According to Production Weekly’s Twitter, Director Nimrod Antal’s “Predators” will begin shooting September 28th at Robert Rodriguez’s Troublemaker Studios in Austin, Texas. I’d imagine this is pretty accurate as 20th Century Fox is releasing the film July 7th, 2010. More after the jump:

A few weeks ago we got some speculation on who might be in Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis’ upcoming “Machete”, based on Rodriguez’ fake trailer in “Grindhouse” and starring Danny Trejo (as all movies should).  The previous news got 2-out-of-3 right which isn’t bad.

Hit the jump to find out which ones signed on along with the rest of the cast.

While I have said many unflattering things about 20^th Century Fox this past year due to their handling of certain fanboy properties, it looks like things might be changing at the studio. The reason…according to writer/director Robert Rodriguez, who I spoke with at Comic-Con, FOX is giving him total artistic freedom to make his “Predator” movie - which he’s calling “Predators”. According to the maverick filmmaker, FOX wants him to make a non-studio, studio movie. Meaning, they want him to make it outside the studio system and once the film is done, they’ll take over. He went on to tell me that FOX wants a “cool, bitchin’ movie”. As a fan of the first “Predator” movie and also of Robert Rodriguez, I cannot wait to see what he’s going to put together.

Check out what he said about “Predators”, Comic-Con, “Shorts” and “Machete” after the jump:

A few days ago, a scooper told Bloody-Disgusting that Jonah Hill was going to be in director Robert Rodriguez’s “Machete” along with Robert De Niro and Michelle Rodriguez. Immediately, the news spread around the net with everyone being very positive. Unfortunately, it might have been a bit too soon.

That’s because a few hours ago, I sat down with Jonah Hill as he was promoting director Judd Apatow’s new movie “Funny People” and he told me he hasn’t even read the script yet. He went on to say all he’s had is a phone call with Robert Rodriguez and he is actually planning on reading the script tonight to decide whether or not he wants to do the project. Hit the jump to watch what he said:

Bloody-Disgusting may have landed a major scoop today by getting a tip that Robert Rodriguez’s upcoming film “Machete” starring Danny Trejo may also feature Jonah Hill, Michelle Rodriguez, and Robert De Niro who, in a rare move, may be in a film people actually want to see.  Hit the jump to find out what roles they’ll be playing and when filming is reportedly scheduled to commence.

Do you know who Nimrod Antal is?  It’s okay if you don’t.  He’s the man behind “Kontroll”, “Vacancy”, and the upcoming “Armored”.  But you should start getting familiar with him because Robert Rodriguez just brought him on board to direct “Predators”, the first official sequel in the “Predator” franchise since we won’t count the “AVP” films and all their wretchedness.

Speaking with AICN, Rodriguez confirmed the hiring (which had been rumored in the past week or so as LatinoReview reported) and said that it was Antal’s work on “Armored” that really put him over the top.  Rodriguez compares Antal to Quentin Tarantino in being able to handle a large cast in a character-driven movie.  Also, judging from the interview, while Rodriguez is tight-lipped on the plot, he’s kind of selling it like “Aliens” but with Predators.  I don’t know if that’s any reason to complain, but I think it would be nice to have a film that can stand on its own as an action-horror flick rather than just using the “Predator” name.

Click over to AICN for the full story.  Antal’s “Armored” is slated to hit theatres on December 4th.

I’ve wondered why Robert Rodiguez isn’t more of a prolific filmmaker.  He’s not what I would call a perfectionist, doesn’t seem like a diva, but he also doesn’t strike me as lazy.  But for a man who does everything on his own films except the catering (and if you’ve ever read “Rebel Without a Crew”, you know he used to do that too) and knows how to shoot films on the cheap, it looks like we’re finally just getting around to “Machete”, based off the fake trailer from “Grindhouse” back in 2007.

According to Gordon and the Whale [via The Playlist], Danny Trejo says they’ll be filming in five weeks and knowing the speed at which Rodriguez works and how much he does in post, I’m guessing they’ll be done in five hours (three if they don’t break for lunch).  While GATW sadly notes that Trejo is NOT in Sylvester Stallone’s upcoming “The Expendables”, I just can’t get over how cool it is that Trejo will be headlining a film and one that (judging by its fake trailer) looks as fun as “Machete”.

Of course, this news puts in questions where Rodriguez stands to his host of other projects (as director and/or producter) including “Nerverackers”, “Sin City 2″, and “Predators”.  Oh, and what happened to “Red Sonja”?  I’m indifferent towards the film, but while we’re listing all the projects the guy isn’t getting to, may as well include it.

A few weeks back, “Sin City” director Robert Rodriguez told MTV that he was abandoning his long-cherished dream of rebooting the 1960’s camp-classic “Barbarella”.  The plans for a “Barbarella” redux go back to 2007 when producers Dino and Martha De Laurentiis acquired the rights and brought on “Casino Royale” writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade to update the film’s concept - that of a scantily clad warrior-woman on a mission to save the scientist Durand Durand through the power of the female orgasm.  And no, I am not making this up.

Robert Rodriguez was brought on as director, Rose McGowan was cast in the role that made Jane Fonda a star and the whole thing was set for a tentative 2008 release.  In fact, the date was so tentative that 2008 came and went with little more than a few storyboards to prove that a “Barbarella” remake was even in the works.  In the meantime, McGowan and Rodriguez got busy with other projects - and busy with each other - and a new generation of film fans continued to be deprived of the pleasure of seeing a hot woman pleasure herself for the benefit of humanity.

But not so fast!  Looks like Universal and Dino De Laurentiis have not abandoned their dream of a “Barbarella” remake - even if Robert Rodriguez has.  A source quoted by Moviehole says that the producer is “meeting with writers as we speak” and that the project is “far from dead.”

Pursuing “Barbarella” without the benefit of Robert Rodriguez may seem ill-advised - but hey!  It’s Universal’s film to ruin!  A movie like “Barbarella” is not your run-of-the-mill remake.  It will take a writer and a director of rare ability to avoid the pitfalls of overt-cheesiness that made the original such an underground sensation.  I’m sure there are a few people besides Robert Rodriguez who could get the job done - either as a comedy or as an ironic, futuristic-fable - but if Universal balked at Rodriguez’s $80 million budget, then it doesn’t look like they’re going to be aiming for quality the second time around…