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[05/07/15 - 01:22 PM]
Robert Rodriguez Sits Down with Visionary Filmmaker Robert Zemeckis in the Next Installment of "El Rey Network Presents: The Director's Chair"
Said edition airs Sunday, May 31 at 8:00/7:00c on the cable channel.

[via press release from El Rey Network]

"The scene when Tom is talking to Jenny's grave. It was one of those days where we were in Vietnam in the morning and my AD came up to me and said 'Hey you know what, the company's parked here, the oak tree's right there. Let's shoot this after lunch. Hey Tom, how bout we do Jenny's grave after lunch?' and 4 takes. The second take is the one that's in the movie. I remember he started doing the scene and I started getting really emotional...and I said cut and I looked behind me and the entire crew was dissolved in these tears." - On the moment Zemeckis realized Forrest Gump was something special

ROBERT RODRIGUEZ SITS DOWN WITH VISIONARY FILMMAKER ROBERT ZEMECKIS, DIRECTOR OF BACK TO THE FUTURE, WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT AND FORREST GUMP, IN THE NEXT INSTALLMENT OF "EL REY NETWORK PRESENTS: THE DIRECTOR'S CHAIR"

TUNE IN: SUNDAY, MAY 31st AT 8PM/ET

"I think an artist should be a gambler, a risk taker, and incredibly vulnerable" - Robert Zemeckis to Robert Rodriguez

May 7, 2015 (Austin, TX) -- El Rey Network Founder and Chairman Robert Rodriguez sits down for an unforgettable evening of conversation with the visionary and relentlessly inventive filmmaker Robert Zemeckis in the next installment of "El Rey Network Presents: The Director's Chair," premiering on Sunday, May 31st at 8pm/et.

In this entertaining and insightful hour-long interview special, Rodriguez travels back in time with the Academy Award(R)-winning director, producer and screenwriter to chart a fascinating career that began with an award-winning USC student film that caught the attention of Steven Spielberg, continued with the well-reviewed but under-seen films I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978) and Used Cars (1980), and then took off into the stratosphere with some of the biggest blockbuster hits of all time, including Back to the Future (1985), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) and Best Picture Oscar(R) winner Forrest Gump (1994).

Throughout his career, the tech-savvy auteur has also been a pioneer in special effects-driven filmmaking, pushing the medium forward with each film by utilizing the latest in groundbreaking special effects technologies, including early, breakthrough CGI in hits like Death Becomes Her (1992) and Contact (1997), and performance motion capture animation in The Polar Express (2004), Beowulf (2007) and A Christmas Carol (2009). Rodriguez and Zemeckis discuss all this and more in this can't miss interview.

Sound bites from the interview below:

"Films have always been the marriage between art and science. It is a technical art form; all the technology that we use to make a modern movie to me it's all equal. I don't give any more weight to a visual effect or a close up, which is a visual effect; it's to serve the story. " - Zemeckis

"Being a director and having Steven Spielberg as your producer is a dream...because you don't have any insane conversations. Because he knows what a director does, so everything is on a level of mutual understanding."- Zemeckis on working with Steven Spielberg

"An artist should be an anarchist, maybe a benevolent anarchist" - Zemeckis

"The scene when Tom is talking to Jenny's grave. It was one of those days where we were in Vietnam in the morning and my AD came up to me and said 'Hey you know what, the company's parked here, the oak tree's right there. Let's shoot this after lunch. Hey Tom, how bout we do Jenny's grave after lunch?' and 4 takes. The second take is the one that's in the movie. I remember he started doing the scene and I started getting really emotional...and I said cut and I looked behind me and the entire crew was dissolved in these tears." - On the moment Zemeckis realized Forrest Gump was something special

"That was the movie I wanted to make next before 'Romancing the Stone,' but no one would even give it the time of day...except one guy - Steven (Spielberg). Who read it and went, 'this is great'." - Zemeckis on Back to the Future

"What about we shoot the first half then we shut down for a year and you lose 60 lbs..{tom] said 'Can we do that?' and I said 'well let's find out'." - Zemeckis on filming Cast Away

"Everybody on that movie, every department, ever member of that cast...everyone was inspired. It was one of those movies where I would go...yeah, that costume is perfect, that prop is exactly what it should be. For some reason, we had that magical thing happen where everybody was there." - Zemeckis on Forrest Gump

"Spectacle is why you go to the movies" - Zemeckis on the film industry

"El Rey Network Presents: The Director's Chair" is a series of hour-long specials featuring the industry's most cutting edge directors as they engage in a revealing and unexpected exchange about the world of filmmaking. The series provides access to one-on-one interviews between Rodriguez and some of cinema's most iconic filmmakers. Past guests have included John Carpenter, Francis Ford Coppola, Guillermo del Toro, and Quentin Tarantino.

"El Rey Network Presents: The Director's Chair" is produced by Troublemaker Studios and Skip Film in association with FactoryMade Ventures. Executive producers are Robert Rodriguez, Skip Chaisson, John Fogelman and Cristina Patwa.

To find El Rey Network in your area please check out the channel finder at bit.ly/WatchERN

El Rey Network social media: Facebook: facebook.com/ElReyNetwork Twitter: twitter.com/ElReyNetwork Instagram: instagram.com/ElReyNetwork YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/ElReyNetwork Google+: https://plus.google.com/+ElReyNetwork

About El Rey Network

El Rey Network is a new 24-hour English language network founded by maverick filmmaker Robert Rodriguez. Curated by Rodriguez and his artistic collective, the network unites the most culturally diverse generation in history through fearless, badass and original content that awakens the renegade in everyone. The network's action-packed content is anchored by original signature dramas, feature films, grindhouse genre, cult classic action, and horror/sci-fi. El Rey Network LLC (www.elreynetwork.com) is jointly owned by Robert Rodriguez and FactoryMade Ventures with a minority stake held by Univision Networks & Studios, Inc.





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· DIRECTOR'S CHAIR, THE (EL REY)





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