Robert Rodriguez Revealed The Real Reason He Is Reluctant To Revisit Desperado

Although the "Desperado" film series kicked off Robert Rodriguez's career more than 30 years ago, the multi-faceted filmmaker admitted that he's reluctant to revisit the story again on film. Rodriguez took Hollywood by storm in 1992 with the release of his micro-budgeted indie sensation "El Mariachi," which he wrote, directed, produced, shot, and edited. Starring Carlos Gallardo in the title role, "El Mariachi" follows a traveling musician-turned-gunman who is forced to blast his way out of life-threatening circumstances when he encounters a group of hardened criminals.

Antonio Banderas took up the mantle of El Mariachi in the 1995 sequel, "Desperado," where the gunslinging musician with a guitar case loaded with weaponry teamed with then-relative newcomer Salma Hayek, who plays his ally and lover Carolina. Banderas and Hayek also returned for the third film in the series, 2003's "Once Upon a Time in Mexico," which also starred Johnny Depp, Willem Dafoe, and Eva Mendes.

In an interview with The Wrap, Rodriguez pondered whether he'd ever return to the series, 20 years after the last film. However, he noted, a lot has changed in the past two decades surrounding gun culture. "I would love to revisit the Desperado series. I thought it was way ahead of its time," Rodriguez said. "It's really hard to do today, for me, anything with guns. Gun violence has gotten out of control."

Robert Rodriguez, who in recent years directed an episode of "The Mandalorian" and served as showrunner on "The Book of Boba Fett," said his hesitancy to use gun violence in films comes despite the fact that the shooting in the "Desperado" series was done tongue-in-cheek. "It's just hard to do," Rodriguez told The Wrap about making films with gunplay. "There's always some terrible shooting and you just go, 'I don't know if I can responsibly do anything with guns.'"

That's not to say Rodriguez didn't enjoy creating the "Desperado" films, which he made when he was in his early 20s. In fact, the filmmaker told The Wrap that the "Desperado" series has the same sort of escapist elements as his "Spy Kids" movie series. "I really love those films; they are so fun. They're like 'Spy Kids' for grownups, with guitar cases that fired missiles and gadgets galore," Rodriguez said. "It was still made by [a] kid. Still, the glorification of it [now] would be hard for me to pull off responsibly."

While "Desperado" proved to be a breakthrough film for Salma Hayek, she wasn't the only actor to benefit from her role in the crime thriller. The film also marked the first time Rodriguez worked with Danny Trejo, who said his unusual audition experience for "Desperado" found him twirling knives — something he wasn't used to doing — for the director since his character throws blades in the film.

Rodriguez's most recent film is his "Spy Kids" reboot, the original Netflix movie "Spy Kids: Armageddon."