Anchor Bay Acquires Kevin Spacey Comedy ‘Father Of Invention’

COMMENTS (12)

• Notice David Bergstein listed as one of 18 producers. I assume this was one of the many pics of his that fell into financing hell and ended up in limbo for several years. I can’t imagine Anchor Bay paying for than $1 for it. Destined for the DVD bin.

  Comment by yougottabekiddin — Tuesday August 9, 2011 @ 12:48pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • Financing hell, and David Bergstein, while awful encumbrances to the filmmaking process, don’t necessarily predict a poor film, just a dreadful process.

    Anchor Bay Films (Videos), as it often elects to, may not support the film theatrically (even when emprical evidence say it should!), but many films initiated in the late-hedge-fund-boom (pre & during the 2008 Lehman crash) are of a certain oldschool (studio imitation) sensibility, and lack a certain edge or the newer leaner hipper indies.

    Also, unfortunately, looks like they got hot-boxed into paying the price for a once-stars (from a moment when that meant recoupment) such as Kevin –who, whilst invested in his character, always seems to be playing a character.

    All this aside the appeal (especially wrt commercial returns) can be just as strong for an older audience (Netflixers, etc), and have a stronger tail out of theaters, even away from the physical DVD rental market. Remember who was the model for this movie….Ron Popeil (Pocket Fisherman, et al), an icon of 70′s late-night informercials…who else would connect to this premise, but babyboomers?

    So, easy on the cynicism (“DVD bin”)!, as your put-down simply means nothing, anymore. The system is being reshaped for a new set of preferences, finally. Hold on, movies might be about to get much crappier.

    As one who has seen the film, and was buoyed by an original, clever premise, and pretty good performances by actors I would normally not care about. Director did a great job with the pieces.

    I think ABF has made the correct play — Producers probably overpaid for Spacey (old model), but their loss will be ABF’s gain.

    Enough rant.

    Base.

    Comment by Harvey Whinestein — Tuesday August 9, 2011 @ 1:31pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Financed by the russian mob. The guy that runs Sunrise is really really bad news.

  -RnsW

  Comment by Robert Not So Wise — Tuesday August 9, 2011 @ 1:04pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • You should get your facts right. It’s not the Russian Mob and the guy who ran the company has been replaced. This same company has a very good movie in theaters now called The Whistle Blower. They are going to be a big player in the biz very soon!

    Comment by Big J — Wednesday August 10, 2011 @ 6:08pm PDT  Reply to this post

• I saw this film at a private screening and it was pretty entertaining!

  Comment by GC — Tuesday August 9, 2011 @ 1:34pm PDT  Reply to this post

• >The film co-stars … newcomer Ana Anissimova

  Her name is better than all of Olivia Wilde’s performances.

  Comment by markLouis — Tuesday August 9, 2011 @ 2:02pm PDT  Reply to this post

• yougottabekiddin you’re negativity is so refreshing. Thanks for your input. It was really helpful.

  Comment by Derrrrrrrrrrrr — Tuesday August 9, 2011 @ 2:19pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Why isn’t Camilla Belle in better projects? She could’ve been huge.

  Comment by Jason Dean — Tuesday August 9, 2011 @ 2:25pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Hasn’t this film been sitting on the sidelines for over two years? Russian mob money movie = Anchor Bay! Priceless.

  Comment by Icantbelieveitsnotbutter — Tuesday August 9, 2011 @ 2:35pm PDT  Reply to this post

• What’s with the anti-Anchor Bay feel here? Nice to see a smaller company distributing somewhat entertaining movies that larger companies often turn their back on. Most the movies may suck, but there are always some gems. Got to build that cred somehow.

  Comment by slacker101 — Tuesday August 9, 2011 @ 4:16pm PDT  Reply to this post

• i am the lead producer of the film and co-writer. i have made 50 films, including some of the funniest and successful comedies, like look whos talking(all 3 of them); michael; trail of the pink panther; blind date, etc. if you see this without preconceptions you will laugh and be entertained as well as get the theme between the lines.the guy is a materialistic prick that prison didnt even change–but life after prison did because his daughter and her two roomates were authentic people with different but human value systems.when 12 people tell you youre drunk you better lay down. its also a fish -out-of water comedy , which almost always works.my suggestion is to go see it.it was very hard to produce.but worth it.negotiations with anchor bay took a long time.
  p.s.i never use upper case letters or apostrophes when writing emails.

  Comment by jonathan d krane — Tuesday August 9, 2011 @ 4:56pm PDT  Reply to this post

• I saw it too. I thought it was smart, funny as hell and had a great cast. I can’t believe it hasn’t been released yet. People are gonna love this movie.

  Comment by TheBigCat — Tuesday August 9, 2011 @ 6:48pm PDT  Reply to this post