It’s still hard to believe that a week has passed since the news broke of Rowdy Roddy Piper leaving us for the Royal Rumble in the great beyond. On Wednesday TIFF announced the Canadian films in selection at their 40th anniversary festival which included Portal To Hell!!!/ The short that sets Piper against cultists & Cthulhu filmed in Toronto earlier this year & marks Roddy’s final movie role.
The apartment-superintendent hero of this primo slice of Canuxploitation has enough on his plate, what with all the plumbing and electrical problems and high-maintenance tenants. But then some jerks open up a multidimensional gateway in the basement. Thankfully, the guy standing between humanity and its certain destruction is played by the late, great “Rowdy” Roddy Piper.
Portal To Hell!!! was successfully crowdfunded & was due to become a feature film. The following is a message from the team behind the project via Indiegogo.
Dear Portal supporters,
As you have probably heard by now, the world lost Roddy Piper last week. Throughout this production, people have been asking the various members of our team what he was like to work with, so we’d just like to share these words with you.
Rod flew up to the shoot in the middle of a snow storm, arrived on set ready to go, and couldn’t have been more enthusiastic for the 4-day shoot. A few of the days were hard, going into the late hours, but Roddy never complained. He couldn’t have been more professional.
As a person… Roddy was one of the warmest and most genuine people we’ve ever had the pleasure to meet. Sweet natured and personable, he couldn’t have been further from the “Rowdy” persona. He met everyone with a smile, took the time to thank them for their work and happily posed for pictures and signed autographs.
When people refer to him as a “legend”, they’re not wrong. He truly was legendary, and we are better for having gotten to know him in the brief amount of time we had with him.
The film is currently in post-production and soon to be complete.
And on that note, we have announcement: Portal to Hell!!! will have its world theatrical premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. (http://tiff.net/festivals/festival15/shortcuts/portal-to-hell)
This is a huge honour for us, and we hope that we can do Roddy’s legacy justice. We’re all moving forward with this, hoping he would have been proud.
Thank you everyone for your support on this film. You helped us make it. We hope we make you proud too.
Ever Forward,
Matt, Viv and The Portal Team.
Other forthcoming films starring everyone’s favorite heel include Kickstarter project The Chair and 2014’s The Masked Saint which is set for a 2016 release after finding distribution.
In the spirit of transparency I helped out with the Indiegogo campaign last year & also work alongside Raven Banner Entertainment who were on board to expand the short to a feature format.