Utah’s famed Sundance Film Festival is all about independent film–at least in theory–so it was all too apt that the indie movie with the biggest buzz there last week was all about making the ultimate kind of indie flick: a fan film. Son of Rambow generated so much attention, in fact, that U.S. distribution rights sold to Paramount Vantage for a sum variously reported as $7 million and $8 million (but why split hairs–after the first coupla mil, what’s another one?).
Directed by Garth Jennings (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) and produced by UK music video gurus Hammer & Tongs (AKA Jennings and Nick Goldsmith), the film follows two British kids in the 1980s on a quest to make a full-on sequel to that cinematic classic, Rambo: First Blood. As work on their production progresses, the awkward alliance between an extremely sheltered boy (the hero, Will) and the school freak, who makes bug snuff films, turns into true friendship.
While the audience at Sundance would naturally love a movie about making movies, that didn’t stop Cinematical from raving “the giddy, goofy and heartfelt creativity of Son of Rambow would stand out regardless of where, or when, one had the good fortune to see it.” For a cool interview with the filmmakers while they were in pre-production last spring, visit Time Out.
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