EXCLUSIVE: Thomas Jane and Jeremy Piven are set to star in I Melt With You, an ensemble thriller that will be directed by Mark Pellington. Production will begin in early August in Northern California. The thriller follows the interconnecting lives of four men. Glenn Porter wrote the script from a story he hatched with Pellington, who last directed Henry Poole Is Here and U2 3D. Rob Cowan and Norm Reiss are producing. Pellington and Porter will be exec producers with Neil Labute, Heidi Levitt, Aaron Gilbert and Jane. The pic, packaged by UTA, is privately financed and the budget is under a million bucks. Casting will begin so that the Hung and Entourage stars can return to their TV series.
“I am 48 and found a dearth of of films that speak to my life experience,” Pellington said. “Where is my generation’s version of Cassavetes’ Husbands? It is hard to get anything idiosyncratic made for a budget. I have been shooting music videos on small cameras at low cost and wanted to apply it to a film. This is about four guys and deals with mortality, aging and friendship. It is very dark and very low budget. I have nothing against the larger budget movies I have made. I just want to make movies and doing it this way improves my chances.”
And I will pretend to be surprised when Piven plays the tool of the group.
yay! so glad to hear Mark Pellington is directing another feature. He is one of the nicest people ever and a true artist.
Low budget + Jeremy piven x 11.00 ticket prices= red box
It’s good for Piven to do something other then Entourage because he knows it’s going down so fast that he might as well cash in on whatever he can get. Boy does that show reek of desperation with all the stunt casting. It has become Arliss. Only worst.
Pellington is one of my favorites. “Arlington Road” was way ahead of its time. Henry Poole was exceptionally enjoyable (and poorly released by Overture… great soundtrack, though) and he served as producer on an independent film I LOVED that is one of my favorites… “Jerome Bixby’s The Man From Earth”. Jane & Piven? Should be interesting.
Couldn’t agree more with Pellington doing his own thing, His own way.
Fuck the big budgets and big studios and big stars, and agency reps, etc.
For Jane and Piven to come onto an under 1 mil. budget indie?
Gotta be in the script.
Great stuff, Mark.
Hit a home run.
MARK11