Wellspring gets 'Freaky' rights
'Freaky' rights
SepT 9, 2005
A stop-motion-animated musical inspired by the Manson family crimes is about to hit the midnight-movie circuit.
Wellspring said Thursday that it has acquired all North American rights to director John Roecker's "Live Freaky! Die Freaky!" which boasts a voice cast headed by Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day and Tim Armstrong of Rancid and Operation Ivy. Tim Armstrong's Hellcat Pictures produced the movie, its first project.
"Freaky" tells the tale of a young man (voiced by Billie Joe Armstrong) in the year 3069 who discovers a copy of Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry's "Helter Skelter," which described the murders committed in the '60s by Charles Manson and his followers. Treating the book as a biblical text and adopting Manson as a messiah, the young man preaches a better world through "music, murder and mayhem."
The voice cast also features Asia Argento and a number of alternative rockers -- Lunachicks' Theo Kogan, AFI's Davey Havoc, X's John Doe and the Go-Go's Jane Wiedlin as well as members of Green Day, Good Charlotte, Rancid and Blink-182. The soundtrack includes original songs performed by Billie Joe Armstrong and Wiedlin. Tim Armstrong arranged the score, and the songs were written by Roddy Bottum of Faith No More and Imperial Teen.
Wellspring plans to release the film as a midnight engagement in major markets around the country in the first quarter of next year. The company will follow these screenings with a release on DVD and UMD, as well as a special DVD/CD soundtrack boxed set featuring the songs, score and dialogue from the picture.
The deal was negotiated by Marie Therese Guirgis, head of acquisitions for Wellspring, and Peter Paterno and Jeff Silberman of King, Holmes, Paterno & Berliner on behalf of Roecker and Tim Armstrong.
Guirgis said, "John Roecker has made a clever, creative, insane, envelope-pushing film. Much like (other Wellspring releases such as) Jonathan Caouette's 'Tarnation' and Vincent Gallo's 'The Brown Bunny,' 'Live Freaky! Die Freaky!' is as bold and defiantly independent as filmmaking gets."
Wellspring said Thursday that it has acquired all North American rights to director John Roecker's "Live Freaky! Die Freaky!" which boasts a voice cast headed by Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day and Tim Armstrong of Rancid and Operation Ivy. Tim Armstrong's Hellcat Pictures produced the movie, its first project.
"Freaky" tells the tale of a young man (voiced by Billie Joe Armstrong) in the year 3069 who discovers a copy of Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry's "Helter Skelter," which described the murders committed in the '60s by Charles Manson and his followers. Treating the book as a biblical text and adopting Manson as a messiah, the young man preaches a better world through "music, murder and mayhem."
The voice cast also features Asia Argento and a number of alternative rockers -- Lunachicks' Theo Kogan, AFI's Davey Havoc, X's John Doe and the Go-Go's Jane Wiedlin as well as members of Green Day, Good Charlotte, Rancid and Blink-182. The soundtrack includes original songs performed by Billie Joe Armstrong and Wiedlin. Tim Armstrong arranged the score, and the songs were written by Roddy Bottum of Faith No More and Imperial Teen.
Wellspring plans to release the film as a midnight engagement in major markets around the country in the first quarter of next year. The company will follow these screenings with a release on DVD and UMD, as well as a special DVD/CD soundtrack boxed set featuring the songs, score and dialogue from the picture.
The deal was negotiated by Marie Therese Guirgis, head of acquisitions for Wellspring, and Peter Paterno and Jeff Silberman of King, Holmes, Paterno & Berliner on behalf of Roecker and Tim Armstrong.
Guirgis said, "John Roecker has made a clever, creative, insane, envelope-pushing film. Much like (other Wellspring releases such as) Jonathan Caouette's 'Tarnation' and Vincent Gallo's 'The Brown Bunny,' 'Live Freaky! Die Freaky!' is as bold and defiantly independent as filmmaking gets."
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