Movies
Danny Boyle’s Olympics Opening Inspired By “Frankenstein”; Larry Fessenden Mashes 25 “Frankenstein” Films!
Filmmaker Danny Boyle borrowed ideas from Mary Shelley’s novel “Frankenstein” when drawing up plans for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in London this summer, reports the Huffington Post.
The Slumdog Millionaire and 28 Days Later director signed on to orchestrate the sporting spectacular’s kick-off event in July and he admits the task of creating a jaw-dropping show to be viewed by millions of people hasn’t been easy.
He tells Vogue: “It’s a challenge, of course, because it can easily be just a cold spectacle – awe-inspiring but not necessarily of the heart – and we want the ceremony to have a visceral effect on the people, for it to be a collective experience. Stirring emotion is hard in a stadium.”
But the Oscar winner reveals he found inspiration in an unlikely place – “Frankenstein,” which fuses elements of romanticism and the creation of life.
He adds, “(There is) quite a lot of “Frankenstein” in the show. I mean, we don’t reanimate dead creatures, but we did use Frankenstein as a dry run for a lot of ideas for this.” And if Boyle’s vision is realised, he says the the venue will look “more like a cauldron, with all the people hovering over and around you”.
The filmmaker has had a lot of experience with the theme – he directed a production of “Frankenstein” for the National Theatre in England last year.
And for some extra fun, the video above is writer/director/actor/produce Larry Fessenden‘s “Mashup of 25 Frankenstein Flicks” created for a live benefit February 18 2012 in support of RadioHole‘s forthcoming off-Broadway production “Inflatable Frankenstein”. Fessenden, who directed The Last Winter, is best known for producing The Innkeepers, Stake Land, The House of the Devil, and nearly a hundred more genre outings.
Up next from The People’s Joker director Vera Drew is a found footage movie titled Trandemic, and it’s being made possible by the Transgender Film Center Found Footage Feature Fund.
Deadline notes in a report this afternoon that Vera Drew’s Trandemic is the very first recipient of the award, created to “support micro-budget feature filmmaking by transgender creators.”
The outlet explains, “Applications were first evaluated by the Transgender Film Center and partner representatives, with finalists then presented to Duplass Brothers Productions, who selected the winning project.” Vera Drew will receive a $25,000 cash grant to bring Trandemic to life, with the project being described as a “cosmic found footage horror-comedy.”
Deadline further details, “The award package also includes creative advisory support from Duplass Brothers Productions; mentorship with Mark Duplass and Patrick Brice; a final script review from Duplass before production; development guidance from Kevin Nicklaus of Sandstone Artists; 15 days of in-kind post-production services from Aesthetica Post, including conform, color grading, light VFX, DCP delivery and festival-ready masters; a $37,000 post-sound package from Aura Sound and Color; and festival submission waivers from Transgender Film Center and partner festivals, including Fantastic Fest.”
“I’m so wildly stoked and honored to be receiving this grant from the Trans Film Center and Duplass Brothers Productions,” Vera Drew said in a statement. “Patrick Brice and Mark Duplass reinvented the found footage genre with the Creep franchise, so their support means the world to me as I gear up to do the same with my sophomore feature film Trandemic.”
“There were so many incredible projects submitted to us, I wish we could have picked every one of them,” Mark Duplass said. “But here’s the good news … everyone who built their projects to be made at a $25k budget? The hard part is already done. They can now go out, crowdfund it, and bring it to the world at a time when auteur-driven found footage horror is having a real moment.”