As heartfelt as it is unsettling, the “Father’s Day” segment of the horror anthology Holidays is not only my favorite short of the film, it’s also one of the most enthralling things I’ve seen this year. For most of its runtime, the segment solely stars Jocelin Donahue as Carol, a woman listening to the instructions of her supposedly dead father (voiced by Michael Gross) on a tape player, leading her to a final destination of either hope or horror.
With Holidays now out in theaters and on VOD courtesy of Vertical Entertainment and Xyz Films, I had a chance to speak with Donahue, who discussed her powerful performance in “Father’s Day” as well as her improvised scene with Christian Bale and Antonio Banderas in Terrence Malick’s Knight of Cups.
What attracted you to this story by Anthony Scott Burns and the role of Carol in particular?...
With Holidays now out in theaters and on VOD courtesy of Vertical Entertainment and Xyz Films, I had a chance to speak with Donahue, who discussed her powerful performance in “Father’s Day” as well as her improvised scene with Christian Bale and Antonio Banderas in Terrence Malick’s Knight of Cups.
What attracted you to this story by Anthony Scott Burns and the role of Carol in particular?...
- 4/23/2016
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
While Tiff is more inclusive to programming them, Sundance is not one to shy away from anthology horror films of the V/H/S type, so perhaps they’ll be looking to get into the holiday spirit with horror comedy vignette package aptly called Holidays. Among the group of filmmakers contributing to the project Adam Egypt Mortimer (Some Kind of Hate), Dennis Widmyer (Starry Eyes), Anthony Scott Burns (Manifold), Matt Johnson (The Dirties), Kevin Kolsch (Starry Eyes), Nicholas McCarthy (The Pact), Gary Shore (Dracula Untold), Kevin Smith, Sarah Adina Smith (The Midnight Swim) and Scott Stewart (Priest) we do find former Sundance attendees. Announced in the trades back in February and saw this set-visit write-up in April, this divided up pie is likely ready to bang out some holiday cheer and easter egg hunt glee.
Gist: This is a group of subversive tales fashioned around globally recognized celebrations like Christmas,...
Gist: This is a group of subversive tales fashioned around globally recognized celebrations like Christmas,...
- 11/24/2015
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Exclusive: Indie production and sales outfit Xyz Films is teaming with John Hegeman’s newly-launched genre label, Distant Corners Entertainment, to produce feature anthology, Holidays. A group of subversive tales fashioned around globally recognized celebrations like Christmas, Easter, Halloween and Mother’s Day, the vignettes will be helmed by indie and genre filmmakers including Kevin Smith, Gary Shore (Dracula Untold) and Matt Johnson (The Dirties). The cast is expected to feature well-known names.
Xyz will launch global sales at the Efm this week. The project is already in production and reteams Xyz with Smith after Tusk and Yoga Hosers, as well as Johnson whose Operation Avalanche will be released by Lionsgate this year.
Also currently on board to helm segments are Scott Stewart (Dark Skies); Nick McCarthy (The Pact); Dennis Widmyer and Kevin Kolsch (Starry Eyes); Sarah Smith (The Midnight Swim); and Anthony Scott Burns, whose short, Manifold, made the...
Xyz will launch global sales at the Efm this week. The project is already in production and reteams Xyz with Smith after Tusk and Yoga Hosers, as well as Johnson whose Operation Avalanche will be released by Lionsgate this year.
Also currently on board to helm segments are Scott Stewart (Dark Skies); Nick McCarthy (The Pact); Dennis Widmyer and Kevin Kolsch (Starry Eyes); Sarah Smith (The Midnight Swim); and Anthony Scott Burns, whose short, Manifold, made the...
- 2/2/2015
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline
Novelist Daniel H. Wilson nearly saw his words on the big screen two years back, when Steven Spielberg optioned the rights to his novel Robopocalypse. While it might be taking a while to develop, it is still apparently on the director’s to-do list, but that doesn’t mean his robo-infused mind has stalled. Now, it seems Brad Pitt’s production banner, Plan B, are set to collaborate with the author on his original idea, Alpha.
Wilson will be penning the script and Canadian newcomer Anthony Scott Burns has been tagged to direct. As part of his pitch to land the gig, Burns crafted a fake commercial based around one of the companies in the story. A pretty neat idea, one which likely stemmed from his outside-the-box approach to filmmaking. Prior to landing the gig, Burns was known online for having designed a badass fan trailer for Tron, as well...
Wilson will be penning the script and Canadian newcomer Anthony Scott Burns has been tagged to direct. As part of his pitch to land the gig, Burns crafted a fake commercial based around one of the companies in the story. A pretty neat idea, one which likely stemmed from his outside-the-box approach to filmmaking. Prior to landing the gig, Burns was known online for having designed a badass fan trailer for Tron, as well...
- 11/20/2014
- by Gem Seddon
- We Got This Covered
To say that we are fans of Canadian filmmaker Anthony Scott Burns is a gross understatement. We have been championing this man's work for some time now. From the opening titles he helped create for Styleframes NYC, his tribute to sci-fi in Epoch and his amazing short film Manifold, we've been there touting this burgeoning Canadian talent.And now Burns is going to get that chance to prove he can handle a larger production. He has been attached to the sci-fi thriller Alpha, which is being produced by Brad Pitt and his banner Plan B. The story was written by Robogenesis and Robopocalypse author Daniel H. Wilson and is reportedly a sci-fi survival story in the vein of Jack London (White Fang and The Call of the Wild). Lionsgate has picked up the...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 11/20/2014
- Screen Anarchy
Why Watch? A small town sheriff, a bizarre set of murders, a programming genius locked into a conspiracy. This short from Anthony Scott Burns (the Dp from the eerie The Flying Man) feels like one of Edward G. Robinson’s sweaty nightmares set on an abandoned farm-to-market road. Calmly paced and filled with unease from the start, it also features the kind of grizzled frustration we’ve come to expect from actor Stephen McHattie as well as smart, economic writing from Burns. It’s a beautiful movie, but Manifold also injects enough science fact into its science fiction to make it stay nervously in your mind beyond the runtime. What Will It Cost? About 8 minutes. A New Short Film Every Weekday...
- 1/10/2014
- by Scott Beggs
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Regular readers of Twitch should recognize the name of Anthony Scott Burns by this point, the Toronto based director and VFX artist having blown our minds with work like this. And like this. A huge visual talent, Burns made an appearance at Fantastic Fest 2013 with his latest work - a noir inflected scifi short titled Manifold.Produced with the backing of Canada's Bravofact, the complete short has now been released online for your viewing pleasure. Watch it big and crank the volume up, it's a good one. Stephen McHattie and Greg Calderone star....
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 12/12/2013
- Screen Anarchy
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