Once Upon a Time in Mexico
The time has come.
Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003)
Production
Budget
$29 000 000
Revenue
$98 769 390
Director
Scenario
Composer
Producer
Actors
Antonio Banderas
El Mariachi
Johnny Depp
CIA Agent Jeffrey Sands
Cheech Marin
Belini
Salma Hayek Pinault
Carolina
Mickey Rourke
Billy Chambers
Willem Dafoe
Armando Barillo
Eva Mendes
CIA Agent Ajedrez
Danny Trejo
Cucuy
Short description
Once Upon a Time in Mexico is a crime action film about a retired gunman known as El Mariachi who is pulled back into action by a corrupt CIA agent named Sands. Sands wants him to stop a drug lord named Barillo, who is plotting with a Mexican general to assassinate the country's president; El Mariachi has his own reasons for taking on the men involved. The story unfolds amid political unrest and revenge.
Robert Rodriguez wrote, directed and produced the film, the ninth of the twenty-four features he has directed in chronological order. It followed Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams and preceded Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over. Antonio Banderas plays El Mariachi, with Johnny Depp as Sands, Salma Hayek Pinault as Carolina, Willem Dafoe as Barillo, Mickey Rourke as Billy Chambers and Cheech Marin as Belini.
The film had a budget of 29 million US dollars and took about 99 million worldwide, roughly three times its production cost. On IMDb it holds 6.3 out of 10 from around 176,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.3 out of 10 from about 2,488 votes. A critics' rating of 6.2 out of 10 from 167 reviews places it close to the audience scores, so reviewers and viewers broadly agreed on the film.
What's left behind the scenes
- The character of Jorge Ramirez is based on the story of a real person, namely Robert Rodriguez’s uncle, a retired FBI agent who lives in Mexico. He was present on set and actively gave advice to his on-screen counterpart.
- Rodriguez said he “assembled” Sands from two characters: the first – a “man with three hands” (one of Rodriguez’s scripts), the second – a “man without eyes” (another Rodriguez script, where a man is deprived of his eyes and, with the help of his son, takes revenge on his offenders).
- In Spanish, "Ajedrez" means "chess".
- In Spanish, 'Moco' means 'booger'.
- The role of Sands was written specifically for George Clooney. However, after it became clear that George would be unable to participate in the film, Robert Rodriguez considered the following actors: Kurt Russell, Bruce Willis, Sean Penn, and Nicolas Cage. Ultimately, the role went to Johnny Depp.
- In the scene where Ruben Blades and Johnny Depp’s characters are talking, Depp mentions Jorge Archuletta, a friend of Barillo who was killed. This was the name of Blades’ character in the film “Predator 2.”
- According to Robert Rodriguez, he specifically filmed this movie with HD cameras to test their capabilities.
- Initially, the armed forces were supposed to provide the film crew with military equipment. However, when they learned that the film's main villain was a military general, they refused to fulfill their obligations. The military equipment was provided by various collectors.
- Depp personally handled the selection of costumes and makeup for his character. The famous t-shirts of Agent Sands were purchased in Florida by the actor's sister.
- "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" is the last screenplay Robert Rodriguez wrote as a member of the Writers Guild of America. After the premiere of the third film about the Musician, he left the organization, stating: "There are too many rules there, and they just take your money." Later, in 2004, Robert also left the Directors Guild of America.
- When the Musician opens his guitar case in the hotel room, several knives belonging to Navaja, Danny Trejo's character from Machete (1995), can be seen inside.
- The scene where the boy in the yellow t-shirt leads Sands and he bumps his head was done accidentally. During filming, Depp had to film with his eyes closed (so they wouldn't be visible, as they had been cut out), so he accidentally hit his head, but the scene wasn't reshot and was included in the film.
- Almost all of Sands's curses were improvised by Johnny Depp.
- All scenes involving Johnny Depp were filmed in 9 days. After completing his filming, Johnny didn't want to leave the set, where he had a good time. Therefore, he asked Rodriguez to allow him to play another small role. Robert agreed: Johnny played the role of a priest with whom Antonio Banderas speaks in the church.
- According to Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino suggested he make a third film about The Musician. Knowing that Rodriguez is a fan of Sergio Leone's films, Tarantino suggested a title that resonated with one of the Italian director's works. Rodriguez stated that he would have eventually made a third film about The Musician anyway, as he had envisioned a trilogy even before filming the first movie. This fact is also confirmed in Rodriguez's book, "Rebel Without a Crew."
- The film's script consisted of only 45 pages.
- Number of corpses: 99.
- The film contains several references to Frank Miller's graphic novels from the "Sin City" series. Among them: – The shot where Sands shoots Ahedrez in the stomach after she kisses him is identical to a picture from the novella "A Dame To Kill For". – The shot where Sands' eyes are cut out is identical to a picture from "Hell And Back". – The conversation between the Musician and the priest in the church is identical to a similar scene in "The Hard Goodbye". – The plot with plastic surgery on the face is similar to one of the plots in "A Dame to Kill For".
- Filming of the movie was completed in 2001, but the premiere did not take place until 2003.
- According to the booklet accompanying the film's soundtrack CD, Johnny Depp himself wrote the musical theme for his character (track 9 on the CD), and Antonio Banderas did a cover version of the main musical theme from "The Musician" (1992).
- The role of Kukuy, later taken by Danny Trejo, was specifically written for Quentin Tarantino. However, he was unable to participate in the film as he was busy filming "Kill Bill Volume 1" (2003).
- The weapons intended for use in the film were held up at the Mexican border for two weeks. Therefore, rubber replicas were used during the first two weeks of filming. Initially, to somehow adapt to this prop, Antonio Banderas voiced the gunshots himself each time he had to “shoot,” saying “boom,” “bang…”
- The filming of scenes with Salma Hayek was scheduled in such a way as not to interfere with her work on "Frida" (2002).
- The film's director, Robert Rodriguez, played one of the surgeons performing plastic surgery on William Dafoe's character.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
