Zak Forsman
Major Contributor
Making DOWN AND DANGEROUS
I have been developing a new crime thriller this spring/summer, with an eye on shooting it this fall. The impetus was two-fold -- to get the ball rolling on something, as I haven't directed a feature since October of 2007. That was a film titled Heart of Now that we are currently negotiating with a domestic (us/canada) distributor on and expect it to be available everywhere within six months. The experience of making that film, a drama, was an immense education. First, I learned the lesson of what an uphill battle it is to market a drama. But more importantly, making it taught me a lot about working with actors and gave me some valuable experience in helping the cast deliver authentic performances. Which leads me to the "second fold" -- to marry this level of authenticity to a genre picture.
My dad, for a brief time between 1970 and 1972, was a cocaine smuggler. There was a book written about his adventures called Snowblind. He worked very closely with the author and it is considered one of the seminal works of the cocaine trade. Hunter S. Thompson praised it as "A flat-out ballbuster. It moves like a threshing machine with a fuel tank full of ether." And while this is not an adaptation of Snowblind in any way, the stories my father shared with me over the years are an important source of inspiration for the movie I want to make.
I've been writing for several months and have found tremendous guidance from William Martell and his action screenwriting series of blue books. Highly recommended. Probably the best advice on screenwriting I've ever come across as he doesn't push a formula, just good principles and solid fundamentals. I expect to be finished with the screenplay by the end of July, reserving August for some polishing.
In the lead, I've cast an actor I've worked with several times before. John T. Woods. I was asked recently at a film festival why I work with him so often and I hadn't thought about it until then, but it occurred to me that John and I share a certain wavelength. We think in the same way, and it's as close as I can get to putting myself up there on the screen. He's a tremendous talent, an award-winning actor and eager to dig deep and go balls out for this role. We meet regularly to discuss the character, his relationships, what he's up against, as well as wardrobe, props, etc.
Below is the first draft of the poster, which will certainly change and become more refined over time. I'm only posting it this early so I can share the tone we're going for. The tag line is inspired, again, by something my dad said. Looking forward to sharing more from the coming days, weeks and months.
3. They all have ENERGY. In all three movies the heroes had their moments of quiet reflection, but what audiences really look forward to is the storm after the calm.
