Robert Rodriguez Says His Jonny Quest Movie Won't Be Like Spy Kids

In May, Warner Bros. officially hired Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, Machete) to direct their live-action take on Jonny Quest, which he'll also co-write with screenwriter Terry Rossio (The Mask of Zorro, Pirates of the Caribbean). While promoting the second season of El Rey's From Dusk Till Dawn, Rodriguez spoke about his progress on Jonny Quest as well as the tone and rating he'll be shooting for.

"It was an adventure. Before Indiana Jones, it was an Indiana Jones/James Bond action-adventure strip with a kid in it. It just happened to have a kid. It wasn't a kid's story. It was an action-adventure story that had a kid in it," Rodriguez told Collider of Hanna-Barbera's 1964 Jonny Quest cartoon he grew up watching. "So, that's what it's going to be with the movie. I made Spy Kids movies, but those are more kids being spies and their family. This is more of a legitimate action-adventure film that has a kid in it."

He isn't sure when he'll begin filming it as he just turned "in the script right now," and that is where his sole focus was.

"It will be PG or PG-13," he replied when asked about the film's tone and rating. "It depends. Sometimes with the action, even if it's not bloody, it depends on how the ratings' board feels. I tried to make Spy Kids G-rated. They made it PG, just 'cause there's action. It depends on how far you push that."

The original cartoon was about Jonny Quest, a young adventurer who accompanied his father on missions across the globe. The original series only lasted one season, but thrived on syndication.