O:9:"MagpieRSS":23:{s:6:"parser";i:0;s:12:"current_item";a:0:{}s:5:"items";a:10:{i:0;a:11:{s:5:"title";s:52:"New A24 film shows off the beauty of Humboldt County";s:4:"link";s:85:"https://firstmediamarketing.com/new-a24-film-shows-off-the-beauty-of-humboldt-county/";s:2:"dc";a:1:{s:7:"creator";s:12:"Sally Scully";}s:7:"pubdate";s:31:"Sat, 19 Feb 2022 18:54:55 +0000";s:8:"category";s:53:"Movie Production CompaniesA24BeautyCountyFilmHumboldt";s:4:"guid";s:40:"https://firstmediamarketing.com/?p=16694";s:11:"description";s:590:"by Sophia Escudero On Friday, Feb. 11, the A24 movie “The Sky is Everywhere” premiered on Apple TV+, accompanied by a red carpet event in Old Town Eureka. Filming took place locally on such locations as Moonstone Beach, Arcata High School, College of the Redwoods, and Sequoia Park, and over 500 locals were involved in ... Read more";s:7:"content";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";s:6539:"

by Sophia Escudero

On Friday, Feb. 11, the A24 movie “The Sky is Everywhere” premiered on Apple TV+, accompanied by a red carpet event in Old Town Eureka. Filming took place locally on such locations as Moonstone Beach, Arcata High School, College of the Redwoods, and Sequoia Park, and over 500 locals were involved in the production, myself included.

The film itself explores the grief of Lennie Walker, a high school girl grappling with the sudden loss of her idolized older sister. Lennie, portrayed by actress Grace Kaufman, finds herself caught between a grief-forged connection with Toby, her late sister’s boyfriend (Pico Alexander), and Joe, an intriguing new music student fresh from a Parisian conservatory (Jacques Colimon), but more than that, she finds herself torn between mourning and moving on.

Director Josephine Decker depicts this world through a lens of magical realism. Lennie’s inner turmoil causes a storm around her only she can see, and the act of playing music literally leaves her walking on air. While these slightly surrealist aspects could serve to take one out of a film, here it serves to highlight Lennie’s turbulent emotions and sense of unreality. The visuals help set “The Sky is Everywhere” apart from many other YA dramas, while characterizing it with a certain twee sensibility and aesthetic.

The film’s minor characters round out the ensemble with heart and soul. Tyler Lofton’s nice guy Marcus, Ji-Young Yoo’s supportive bestie Sarah, and Jason Segal’s stoner uncle Big are all highlights, but Cherry Jones as Lennie’s grandmother Fiona is the standout star of the ensemble. Jones grounds the piece with her kind yet authoritative presence, quietly stealing the show without detracting from her costars. Though the film focuses on Lennie, it, unfortunately, does so at the cost of the people around her. We never get more than one or two shallow notes on many of the people populating this world, despite the actors turning in genuine performances with what they were given.

Still, nothing is quite like seeing my own hometown (and in one scene about four minutes in, my own face) filmed so beautifully and professionally on the silver screen. Humboldt is on full display here, with every scene reminding the local viewer of a place they know well. A jubilant dance scene appears before the Old Town Gazebo, a heartfelt apology takes place in the streets of Ferndale, and the Arcata Presbyterian Church hosts the funeral that sets so much into motion. The emotion of seeing one’s home in this way was one shared by Deputy Director of the Humboldt Film Commission Nate Adams, who I interviewed at the red carpet.

Photo by Sophia Escudero | Eureka Mayor Susan Seaman cuts the red ribbon commemorating the Old Town gazebo as a site of filming Feb. 11.

“It’s overwhelming, trying to focus on the movie and seeing the locations, and the people, and the art, and even my friend’s stickers made it into the movie,” Adams said. “It’s just overwhelming to see so much of Humboldt.”

Film Commissioner and HSU alum Cassandra Hesseltine teared up as I asked her about her experience helping create this production.

“I cried at the end of the movie yesterday when I watched it,” Hesseltine said. “Part of why I cried is because I love working in film. I wanted to work in film since I was five. Besides the content of the movie, and it is a beautiful movie, the reason why I cried was just to think about how all this happened in my community, that I helped it happen, and it was really, really special.”

“The Sky is Everywhere” is available for streaming at Apple TV+.

We would like to give thanks to the author of this write-up for this outstanding web content

New A24 film shows off the beauty of Humboldt County

";}s:7:"summary";s:590:"by Sophia Escudero On Friday, Feb. 11, the A24 movie “The Sky is Everywhere” premiered on Apple TV+, accompanied by a red carpet event in Old Town Eureka. Filming took place locally on such locations as Moonstone Beach, Arcata High School, College of the Redwoods, and Sequoia Park, and over 500 locals were involved in ... Read more";s:12:"atom_content";s:6539:"

by Sophia Escudero

On Friday, Feb. 11, the A24 movie “The Sky is Everywhere” premiered on Apple TV+, accompanied by a red carpet event in Old Town Eureka. Filming took place locally on such locations as Moonstone Beach, Arcata High School, College of the Redwoods, and Sequoia Park, and over 500 locals were involved in the production, myself included.

The film itself explores the grief of Lennie Walker, a high school girl grappling with the sudden loss of her idolized older sister. Lennie, portrayed by actress Grace Kaufman, finds herself caught between a grief-forged connection with Toby, her late sister’s boyfriend (Pico Alexander), and Joe, an intriguing new music student fresh from a Parisian conservatory (Jacques Colimon), but more than that, she finds herself torn between mourning and moving on.

Director Josephine Decker depicts this world through a lens of magical realism. Lennie’s inner turmoil causes a storm around her only she can see, and the act of playing music literally leaves her walking on air. While these slightly surrealist aspects could serve to take one out of a film, here it serves to highlight Lennie’s turbulent emotions and sense of unreality. The visuals help set “The Sky is Everywhere” apart from many other YA dramas, while characterizing it with a certain twee sensibility and aesthetic.

The film’s minor characters round out the ensemble with heart and soul. Tyler Lofton’s nice guy Marcus, Ji-Young Yoo’s supportive bestie Sarah, and Jason Segal’s stoner uncle Big are all highlights, but Cherry Jones as Lennie’s grandmother Fiona is the standout star of the ensemble. Jones grounds the piece with her kind yet authoritative presence, quietly stealing the show without detracting from her costars. Though the film focuses on Lennie, it, unfortunately, does so at the cost of the people around her. We never get more than one or two shallow notes on many of the people populating this world, despite the actors turning in genuine performances with what they were given.

Still, nothing is quite like seeing my own hometown (and in one scene about four minutes in, my own face) filmed so beautifully and professionally on the silver screen. Humboldt is on full display here, with every scene reminding the local viewer of a place they know well. A jubilant dance scene appears before the Old Town Gazebo, a heartfelt apology takes place in the streets of Ferndale, and the Arcata Presbyterian Church hosts the funeral that sets so much into motion. The emotion of seeing one’s home in this way was one shared by Deputy Director of the Humboldt Film Commission Nate Adams, who I interviewed at the red carpet.

Photo by Sophia Escudero | Eureka Mayor Susan Seaman cuts the red ribbon commemorating the Old Town gazebo as a site of filming Feb. 11.

“It’s overwhelming, trying to focus on the movie and seeing the locations, and the people, and the art, and even my friend’s stickers made it into the movie,” Adams said. “It’s just overwhelming to see so much of Humboldt.”

Film Commissioner and HSU alum Cassandra Hesseltine teared up as I asked her about her experience helping create this production.

“I cried at the end of the movie yesterday when I watched it,” Hesseltine said. “Part of why I cried is because I love working in film. I wanted to work in film since I was five. Besides the content of the movie, and it is a beautiful movie, the reason why I cried was just to think about how all this happened in my community, that I helped it happen, and it was really, really special.”

“The Sky is Everywhere” is available for streaming at Apple TV+.

We would like to give thanks to the author of this write-up for this outstanding web content

New A24 film shows off the beauty of Humboldt County

";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1645296895;}i:1;a:11:{s:5:"title";s:58:"Vertical Entertainment Announces Release Of ‘SWITCHED’";s:4:"link";s:85:"https://firstmediamarketing.com/vertical-entertainment-announces-release-of-switched/";s:2:"dc";a:1:{s:7:"creator";s:12:"Sally Scully";}s:7:"pubdate";s:31:"Sat, 19 Feb 2022 12:53:48 +0000";s:8:"category";s:71:"Movie Production CompaniesannouncesentertainmentReleaseSWITCHEDVertical";s:4:"guid";s:40:"https://firstmediamarketing.com/?p=16627";s:11:"description";s:631:"Tired of being bullied, Cassandra Evans prays that her nemesis Katie Sharp, the queen bee of social media, would know what it’s like to walk a day in her shoes. Her prayer is answered in an unexpected way when they get “Switched.” When Cassandra Evans and Katie Sharp wake up to discover they’ve switched bodies, ... Read more";s:7:"content";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";s:9224:"

Tired of being bullied, Cassandra Evans prays that her nemesis Katie Sharp, the queen bee of social media, would know what it’s like to walk a day in her shoes. Her prayer is answered in an unexpected way when they get “Switched.”

When Cassandra Evans and Katie Sharp wake up to discover they’ve switched bodies, the two girls must learn to appreciate both the blessings and struggles the other faces on a daily basis, in school and at home. Packed with life lessons of forgiveness, perspective, encouragement and understanding, SWITCHED will help teenagers who are searching for their worth in looks and popularity to find their true identity in Christ.

“SWITCHED has the power to change people’s lives and give perspective to students who are struggling with bullying and comparison in school,” says Executive Producer and Founder of Project Inspired, Nicole Weider. “I am so excited to see the ways this film will positively impact the lives of young women.”

Project Inspired will release bullying resources for students, in addition to companion materials for youth groups, churches and high schools to use alongside the film to teach students about the importance of loving one another.

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram @SwitchedtheFilm and online at switchedmovie.com

About Vertical Entertainment
Vertical Entertainment is a global independent distributor that offers a unique combination of full-service marketing and sales services. Dedicated to providing highly-effective and collaborative solutions, Vertical leverages unparalleled relationships to maximize revenue across all streams. The marketing and sales expertise from Vertical’s seasoned team gives content partners a wealth of experience minus the studio costs.

Vertical won a Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress for Molly Shannon’s role in “Other People” and the film won a GLAAD Award for “Outstanding Film Limited Release” as well. Vertical also had four other Indie Spirit nominations – three more for “Other People” (Best Lead Actor for Jesse Plemons, and Best First Feature and Best First Screenplay for filmmaker Chris Kelly) and one for Best International Film for Babak Anvari’s “Under the Shadow,” which was also the official UK submission for the 2017 Oscars, in addition to winning one BAFTA Award and three British Independent Film Awards as well.

Upcoming Vertical releases include “Hard Kill” starring Bruce Willis and Jesse Metcalfe; “The Big Ugly” starring Ron Perlman, Vinnie Jones and Malcolm McDowell; and “Skylin3s”, the third installment of the Skyline franchise. Other notable recent releases include “Yes, God, Yes” starring Natalia Dyer, Timothy Simons, and Alisha Boe; “Archive” starring Theo James and Stacy Martin; “A Nice Girl Like You” starring Lucy Hale, Jackie Cruz and Mindy Cohn;  “Inheritance” starring Lily Collins, Simon Pegg, Chace Crawford and Connie Nielsen; “Human Capital” starring Liev Schreiber, Marisa Tomei, Peter Saarsgard and Maya Hawke, “Code 8” starring Stephen Amell, Robbie Amell, and Sung Kang, “Can You Keep A Secret?” starring Alexandra Daddario, Tyler Hoechlin and Laverne Cox, “American Woman” starring Sienna Miller, Aaron Paul and Christina Hendricks; “The Professor and the Madman” starring Mel Gibson, Sean Penn and Natalie Dormer “Drunk Parents” starring Alec Baldwin, Salma Hayek, Jim Gaffigan, Ben Platt and Joe Manganiello; “Lying and Stealing” starring Theo James and Emily Ratajkowski; Keith Behrman’s “Giant Little Ones” starring Josh Wiggins, Kyle Maclachlan, and Maria Bello; Rob Reiner’s “Shock and Awe” starring Woody Harrelson, James Marsden, Milla Jovovich, Jessica Biel, and Tommy Lee Jones; and Kevin Connolly’s “Gotti” starring John Travolta, Kelly Preston and Chris Mulkey.

About Mustard Seed Entertainment
Mustard Seed Entertainment was founded in 2014 by Alexandra Boylan, John K.D. Graham and Andrea Polnaszek with the mission to create visually stimulating films that honor Jesus and start conversations for their audiences. Mustard Seed’s films hold to Judeo-Christian values that can be enjoyed by the entire family. Past films include Catching Faith 1 & 2, and Wish For Christmas, which have been released globally. In 2018, Mustard Seed’s founders won the Kairos Pro Prize at the Movieguide Awards for the screenplay of “Switched.” Mustard Seed is currently in production of their latest film “The Inheritance.”

About Weider Entertainment:
Founded by Nicole Weider, Weider Entertainment collaborates with other successful directors, producers and screenwriters to produce films offering a message of family, faith and purpose. Through each project, the ultimate mission is to glorify God. Nicole previously worked as a teen model and established the popular brand Project Inspired, encompassing the largest online community of young, female Christians. Nicole is passionate about inspiring others and is a devoted wife and mother.

About Project Inspired:
Project Inspired is a vibrant community of girls, young ladies and successful women. Founded and launched by producer, actress, model and author Nicole Weider, Project Inspired is a safe place to find clear, inspiring and positive messages of hope, victory and promise in a culture where it can sometimes be tough to navigate relationships, Christian-living and social media. Drawing from her own experience and Project Inspired’s community of contributors, we want you to know that no one journeys alone. Get all the latest inspiring Christian content from Project Inspired at projectinspired.com

SOURCE Vertical Entertainment

We would love to say thanks to the writer of this article for this incredible content

Vertical Entertainment Announces Release Of ‘SWITCHED’

";}s:7:"summary";s:631:"Tired of being bullied, Cassandra Evans prays that her nemesis Katie Sharp, the queen bee of social media, would know what it’s like to walk a day in her shoes. Her prayer is answered in an unexpected way when they get “Switched.” When Cassandra Evans and Katie Sharp wake up to discover they’ve switched bodies, ... Read more";s:12:"atom_content";s:9224:"

Tired of being bullied, Cassandra Evans prays that her nemesis Katie Sharp, the queen bee of social media, would know what it’s like to walk a day in her shoes. Her prayer is answered in an unexpected way when they get “Switched.”

When Cassandra Evans and Katie Sharp wake up to discover they’ve switched bodies, the two girls must learn to appreciate both the blessings and struggles the other faces on a daily basis, in school and at home. Packed with life lessons of forgiveness, perspective, encouragement and understanding, SWITCHED will help teenagers who are searching for their worth in looks and popularity to find their true identity in Christ.

“SWITCHED has the power to change people’s lives and give perspective to students who are struggling with bullying and comparison in school,” says Executive Producer and Founder of Project Inspired, Nicole Weider. “I am so excited to see the ways this film will positively impact the lives of young women.”

Project Inspired will release bullying resources for students, in addition to companion materials for youth groups, churches and high schools to use alongside the film to teach students about the importance of loving one another.

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram @SwitchedtheFilm and online at switchedmovie.com

About Vertical Entertainment
Vertical Entertainment is a global independent distributor that offers a unique combination of full-service marketing and sales services. Dedicated to providing highly-effective and collaborative solutions, Vertical leverages unparalleled relationships to maximize revenue across all streams. The marketing and sales expertise from Vertical’s seasoned team gives content partners a wealth of experience minus the studio costs.

Vertical won a Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress for Molly Shannon’s role in “Other People” and the film won a GLAAD Award for “Outstanding Film Limited Release” as well. Vertical also had four other Indie Spirit nominations – three more for “Other People” (Best Lead Actor for Jesse Plemons, and Best First Feature and Best First Screenplay for filmmaker Chris Kelly) and one for Best International Film for Babak Anvari’s “Under the Shadow,” which was also the official UK submission for the 2017 Oscars, in addition to winning one BAFTA Award and three British Independent Film Awards as well.

Upcoming Vertical releases include “Hard Kill” starring Bruce Willis and Jesse Metcalfe; “The Big Ugly” starring Ron Perlman, Vinnie Jones and Malcolm McDowell; and “Skylin3s”, the third installment of the Skyline franchise. Other notable recent releases include “Yes, God, Yes” starring Natalia Dyer, Timothy Simons, and Alisha Boe; “Archive” starring Theo James and Stacy Martin; “A Nice Girl Like You” starring Lucy Hale, Jackie Cruz and Mindy Cohn;  “Inheritance” starring Lily Collins, Simon Pegg, Chace Crawford and Connie Nielsen; “Human Capital” starring Liev Schreiber, Marisa Tomei, Peter Saarsgard and Maya Hawke, “Code 8” starring Stephen Amell, Robbie Amell, and Sung Kang, “Can You Keep A Secret?” starring Alexandra Daddario, Tyler Hoechlin and Laverne Cox, “American Woman” starring Sienna Miller, Aaron Paul and Christina Hendricks; “The Professor and the Madman” starring Mel Gibson, Sean Penn and Natalie Dormer “Drunk Parents” starring Alec Baldwin, Salma Hayek, Jim Gaffigan, Ben Platt and Joe Manganiello; “Lying and Stealing” starring Theo James and Emily Ratajkowski; Keith Behrman’s “Giant Little Ones” starring Josh Wiggins, Kyle Maclachlan, and Maria Bello; Rob Reiner’s “Shock and Awe” starring Woody Harrelson, James Marsden, Milla Jovovich, Jessica Biel, and Tommy Lee Jones; and Kevin Connolly’s “Gotti” starring John Travolta, Kelly Preston and Chris Mulkey.

About Mustard Seed Entertainment
Mustard Seed Entertainment was founded in 2014 by Alexandra Boylan, John K.D. Graham and Andrea Polnaszek with the mission to create visually stimulating films that honor Jesus and start conversations for their audiences. Mustard Seed’s films hold to Judeo-Christian values that can be enjoyed by the entire family. Past films include Catching Faith 1 & 2, and Wish For Christmas, which have been released globally. In 2018, Mustard Seed’s founders won the Kairos Pro Prize at the Movieguide Awards for the screenplay of “Switched.” Mustard Seed is currently in production of their latest film “The Inheritance.”

About Weider Entertainment:
Founded by Nicole Weider, Weider Entertainment collaborates with other successful directors, producers and screenwriters to produce films offering a message of family, faith and purpose. Through each project, the ultimate mission is to glorify God. Nicole previously worked as a teen model and established the popular brand Project Inspired, encompassing the largest online community of young, female Christians. Nicole is passionate about inspiring others and is a devoted wife and mother.

About Project Inspired:
Project Inspired is a vibrant community of girls, young ladies and successful women. Founded and launched by producer, actress, model and author Nicole Weider, Project Inspired is a safe place to find clear, inspiring and positive messages of hope, victory and promise in a culture where it can sometimes be tough to navigate relationships, Christian-living and social media. Drawing from her own experience and Project Inspired’s community of contributors, we want you to know that no one journeys alone. Get all the latest inspiring Christian content from Project Inspired at projectinspired.com

SOURCE Vertical Entertainment

We would love to say thanks to the writer of this article for this incredible content

Vertical Entertainment Announces Release Of ‘SWITCHED’

";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1645275228;}i:2;a:11:{s:5:"title";s:64:"MGM Relaunching Orion Pictures as Distributor, Taps John Hegeman";s:4:"link";s:96:"https://firstmediamarketing.com/mgm-relaunching-orion-pictures-as-distributor-taps-john-hegeman/";s:2:"dc";a:1:{s:7:"creator";s:12:"Sally Scully";}s:7:"pubdate";s:31:"Sat, 19 Feb 2022 06:53:35 +0000";s:8:"category";s:79:"Movie Production CompaniesDistributorHegemanJohnMGMOrionPicturesRelaunchingTaps";s:4:"guid";s:40:"https://firstmediamarketing.com/?p=16571";s:11:"description";s:672:"MGM is relaunching Orion Pictures as a new, standalone U.S. theatrical marketing and distribution company to distribute Orion’s productions and acquisitions. MGM chairman and CEO Gary Barber made the announcement on Wednesday on the eve of the Toronto International Film Festival. Veteran executive John Hegeman has been hired in the newly-created role of president of ... Read more";s:7:"content";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";s:4692:"

MGM is relaunching Orion Pictures as a new, standalone U.S. theatrical marketing and distribution company to distribute Orion’s productions and acquisitions.

MGM chairman and CEO Gary Barber made the announcement on Wednesday on the eve of the Toronto International Film Festival. Veteran executive John Hegeman has been hired in the newly-created role of president of Orion Pictures and will reported to Jonathan Glickman, president of MGM’s Motion Picture Group.

Orion was created in 1978 and had a mixed record for the next two decades. Its releases included “Hoosiers” and “The Terminator,” and it won four Academy Awards for best picture with “Amadeus” in 1984, “Platoon” in 1986, “Dances With Wolves” in 1990, and “The Silence of the Lambs” in 1991. It also declared bankruptcy that year and was bought by MGM in 1997, then brought back as a distributor in 2013. Orion has teamed with Samuel Goldwyn Films as a co-distributor on several films recently.

The first movie released under the new label will be Michael Sucsy’s romantic drama “Every Day,” starring Angourie Rice, Maria Bello and Debby Ryan. Based on David Levithan’s novel of the same name, the film follows a 16-year-old girl who falls in love with a spirit that awakens each morning in a different body. “Every Day,” an MGM Pictures production from Likely Story and FilmWave, will open on Feb. 2.

“Orion is one of MGM’s legacy brands that has released crowd-pleasing hits like ‘The Terminator,’ ‘Robocop,’ ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels’ and ‘Hoosiers,’ and such critically acclaimed films as ‘Silence of the Lambs’ and ‘Dances With Wolves,’” Barber said. “We couldn’t think of a better time to revitalize this nostalgic brand and return to U.S. theatrical distribution utilizing this label, with John leading the marketing and distribution efforts.”

Hegeman has been heading Blumhouse Productions’ Blumhouse Tilt as president. He oversaw the wide release of the Orion Pictures’ production of James Gunn’s horror thriller “The Belko Experiment,” which grossed $10 million domestically following its March release. Hegeman has also overseen marketing for BH Tilt releases including Eli Roth’s “The Green Inferno,” “The Darkness,” and “Lowriders” in conjunction with Telemundo.

Prior to working at BH Tilt, Hegeman served as chief marketing officer for New Regency Productions; chief operating officer for Fox Atomic; and president of worldwide marketing for both Lionsgate and Artisan Entertainment. He’s worked on campaigns for “Fury,” “28 Weeks Later,” “Crash,” “Birdcage,” “Diary of a Mad Black Woman,” and “The Blair Witch Project.”

“After working together, we saw first-hand John’s ingenuity in creating disruptive marketing campaigns with limited budgets,” Glickman said. “He is the ideal executive to lead Orion as he has proven that he can deftly craft strategies for releases, spanning all genres, to reach targeted audiences without the burden of high-cost traditional advertising.

MGM plans for Hegeman to assemble and build out a theatrical distribution, marketing and digital team, and be responsible for the marketing and distribution of four to six modestly-budgeted films a year, across genres and platforms, both wide and limited releases for targeted audiences.

optional screen reader

We would like to say thanks to the author of this short article for this outstanding material

MGM Relaunching Orion Pictures as Distributor, Taps John Hegeman

";}s:7:"summary";s:672:"MGM is relaunching Orion Pictures as a new, standalone U.S. theatrical marketing and distribution company to distribute Orion’s productions and acquisitions. MGM chairman and CEO Gary Barber made the announcement on Wednesday on the eve of the Toronto International Film Festival. Veteran executive John Hegeman has been hired in the newly-created role of president of ... Read more";s:12:"atom_content";s:4692:"

MGM is relaunching Orion Pictures as a new, standalone U.S. theatrical marketing and distribution company to distribute Orion’s productions and acquisitions.

MGM chairman and CEO Gary Barber made the announcement on Wednesday on the eve of the Toronto International Film Festival. Veteran executive John Hegeman has been hired in the newly-created role of president of Orion Pictures and will reported to Jonathan Glickman, president of MGM’s Motion Picture Group.

Orion was created in 1978 and had a mixed record for the next two decades. Its releases included “Hoosiers” and “The Terminator,” and it won four Academy Awards for best picture with “Amadeus” in 1984, “Platoon” in 1986, “Dances With Wolves” in 1990, and “The Silence of the Lambs” in 1991. It also declared bankruptcy that year and was bought by MGM in 1997, then brought back as a distributor in 2013. Orion has teamed with Samuel Goldwyn Films as a co-distributor on several films recently.

The first movie released under the new label will be Michael Sucsy’s romantic drama “Every Day,” starring Angourie Rice, Maria Bello and Debby Ryan. Based on David Levithan’s novel of the same name, the film follows a 16-year-old girl who falls in love with a spirit that awakens each morning in a different body. “Every Day,” an MGM Pictures production from Likely Story and FilmWave, will open on Feb. 2.

“Orion is one of MGM’s legacy brands that has released crowd-pleasing hits like ‘The Terminator,’ ‘Robocop,’ ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels’ and ‘Hoosiers,’ and such critically acclaimed films as ‘Silence of the Lambs’ and ‘Dances With Wolves,’” Barber said. “We couldn’t think of a better time to revitalize this nostalgic brand and return to U.S. theatrical distribution utilizing this label, with John leading the marketing and distribution efforts.”

Hegeman has been heading Blumhouse Productions’ Blumhouse Tilt as president. He oversaw the wide release of the Orion Pictures’ production of James Gunn’s horror thriller “The Belko Experiment,” which grossed $10 million domestically following its March release. Hegeman has also overseen marketing for BH Tilt releases including Eli Roth’s “The Green Inferno,” “The Darkness,” and “Lowriders” in conjunction with Telemundo.

Prior to working at BH Tilt, Hegeman served as chief marketing officer for New Regency Productions; chief operating officer for Fox Atomic; and president of worldwide marketing for both Lionsgate and Artisan Entertainment. He’s worked on campaigns for “Fury,” “28 Weeks Later,” “Crash,” “Birdcage,” “Diary of a Mad Black Woman,” and “The Blair Witch Project.”

“After working together, we saw first-hand John’s ingenuity in creating disruptive marketing campaigns with limited budgets,” Glickman said. “He is the ideal executive to lead Orion as he has proven that he can deftly craft strategies for releases, spanning all genres, to reach targeted audiences without the burden of high-cost traditional advertising.

MGM plans for Hegeman to assemble and build out a theatrical distribution, marketing and digital team, and be responsible for the marketing and distribution of four to six modestly-budgeted films a year, across genres and platforms, both wide and limited releases for targeted audiences.

optional screen reader

We would like to say thanks to the author of this short article for this outstanding material

MGM Relaunching Orion Pictures as Distributor, Taps John Hegeman

";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1645253615;}i:3;a:11:{s:5:"title";s:78:"Megan Thee Stallion, Nathan Lane, And Bowen Yang Cast In New A24 Movie Musical";s:4:"link";s:109:"https://firstmediamarketing.com/megan-thee-stallion-nathan-lane-and-bowen-yang-cast-in-new-a24-movie-musical/";s:2:"dc";a:1:{s:7:"creator";s:12:"Sally Scully";}s:7:"pubdate";s:31:"Sat, 19 Feb 2022 00:51:53 +0000";s:8:"category";s:81:"Movie Production CompaniesA24BowenCastLaneMeganmoviemusicalNathanStallionTheeyang";s:4:"guid";s:40:"https://firstmediamarketing.com/?p=16471";s:11:"description";s:698:"Megan Thee Stallion, Nathan Lane, and Bowen Yang are officially teaming up as part of the cast of A24’s first-ever musical-comedy flick. Hip-hop sensation Megan Thee Stallion and long-seasoned Thespian Nathan Lane (Guys and Dolls, The Lion King, Angels In America) will be taking the screen by storm together in A24‘s first ever movie musical, ... Read more";s:7:"content";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";s:10692:"

Megan Thee Stallion, Nathan Lane, and Bowen Yang are officially teaming up as part of the cast of A24’s first-ever musical-comedy flick.


Megan Thee Stallion Nathan Lane Bowen Yang A24 Musical Film

Hip-hop sensation Megan Thee Stallion and long-seasoned Thespian Nathan Lane (Guys and Dolls, The Lion King, Angels In America) will be taking the screen by storm together in A24‘s first ever movie musical, which also is set to star Bowen Yang and Megan Mullally.

Chernin Entertainment (The Greatest Showman) is attached as producer and co-financier. A24 is about to produce a project that has simply never been done before, combining both comedy and musical influences to create the ultimate adaptation of everyone’s childhood favorite story, The Parent Trap.

GAMERANT VIDEO OF THE DAY

RELATED: 5 Underappreciated A24 Sci-Fi Movies

Megan Thee Stallion took to Instagram to announce the news of her acting debut to her fans. She wrote, “hotties, this is our first movie/musical – with some movie legends! I’m so excited. I feel so blessed, I feel so anxious, lol I feel a bunch of shit. I really have been quietly putting in this work and I just can’t wait for the hotties to see everything.” The comedy musical titled, F*cking Identical Twins, has been described as a “subversive spin” with much more adult content and humor. The R-rated flick is currently in production with Seinfeld icon Larry Charles in the captain’s seat. When people hear of The Parent Trap, many think of the numerous films that have come out under that name throughout the years. However, F*cking Identical Twins is actually based on the 2014 two-man stage show that premiered at the Upright Citizens Brigade, and that performance served as the main source of inspiration for the film.



Megan Thee Stallion A24 Musical

Former cast members on The Opposition With Jordan Klepper, Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp, both star and serve as co-writers for the upcoming movie. F*cking Identical Twins will also feature original songs by Jackson, Sharp, and Karl Saint Lucy. Per The Hollywood Reporter, the film’s synopsis reads, “F*cking Identical Twins follows two business adversaries who realize they’re identical twin brothers and decide to switch places in order to reunite their divorced parents and become a family again.” It’s hard to imagine exactly how Megan Thee Stallion or even Bowen Yang will fit into this narrative, and what role they will be cast as.


The film is obviously geared to a more mature, adult audience with even stronger emphasis on utilizing darker humor. Marius de Vries, whose references include La La Land, CODA, and Moulin Rouge, has signed on as executive music producer for the film. Fiora Cutler will be assisting and collaborating with de Vries on musical casting and direction. With this hilariously talented yet incredibly random cast, F*cking Identical Twins will most certainly be bringing a new-type of film to the screen – showcasing a new creative license when it comes to what’s previously been done before with adaptations.


A24‘s F*cking Identical Twins is now in production.

MORE: The Best A24 Films That Are Not Horror Movies

Source: The Hollywood Reporter


west side story in the heights
2021 Was The Year of The Movie Musical

After years of mediocre attempts, it seems like Hollywood finally figured out how to properly adapt stage musicals to the big screen.

Read Next


About The Author

Madeleine Ipema
(128 Articles Published)

My name is Maddy Ipema. I am a poet, non-fiction and freelance writer. I’m excited to dive into the world of MCU and superheroes everyday through these articles. Bringing fantasy to the forefront of our harsh reality right now is very much so needed. I’m excited to be apart of a site that creates that space for readers.

More
From Madeleine Ipema

We want to give thanks to the writer of this post for this awesome web content

Megan Thee Stallion, Nathan Lane, And Bowen Yang Cast In New A24 Movie Musical

";}s:7:"summary";s:698:"Megan Thee Stallion, Nathan Lane, and Bowen Yang are officially teaming up as part of the cast of A24’s first-ever musical-comedy flick. Hip-hop sensation Megan Thee Stallion and long-seasoned Thespian Nathan Lane (Guys and Dolls, The Lion King, Angels In America) will be taking the screen by storm together in A24‘s first ever movie musical, ... Read more";s:12:"atom_content";s:10692:"

Megan Thee Stallion, Nathan Lane, and Bowen Yang are officially teaming up as part of the cast of A24’s first-ever musical-comedy flick.


Megan Thee Stallion Nathan Lane Bowen Yang A24 Musical Film

Hip-hop sensation Megan Thee Stallion and long-seasoned Thespian Nathan Lane (Guys and Dolls, The Lion King, Angels In America) will be taking the screen by storm together in A24‘s first ever movie musical, which also is set to star Bowen Yang and Megan Mullally.

Chernin Entertainment (The Greatest Showman) is attached as producer and co-financier. A24 is about to produce a project that has simply never been done before, combining both comedy and musical influences to create the ultimate adaptation of everyone’s childhood favorite story, The Parent Trap.

GAMERANT VIDEO OF THE DAY

RELATED: 5 Underappreciated A24 Sci-Fi Movies

Megan Thee Stallion took to Instagram to announce the news of her acting debut to her fans. She wrote, “hotties, this is our first movie/musical – with some movie legends! I’m so excited. I feel so blessed, I feel so anxious, lol I feel a bunch of shit. I really have been quietly putting in this work and I just can’t wait for the hotties to see everything.” The comedy musical titled, F*cking Identical Twins, has been described as a “subversive spin” with much more adult content and humor. The R-rated flick is currently in production with Seinfeld icon Larry Charles in the captain’s seat. When people hear of The Parent Trap, many think of the numerous films that have come out under that name throughout the years. However, F*cking Identical Twins is actually based on the 2014 two-man stage show that premiered at the Upright Citizens Brigade, and that performance served as the main source of inspiration for the film.



Megan Thee Stallion A24 Musical

Former cast members on The Opposition With Jordan Klepper, Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp, both star and serve as co-writers for the upcoming movie. F*cking Identical Twins will also feature original songs by Jackson, Sharp, and Karl Saint Lucy. Per The Hollywood Reporter, the film’s synopsis reads, “F*cking Identical Twins follows two business adversaries who realize they’re identical twin brothers and decide to switch places in order to reunite their divorced parents and become a family again.” It’s hard to imagine exactly how Megan Thee Stallion or even Bowen Yang will fit into this narrative, and what role they will be cast as.


The film is obviously geared to a more mature, adult audience with even stronger emphasis on utilizing darker humor. Marius de Vries, whose references include La La Land, CODA, and Moulin Rouge, has signed on as executive music producer for the film. Fiora Cutler will be assisting and collaborating with de Vries on musical casting and direction. With this hilariously talented yet incredibly random cast, F*cking Identical Twins will most certainly be bringing a new-type of film to the screen – showcasing a new creative license when it comes to what’s previously been done before with adaptations.


A24‘s F*cking Identical Twins is now in production.

MORE: The Best A24 Films That Are Not Horror Movies

Source: The Hollywood Reporter


west side story in the heights
2021 Was The Year of The Movie Musical

After years of mediocre attempts, it seems like Hollywood finally figured out how to properly adapt stage musicals to the big screen.

Read Next


About The Author

Madeleine Ipema
(128 Articles Published)

My name is Maddy Ipema. I am a poet, non-fiction and freelance writer. I’m excited to dive into the world of MCU and superheroes everyday through these articles. Bringing fantasy to the forefront of our harsh reality right now is very much so needed. I’m excited to be apart of a site that creates that space for readers.

More
From Madeleine Ipema

We want to give thanks to the writer of this post for this awesome web content

Megan Thee Stallion, Nathan Lane, And Bowen Yang Cast In New A24 Movie Musical

";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1645231913;}i:4;a:11:{s:5:"title";s:135:"Vertical Entertainment Acquires Joey Ally’s Political Comedy ‘The Hater’; Ally Stars Alongside Bruce Dern, Meredith Hagner & More";s:4:"link";s:155:"https://firstmediamarketing.com/vertical-entertainment-acquires-joey-allys-political-comedy-the-hater-ally-stars-alongside-bruce-dern-meredith-hagner-more/";s:2:"dc";a:1:{s:7:"creator";s:12:"Sally Scully";}s:7:"pubdate";s:31:"Fri, 18 Feb 2022 18:50:53 +0000";s:8:"category";s:116:"Movie Production CompaniesAcquiresAllyAllysBruceComedyDernentertainmentHagnerHaterJoeyMeredithpoliticalStarsVertical";s:4:"guid";s:40:"https://firstmediamarketing.com/?p=16405";s:11:"description";s:898:"EXCLUSIVE: Vertical Entertainment has acquired North American and UK/IRE rights to the political comedy The Hater, from writer-director Joey Ally (Uproot, Are You Still Singing), in which she stars alongside Bruce Dern (Nebraska, The Hateful Eight), Meredith Hagner (Search Party, Palm Springs), D’Angelo Lacy (aka musical artist Black Gatsby), Ian Harding (Pretty Little Liars, Ford ... Read more";s:7:"content";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";s:4041:"

EXCLUSIVE: Vertical Entertainment has acquired North American and UK/IRE rights to the political comedy The Hater, from writer-director Joey Ally (Uproot, Are You Still Singing), in which she stars alongside Bruce Dern (Nebraska, The Hateful Eight), Meredith Hagner (Search Party, Palm Springs), D’Angelo Lacy (aka musical artist Black Gatsby), Ian Harding (Pretty Little Liars, Ford v Ferrari), Ali Larter (The Last Victim, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter), and Nora Dunn (Together Together, The Lost Husband). The independent distributor has slated it for a day-and-date release on March 18.

In the film, Ally plays Dorothy, a liberal speechwriter on a U.S. Senate campaign, who finds herself unemployed and living back in her conservative Texas hometown with her estranged grandfather (Dern), after a political protest goes wrong. Dorothy soon learns that her childhood nemesis, Brent (Harding), is running for office as the sole Republican candidate. Determined to thwart him at any cost, she creates an elaborate payback scheme with the help of an old frenemy turned campaign manager, Greta (Hagner): she’ll go undercover to run as his conservative opponent, win the nomination, and then employ a Texas loophole that would force a win for the Democratic candidate. Immersed in the campaign, Dorothy gets closer to victory, only to discover that good vs. evil isn’t necessarily as simple as left vs. right.

Tory Lenosky, Adrienne Childress, Daniel Crown and Angeline J Sanfilippo produced, with Ally exec producing alongside John Boccardo, Derek Esplin, Yoni Liebling, Angeline J Sanfilippo, Anthony M Sanfilippo, Tim O’Shea, Davud Karbassioun, TJ Williams, Jr. and Thomas Benski.

“Joey is a multi-hyphenate bringing her original story to life with the precise blend of comedy and political ethicality showcasing her talent on screen and behind the camera,” said Vertical Entertainment Partner, Peter Jarowey. “We look forward to bringing her film, which so clearly embodies her passion for this project, to audiences this spring.”

“I’m forever indebted to my cast and the whole HATER family for bringing their tremendous talent, humor, and humanity to this story about a girl who just wants to stop the bullies and save the rainforest,” added Ally. “We are thrilled to launch Dorothy’s campaign with Vertical Entertainment, whose endorsement we are honored to receive.”

Vertical Entertainment is a global independent distributor, which was founded in 2012. Other upcoming releases from the company include the SXSW & Venice prize winner Topside; the Sundance thriller Emily the Criminal, starring Aubrey Plaza, which it co-acquired with Roadside Attractions; Lyle Mitchell Corbine, Jr.’s Independent Spirit Award-nominated Wild Indian, starring Michael Greyeyes and Chaske Spencer; Krystin Ver Linden’s Alice, starring Keke Palmer, Common, Gaius Charles and Jonny Lee Miller, which premiered at Sundance 2022; and romantic comedy The Hating Game, starring Lucy Hale and Austin Stowell.

Jarowey and Tony Piantedosi negotiated the deal for The Hater on behalf of Vertical Entertainment, with WME on behalf of the filmmakers.

We wish to say thanks to the author of this article for this awesome web content

Vertical Entertainment Acquires Joey Ally’s Political Comedy ‘The Hater’; Ally Stars Alongside Bruce Dern, Meredith Hagner & More

";}s:7:"summary";s:898:"EXCLUSIVE: Vertical Entertainment has acquired North American and UK/IRE rights to the political comedy The Hater, from writer-director Joey Ally (Uproot, Are You Still Singing), in which she stars alongside Bruce Dern (Nebraska, The Hateful Eight), Meredith Hagner (Search Party, Palm Springs), D’Angelo Lacy (aka musical artist Black Gatsby), Ian Harding (Pretty Little Liars, Ford ... Read more";s:12:"atom_content";s:4041:"

EXCLUSIVE: Vertical Entertainment has acquired North American and UK/IRE rights to the political comedy The Hater, from writer-director Joey Ally (Uproot, Are You Still Singing), in which she stars alongside Bruce Dern (Nebraska, The Hateful Eight), Meredith Hagner (Search Party, Palm Springs), D’Angelo Lacy (aka musical artist Black Gatsby), Ian Harding (Pretty Little Liars, Ford v Ferrari), Ali Larter (The Last Victim, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter), and Nora Dunn (Together Together, The Lost Husband). The independent distributor has slated it for a day-and-date release on March 18.

In the film, Ally plays Dorothy, a liberal speechwriter on a U.S. Senate campaign, who finds herself unemployed and living back in her conservative Texas hometown with her estranged grandfather (Dern), after a political protest goes wrong. Dorothy soon learns that her childhood nemesis, Brent (Harding), is running for office as the sole Republican candidate. Determined to thwart him at any cost, she creates an elaborate payback scheme with the help of an old frenemy turned campaign manager, Greta (Hagner): she’ll go undercover to run as his conservative opponent, win the nomination, and then employ a Texas loophole that would force a win for the Democratic candidate. Immersed in the campaign, Dorothy gets closer to victory, only to discover that good vs. evil isn’t necessarily as simple as left vs. right.

Tory Lenosky, Adrienne Childress, Daniel Crown and Angeline J Sanfilippo produced, with Ally exec producing alongside John Boccardo, Derek Esplin, Yoni Liebling, Angeline J Sanfilippo, Anthony M Sanfilippo, Tim O’Shea, Davud Karbassioun, TJ Williams, Jr. and Thomas Benski.

“Joey is a multi-hyphenate bringing her original story to life with the precise blend of comedy and political ethicality showcasing her talent on screen and behind the camera,” said Vertical Entertainment Partner, Peter Jarowey. “We look forward to bringing her film, which so clearly embodies her passion for this project, to audiences this spring.”

“I’m forever indebted to my cast and the whole HATER family for bringing their tremendous talent, humor, and humanity to this story about a girl who just wants to stop the bullies and save the rainforest,” added Ally. “We are thrilled to launch Dorothy’s campaign with Vertical Entertainment, whose endorsement we are honored to receive.”

Vertical Entertainment is a global independent distributor, which was founded in 2012. Other upcoming releases from the company include the SXSW & Venice prize winner Topside; the Sundance thriller Emily the Criminal, starring Aubrey Plaza, which it co-acquired with Roadside Attractions; Lyle Mitchell Corbine, Jr.’s Independent Spirit Award-nominated Wild Indian, starring Michael Greyeyes and Chaske Spencer; Krystin Ver Linden’s Alice, starring Keke Palmer, Common, Gaius Charles and Jonny Lee Miller, which premiered at Sundance 2022; and romantic comedy The Hating Game, starring Lucy Hale and Austin Stowell.

Jarowey and Tony Piantedosi negotiated the deal for The Hater on behalf of Vertical Entertainment, with WME on behalf of the filmmakers.

We wish to say thanks to the author of this article for this awesome web content

Vertical Entertainment Acquires Joey Ally’s Political Comedy ‘The Hater’; Ally Stars Alongside Bruce Dern, Meredith Hagner & More

";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1645210253;}i:5;a:11:{s:5:"title";s:89:"Orion Pictures Hosted a Pregnant Moms Screening of ‘The Prodigy’…and We Were There!";s:4:"link";s:112:"https://firstmediamarketing.com/orion-pictures-hosted-a-pregnant-moms-screening-of-the-prodigyand-we-were-there/";s:2:"dc";a:1:{s:7:"creator";s:12:"Sally Scully";}s:7:"pubdate";s:31:"Fri, 18 Feb 2022 12:50:36 +0000";s:8:"category";s:76:"Movie Production CompaniesHostedMomsOrionPicturespregnantProdigyandScreening";s:4:"guid";s:40:"https://firstmediamarketing.com/?p=16331";s:11:"description";s:716:"With this installment of Larval Ink, we’ll be hacking into 2013’s much maligned horror requel pioneer Texas Chainsaw 3D, peeling back its skin and rummaging around its viscera to reveal the film’s bloody beginnings as a much different script from husband and wife screenwriting team Adam Marcus and Debra Sullivan. Ms. Sullivan and Mr. Marcus ... Read more";s:7:"content";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";s:52166:"

With this installment of Larval Ink, we’ll be hacking into 2013’s much maligned horror requel pioneer Texas Chainsaw 3D, peeling back its skin and rummaging around its viscera to reveal the film’s bloody beginnings as a much different script from husband and wife screenwriting team Adam Marcus and Debra Sullivan.

Ms. Sullivan and Mr. Marcus join Bloody Disgusting here to detail their original screenplay and its development, the most egregious changes to their story which still rankle with fans to this day, and their ultimate thoughts on the finished film.


“So Stephen Susco was the first writer on Texas Chainsaw,” Marcus begins. “He was hot off The Grudge, and [Lionsgate] wanted him to do a movie where there was no cannibalism. And we were told by the producer that was the thing that they were really not interested in … because of the massive disaster that was [the underperforming Clive Barker cannibal film] Midnight Meat Train. So they did not want any movies with flesh-eating in it. Well Stephen Susco, being a true fan of the genre, went ‘How the hell do you make a Texas Chainsaw movie that’s not about cannibals? Because that’s what they are! They eat their kills!’ That’s the whole point of the story, the barbecue.

“So we were told they said, ‘Yeah, but we don’t want that in this movie.’ So Stephen wrote a couple drafts that had cannibalism, because Stephen is a badass. So Lionsgate parted ways with him.”

Following Susco’s departure from the project, the film’s Producer (who shall remain nameless for the purposes of this article) was tasked with seeking out a replacement for the writer. “He was a producer who at this point had scored the rights to produce six new films in the Texas Chainsaw franchise,” Marcus reveals. “He loved our writing, we were geniuses, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. He comes to us and says, ‘Look, Stephen Susco is out of the project, and I want you guys to come in. Here’s the thing – Lionsgate does not want to use Stephen’s words at all. They don’t even want you to look at the script. Come up with your own version of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, come up with what you would do.’ We were like, ‘Great!’

“We thought that it should start where the first movie ended,” Sullivan notes.

“So they loved that,” Marcus says. “I said, ‘How cool would it be if you can actually take the footage from the end of the first movie, separate the layers, and create a 3D effect out of that first movie?’ They loved that.

“And Deb and I were like, ‘Well look, it only makes sense logically that Sally, when she escapes, the first place she would go is to the police. Then the police would go to the Sawyer house, and we need to see that scene and what would happen. That’s where the whole opening of the movie happened.

Leatherface (Dan Yeager) in Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013)

“Once we went past that, we created kind of the concept around Texas Chainsaw. Part of that was that we showed why the Sawyers became diseased and became crazy, that it wasn’t just that they were born in the Deliverance mold. We also gave a reason why the Hartmans and the Sawyers were sort of the Hatfields and McCoys, and also why the Sawyers had all of this land. That they had a ton of money, but because they were so insane, the money didn’t mean anything to them. That’s not what their purpose was. So we created a backstory. We also had flashbacks to Leatherface as a child. We wanted to show the whole history of the Sawyers in the movie.

“We were really thrilled with it. So we wrote all of that.”

So far, so good with this project. Unfortunately, trouble reared its head early on for the writers. “Here’s the thing, we’d written a two page outline of what we wanted to do. Lionsgate, unbeknownst to them, got our two pages that we had written for the Producer, [who had] delivered them as though he had written these two pages, which he had not. Debra and I wrote them. Then Lionsgate sent that out to seventeen other writers, and asked for pitches. Now, Lionsgate had no idea, they thought the Producer had written this outline.

“So suddenly, Debra and I are told we have to pitch Lionsgate to get the job. We’re like, ‘Wait a minute, what now?!”

“’But this is our idea!’,” Sullivan recalls thinking.

Marcus laughs. “We have to pitch our story, and they don’t know that it’s our story. Nobody knows it’s our story, but it’s our story. So, we go in … the Producer was in the room with all the executives from Lionsgate. We had written a fifteen page treatment of this, because we’re like, ‘This is our story!’ But we never said that in the room, we just gave them the fifteen pages. We were good soldiers. Then we said, ‘Um, hey, we got a full pitch, but also we’ve written the first eleven pages of the script.’

“And they were like, ‘What?!’ ‘Well, we heard you guys need this immediately, so we wanted to show you we’re motivated, and we’re really excited about this movie. So we wrote that whole opening sequence where they lay siege to the Sawyers’ ranch.’ Well, Lionsgate is like, ‘Wow, this is awesome. Well done! Cool!’”

“’So much easier for us,’” Sullivan laughs.

So, wait. Was Lionsgate ever made aware that the two pages they were working from actually came from these two writers, and not their producer?! “Lionsgate was alerted to it when the Producer tried to get them to change the paperwork out so the document would have his name on it to make it appear as if it was his idea and writing,” Marcus reveals. “They suddenly realized, ‘Wait a minute, Deb and Adam wrote this.’ We weren’t going to say anything. Again, part of being a screenwriter in the studio system is, you work within the politics of what’s going on. And Deb and I are very political animals. We’re not gonna screw with anybody.”

A week after this meeting, Lionsgate hired the pair to write a film based upon their own treatment. “Lionsgate was an incredible partner for us,” Marcus notes. “The problems arose with the Producer.”

Sullivan agrees, pointing out the original budget they were given for the project. “It was supposed to be a $20 million film.”

So we wrote a $20 million movie,” Marcus says. “By the way, when Leatherface is fighting for his life against two people at the end of the movie … we didn’t write that. We wrote a dozen people, the twelve remaining people who had burned the Sawyers alive, that had destroyed the Sawyers at the beginning of the movie. Twelve of those people remained. The rest of the forty people that were at that siege have all been murdered over the years by Leatherface, who’s been in hiding in this basement.

The end of the movie was this amazing bloodbath between Leatherface and a dozen people who were ready to kill him. It was like this incredible battle royale. By the way, we never wrote the line, ‘Do your thing, cuz!’ And we never had a scene in the movie with a smartphone, because the movie takes place in 1993!!!

“Our script did not resemble a lot of what showed up,” Sullivan adds. “We had characters that you loved and cared about, so that you were sad when they died. They weren’t cheating on their girlfriends, or fucking over their best friend, and they didn’t pick up a hitchhiker and then leave.”

Tania Raymonde and Trey Songz as Nikki and Ryan in Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013)

“Oh, yeah,” Marcus laughs. “I mean, I’m sorry, what kind of brainiacs are these kids that bring a hitchhiker they’ve literally just picked up and leave him alone in this multimillion dollar mansion while they go into town to get barbecue supplies. That’s not in our script.


In advance of completing this article, your writer managed to lay his hands on a copy of Leatherface 3D, a first draft under a different title dated 10/20/10 on its cover page. Marcus laughs at the mention of it. “Where did you happen to find that?” I respectfully point out that I can’t betray my source. “Ah, well, it’s been making the rounds for years, so…”

And what story would the original screenplay have told? Just exactly how much did it differ from the produced film? Surprisingly, the broadest strokes of the story are essentially the same as Texas Chainsaw 3D, but it’s in the details where the script betters its filmic counterpart in every way.

Opening during the events depicted in the original Texas Chain Saw’s nerve-shredding finale, Leatherface 3D begins with final girl SALLY HARDESTY escaping from the murderous Sawyer clan and making it to the nearest police station, stirring up the cops with her story of madness and mayhem (one wonders if this opening would have necessitated reshooting the original film’s ending with a recast Sally). In short order, the local police station gears up and heads out to the Sawyer home, with one DEPUTY HOOPER having tipped off a local who stirs up a lynch mob which descends upon the house of horrors just after the police arrive.

In the Sawyer home’s basement, LEATHERFACE prepares to dispatch the poor Black Maria truck driver who dared to stop and aid Sally during her flight to freedom, all as the extended Sawyer family prepares for battle upstairs. While the mild-mannered SHERIFF BURNS tries to keep the situation under control, Deputy Hooper agitates the mob, leading to one member launching a homemade molotov cocktail into the Sawyer home, setting it ablaze and kicking off a massive gunfight between the two clans.

One Sawyer woman, LORETTA, ably defends her family in the midst of all the flying bullets, all while carrying her child in her arms. “There’s a moment where, when they’re laying siege to the Sawyer house, one of the women is holding a baby that ends up being [HEATHER, the film’s lead, as played by Alexandra Daddario in the 2013 film],” Marcus notes. “So you see the baby nursing on the mother while all the bullets are flying. And as you come up across the woman’s chest, up to her face, out to her arm – you realize that her arm is outstretched and she’s firing a gun out the window, and she shoots someone in the head while her baby is nursing on her. That image was the reason Deb and I were hired. That image is a microcosm of the movie we wrote. We wrote a movie that was about family, but this profane, insane version of the bonds of family.”

The mob is eventually victorious, killing most of the Sawyer family and burning the house to the ground. In the distance, the flames can been seen by a woman in her mid-50s, watching the Sawyer home burn from the safety of her mansion. Her husband moves behind her, assures her that their lawyers will make certain this event won’t “splash back on them.” She continues watching, enraged, and quietly apologizes: “I’m so sorry, children.”

Back at the burnt husk of the Sawyer home, a young man aiding the mob finds Loretta, who offers up her child to him with her last breath. He and his wife spirit the child away from the site, all as the mob poses for a photograph taken for the local newspaper. The group of vigilantes smile for the camera as the flash takes us to the opening title.

1 Texas Chainsaw 3D

Alexandra Daddario as Heather in Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013)

Cut to nineteen years later. Chicago, 1993. Young artist HEATHER WHITE and her charming, “hero if there ever was one” veterinarian boyfriend DAN HENKLE discuss an upcoming trip to New Orleans when their friends descend upon them: Heather’s best friend CAMERON (“party girl who makes it her responsibility that her best friend has a good time”) and her boyfriend JERRY (“way too many piercings and tats, but he’s actually a sweetheart … the definition of a book you can’t judge by its cover”). Cameron passes along a piece of mail to Heather, which bears the news that her grandmother has recently passed away in Texas and has left her estate to Heather. A major surprise, given that both of her grandmothers are already dead.

A visit to her parents reveals that Heather was adopted, a secret her parents had kept from her. Though they assure her that her biological parents were “a sweet couple, just kids,” her mother and father make her promise that she won’t go to Texas and will leave dealing with her grandmother’s estate to them. She does so, reluctantly, but eventually decides to trust her instincts and seek out the answers as to where she comes from. Once her mind is made up, she and her friends (along with Dan’s sports enthusiast best friend DARYL) pack up and head to Texas in Dan’s vintage 1974 VW bus (“painted with a giant portrait of Vincent Van Gogh … the words ‘The Van Go’ are along the side”).

The group is a likable bunch, their banter and personalities revealing them to be a realistic bunch of kids who genuinely care about one another. “With Texas Chainsaw 3D, Deb and I were trying to create a van full of kids that you fell in love with,” Marcus notes. “That you were like, ‘I love these people. They’re interesting. They’re complicated. They are nice people who love each other.’ That way, when each one of them gets murdered, you’re upset. They’re gone, and you’re frightened because, ‘I don’t want that person to die!’ So that’s kind of the difference, I think, between what we write and what a lot of other sequels end up looking like.”

Our heroes eventually find their way into Kilgore, Texas, where they stop at a convenience store and immediately run into the local law enforcement in the form of DEPUTY CARL, a hard-charging lawman keen to bust the kids for anything at all. He’s talked down by Kilgore Mayor BURT HARTMAN (50s, “a bear of a man with impeccable clothes and a country mile-wide smile”). He welcomes the crew to his little town, even inviting them to the local carnival due to take place that evening, but then seems taken aback when he discovers that they’re there to settle up the estate of Heather’s grandmother.

7 Texas Chainsaw 3d screengrab

The gang arrives at the Carson mansion

After a brief meeting with lawyer FARNSWORTH (60s), who explains that Heather is now a wealthy young woman (but that she is contractually forbidden to sell the property once it’s accepted and signed for), Heather and Co. look about the massive mansion that’s been left for her. Unlike its unkempt exterior, the mansion proves to be beautiful on the inside. Heather explores the property, and eventually discovers photos of her ancestors – including her grandmother, VERA SAWYER-CARSON, pictured wearing a crescent moon charm that looks not unlike the crescent scar on Heather’s chest. In looking around, Heather also finds a framed newspaper photo, its glass broken, featuring the band of vigilantes posing outside of the burned Sawyer home. Big X’s have been scratched over some of their faces. The group splits up, milling about, running across a high tech butcher room in the mansion’s basement (complete with its own charnel pit), as well as a small cemetery on the grounds boasting a number of Sawyer graves, with many of their headstones bearing the same date of death.

Before long, terror strikes. Leatherface quietly slips through a hidden panel in an upstairs room to kill Daryl with a butcher’s hammer, then drags him out of sight. He then reappears in the dining room, where Heather has discovered Vera’s corpse sitting at the dining room table in her Sunday best. Jerry comes running at Heather’s scream, only to have his hand cut through by the cleaver Leatherface swings at him. Heather backs into Vera’s corpse, knocking it over – an accident which infuriates Leatherface. From this point on, the next forty or so pages move at a breakneck pace, becoming one long chase sequence that passes through a number of impressive set pieces.

Heather and Jerry make a run for it, but are corralled downstairs and into the basement by Leatherface. They hide in his butcher’s room, and are eventually forced to dive into the charnel pit, swimming through a stew of viscera and chopped up parts both bovine and human. As Dan and Cameron cluelessly search the grounds for their friends, Heather and Jerry fight for their lives, pushing through the bloody muck until they find an exit – a ladder that leads up to a grate, a grate that leads up into a smokehouse. As they rise up into the room, “A HOOK TEARS INTO THE SOFT SIDE OF JERRY’S CHEEK”. Leatherface brutally tears out Jerry’s jaw and neck and throws them at Heather.

It’s at around this point in the finished film that one of its more notorious lines is intoned by Nikki, Chainsaw 3D’s version of Cameron. “Did we have a character from Chicago come to Texas and tell another character, ‘Welcome to Texas, motherfucker?’ No, we didn’t write that,” Marcus chuckles. “That’s not in our script. We would never have a person from Chicago act as some sort of ambassador to Texas there. No, we didn’t write that shit. We wrote something that at least made logical sense in the universe of a Texas Chainsaw movie.”

Heather bursts outside, racing through the tall weeds until she runs into Dan and Cameron, with the reunited trio escaping in Dan’s van. As they’re making their getaway, Leatherface rushes out in front of them, causing the group to crash. What follows is an impressive cat-and-mouse sequence, with our heroes trapped in the overturned van, trying to find an exit, all as Leatherface circles the vehicle and waits to strike.

“In the movie, when the van rolls over, Trey Songz [Dan equivalent Ryan in the finished film] cuts his own throat on broken glass from the window. We didn’t write that. We wrote that that character is now in a van that’s on its side. He’s leaning against the roof of the van, which has now become a wall. His girlfriend, Alexandra Daddario, reaches out to him when she hears the saw outside the van. They don’t know where the sound is coming from. Suddenly the saw comes through the roof of the van, through her boyfriend’s chest, [and is] right in her face. He reflexively grabs the saw with his hands and his fingers launch off into her face in 3D.

“That’s the stuff we wrote. We wrote like the goriest, craziest movie. It was a total 3D ride. We took the 3D thing really seriously. Like, ‘Let’s give people a horror movie they’ve never gotten in 3D, where literally the guts are hitting them right in the face.’”

Heather and Cameron escape into the woods, where Heather heroically leads Leatherface away from her hiding friend and into…the town carnival. Unlike the finished film, the script’s take on the carnival sequence is massive. “Leatherface murders over a dozen people at the carnival. It’s a bloodbath,” Marcus laughs. “The carnival was one of the bloodiest sequences in the movie.”

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Leatherface visits the carnival

Heather escapes into a House of Horrors and finds herself surrounded by various masked maniacs wielding (fake) weapons. Leatherface follows after her, not immediately standing out in this environment until he comes face to face with another masked performer – this one wearing a pig mask and brandishing a far less impressive toy chainsaw. Leatherface cocks his head to the side, trying to understand the sight in front of him, and then swings his saw down onto the performer, splitting him in two.

Heather races outside, Leatherface hot on her heels, and makes it to the carnival’s ferris wheel. In a panic, she pushes past the operator and grabs hold of an ascending seat which pulls her into the air. Leatherface takes out the ride operator with his saw, spraying bystanders with blood. He destroys the controls, but breaks his saw in the process. Heather slowly makes her way back down toward the awaiting Leatherface. He grabs hold of Heather, pulling at her jeans, tipping out an innocent woman who falls into the ferris wheel’s gears which grind her to bloody pulp.

Just as Leatherface is about to set upon Heather, a gunshot rings out – Mayor Hartman, hunting rifle in hand, prepares to fire again just as an aged Hooper, now the town Sheriff, arrives. Leatherface disappears as the lawman takes in the carnage around him (“What the hell’s goin’ on here?!”).

Heather and Cameron are taken to the police station, where Heather discovers that Hooper led the lynch mob that killed the Sawyers, and that the people in her grandmother’s framed photograph, faces X’d out, are various members of the vigilante crew who have gone missing in the area. Hooper, urged on by Hartman, reveals to Heather that the chainsaw-swinging madman who killed her friends is Jeb Sawyer, her cousin. Hartman notes that Jeb wasn’t always the way he is now, which sends us back to a brief black-and-white flashback which shows a five-year-old Jeb being mercilessly bullied by a group of boys which included Hooper. In the course of their conversation, Heather also discovers that her adoptive parents were also a part of the vigilante group that burned down the Sawyer home.

Outside, lit by the moon, Leatherface “moves through the sleepy town like a shark.” He spies a 28” chainsaw in the window of a large hardware store right across the street from the police station. With some effort, he pulls free a newspaper vending machine from its moorings and hurls it through the store’s window.

Four deputies, realizing what this must mean, grab their riot gear and shotguns and head into the dark store. What follows is another game of cat-and-mouse, with the officers meeting horrific ends at the hands of Leatherface (an industrial drill, a hunting knife, a paint can bludgeoning, and – of course – that massive chainsaw all figure into the deaths). “These four cops are torn to pieces in the hardware store,” Marcus points out. “It was this terrifying sequence in the dark. These four cops, fully armed, and Leatherface dispatches them like he’s Leon, the Professional. I mean, it was an insane sequence.”

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Texas Chainsaw 3D’s infamous FaceTime sequence

It was this setpiece that was regrettably replaced by the FaceTime sequence in the finished film. Marcus sighs. “Had we been there on set for Texas Chainsaw, one of us would have turned to somebody and said, ‘Hey, guys? It’s 1993. The smartphone doesn’t get invented for fourteen more years. So are we going to replace Alexandra? Or are we making this in 1993? Which one?’ We would have said it. And, of course, we would have been escorted off set.”

Leatherface find his way into the station, murdering a deputy and driving his new chainsaw between Hooper’s eyes. Deputy Carl eventually arrives and saves Heather and Cameron, driving them away from the station and toward Hartman’s slaughterhouse, assuring them that state police will meet them there. Unfortunately for our heroes, Carl is delivering the two to the remaining vigilantes – including Hartman, who is revealed to have been the architect behind the lynch mob (and young Jeb Sawyer’s primary bully as a child). Hartman hates the Sawyers, always has, and sees the two young women as a way to lure Leatherface to his death before he’ll kill them as well to do away with any witnesses. Marcus notes, “It was a movie that really turned Leatherface into Frankenstein’s Monster. Here was this young kid, horribly bullied by Burt Hartman as a teenager. So we set up a rivalry so that the villain of this movie would be so hateful by the end of the film that you are cheering for his demise. So when Leatherface finally kills these guys, he becomes an antihero. Leatherface just isn’t this simple, mindless monster. He’s a thinking being. So you had a little bit of sympathy for Leatherface through the movie.”

Leatherface does indeed show up, now wearing Hooper’s face, moving through a stampede a cattle to make his way toward his victims-to-be. “Heather is hiding amongst the cattle, and Leatherface is tearing through this stampede of cattle with the chainsaw rolling,” Marcus says. “Like, that’s your poster guys. Your poster is a full stampede, with Leatherface walking through with the chainsaw. There’s nothing cooler than that.”

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Leatherface and Heather come faces to face in Texas Chainsaw 3D’s final act

Leatherface murders his way through the vigilantes. Hartman callously tosses Cameron into a hoof-and-parts grinder, then faces off with Leatherface. The two do battle, with Hartman wielding a cut-off saw, a “massive saw that looks like a TABLE SAW BLADE in a chainsaw casing.” They slash at each other, with Leatherface falling into a waste disposal with several grinding blades whirring at its bottom. Just as things look bleakest for Jeb as he barely hangs onto the sides of the disposal funnel, he swings his saw at Hartman, lopping off one hand, then another. Hartman topples over into the funnel, ending their long rivalry. And sorry gang, but there’s no “Do yer thing, cuz!” to be found in this climax.

Heather, on the run from Deputy Carl, uses an industrial wrench to knock the crooked lawman down before Leatherface appears and advances on her. Just as he’s about to strike a killing blow, he sees Heather’s crescent scar (with a brief flashback revealing that Loretta’s necklace, flaming hot from the Sawyer home burning down around her, scarred the baby she held in her arms). Deputy Carl picks up his revolver and takes aim at Heather. Leatherface sees this, and steps between the two, taking the bullet for his newly-revealed cousin. Heather moves around the fallen Leatherface, using her wrench to beat Carl to death – “HEATHER PARTS HIS SKULL WITH HER WRENCH! AGAIN AND AGAIN UNTIL HE IS NOTHING BUT A SPLIT MELON OF BRAIN PULP THAT SPATTERS HEATHER.”

After, the two go back to the Carson mansion, with Heather patching up Leatherface (“She’s pulled the thorn from the lion’s paw”). Leatherface removes the crescent charm necklace from Vera’s corpse, then puts it on Heather, passing the matriarchy of their family to her. He then trails off to his basement. Heather, still quite dazed, finds a letter that Farnsworth had left to her from her grandmother, which details Jeb’s nature and that she must now care for him. “You are the only one that can hold closed the gates, lest he be set free on the world,” the letter warns.

Just then, Heather’s adoptive parents arrive at the mansion’s front door in search of Heather, the two final vigilantes ringing its doorbell. Heather spins in terror as Leatherface slams open his basement’s sliding metal doors.

“And you can not let that happen,” the letter finishes. “Ever.”


For its many broad structural similarities, the difference between the Marcus/Sullivan script and the finished film is night and day. Whereas Texas Chainsaw 3D is a weak slasher with a fatal flaw (that timeline…ugh), mostly unlikeable cardboard cutouts and some howlingly bad lines, the Leatherface 3D draft boasts a sympathetic cast of characters, vicious murder scenes and sharp dialogue. The script manages to have a good heart and a bad attitude all at once, and had it been faithfully adapted, the resulting film might very well have been the ultimate splatterpunk movie. Damn shame.

So what exactly happened here? How did this script lead to such a different finished product? Marcus explains: “Our manager explained to us that ultimately, Lionsgate had a real impasse with the Producer. They said, ‘We’re not going to finance the movie. You go out and find financing, and we’ll distribute.’ Great. They’re going to distribute the film. Fantastic. Again, until now Lionsgate has been nothing but the best partner for Deb and I. We were loving working with them.

“The Producer, however, is taking us to lunch and crying about changes that the studio wants to make to the script. And we’re like, ‘Well, you know, they’re the studio. They’re paying for the movie. They’re gonna want to make changes.’ He’s telling us, ‘Don’t listen to Lionsgate. I want you to write what I want you to write, I don’t care what they want.’

“And we’re like, ‘We want you to make a movie, bro. Like, let’s make a movie. Lionsgate is paying for it. You kind of want to give them what they want.’”

Unfortunately, the Producer couldn’t find the $20 million needed to properly make the film. “He found $8 million,” Marcus reveals. “And, he had told us that Lionsgate had fired Deb and I. This was, by the way, an absolute lie. He told us the reason that we got fired was because we did what the studio asked us to do, that we listened to them. And I’m like, ‘How is that? How do you get fired for that, bro? Like…we did what?’

“Yeah, he was pulling a lot of shady shit,” Sullivan adds. “He was doing real harm to us, to the movie. It was very ugly.”

To add insult to injury, the producer in question then went behind the writers’ backs to cobble together various drafts that they’d written for the project. “He took our drafts and he Frankensteined them, which is against the WGA, and he gave the director a Frankensteinian version of our script. The director [Takers helmer John Luessonhop] signed on, and then the Producer went to our manager, Steve Gates at Evolution, and asked if we would come back for rewrites.

“Now remember, this is the guy who just said we got fired by the studio. It’s all bullshit! None of that happened! So the Producer called Steve Gates and begged to have Deb and I come back. Now, what he wants us to do is rewrite the script for free, but in our contract, our financial bonus for writing the film is tied to the amount of money they make the movie for. Not how much the movie makes, but how much they make the movie for. So he’s asking us to come and do a free rewrite of the movie … but the free rewrite is going to cut our bonus in more than half.

“Our manager was like, ‘Screw this guy, no way.’ We said, ‘Look, we’ll do it. We’ll come in. We’ll do the writing for free. But we want guaranteed box office bumps in our contract. That way, if the movie makes a lot of money, we’ll get the bonus that we’re writing out of the script by cutting it down.’

So our manager delivers our offer and the message that was conveyed back to us from the Producer was, ‘Why don’t you tell them to go fuck themselves?’”

Sullivan sighs. “Which is so stupid. Because if the movie makes a lot of money, it’s not like it’s going to cost him any more for us to get our bonus.”

“It was literally saying the audience will pay for the script,” Marcus says. “So John Luessonhop ends up directing the movie. He brings on Kristin Elms, they do a rewrite on the project. They go off and shoot the movie. Deb and I are sitting at home writing other projects. Which, by the way, here’s the crazy thing – our original script for Texas Chainsaw got Deb and I a ton of work. People read our script and were like, ‘This is an amazing movie.’”

Aside from its warm reception from those who read their initial script, Marcus and Sullivan received a thumbs up from the genre titan who started the whole thing in the first place. Marcus explains: “Tobe Hooper called Deb and I at home to tell us that we had written the first true sequel to his original film. He loved the script. I literally turned to Deb and said, ‘You can put me in a box now. There’s no greater validation than that.’”

No matter how beloved the original script was, the resulting film was widely derided, with various aspects ridiculed by genre fans and mainstream moviegoers alike (to say nothing of the critics – the film currently sits at a 19% on Rotten Tomatoes). Regardless of the film’s reception, Marcus and Sullivan hope that fans will one day get to experience a version of their initial take. “Our production company Skeleton Crew has a thing called Development Hell, where we do public readings [of unproduced screenplays],” Marcus says. “One of these days, we’ll do a reading of our version of Texas Chainsaw, and people will then get to make up their mind about our version versus what came out.” The couple note that the reading will almost certainly be recorded and put up for all fans to view, as well.

Still, it’s a shame that fans couldn’t see the movie as it was originally written. “The movie we wrote was really operatic and crazy and bloody,” Marcus says. “You can’t imagine the amount of blood in this movie. We wrote a movie for the fanbase. It was really written because we’re fans. The problem is, a lot of times the things that we love the most are put in the hands of people who don’t give a shit about horror. Or worse, people were in it for a money grab, and they think of the audience as a bunch of teenage idiots. They want to slum, and that breaks my heart. The people who really love horror movies, you can always tell when they’ve made a movie versus the people who are pretending. We wrote a movie for the horror fans. We really did. We wrote a movie that had sharp teeth…”

“And it was like they made a movie that somebody had to gum,” Sullivan finishes. “We were steak, they were oatmeal.”


In wrapping up our conversation, the screenwriters offer their final thoughts on Texas Chainsaw 3D and the film that might have been. “Loved working with Lionsgate,” Sullivan says. “Really loved writing the movie. I’m a little disappointed with what it ended up being. And, you know, there’s nothing you can do about that in particular, other than collect the residuals every time a check comes in. It hurts a little less,” she laughs.

Marcus agrees. “You know, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was so much fun to write. We loved doing it, loved actually writing that movie. And while I think they made a really fun, truly entertaining slasher movie … I know what could have been. And as a fan, I wish I could sit and watch that movie.”

Very special thanks to Adam Marcus and Debra Sullivan for their time and insights.


This has been Larval Ink, a recurring feature which will take a look at the earliest iterations of certain genre films as they existed in their early scripting stage, long before the transformation which significantly changed the original vision into its final form for the silver screen. With these articles, we will be chatting with the writers of these initial eggs to gain their unique insights into their screenplays and the finished films they would eventually metamorphose into, and all the painful phases in between.

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";}s:7:"summary";s:716:"With this installment of Larval Ink, we’ll be hacking into 2013’s much maligned horror requel pioneer Texas Chainsaw 3D, peeling back its skin and rummaging around its viscera to reveal the film’s bloody beginnings as a much different script from husband and wife screenwriting team Adam Marcus and Debra Sullivan. Ms. Sullivan and Mr. Marcus ... Read more";s:12:"atom_content";s:52166:"

With this installment of Larval Ink, we’ll be hacking into 2013’s much maligned horror requel pioneer Texas Chainsaw 3D, peeling back its skin and rummaging around its viscera to reveal the film’s bloody beginnings as a much different script from husband and wife screenwriting team Adam Marcus and Debra Sullivan.

Ms. Sullivan and Mr. Marcus join Bloody Disgusting here to detail their original screenplay and its development, the most egregious changes to their story which still rankle with fans to this day, and their ultimate thoughts on the finished film.


“So Stephen Susco was the first writer on Texas Chainsaw,” Marcus begins. “He was hot off The Grudge, and [Lionsgate] wanted him to do a movie where there was no cannibalism. And we were told by the producer that was the thing that they were really not interested in … because of the massive disaster that was [the underperforming Clive Barker cannibal film] Midnight Meat Train. So they did not want any movies with flesh-eating in it. Well Stephen Susco, being a true fan of the genre, went ‘How the hell do you make a Texas Chainsaw movie that’s not about cannibals? Because that’s what they are! They eat their kills!’ That’s the whole point of the story, the barbecue.

“So we were told they said, ‘Yeah, but we don’t want that in this movie.’ So Stephen wrote a couple drafts that had cannibalism, because Stephen is a badass. So Lionsgate parted ways with him.”

Following Susco’s departure from the project, the film’s Producer (who shall remain nameless for the purposes of this article) was tasked with seeking out a replacement for the writer. “He was a producer who at this point had scored the rights to produce six new films in the Texas Chainsaw franchise,” Marcus reveals. “He loved our writing, we were geniuses, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. He comes to us and says, ‘Look, Stephen Susco is out of the project, and I want you guys to come in. Here’s the thing – Lionsgate does not want to use Stephen’s words at all. They don’t even want you to look at the script. Come up with your own version of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, come up with what you would do.’ We were like, ‘Great!’

“We thought that it should start where the first movie ended,” Sullivan notes.

“So they loved that,” Marcus says. “I said, ‘How cool would it be if you can actually take the footage from the end of the first movie, separate the layers, and create a 3D effect out of that first movie?’ They loved that.

“And Deb and I were like, ‘Well look, it only makes sense logically that Sally, when she escapes, the first place she would go is to the police. Then the police would go to the Sawyer house, and we need to see that scene and what would happen. That’s where the whole opening of the movie happened.

Leatherface (Dan Yeager) in Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013)

“Once we went past that, we created kind of the concept around Texas Chainsaw. Part of that was that we showed why the Sawyers became diseased and became crazy, that it wasn’t just that they were born in the Deliverance mold. We also gave a reason why the Hartmans and the Sawyers were sort of the Hatfields and McCoys, and also why the Sawyers had all of this land. That they had a ton of money, but because they were so insane, the money didn’t mean anything to them. That’s not what their purpose was. So we created a backstory. We also had flashbacks to Leatherface as a child. We wanted to show the whole history of the Sawyers in the movie.

“We were really thrilled with it. So we wrote all of that.”

So far, so good with this project. Unfortunately, trouble reared its head early on for the writers. “Here’s the thing, we’d written a two page outline of what we wanted to do. Lionsgate, unbeknownst to them, got our two pages that we had written for the Producer, [who had] delivered them as though he had written these two pages, which he had not. Debra and I wrote them. Then Lionsgate sent that out to seventeen other writers, and asked for pitches. Now, Lionsgate had no idea, they thought the Producer had written this outline.

“So suddenly, Debra and I are told we have to pitch Lionsgate to get the job. We’re like, ‘Wait a minute, what now?!”

“’But this is our idea!’,” Sullivan recalls thinking.

Marcus laughs. “We have to pitch our story, and they don’t know that it’s our story. Nobody knows it’s our story, but it’s our story. So, we go in … the Producer was in the room with all the executives from Lionsgate. We had written a fifteen page treatment of this, because we’re like, ‘This is our story!’ But we never said that in the room, we just gave them the fifteen pages. We were good soldiers. Then we said, ‘Um, hey, we got a full pitch, but also we’ve written the first eleven pages of the script.’

“And they were like, ‘What?!’ ‘Well, we heard you guys need this immediately, so we wanted to show you we’re motivated, and we’re really excited about this movie. So we wrote that whole opening sequence where they lay siege to the Sawyers’ ranch.’ Well, Lionsgate is like, ‘Wow, this is awesome. Well done! Cool!’”

“’So much easier for us,’” Sullivan laughs.

So, wait. Was Lionsgate ever made aware that the two pages they were working from actually came from these two writers, and not their producer?! “Lionsgate was alerted to it when the Producer tried to get them to change the paperwork out so the document would have his name on it to make it appear as if it was his idea and writing,” Marcus reveals. “They suddenly realized, ‘Wait a minute, Deb and Adam wrote this.’ We weren’t going to say anything. Again, part of being a screenwriter in the studio system is, you work within the politics of what’s going on. And Deb and I are very political animals. We’re not gonna screw with anybody.”

A week after this meeting, Lionsgate hired the pair to write a film based upon their own treatment. “Lionsgate was an incredible partner for us,” Marcus notes. “The problems arose with the Producer.”

Sullivan agrees, pointing out the original budget they were given for the project. “It was supposed to be a $20 million film.”

So we wrote a $20 million movie,” Marcus says. “By the way, when Leatherface is fighting for his life against two people at the end of the movie … we didn’t write that. We wrote a dozen people, the twelve remaining people who had burned the Sawyers alive, that had destroyed the Sawyers at the beginning of the movie. Twelve of those people remained. The rest of the forty people that were at that siege have all been murdered over the years by Leatherface, who’s been in hiding in this basement.

The end of the movie was this amazing bloodbath between Leatherface and a dozen people who were ready to kill him. It was like this incredible battle royale. By the way, we never wrote the line, ‘Do your thing, cuz!’ And we never had a scene in the movie with a smartphone, because the movie takes place in 1993!!!

“Our script did not resemble a lot of what showed up,” Sullivan adds. “We had characters that you loved and cared about, so that you were sad when they died. They weren’t cheating on their girlfriends, or fucking over their best friend, and they didn’t pick up a hitchhiker and then leave.”

Tania Raymonde and Trey Songz as Nikki and Ryan in Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013)

“Oh, yeah,” Marcus laughs. “I mean, I’m sorry, what kind of brainiacs are these kids that bring a hitchhiker they’ve literally just picked up and leave him alone in this multimillion dollar mansion while they go into town to get barbecue supplies. That’s not in our script.


In advance of completing this article, your writer managed to lay his hands on a copy of Leatherface 3D, a first draft under a different title dated 10/20/10 on its cover page. Marcus laughs at the mention of it. “Where did you happen to find that?” I respectfully point out that I can’t betray my source. “Ah, well, it’s been making the rounds for years, so…”

And what story would the original screenplay have told? Just exactly how much did it differ from the produced film? Surprisingly, the broadest strokes of the story are essentially the same as Texas Chainsaw 3D, but it’s in the details where the script betters its filmic counterpart in every way.

Opening during the events depicted in the original Texas Chain Saw’s nerve-shredding finale, Leatherface 3D begins with final girl SALLY HARDESTY escaping from the murderous Sawyer clan and making it to the nearest police station, stirring up the cops with her story of madness and mayhem (one wonders if this opening would have necessitated reshooting the original film’s ending with a recast Sally). In short order, the local police station gears up and heads out to the Sawyer home, with one DEPUTY HOOPER having tipped off a local who stirs up a lynch mob which descends upon the house of horrors just after the police arrive.

In the Sawyer home’s basement, LEATHERFACE prepares to dispatch the poor Black Maria truck driver who dared to stop and aid Sally during her flight to freedom, all as the extended Sawyer family prepares for battle upstairs. While the mild-mannered SHERIFF BURNS tries to keep the situation under control, Deputy Hooper agitates the mob, leading to one member launching a homemade molotov cocktail into the Sawyer home, setting it ablaze and kicking off a massive gunfight between the two clans.

One Sawyer woman, LORETTA, ably defends her family in the midst of all the flying bullets, all while carrying her child in her arms. “There’s a moment where, when they’re laying siege to the Sawyer house, one of the women is holding a baby that ends up being [HEATHER, the film’s lead, as played by Alexandra Daddario in the 2013 film],” Marcus notes. “So you see the baby nursing on the mother while all the bullets are flying. And as you come up across the woman’s chest, up to her face, out to her arm – you realize that her arm is outstretched and she’s firing a gun out the window, and she shoots someone in the head while her baby is nursing on her. That image was the reason Deb and I were hired. That image is a microcosm of the movie we wrote. We wrote a movie that was about family, but this profane, insane version of the bonds of family.”

The mob is eventually victorious, killing most of the Sawyer family and burning the house to the ground. In the distance, the flames can been seen by a woman in her mid-50s, watching the Sawyer home burn from the safety of her mansion. Her husband moves behind her, assures her that their lawyers will make certain this event won’t “splash back on them.” She continues watching, enraged, and quietly apologizes: “I’m so sorry, children.”

Back at the burnt husk of the Sawyer home, a young man aiding the mob finds Loretta, who offers up her child to him with her last breath. He and his wife spirit the child away from the site, all as the mob poses for a photograph taken for the local newspaper. The group of vigilantes smile for the camera as the flash takes us to the opening title.

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Alexandra Daddario as Heather in Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013)

Cut to nineteen years later. Chicago, 1993. Young artist HEATHER WHITE and her charming, “hero if there ever was one” veterinarian boyfriend DAN HENKLE discuss an upcoming trip to New Orleans when their friends descend upon them: Heather’s best friend CAMERON (“party girl who makes it her responsibility that her best friend has a good time”) and her boyfriend JERRY (“way too many piercings and tats, but he’s actually a sweetheart … the definition of a book you can’t judge by its cover”). Cameron passes along a piece of mail to Heather, which bears the news that her grandmother has recently passed away in Texas and has left her estate to Heather. A major surprise, given that both of her grandmothers are already dead.

A visit to her parents reveals that Heather was adopted, a secret her parents had kept from her. Though they assure her that her biological parents were “a sweet couple, just kids,” her mother and father make her promise that she won’t go to Texas and will leave dealing with her grandmother’s estate to them. She does so, reluctantly, but eventually decides to trust her instincts and seek out the answers as to where she comes from. Once her mind is made up, she and her friends (along with Dan’s sports enthusiast best friend DARYL) pack up and head to Texas in Dan’s vintage 1974 VW bus (“painted with a giant portrait of Vincent Van Gogh … the words ‘The Van Go’ are along the side”).

The group is a likable bunch, their banter and personalities revealing them to be a realistic bunch of kids who genuinely care about one another. “With Texas Chainsaw 3D, Deb and I were trying to create a van full of kids that you fell in love with,” Marcus notes. “That you were like, ‘I love these people. They’re interesting. They’re complicated. They are nice people who love each other.’ That way, when each one of them gets murdered, you’re upset. They’re gone, and you’re frightened because, ‘I don’t want that person to die!’ So that’s kind of the difference, I think, between what we write and what a lot of other sequels end up looking like.”

Our heroes eventually find their way into Kilgore, Texas, where they stop at a convenience store and immediately run into the local law enforcement in the form of DEPUTY CARL, a hard-charging lawman keen to bust the kids for anything at all. He’s talked down by Kilgore Mayor BURT HARTMAN (50s, “a bear of a man with impeccable clothes and a country mile-wide smile”). He welcomes the crew to his little town, even inviting them to the local carnival due to take place that evening, but then seems taken aback when he discovers that they’re there to settle up the estate of Heather’s grandmother.

7 Texas Chainsaw 3d screengrab

The gang arrives at the Carson mansion

After a brief meeting with lawyer FARNSWORTH (60s), who explains that Heather is now a wealthy young woman (but that she is contractually forbidden to sell the property once it’s accepted and signed for), Heather and Co. look about the massive mansion that’s been left for her. Unlike its unkempt exterior, the mansion proves to be beautiful on the inside. Heather explores the property, and eventually discovers photos of her ancestors – including her grandmother, VERA SAWYER-CARSON, pictured wearing a crescent moon charm that looks not unlike the crescent scar on Heather’s chest. In looking around, Heather also finds a framed newspaper photo, its glass broken, featuring the band of vigilantes posing outside of the burned Sawyer home. Big X’s have been scratched over some of their faces. The group splits up, milling about, running across a high tech butcher room in the mansion’s basement (complete with its own charnel pit), as well as a small cemetery on the grounds boasting a number of Sawyer graves, with many of their headstones bearing the same date of death.

Before long, terror strikes. Leatherface quietly slips through a hidden panel in an upstairs room to kill Daryl with a butcher’s hammer, then drags him out of sight. He then reappears in the dining room, where Heather has discovered Vera’s corpse sitting at the dining room table in her Sunday best. Jerry comes running at Heather’s scream, only to have his hand cut through by the cleaver Leatherface swings at him. Heather backs into Vera’s corpse, knocking it over – an accident which infuriates Leatherface. From this point on, the next forty or so pages move at a breakneck pace, becoming one long chase sequence that passes through a number of impressive set pieces.

Heather and Jerry make a run for it, but are corralled downstairs and into the basement by Leatherface. They hide in his butcher’s room, and are eventually forced to dive into the charnel pit, swimming through a stew of viscera and chopped up parts both bovine and human. As Dan and Cameron cluelessly search the grounds for their friends, Heather and Jerry fight for their lives, pushing through the bloody muck until they find an exit – a ladder that leads up to a grate, a grate that leads up into a smokehouse. As they rise up into the room, “A HOOK TEARS INTO THE SOFT SIDE OF JERRY’S CHEEK”. Leatherface brutally tears out Jerry’s jaw and neck and throws them at Heather.

It’s at around this point in the finished film that one of its more notorious lines is intoned by Nikki, Chainsaw 3D’s version of Cameron. “Did we have a character from Chicago come to Texas and tell another character, ‘Welcome to Texas, motherfucker?’ No, we didn’t write that,” Marcus chuckles. “That’s not in our script. We would never have a person from Chicago act as some sort of ambassador to Texas there. No, we didn’t write that shit. We wrote something that at least made logical sense in the universe of a Texas Chainsaw movie.”

Heather bursts outside, racing through the tall weeds until she runs into Dan and Cameron, with the reunited trio escaping in Dan’s van. As they’re making their getaway, Leatherface rushes out in front of them, causing the group to crash. What follows is an impressive cat-and-mouse sequence, with our heroes trapped in the overturned van, trying to find an exit, all as Leatherface circles the vehicle and waits to strike.

“In the movie, when the van rolls over, Trey Songz [Dan equivalent Ryan in the finished film] cuts his own throat on broken glass from the window. We didn’t write that. We wrote that that character is now in a van that’s on its side. He’s leaning against the roof of the van, which has now become a wall. His girlfriend, Alexandra Daddario, reaches out to him when she hears the saw outside the van. They don’t know where the sound is coming from. Suddenly the saw comes through the roof of the van, through her boyfriend’s chest, [and is] right in her face. He reflexively grabs the saw with his hands and his fingers launch off into her face in 3D.

“That’s the stuff we wrote. We wrote like the goriest, craziest movie. It was a total 3D ride. We took the 3D thing really seriously. Like, ‘Let’s give people a horror movie they’ve never gotten in 3D, where literally the guts are hitting them right in the face.’”

Heather and Cameron escape into the woods, where Heather heroically leads Leatherface away from her hiding friend and into…the town carnival. Unlike the finished film, the script’s take on the carnival sequence is massive. “Leatherface murders over a dozen people at the carnival. It’s a bloodbath,” Marcus laughs. “The carnival was one of the bloodiest sequences in the movie.”

1 texas chainsaw 3d leatherface

Leatherface visits the carnival

Heather escapes into a House of Horrors and finds herself surrounded by various masked maniacs wielding (fake) weapons. Leatherface follows after her, not immediately standing out in this environment until he comes face to face with another masked performer – this one wearing a pig mask and brandishing a far less impressive toy chainsaw. Leatherface cocks his head to the side, trying to understand the sight in front of him, and then swings his saw down onto the performer, splitting him in two.

Heather races outside, Leatherface hot on her heels, and makes it to the carnival’s ferris wheel. In a panic, she pushes past the operator and grabs hold of an ascending seat which pulls her into the air. Leatherface takes out the ride operator with his saw, spraying bystanders with blood. He destroys the controls, but breaks his saw in the process. Heather slowly makes her way back down toward the awaiting Leatherface. He grabs hold of Heather, pulling at her jeans, tipping out an innocent woman who falls into the ferris wheel’s gears which grind her to bloody pulp.

Just as Leatherface is about to set upon Heather, a gunshot rings out – Mayor Hartman, hunting rifle in hand, prepares to fire again just as an aged Hooper, now the town Sheriff, arrives. Leatherface disappears as the lawman takes in the carnage around him (“What the hell’s goin’ on here?!”).

Heather and Cameron are taken to the police station, where Heather discovers that Hooper led the lynch mob that killed the Sawyers, and that the people in her grandmother’s framed photograph, faces X’d out, are various members of the vigilante crew who have gone missing in the area. Hooper, urged on by Hartman, reveals to Heather that the chainsaw-swinging madman who killed her friends is Jeb Sawyer, her cousin. Hartman notes that Jeb wasn’t always the way he is now, which sends us back to a brief black-and-white flashback which shows a five-year-old Jeb being mercilessly bullied by a group of boys which included Hooper. In the course of their conversation, Heather also discovers that her adoptive parents were also a part of the vigilante group that burned down the Sawyer home.

Outside, lit by the moon, Leatherface “moves through the sleepy town like a shark.” He spies a 28” chainsaw in the window of a large hardware store right across the street from the police station. With some effort, he pulls free a newspaper vending machine from its moorings and hurls it through the store’s window.

Four deputies, realizing what this must mean, grab their riot gear and shotguns and head into the dark store. What follows is another game of cat-and-mouse, with the officers meeting horrific ends at the hands of Leatherface (an industrial drill, a hunting knife, a paint can bludgeoning, and – of course – that massive chainsaw all figure into the deaths). “These four cops are torn to pieces in the hardware store,” Marcus points out. “It was this terrifying sequence in the dark. These four cops, fully armed, and Leatherface dispatches them like he’s Leon, the Professional. I mean, it was an insane sequence.”

18 Texas Chainsaw 3d screengrab

Texas Chainsaw 3D’s infamous FaceTime sequence

It was this setpiece that was regrettably replaced by the FaceTime sequence in the finished film. Marcus sighs. “Had we been there on set for Texas Chainsaw, one of us would have turned to somebody and said, ‘Hey, guys? It’s 1993. The smartphone doesn’t get invented for fourteen more years. So are we going to replace Alexandra? Or are we making this in 1993? Which one?’ We would have said it. And, of course, we would have been escorted off set.”

Leatherface find his way into the station, murdering a deputy and driving his new chainsaw between Hooper’s eyes. Deputy Carl eventually arrives and saves Heather and Cameron, driving them away from the station and toward Hartman’s slaughterhouse, assuring them that state police will meet them there. Unfortunately for our heroes, Carl is delivering the two to the remaining vigilantes – including Hartman, who is revealed to have been the architect behind the lynch mob (and young Jeb Sawyer’s primary bully as a child). Hartman hates the Sawyers, always has, and sees the two young women as a way to lure Leatherface to his death before he’ll kill them as well to do away with any witnesses. Marcus notes, “It was a movie that really turned Leatherface into Frankenstein’s Monster. Here was this young kid, horribly bullied by Burt Hartman as a teenager. So we set up a rivalry so that the villain of this movie would be so hateful by the end of the film that you are cheering for his demise. So when Leatherface finally kills these guys, he becomes an antihero. Leatherface just isn’t this simple, mindless monster. He’s a thinking being. So you had a little bit of sympathy for Leatherface through the movie.”

Leatherface does indeed show up, now wearing Hooper’s face, moving through a stampede a cattle to make his way toward his victims-to-be. “Heather is hiding amongst the cattle, and Leatherface is tearing through this stampede of cattle with the chainsaw rolling,” Marcus says. “Like, that’s your poster guys. Your poster is a full stampede, with Leatherface walking through with the chainsaw. There’s nothing cooler than that.”

Chainsaw Massacre 3D

Leatherface and Heather come faces to face in Texas Chainsaw 3D’s final act

Leatherface murders his way through the vigilantes. Hartman callously tosses Cameron into a hoof-and-parts grinder, then faces off with Leatherface. The two do battle, with Hartman wielding a cut-off saw, a “massive saw that looks like a TABLE SAW BLADE in a chainsaw casing.” They slash at each other, with Leatherface falling into a waste disposal with several grinding blades whirring at its bottom. Just as things look bleakest for Jeb as he barely hangs onto the sides of the disposal funnel, he swings his saw at Hartman, lopping off one hand, then another. Hartman topples over into the funnel, ending their long rivalry. And sorry gang, but there’s no “Do yer thing, cuz!” to be found in this climax.

Heather, on the run from Deputy Carl, uses an industrial wrench to knock the crooked lawman down before Leatherface appears and advances on her. Just as he’s about to strike a killing blow, he sees Heather’s crescent scar (with a brief flashback revealing that Loretta’s necklace, flaming hot from the Sawyer home burning down around her, scarred the baby she held in her arms). Deputy Carl picks up his revolver and takes aim at Heather. Leatherface sees this, and steps between the two, taking the bullet for his newly-revealed cousin. Heather moves around the fallen Leatherface, using her wrench to beat Carl to death – “HEATHER PARTS HIS SKULL WITH HER WRENCH! AGAIN AND AGAIN UNTIL HE IS NOTHING BUT A SPLIT MELON OF BRAIN PULP THAT SPATTERS HEATHER.”

After, the two go back to the Carson mansion, with Heather patching up Leatherface (“She’s pulled the thorn from the lion’s paw”). Leatherface removes the crescent charm necklace from Vera’s corpse, then puts it on Heather, passing the matriarchy of their family to her. He then trails off to his basement. Heather, still quite dazed, finds a letter that Farnsworth had left to her from her grandmother, which details Jeb’s nature and that she must now care for him. “You are the only one that can hold closed the gates, lest he be set free on the world,” the letter warns.

Just then, Heather’s adoptive parents arrive at the mansion’s front door in search of Heather, the two final vigilantes ringing its doorbell. Heather spins in terror as Leatherface slams open his basement’s sliding metal doors.

“And you can not let that happen,” the letter finishes. “Ever.”


For its many broad structural similarities, the difference between the Marcus/Sullivan script and the finished film is night and day. Whereas Texas Chainsaw 3D is a weak slasher with a fatal flaw (that timeline…ugh), mostly unlikeable cardboard cutouts and some howlingly bad lines, the Leatherface 3D draft boasts a sympathetic cast of characters, vicious murder scenes and sharp dialogue. The script manages to have a good heart and a bad attitude all at once, and had it been faithfully adapted, the resulting film might very well have been the ultimate splatterpunk movie. Damn shame.

So what exactly happened here? How did this script lead to such a different finished product? Marcus explains: “Our manager explained to us that ultimately, Lionsgate had a real impasse with the Producer. They said, ‘We’re not going to finance the movie. You go out and find financing, and we’ll distribute.’ Great. They’re going to distribute the film. Fantastic. Again, until now Lionsgate has been nothing but the best partner for Deb and I. We were loving working with them.

“The Producer, however, is taking us to lunch and crying about changes that the studio wants to make to the script. And we’re like, ‘Well, you know, they’re the studio. They’re paying for the movie. They’re gonna want to make changes.’ He’s telling us, ‘Don’t listen to Lionsgate. I want you to write what I want you to write, I don’t care what they want.’

“And we’re like, ‘We want you to make a movie, bro. Like, let’s make a movie. Lionsgate is paying for it. You kind of want to give them what they want.’”

Unfortunately, the Producer couldn’t find the $20 million needed to properly make the film. “He found $8 million,” Marcus reveals. “And, he had told us that Lionsgate had fired Deb and I. This was, by the way, an absolute lie. He told us the reason that we got fired was because we did what the studio asked us to do, that we listened to them. And I’m like, ‘How is that? How do you get fired for that, bro? Like…we did what?’

“Yeah, he was pulling a lot of shady shit,” Sullivan adds. “He was doing real harm to us, to the movie. It was very ugly.”

To add insult to injury, the producer in question then went behind the writers’ backs to cobble together various drafts that they’d written for the project. “He took our drafts and he Frankensteined them, which is against the WGA, and he gave the director a Frankensteinian version of our script. The director [Takers helmer John Luessonhop] signed on, and then the Producer went to our manager, Steve Gates at Evolution, and asked if we would come back for rewrites.

“Now remember, this is the guy who just said we got fired by the studio. It’s all bullshit! None of that happened! So the Producer called Steve Gates and begged to have Deb and I come back. Now, what he wants us to do is rewrite the script for free, but in our contract, our financial bonus for writing the film is tied to the amount of money they make the movie for. Not how much the movie makes, but how much they make the movie for. So he’s asking us to come and do a free rewrite of the movie … but the free rewrite is going to cut our bonus in more than half.

“Our manager was like, ‘Screw this guy, no way.’ We said, ‘Look, we’ll do it. We’ll come in. We’ll do the writing for free. But we want guaranteed box office bumps in our contract. That way, if the movie makes a lot of money, we’ll get the bonus that we’re writing out of the script by cutting it down.’

So our manager delivers our offer and the message that was conveyed back to us from the Producer was, ‘Why don’t you tell them to go fuck themselves?’”

Sullivan sighs. “Which is so stupid. Because if the movie makes a lot of money, it’s not like it’s going to cost him any more for us to get our bonus.”

“It was literally saying the audience will pay for the script,” Marcus says. “So John Luessonhop ends up directing the movie. He brings on Kristin Elms, they do a rewrite on the project. They go off and shoot the movie. Deb and I are sitting at home writing other projects. Which, by the way, here’s the crazy thing – our original script for Texas Chainsaw got Deb and I a ton of work. People read our script and were like, ‘This is an amazing movie.’”

Aside from its warm reception from those who read their initial script, Marcus and Sullivan received a thumbs up from the genre titan who started the whole thing in the first place. Marcus explains: “Tobe Hooper called Deb and I at home to tell us that we had written the first true sequel to his original film. He loved the script. I literally turned to Deb and said, ‘You can put me in a box now. There’s no greater validation than that.’”

No matter how beloved the original script was, the resulting film was widely derided, with various aspects ridiculed by genre fans and mainstream moviegoers alike (to say nothing of the critics – the film currently sits at a 19% on Rotten Tomatoes). Regardless of the film’s reception, Marcus and Sullivan hope that fans will one day get to experience a version of their initial take. “Our production company Skeleton Crew has a thing called Development Hell, where we do public readings [of unproduced screenplays],” Marcus says. “One of these days, we’ll do a reading of our version of Texas Chainsaw, and people will then get to make up their mind about our version versus what came out.” The couple note that the reading will almost certainly be recorded and put up for all fans to view, as well.

Still, it’s a shame that fans couldn’t see the movie as it was originally written. “The movie we wrote was really operatic and crazy and bloody,” Marcus says. “You can’t imagine the amount of blood in this movie. We wrote a movie for the fanbase. It was really written because we’re fans. The problem is, a lot of times the things that we love the most are put in the hands of people who don’t give a shit about horror. Or worse, people were in it for a money grab, and they think of the audience as a bunch of teenage idiots. They want to slum, and that breaks my heart. The people who really love horror movies, you can always tell when they’ve made a movie versus the people who are pretending. We wrote a movie for the horror fans. We really did. We wrote a movie that had sharp teeth…”

“And it was like they made a movie that somebody had to gum,” Sullivan finishes. “We were steak, they were oatmeal.”


In wrapping up our conversation, the screenwriters offer their final thoughts on Texas Chainsaw 3D and the film that might have been. “Loved working with Lionsgate,” Sullivan says. “Really loved writing the movie. I’m a little disappointed with what it ended up being. And, you know, there’s nothing you can do about that in particular, other than collect the residuals every time a check comes in. It hurts a little less,” she laughs.

Marcus agrees. “You know, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was so much fun to write. We loved doing it, loved actually writing that movie. And while I think they made a really fun, truly entertaining slasher movie … I know what could have been. And as a fan, I wish I could sit and watch that movie.”

Very special thanks to Adam Marcus and Debra Sullivan for their time and insights.


This has been Larval Ink, a recurring feature which will take a look at the earliest iterations of certain genre films as they existed in their early scripting stage, long before the transformation which significantly changed the original vision into its final form for the silver screen. With these articles, we will be chatting with the writers of these initial eggs to gain their unique insights into their screenplays and the finished films they would eventually metamorphose into, and all the painful phases in between.

Texas-Chainsaw-3D

We wish to give thanks to the author of this write-up for this amazing web content

Orion Pictures Hosted a Pregnant Moms Screening of ‘The Prodigy’…and We Were There!

";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1645188636;}i:6;a:11:{s:5:"title";s:66:"Momo Movie From It Producer Roy Lee in the Works at Orion Pictures";s:4:"link";s:99:"https://firstmediamarketing.com/momo-movie-from-it-producer-roy-lee-in-the-works-at-orion-pictures/";s:2:"dc";a:1:{s:7:"creator";s:12:"Sally Scully";}s:7:"pubdate";s:31:"Fri, 18 Feb 2022 06:50:13 +0000";s:8:"category";s:62:"Movie Production CompaniesLeeMomomovieOrionPicturesProducerRoy";s:4:"guid";s:40:"https://firstmediamarketing.com/?p=16260";s:11:"description";s:664:"The horror movie will also be produced by Taka Ichise, who produced the original ‘Grudge’ and ‘Ringu’ films. If I was a studio executive tasked with launching a horror franchise, one of the first people I’d turn to would be Roy Lee, the It producer who was also responsible for Hollywood’s J-horror craze, having helped ... Read more";s:7:"content";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";s:12128:"

The horror movie will also be produced by Taka Ichise, who produced the original ‘Grudge’ and ‘Ringu’ films.


orion-logo

If I was a studio executive tasked with launching a horror franchise, one of the first people I’d turn to would be Roy Lee, the It producer who was also responsible for Hollywood’s J-horror craze, having helped Japanese producer Taka Ichise bring The Ring and The Grudge franchises to American audiences. Well, Orion Pictures is doing just that, as the studio behind the recent Child’s Play remake is partnering with Lee’s Vertigo Entertainment and Ichise to develop a movie based on the creepy viral sensation known as Momo.

Momo is actually a sculpture called “Mother Bird” that was part of a 2016 gallery exhibit in Tokyo for Japanese artist Keisuke Aisawa, whose piece was rooted in the legend of Ubume, a venomous, child-snatching bird of Japanese folklore.

COLLIDER VIDEO OF THE DAY

The Internet co-opted the sculpture’s bizarre visage and a viral hoax known as Momo’s Challenge was born. It involves a sordid game that encourages children to hurt themselves. Incidents involving young people in Scotland and Argentina were covered by local media as potentially Momo-related incidents, and Momo achieved full urban legend status after Kim Kardashian shared the image with her 145 million followers on Instagram.


the-ring-naomi-watts
Image via DreamWorks

Like I said, if anyone can pulls this off, it’s Lee, who has good taste in writers and filmmakers. If he and Ichise can find the right take, this could make some real money. Then again, it could also underperform like Slender Man, though I have a hard time believing it could turn out worse than that film, which boasts a 7% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.


The untitled Orion project, which will be overseen by Dan Kagan, isn’t the only Momo movie in the works, as the Momo Challenge is also said to be the inspiration for the upcoming indie horror movie Getaway starring Stef Beaton and Alex Brown.

Lee, who has It: Chapter Two opening in September, is represented by CAA, while Ichise is repped by UTA. Deadline broke the news.


roy-lee-momo-movie
Image via New Line/Warner Bros.

roy-lee-momo-movie
Image via Lions Gate Films


chasing-hillary-social
The Girls on the Bus’: Greg Berlanti and Julie Plec Set to Adapt ‘Chasing Hillary’ For HBO Max

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About The Author

Jeff Sneider
(1880 Articles Published)

Jeff Sneider is the Senior Film Reporter at Collider, where he breaks film and television news and curates the Up-and-Comer of the Month column in addition to hosting The Sneider Cut podcast and the awards-themed series For Your Consideration with Scott Mantz and Perri Nemiroff. A graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Jeff started his career at Ain’t It Cool News before moving to Los Angeles to write for Variety and later, TheWrap and Mashable. Jeff also served as Editor in Chief of The Tracking Board and has contributed to MTV Movies Blog, Hollywood Life magazine, Washington Square News and the Colorado Springs Independent. His Oscar picks have appeared on the LA Times’ Envelope site, and he agrees with screenwriter William Goldman who famously said of Hollywood, “nobody knows anything.” Jeff hails from Needham, Massachusetts and has never eaten a salad. He can be found on Twitter, Instagram, Cameo and Blogspot by searching his nom de plume @TheInSneider.

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From Jeff Sneider

We would love to thank the writer of this post for this incredible material

Momo Movie From It Producer Roy Lee in the Works at Orion Pictures

";}s:7:"summary";s:664:"The horror movie will also be produced by Taka Ichise, who produced the original ‘Grudge’ and ‘Ringu’ films. If I was a studio executive tasked with launching a horror franchise, one of the first people I’d turn to would be Roy Lee, the It producer who was also responsible for Hollywood’s J-horror craze, having helped ... Read more";s:12:"atom_content";s:12128:"

The horror movie will also be produced by Taka Ichise, who produced the original ‘Grudge’ and ‘Ringu’ films.


orion-logo

If I was a studio executive tasked with launching a horror franchise, one of the first people I’d turn to would be Roy Lee, the It producer who was also responsible for Hollywood’s J-horror craze, having helped Japanese producer Taka Ichise bring The Ring and The Grudge franchises to American audiences. Well, Orion Pictures is doing just that, as the studio behind the recent Child’s Play remake is partnering with Lee’s Vertigo Entertainment and Ichise to develop a movie based on the creepy viral sensation known as Momo.

Momo is actually a sculpture called “Mother Bird” that was part of a 2016 gallery exhibit in Tokyo for Japanese artist Keisuke Aisawa, whose piece was rooted in the legend of Ubume, a venomous, child-snatching bird of Japanese folklore.

COLLIDER VIDEO OF THE DAY

The Internet co-opted the sculpture’s bizarre visage and a viral hoax known as Momo’s Challenge was born. It involves a sordid game that encourages children to hurt themselves. Incidents involving young people in Scotland and Argentina were covered by local media as potentially Momo-related incidents, and Momo achieved full urban legend status after Kim Kardashian shared the image with her 145 million followers on Instagram.


the-ring-naomi-watts
Image via DreamWorks

Like I said, if anyone can pulls this off, it’s Lee, who has good taste in writers and filmmakers. If he and Ichise can find the right take, this could make some real money. Then again, it could also underperform like Slender Man, though I have a hard time believing it could turn out worse than that film, which boasts a 7% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.


The untitled Orion project, which will be overseen by Dan Kagan, isn’t the only Momo movie in the works, as the Momo Challenge is also said to be the inspiration for the upcoming indie horror movie Getaway starring Stef Beaton and Alex Brown.

Lee, who has It: Chapter Two opening in September, is represented by CAA, while Ichise is repped by UTA. Deadline broke the news.


roy-lee-momo-movie
Image via New Line/Warner Bros.

roy-lee-momo-movie
Image via Lions Gate Films


chasing-hillary-social
The Girls on the Bus’: Greg Berlanti and Julie Plec Set to Adapt ‘Chasing Hillary’ For HBO Max

This straight-to-series order is the latest comedic addition to HBO Max’s ever expanding lineup of content.

Read Next


About The Author

Jeff Sneider
(1880 Articles Published)

Jeff Sneider is the Senior Film Reporter at Collider, where he breaks film and television news and curates the Up-and-Comer of the Month column in addition to hosting The Sneider Cut podcast and the awards-themed series For Your Consideration with Scott Mantz and Perri Nemiroff. A graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Jeff started his career at Ain’t It Cool News before moving to Los Angeles to write for Variety and later, TheWrap and Mashable. Jeff also served as Editor in Chief of The Tracking Board and has contributed to MTV Movies Blog, Hollywood Life magazine, Washington Square News and the Colorado Springs Independent. His Oscar picks have appeared on the LA Times’ Envelope site, and he agrees with screenwriter William Goldman who famously said of Hollywood, “nobody knows anything.” Jeff hails from Needham, Massachusetts and has never eaten a salad. He can be found on Twitter, Instagram, Cameo and Blogspot by searching his nom de plume @TheInSneider.

More
From Jeff Sneider

We would love to thank the writer of this post for this incredible material

Momo Movie From It Producer Roy Lee in the Works at Orion Pictures

";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1645167013;}i:7;a:11:{s:5:"title";s:76:"Kirsten Dunst to Star in Alex Garland’s Action Epic ‘Civil War’ at A24";s:4:"link";s:100:"https://firstmediamarketing.com/kirsten-dunst-to-star-in-alex-garlands-action-epic-civil-war-at-a24/";s:2:"dc";a:1:{s:7:"creator";s:12:"Sally Scully";}s:7:"pubdate";s:31:"Fri, 18 Feb 2022 00:47:48 +0000";s:8:"category";s:75:"Movie Production CompaniesA24ActionAlexCivilDunstEpicGarlandsKirstenStarwar";s:4:"guid";s:40:"https://firstmediamarketing.com/?p=16169";s:11:"description";s:678:"After teaming for Academy Award winner “Ex Machina” and the upcoming project “Men,” A24 has announced Alex Garland’s latest movie, “Civil War.” Kirsten Dunst is set to star alongside Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson and Cailee Spaeny in the action film written and directed by Garland. Aside from the fact that the film is set ... Read more";s:7:"content";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";s:5343:"

After teaming for Academy Award winner “Ex Machina” and the upcoming project “Men,” A24 has announced Alex Garland’s latest movie, “Civil War.”

Kirsten Dunst is set to star alongside Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson and Cailee Spaeny in the action film written and directed by Garland. Aside from the fact that the film is set in a near future America, plot details are being kept under wraps.

In 2016, Garland received an Academy Award nomination for best original screenplay for “Ex Machina,” which also won an Oscar for achievement in visual effects. Garland followed the critically acclaimed movie with 2018’s “Annihilation” and the FX series “Devs.” His upcoming projects include “Men,” starring Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear, which A24 will release later this year.

A24 will handle the global release of the film and produce alongside Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich of DNA and Gregory Goodman. DNA previously teamed with Garland for “Ex Machina,” “Annihilation” and “Men.” Goodman’s past producing credits include “Three Kings,” “8 Mile,” “Captain Phillips” and “22 July.”

Dunst most recently earned a SAG award nomination for her critically acclaimed performance as Rose Gordon in Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog.” Over the course of her career, Dunst has given notable performances in award-winning films including “Interview With the Vampire,” “Drop Dead Gorgeous,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “Hidden Figures,” “Marie Antoinette,” “Melancholia,” the “Spider-Man” franchise and “The Virgin Suicides,” among many others. In 2016, she received a Primetime Emmy nomination for her role as Peggy Blumquist in “Fargo”.

Moura starred as Pablo Escobar on “Narcos,” for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe, and will next be seen opposite Elisabeth Moss in “The Shining Girls” for Apple TV Plus. He also wrote, directed and produced “Marighella,” which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival.

Earlier this year, Henderson starred in Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” and Halle Berry’s “Bruised” and he currently appears as a series regular on Garland’s “Devs” for FX. The actor’s prolific stage and screen resume includes “Lady Bird,” “Manchester by the Sea,” “The True Adventure of Wolfboy,” “Native Son,” “The Blacklist,” “Fear the Walking Dead,” “Run” and “Fences” (both the Paramount feature film directed by Denzel Washington and the 2010 Broadway revival of August Wilson’s play, for which he earned a Tony Award nomination). Henderson is also an OBIE Award and Lucille Lortel Award winner.

Spaeny most recently appeared in “Mare of Easttown,” with a list of credits including “On the Basis of Sex,” “Bad Times at the El Royale” and “How It Ends.” Spaeny will next be seen as Anna Eleanor Roosevelt in the upcoming series “The First Lady.”

Garland is represented by WME and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson & Christopher.

Dunst is represented by UTA, Management 360, and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller & Gellman, LLP; Moura is represented by WME, Black Rabbit Media, and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole; Henderson is represented by Stewart Talent and EKG Management; and Spaeny is represented by WME, Sugar23 and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller & Gellman.

Goodman is represented by ICM Partners.

Courtesy images / AP

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Kirsten Dunst to Star in Alex Garland’s Action Epic ‘Civil War’ at A24

";}s:7:"summary";s:678:"After teaming for Academy Award winner “Ex Machina” and the upcoming project “Men,” A24 has announced Alex Garland’s latest movie, “Civil War.” Kirsten Dunst is set to star alongside Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson and Cailee Spaeny in the action film written and directed by Garland. Aside from the fact that the film is set ... Read more";s:12:"atom_content";s:5343:"

After teaming for Academy Award winner “Ex Machina” and the upcoming project “Men,” A24 has announced Alex Garland’s latest movie, “Civil War.”

Kirsten Dunst is set to star alongside Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson and Cailee Spaeny in the action film written and directed by Garland. Aside from the fact that the film is set in a near future America, plot details are being kept under wraps.

In 2016, Garland received an Academy Award nomination for best original screenplay for “Ex Machina,” which also won an Oscar for achievement in visual effects. Garland followed the critically acclaimed movie with 2018’s “Annihilation” and the FX series “Devs.” His upcoming projects include “Men,” starring Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear, which A24 will release later this year.

A24 will handle the global release of the film and produce alongside Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich of DNA and Gregory Goodman. DNA previously teamed with Garland for “Ex Machina,” “Annihilation” and “Men.” Goodman’s past producing credits include “Three Kings,” “8 Mile,” “Captain Phillips” and “22 July.”

Dunst most recently earned a SAG award nomination for her critically acclaimed performance as Rose Gordon in Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog.” Over the course of her career, Dunst has given notable performances in award-winning films including “Interview With the Vampire,” “Drop Dead Gorgeous,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “Hidden Figures,” “Marie Antoinette,” “Melancholia,” the “Spider-Man” franchise and “The Virgin Suicides,” among many others. In 2016, she received a Primetime Emmy nomination for her role as Peggy Blumquist in “Fargo”.

Moura starred as Pablo Escobar on “Narcos,” for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe, and will next be seen opposite Elisabeth Moss in “The Shining Girls” for Apple TV Plus. He also wrote, directed and produced “Marighella,” which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival.

Earlier this year, Henderson starred in Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” and Halle Berry’s “Bruised” and he currently appears as a series regular on Garland’s “Devs” for FX. The actor’s prolific stage and screen resume includes “Lady Bird,” “Manchester by the Sea,” “The True Adventure of Wolfboy,” “Native Son,” “The Blacklist,” “Fear the Walking Dead,” “Run” and “Fences” (both the Paramount feature film directed by Denzel Washington and the 2010 Broadway revival of August Wilson’s play, for which he earned a Tony Award nomination). Henderson is also an OBIE Award and Lucille Lortel Award winner.

Spaeny most recently appeared in “Mare of Easttown,” with a list of credits including “On the Basis of Sex,” “Bad Times at the El Royale” and “How It Ends.” Spaeny will next be seen as Anna Eleanor Roosevelt in the upcoming series “The First Lady.”

Garland is represented by WME and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson & Christopher.

Dunst is represented by UTA, Management 360, and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller & Gellman, LLP; Moura is represented by WME, Black Rabbit Media, and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole; Henderson is represented by Stewart Talent and EKG Management; and Spaeny is represented by WME, Sugar23 and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller & Gellman.

Goodman is represented by ICM Partners.

Courtesy images / AP

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We wish to say thanks to the author of this write-up for this amazing web content

Kirsten Dunst to Star in Alex Garland’s Action Epic ‘Civil War’ at A24

";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1645145268;}i:8;a:11:{s:5:"title";s:59:"Vertical Entertainment Acquires Worldwide Rights to PAYBACK";s:4:"link";s:92:"https://firstmediamarketing.com/vertical-entertainment-acquires-worldwide-rights-to-payback/";s:2:"dc";a:1:{s:7:"creator";s:12:"Sally Scully";}s:7:"pubdate";s:31:"Thu, 17 Feb 2022 18:50:29 +0000";s:8:"category";s:77:"Movie Production CompaniesAcquiresentertainmentPAYBACKrightsVerticalWorldwide";s:4:"guid";s:40:"https://firstmediamarketing.com/?p=16130";s:11:"description";s:634:"Vertical Entertainment has acquired the worldwide rights to crime drama Payback. The film marks the feature debut of director Joseph Mensch. Starring Matt Levett (A Place To Call Home), Anna Baryshnikov (Manchester By the Sea), and Toby Leonard Moore (John Wick), the film follows a young stockbroker at a Mob-controlled Wall Street firm who gets ... Read more";s:7:"content";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";s:6055:"

Vertical Entertainment has acquired the worldwide rights to crime drama Payback. The film marks the feature debut of director Joseph Mensch. Starring Matt Levett (A Place To Call Home), Anna Baryshnikov (Manchester By the Sea), and Toby Leonard Moore (John Wick), the film follows a young stockbroker at a Mob-controlled Wall Street firm who gets betrayed and sent to prison for six years. When he gets out, his quest for vengeance makes him a target of the Russian mafia. Vertical plans an early 2021 release.

“We are honored and grateful to be working with Vertical, whose steadfast support of independent film is matched by their unique business savvy,” said Mensch. “Our movie is in good hands.”

The deal was negotiated by Peter Jarowey and Josh Spector at Vertical with Nate Bolotin of XYZ Films on behalf of the filmmakers.

Payback was directed by Joseph Mensch; written by Mensch and Metin Aksoy; produced by Adam Folk; cinematography by Ryan Samul; production design by Annie Simeone; costume design by Amit Gajwani; edited by Max Koepke; music by Jeff Grace. The film was produced by Mensch Productions and Bullet Pictures.

Vertical Entertainment is a global independent distributor that offers a unique combination of full-service marketing and sales services. Dedicated to providing highly-effective and collaborative solutions, Vertical leverages unparalleled relationships to maximize revenue across all streams. The marketing and sales expertise from Vertical’s seasoned team gives content partners a wealth of experience minus the studio costs.

Vertical won a Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress for Molly Shannon’s role in “Other People” and the film won a GLAAD Award for “Outstanding Film Limited Release” as well. Vertical also had four other Indie Spirit nominations – three more for “Other People” (Best Lead Actor for Jesse Plemons, and Best First Feature and Best First Screenplay for filmmaker Chris Kelly) and one for Best International Film for Babak Anvari’s “Under the Shadow,” which was also the official UK submission for the 2017 Oscars, in addition to winning one BAFTA Award and three British Independent Film Awards as well.

Upcoming Vertical releases include “The Informer” starring Joel Kinnaman, Rosamund Pike, Common, Clive Owen, and Ana de Armas; “Shadow in the Cloud” starring Chloe Grace Moretz and Nick Robinson; “The True Adventures of Wolfboy” starring Jaeden Martell and John Turturro; “Proxima” starring Eva Green and Matt Dillon; and “Skylin3s”, the third installment of the Skyline franchise. Other notable recent releases include “Miss Juneteenth”, the directorial debut of filmmaker Channing Godfrey Peoples starring Nicole Beharie, Kendrick Sampson, and Alexis Chikaeze; “Robin’s Wish”, the powerful true story of actor/comedian Robin Williams’ final days; “Yes, God, Yes” starring Natalia Dyer, Timothy Simons, Wolfgang Novogratz and Alisha Boe; “Then Came You” starring Kathie Lee Gifford, Craig Ferguson and Elizabeth Hurley; “Archive” starring Theo James and Stacy Martin; “A Nice Girl Like You” starring Lucy Hale, Jackie Cruz and Mindy Cohn; “Capone” starring Tom Hardy, Linda Cardellini, and Kyle Maclachlan; “Inheritance” starring Lily Collins, Simon Pegg, Chace Crawford and Connie Nielsen; “Human Capital” starring Liev Schreiber, Marisa Tomei, Peter Saarsgard and Maya Hawke, “Code 8” starring Stephen Amell, Robbie Amell, and Sung Kang, “Can You Keep A Secret?” starring Alexandra Daddario, Tyler Hoechlin and Laverne Cox, “American Woman” starring Sienna Miller, Aaron Paul and Christina Hendricks; “The Professor and the Madman” starring Mel Gibson, Sean Penn and Natalie Dormer “Drunk Parents” starring Alec Baldwin, Salma Hayek, Jim Gaffigan, Ben Platt and Joe Manganiello; “Lying and Stealing” starring Theo James and Emily Ratajkowski; Keith Behrman’s “Giant Little Ones” starring Josh Wiggins, Kyle Maclachlan, and Maria Bello; Rob Reiner’s “Shock and Awe” starring Woody Harrelson, James Marsden, Milla Jovovich, Jessica Biel, and Tommy Lee Jones; and Kevin Connolly’s “Gotti” starring John Travolta, Kelly Preston and Chris Mulkey.

We wish to thank the author of this write-up for this incredible content

Vertical Entertainment Acquires Worldwide Rights to PAYBACK

";}s:7:"summary";s:634:"Vertical Entertainment has acquired the worldwide rights to crime drama Payback. The film marks the feature debut of director Joseph Mensch. Starring Matt Levett (A Place To Call Home), Anna Baryshnikov (Manchester By the Sea), and Toby Leonard Moore (John Wick), the film follows a young stockbroker at a Mob-controlled Wall Street firm who gets ... Read more";s:12:"atom_content";s:6055:"

Vertical Entertainment has acquired the worldwide rights to crime drama Payback. The film marks the feature debut of director Joseph Mensch. Starring Matt Levett (A Place To Call Home), Anna Baryshnikov (Manchester By the Sea), and Toby Leonard Moore (John Wick), the film follows a young stockbroker at a Mob-controlled Wall Street firm who gets betrayed and sent to prison for six years. When he gets out, his quest for vengeance makes him a target of the Russian mafia. Vertical plans an early 2021 release.

“We are honored and grateful to be working with Vertical, whose steadfast support of independent film is matched by their unique business savvy,” said Mensch. “Our movie is in good hands.”

The deal was negotiated by Peter Jarowey and Josh Spector at Vertical with Nate Bolotin of XYZ Films on behalf of the filmmakers.

Payback was directed by Joseph Mensch; written by Mensch and Metin Aksoy; produced by Adam Folk; cinematography by Ryan Samul; production design by Annie Simeone; costume design by Amit Gajwani; edited by Max Koepke; music by Jeff Grace. The film was produced by Mensch Productions and Bullet Pictures.

Vertical Entertainment is a global independent distributor that offers a unique combination of full-service marketing and sales services. Dedicated to providing highly-effective and collaborative solutions, Vertical leverages unparalleled relationships to maximize revenue across all streams. The marketing and sales expertise from Vertical’s seasoned team gives content partners a wealth of experience minus the studio costs.

Vertical won a Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress for Molly Shannon’s role in “Other People” and the film won a GLAAD Award for “Outstanding Film Limited Release” as well. Vertical also had four other Indie Spirit nominations – three more for “Other People” (Best Lead Actor for Jesse Plemons, and Best First Feature and Best First Screenplay for filmmaker Chris Kelly) and one for Best International Film for Babak Anvari’s “Under the Shadow,” which was also the official UK submission for the 2017 Oscars, in addition to winning one BAFTA Award and three British Independent Film Awards as well.

Upcoming Vertical releases include “The Informer” starring Joel Kinnaman, Rosamund Pike, Common, Clive Owen, and Ana de Armas; “Shadow in the Cloud” starring Chloe Grace Moretz and Nick Robinson; “The True Adventures of Wolfboy” starring Jaeden Martell and John Turturro; “Proxima” starring Eva Green and Matt Dillon; and “Skylin3s”, the third installment of the Skyline franchise. Other notable recent releases include “Miss Juneteenth”, the directorial debut of filmmaker Channing Godfrey Peoples starring Nicole Beharie, Kendrick Sampson, and Alexis Chikaeze; “Robin’s Wish”, the powerful true story of actor/comedian Robin Williams’ final days; “Yes, God, Yes” starring Natalia Dyer, Timothy Simons, Wolfgang Novogratz and Alisha Boe; “Then Came You” starring Kathie Lee Gifford, Craig Ferguson and Elizabeth Hurley; “Archive” starring Theo James and Stacy Martin; “A Nice Girl Like You” starring Lucy Hale, Jackie Cruz and Mindy Cohn; “Capone” starring Tom Hardy, Linda Cardellini, and Kyle Maclachlan; “Inheritance” starring Lily Collins, Simon Pegg, Chace Crawford and Connie Nielsen; “Human Capital” starring Liev Schreiber, Marisa Tomei, Peter Saarsgard and Maya Hawke, “Code 8” starring Stephen Amell, Robbie Amell, and Sung Kang, “Can You Keep A Secret?” starring Alexandra Daddario, Tyler Hoechlin and Laverne Cox, “American Woman” starring Sienna Miller, Aaron Paul and Christina Hendricks; “The Professor and the Madman” starring Mel Gibson, Sean Penn and Natalie Dormer “Drunk Parents” starring Alec Baldwin, Salma Hayek, Jim Gaffigan, Ben Platt and Joe Manganiello; “Lying and Stealing” starring Theo James and Emily Ratajkowski; Keith Behrman’s “Giant Little Ones” starring Josh Wiggins, Kyle Maclachlan, and Maria Bello; Rob Reiner’s “Shock and Awe” starring Woody Harrelson, James Marsden, Milla Jovovich, Jessica Biel, and Tommy Lee Jones; and Kevin Connolly’s “Gotti” starring John Travolta, Kelly Preston and Chris Mulkey.

We wish to thank the author of this write-up for this incredible content

Vertical Entertainment Acquires Worldwide Rights to PAYBACK

";s:14:"date_timestamp";i:1645123829;}i:9;a:11:{s:5:"title";s:113:"Upstream to Host Featured Panel with Joel Madden, Beatclub, and BRON Studios at Benzinga’s NFT Listmakers Event";s:4:"link";s:141:"https://firstmediamarketing.com/upstream-to-host-featured-panel-with-joel-madden-beatclub-and-bron-studios-at-benzingas-nft-listmakers-event/";s:2:"dc";a:1:{s:7:"creator";s:12:"Sally Scully";}s:7:"pubdate";s:31:"Thu, 17 Feb 2022 12:46:16 +0000";s:8:"category";s:107:"Movie Production CompaniesBeatclubBenzingasBronEventFeaturedhostJoelListmakersMaddenNFTpanelStudiosUpstream";s:4:"guid";s:40:"https://firstmediamarketing.com/?p=16045";s:11:"description";s:819:"Participants to Experience Free NFT Airdrop Powered by Upstream During Virtual Event NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / February 16, 2022 / Upstream, the digital stock exchange and trading app powered by Horizon Fintex (Horizon) and MERJ Exchange Limited, announced today that it will host the featured panel at Benzinga’s NFT Listmaker’s virtual event February ... Read more";s:7:"content";a:1:{s:7:"encoded";s:10143:"

Participants to Experience Free NFT Airdrop Powered by Upstream During Virtual Event

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / February 16, 2022 / Upstream, the digital stock exchange and trading app powered by Horizon Fintex (Horizon) and MERJ Exchange Limited, announced today that it will host the featured panel at Benzinga’s NFT Listmaker’s virtual event February 23, 2022 at 10:20am EST. The panel: “Music and Film Using NFTs to Drive Future of Fan Engagement” includes Joel Madden, Singer from Good Charlotte and Founder of Veeps; Gary Marella, CEO and Co-Founder of Beatclub; Aaron L. Gilbert, Chairman and CEO of BRON Media Corp.; and Mark Elenowitz, Co-Founder of Upstream and Horizon.

Upstream will also be powering the NFT Airdrop taking place during the virtual event, releasing 50 free Benzinga NFTs valued at $2500 which are redeemable for a VIP Pass at the Benzinga Trading Festival June 2022 in Las Vegas, NV. Interested participants can get prepared by downloading Upstream and creating an account ahead of the event. The code to claim an NFT will be revealed on Benzinga’s YouTube channel broadcast and on Upstream’s Discord server: https://discord.gg/sbZ3XjxzQR at 11:00am EST.

“Integrating NFTs with music and film represents a revolutionary next step to empower creators and bring more immersive fan engagement experiences to fans,” says Gary Marella, CEO and Co-Founder of Beatclub. “In this exclusive panel, we’ll explore this new frontier with those at the forefront of this digital revolution.”

“We are thrilled to host the featured panel at the NFT Listmaker’s event and power the event’s NFT Airdrop,” says Upstream Co-Founder and Horizon President Mark Elenowitz. “NFT Listmakers is recognizing all the major players in the NFT industry and Upstream is proud to showcase how NFTs are becoming more streamlined and accessible to the masses with no third-party integrations, no gas fees charged to users, and next gen. investor protections.”

Benzinga’s NFT Listmakers event brings together major NFT contributors including top NFT exchanges such as Crypto.com, Dapper Labs, OpenSea; top NFT promoters Gary Vee/VaynerNFT, Hunter Orrell, and Ja Rule; and top NFT projects including Axie Infinity, Timbaland’s Beatclub platform, CryptoPunks, etc. Upstream’s thought leadership panel will explore how the music and film industries are using NFTs to drive fan engagement and what it means for Web 3.0.

The free event will be broadcasted on Benzinga’s YouTube channel starting at 9:00am EST.

Visit https://www.benzinga.com/events/listmakers/#guests for more details. Interested attendees may submit questions ahead of the event using the link above. Join Upstream’s Discord server for more NFT Airdrop details and instructions on how to create an account. Parties interested in hosting an NFT Airdrop on Upstream can reach the team at hello@upstream.exchange.

About Benzinga:

Recognized as one of the fastest-growing private companies in America, Benzinga is a holistic solution for high-quality, low-cost, timely content. The firm’s core product portfolio consists of newswires, analytics software and data services that are easy to consume and help users better act on market intelligence.

In helping investors achieve the next stage of their growth, as well as promote innovation across all spaces, Benzinga also hosts thought leadership, networking and educational events.

About Upstream:

Upstream, a MERJ Exchange Market, is a fully regulated global stock exchange for digital securities. Powered by Horizon’s proprietary matching engine technology, the exchange will enable investors to trade NFTs, shares in IPOs, crowdfunded companies, U.S. & Int’l. equities, and celebrity ventures directly from the app: https://upstream.exchange. Interested issuers can reach the team at hello@upstream.exchange.

About MERJ:

MERJ Exchange (MERJ) operates Upstream as a fully regulated and licensed integrated securities exchange, clearing system and depository for digital and non-digital securities. MERJ is an affiliate of the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE), recognized by HM Revenue and Customs UK, a full member of the Association of National Numbering Agencies (ANNA) and a Qualifying Foreign Exchange for OTC Markets in the US. MERJ is also a member of the Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative.

About Horizon:

Horizon is a fintech company that builds and powers global securities exchanges with an integrated suite of software for compliant issuance, management, and secondary trading of securities. Our in-house solutions combine Wall Street and Silicon Valley to power the next generation of securities offerings and trading in the U.S. and globally. Learn more at https://www.horizonfintex.com/.

Press Contacts:
Ali Adkins
Wachsman
ali.adkins@wachsman.com

Disclaimers:

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell securities or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction where such offer or solicitation is not permitted. U.S. investors are not permitted to trade in upstream listed securities. U.S. and Canadian citizens will only be able to trade in a security they currently own that has listed on upstream for liquidation only.

Upstream is a MERJ Exchange market. MERJ Exchange is a licensed Securities Exchange, an affiliate of the World Federation of Exchanges and full member of ANNA. MERJ supports global issuers of traditional and digital securities through the entire asset life cycle from issuance to trading, clearing, settlement and registry. It operates a fair and transparent marketplace in line with international best practice and principles of operations of financial markets. Upstream does not endorse or recommend any public or private securities bought or sold on its app. Upstream does not offer investment advice or recommendations of any kind. All services offered by Upstream are intended for self-directed clients who make their own investment decisions without aid or assistance from Upstream. All customers are subject to the rules and regulations of their jurisdiction. By accessing the site or app, you agreed to be bound by its terms of use and privacy policy. Company and security listings on Upstream are only suitable for investors who are familiar with and willing to accept the high risk associated with speculative investments, often in early and development stage companies. There can be no assurance the valuation of any particular company’s securities is accurate or in agreement with the market or industry comparative valuations. Investors must be able to afford market volatility and afford the loss of their investment. Companies listed on Upstream are subject to significant ongoing corporate obligations including, but not limited to disclosure, filings and notification requirements, as well compliance with applicable quantitative and qualitative listing standards.

SOURCE: Horizon Globex GmbH

View source version on accesswire.com:
https://www.accesswire.com/688990/Upstream-to-Host-Featured-Panel-with-Joel-Madden-Beatclub-and-BRON-Studios-at-Benzingas-NFT-Listmakers-Event

We would love to say thanks to the writer of this short article for this amazing material

Upstream to Host Featured Panel with Joel Madden, Beatclub, and BRON Studios at Benzinga’s NFT Listmakers Event

";}s:7:"summary";s:819:"Participants to Experience Free NFT Airdrop Powered by Upstream During Virtual Event NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / February 16, 2022 / Upstream, the digital stock exchange and trading app powered by Horizon Fintex (Horizon) and MERJ Exchange Limited, announced today that it will host the featured panel at Benzinga’s NFT Listmaker’s virtual event February ... Read more";s:12:"atom_content";s:10143:"

Participants to Experience Free NFT Airdrop Powered by Upstream During Virtual Event

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / February 16, 2022 / Upstream, the digital stock exchange and trading app powered by Horizon Fintex (Horizon) and MERJ Exchange Limited, announced today that it will host the featured panel at Benzinga’s NFT Listmaker’s virtual event February 23, 2022 at 10:20am EST. The panel: “Music and Film Using NFTs to Drive Future of Fan Engagement” includes Joel Madden, Singer from Good Charlotte and Founder of Veeps; Gary Marella, CEO and Co-Founder of Beatclub; Aaron L. Gilbert, Chairman and CEO of BRON Media Corp.; and Mark Elenowitz, Co-Founder of Upstream and Horizon.

Upstream will also be powering the NFT Airdrop taking place during the virtual event, releasing 50 free Benzinga NFTs valued at $2500 which are redeemable for a VIP Pass at the Benzinga Trading Festival June 2022 in Las Vegas, NV. Interested participants can get prepared by downloading Upstream and creating an account ahead of the event. The code to claim an NFT will be revealed on Benzinga’s YouTube channel broadcast and on Upstream’s Discord server: https://discord.gg/sbZ3XjxzQR at 11:00am EST.

“Integrating NFTs with music and film represents a revolutionary next step to empower creators and bring more immersive fan engagement experiences to fans,” says Gary Marella, CEO and Co-Founder of Beatclub. “In this exclusive panel, we’ll explore this new frontier with those at the forefront of this digital revolution.”

“We are thrilled to host the featured panel at the NFT Listmaker’s event and power the event’s NFT Airdrop,” says Upstream Co-Founder and Horizon President Mark Elenowitz. “NFT Listmakers is recognizing all the major players in the NFT industry and Upstream is proud to showcase how NFTs are becoming more streamlined and accessible to the masses with no third-party integrations, no gas fees charged to users, and next gen. investor protections.”

Benzinga’s NFT Listmakers event brings together major NFT contributors including top NFT exchanges such as Crypto.com, Dapper Labs, OpenSea; top NFT promoters Gary Vee/VaynerNFT, Hunter Orrell, and Ja Rule; and top NFT projects including Axie Infinity, Timbaland’s Beatclub platform, CryptoPunks, etc. Upstream’s thought leadership panel will explore how the music and film industries are using NFTs to drive fan engagement and what it means for Web 3.0.

The free event will be broadcasted on Benzinga’s YouTube channel starting at 9:00am EST.

Visit https://www.benzinga.com/events/listmakers/#guests for more details. Interested attendees may submit questions ahead of the event using the link above. Join Upstream’s Discord server for more NFT Airdrop details and instructions on how to create an account. Parties interested in hosting an NFT Airdrop on Upstream can reach the team at hello@upstream.exchange.

About Benzinga:

Recognized as one of the fastest-growing private companies in America, Benzinga is a holistic solution for high-quality, low-cost, timely content. The firm’s core product portfolio consists of newswires, analytics software and data services that are easy to consume and help users better act on market intelligence.

In helping investors achieve the next stage of their growth, as well as promote innovation across all spaces, Benzinga also hosts thought leadership, networking and educational events.

About Upstream:

Upstream, a MERJ Exchange Market, is a fully regulated global stock exchange for digital securities. Powered by Horizon’s proprietary matching engine technology, the exchange will enable investors to trade NFTs, shares in IPOs, crowdfunded companies, U.S. & Int’l. equities, and celebrity ventures directly from the app: https://upstream.exchange. Interested issuers can reach the team at hello@upstream.exchange.

About MERJ:

MERJ Exchange (MERJ) operates Upstream as a fully regulated and licensed integrated securities exchange, clearing system and depository for digital and non-digital securities. MERJ is an affiliate of the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE), recognized by HM Revenue and Customs UK, a full member of the Association of National Numbering Agencies (ANNA) and a Qualifying Foreign Exchange for OTC Markets in the US. MERJ is also a member of the Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative.

About Horizon:

Horizon is a fintech company that builds and powers global securities exchanges with an integrated suite of software for compliant issuance, management, and secondary trading of securities. Our in-house solutions combine Wall Street and Silicon Valley to power the next generation of securities offerings and trading in the U.S. and globally. Learn more at https://www.horizonfintex.com/.

Press Contacts:
Ali Adkins
Wachsman
ali.adkins@wachsman.com

Disclaimers:

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell securities or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction where such offer or solicitation is not permitted. U.S. investors are not permitted to trade in upstream listed securities. U.S. and Canadian citizens will only be able to trade in a security they currently own that has listed on upstream for liquidation only.

Upstream is a MERJ Exchange market. MERJ Exchange is a licensed Securities Exchange, an affiliate of the World Federation of Exchanges and full member of ANNA. MERJ supports global issuers of traditional and digital securities through the entire asset life cycle from issuance to trading, clearing, settlement and registry. It operates a fair and transparent marketplace in line with international best practice and principles of operations of financial markets. Upstream does not endorse or recommend any public or private securities bought or sold on its app. Upstream does not offer investment advice or recommendations of any kind. All services offered by Upstream are intended for self-directed clients who make their own investment decisions without aid or assistance from Upstream. All customers are subject to the rules and regulations of their jurisdiction. By accessing the site or app, you agreed to be bound by its terms of use and privacy policy. Company and security listings on Upstream are only suitable for investors who are familiar with and willing to accept the high risk associated with speculative investments, often in early and development stage companies. There can be no assurance the valuation of any particular company’s securities is accurate or in agreement with the market or industry comparative valuations. Investors must be able to afford market volatility and afford the loss of their investment. Companies listed on Upstream are subject to significant ongoing corporate obligations including, but not limited to disclosure, filings and notification requirements, as well compliance with applicable quantitative and qualitative listing standards.

SOURCE: Horizon Globex GmbH

View source version on accesswire.com:
https://www.accesswire.com/688990/Upstream-to-Host-Featured-Panel-with-Joel-Madden-Beatclub-and-BRON-Studios-at-Benzingas-NFT-Listmakers-Event

We would love to say thanks to the writer of this short article for this amazing material

Upstream to Host Featured Panel with Joel Madden, Beatclub, and BRON Studios at Benzinga’s NFT Listmakers Event

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