MOPE: Vanishing Angle Picks up International Sales For Lucas Heyne's Sundance Selection

... it tells the story not only of one of the darker corners of a strange industry, but about self-awareness, acceptance, the refusal to give up or give in, and how more often than not we are the demons that live inside us.

 

...this incredibly strange but impossibly true story, giving us a deeply uncomfortable but absolutely compelling story, never holding back from the discomfort, and giving his lead actors the room to be both larger-than-life and honest to their characters and their bizarre actions, right down to the horrifying conclusion that you can’t turn away from.

Vanishing Angle, the L.A.-based production studio, sales company, and distributor, has acquired foreign sales rights for Lucas Heyne’s Sundance selection MOPE following the film’s European premiere at the prestigious Sitges Film Festival in Spain. 

 

Vanishing Angle previously made waves for their path-paving release of Jim Cummings’ indie break-out THUNDER ROAD (SXSW Grand Jury Prize 2018), which also launched the studio’s international sales division. Vanishing Angle has consistently challenged the market to support visionary projects and creatives. Other recent projects include Patrick Wang’s A BREAD FACTORY Part 1 & 2 (Indie Spirit Nominee 2018) and Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe’s GREENER GRASS (in theaters Oct 18).

 

“Mope is such a carefully crafted project from conception through execution. The team found ways to make a salacious true story come back to life through collaborations with many of the people involved,” says VP of Sales & Acquisitions Benjamin Wiessner. “The detailed attention creates an incisive vision of America’s broken promises we know will entertain and astound audiences.”

 

MOPE portrays the true-to-life events of Steve Driver (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, E4’s Misfits series, the reboot of Candyman) and Tom Dong (Kelly Sry, MTV’s Awkward.), two best friends and ‘mopes’ - a word used in the porn industry to describe low ranking male actors, who’s dreams of fame and recognition lead to devastating and fatal outcomes. With MOPE Heyne’s determined to tell more than just a true-crime story, and instead created a thoughtful portrait of loneliness, depression, and human nature with a sincerity still rare in cinematic appraisals of the world of pornography and sex work. 

 

Heyne wrote and directed the film that also features David Arquette (as Rocket, a leading porn director the two aspiring actors idolize) and was produced by Kelly Hayes, Bp Cooper, Elena Cristiean, Danny Roth, Kern Saxton and Dylan Vox, and co-produced by Michael Louis Albo, David C Hill, Egan Jover and Chris Rachal. The production companies were Parkside Pictures, Uncooperative Pictures, and Saxton Cinema.

 

MOPE was made with full support from the families of the victims as well as creative contributions and insight from individuals in the porn industry, some of which carried on with roles in the film. “Throughout the process, I became very close with all the surviving people involved in this story,” says Heyne. “They provided me a window into a world not many people know about. And I felt it vital to portray this story in the most realistic and frank manner possible. Even the most outrageous moments in the film really happened.”

 

The film premiered at the 2019 Sundance film festival and went on to screen at BiFan, New Zealand Intl Film Festival, Sydney Underground Film Festival, and is still playing internationally on the film festival circuit. 

 

MOPE screened October 3rd at the Sitges Film Festival in the Noves Visions section. Vanishing Angle will handle international sales while XYZ leads domestically.