Rodriguez’s ‘Machete’ Gets Huge Cast

It’s interesting how much money is made that stemmed from jokes. 2006’s Snakes on a Plane generated $62 million dollars in the theater, not to mention merchandising and DVD sales, and the film all started with spoofed Photoshop image. It looks like the next Snakes will be Robert Rodriguez’s Machete, starring his cousin Danny Trejo.

The film started off as a mock trailer (which you can check out after the jump) for Rodriguez and Tarantino’s Grindhouse film back in 2007. There was talk about doing an entire film of spoof trailers, among many other pipe dreams. Rodriguez then mentioned that he wanted to turn the 2-minute trailer into a feature-length film, and here we are.

News just came in yesterday that the film has gotten it’s cast, and it looks to be pretty impressive, given that the film all started with a joke. Now signed on to do next year’s Machete alongside star Danny Trejo is Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Steven Seagal, Lindsay Lohan, Cheech Marin, Jonah Hill, Don Johnson and Jeff Fahey.

This almost seems like a joke itself, pulling in names like De Niro, Seagal, and Lohan in the same picture, but the story seems to be legit. Some of those name’s aren’t foreign to a Rodriguez pictures but Nash Bridges? The Lawnmower Man? Jonah Hill??

The film is slated for release next year and started shooting last week at Rodriguez’s Texas studio. Check out the trailer that started it all below, and look out for more news and possibly more casting surprises to hit soon.