Action film starring Helfer, Roberts shooting in city
HOLLYWOOD NORTH: Phase One about a human drug test gone awry
Posted By LARA BRADLEY, THE SUDBURY STAR
Posted 2 months ago
Don't be surprised if you see flames shooting out of the Willett Green Centre or hear gunfire in the area.
It's not rowdy Laurentian University students experimenting with crime and science but rather the special effects team at work from Brandon Nutt's action-thriller, Phase One.
His company, Nutthouse Moving Pictures, is shooting an entire movie "from tip to tail" in the Sudbury area during the next few weeks.
The project has some big names attached to it.
Phase Onestars Tricia Helfer, ofBattlestar Galacticaand Playboy fame, Julia's brother Eric Roberts, who was inThe Dark Knight,Tamara Feldman fromGossip Girl,and Travis Van Winkle, who was in the most recentFriday the 13th slasher flick and a couple episodes of TV's90210.
"We've gathered some absolutely beautiful footage. The performances that we've gathered have been top-notch," said Nutt.
"Sudbury as a backdrop is really looking great."
Directed by Eric Wostenberg, it has several producers besides Nutt on board, including David Ward who won an Academy Award for his work onThe Sting in 1973, as well as Chris Chesser (Major League)and Karen Glasser (The 10 Commandments).
Like its name suggests, the movie is about the first phase of a human drug testing program. Two buddies sign up to be in the program so they can pay for a trip to Europe.
Instead of taking what they believe to be a type of allergy medication, it turns out they volunteered for a genome drug intended to help soldiers heal faster in the battlefield.
"The drug test goes awry and chaos ensues. And our two protagonists are left to escape the fury," Nutt said.
Do they get super-powers?
"There are some powers, but it's more so a lack of feeling, lack of pain, lack of regression of energy loss that starts to affect these guys," he explained
Between the cast and crew, the film has brought more than 100 people to Sudbury for the shoot.
"Sudbury offered a couple of things that were incentives to the production," he said. "We had the co-operation of the city, we had the Ontario and federal tax credits that are offered up and we also had the support of a couple other funding sources. Unfortunately, I can't name those now because they haven't made the official announcement."
This past summer, Nutt brought the director and producers to Sudbury on a scouting mission. They loved the area and thought it would work for the film.
The outside of the Willett Green Centre is the backdrop of the testing facility.
"Last night, we were blowing up the building. We had our pyrotechnics going. The night before that we had vehicles crashing and gun fire," he said.
Interior shots at the drug testing facility will be filmed on a sound stage that has been built in the Cambrian Arena.
Nutt knows Sudbury well. The 28-year-old grew up here, went to Lasalle Secondary School as a teenager.
Nutt made his debut at the Cinefest Sudbury International Film Festival in 2005 with a short science fiction thriller he made while in film school in Los Angeles.
This year, he broughtFinding Blissto the film festival, a movie he produced with a $5-million budget about a promising female film graduate who ends up taking a job editing "adult entertainment" when she realizes she can borrow the equipment at night to make her own films.
Nutt said it does feel kind of strange to be filming in his home town.
"It does feel a little bit odd to have all of this around. All of this stuff I'm used to seeing in L. A., New Orleans and New York," he said.
Local talent has been hired as well for both cast and crew.
"We've had an easy time sourcing out some folks who were either in Toronto and from Sudbury who want to come back to their home town. We've got someone in the art department, Pierre Bonhomme, a Sudbury guy who has worked in Toronto, Montreal," Nutt said.
"The bigger story is how much support we've gotten from the private sector."
Many local business have become involved, such as Simon's Cafe, which is catering the entire shoot, Andrew and Rod Dunn from Dunn Motors, who have supplied the vehicles that will be destroyed on camera, as well as many others.
Filming is expected to wrap up Dec. 4.
"We'll probably spend three or four months cutting the film. I'll imagine it will be ready to start screening, April-May, when the sale season starts to heat up for independent films," Nutt said.
"This is definitely going to be a wide-release film. It is a very, very commercial film."
lbradley@thesudburystar.com
