INDIE MOVIEMAKER RICHARD CHANDLER WRAPS UP PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY FOR “GILGAMESH”
Boston, Massachusetts – Indie filmmaker Richard Chandler confirmed his latest full-length feature, GILGAMESH, has finished principal photography.
He expects the post-production phase will take at least seven months to complete due in part to the wealth of footage that he shot as well as the enormous amount of CGI that will be utilized by his visual effects supervisor Simon Hannon.
GILGAMESH had been shot in Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. It is already listed on the IMDb – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2323804/combined – and is expected to have its world premiere either at the end of 2013 or the beginning of 2014.
“We live in crazy times,” mused Chandler. “I figured why not make a movie about it?”
Produced, written, directed, edited, and starring Chandler himself, GILGAMESH is a mixed genre movie that contains an unusual hybrid of Sci-Fi, fantasy, horror, exploitation, and political thriller. It stars Joe Gannascoli (“Vito” from THE SOPRANOS) and cult horror sensation Melantha Blackthorne (the title character in the TV show COUNTESS BATHORIA’S GRAVEYARD PICTURE SHOW).
Also starring in the movie are Josh Davis, Emily Coleman, Oselito Joseph, Jon Pierce, Ray Hryb, Emilie Faith Lewis, Carver Riot, Peter Morse, Giancarlo Madonnini, Joe Victor, James Baker, Matt Colicci, Lilith Astaroth, Sarah Michelle, and dozens more.
Told in flashback-style, US Senator Higgins (Gannascoli) interrogates imprisoned archeologist David Murphy (Davis) in order to learn how Murphy and his wife Kristen (Blackthorne) were involved in an expedition that may have accidentally freed from her ancient prison Inanna (Coleman), the Sumerian goddess of lust and war.
While Inanna plots to destroy earth using a giant meteor to collide into the planet, the American President (Morse) and his military men (Pierce, Madonnini, and Victor) hope to utilize Inanna as a weapon of mass destruction. However a violent communist take-over of the US government, led by Special Agent Lars (Chandler) and his ally Angela Kozlov (Riot), complicates the government’s goal to exploit Inanna.
As chaos ensues, the ancient god Gilgamesh (Joseph) ponders whether or not he will act as mankind’s last best hope to save humanity from its rendezvous with annihilation.
The Boston-based auteur felt the moment was right to unleash his vision of cultural chaos upon an unsuspecting public even though he spent a few years developing the material.
“The first draft of the script was a lot longer,” he conceded. “I had to cut a lot out just to make it economically feasible.” Chandler raised over $5,000.00 through a successful Kickstarter campaign, which supplemented funds he himself had laid out for the project.
The crew for the dystopian drama is comprised of some familiar faces that have previously worked under Chandler’s shingle, Boston Film Family, LLC. Long time collaborators Steve Sandberg, Todd Therrien, and Richard Chandler Sr (Chandler’s father) worked as, respectively, Associate Producer/Production Manager, First Assistant Director, and Second Assistant Director/Soundman.
New to the team were Director of Photography Andrew Zubatkin and Line Producer Angel Connell. Justin Briggs was responsible for practical (on-set) special effects.
GILGAMESH will be Chandler’s sixth full-length feature. The native New Englander’s previous feature credits include SCROOGE IN THE HOOD (2011), HEAVEN AND HELL (2010), LEGLESS (2010), OUR KINGDOM COME (2007), and SONS OF PERDITION (2007). Chandler also created a locally produced, hyper-violent, web-based TV series called BOSTON MASSACRE that ran for one season.
Anyone interested in becoming a fan of the movie can either “like” its IMDb page after clicking the following link – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2323804/combined – or “like” its Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Boston-Film-Family-LLC/195491153798914 – or “like” both pages at the same time.