project greenlight Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The user-generated movie Faintheart begins shooting in the UK this week, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The first of its kind, Faintheart was put together via MySpace as the previously announced "MySpace Movie Mashup"; the writer, director, cast and other members of the production were apparently found via calls on the film's MySpace page. Some, such as writer David Lemon and director Vito Rocco, won competitions voted on by members of the networking site and a celeb jury, which included Sienna Miller and Anthony Minghella. Other positions, such as storyboard artist, could be acquired through job postings on the film's MySpace blog. The movie does feature some professional stars, though, including Jessica Hynes (you know her as Shaun of the Dead and Spaced's Jessica Stevenson -- she recently changed her stage name), Trainspotting's Ewan Bremner and Eddie Marsan, who will be making up for this by appearing in Mike Leigh's next film. Now the movie, a romantic comedy centered on the world of Viking battle re-enactments, which is being produced by Vertigo Films and FilmFour, with backing from the UK Film Council and Screen VM, is ready to go.

If we've learned anything from ideas like Project Greenlight and Spielberg's On the Lot, we can assume that the mainstream reception of Faintheart will not be too favorable. After all, the public likes its movies made by executives, businessmen, lucky "talents" and really talented people who have put in their time without success before breaking out. The same thing has been learned with the music business. Just because a person wins American Idol, that doesn't mean he or she is going to have a #1 album (nor does it mean he/she would make a good movie). Sure, the internet has possibly been helpful in suggesting things to filmmakers here and there, but overall, we can't trust people who live on the internet to make important decisions. Can we? There have been other internet-based film competitions, including two involving Spike Lee -- Babelgum's Online Film Festival and LiveMansion: The Movie (which seems to be competing with MySpace for the "first online-community-made" tag -- but obviously MySpace has them all beat with brand recognition. But then I wonder, will Faintheart even use a "MySpace Presents" banner? Regardless of the brand recognition, some people are sure to think such a connection is silly.

Though most probably know him as "that guy in the background who always looks familiar," Christopher Marquette is finally getting top billing; the Hollywood Reporter tells us that he's just signed on to star in a new horror-comedy from writer-director Kyle Rankin called Infestation. For those who obsessed over the HBO show Project Greenlight before it moved over to Bravo (why is everyone looking at me?), you might remember Rankin as one-half of the directing team that took on The Battle of Shaker Heights. However, what you might not know about Rankin (and his disappearing partner-in-crime Efram Potelle) is that prior to Shaker Heights (and after), the two wrote and directed a couple of very cool shorts -- one of which is eerily similar to this new flick announced today.

They're calling this one 28 Days Later meets Shaun of the Dead, as it centers on some office schlub (Marquette) who wakes up to find himself wrapped in webbing and cocooned to the wall of his office. After realizing that giant insects have begun to take over the world, our hero must band together with a "ragtag group of strangers" to fight for their survival. Back in 2003, Rankin and Potelle directed a very awesome short called They Came to Attack Us; in that pic, some stoner dude is told that he must keep a valuable orb and protect it from the aliens that are invading. Since Cinematical is all about giving you more bang for your buck, you can check out that short here. Heavy Duty Entertainment is producing Infestation along with Icon Prods., who are also handling worldwide distribution. Personally, I think the idea sounds pretty fun, and Marquette proved he can pull off comedy fairly well when he played Ryan Reynolds' perverted little brother in Just Friends. Sure, the bar is set pretty high when you compare a project to Shaun of the Dead, but the comparison alone has me extremely interested. How about you?

Early on, I learned that with rites of passage comes horror and mayhem. Jason terrorized summer campers and Carrie got showered in pig's blood. As a teen, Randy's Scary Movie Rules taught me that sex and alcohol would lead to certain death. Yet I never really saw horror movies delve into high school graduation, let alone college. As grads plan to enter their adult life, I wonder what could be more fitting than throwing them into blood-filled turmoil while they're high on feelings of relief. I am, therefore, happy to report that Chris Moore, producer of Project Greenlight and the American Pie movies, will be handing us a serving of graduation mayhem in his directorial debut, Killers.

Taryn Manning, Agnes Bruckner, and Patrick Flueger are set to star as a group of college grads who conveniently decide to celebrate in a remote location. Unfortunately, their festivities turn into a nightmare as they're terrorized by a killer who forces them into a deadly game where they have to kill each other to survive. It sounds like the bases are covered. A cast of attractive young actors has been collected, and they'll be isolated, desperate, and at the whim of a sadistic killer. On paper, it reads like a classic horror film.

What promises to be more interesting, however, is the film's new director. Moore is known for his no-holds-barred criticism of directors on Greenlight. Will he be able to live up to his own standards? Or, will his directorial plans begin and end with Killers?

[via The Hollywood Reporter]

Wow, so it looks like The Weinstein's and Dimension Films have finally found something they like out of this whole Project Greenlight fiasco. The company has gone ahead and picked up not one, but two scripts from writers Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, the scribe duo behind Greenlight's last winner, Feast.

The first is called Midnight Man, in which Dunstan (as new as he is to the business) has negotiated a deal to direct. The story will focus on a man who finds himself in the middle of a kidnapping situation after breaking into the home of his employer. The second is a thriller titled The Neighbor, and it did not come along with a description. However, I imagine someone will discover the crazy person who lives next door, with thrilling and unfortunate consequences. Feast opened in theaters this past weekend (to favorable reviews) and its DVD hits streets on October 17.

Seeing as you'll be reading my review of Evil Aliens later this week, I figured why not stretch out the intergalactic theme and include it within this week's Eat My Shorts. I mean, who doesn't like to watch a film about aliens? They're weird, foreign and mysterious creatures that, depending upon who you ask, may or may not exist in real life. Personally, I am of the opinion that aliens are out there somewhere, waiting for just the right time to come down to earth and start their own professional ping-pong league. Heck, there's a lot of money to be made in ping-pong and I'm sure those little dudes are up there paying attention.

Life is more fun when you're a believer. If anything, one can use an alien's presence to explain missing homework, a clogged toilet or why next weekend will not be a good time for the in-laws to pay a visit. All kidding aside, we adore our aliens and love watching them up on the big screen accompanied by millions of dollars in special effects. However, aliens also play a big role in the world of short films as well. Be it animated or live-action, I'm consistently amazed by the quality of alien-related shorts online and available to watch right now ... for free.

This week, all of the following films have something do with aliens and were found rather quickly by typing in a few keywords and surfing the net. As always, if you'd like to see a particular short film featured on a future edition of Eat My Shorts, feel free to send all links, tips and suggestions to shorts AT cinematical DOT com. In the meantime, let's go watch some shorts ...

After months of who-knows-what sort of closed-door wranglings, Dimension Films has finally settled on a release date for Feast, the third Project Greenlight flick, and one that's earned a decent amount of praise on the festival circuit.

September 22nd is when you'll be able to Feast for yourself, but if it ends up being a mega-limited release pattern, don't get too upset. Heavy gossip says the DVD will be released in time for ... Halloween? Sounds good to me. Also, here's a groovy new teaser poster for the flick, which apparently has very toothy monsters in it. Which I like.

The plot of Feast is this: People get stuck in a bar but monsters are lurking outside. Period. The cast includes Balthazar Getty, Navi Rawat, Krista Allen, Judah Friedlander, and Clu Gulager, partially because he's the director's dad, but mainly because he's so cool.

(So does this mean we might get the third season of Project Greenlight on DVD some time soon?)

Look, I really enjoyed the Project Greenlight series. While I will agree that IFC's Film School was a more educational show to watch for those of you out there dying to jump right into filmmaking (do keep in mind NYU did provide them with a lot of equipment), Greenlight really showed what it's like to do battle with a studio. Of course, in the "real world," all of those contest winners would have been immediately replaced by seasoned veterans.

That being said, Steven Spielberg is looking to bring a little bit of Greenlight to his next big project -- a reality television show. Seriously? Spielberg? Reality TV? If I were joking, you would know by now. Seriously, the director wants to create a show in which aspiring Spielbergs compete to direct a movie that he will produce. Right now, it's being pitched as Project Greenlight meets The Apprentice meets another show only us movie geeks will watch.

Honestly, it sounds like a fun idea ... even though I'm sure Spielberg himself will only appear in a couple episodes. However, you know a ton of folks will jump at the chance to be involved in one of his projects, so casting the film might get interesting. I'm also curious to see if Tom Hanks becomes involved, and to what capacity, seeing as the two have been imaginary lovers for some time now. Oh yeah, I just went there! What do you think about that?

[via Movie Blog]

If Project Greenlight has taught us one valuable lesson, it's that good television doesn't always yield good movies. Like most movie geeks, I devoured Seasons 1 & 2 of PG with ravenous abandon, but when it came to enjoying the movies birthed by the reality series (Stolen Summer & The Battle of Shaker Heights), I was left relatively cold. Hoping to shake things up between Season 2 & 3, the Greenlighters dealt with two big changes: The switch from HBO to Bravo -- and the switch from wistful indie comedy to hardcore indie horror.

But if the third season of Project Greenlight ended in May of 2005 ... where's the freakin' movie already? The film in question is entitled Feast, and it's one of the movies that the Brothers Weinstein got custody of following their divorce from Disney/Miramax - but it's been just sitting on a shelf somewhere, despite some relatively positive notices from a small group of critics. (My pal Erik Childress reviewed Feast when it played the Chicago Film Festival, and he really liked the thing!)

One would think that with a name like Wes Craven - his real name, by the way - that a life as a director of horror films would be the man's inescapable fate from the very start. While the 66-year-old Cleveland-born Renaissance man has created some of the most revered films of the modern genre like A Nightmare On Elm Street and the breakout Scream trilogy, there is more to him than that. He studied writing, psychology, philosophy and literature at Wheaton College and Johns Hopkins University, taught college, and did not even start working in the film industry until the age of 31 as a sound editor.

It was in 1971, though, when his path would intersect with that of another future horror legend - Friday the 13th creator Sean S. Cunningham. Their meeting first resulted in the largely forgotten Together, footnoted only because it starred a 19-year-old woman named Marilyn Briggs (who consequently met brothers Artie and Jim Mitchell, who rechristened her Marilyn Chambers and made her a porn icon in Behind The Green Door). However, the collaboration made fellow tyro Cunningham want to work with Craven again. The next year saw the release of the Cunningham-produced, Craven-directed The Last House On The Left, a remake of Swedish titan Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring, believe it or not, a raw and grimy low-budget effort about a pair of murdering rapists who unknowingly hole-up in the house of the parents of one of their victims. The film became a cult favorite and launched Craven's career in movies.

Craven's second film, the savage and effective 1977 survival tale, The Hills Have Eyes, was about a family who, while traversing the desert, encounters a group of inbred maniacs who prey on these seemingly helpless castaways. Nearly three decades later comes the first remake of Craven's own work, with the new version helmed by French it-director Alexandre Aja (High Tension), released in the U.S. on March 10. Craven, who produced the film for Fox's boutique arm Fox Searchlight, was cool enough to call me at home for an impromptu chat. After I insulted his parentage and suggested a scenario in which he couple with a Cheerio (thinking I was being pranked by my friend Eric), I apologized and basked in fanboy glory for the remaining 22 minutes of our phoner.