Coming Soon:
Directors Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino world premiered footage from their new exploitation double feature Grindhouse at the San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday. The clip shown was cobbled together from the first of the two features – the Rodriguez-directed "Planet Terror" – a zombie flick.
The footage shown – with an intentional grainy, camp-like effect – kicked off with a sheriff's deputy busting into his cop shot ranted about just having his finger bitten off by a suspect he arrest. The other deputies and sheriff in the office all grab guns and proceed out to the cruiser. The cops stalk the cruiser but the detainee has escaped through a shattered rear window. The deputy asks if they see his finger. They don't... but they do find his ring.
From here the clip cuts to trailer-type piece for an anti-hero named Machete! – a tough looking biker type that wears a trench coat lined with very long knives and swords.
Then bam! – another segway, but this one goes into full on zombie action. It is unclear where the zombies are coming from, but a hospital seemed to play a central role. Freddy Rodriguez and Rose McGowan are there. Rose's character, Cherry, had an unfortunate scrape and has lost her right leg above the knee. When Rodriguez tries to get her to flee the now undead infested hospital, she exclaims "I don't have a leg!" This moves Rodriguez to walk over to a nearby table, break off one of its legs and jam it on the end of McGowan's bandaged stump. "You do now!" he says.
More zombie action follows as the two escape the hospital. In a later scene, Rodriguez offers McGowan a gift – a heavy-duty machine gun that clips onto her stump. Now with a machine gun as a leg, McGowan mows down several zombies with one, effective round-kick spray!
Tarantino, whose "Death Proof" (a slasher movie and the second of the Grindhouse features) starts shooting in about four weeks, told attendees at the Con that he always wanted to make a exploitation film that lived up to the cool poster artwork that accompanied most of the vintage exploitation movies.
"We're going to make two, sleazy grindhouse movies that will deliver on the posters… and beyond!" said Tarantino. "This isn't some Twilight Zone the Movie f*cking thing. This is not a faux double feature. This is two f*cking movies for the price of one! You're $10 will be well spent at the Grindhouse, baby!"
Rodriguez said the "Planet Terror" shoots were solely at night and that he is talking with John Carpenter about providing music for the feature.
Tarantino also added that he would like to make two anime "Kill Bill" prequels. The first would be an origin film about Bill and his mentors, while the second would be another tale including The Bride.
Press Release:
Quentin Tarantino Grinds Out New Cast
Saturday July 22, 5:00 pm ET
Kurt Russell and Zoe Bell, Rosario Dawson, Vanessa Ferlito, Jordan Ladd, Rose McGowan, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Marley Shelton, Tracie Thoms and Mary Elizabeth Winstead Cast in Quentin Tarantino's Segment of the Highly Anticipated Film GRINDHOUSE co-directed with Robert Rodriguez.
SAN DIEGO, July 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Quentin Tarantino has cast Kurt Russell ("The Thing," "Escape from New York"), Zoe Bell ("Kill Bill"), Rosario Dawson ("Sin City," "Rent," "Clerks II"), Vanessa Ferlito ("24," "CSI: NY," "Shadowboxer"), Jordan Ladd ("Waiting," Eli Roth's "Cabin Fever"), Rose McGowan ("Charmed," "Scream," and Robert Rodriguez's "Planet Terror"), Sydney Tamiia Poitier ("Veronica Mars," "Joan of Arcadia"), Marley Shelton ("Sin City," "Planet Terror"), Tracie Thoms ("Rent") and Mary Elizabeth Winstead ("Final Destination 3," upcoming "Bobby" and "Black Christmas"), in his segment of GRINDHOUSE, the highly anticipated double feature he is making with Robert Rodriguez, which will include two films joined by faux ads and trailers. Rodriguez's PLANET TERROR, will be a zombie film, while Tarantino's section, DEATH PROOF, will be a slasher flick. The announcement was made today by Quentin Tarantino and Dimension Films in front of over 6000 film fans at the 2006 San Diego Comic Con International, an annual convention for comic book and genre pop culture fans with over 100,000 attendees.
ADVERTISEMENT
The ensemble cast for Rodriguez's PLANET TERROR includes Freddy Rodriguez ("Poseidon," "Six Feet Under," "Dead Presidents"), Rose McGowan, Josh Brolin ("Into The Blue," "Hollow Man"), Naveen Andrews (ABC's "Lost"), Marley Shelton, Michael Biehn ("Alien," "The Abyss"), Stacy Ferguson (also known as Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas, "Poseidon"), Jeff Fahey ("Dark Hunters," "Wyatt Earp"), and Michael Parks ("Kill Bill," "From Dusk Till Dawn").
GRINDHOUSE will be shot in the tradition of the '70s exploitation films that have significantly influenced both Rodriguez and Tarantino.
Rodriguez is currently in production on PLANET TERROR in Austin, Texas, with Elizabeth Avellan serving as producer. Tarantino is scheduled to begin shooting DEATH PROOF in Austin in August. Erica Steinberg and Elizabeth Avellan are serving as producers.
GRINDHOUSE will be released in theatres nationwide on Easter weekend - April 6, 2007.
Sandra Condito, vice president of production and development, Shannon McIntosh, executive vice president of production and post production, and Richard Saperstein, president of production, are overseeing the project on behalf of Dimension Films, reporting to Bob Weinstein.