Genre: Thriller.
Studio:
Trimark.
Production Company:
Unknown.
Project Phase: In the Can.
Who's In It:
Matthew Lillard; Dana Delany; Michael Vartan; Randall Batinkoff; Keri Russell; Tamara Craig Thomas; Anthony Griffith; Beau Dietl; Kris McGaha;
Ben Livingston; Kevin Ruff; Christy Stratton.
Who's Making It:
Dan Rosen (Director, Screenwriter); Michael Amato, Ted Schipper, Jeremy Lew, Willy Mercer (Producers);
Joey Forsyte (Director of Photography); Glenn Garland (Editor); Robert Harbour (Production Designer)
Premise: After receiving a failing grade, a group of students plan the demise of one of their roommates so they can all get an A for the semester. Trouble is, they all want an A.
Release Date: Q1 1999.
Comments: Unknown.
Rumors: Unknown.
Scoop Feedback:
July 1, 1998... A small but steady trickle of emails have been coming into CA's Inbox about this film. Even though there's a movie coming out with a similar theme (MTV's Dead Man on Campus, to be released by Paramount Pictures), this picture tackles the subject in a Scream-like fashion, or so we've been told.
We were first given a heads up by someone named Linda who's involved with the film's website. We look a look-see and filed it away for future drafting. [Thanks Linda!]
Next up was this scooper. "Spoke to producer, Mike Amato, already recouped their investment. Opening in Europe first. Then in US early next year." ['rgilbert' delivered this one.]
But by far the best information came from screenwriter Ben Syverson. Syverson attended a screening of said picture at the SXSW film festival this year and had high praise for the film...
"I'm astonished you don't have information on this film! It's a dark comedy starring Matthew Lillard (SCREAM) that I saw at SXSW recently to a VERY receptive crowd. It's based on that (rumored?) rule that if your roommate commits suicide, you recieve a 4.0 GPA for the semester. When I saw it, it was set to be released in September, to roughly coincide with the start of the school year. However, this was in March, so the release date may have changed.
"The story centers around a group of students trying to get into Harvard Law. (or Med - I can't remember, it's been a few months) It's their last semester, and they goofed their final exams just enough to not get in. So, they reluctantly start plotting the demise of their roommate, who we're not too sad to see go, because he's a bit of an asshole. A sizable amount of the film takes place only several feet away from a REAL steep cliff, which really heightens the tension. Still, the movie seemed only like a pretty standard teen thriller in the vein of SCREAM - a couple scares, some witty banter, etc. That is, until the END! The end was a total delight! There were lots of studio execs and older couples there, and they didn't seem very interested during the film, but they were BEAMING as they walked out! Basically, the end has a twist, and then a twist on top of the twist, and another twist on top of that. Somehow, it was easy to follow on screen, and awesome to watch. As I left the theater, I was hearing things from the execs and older couples like:
'That was surprising!'
"I hope you don't mind, but I've attached a scan of the synopsis from my SXSW catalog..."
[Scoop handed in by Ben Syverson.]
Official Web Site: www.deadmanscurve.com