Hey folks, Harry here.... I had a spy at an undisclosed company dropped me a line today saying that he saw a pretty damn fine audition test by Eva Mendes for a part in ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO.... the third in director/writer/name-a-job-he's-doing-it Robert Rodriguez's Mariachi Trilogy... The exclamation mark in his Bullets & Burritos (his phrase, not mine) series. The same source said that the film was greenlit today and scheduled to begin filming in two weeks.

Also, I've been getting reports for about 4 days now that various members of Antonio Banderas' siblings and family have been saying that towards the end of May, Antonio will be shooting ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO.

Well, a couple of days ago I called up Robert, we missed connections but he left a message saying that he didn't know if he'd be shooting at the end of May, that he's moving forward as though it is happening, continuing to work on the script, look at actors, etc etc... But that he was off to do some location scouting in MEXICO for the film. But nothing was for certain yet.

WELLL, then I get the info in that first paragraph saying it was greenlit Wednesday for shooting to commence in 2 weeks... AHEM... Well Robert is somewhere in Mexico searching for amazing haciendas, fortresses, palaces, factories, dusty streets, character ridden nooks and crannies of Mexico. Getting inspired to finish polishing his script and move forward, if the fates so decree.

As for Eva Mendes (possibly best known as the Lesbian Boom Operator in URBAN LEGENDS 2: FINAL CUT) auditioning? I bet it's true. This film is going to be far larger in scope, amounts of characters and in production values.... at least if Rodriguez has his way. If I hear anything new, I'll let ya know....