16 April: More From Killer
Even though I’ve been here only a short time, it’s pretty clear to me that Killer Films is a diverse company. We are working on everything from biopics to horror films to quirky comedies.
The project that I’ve spent a lot of time on lately is Kill Your Darlings, a script by first time director John Krokidas. It’s a story of a violent crime that started the beginning of the Beat Generation. Ginsberg, Kerouac and Burroughs – three great writers – help a friend cover up a murder during their time at College. Kill Your Darlings variety press release.
It’s a great moody noir piece that will start shooting in the next few months. I’ve been helping sort out casting, and so far have confirmed Jesse Eisenberg as Ginsberg, Chris Evans as Kerouac and Ben Whishaw as their friend Lucien Carr.
I’m still compiling casting lists for the supporting actors and sending them off to the director to look over. It’s an interesting project to see from such close proximity – especially with a young first time director much like myself at the helm.
Speaking of first-time director’s – Killers new film Gigantic has just opened. The story revolves around Brian, (Paul Dano) a young salesman at a high-end Swedish mattress company, who is searching for his place in the world. Unfulfilled by his work he spends a good portion of his day pursuing his goal of someday adopting a baby from China. He gets swept up in a romance with the lovely but misguided Harriet (Zooey Deschanel) when she comes in to his store one day and falls asleep on one of the beds. To win her over, he must compete with her bear of a father, Al Lolly, (John Goodman) an art-collecting loudmouth with a bad back and deep pockets. Gigantic is a funny, 
quirky love story about two awkward strangers trying to connect with each other despite their eccentric families.
In other words – it’s good.
The afterparty was held in the Penthouse of the Coopers Square Building in 
Soho. Tall, new and unstable, it was genuinely scary being that high up on a windy night. Paul Dano, the star of the film, was there with director Matt Aselton as well as our own Christine Vachon.
It was a great night, but the moment the wind picked up, it felt like a sequel to Towering Inferno. Glasses, hats and loose scarves all went sailing over the edge and into the night.
But it’s not all parties and film stars – there’s also hard work to be done. That’s why the very next day I was out in Union Square (one of the busiest hubs of New York) handing out flyers for Gigantic with the rest of the Killer team. We braved fierce winds and grumpy locals to help push our film out to the masses.
The line that seemed to have the best effect was “feel good movie of the 
summer,” although the near zero temperature probably didn’t help our pitch.
Another project that I’ve been helping with is the merger between Killer Films and Massify, a Facebook styled networking site for the film industry.
It’s essentially a big pitching competition for up and coming film-makers, overseen by Killer’s staff. The winner wins a short film budget of $25,000 US but also establishes a relationship with Killer.
People log in and start a profile, and pitch their ideas for scripts to potential actors and crew. Killer then narrows down the pool to a shortlist and finally decide on one project to make. It would be great to have something like this NZ. Needless to say, I’ll be watching and reading a lot for the next few weeks in order to narrow down our final selections…
…and I’ll also be shooting a short promo video for the Massify and Killer release.
So it seems like my skills are all being used appropriately over here – helping with scripts, shooting promos, giving ideas for casting…and of course handing out flyers.
Diverse, indeed.
