Trivia: Director Robert Rodriquez spent a month in a clinic as a "test dummy" to earn the money to film the movie. They only had enough film for one shot. Any of the mistakes found are due to the limited budget available, as they couldn't afford to correct themselves.
Trivia: When the Marichi is singing 'Ganas de vivir' in the bar to a full house, Domino is at the bar watching him perform. We then see a customer snap his fingers at her to get her attention, and to get a drink. When she serves him, we see him for the first time. According to the commentary, he is the actual owner of the bar.
Trivia: At the time of filming, Carlos Gallardo, who plays the Mariachi, actually lived on the same street where much of the chase scenes took place.
Trivia: According to the commentary, at the beginning of the film, when Azul steps out of the police station, he is met by two people in a pick up truck who drive up to meet him. The passenger who gives him his guitar case full of weapons is his real life brother, who plays his assistant in the film. The driver is Carlos Gallardo, the Mariachi, and he disguises himself by wearing a cap and sunglasses in order to not give himself away.
Trivia: Some of the actors in this film had some interesting jobs at the time: The actors who played Azul, the right hand man of Moco, and the motel clerk were - back then - a student studying to be a doctor, the town mayor, and a news reporter.
Trivia: Robert Rodriguez did several interviews after this movie made him a bankable director, thinking back on how he had to cut corners to make it for just $7000. He spoke about how he would film in the morning and cut before lunch, so that he would not have to pay money to feed the crew. As the only person filming he had to take unusual measures to get some of the shots. One shot had a person getting jumped on by several assailants, shot from the victim's point of view. Rodriguez said to get that shot he laid down on the ground with his camera and actually had the actors jump on top of him.
Trivia: Repeated viewing of the film will show how, at the beginning of the movie, the villains are huge, tall, and menacing, whereas near the end, we see more villains, but these are smaller, shorter, and leaner. Robert Rodriguez explains that at the beginning of the filming he hired big guys to play Moco's henchmen, but they were subsequently "killed off" and he had run out of extras that size, so he resorted to using extras of average height.
Trivia: In the pool scene, Moco is seated in an inflatable floating couch and talking on the phone. Being the only non-Spanish-speaking actor, Peter Marquardt had to deliver his lines either by memory or notes. In the pool, Carlos Gallardo, who plays the Mariachi, is off-screen holding up sheets of paper so Richard can read his lines out loud and act at the same time.
Answer: He was not the only professional actor in the film. However, the movie was made on a shoe-string budget, and, to save money, most of the cast were non-professional local residents.
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