0707rrod_article.jpgIn the August issue of Latina magazine, Robert Rodriguez dishes on his recent divorce, his engagement to Rose McGowan, a little on Salma Hayek, and the true genius behind his films…his kids.

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ON HIS DIVORCE:
“…I got married very young, at 21. People change over time, and I’m very difficult to live with because I have this crazy imagination. But the thing that hasn’t changed is that we’re great partners and we’re great parents. She’s so solid. In a lot of ways, we’ll be together forever. I can see her right now. She still works right next to me; we have an office together.”

ON HIS ENGAGEMENT TO ROSE MCGOWAN:
“Yes, I’m engaged. No info on that. That’s very personal. But it’s been great.”

ON HIS CULINARY SKILLS:
“When I went away to college, I had to cook every meal for myself. It was cheap. You learn to make your own everything: tortilla, beans, rice, and meat. And my grandmother was an amazing cook. No matter how early you woke up, she was always already there making breakfast for everybody. She had 11 kids, and then there was us…that’s where I learned.”

ON HAVING A BIG FAMILY:
“I was one of 10 kids—and then you suddenly go to college and you’re all by yourself, you go ‘Where’s the noise? It’s so quiet. It’s lonely in here.’… I totally wanted a big family. We have such fun together. People tell me, ‘You have five kids? That’s a baseball team!’ and I say, ‘No, it’s a whole film crew!’”

ON HIS KIDS INVOLVEMENT IN HIS NEW FILM SHORTS:
Rodriguez may have a string of hits under his belt, but he admits that his kids came up with the idea for the smash hit The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, so he decided to let them come up with a new one:
“We decided that we should call it Shorts because the stories are shorts, the kids are short, and they wear shorts. So we would all brainstorm, do drawing sessions and act out scenes after school and on weekends.”

ON SALMA HAYEK:
“She’s so tough and beautiful, and she can play sweet. I was a big fan from the beginning. I gave her her first English major film role in Desperado. But before I could, I had to shoot a cable movie with her called Roadracers, so I could show the studios that she could act in English and be great. I had to stick to my guns by saying, “We have to hire a Latino, not just put brown face on someone.”

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