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Now updated with an exclusive audio interview with director Jim Mickle.You want an intriguing collision of talent seemingly tailor made for us here at ScreenAnarchy? Well, here one is for you.
Jim Mickle has long been a favorite here at ScreenAnarchy, his debut feature
Mulberry Street being a surprising little overachiever of a picture while we publicly declared his 2010 reunion with writing partner and star Nick Damici the best American horror film of the year. Winning the Midnight Madness award at the Toronto International Film Festival certainly helped make that argument.
The Mickle / Damici combo is one of the most vital in American genre film today, the duo tapping into a very gritty, 70's indie vibe in their work. We've been anxiously awaiting whatever the duo would do next from the moment that
Stake Land's closing credits finished scrolling up the screen and up until very recently it appeared that the next project was going to be the long talked about adaptation of Joe R Lansdale's
Cold In July.
But the Mickle / Damici combo is only one end of the collision we're talking about here. At the other end is Mexico's Jorge Michel Grau.
Grau made his feature debut in Cannes of 2010 with the gritty cannibal film
Somos Lo Que Hay (
We Are What We Are). Made as part of a film-school backed program that finances the debut feature for one of their alumni with the crew made up of current students
We Are What We Are - like Mickle's work - functions best when it imbues its harshest genre elements with an unflinching realism. And while Mickle was winning the top genre prize in Toronto, Grau's film was busy taking the top award at Fantastic Fest.
Having had the chance to spend time with both Mickle and Grau I feel quite comfortable saying that the two are kindred spirits, not just in terms of filmmaking style but also in personality. they'd like each other rather a lot if they had the chance to hang out and now they're going to because it has just been announced at the European Film Market that Jim Mickle is going to direct an English language version of
We Are What We Are.
"We're not going to fuck this up," says Mickle. "I just finished a first draft of it with Nick Damici, and we're taking it in a very cool new direction that I'm quite stoked about. I'm not usually a fan of international "remakes", but this one has so many possibilities for trying out new ideas while honoring the Mexican film, and hopefully creating something that can play hand in hand with Jorge's film. I'm hoping it can also bring awareness to the original and not aim to make it obsolete as a lot of retreads wind up doing. Couldn't be happier with what we have so far! Think
Winter's Bone with cannibals..."
If you're wondering what this means for
Cold In July, fret not. That's still gearing up to go as well but with the cast not available until late in 2012 the goal is to shoot
We Are What We Are first - photography is currently scheduled to begin in June - and then roll directly into
Cold In July.
Memento Films will be launching international sales for Mickle's
We Are What We Are at the European Film Market. Uncorked Productions' Andrew D. Corkin (MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE, AFTER SCHOOL) and Rodrigo Bellott (SEXUAL DEPENDENCY) will produce alongside MFI's Nicholas Shumaker (ANOTHER EARTH, ME @THE ZOO) and Belladonna Productions' Linda Moran and Rene Bastian, who produced Mickle's first two films. MFI's Nicholas Kaiser will co-produce. Development was financed by newly minted shingle The Zoo, headed by financiers Brett Fitzgerald, Mo Noorali, and industry vet Jack Turner.
Updated - 2/11/2012
Click below for a quick interview with director
Jim Mickle hot off the press, in which the burgeoning genre director talks to
TWITCH about his upcoming version of
WE ARE WHAT WE ARE with
Sean Smithson.
For more with
Mickle, listen to the
THE NIGHT CREW's all-STAKE LAND episode, with
Jim Mickle, writer/star
Nick Damici, and cast members
Connor Paolo, Danielle Harris, Sean Nelson, and
Michael Cerveris right
HERE.
