MUTANTVILLE.COM

Johnny Brento’s JuJu – Black Magic

Black Magic - Jeremy Mullis's First Film Project

This week I thought I’d take the opportunity to promote an upcoming project for my friend, bandmate and fellow MVP’r, Jeremy Mullis. About 8 months ago Jeremy shared his first attempt at short film with me, shot on an extremely low res camera and loosely edited. He called it, “Black Magic.” Even with the technical limitations, I found the concept interesting and encouraged Jeremy to expand the story beyond a single character in the original and to put it into proper script format. In short, he’s done that and is ready to put the people and resource together to shoot the film.

Speaking of the high concept, here it is. A young man, seeking to become powerful & rich, obtains an ancient demonic manuscript and attempts to summon a hellish demon to do his biding.  He gets more than he’s bargaining for.

Here’s where you come in. So here are the facts as I know them. The film will require a cast of 3 actors and as many crew members as we can find to lend a hand. Two males & one female who can portray 17 – 22. The shoot should entail a single Saturday or Sunday once the locations are secure. The casting will be via individual reads either. This would be a no budget project, so there would be no pay to any participants, but you would be helping out an awesome guy who’s always been quick to help out on all of our projects.

As of now there’s no schedule as the final tweaks are still being put on the script. Jeremy hopes to shoot within the next few months. If you are interested in being a part of “Black Magic” either as an actor or a crew member, shoot Jeremy Mullis via facebook.

Hopefully, you all will have another rocking MVP week!

Jeremy Mullis aka The Ground Breaker Zombie from G.H.O.S.T.

5 Networking Tips for Independent Filmmakers

Streebo with actors Kathy and Jeremy!

This week I wanted to talk about something that I think some filmmakers miss out on. Networking! Unlike what some people think…it’s not synonymous with butt kissing. I think it is very important to get out and meet your peers. I spoke about this some in my last blog post about supporting other filmmakers. Meeting other filmmakers, supporting them, learning from each other can be very valuable. This is where helping others can also help you as well. If you volunteer on another set and see some equipment used you may not have used before or see a cool thing done behind the scenes or meet someone you become friends with or find new actors to work with, it’s worth it.

Networking has really helped us spread our circle of friends. We now know lots of actors, producers, directors, crew, editors, etc… Here are a few tips to assist you on your journey! After the tips I’ll discuss where to use them.

Check them out after the leap!
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The Blair Witch Project (1999)

The Blair Witch Project Poster

The Blair Witch Project is the focus of Classics Corner this week. If you’re not familiar with The Blair Witch Project then I’d have to say…WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? It’s about 3 film students that visit Maryland to make a film about a local legend. They went into the woods (never a good idea) to look for the Blair Witch (oddly enough not that girl from the Facts of Life). They never came back. So a year later the footage was found and compiled and made into a movie.

One thing I like a lot about this movie is how it was marketed. It was genius. I ran into people for years that argued that it was real. Of course these people should go look up the actors online and see that they acted in other movies after they “died.” For most people this is pretty tough. This film had a ton of buzz around it when it was released. According to IMDB, the estimated budget was $60,000 and it grossed $248,639,099 world wide…which I’d say is a pretty good return on investment.

The Blair Witch Project was produced by Haxan Films. The film was directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, who wrote the film as well. The film stars Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard and Michael Williams.

Learn more, see the trailer, clips, interviews, etc… when you click the “continue reading…” link!
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MVP Announces Cast for “Indigo Child”

We are pleased to announce that “Indigo Child” is Cast

Father Connor McLennan – Matthew Ewald

Matthew Ewald

Matthew Ewald will lead our ensemble cast in the role of Father Connor McLennan. A veteran actor with a great deal of experience and a veritable ton of charisma, MVP is thrilled to once again host Mr. Ewald in a Mutantville production. Experience has shown his  professionalism and preparation to be absolutely second to none.

Anna Bartlet – Vanessa Ore

Vanessa Ore

We’re thrilled to have Vanessa Ore portraying Anna Barlet, the nurturing mother of the Indigo Child from the title. Vanessa has appeared in many  feature films  as well as local and national commercials.

Amelia Bartlet – Kayli M. Tolleson

Kayli Tolleson

It’s a great boon to our project to once again have the talented Kayli Tolleson on board as Amelia Bartlet – The Indigo Child.

Sheriff Carl Kimrey – Steven Tucker

Steven Tucker

Steven Tucker has been a primary Mutantville Player for several years now. He brings a ton of enthusiasm for each role that comes his way and is a real boost to the entire cast. We look forward to another brilliant performance from Mr. Tucker as Carl Kimrey.

We are fortunate to have found an amazing supporting cast in the follow roles:

Judy Bartlet will be portrayed by Tina Short

Russel Bartlet will be portrayed by  Eric Cook

Joe Farmer will be portrayed by Jason Wheeley

Beth Farmer will be portrayed by Jackie Wheeley

Zoe Farmer will be portrayed by Cori Wheeley

I am very excited to work with such an incredible group of actors. It’s going to be tremendous fun bringing “Indigo Child” to life with you all in October.

Brent Bowers

Writer/Director
Indigo Child

MVP Announces Cast for “Scarecrow At Midnight”!

Mutantville Productions is proud to announce the spectacular cast that we have signed to bring you the Scarecrow At Midnight portion of the Tales From Mutantville anthology.  We have an amazing line up of actors from far and near coming to join us at the Myers House NC this October as we bring this little tale of Halloween terror to life!

Be sure to follow our progress on the Facebook fanpage for Tales From Mutantville!  And don’t forget to hit the “like” button for everything you see!

Katie Bearden leads the way as “Sonia Ward”.

The amazing Matthew Ewald will visit North Carolina once again as he  gives life to the role of “Sawbones”.

Michael Sharpe joins MVP at long last to bring the role of “Daniel” to villainous life.

Janice Wyatt will play the mother of our young heroine as “Sarah Ward”.

Jeremy Bonham lends his talents to cast as he plays the brother “Charlie Ward”.

Local maestro Tommy Allen Taylor joins the cast as “Grandpa Derby”.

Young ingenue Meghan King will play the part of “Young Sarah”.

Seamstress turned actress Angela Pritchett will play the part of “Megan”.

Stuntman and all around badass Coty Galloway will play the part of “Robert”.

We will have a nice tribute to the our location at the Spookhouse as Tara-Nicole Azarian will reprise her role from the amazing Halloween tribute film “Judith” as the “Trick-or-treater”.

Jack-of-all-trades Michael Ruff will join the cast as the stunt double for “Sawbones”.

Thank you all for joining us on what is sure to be an amazing adventure.  Welcome to the Mutantville Player’s Club.

G.H.O.S.T. Team Gets Back To Where They Once Belonged!

Mutantville Productions is headed back to the set this week as the new shooting schedule for “G.H.O.S.T.” begins in earnest!  Principle photography was completed in November, pick ups were filmed over December, and the first assembly was completed over the winter holiday.   After the first cut came in at a healthy 47 minute run time  – producers Brent Bowers, Geo Blalock and writer/director J.T. McRoberts decided to invest in shooting some new scenes to expand the short film into a full length feature.  After weeks of heavy work on the script for new scenes – the pieces are set in motion and MVP is on it’s way back to the set.

This week – we stop at a local bookstore where the fans will have a chance to meet and greet the one and only G.B. Cunningham from “G.H.O.S.T. “  Actors Dave Tunik and Davis Osborne are excited to head back to the set to bring the new scene to life.   Filming on these additional scenes will continue through the few months and is expected to conclude in April.  Keep watching Mutantville.com for your up to the minute MVP news!

Script For G.H.O.S.T. Is All But Finished!

We’ve had another busy weekend at the offices of Mutantville.com this past week. Since we finished the first cut of G.H.O.S.T. at the beginning of January – we’ve been working feverishly to complete the script for new scenes and contact all of our principle players about the possibility of returning to shoot more scenes. We are happy to announce that the entire cast has agreed to return to shoot new scenes. We’ve been lining up locations, working out new ideas and continuing with the post-production process on the visual FX of G.H.O.S.T.

Writer/director J.T. McRoberts has been working hard on the script for the new scenes and will soon send it out to the actors. He states that while the new script is all but finished – there are still one or two lines of dialogue that would – as Mark Borchardt might say -“make the pope weep” so he’s trying to iron those rough spots out first. McRoberts states “I always want my scripts to knock your you-know-what in the dirt – so there’s never a rush even when we’re pressed for time.  I promise this is the final revision.  It’s go time.  We’re eager to get everyone back in front of the camera.”

Be on the look out for another edition of On The Red Carpet with Catherine Trail and Charlotte Web Video. Mutantville’s own Streebo , Geo Swanko and actor Jack Stecher were on hand to talk to Catherine about the progress of G.H.O.S.T. and the upcoming projects at Mutantville.com.  Look for the video to be posted soon courtesy of Charlotte Web Video.

Big things lay ahead for Mutantville in the coming month. The first official G.H.O.S.T. t-shirt will soon be made available to the cast and crew.  More details on that soon.  Be sure to keep checking back as we update you on the progress of ABOMINATIONS from Image Impact Group and take you to see limited screenings of The Howling.  Be with us as we howl for the premiere of The Wolfman and come along for the ride as we give you a guided tour of the upcoming Horrorhound convention in Indianapolis featuring the screening of NIGHTBREED uncut!

Phew! All this and 2010 is just barely getting started.

The Return of Dr. Saw Bones – FX Pickup Shooting for G.H.O.S.T.

Todd A. Britt, resident makeup guru and spiritual leader of the Mutantville makeup department has a set of appliances he enjoys torturing me with. They were originally created for a rather involved vampire makeup from a previous project. When used by themselves they tend to make me look like an exaggerated Jay Leno or perhaps Bette Midler’s Winifred ‘Winnie’ Sanderson from Hocus Pocus, ie a big warted nosed witch. Ever since I knocked out a large chunk of oone of his front teeth in C For Chaos, Todd has been looking for the right opportunity to strike can. This weekend he found it.

Now typically ole Johnny B stays behind the camera unless the role calls for some danger stunts we don’t want to endanger our actors with or an uncomfortable mask. That said, I felt like Todd has really pulled it together for this project despite a shaky start and was obliged to indulge him with this character makeup.

Now this time he wanted me to shave my beard only on the chin, Liev Schreiber style, which I did. The idea was for the chin appliance to fit on the clean shaven area. Unfortunately, someone’s math was off with the shaving which was expanding twice. Ultimately Todd decided that I’d survived latex directly on the edge of my remaining beard line. Sweet mother was this painful to get off, that is if you consider having your beard plucked one hair at a time painful. There was also some lovely latex in the nostril.

By now it should comes as no surprise to anyone that it was an amazingly successful shoot. We this unbelievable cast of giving artists we really can’t go wrong. It’s gratifying to see some of the cast proper, coming back to lend a hand on the pickup shoots or fill a role as an extra in disguise. We also made a few new friends who just found there way to the magical kingdom of Mutantville.

It was cold and a bit uncomfortable but once again everyone pulled together and we made our day. Todd A. Britt and Sylvia Burris provided some rather remarkable battle damaged makeups which I wish I could share. At last, we can’t let that cat of the bag just yet. I have posted some snaps on the Face Book gallery so be sure to swing by and check those out.

Remember this above all else Mutantville Players, Johnny Brento loves ya!

THE DIG: Much Ado About Roger Corman's Oscar

From The Dig by J. Riddle:  Roger Corman has been called a lot of things. Shrewd. Miserly. Maverick. He’s been given titles like King of the Cult Film, King of the B-Movies, and the Pope of Pop Cinema. The last is probably the most appropriate, and not just because it sounds cool and Corman says he likes it. For over 50 years, Corman’s particular breed of low-budget, action-oriented, socially conscious exploitation fare has graced the cinema, to the persistent delight of audiences and, in turn, to his significant profit. He’s brought his talents to bear on every genre under the sun, and has even invented a few of his own. He has a finely-tuned eye for talent–it’s only a little exaggeration to say it would be easier to list the big name Hollywood directors, writers, actors of recent decades who didn’t get their start with Corman than those who did.

Read the rest of the article at J. Riddle’s blog:

via THE DIG: Much Ado About Roger Corman’s Oscar.

Christopher Lee Knighted!

Legendary actor Christopher Lee is now a Sir – he was officially knighted by British royal Prince Charles on Friday.

The 87-year-old star, famed for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer horror movies, was honoured by the Prince of Wales for his services to drama and charity.

Lee is one of the U.K.’s most prolific actors with roles in 1973′s The Wicker Man, 1974 Bond movie The Man With The Golden Gun, and more recently appearing in the new Star Wars films and the Lord Of The Rings trilogy.

Rocker Joe Brown was also presented with an MBE (Member of the British Empire) for his contribution to music during the ceremony in London. »

via Christopher Lee Knighted.