Hotel Caledonia (The Movie): September 2007

Thursday, 27 September 2007

Crank Up The Sound

On Thursday 11th October 2007, the five bands scheduled to feature on the movie soundtrack to " Hotel Caledonia " are set to play a three hour extravaganza of music in promotion of the film at Club Storm, Leicester Square in London.

The gig is being jointly promoted by Oceanstorm Films and Club Storm in an effort to increase public awareness of the production due to begin filming in March 2008, as well as to raise the profile of the bands involved.

Doors open at 7.00pm.

For further info please refer to the Club's websites - http://www.thetalentscout.co.uk/ and http://www.stormlondon.co.uk/

The bands playing are: Streetsleeper, Rue The Day, The Gekko, Eighth Wave, and Stoneleaf.

We would appreciate all your support. See you there.

Nick

Wednesday, 5 September 2007

Inside my head.........

This last moth has been a slow one, primarily because we are waiting for the final piece of the finance puzzle to drop into place - something we expect to happen in the next three weeks. A month of contract writing, and other legals should have us greenlit for the first week of November.

Last Monday Yaw, Darren, and I conducted the first of our by-invitation-only impromptu auditions in London, on this occasion with Gillian MacGregor who is being considered for the role of Mags Pertwee. Joining her for the readings was George Calil, an actor already attached to the project in the role of Searle Carson. It was a good day and much was learnt, both about the process and the versatility of the actors as we read from as diverse scripts as Erin Brockovich to Misery to G.I Jane and back again.

I'm glad to let it be known that it looks like Claudia Christian will be joining the cast in the role of Sheena McDonald (subject to availability and contract of course). Claudia's experience will be a welcome addition to the project and will no doubt ensure that Star Trek fans around the world check out Hotel Caledonia to see her perform. We are currently waiting on Annette Crosbie to decide on her involvement as Janet, and also waiting to approach Tommy Flanagan (Robin Pertwee) about the project. We are excited though, at an opportunity to speak with Tony Curran (Underworld:Evolution) which has also come about fortuitously in case Tommy decides to pass or is unavailable.

Come the beginning of November casting plans will be put into affect with auditions for supporting roles, and background artists and it is hoped that both London, and Manchester, will through up some great new talent (future projects are earmarked to take them into leading roles) but more on that as it arises.

In the meantime, thanks for keeping up with us. The world of independent film is an obstacle strewn one, and our path is particularly littered but we're getting there - slowly - and it'll be worth the journey I'm sure.

Nick

Film Synopsis

Hotel Caledonia focuses on the inoffensive, and downtrodden characters of Norman Tickle, and his ‘street-wise’, female-obsessed friend, Arty Harris. Together they take to the road ‘Jack Kerouac’ style and are soon be-friended by a tightly knit group of backpackers, heading north to Scotland for the thrills, and spills, of adventure. Beginning in the Midlands, the story follows Norman and Arty to the lowlands of Glasgow before finally reaching New Braemar, in the desolate, and sometimes-uninviting, landscape of the Scottish Highlands. The movie humorously traces the interwoven relationships that develop between all the travellers as their quest for fresh air, and the isolation of the wild outdoors, finally leads them to a working guesthouse known as ‘HOTEL CALEDONIA’. Here, at their final destination, the black, comedic thread of the movie transcends into the macabre, with scares-a-plenty, and where the ‘surrealness of the bizarre’ takes on a face of abject horror. Far removed from the groups’, and the audience’s expectations, HOTEL CALEDONIA is in a state of dilapidation. To describe it as a hotel, let alone a guesthouse, is somewhat of an over-exaggeration of its potential. HOTEL CALEDONIA reveals its ‘true’identity in the meeting of the travellers and the weirdly frightening, dysfunctional, horrific and unhealthily eating Pertwee family; owners, occupiers, and caterers extraordinaire. From the adventurers’ first encounter with the ‘sinister’ garage owner, Sheena McDonald, to the appearance of ‘old man’ William with his wooden leg, the inhospitality of the environment, and the people who inhabit it, slowly proves itself in the shadows, nooks, crannies, and things that go THUMP in the night. The discovery of strange, and macabre activities, far removed from those of a humane society, and the sudden disappearance of one of their group, leads the adventurers into greater and greater conflict with the Pertwees. Finally, learning the truth about their ‘employer’s’ vile deeds, perversions and culinary habits, the travellers decide to make good their escape. From that moment on, the thrill-seekers embark on a roller-coaster ride to hell and back, as their worst fears are realised and they are left, literally fighting for their lives. But who survives, and how, is where the story unfolds in the most unexpected of ways, as Norman, with his ‘meek and mild’ nature, allows his personality to reveal that of ‘rescuer’ and ‘hero’. The movie reaches its clever, and untelegraphed climax, with a ‘twist ending’ that will leave the misdirected audience to ponder upon the question of “so what happens next?” HOTEL CALEDONIA is comparable in its widespread appeal to any number of recent ‘box-office’ successful films, from within the Horror genre, but it is within the Comedy-Horror genre that it serves to, and succeeds in, setting itself apart.