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Armen Evrensel sci-fi comedy begins shooting in Saskatchewan

Kevin Ritchie - Playback Online — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 15:06:00 -0800

Principal photography on writer/director Armen Evrensel’s comic sci-fi feature film Space Milkshake began this week in Saskatchewan, the province’s film commission, SaskFilm, announced on Tuesday.

The film, produced by Rob Merilees of Vancouver’s Foundation Features, Holly Baird and Shane Putzlocher of Regina-based Trilight Entertainment, and Robin Dunne, is about four blue collar astronauts that become trapped on a sanitation station and fall prey to a maniacal mutant rubber duck after all life on earth mysteriously vanishes.

It stars Billy Boyd (Lord of the Rings), Kristin Kreuk (Smallville), Amanda Tapping (Stargate) and Robin Dunne (Sanctuary).

The shoot is taking place in Regina’s Canada Saskatchewan Production Studios from Nov. 14 to Dec.3.

It is being financed by Telefilm Canada, the SaskFilm Equity Investment Program, the Saskatchewan Film Employment Tax Credit, The Movie Network, Movie Central and SPACE. Executive producers are Tim Brown, Amanda Tapping, Billy Boyd and Kristin Kreuk.

Creative Impulse, Foundation Features, and Paul Shull to Create Rock 'N Roll Graphic Novel - "Mr. Butterscotch"

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 14:54:00 -0700

October 15, 2011 - New York Comic Con: Comic book transmedia company Creative Impulse Entertainment (CIE), film and television production company Foundation Features, and rock 'n roll talent manager Paul Shull, announce a graphic novel based on the upcoming television series, "Mr. Butterscotch", following the adventures of Shull as he travels the globe dealing with his collective of rock stars.

Foundation Features' Executive in Charge of Television Rob LaBelle comments, "Foundation Features couldn't be more thrilled about teaming up with CIE to turn Mr. Butterscotch into a kick-ass graphic novel. Butterscotch’s real life already plays out like a graphic novel, so this is really a perfect opportunity for us. And CIE's the absolute best there is so Butterscotch couldn’t be in better hands. We’re currently producing the TV series Mr. Butterscotch, a reality-doc series following the maniacal adventures of Mr. Butterscotch, the wildly charismatic, heavily inked madman as he pursues the biggest game of all, the wild rock star. Butterscotch travels the world hanging with rock’s royalty and uses the tips and leads he gets from industry friends and music business insiders to propel his quest to find the next rock superstars. And as the bad ass, sword fighting superhero in his own graphic novel, Butterscotch will take it all to the next level of insanity. The Butterscotch graphic novel is an incredible compliment to the TV series. It’s a dynamic and unique approach to building a fan base in anticipation of the series as well as demonstrating the depth and richness of the Butterscotch brand."

Paul Shull adds, "The new partnership between Creative Impulse Entertainment and Foundation Features to make a graphic novel about me is quite possibly the worst thing that could happen to my ego."

CIE CEO Jan Lucanus continues, "The 'Mr. Butterscotch' project will be a game changer for comic books and transmedia integration. We're all pretty stoked on this one!"

CIE's flagship comic book, "JFH: Justice-For-Hire" has become one of the most downloaded martial arts comic books on the world's leading digital comic book store, Comics by ComiXology™. Foundation Features production credits include "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus", "Altitude", and the rock 'n roll feature-documentary"Hard Core Logo 2". Paul Shull has worked with a slew of musical talent, including the Foo Fighters, MIA, and Robbie Williams.

For more information, go to www.CreativeImpulseEnt.com and www.FoundationFeatures.com

Canadian Punk Rises From The Dead

Lynn Crosbie - Globe and Mail — Fri, 27 May 2011 09:00:00 -0700

Last week and slightly beyond, in a series of small, dark venues, Canadian punk was dragged out from its burial place and praised.

Toronto indie bar The Garrison saw the launch of Dirty, Drunk and Punk, a lavish visual/text study of Toronto’s punk band BFG and its still-smashing leader, Steve Goof. Author Daniel Jones’s great punk novella 1978, reissued by Three O’Clock Press, was feted in Parkdale bar-restaurant Parts and Labour’s basement, along with Jones’s vile and luminous poetry collection The Brave Never Write Poetry, recently rereleased by Coach House Press. And last Tuesday night, Hard Core Logo II was quietly screened for film promoters, cast and crew members at The Royal cinema on College Street.

A small group of movie advertising strategists sat eating popcorn among the chipped-plaster goddesses in the blood-red room, waiting for what should surely be the Canadian movie event of the fall. (A commercial release date has not yet been set.)

Having been screened just once, to rave reviews, in Whistler, B.C., last December, the buzz about Hard Core Logo II is still slowly gathering momentum. The original 1996 mockumentary was director Bruce McDonald’s biggest commercial and artistic success, appearing in all taxonomies of classic or great Canadian films.

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Victoria Film Festival Reviews

Michael D. Reid — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 09:00:00 -0800

HARDCORE LOGO 2

RATING: 4

Toronto filmmaker Bruce McDonald is "caught inside my own frame," as his fictional self says in his dizzyingly absurd and at times, unexpectedly tender followup to his 1996 cult hit, a quasi-documentary about a legendary Vancouver punk band's disastrous comeback tour. In wisely opting not to repeat themselves, McDonald and co-writer David Griffith have triumphed with a vastly different and more stationary animal, yet his cheekiness and flair for inspired juxtapositions is intact as he references the original. This time out, McDonald increases the profile of his alter-ego, the filmmaker who returns to Canada after a lucrative Hollywood career. His new mission takes McDonald and a Wiccan video artist to a Saskatchewan dance hall where Bucky Haight, the original's cadaverous punk legend, is producing an album for punk band Die Mannequin's lead singer Care Failure, who resembles a cross between Courtney Love and Catherine O'Hara and claims she's inhabited by the spirit of Joe Dick, the rocker who committed suicide in the original. This brilliantly edited film is at once contemplative and an over-the-top rush with a killer soundtrack. Just don't expect a carbon copy of the original.

Click here to see full review>>

Hard Core Logo II - Whistler Film Festival 2010 (World Premiere)

Andrew Long — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 04:50:00 -0800

More than a decade after filming the final reunion tour of legendary (and fictional) Canadian punk band Hard Core Logo, filmmaker Bruce McDonald (again played with remarkable authenticity by... Bruce McDonald) remains disturbed by the swift and ugly death of the band's volatile lead singer, Joe Dick (Hugh Dillon in his first film role). When McDonald's vastly lucrative Hollywood career (as with the first Hard Core Logo, we're clearly in an alternate universe) takes a sudden dive, he can no longer contain his inquietude. It is then that the singer of punk band Die Mannequin, Care Failure (played wildly over the top and/or or dead straight by... yes, Care Failure of Die Mannequin) claims to be possessed by the spirit of Joe Dick, and McDonald sallies forth with a Wiccan video artist in search of the truth; in search of peace of mind; in search of a bad hangover, and a mid-life crisis babe, and unusual wildlife.

The original Hard Core Logo is hallowed ground in Canadian cinema, boldly stylistic, darkly funny, and so unrepentantly in-your-face that many of us could hardly believe it was a Canadian film at the time: but above all, it's honest. To call it a mockumentary is a misleading convenience; it's really a hilarious punk tragedy with a documentary conceit. Few films have ever galvanized my attention the way HCL did in the mid-nineties. Accordingly, this is essentially The Empire Strikes Back for my adult life. Like Empire, I've waited a significant percentage of my life to date from original to sequel, and like Empire, the sequel is a more brooding film and leaves us sensing a vastly more complicated world. Does Hard Core Logo II live up to the original? Absolutely, though they're rather different films. If the original HCL is an amphetamine-fueled street fighter trying to punch through your face to get to your brain, HCL II is a self-effacing, philosophical assassin, humbly and genially clowning around in front of you for your pleasure, and deftly screwing on the silencer when you turn your back. McDonald gets great effect using personal footage and facts about his real family to counterweight the comical absurdities of his fictional self. Die Mannequin's tunes keep the adrenaline pumping, and like Dillon, Failure has a furious presence. The edit is razor sharp. David Griffith and McDonald's screenplay meshes beautifully with the original film while still accomplishing something completely different. If there's one more HCL film out there in the ether to make it a trilogy, I'll be thrilled again. Hell, if McDonald makes a prequel trilogy, I'll probably love those, too.

Click here to see full review>>

Filmmakers gain Altitude

The Vancouver Sun — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 14:00:00 -0700

By Michael D. Reid, Postmedia News

Thriller seems to be natural fit for Victoria-born siblings

Thirteen years after the Birkett brothers left Victoria to pursue their dream of making a seven-digit feature film together, their moviemaking careers are soaring with a project they've tried to get off the ground for years.
Ian Birkett, the resourceful producer, and his brother Paul A. Birkett, the prolific screenwriter, are flying high with the Alliance Films release of their supernatural thriller Altitude on DVD and Blu-ray across Canada this week and on Oct. 26 in the U.S.

The film stars Jessica Lowndes, the B.C.-born star of the CW's 90210, as a rookie pilot whose twin-engined plane begins to malfunction and rapidly climbs out of control during a freak storm while she's taking four teenage friends out of town.

It culminates in an airborne showdown with what appears to be a deadly supernatural force.

The $3.6-million thriller seems a natural fit for the Victoria-born siblings who, going back to their days as students at Hillcrest Elementary, Arbutus Junior Secondary and Mount Douglas High, have had a voracious appetite for genre movies.

First-time feature director Kaare Andrews and his cast shot the thriller in three weeks in a minivan-sized replica of a light plane mounted on a gimbal on a Vancouver sound stage.

Click here to view full article at vancouversun.com>>

Foundation Features in First Look with D Films

Screen Daily — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 15:00:00 -0700

Canadian companies announce first-look development deal.

Canadian distributor D Films has signed an exclusive first-look development deal with Vancouver-based producers Rob Merilees’ and Dave Valleau’s Foundation Features, it was announced today by Jim Sherry, president and CEO of D Films.

The long-term development deal will allow Foundation Features to develop projects with top writing and directing talent.

Voted Canadian Producer of the Year by the Canadian Film and Television Producers Association in 2008, Rob Merilees recently created Foundation with partner Dave Valleau (a producer on Capote), a company comprised of the former Infinity Features team which collaborated on dozens of acclaimed feature projects, including Capote, The Snow Walker, and Stone of Destiny.

Valleau was also an executive producer on The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus and Shattered.

>>Click here to see full article

Hopkins & Hoffman To Sing A "Song"

Dark Horizons — Sun, 16 May 2010 15:00:00 -0700

Anthony Hopkins and Dustin Hoffman are set to headline the drama "The Song of Names" for Feel Films, Egoli Tossell and Foundation Features says The Hollywood Reporter.

Based on Norman Lebrecht's award-winning novel, the story follows two young Jewish men - one a Brit and the other a Polish violin prodigy, the later vanishing on the eve of his international debut. Four decades on, the Brit gets a clue as to the other man's fate and the mystery begins to unravel.

Vadim Perelman ("House of Sand and Fog") directs from a script by Jeffrey Caine ("The Constant Gardener").

Nick Hirschkorn, Jens Meurer and Dave Valleau will produce while James Horner composes the score.

>>Click here to see full article

Just Friends paved the way for future productions

By The Leader-Post — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 09:00:00 -0800

When Just Friends was released in 2005, it was the first hit feature film commissioned by a major studio and filmed in Saskatchewan -- representing a key moment in the evolution of the province's growing film industry.

Starring well-known actors Ryan Reynolds, Amy Smart, Anna Faris and Chris Klein, and set over the holidays in a New Jersey suburb, Just Friends presented producer Rob Merilees with the perfect project to bring to Saskatchewan.

Merilees, then with Infinity Features in Vancouver, had been meeting frequently with Susanne Bell and Valerie Creighton of SaskFilm, and liked what they had to say about the benefits of shooting in Saskatchewan.

"They'd been telling me all about Saskatchewan; the amazing tax incentives, the new stages that had been built, and how they could service a production. I was very interested in working with them, and had been looking for a project that would suit the setting."

Just Friends came to Infinity through New Line Cinema, and the decision was made to co-finance the project. In discussions with director, Roger Kumble, Merilees suggested Saskatchewan as a potential stand-in for New Jersey during the wintry Christmas season.

"Saskatchewan is the perfect place for that," said Merilees. "We came out and scouted the area, and once we determined that we could get everything we needed, both creatively and financially, the decision was made."

Shooting took place over February and March of 2005 at a number of different locations in and around both Moose Jaw and Regina.

The biggest challenge, however, proved to be the weather. "We got caught in a real cold snap -- I think it was around -55 with the windchill. We had blizzards and cables snapping and all of that crazy cold-weather stuff."

The results were worth the effort, said Merilees. "What we ended up getting was a look you just can't get anywhere else, where it's very cold but with that bright, beautiful light and sunshine that you only get in Saskatchewan. It suited the movie really well, and worked perfectly as a stand-in for New Jersey."

"I loved shooting there. It's a totally different experience than you get anywhere else, but it's a great one."

>>Click here to see full article

Foundation Features looks back on Infinity

The Vancouver Sun — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 18:10:00 -0700

Just a few months ago, Rob Merilees and Dave Valleau were executives and partners at Vancouver film production company Infinity Features, carrying on the work of their late mentor, William Vince.

Today they head a new company, Foundation Features, which on Monday began shooting its first feature film, Altitude. And while Merilees and Valleau have embarked in a new direction, Bill Vince is still a guiding light to both of them.

"We felt we were going in separate directions," says Merilees of their split with Infinity. "This is a new start, a new day, and we like to think that this is what Bill would have liked us to do, reinvent ourselves, since we did that a few times with Bill."

Vince's legacy permeates much of what Merilees and Valleau hope to do with Foundation, from his "never give up" mantra and firm decision-making to his belief that the film business should be fun.

Foundation's office in Chinatown is just blocks from Infinity's digs. All seven people who work at Foundation came from the film and television production side of Infinity, and Foundation will continue on in the direction that Vince, who died last June, had set for his partners: a mix of film and television projects; co-productions with other countries; and stories that have international appeal.

"We're just continuing on what we started with Infinity, trying to make high-quality, high-profile theatrical films and television shows that will last and stand the test of time," says Merilees.

Valleau stresses that while Canadian projects will be important, international appeal is a priority.

"We won't be limited to the Canadian-content films," says Valleau. "We're making films for the world market."

Read the complete article at The Vancouver Sun.