Jim Tozzi via THEM Media directed this trailer spoof for CBS Films to promote the feature film Seven Psychopaths. The offbeat tongue-firmly-in-cheek trailer has cats standing in for the movie’s stars Christopher Walken, Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Tom Wait and others. The real movie’s dog-napping bad guy theme lends itself perfectly to felines prowling about in the screwball trailer which re-creates scenes from the actual trailer for the movie.
“I was sold on the idea at the word ‘cats’,” recalled Tozzi. “Add to that cats in wigs and costumes with puppet arms and I’m thinking this is one of those rare dream jobs.” Despite a daunting turnaround (three weeks), Tozzi was confident the “Psychocats” team–which included THEM owner/EP Tony Harding, DP Fortunato Procopio and editorial/VFX director Matthew Lincoln–could pull it off. “The creatives didn’t want a slick CGI style cat vid, they wanted a more handmade (two guys in a basement) type of look, so it was a good match,” Tozzi explained. “I was very familiar with what they wanted, most of my career has been spent making things look crappy and my experience as a puppeteer on (MTV’s) Wonder Showzen came in handy.”
“Jim and I love to work up practical solutions for comedic FX spots,” Harding said. “We were in Miami shooting a Florida Lottery spot when this project popped up–blasting actors with compressed air and fake dollars for a spot where the agency had fully intended on doing the FX in post. We love puppets jobs, costume jobs…and we are not afraid of tackling something that is budget challenged, especially if it’s going to be creatively fun. So we were all over this when the call came in.”
After a few cuts back and forth with the agency and client weighing in to see which elements of the actual trailer would be funniest in re-creation, the team arrived at a cut with about 45 seconds of cat footage they would need to capture shot for shot.
“We descended on LA from NY, Seattle, Miami, like we were putting together an Ocean’s 11 heist,” Harding laughed, “a traveling team of creative gypsy knucklehead friends trying to figure out what Chris Walken and Woody Harrelson would look like as cats. What could be more fun than that?”
Agency is Ignition Interactive, Santa Monica, Calif.
“Beatles ’64” Documentary Captures Intimate Moments From Landmark U.S. Visit
Likely most people have seen iconic footage of the Beatles performing on "The Ed Sullivan Show." But how many have seen Paul McCartney during that same U.S. trip feeding seagulls off his hotel balcony?
That moment — as well as George Harrison and John Lennon goofing around by exchanging their jackets — are part of the Disney+ documentary "Beatles '64," an intimate look at the English band's first trip to America that uses rare and newly restored footage. It streams Friday.
"It's so fun to be the fly on the wall in those really intimate moments," says Margaret Bodde, who produced alongside Martin Scorsese. "It's just this incredible gift of time and technology to be able to see it now with the decades of time stripped away so that you really feel like you're there."
"Beatles '64" leans into footage of the 14-day trip filmed by documentarians Albert and David Maysles, who left behind 11 hours of the Fab Four goofing around in New York's Plaza hotel or traveling. It was restored by Park Road Post in New Zealand.
"It's beautiful, although it's black and white and it's not widescreen," says director David Tedeschi. "It's like it was shot yesterday and it captures the youth of the four Beatles and the fans."
The footage is augmented by interviews with the two surviving members of the band and people whose lives were impacted, including some of the women who as teens stood outside their hotel hoping to catch a glimpse of the Beatles.
"It was like a crazy love," fan Vickie Brenna-Costa recalls in the documentary. "I can't really understand it now. But then, it was natural."
The film shows the four heartthrobs flirting and dancing at the Peppermint Lounge disco, Harrison noodling with a Woody Guthrie riff on his guitar... Read More