Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Robert Rodriguez, Danny Trejo get a slice of action in 'Machete'

Jessica Alba, Danny Trejo, Michelle Rodriguez and Robert Rodriguez at the Los Angeles premiere of "Machete"

There’s no shortage of action flicks, but few can claim to have the type of eclectic cast that "Machete" has. Where else can you find Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Robert De Niro, Lindsay Lohan, Steven Seagal, Rose McGowan, Don Johnson, Cheech Marin and Danny Trejo all in the same movie? (And it’s probably the only movie where you’ll see Lohan wearing a nun’s outfit while shooting a gun.)

In "Machete" — co-directed and co-written by Robert Rodriguez, who is also one of the film’s producers — Trejo plays the title character, a former Mexican federal agent who is framed for the assassination of a corrupt politician named Senator McLaughlin (played by De Niro). If you know what to expect from a Robert Rodriguez action film geared to adults, then you know it will have plenty of badasses, bullets and babes. Here’s what Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Robert Rodriguez (no relation to Michelle Rodriguez) and Trejo had to say when they sat down to talk about "Machete" at the film’s Los Angeles press junket.

Danny Trejo in "Machete"

Jessica and Michelle, can you describe how your respective "Machete" character views Machete?

Michelle Rodriguez: [She laughs.] Yeah. He’s more than just a badass.

Alba: Michelle, how does your character view Machete?

Michelle Rodriguez: I think my character views Machete in the light of a hero, kind of like an angel asked for by the people.

Alba: And what is your character in the movie?

Michelle Rodriguez in "Machete"

Michelle Rodriguez: My character in the movie is Luz. She plays basically one of the participants in the network, which is an organization set forth by the people, for the people — illegals, mostly — to protect them. It’s an inner circle made up of priests, doctors, workers, locals and within the circuit close to the border. And they are all part of this network to protect the illegals, the ones that come here with the purpose of working and finding a better life. So what about you, Jessica? How do you view Machete?

Alba: My character [Sartana] looks at him initially as a nuisance and as an immigrant … She’s an immigration-and-customs enforcement officer. It’s her job to send people from their respective countries who are in the United States illegally back to their country, unless they have papers [proving they’re legal immigrants]. When she figures out this guy was a federal agent, and he was double-crossed by the system, she ends up siding with him, and looks at him as a hero as well. And she also sides with [the character played by] Michelle. They’re basically coming from the opposite sides of the fence or the railroad tracks, so to say. And my character goes over to her side.

Jessica Alba in "Machete"

How would you describe Robert Rodriguez’s style of filmmaking?

Alba: Balls-to-the-wall.

Michelle Rodriguez: How do you thrive in the balls-to-the-wall action provided by Robert Rodriguez?

Alba: I tried to spend most of my career playing balls-to-the-wall chicks. I’ve actually found, after having a child, a softer side to myself and a comfort with my sexuality that I never really had before. Robert allows you as a woman to be the toughest chick in the room but also the most feminine and vulnerable and sexy one as well.

Michelle Rodriguez: So the range is definitely there with Robert.

Alba: I don’t think it’s difficult to do the action or to be treated as an equal to a man. I actually embrace it.

Jessica Alba in "Machete"

Michelle Rodriguez: Heck yeah! I think literally, he’s part of a movement that’s skooching forward toward tomorrow with equality. It doesn’t matter how fun the movie is, it doesn’t matter joke-y it is or exploitative, it’s really, at the end of the day, about a level playing field. And I think ultimately, that is what I’m talking about when I say, "Moving forward toward tomorrow." I think that that’s what tomorrow’s filmmaking should be all about, so we can put this "man versus woman" thing behind us, and kind of just work together, free-range, instead of judging each other on what we should be doing: just being. And I think that will come eventually before we die. Right?

Alba: Hell yeah! And us participating in films like this and showing that films like this can be successful and that people in the world embrace it. It’s not just for one demographic or once certain-genre audience. This is something that’s global that everyone will embrace.

Michelle Rodriguez: It’s awesome, because it’s kind of like an oxymoron, because you have these really strong, self-sufficient, independent women by the side of vulnerable women and exploited women who choose to be exploited. So it shows the range. I love that about him [Robert Rodriguez]! He can go and do all of it. That’s what the beauty of it is. I’m not going to say no to being in a movie because you’re exploiting women in it. I would just like to not to be one of the women being exploited! [She laughs.] It’s a big difference.

Jessica Alba in "Machete"

Alba: To each his own.

Michelle Rodriguez: To each his own, man. Do what you want.

Alba: I think the world is ready for people of color to take on more heroic and leading roles, and not always be the sidekick, the nemesis or any sort of stereotype of what a person of color can play typically in a Hollywood picture. And this movie ["Machete"] again proves that we don’t have to follow any of the typical stereotypes of anything. We can blow it all up. We can talk about stuff that people are uncomfortable to talk about. We can have blood and guts and tits …

Michelle Rodriguez: And ass.

Alba: And ass. And we can talk about socially and politically relevant issues.

Jessica Alba in "Machete"

Who would prevail in a Luz/Sartana showdown?

Michelle Rodriguez: Sartana because I wouldn’t do anything.

Alba: Luz would win. She wins … She will always win.

Michelle Rodriguez: I’m not that confrontational.

Alba: Yeah, you are.

Michelle Rodriguez: I think it’s all about team work. I think instead of beating each other up, chicks should be getting together. I think if we’re not so busy fighting each other and being jealous of each other, we’d probably be right by mend’s side and helping balancing things out, because God knows, they could use it.

Danny Trejo in "Machete"

Danny, what are your thoughts about bringing "Machete" feature film to the big screen after all this time?

Trejo: This is a dream come true. Robert and I talked about it 14 years ago when we were doing "Desperado." And he just said, "You know, you’re perfect for this character. Here’s the storyline." I thought, "Wow, man! This is a dream movie." And then we both got busy. We started doing "Spy Kids" and other movies. But I never forgot. "Robert, are you doing that movie ‘Machete’ or not?"

And then we did the fake trailer for "Grindhouse." And the response to that trailer was so unbelievable. I was in England, and people were getting that picture of Machete tattooed on their backs. And I kept trying to tell people, "It’s a trailer!" I didn’t know we were going to make a movie. But boy, the loved the trailer. I kept sending and e-mailing Robert pictures of people’s backs. "Oops! We better make this movie!"

Danny Trejo in "Machete"

Robert, a lot of people think that you got the idea for the "Machete" movie after you did the "Machete" trailer for the 2007 movie "Grindhouse," but the truth is, you had the idea long before that. Can you take us through a brief history of the "Machete" project?

Robert Rodriguez: I’ve had "Machete" in mind since [my 1995 film] "Desperado." I came up with this idea of a Mexican superhero, an incorruptible Federale agent, who’s left for dead in Mexico for going up against the cartels. He lives in the U.S. as a day laborer and gets picked up in the U.S. by some corrupt people to do a fake hit. I had that story swimming around in my head, talked to Danny Trejo about it over the years.

And when we made the fake trailer for "Grindhouse," that was the first one that came to mind, doing "Machete" in some form. If we never got to make the film, at least I’d have a trailer of the best moments. So we made the trailer, and the response was huge. We decided to go ahead and make the movie, because fans kept coming up to us over the past several years saying, "Please make the movie, because we want to see it. It looks like it would be a great movie. The trailer was fantastic." And so that’s how we came about.

Danny Trejo in "Machete"

Where do you see the Machete character going in future movies?

Robert Rodriguez: I’ve always had an idea for at least one sequel, if not two. And when this movie was coming to a close, I saw the end credits going up, and I thought, "Now, we got to leave a promise that there will be more." I have a couple of titles and some storylines. So we’ll see. If people and see the movie and support it, we’ll definitely make some more.

Trejo: I definitely see "Machete Kills" and "Machete Kills Again." [He laughs.]

How do you pull off making big action movies on an independent-film budget?

Robert Rodriguez: This movie feels very much like [my 1992 movie] "El Marichi" to me, in that we did it very inexpensively, had a very core, central idea that we knew the movie could ride on the idea alone. And then when you bring in the big cast, everything else is just icing on the cake. It had to be done very independently in order to capture the grit and spirit that it would need in order to feel really authentic. So even though we started getting a bigger cast, I was still very adamant about keeping the budget very low, so it would have to be done very fast, have to be done by the seat of the pants.

So that’s where ideas come from, because you don’t have any time. And you show up on the set with this idea that people [say, "Where did that come from?" "I don’t know." It just comes up because you have to. Everyone pulls together and you have to come up with ideas together. That’s when the best stuff happens. That’s when the accidents happen. The accidents are things that audiences always remember most, I’ve found on my own movies. The things that they like the most are the things that were just by accident. So you have to create a situation where nothing but accidents can happen the entire time.

Photo credits: Photo #1: Getty Images. All other photos: 20th Century Fox.