More Mariachi

The internet has been buzzing over the past day or two with news of projects that the increasingly-prolific Robert Rodriguez is involved in. Today, the Guardian has more news on two Mariachi-related movies that are in the pipeline. 'We're making it,' says Rodriguez of the much-anticipated sequel to El Mariachi and Desperado. 'I was writing it in bed this morning. Antonio Banderas is in it and it's kind of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of the Mariachi series, a big sprawling movie called Once upon a Time in Mexico. It's awesome. I can't wait.' And that's not all folks. Rodriguez goes on to say that he's also working on a vehicle for El Marichi star Carlos Gallardo. 'It's called Curandero, and [Gallardo] is a Mexican witch doctor. It goes into the bowels of black magic in Mexico City. Anything goes there - it's so cool.' Rodriguez' co-conspirator Banderas was also talking to the UK press this week about new projects, in particular the musical version of Phantom of the Opera. 'With this film we are not trying to draw in people who really love the theatre and go to the movie to see what they saw on stage,' Banderas tells The Daily Express. 'We are creating a completely different concept, looking at it from a completely different point of view. It will be a new creation with even new music. A lot of the music you have heard in the theatre version is being cut out.'