El Mariachi rights. Columbia eventually spent $200,000 to transfer the print to film, to remix the sound, and on other post-production work. It then spent millions more on marketing and distribution. The success of Rodriguez's directorial debut led him to create two further entries, "Desperado" (1995) and "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" (2003). For the two sequels, Antonio Banderas took over from Carlos Gallardo for the main character El Mariachi, though Gallardo co-produced both films and had a minor role in "Desperado". In 2011, "El Mariachi" was inducted into the Library of Congress to be preserved as part of its National
El Mariachi were simply condoms filled with fake blood and fixed over weightlifting belts. Rodriguez also noted the use of improvisation. The tortoise that crawls in front of the Mariachi was not planned, but was kept in as a good idea. Similarly, there is a scene in which the Mariachi buys a coconut, but Rodriguez forgot to show him paying for the fruit; instead of driving back to the place to shoot additional scenes, Rodriguez decided to build in a voice-over in which the Mariachi asserts that the coconuts were for free. Improvisation was also useful to cover up continuity mistakes: at