Features alum, Larry Blamire dropped me a note to give a heads up on some cool news:

DARK AND STORMY NIGHT, our 1930s old dark house murder mystery spoof, is going before the cameras June 9th (with lens caps off and everything...and real film in the camera--only it isn't, it's HD). Now one of the things I'm most excited about here is that the amazing Bob Burns (yes BOB BURNS) is dusting off the old gorilla suit to do a cameo. How excited am I about that? Have you seen the Ghost Busters TV show? Do you marvel at how dang outright hilarious anyone can be under all that hair and suit and hair? And what's cool is, Bob's just as excited as we are. He told me one thing he always wanted to do was play the gorilla in an old dark house movie. Well, doesn't this work out nicely. I am most happy about this.

Bob's rounding out a great cast--many of them the usual suspects. There always seemed to be four main categories in these victims-gathered-on-a-nasty-night scenarios. First, nosy protagonists like Danny Roebuck and Jen "Animala" Blaire who play competing reporters, with Dan Conroy as the hapless cabby in tow who brought them out to the gloomy Cavinder estate. You've of course got the greedy gathered heirs drooling over the will, like Brian Howe, Fay Masterson, James Karen, Andy Parks, Jim Beaver and Christine Romeo. Then there's the my-car-broke-down-can-I-stay-the-night kind of saps--in this case medium Alison Martin, idiot me, and racketeer Kevin Quinn. Then there's the lurking help as I like to call it; cockney maid Trish Geiger, suspicious butler Bruce French, and deeply disturbed cook Bob Deveau.

And there are cameos by lovely Betty Garrett, alternate cop/heavy character actor Tom Reese and the most excellently funny Marvin Kaplan. And of course we have to have an unctuous lawyer, played here by actor-writer-director Mark Redfield, which just gives me a chance to use the word unctuous. H.M. Wynant shows up looking for an escaped mental patient. Susan McConnell's in this too, but she's in her own category that I can't divulge under pain of death (or death of pain--something like that).

The set by production designer Tony Tremblay (check the imdb) is a knockout--this is a complete soundstage mansion I tell you--it's like a freakin' maze in there. Costumes by Kristin Burke and Kristina West are authentic and real and vintage and wonderfully good in ways that are positive. Music by Christopher Caliendo who knows more notes than practically anyone I know. Producer Sara Van der Voort is producing in ways that haven't been produced before. And to top it off, ace DP A.J. Rickert-Epstein is shooting on one of the original HD cameras from the 1930s--think of it! And you know how big those suckers were.

Add thunder and lightning, a hooded phantom, sliding panels, secret passageways, a missing letter, lots of murders and what do you have? Why, the movie we're making of course. What a coincidence! Should be ripping good fun what? And I swear I am not biased in any way as writer-director and have absolutely no vested interest in saying this. It'll be great. Really.


(production painting by Tony Tremblay)

Labels: Larry Blamire