Genre: Drama.
Studio:
Unknown.
Production Company:
A Child's Will Productions/New Crime Productions.
Project Phase: In the Can.
Who's In It:
John Cusack; Paul Dillon; Gillian Anderson; Moira Harris; Laurie
Metcalf; Julianne Moore; Kevin O'Connor.
Who's Making It:
Mary Cybulski, John Tintori (Directors); Will Kern (Screenwriter); Susanne De Walt,
Jaime Gordon, Paul Dillon (Producers); Huber Paczanowski (Director
of Photography); Page Hamilton (Musical Score).
Premise: A bad day in the life of a Chicago cab driver.
Release Date: Unknown.
Comments: Unknown.
Rumors: Unknown.
Scoop Feedback:
April 16, 1997... [Thanks to 'rosencrantz', 'major' and anonymously.]
"It is based on the long-running lay by Will Kern. The play itself is about a particularly bad day in the life of a Chicago cab driver. Hellcab wrapped last week after a successful shoot." [Scoop supplied anonymously.]
January 25, 1998... The film switches its name from Hellcab to the more pleasant-sounding Chicago Cab. The latest scoop from the music scene concerns the film's upcoming soundtrack, which will feature the likes of Pearl Jam, Brad, and other bands. [Thanks to anonymous.]
This was a real scoop about the film's trailer -- we wouldn't come up with a pseudonym so original. "Gillian looks GOOD, the film is complicated in a Night on Earth-kind of way, without any overtly 'horror' elements. very film noir, should be a good date movie..." We've also heard Anderson's character described as a "big haired South Side woman" too. [Signed 'upyerbum'.]
You knew it was a play before it became a movie, right? Of course you did. "I did this play in college in '93! I ran the lights for it. My director (Jack Downing) had just moved down to the Quad Cities from Chicago and wanted to put on this new play by his friend, Will Kern. We dissassembled an actual car and rebuilt it on stage. This was quite an accomplishment for my little community college. (Black Hawk College, Moline IL.) If the movie is even half as fun as the play, the people are in for a treat. In the play, at least in our version, the opening scene involved some spooky phantoms unveiling the cab. Our backdrop was black material like a trash bag, and these 4 ghosts (Hellpeople) in black trash bag outfits pushed their way through the backdrop, as though materializing from the wall, and uncovered the cab, which was also shrouded in black. I ran the fog machine during this part." As any knowledgable theaterhand will tell you, an expert-operated fog machine is critical to the success of any play. ['Troubadour' came through for us here.]
Page Hamilton, the leader of the alterna-metal band Helmet, is scoring the music for this film. [From James Cubeta in-the-know.]
September 10, 1998... First review of the film is in!
"They screened Chicago Cab this last weekend in Seattle for a filmfestival. There were no hell elements or phantoms whatsoever. The three big names attached to the cast were in the film, all seperately for less than about 3 minutes each. The real only star is Dillion who plays the cab driver. He does an excellent job, but the film still has a stage play feel to it. The only real set is in the cab. Even with a small $1.5 million budget, some of the production was choppy and once you could see the boom mike. The ending has a Christmas 'goodwill towards men/love one another' feel to it. It supposed to open in New York Sep. 18. Oh, Gillian Anderson did her cameo for nothing, sending back her check because she liked the material. Also, Dillion was last seen in Austin Powers as the Lucky Charms guy."
[Review sent in by anonymous.]