Zeroville | |
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Directed by | James Franco |
Screenplay by |
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Based on | Zeroville by Steve Erickson |
Produced by |
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Starring |
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Cinematography | Bruce Thierry Cheung |
Edited by |
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Music by | Johnny Jewel [1] |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | myCinema |
Release date |
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Running time | 96 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $6 million |
Box office | $78,293 [2] [3] |
Zeroville is a 2019 American comedy-drama film directed by James Franco, based on the 2007 novel of the same name by Steve Erickson. The film stars Franco, Megan Fox, Seth Rogen, Joey King, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson and Jacki Weaver.
The film was first announced in March 2011, but did not begin filming until October 2014. Originally set to be released in 2015 or 2016 by Alchemy, the distribution of the project was held off following the company's filing of Chapter 7 bankruptcy. It was eventually picked up by myCinema, and was released on September 20, 2019 in limited theaters, to largely negative reviews. The film was nominated for three Golden Raspberry Awards.
A young excommunicated seminarian named Vikar arrives in Los Angeles on August 9, 1969. After briefly being suspected of complicity in the Tate—LaBianca murders, which occurred the same day, Vikar takes a job at Paramount Studios, where he meets film editor Dotty Langer. Dotty senses potential in Vikar and introduces him to a studio executive known only as Viking Man. Vikar and Viking Man attend a Hollywood party, where Vikar meets actress Soledad Paladin, whom he feels he has seen before.
When Vikar shows a talent for editing, an eccentric, singing producer named Rondell hires Vikar to edit Soledad's latest film. As Vikar becomes more involved in the industry, he becomes obsessed by the idea of a "secret movie," pieces of which lie hidden inside every film ever made.
The film traces Vikar's career over the next decade as he witnesses many significant events in the history of 1970s Hollywood.
In March 2011, the novel by Steve Erickson was optioned by actor James Franco for a feature film. On October 24, 2014, the ensemble cast joined the film, which includes Seth Rogen, Jacki Weaver, Megan Fox, Will Ferrell, Jamie Costa, Danny McBride, Dave Franco, Craig Robinson, Joey King and Horatio Sanz. [4] [5] [6]
The principal photography of the film began on October 24, 2014, in Los Angeles, California. [7] Filming also took place in Pasadena in November. [7]
On September 12, 2015, it was announced Alchemy had acquired US distribution rights to the film. [8] However, the company filed for bankruptcy, leaving the film without a distributor. [9] [10] In April 2019, it was announced myCinema had acquired distribution rights to the film. [11] It was released on September 20, 2019. [12] The film is considered a box-office bomb. [2] [13] [14]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 23% based on 31 reviews, with an average rating of 4.1/10. The website's consensus reads, "Potentially an ironic favorite for cult film fans, Zeroville is a fundamentally misguided -- and descriptively titled -- passion project for its director and star." [15] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 28 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". [16]
Peter Debruge of Variety magazine wrote: "Franco has a truly radical streak in him, and considering how poorly the movie functions as a traditional crowdpleaser, he might as well have gone all out and pushed Zeroville to whatever event horizon the deranged project called for. His mistake wasn’t trying to adapt Erickson’s novel at all, but attempting to turn it into a tragic romance between Vikar and Soledad." [17]
The film was nominated for three Golden Raspberry Awards, James Franco was nominated for Worst Director and Worst Actor, and Seth Rogen was nominated for Worst Supporting Actor. [18]
John William Ferrell is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. Ferrell is known for his leading man roles in comedy films and for his work as a television producer. He has earned four Emmy Awards and in 2011 was honored with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. In 2015, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was named the best comedian in British GQ.
Seth Aaron Rogen is a Canadian actor, comedian and filmmaker. Originally a stand-up comedian in Vancouver, he moved to Los Angeles for a part in Judd Apatow's series Freaks and Geeks in 1999, and got a part on Apatow's sitcom Undeclared in 2001, which also hired him as a writer. After landing his job as a staff writer on the final season of Da Ali G Show (2004), Apatow guided Rogen toward a film career. As a writer, he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series.
Megan Denise Fox is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the family film Holiday in the Sun (2001), which was followed by numerous supporting roles in film and television, such as the teen musical comedy Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004), as well as a starring role in the ABC sitcom Hope & Faith (2004–2006). Her breakout role was as Mikaela Banes in the blockbuster action film Transformers (2007), which she reprised in its sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009). She also portrayed the titular character in the horror comedy Jennifer's Body (2009), starred as April O'Neil in the superhero action film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) and its sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (2016), and starred as Reagan Lucas in the fifth and sixth seasons of the Fox sitcom New Girl (2016–2017).
Stephen Michael Erickson is an American novelist. The author of influential works such as Days Between Stations, Tours of the Black Clock, Zeroville and Shadowbahn, he is the recipient of the American Academy of Arts and Letters award, the Lannan Lifetime Achievement Award and a Guggenheim fellowship.
Jonah Hill is an American actor, producer, writer and director. He is known for his comedic roles in films including Superbad (2007), Knocked Up (2007), Get Him to the Greek (2010), 21 Jump Street (2012), This Is the End (2013), and 22 Jump Street (2014). For his performances in Moneyball (2011) and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
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Charlyne Amanda Yi is an American actor, comedian, musician, and writer. Their performances include music, magic, games, and often audience participation.
Zeroville is a 2007 novel by Steve Erickson on film's upheaval in the 1970s. It has been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and other languages. It was named one of the best novels of the year by Newsweek, the Washington Post BookWorld and the Los Angeles Times Book Review among others, and in winter 2008 was one of the five favorite novels of 800 novelists and critics in a poll of the National Book Critics Circle. The novel was also shortlisted for the Believer Book Award.
The 2008 MTV Movie Awards was the 17th annual movie awards show and was broadcast live on Sunday, June 1, at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California. The ceremonies were hosted by Mike Myers.
David John Franco is an American actor and filmmaker. He began his career with small roles in films such as Superbad (2007) and Charlie St. Cloud (2010). Following a starring role in the ninth season of the comedy series Scrubs, Franco had his film breakthrough as a supporting role in the buddy comedy film 21 Jump Street (2012).
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This Is the End is a 2013 American apocalyptic comedy horror film written, directed and produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg in their directorial debuts. It is a feature-length film adaptation of Rogen and Goldberg's short film Jay and Seth Versus the Apocalypse (2007), which was directed by Jason Stone, who serves as an executive producer on the film. Starring James Franco, Jonah Hill, Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Michael Cera and Emma Watson, the film centers on fictionalized versions of its cast in the wake of a global biblical apocalypse in Los Angeles.
James Franco is an American actor, filmmaker, and college instructor. He began acting on television, guest-starring in Pacific Blue (1997). He landed his breakthrough role in the comedy-drama television series Freaks and Geeks (1999–2000). After his film debut in Never Been Kissed (1999), Franco won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film and was nominated for Screen Actors Guild Award and Primetime Emmy Award in the same categories for playing the eponymous actor in the 2001 television biopic James Dean. He went on to play Harry Osborn in the superhero film Spider-Man (2002), and reprised the role in its sequels Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007). For the last of the three, he garnered a nomination for the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor. His only screen appearance of 2003 was in the ballet film The Company. Franco directed and starred in the comedy The Ape (2005).
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