The Hollywood Byte #61: Grindhouse's Freddy Rodriguez
Apr 6, 2007
Actor Freddy Rodriguez is everywhere these days. He can be found on the edited syndicated run of Six Feet Under on A&E, as well as on the new Bobby DVD from The Weinstein Company directed by Emilio Estevez. Rodriguez also has a starring role in the new Harsh Times DVD from Genius Home Entertainment, alongside Batman Begins' Christian Bale. But starting this weekend, a legion of new fans will know Rodriguez as Wray, the leading man in Robert Rodriguez' and Quentin Tarantino's homage to '70s exploitation flicks, Grindhouse.
"It was an actual dream-come-true to be able to work with directors Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino," said Rodriguez. "It was great and it was an honor because I got to play an action hero. I got to be the iconic action hero in that film."
One of the reasons Rodriguez has gotten the attention of Hollywood in recent years is because of the work he did back in 2005 in the sci-fi film, Harsh Times.
"Harsh Times was another great experience," said Rodriguez. "I got to work with Christian Bale who plays my best friend and he and I go toe-to-toe. Doing the film was a little hard for me because I was still doing the television show at the time. I was working on the TV show on Thursdays and Fridays and I was doing the movie Saturdays through Wednesdays."
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Rodriguez, who was still in his 20s at the time, decided that if he was ever going to make the leap from television to the silver screen, that was the time to do it. Those long weeks paid off, as the film received critical praise and his work opened up the door to roles in high-profile Hollywood films like Poseidon and Lady in the Water.
Gamers likely know Rodriguez from his work in the THQ Xbox 360 hit, Saints Row. He played Angelo in that online gang warfare game.
"It's quite an interesting experience," said Rodriguez, who's a gamer. "They put the material in front of me and asked me to read it. And I just tried to apply as much emotion to it as I could and make it as real as I could. It's great when you go through that process and then you see it when it's all done. To hear your voice coming out of this animated character is a trip, especially coming from the Nintendo and Atari age. I never thought in a million years that I'd be a character in a videogame."
Rodriquez is a child of the '80s and '90s. He has two older brothers, so he was able to experience gaming from the very beginning with Pong and then Atari and Nintendo. Gaming is something the actor never gave up. He currently owns a PlayStation 3, a Wii, and Xbox 360 and a PSP.
"I have all of the latest stuff," said Rodriguez. "I don't know if you'd classify me as a hardcore gamer, but I'm still aware of what's going on."
Gamers will get to hear Rodriguez in an even more high-profile game, likely next year, when Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment releases the new Dirty Harry game.
"I'm doing a voice on the upcoming Dirty Harry game with Clint Eastwood," said Rodriguez. "I'm going to play his young rookie partner. I'm looking forward to doing Dirty Harry. To get Clint Eastwood to do a videogame and to bring back to life a character that he made iconic is an honor. I was quite floored when they asked me to do it. I said yes right away."
When it comes to what games make his day, Rodriguez loves the action-packed arcade games.
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"I've always been a fan of the fighting games like Tekken 5," said Rodriguez. "An older game that I was just playing is Black. I was addicted to that game. I was playing that game until 3 in the morning. That's how I get when there's a game that I really like. I can't stop playing until I've beaten it."
Rodriguez is a huge fan of the Tekken games. He's logged a lot of hours playing the PSP game and was looking forward to the Xbox 360 game at the time of this interview.
"I like the fighting games," said Rodriguez. "I grew up on Tekken 1 in the early 90s. That was always my favorite back in high school. It's been cool to see it evolve into what it is now. I also play Fight Night Round 3. My favorite boxer is Oscar de la Hoya."
Rodriguez is a big fan of the ongoing convergence between videogames and the film world.
"The marriage that's been happening lately has been great," said Rodriguez. "It brings such a high level of quality to the games, which is why it's attracting actors like Clint Eastwood. I saw Al Pacino is going to do a new Heat game. You probably would have never guessed that would have happened five or seven years ago, but when you start upping the quality of games you start to attract those kinds of actors."
With all of this back-and-forth between mediums, Rodriguez could see his latest film translating well to a videogame.
"Grindhouse would be interesting to see as a videogame," said Rodriguez. "I'd love to see a character that I created in videogame form. I would think that that would be one of the central characters in the game because I play the action guy in the film. Rose's (McGowan) machine gun leg would be cool gameplay, as well."
When it comes to the onslaught of videogames heading to the big screen like Gears of War, Resident Evil Extinction and Hitman, Rodriguez said that when he plays games nowadays it's like you're watching a movie anyway, so why not make that version into something for the big screen.
"Just like videogames are being made at such a high level of quality, as long as the films made about games are of the same high level of quality, I don't think there's anything wrong with it," said Rodriguez.
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When it comes to gaming, he spends most of his time playing at home or in airplanes.
"I haven't really played PSP in between takes on the set," said Rodriguez. "It's more for me when I'm traveling or flying on planes. Usually at work I'm watching movies or just trying to concentrate on what I'm going to do next."
With the anticipated success of Grindhouse and his virtual starring role in Dirty Harry, Rodriguez will certainly be an actor to follow in the coming years, both in Hollywood and in gaming.
The Hollywood Byte makes a weekly visit to the converging world of video games and traditional media.