El Mariachi TV Series in the Works at Sony - UPDATED

Posted by Stephen Lambrechts

UPDATE: Well, we mentioned that it didn't seem like Robert Rodriguez was involved in this new El Mariachi series from Sony TV, and we were right. According to Deadline, Rodriguez' reps have commented on the new series and are extremely pissed about it. Apparently, Rodriguez had to learn about the new series (which had only been mentioned to him in the past) from the press release sent out by Sony. "Not only does Robert not have any involvement in this show, he wasn’t even given a ‘head’s up’ on Sony’s press release" said Rodriguez's reps in response to the news. "In it we noticed that Sony mentioned something about ‘staying true to the original story.’ Good luck with that without involving the creator! Not that it matters as the budget that’s allocated for the television production will make Robert’s original budget of $7,000 for El Mariachi look like Avatar. This TV series is a sloppy and lazy replica for the tourist trade, without any of the heart and soul that made the original El Mariachi win the Sundance Audience Award and become a landmark in independent cinema.”

Ouch. This is sad news, because a Robert Rodriguez-led El Mariachi series would've been a thing of beauty. Naturally, we side with the property's creator in this case.

Original story below:

---------------- Sony Pictures Television and Teleset today announced plans for a television series based on the Robert Rodriguez's career-making, low-budget action thriller El Mariachi, aimed squarely at the Latin American Market.

According to Deadline, like the original film and its 1995 sequel Desperado, the TV series 'will follow the exploits of Martin Aguirre, a musician at war with the drug cartels over honor, love and revenge.' Wait, El Mariachi's name is actually Martin Aguirre? Shit, that's news to me, and I've been watching these movies for 20 years! Iván Arana is tapped to play the titular Mariachi, along with co-stars Marta Higareda and Julio Bracho, who will be playing other people, presumably. What do you think? I'm quite excited. Having just recently watched both films back to back on blu-ray (while successfully pretending that Once Upon a Time in Mexico doesn't exist), I can whole-heartedly say that I adore the films. If the series can capture that same level of lo-fi action thrills, complete with musical numbers and plenty of gunplay, this series could be a winner. Curiously, the show has nothing to do with Rodriguez's own El Rey TV network, which is currently balls-deep on pre-production of a From Dusk Till Dawn series. Expect Nickelodeon to announce aSpy Kids series any day now. Also, if Rodriguez doesn't produce himself a cooking show, something is seriously wrong with the world.