Starring Stahl, Kirshner & Sawa
A week and a half out from the end of principal photography, executive producer Vincenzo Natali gave Shock Till You Drop a call to discuss the nature of 388 Arletta Avenue, a new thriller we learned about at the American Film Market this year that has attracted the cast Nick Stahl, Mia Kirshner and Devon Sawa.
Canadian filmmaker Randall Cole (Real Time) is directing, and in a press release sent out earlier this month, he said little about the film other than: â388 Arletta Avenue plays with the notion that if you could scratch to beneath the surface of what most supposedly ordinary people present to the world, and even to themselves, you would find very interesting and possibly very dark things. If exploited, some of those things could even result in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse, as it does for our lead character.â
Natali, who directed this yearâs Splice, was kind enough to offer some more details in his own cryptic way, further heightening our curiosity for the film.
Shock Till You Drop: Youâve worn a lot of hats throughout your career, now youâre executive producing. What prompted you to get behind this project?
Vincenzo Natali: Itâs a very luxurious thing to be an executive producer. [laughs] I donât do much, this is really director Randall Coleâs movie and, in my own way, Iâm there to help facilitate his vision. Frankly, he doesnât need much help. He wrote a great script. Itâs conceptually pretty wild and very beautifully constructed. Iâm on hand when needed and I try to stay out of the way.
Shock: How were you first introduced to Cole?
Natali: I knew his work and he had approached my producing partner Steve Hoban. But I had not met Randall before this project. I knew him through other people. He had gone to the Canadian Film Center in Toronto, where I had gone. I heard good things and they proved to be right.
Shock: Thereâs very little being said about the plot of the film. So what can you tell us?
Natali: [laughs] Hereâs what Iâll say. Itâs very Hitchcockian. Itâs a film largely themed from a single individualâs perspective. Itâs a beautifully constructed suspense story thatâs very psychological. Itâs scary, but very smart. Itâs existential in its own way, dealing with voyeurism, and notions that technology is changing our perception of ourselves and how we interact with people, in a visceral way. I really think itâs great. It combines things that are new with classic notions of great suspense and drama.
Shock: After some of the things you pulled off in Splice, I think itâs safe to say that some people see you as a dangerous director. Someone whoâs not afraid to push buttons. Does 388 Arletta similarly explore taboo boundaries?
Natali: I think so, because of the nature of the story, which I canât divulge at this moment. Like all of my films, itâs an experiment. When we read the script, we loved it. But we knew making the film had a certain level of risk to it, because it hadnât been done. We werenât certain if it would work, but that excited us. Weâre so inundated with the same old thing, so we knew we should go for this. Itâs also an affordable film. The truth is, the film marketplace is so polarized. You can only make films that are either really big or really small. Our film is being made at a modest price. It shouldnât be a big film anyway. Itâs aesthetic is defined by the budget and vice versa.
Shock: Are there any similarities between 388 Arletta and the film youâre in development on, the adaptation of J.G. Ballardâs High Rise?
Natali: Absolutely. I really love the script. It takes the idea of a script that I had been toying with for years and had never been clever enough to work into a three act structure and makes it work as a movie. Itâs a vicarious way to enter into a project Iâd like to see. Itâs something I feel very comfortable associating myself with. Having said that, itâs 100% Randallâs film and his own identity. The way heâs shooting it is very much on the cutting edge. Theyâre using these Canon cameras that are extraordinary and they can shoot five cameras at a time.
Shock: Does this film already have a release date or home?
Natali: No, we intentionally are making the film without a domestic distributor. We sold to some international territories, but we intentionally held off on approaching the U.S. Weâre only in the business of making movies for theatrical, so we have a lot of confidence that can happen.
Shock: Now, how about yourself? Besides executive producing this film, whatâs the latest on your own potential directing projects?
Natali: Iâm in my laboratory right now working on a number of things. Things are moving along, let me put it that way. Neuromancer, Tunnels and High Rise are all moving along, itâs just a question of who decides to push the button first.
Source: Ryan Turek, Managing Editor
