Movies
‘Black Sheep’ Sequel in the Works with Original Star and Director
Writer/Director Jonathan King’s 2006 wacky zombie comedy Black Sheep is getting a sequel with King back at the helm, Deadline reports today.
King will direct the sequel, currently titled Black Sheep 2, from a story he wrote with Matthew Grainger and Rosie Howells.
The filmmaker isn’t the only one back for this sequel to New Zealand’s most successful horror movie; lead actor Nathan Meister returns to the role of Henry Oldfield. Henry is the “sheep-phobic son of a farmer who discovers his twisted older brother has been carrying out dangerous genetic experiences on his livestock, which transform them from docile vegetarians to ruthless, carnivorous killers.” Meister will be joined by new faces on this outing.
As for Sheep 2’s plot, it’ll “follow a young scientist who is convinced that a dangerous new pathogen threatens the population and tracks it back to her hometown – which is located in the shadow of the remote sheep station where the macabre events of the original Black Sheep unfolded.”
Perhaps the most exciting news is that King and Meister will also reunite with Richard Taylor’s award-winning special effects company Wētā Workshop, who provided the gnarly creature effects in the first film. B-movie sheep zombie mayhem ensues in 2006’s Black Sheep, complete with fantastic creature and gore effects by Wētā Workshop (Krampus, District 9, Meet the Feebles). Black Sheep captures the tone of Peter Jackson’s early splatstick era but with modern SFX. That bodes well for the sequel.
The movie is produced by King and Grainger, alongside James Partridge and Samantha Braun of Terror-Fi Films, with executive producers Richard Fletcher of Libertine Pictures, Philippa Campbell, Ari Harrison, and Jasmin McSweeney from Umbrella Entertainment.
Umbrella Entertainment will distribute Black Sheep 2 in Australia and New Zealand and expect a 4K re-release of the 2006 film on the horizon, too. WTFilms plans to officially launch worldwide sales on the movie in 2025.
Production is currently set to begin in Spring 2025, so stay tuned for additional details as they arrive.
Movies
‘Backrooms’ Director Kane Parsons Is No Fan of Generative AI: “Defeats the Purpose Entirely for Me”
There has been a lot of talk recently about filmmakers embracing generative AI as part of the filmmaking process, from Darren Aronofsky to Martin Scorsese. But what about filmmakers that are against the use of Gen AI for creative pursuits? You can count 20-year-old Backrooms director Kane Parsons among that group, which should give you some hope for the future.
In a new chat with The Australian, the self-taught young filmmaker makes it crystal clear that he won’t be using generative AI in any of his upcoming filmmaking projects.
“I think I’m in the same boat as most well-adjusted people,” Parsons tells the outlet. “If I could snap my fingers and make generative AI disappear forever, I probably would. Creatively, I get no enjoyment from using those tools. It defeats the purpose entirely for me.”
“What interests me more is interrogating it artistically,” Parsons notes. “We already live in a world where you walk outside and there are billboards and signs that are obvious AI slop. That’s become part of our visual reality. To me, generative AI feels less like innovation than a symptom of a broader cultural and economic rot.”
He explains, “I’m interested in using that iconography in art – not using AI to make the art itself, but examining what it represents. I definitely want to explore it further in future projects.”
Kane Parsons also notes during the interview with The Australian, “… there’s so much at stake and so many genuinely harmful consequences already happening.”
Backrooms marks young prodigy Kane Parsons’ feature directorial debut, and it’s based on his own series of YouTube videos that were brought to life using Blender, the open-source 3D computer graphics software suite. So it’s no surprise that Parsons, who has hand-made his filmmaking career up to this point, isn’t buying into the hoopla around Generative AI.
His debut feature is the #1 movie in the world, so perhaps he’s onto something.
What’s next from Kane Parsons, you ask? Stay tuned…
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