Friday, July 10, 2009
By: Travis Stevens
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Red White & Blue (first details here), the intense new film by acclaimed director Simon Rumley (The Living and the Dead), begun production in Austin, Texas last week and Bloody-Disgusting friend Travis Stevens was on hand to witness the film of the collaboration between the multi‐award‐winning Rumley and Austin’s Tim League (founder of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas and co‐director of Fantastic Fest with aintitcool.com’s Harry Knowles), who is executive producer. You can read his report below and check out some stills and quotes from both the director and producer.
I had the pleasure of meeting some of the cast and crew of Simon Rumley's new film RED, WHITE & BLUE which is being described as a Slacker Revenge Thriller, or a Larry Clark version of TAKEN. The movie is a lean, mean look at a group of people find themselves capable of some very awful things.
I'm not sure how much of the story is out there right now, but basically the film is about three people's lives intersecting in Austin. THE LOST's Marc Sentar plays "Franki" the lead singer/guitarist for a local punk rock band, who spends some time with "Erica" played by Amanda Fuller. Amanda has a Chloe Sevegny quality to her. A warm uniqueness if you will, that helps capture this puzzling character, who, as compelled as she is to seek out the company of men, is completely withdrawn when that goes beyond a casual hook-up. Simon has said he felt that of every actress they looked at, she was the only one who felt believable in the role. Noah Taylor (THE PROPOSITION) plays "Nate", a slightly older man with a unique past, who begins finding his way around the wall Erica has around her.
Of course this is a Simon Rumley film, so put the above characters in a totally brutal, vicious and unpredictable storyline and you can imagine the possibilities.
As you know the film is currently shooting in Austin, TX and that means heat in excess of 100 degrees some days. As they are shooting on the red camera, this means ice bags and umbrellas are always on hand to keep the thing from overheating. Watching the crew work I was amazed at how much energy they had given the circumstances. They seemed impervious to the climate around them. Terminators or something. Simon and one of the stars Marc Sentar agreed that the heat is adding a layer to what is being captured on camera. There is a greasiness to the world, an oppressiveness to the environment these characters live in that is helped by the layer of sweat on them. Sort of like the movie BODY HEAT. You can almost feel it.
Marc, who is just a rad dude to begin with, is actually writing the music to be played by his band in the film. This just adds to the realism Simon is going for. He said his shooting style has changed on this film to try and capture things in a more realistic way--like the French New Wave. But with heads being cut off.
I've attached some photos from the visit, dig on 'em below.
Pictured: Lil' Allan (Julian Haddad) nurses a nasty playground injury in Simon Rumley's RED WHITE AND BLUE. Lil' Allan is a child that Erica (Amanda Fuller) cares for, showing a much more tender, less emotionally disengaged side of her character.
Pictured: Director Simon Rumley (left) on location in Austin for RED WHITE AND BLUE, his "slacker revenge" movie, in association with Tim League of the Alamo Drafthouse cinemas. Shooting in gruelling heat, which infuses the look of the production, the crew has met a punishing schedule with typical Austin unflappability. Despite the film's dark subject material and some very intense scenes of sex and violence in true Rumley fashion, the director says, "Austin has always been one of the best filming locations for this kind of production, and I specifically wrote RED WHITE AND BLUE around the people and places the town is famous for. The location is definitely major character in the film."
Pictured: Erica (Amanda Fuller - BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, BONES, WOMEN'S MURDER CLUB), one of the three lead characters in Simon Rumley's "slacker revenge" movie RED WHITE AND BLUE, here performing one of her easier scenes in Austin, Texas. The role of Erica is highly demanding, with both deeply emotional scenes and frank, uncompromising sex scenes. Amanda was chosen from an intensive LA casting session, and her fearlessness as an actress marked her out as the clear choice for Rumley and producer Bob Portal. "Simon and I both responded quite independently to Amanda's audition," says Portal, "and it was clear she was the standout choice for the sensitivity and underlying vulnerability she brings to the role, which quite frankly scared a lot other actresses. That's really not a problem for Amanda, who faces every challenge with enormous positivity."
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