Mark Stewart's From Dusk Till Dawn Page: FAQs

FAQs

Rodriguez and Tarantino met in 1992 at the Toronto Film Festival. Rodriguez was promoting EL MARIACHI and Tarantino was promoting RESERVOIR DOGS. Elizabeth Avellen, Rodriguez's wife comments that, "it was like watching two guys who had, like, known each other since kindergarden. They like the same kind of movies."

During the time when Tarantino was writing PULP FICTION and Rodriguez was writing DESPERADO, the two of them were talking and Rodriguez was talking about DESPERADO. Tarantino mentioned the script he had written for KNB and that it was set in Mexico. Rodriguez asked if he could read it and the next day came to Tarantino very excited about directing it. Tarantino asked Rodriguez if he would indeed direct it if Tarantino rewrote it and Rodriguez said that if Tarantino rewrote it he would direct it.

The screenplay for From Dusk Till Dawn was writen by Tarantino (from a story by Robert Kurtzman) in 1990. The idea was to produce a script that would showcase the talents of Kurtzman's make-up and effects company KURTZMAN, NICOTERO & BERGER EFX GROUP, INC. KNB paid Tarantino only fifteen hundred dollars for the job, his first paid writing gig, which was just enough so that he would be able to quit his video store job and write the script full time. As part of the deal, KNB also agreed to provide the make-up effects for Tarantino's directorial debut - RESERVOIR DOGS. In addition to being responsible for the infamous "ear scene" in that film, they also produced the make-up effects for Tarantino's second film, PULP FICTION.

Seth Gecko's fire tattoo that George Clooney sports in the film had to be removed with gasoline and a blow dryer at the end of each day.

The Gecko Brothers' destination, El Ray, has a history in movies. It is also a mythical location in Jim Thompson's book THE GETAWAY, which has been twice adapted as a feature film. In that story there are two lovers who are also fleeing capture, and their destination is El Ray. As Tarantino puts it, "When there's nowhere else to go, you go to El Ray."

From Dusk Till Dawn features two actors already familure with it's B picture sensibilities. Tom Savini (Sex Machine) is an special effects maestro and the director of the NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD remake and Fred Williamson (Frost) is a former football player and hero of numerous blaxploitation films.

Tarantino planted references to some of his other films in From Dusk Till Dawn . Among them; When Seth returns to the hotel with hamburgers and beer, the hamburgers are from Big Kahuna Burger, the Hawaiian fast food joint that is the topic of some discussion in PULP FICTION. Also, on the dash board of the Gecko Brothers' car is a pack of Red Apple cigarettes, a reference to both TRUE ROMANCE and PULP FICTION.

For From Dusk Till Dawn, KNB reused some of the effects they had done for previous films, including body parts from DR. GIGGLES and well as Marvin's head from PULP FICTION, which rests on the bar in the Titty Twister.

Executive Producer Lawrence Bender as well as Robert Kurtzman, Greg Nicotero, and Howard Berger of KNB all appear in the film as patrons of the Titty Twister.

Before working together on From Dusk Till Dawn, George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino had already established a working relationship when Tarantino directed the second year season finale of ER, the top rated television series that Clooney was co-starring in at the time. The episode was titled "Motherhood."

It was From Dusk Till Dawn that got George Clooney the job as Batman in BATMAN AND ROBIN, the fourth installment of the mega-popular Batman franchise. As BATMAN AND ROBIN director Joel Schumacher puts it, "I was totally unaware of George and never watched too much TV, so I didn't know about ER. Then, when the ads for From Dusk Till Dawn started coming out, I started looking at his face. I sat there and saw something compelling about that one-sheet and began drawing the Batman cowl on him." It seems that Robert Rodriguez has achieved one of the goals that he set while filming From Dusk Till Dawn; that of making George Clooney a movie star.

In order to create a brotherly rapport between them, Quentin Tarantino asked George Clooney to hang out with him over the summer before From Dusk Till Dawn was shot. They spent their time barhoping, talking shop at Tarantino's house, and they even attended the MTV Movie Awards together.

George Clooney was not Tarantino's original choice for the role of Seth Gecko. He was considering Robert Blake (LOST HIGHWAY), but Rodriguez convinced him otherwise after he became fascinated by Clooney's brooding persona on the late-night disscussion group POLITICALLY INCORRECT.

The idea of the Titty Twister being a converted Azteck temple came from Robert Rodriguez's Mexican heritage. "There were actual vampire goddess statues and things during the Aztec times," Rodriguez explains. "What this particular cluture did was they would sacrifice to keep the sun alive and honor the vampire goddess. In pictures of statues of her, she has the hearts of 13 men around her neck and she has a skull head. They would seduce people with snakes and then tear them apart and get the blood because the blood kept the sun alive. So the idea is that this den of vampires in an old Aztec temple has, over the years, been turned into a sleazy bar in Mexico to continue to attract victims. All of the dancing girls are actually dancing a ritual dance before they go and kill everybody."

During a low point in Clooney's carrer, Tarantino contacted him about reading for a part in RESERVOIR DOGS, but Clooney's heart just wasn't in it. "You really blew that one," he was later told by Tarantino.

When the Titty Twister's bartender, Razor Charlie (Danny Trejo) is killed on one of the pool tables, his eye balls roll into two of the corner pockets as he burns up. The sound designers used a pool ball sound effect to underscore the joke.

During the filming of From Dusk Till Dawn, Clooney's schedual was very crunched, he spent most of the week shooting Dusk and was only available for one day a week on the set of ER. During that time he didn't even have the opportunity to change out of costume for an appearance on THE TONIGHT SHOW. He attended in Seth Gecko's black suit and boots, complete with tattoo. He was told by the host, Jay Leno, that he looked very "cool" and "hip."

Two references occur to one of Tarantino's favorite films, ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13. The first is the T-shirt that Ernest Liu (Scott Fuller) wears through out the film, and the second is Seth's line to Kate at the end of the film; "use 'em on the next f*ck that trys to bite you," which is almost word for word from ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13.

The pelvis gun that Sex Machine sports in the film is a prop from Rodriguez's previous film, DESPERADO.

Chongo Beer, which is also from DESPERADO, is one of the beers available at the Titty Twister.

The crew of From Dusk Till Dawn had to add weekends into the shooting schedule because George Clooney had to be back on the set of his television series, ER, at least one day a week to begin filming the season's new episodes. It was a confusing time for Clooney; "I'd want to give a kid a lollipop and say, 'Put this in your mouth, you little f*ck,'" he says. "And then on the movie set, I'd shoot people and want to fix'em."

For the designs of the various vampire prosthetics, KNB used Robert Rodriguez's own cartoon sketches. Rodriguez was responsible for the vampire with the mouth in her stomach, which they dubbed "the stomach mouth vamp-bitch," and also for the vampire version of Quentin Tarantino's character, Ritchie, which he calls "the Mr. Hyde version of Quentin." Sometimes, however, Rodriguez's designs proved to be too gruesome for even him once KNB brought them to life. As Greg Nicotero of KNB puts it, "Robert walked on the set and said "Oh, it's horrible, it's disgusting" and we said "Oh, it's the one you designed' and he's like 'Oh, you gues are way sicker than me."

George Clooney once shared a romantic attachment with actress Kelly Preston (now the wife of John Travolta), who played newscaster Kelly Houge in From Dusk Till Dawn. On their first date in the mid-'80's they made an impulsive decision to move in together. Clooney commnets: "I'm much more cautious that I ever was before. (Back then) I was always Mr. Full-On Spontaneous. I was like, 'Let's go! Whatever you want, let's do it.' Then, as you get older, you start to go, 'You know what? Maybe we should go out a little bit first.'"

A unique part of From Dusk Till Dawn's marketing campaign were two flavors of soda created by a soda company called The Skeleteens. The drink was bottled and designed to reflect the feel of the film and so it came in two versions; Red, to represent human blood, and Green, to represent the vampire's blood. Unfortunately the soda is no longer in production.

In order to avoid possible censor problems, Tarantino decided to make the vampire's blood green instead of red. "I wanted the vampires to be able to bleed freely and flow through rivers of blood," he said. "I made their blood green so there's no mistake who's getting killed here. You can kill as many vampires as you want. They don't exist!"

In CURDLED, the black comedy/thriller which is executive produced by Quentin Tarantino and distributed by his Rolling Thunder distribution company, Kelly Preston appears as her character Kelly Houge from From Dusk Till Dawn. She continues to report on sensational killers and criminals on the television program "Miami D.O.A." and as she introduces her report on the killer from the film, she recounts several of the more popular stories from the show's past, including a report on the Gecko brothers. The image shows George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino in their character's mug shots with a map of Texas in the back ground that traces their route. Kelly Houge's voice over is heard as the map vanishes in the background: "We went to Texas to bring you the up to the minute story of Seth and Richard Gecko, the bank robbing brothers who killed, kidnapped and raped their way across Missouri and Texas only to vanish seemingly into thin air."

During the scene in which Frost is telling his Vietnam story, Sex Machine goes to the other side of the bar and stands by the pool table. He begins changing into a vampire and Scott Fuller notices him. To underscore the situation Rodriguez had Tom Savini hold his breath during each take to make it look like Sex Machine was really trying to bottle up his secret.

In the original version of the script Ritchie was not a sex offender. Tarantino added that later when he agreed to rewrite the film for Rodriguez.

When Santanico Pandemonium has Seth under her heel and is about to kill him, Seth loads his gun while she says, "Welcome to slavery." Seth snaps his .44 shut, points it, says the line, "No thanks, I already had a wife," and then kills her. The line about Seth's wife is something that Clooney added himself. Tarantino wasn't %100 happy with it but it was too late to take it out of the scene since it had already appeared in the early trailers for the film.

George Clooney also plays a bank robber in the film OUT OF SIGHT, though his character is much less violent than Seth Gecko. The filmmakers, however, paid tribute to From Dusk Till Dawn when a picture of Clooney's character, Jack Foley, who has escaped from prison, is published in the newspaper. The picture of Clooney that is used is from From Dusk Till Dawn. It is not the same mug shot that is shown in Kelly Houge's news cast, but it is obviously from the same photo session that was conducted for From Dusk Till Dawn.

Before John Hawkes was cast as Pete Bottoms, Tim Roth and Steve Buscemi were both considered for the role, but were busy with other projects.

Michael Parks, who plays Earl McGraw, is one of Quentin Tarantino's favorite actors and was actually the second person cast in From Dusk Till Dawn. Tarantino himself was the first person.

Brenda Hillhouse, who plays the Gecko Brother's hostage Gloria Hill, was Quentin Tarantino's acting coach. She has also had roles in PULP FICTION and in the episode of ER that Tarantino directed.

Seth Gecko's fire tattoo makes a cameo in another Robert Rodriguez film, THE FACULTY. In a scene towards the begining of the film, Rodriguez' sister appears as a high school student and she has a portion of the tattoo inked on her neck.

Danny Trejo and Tito Larriva appear together as denizens of another mexican bar in the film THE TROJAN WAR. They intimidate a young boy who comes in to use the phone, making themselves not to dissimilar to their From Dusk Till Dawn characters.

In the scene where Seth and an unconscious Ritchie hide in the shower in the Fuller's camper, the crew had to cut out a section of the wall so that they could both fit in the shower and still appear to hide behind the shower curtin where the border patrol could not see them.

Lilian Ginet, one of our readers from France, sent us this description of a From Dusk Till Dawn type commercial that is playing overseas: " Every sunday, there is a TV show on French television about commercials. It was there that I saw one based on From Dusk Till Dawn: A man is driving in desert in a "Citroen Saxo" (not sure), (typical From Dusk Till Dawn landscapes). And this man (not dressed like the Gecko brothers) parks his car in front of a bar (like the Titty Twister). He enters, and sits down at a table. At that time, a woman (not as beautifull as Salma Hayek, in my opinion, but great too) starts a dance with a snake on their shoulders. During her show, her mouth gets near the man's neck and she changes into a Vampire!! And just when she is going to bite the man, the car, parked in front of the bar, knocks down a wall of this kind-of Titty Twister, and rescues the man by crushing some vampires!!! Then, the man leaves the bar, and the Citroen logo appears . . . but the logo has become vampire teeth, and it transforms into the original logo. The special effects are extraordinarily good for a TV commercial, the morphings of the vampires are nearly as good as those in FDTD. Unfortunately, I couldn't hear who has directed the commercial"

Juliette Lewis was interested in working with Tarantino and when she got a look at his From Dusk Till Dawn script she called him up and asked if he would be interested in her playing the part of Kate. Once they came to an agreement, Tarantino rewrote and expanded the part of Kate, feeling that he should not waste such a talented actress on such a small part.

When Seth is pinned to the ground under Santanico Pandemonium and the vampire queen reverts to her true form, fangs and all, it is not actually Salma Hayek under all that makeup anymore, but rather her stand-in.

The gun Seth uses in the film is a snub-nosed Bulldog .44 Magnum, which is basically the same gun that Clint Eastwood uses in the Dirty Harry movies except that Clint's has a long-barrel.

The Gecko brother's car is a '67 Mercury Cougar with automatic grill inset headlights.

As you may know, Robert Rodriguez is pals with the infamous Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News fame (click here to go to his site). Knowles even played the film teacher in Rodriguez' THE FACULTY. Now Knowles is a big fan of FROM DUSK TILL DAWN and a big fan of George Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD trilogy of which our own Tom Savini played an important role both in front of and behind the camera. So when somebody asked Savini about the possibility of Sex Machine returning to the silver screen, he had an interesting thing to say about it. Here it is in Knowles own words: "Savini was asked at this convention about the possibility of Sex Machine appearing in film again. He responded with my name and that I had written a SEX MACHINE screenplay or treatment. This is true. Robert Rodriguez and I were talking one night before either of the Direct To Video FROM DUSK TIL DAWN films were made, but the subjects were chosen... and I said to Robert that I felt they were going with the wrong characters, if I were doing it, I wouldn't focus on the vampires, I'd focus on either Fred Williamson's character or SEX MACHINE (aka Tom Savini) Robert then said, "Write it up and if the two DUSKS videos sell, we'll need something to shoot next!" I wrote the script, got it back to Robert... had some notes for the second draft, but quite honestly the site really started taking off and I've been busy doing this day in and day out and not finishing the 2nd Draft... and I've always stated that I'd love to make a film some day... about 8 years from now... The site is always my first priority though. Details... It takes place before the first film, and tells us why Sex Machine is in the Titty Twister drinking away. Think of it as a WILD BUNCH for Bikers in a Universe where really messed up things happen. BUT... I would classify this project as dead in the meanwhile, till I get back to it... and even then, there's no telling if it would ever be made. After all, I'm just an internet punk kid... right?"

Danny Trejo is on the only actor to appear in all three From Dusk Till Dawn films.

Michael Parks also plays the role of Texas Ranger Earl McGraw in another Tarantino film: KILL BILL vol. 1. His son James returns to his role of McGraw's son from TEXAS BLOOD MONEY in the film as well. Parks and his son also return to the roles in Tarantino and Rodriguez' GRINDHOUSE double feature.

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