"Every evening I follow my master/
Lead me down to the praying ground/
No sir I can't seem to go no faster
I'll be taking the long way around"
Lyrics to "Long Way Around" from LIVING WITH THE LAW by Chris Whitley.
Joshua Jabcuga: The first movie that I really sat up and took notice of you in was Michael Mann's HEAT, my personal all-time favorite movie.
Danny Trejo: Yeah.
Joshua Jabcuga: In a film filled with icons such as Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, actors like Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, you more than stood your own ground and put in an amazing performance. And from there it really seems like your career has been on this nonstop upward trajectory. You've worked with Robert Rodriquez, Rob Zombie, Michael Mann, of course. What are some of your own personal highlights?
Danny Trejo: RUNAWAY TRAIN, the first movie I did, 1985, I just walked on a movie set, I was actually a drug counselor. And I walked on the movie set to help somebody and somebody asked me if I wanted to be in a movie. And I said, "What do I have to do?" They said, "You wanna be an extra?" And I said, "An extra what?" And they asked me if I could act like a convict. And considering I spent about eleven years in the pen, I said, yeah, I'd give it a shot. The rest is history.
