Movies
Comic-Con ’11: Kevin Smith Teases Hall H With ‘Red State’
He may have already taken it on a national tour, but Kevin Smith proved there’s still plenty of audience interest in Red State (review). Thousands of fans packed out Hall H at Comic Con this afternoon for Smith’s annual Q&A where he talked about his first foray into the horror genre and showed five minutes of “spoileriffic footage.”
The writer/director said ‘Red State’ was his attempt at trying to make a movie like Quentin Tarantino and something “outside my comfort zone.”
“Until ‘Red State’ I didn’t have the balls to do it and try to make a movie like Quentin or the Coen Brothers,” he said.
“‘Red State’ was my way to homage those types of movies and what they do.
“It was so fucking artistically liberating man, because it’s the movie no one expects from you.
“It was like I was a talking dog, people would be like ‘stop the pop culture references, people are dying!’
“You’re not supposed to pump your own shit, but it’s fucking dope.”
Smith took the unconventional approach of self-distributing the film by playing it at select cinemas nationally with Q&A’s after each screening. The filmmaker said although ‘Red State’ has been released outside of the “studio system”, it has found an audience.
“I’ve been making movies for two decades man and I know one thing – people will see it eventually,” he said.
There are several dates still on the ‘Red State’ tour and a two week run at Quentin Tarantino’s New Beverly Cinema, Los Angeles. Smith said the film has already “cleared almost a million bucks” in merchandise alone. Inspired by religious fundamentalists, the film was made for $4 million and stars John Goodman, Kyle Gallner, Michael Angarano and Melissa Leo.
Smith said the profit from ‘Red State’ will allow him to finance his final film – hockey comedy ‘Hit Somebody’ – which he estimates will cost between 15 – 20 million. It’s set to start filming at the beginning of 2012 in Detroit.
A contemporary reimagining of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story Herbert West: Reanimator is on the way, and Deadline has unveiled the first look at the new Herbert West and the pathologist drawn to his orbit.
Adam Simon (The Haunting in Connecticut, “Salem”) and Tim Metcalfe (The Haunting in Connecticut, Kalifornia) penned the script. The original screenplay and storyline come from Jade Sandberg Wallace.
Michael Grossman (“The Originals”, “Pretty Little Liars”) directs.
The new images introduce star Joseph Morgan (“Vampire Diaries“), who plays “brilliant surgeon and scientist Herbert West, who is obsessed with creating a serum to reanimate the dead.” Katie Cassidy (Speed Demon) stars opposite as the pathologist with a troubled past who joins his efforts.
Together, they prove that conquering death may be the ultimate sin against life itself.
The film’s official synopsis: “As a child, Herbert West watches his father Peter reanimate his dead mother Judith in a secret basement lab — only for Judith to mortally wound Peter and nearly kill Herbert before Peter shoots her. The trauma leaves its mark on Herbert, but so does one final image: his mother’s finger, twitching after death. Thirty years later, Herbert West is a brilliant, secretive surgeon still chasing his father’s obsession.
“Pathologist Kate Locke arrives in town and is drawn into his orbit — first through a spark at a hospital fundraiser, then through his secret lab, where he reveals a serum capable of reanimating severed tissue. Kate, hiding a dark past of her own, is thrilled rather than horrified, and moves into West’s mansion to work alongside him. Their early experiments on a cadaver succeed only briefly. West concludes that dead tissue is the problem — they need something fresher.”
Supporting cast includes Scott Aiello, Ira J Amyx, Randall Newsome, Emma Reinagal, James D. Bryce, Kathryn A Bentley, Jack Lancaster, Amy Holland Pennell, John Pierson, Mindy Shaw, Eric Dean White, Tristan Wilder Hallet, Adrienne Lamping, Aaron Crippen, and Drew Patterson.
Makeup artist Jeff Lewis (“Star Trek: Voyager,” “Star Trek: Enterprise”) and cousin Roger Lewis are heading the production via their newly established Woodlake Entertainment.
Lovecraft’s short story, first serialized in Home Brew magazine in 1922, is the first among his works to mention the fictional Miskatonic University. It was most famously adapted into a 1985 horror movie from Stuart Gordon, starring Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West.
Herbert West: Reanimator is set in Alton, Illinois, where production is now underway.
Herbert West: Reanimator. Photo credit: Matt Lief Anderson
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