Movies
OMFG of the Day: Magnet Releasing Gets Epic, Announces 26-Chapter Anthology ‘The ABCs of Death’
Drafthouse Films, Timpson Films and Magnet Releasing are teaming to produce The ABCs of Death, an absolutely epic 26-chapter anthology feature that aims to showcase death in all its vicious wonder and brutal beauty.
Production is scheduled to begin this June, with completion slated for Jan. 2012, six months, six weeks and six days later. 25 established directors from all over the world are participating, while the 26th helmer will be chosen as part of a worldwide competition to find a new filmmaking talent. Each director will be assigned a letter from the alphabet that represents a word to act as a springboard for a short story about death. It will be up to each filmmaker to interpret the letter and word they are assigned to tell a deathly tale, from the accidental murder to those committed in cold blood. The sum of these parts, from A-to-Z, will comprise “The ABCs of Death.”
The current list of confirmed participating directors includes Jason Eisener (Hobo With A Shotgun), Nacho Vigalando (TimeCrimes), Ti West (The House of the Devil), Srdjan Spasojevic (A Serbian Film), Angela Bettis (Roman) and Ben Wheatley (The Kill List), as well as Banjong Pisanthanakun (Shutter, Alone), Adrian Garcia Bogliano (Cold Sweat), Ernesto Diaz Espinoza (Kiltro), Bruno Forzani (Amer) and Héléne Cattet (Amer), Gadi Harel (Deadgirl), Thomas Malling (Norwegian Ninja), Yoshihiro Nishimura (Tokyo Gore Police), Simon Rumley (Red White and Blue), Tak Sakaguchi (Mutant Girls Squad) and Yuji Shimomura (Death Trance), Marcel Sarmiento (Deadgirl), Timo Tjahjanto (Macabre), Andrew Traucki (Black Water), Jake West (Evil Aliens) and Adam Wingard (A Horrible Way to Die, You’re Next!).
“Helming Fantastic Fest for the past seven years has brought us in touch with an amazing community of filmmaking talent,” said League. “The ABCs of Death offers us a chance to work closely with a large number of visionary filmmakers to create a film with more jaw-dropping moments than a whole summer of blockbusters.”
“This project was inspired by my young sons being introduced to the world through their ABCs books. The idea of subverting that format to reveal a study in all the dastardly and humorous ways a person can leave this world appealed on multiple levels,” said Timpson, who added that “it was somewhat fitting to learn that the earliest forms of the ABCs books actually did use fear of punishment to teach the young.”
“I got to the letter A and said yes,” said Magnet SVP Tom Quinn, who negotiated the deal with League, Timpson and Jason Janego. “We’re super excited to be working with a familiar cast of Magnet directors, as well as Tim League and Ant Timpson.”
Movies
‘The Exorcism’ Trailer – Russell Crowe Gets Possessed in Meta Horror Movie from Producer Kevin Williamson
Russell Crowe (The Pope’s Exorcist) is starring in a brand new meta possession horror movie titled The Exorcism, and Vertical has unleashed the official trailer this afternoon.
Vertical has picked up the North American rights to The Exorcism, which they’ll be bringing to theaters on June 7. Shudder is also on board to bring the film home later this year.
Joshua John Miller, who wrote 2015’s The Final Girls and also starred in films including Near Dark and And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird, directed The Exorcism.
Joshua John Miller also wrote the script with M.A. Fortin (The Final Girls). This one is personal for Miller, as his late father was the star of the best possession movie ever made.
Miller said in a statement this week, “The origins of the film stem from my childhood spent watching my father, Jason Miller, playing the doomed Father Karras flinging himself out a window at the climax of The Exorcist. If that wasn’t haunting enough on its own, my dad never shied away from telling me stories of just how “cursed” the movie was: the mysterious fires that plagued the production, the strange deaths, the lifelong injuries— the list went on and on. The lore of any “cursed film” has captivated me ever since.”
“With The Exorcism, we wanted to update the possession movie formula (“Heroic man rescues woman from forces she’s too weak and simple to battle herself!”) for a world where no one group owns goodness and decency over another,” he adds. “We were gifted with an extraordinary cast and creative team to tell a story about how we’re all vulnerable to darkness, to perpetuating it, if we fail to face our demons. The devil may retaliate, but what other choice do we have?”
The film had previously been announced under the title The Georgetown Project.
“The Exorcism follows Anthony Miller (Crowe), a troubled actor who begins to unravel while shooting a supernatural horror film. His estranged daughter (Ryan Simpkins) wonders if he’s slipping back into his past addictions or if there’s something more sinister at play.”
Sam Worthington (Avatar: The Way of Water), Chloe Bailey (Praise This), Adam Goldberg (The Equalizer) and David Hyde Pierce (Frasier) also star.
Of particular note, Kevin Williamson (Scream, Sick) produced The Exorcism.
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