productions initiatives. Sin City 2 is moving ahead and in casting, Machete Kills will also shoot this year, possibly as early as this month.

• Tito and Ttarantula played at SXSW with Robert to footage from Desperado (Video on YouTube),  as well as Chingon
• He is launching a new TV network catering to the target audience of young latinos, called El Rey. The El Rey network will be launching later this year.

Extra > Here’s a lengthy 20-minute video from SXSW with a conversation between Shira Lazar and Robert that you should really watch: Huffpost

Extra 2 > Here’s a video of Robert at the AMD VISIONary Young Director’s contest, Youtube (other angle)

We will bring you more news on these individual developments as they come along, of course follow us on the social networks for small bits of info on a several-times-a-day basis.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

DVD specs: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen / Dolby Digital 5.1 (English), Dolby Stereo 2.0 (English) . Subtitles: None; Not Closed Captioned

Bonus Features: Ten Minute Film School: The Making of a Degenerate Hot Rod Flick, feature audio commentary by Rodriguez from 1997.

• DVD: Buy from Amazon.com
• BluRay: Buy From Amazon.com

At the European Film Market during the Berlin International Film Festival, which opened Friday, they are now showing off this promotional poster (click to comingsoon.net for the hi-res version), to win backers for the film, which is produced by Alexander Rodnyansky’s AR Films U.S., a partnership between AR Films and Aldamisa Entertainment. Deadline quotes Robert saying “The fan response to the Machete character has been fanatical since his first appearance. Machete is truly a super hero and Machete Kills will be bigger and more ambitious than the first time.” If all goes right, and Trejo is on board, the movie is slated to start shooting this April as a Quick Draw Production, produced by Rodriguez himself, Rodnyansky (of said AR Films, the main investor), and Quick Draw’s Aaron Kaufman and Iliana Nikolic, as well as Sergei Bespalov (of Aldamisa) and Rick Schwartz. Apparently a script continuing the legend of Machete is already on the table, written by Kyle Ward, and developed by Rodriguez and Marcel Rodriguez.

Deadline‘s report quotes the plot summary as follows: “The new film finds Machete recruited by the U.S. Government for a mission which would be impossible for any mortal man. Machete must battle his way through Mexico to take down a madman cartel leader and an eccentric billionaire arms dealer who has hatched a plan to spread war across the planet with a weapon in space. Machete takes on an army in an effort to dismantle a plan for global anarchy.”

Sources: Coming Soon | Deadline Hollywood.

Thanks to Rama’s Screen for the heads up.

This website gives it 3.5/5 for all the goodies you could possibly imagine: hacked off limbs, ripped out guts, boobs, shotguns, Steven Seagal, nude Jessica Alba, nude Lindsay Lohan, other nude chicks, Robert deNiro, crazy explosions, cool lines, an explosive controversial story, and more!

And the moment you’ve been waiting for is here, Grindhouse is finally available on BluRay (and in Canada only on DVD). Click here to read the full news over at The Quentin Tarantino Archives. Don’t forget to LIKE Pistolero on Facebook (click here). And please comment below to post your reviews of Machete and/or the Grindhouse release.

IGN has the exclusive video up on their site, along with a few other things

Also check out the various posters, pictures and lobby cards that we posted on the official Pistolero Facebook Page

And now for today’s real news: Robert Rodriguez has officially optioned the rights to Fire and Ice, which is an animated movie from 1983 by Ralph Bakshi and Frank Frazetta, which is available from Blue Underground on DVD and on BluRay. Click here to read what Robert has to say on AICN and click here for a related story at our friends from The Playlist.

1. Today is Cinco de Mayo, and they have released a special cinco de mayo Machete trailer to the public, that’s just a riot. Head over HERE to AICN to watch it. Don’t fuck with this Mexican, Arizona!

2. They have released a bunch of Predators character featurettes. Watch them here: Noland, Isabelle, Edwin, Royce, and Cuchillo and there’s another Behind The Scenes clip

3. Robert Rodriguez has shot a music video for a local Austin musician, starring Kat Dennings, read about it here: at Slashfilm