Filmmaker Robert Rodriguez isn’t really known for making big-budget films. He may be a pioneer of technology and he may have a skill for making his movies look more expensive than they really are, but he’s never really gone into the $100-million-plus range until Alita: Battle Angel, a film that boasts a $150 million price tag. It’s pretty par for the course for today’s blockbuster-laden landscape, but for him, it’s a whole new ballgame.

LRM Online had a chance to speak with Rodriguez about his work on the film, and he asked him about Rodriguez’s tendency to work only on lower to mid-budget films.

“That’s usually why I never took on a big-budget movie,” Rodriguez told LRM Online. “I really love the creative freedom I have with my smaller movies, lower to mid budgets. Because I can do my magic to make it feel like a much bigger budget movie than it is, and yet I have all the freedom to do whatever I want with it.”

Of course, those who follow filmmaking know that the bigger the budget a film has, the more the director has to concede control to the stakeholders of the film. After all, they’re funding the thing, and they want to make the money back. With the increased stakes of a $150 million-film, we asked whether or not Alita: Battle Angel felt comparatively restricted.

RELATED – How James Cameron Pushed Robert Rodriguez To Change His Style For Alita: Battle Angel

“This, working with my friend [James Cameron], I’ve known him for 25 years,” Rodriguez said. “We both love the material. We both agreed on what it is, and he has so much power that I was basically just making the movie for him. So I never felt the pressure of a big budget movie, it still felt like we were making a go-kart together. Like a fun independent film. It felt very loose and inspiring like that. So I felt as independent as I did on my regular movies, if not more. So it was a great way to get ushered into this big-budget filmmaking by making it with ‘The Terminator’ himself!”

It’s certainly not a bad way to get introduced into the world of big-budget filmmaking. If you’re getting into this, you can’t really ask for a bigger shield than James Cameron himself, who sports two films that have grossed over $2 billion worldwide.

Be sure to keep an eye out for our full interviews with Alita: Battle Angel director Robert Rodriguez and star Rosa Salazar, which will be hitting in the next week or so! Are you excited to check out Rodriguez’s first foray into big blockbusters? Let us know your thoughts down below!

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SOURCE: LRM EXCLUSIVE