Sharks, cat people and more
Drac Studios is gearing up for a busy 2010. The FX shop behind Watchmen, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Trailer Park of Terror has a number of projects hitting the screen, hopefully, this year including the creature bonanzas Night of the Demons and Dead of Night.
Their upcoming slate doesn’t stop there, however. Drac’s Todd Tucker tells us there are a number of films they’re in pre-production on. “There’s a shark film, there’s another one that’s a cat person sort of film, then there’s an alien movie. A lot of creature-heavy stuff.”
That shark film is Dead in the Water, directed by Rob Walker and written by Si Dunn. “Right now we’re looking at only doing the FX,” Tucker says. “They asked us to produce, but we haven’t signed any deals yet.” Dead in the Water will be shot in New Orleans with the help of Drac’s new division in the area. “What we’ve done is set up an entity in New Orleans so we can turn around and do, not only our own projects when it applies to New Orleans, but also be able to help and utilize the tax incentives for going there. There are a couple of different companies we’ve hooked up with that will be doing films down there for the next couple of years.”
As for the aforementioned “cat person” film, Tucker can’t divulge what project that is, but we speculate it is Anthony Hickox’s Catwalk – a picture we first sniffed out in 2008. After all, it’s a Seven Arts production and Drac worked with that company on Night of the Demons. “I’m not sure I’m allowed to [confirm],” Tucker teases. “But that would make sense.”
Presently, Tucker is trying to find a home for his family creature feature Monster Mutt. Tucker directed the film and Drac, naturally, provided its beasts. “It ended up going extremely well. It’s all done and we had a screening last week with different distributors and we’re getting offers. The buzz is so good, we want to have another screening for the heads of theatrical and then see if anyone’s interested in that. If not, we’ll have another screening for television distributors and, at the least, get that kind of deal with a kick-ass DVD and worldwide distribution deal.â
“It’s FX-heavy, but I tried to do E.T. and The Mask,” he adds. “It’s a real Spielberg/family âkids try to hide something’ storyline with comedy. Our bad guy is morphing into a monster throughout the movie and winds up fighting up the Monster Mutt. FX-wise we have the Monster Mutt which is a huge creature suit with extensions and four puppeteers. We have a monster bunny, a puppet, a monster puppy and a monster bad guy who is Zack Ward wearing a head-to-toe creature suit.”
Tucker, a fan of Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal and Legend, wants to direct more family fare “utilizing the soul of puppetry” much like the stuff he grew up on. “There’s no one doing that. Where the Wild Things Are kind of did it, but it was so weird. For me, personally, the old Spielberg movies are the reason I’m here.”
Source: Ryan Rotten, Managing Editor
