If you follow fan films, you’ve seen the name Sandy Collora; he made a big splash in 2003 with Batman: Dead End, and then followed up the next year with World’s Finest, a faux movie trailer featuring Superman and The Dark Knight. Both flicks were huge online hits, and in their wake, Collora had a big buzz around him in Hollywood. However, the inevitable tough breaks that befall every filmmaker breaking into the Big Leagues, and some other extenuating circumstances, all led to…well, nothing.
As Collora told Silver Bullet Comics last summer, “There were a few projects that got kinda close, I guess, but to be blatantly honest, for some reason, it just didn’t happen for me. I tried harder than anyone I know, but no one would actually pull the trigger and give me a job, so now I’m doing it myself.”
And, indeed, he is. Collora’s been working on and off for a few years on two projects: Shallow Water (which is what he was referring to at the time) and Hunter Prey. Now it turns out that the latter one has sprung to life, as Collora just wrapped a month’s worth of principal photography in Mexico. The low-budget, independent flick, characterized as “an off-world, psychological, sci-fi feature,” was shot in HD and is definitely Collora’s vision, as he handled all the design and directed from a script that he co-wrote with Nick Alvarez. Now the film heads into post production—a process that takes months or sometimes years, depending on the movie—so it’ll still be some time until the film comes to light.
What will we finally see? His fan films have proven he’s a visual stylist who can put together whiplash fight scenes, but they’ve also been low on dialogue and anything other than action beats. Will he maintain that visual urgency throughout a feature-length production? Can he make quieter scenes that depend on character interaction work? Well, if anyone ever wanted to show Hollywood what he could really do, it’s Collora, so it’s safe to say he’ll try his damnedest to make sure those questions are answered “Yes.” Here’s hoping he pulls it off.
You can own ‘Batman: Dead End’ on DVD for just $9.95 + s/h. Buy it here: [EDITED]
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I am anticipating this. The vision that he created with DeadEnd was live-action comic book stuff that I love.
I am adding it to my “At the Theater” list.
Sandy Colloras work is fantastic and will be enjoyed by the world for sure! His personality and character are one of a kind and unique and will be sen in his projects!!!!
Knowing Sandy, this will be nothing short of incredible.