A new Australian film by a first-time feature film director has been picked up by
Arclight Films ahead of a world premiere at Cannes film market. Crawlspace, a
psychological thriller by writer/director Justin Dix, will be handled by Arclight’s
genre arm, Darclight Films. The film has also secured North American rights,
acquired by Los Angeles-based XYZ Films.
Dix told Encore there was no Australian distributor attached yet, but he hoped the
film would be out this year.
He said: “I hope so. I can’t see why it wouldn’t. I know a lot of these things come
down to peak time and being strategic. I’d love to say it will be.”
Produced by John Finemore, The film is about a team of elite Australian soldiers
who are sent into the US military base Pine Gap in the Australian outback. The team
discover the site is a testing ground for something more sinister, battling escaped
inmates.
Gary Hamilton, managing director of Arclight Films said: “Crawlspace is a prime
example of the new face of the sci-fi action thriller. It has a rich story line, intense
action, fascinating characters and top of the line special f/x via the expertise of one of
the best special effects masters in the business, director Justin Dix.
Dix comes from a special effects background, having worked on two Star Wars films,
Red Hill and the forthcoming 100 Bloody Acres.
Crawlspace, made without finance from any of the funding bodies, was produced by
Greg McLean’s Wolf Creek Pictures, Finemore’s Maker Films and Dix’s own Wicked
of Oz Studios. Dix told Encore: “It gave us autonomy. It’s great. I’m a control freak.
Dix told Encore that, as well as XYZ coming on board, a lot came out of a recent trip
to the states. Dix said: “I picked up a manager, screened Crawlspace to WME which
is one of the largest agencies and pitched two new projects. I’m not one to hang
around see what Crawlspace does, I’m on to the next thing, in the same vein as
Crawlspace, a claustrophobic story with spooks.”
He added: “I don’t know how it will go here but it will have international appeal with
top quality in the way it looks and its actors. It’s a movie I’d go see. Whenever I watch
it to review I want to watch the whole thing. It’s in my top ten films.”
http://mumbrella.com.au – May 3rd, 2012