Film News
Ninja-pirate-supermodels, the Austin Polish Film Festival, and zombies (of course)
By Joe O'Connell, Fri., Sept. 22, 2006
Oh, 'Mandy' ...
Central Texas' biggest independent film success story of the year? How about All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, a horror flick that was snapped up by the Weinstein Co. for its Dimension Films almost immediately after a midnight showing at the Toronto International Film Festival. Jonathan Levine, a former assistant to Paul Schrader, directed the film in the Austin area (mainly Bastrop) last November with local actress Amber Heard starring as a devastatingly beautiful high school girl who attracts a bunch of zombielike admirers. According to Variety, the film, with a budget in the six figures, was snapped up for between $3 million and $4 million and will get a theatrical release.
'Chainsaw' Refugees vs. 'Ninja Pirate Supermodels' vs. Red-headed Stranger
There's word that Future-Kill, the 1985 reteaming of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre alums Ed Neal, Marilyn Burns, and the late special-effects guru Robert Burns, is coming out on DVD in a full-color restoration from Subversive Cinema, just in time for Halloween. Neal himself got the print remastered, says Subversive's Norm Hill, who termed an earlier video release "unwatchable." Also included are commentary tracks from Neal and director Ronald Moore, as well as a replica of the highly touted original poster artwork from Swiss surrealist H.R. Giger. In my mind, it's worth snapping up for the scenes shot at Austin's punkish night spot Club Foot. "It's a fun time capsule," Hill says... Ninja Pirate Supermodels vs. the Zombies From Space. Best. Title. Ever, to paraphrase Comic Book Guy. It's also a fun film now shooting in town with a director who goes by the moniker Citizen Gray. "It's light and fun," he says of the sci-fi/fantasy movie. "It's the kind of stuff you want to watch with your buddies on your big screen at home." Originally conceived as a podcast, the response was so strong, he says, that not one, not two, but three films are planned about three women raised by pirates and trained by ninjas to kick ass. Look for a promotional event Monday, Sept. 25, at the Lair. Did I mention there's a lingerie pillow fight? Ah, and the Jolly Garogers have written the theme song... Yes, Willie Nelson is the star/executive producer of Fighting with Anger, a martial arts film that completed filming here last week. It's directed by Sam Um, who has choreographed fight scenes for Chinese action films and American indies. Phil Curry is the director of photography.
No Joke: Polish Film Fest
Polish film posters are some of the most artistic in the world, and Richard Linklater will open his personal vault for an exhibition Oct. 22 at the Harry Ransom Center for Humanities Research in conjunction with the first Festival Filmu Polskiego – that's Austin Polish Film Festival for the uninitiated – which runs Thursdays at 7pm in October at the Alamo Drafthouse South in conjunction with the National Film School of Poland in Lodz. Among the slated guests is director Dorota Kedzierzawksa, whose Jesten will have its regional premiere. Find more information at www.austinpff.org.
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