Michael Pantazi's Blog
Posted by Michael Pantazi
For anyone interested, I thought the following link from Sean Hood’s blog would be a valuable guide to not just anyone interested in developing their own film scripts, but to the critic in all of us as well. As Sean notes:
This is an inspiring article written by my friend and mentor, Jacques Thelemaque, about the importance of plumbing the depths of personal vision, even on seemingly commercial or "genre" projects.
Posted by Michael Pantazi
Mentioned in my article on I’m a Cyborg, but that’s Okay, Thirst is Park Chan-wook’s latest film, co-written by Chan-wook and Jeong Seo-gyeong (I’m a Cyborg, Lady Vengeance).
Thirst will star the award-winning Song Kang-ho (The Good, the Bad, the Weird) as a priest who turns vamp after contracting a disease while in Africa. In terms of concept we can expect this to be more in the vein of a Cronos than an Interview with a Vampire or, god forbid, Underworld.
It’s obvious by now that, as far as I’m concerned, Chan-wook is just about the greatest film-maker alive today. His success and growing popularity will inevitably lead some critics into a baa-baa-backlash (that’s supposed to be a sheep sound if you're wondering), but I’d stick my neck out on a Chan-wook film every time and say that Thirst should be – if nothing else – original. I’ll probably hate it now.
A trailer can be found on Youtube and across the web, but aintitcool.com also provides a translation of what’s being said (the trailer has no subtitles).
According to sources on IMDB, a release is currently expected on April 30th this year, and will be screened at the Cannes Film Festival. While an international release is largely in the dark, it shouldn’t be too long before we know what sort of a theatre distribution it'll get and when to expect the DVD.
Posted by Michael Pantazi
Sean Hood is an American horror screenwriter who has been writing for tv and film since 1998, having contributed in the art department of many films before that, stretching back to 1990. His IMDB profile also credits him as director, cinematographer, editor and producer for various projects.
While some of his writing projects (such as Halloween: Resurrection & The Crow: Wicked Prayer) were far from well received, it’s important to remember that a) these kinds of films are virtually pre-destined to fail on several fronts and b) that the vast majority of writers in the American film industry are hands-for-hire, bid to write-up someone’s terrible ideas and endlessly tweak them according to the whim of studio financiers – most of whom wouldn’t know a strong script if they were beaten half to death with it. Of course, the same level of “compromise” is often required of directors and actors alike.
Most recently, Sean has worked on the acclaimed tv series Masters of Horror (Season 1 – Episode 10, Sick Girl) and Fear Itself (1 episode – Echoes).
The reason for highlighting these points is that I’ve recently received a mail from Mr. Hood, drawing attention to his own article on meeting with Friday the 13th director Marcus Nispel to discuss his next outing. Hit the link below to read that article on Sean’s blog, which gives a great insight into how quirky the initial process of selecting crewmen into a film production can be.
"My Dinner With Marcus" article.
So, congratulations to Sean and good luck to both him and Nispel in developing what will be the director’s own film concept in the upcoming Subterranean (a.k.a Pod). Also, check out Nispel’s linked response at the end of the article – the man seems to enjoy a very strange diet indeed.
Of course, I couldn’t let the chance pass me by of asking Sean for an interview when production on Subterranean is further along. He very kindly obliged, noting that “the next step for Beacon Pictures is to assemble a cast and partner with a studio”.
Now I’ve yet to see the new Friday the 13th movie, but it’s been doing extremely well at the box-office. What that should mean – irrespective of the film itself - is that Nispel can now carry some real clout to the next studio, which will hopefully keep any creative interference to a minimum.
Check back for updates on these developments, which should provide Suite readers with valuable feedback on the film-production process and some pretty exclusive insights to what we can expect from Subterranean.