In a previous post we mentioned we would be doing a review of Robert Rodriguez’s book, Rebel Without a Crew. Here it is.

Let me start off by saying, you literally must read this book from cover to cover. Every little bit is fascinating. It covers Rob’s success from a literal zero to hero in the span of a few years. This book isn’t so much a book as it is a film makers diary. The introduction gives you a brief history of how he fell in love with film as a child and cast his siblings in everyone of his early films. Rebel Without a Crew also tells of his experiences at Pharmeco, a pharmaceuticals testing facility. He literally sold his body for science experiments to fund his first feature length film! if that isn’t dedication, then what is? Here is an excerpt :

If you want to be a filmmaker and you can’t afford film school, know that you don’t really learn anything in film school anyway. They can never teach you how to tell a story. You don’t want to learn that from them anyway, or all you’ll do is tell stories like everyone else. You learn to tell stories by telling stories. And you want to discover your own way of doing things. -Robert Rodriguez

The book kept me quite hooked, I bought it yesterday at 7pm and was done today by 4pm. Not only is it his diary that he kept while making his first full length feature El Mariachi, he also includes the written version of his 10 minute film school as well as the original screen play of El Mariachi. He goes on to talk about his break the rules approach to film making and how anyone can make it work. Robert Rodriguez is a very real person as you will tell from his writing. He doesn’t expect anything of anyone, and proves the age old saying, if you’re going to do something right you have to do it yourself. Very entertaining, very informative, and VERY inspiring. A must have for any aspiring filmmaker.

There are extreme benefits of being able to walk into business and be completely self sufficient. It scares people. Be scary. -Robert Rodriguez

Friendly, funny, smart, energetic, and likable. -Los Angeles Times Book Review