Thursday, October 13, 2011

On the Beat with The Show and Matt Russell-Part 2

Yesterday, I posted the first part of my Q&A with Matt Russell, the creative force behind The Show. Below is the second part of my Q&A with Matt.

Q-What role does PJ Soles have, and how did she become involved?
MR-PJ will be playing the integral role of the protagonist's mother. She and I first met in the summer of 2003 at a horror convention in Chicago where she was a guest of honor, and I was just a 17-year-old kid in the crowd. We got to chatting and she really liked me for some reason, so she gave me her e-mail address, and we kept in touch for the next five years. She was nice enough to read my early screenplays, called me every year on Halloween night, and at one point was even going to fly to Chicago on her own dollar to appear in a student film of mine, but her schedule didn't align. When I finally moved out to Los Angeles in 2008, we became a lot closer, and she went to bat for me on several occasions to get me some writing gigs, including one instance where she insisted I be brought on to write her segment of an upcoming horror anthology that she was asked to direct. When I decided that I was finally going to make THE SHOW, there was no question who I was going to approach for this important role.
PJ is one of the sweetest, kindest--and needless to say--most beautiful people I've ever known. She's selfless, charming, loyal, funny, and she has that infectious laugh that anyone who's seen HALLOWEEN and STRIPES knows exactly what I'm talking about. She's also one of the best people to have in your corner because when she believes in you, she's a constant strong wind in your sails and always the first person to promote you to anyone who will listen. I'm blessed to have her as a friend, and I can't wait for us to finally get to work together.

Q-Is anyone else involved at this point?
MR-My friends from high school, James Babiarz and Brian Palmert--producers of the fine short film THE EXEMPTION OF HUNTER RILEY, which played at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival--will be producing alongside me, but there is currently no one else cast at the moment aside from PJ. We're still in the early stages of pre-production so we haven't begun actively casting just yet. The crew will mostly consist of close friends, but I am also pursuing a few people whom I've been hoping to work with for a long time. They've expressed interest, but nothing has been set in stone.

Q-What is a rough time table for THE SHOW?
MR-We're aiming to have the film completed by mid-next year at the latest. I have a particular festival I'm aiming for, but I'd rather not say it when we're this early in pre-production.  As we build up to production, we're really looking to involve the fans with its creation. We'll be launching our Kickstarter campaign soon, complete with some interesting rewards for anyone who donates, and we'll have a lot of fun updates and goodies for people to enjoy throughout the creative process!

I hope you have enjoyed learning about The Show.  I also hope you have gone to TheShoemovie.comThe Show's Facebook page and "liked" it and have started "following" The Show on Twitter.

3 comments:

Ritchie said...

I am intrigued.

Novi Nick said...

Interesting answers. I'll be looking for this.

Joe J. said...

Very interesting.