San Antonio, TX.
Update Primal, an independent creature feature scheduled to shoot in San Antonio, TX and the surrounding hill country,has been in contact with Wes Studi, know for his work in Dances With Wolves, Last Of The Mohicans, and Avatar, to play the role of Hohokam in the upcoming horror film. Following his reading of the script, Studi responded, “Color me interested!” “Knowing that Wes took the story to heart and took it seriously is a big win for our production.” stated Director Michael A. Cantu. “It means that with Wes behind our work, we will be able to bring a stronger emotional underpinning to what we are doing and create a solid genre piece.”
The production is looking for horror fans that are eager to bring a new creature feature to the big screen. “Horror fans love their monsters, and we want to bring them one of the biggest and baddest…from Texas of all places… We want to bring them Wen.” stated Michael Cantu, the film’s director and screenwriter. Primal is in the fundraising phase of it’s production campaign.
Merchandise for the film is available for fans that want to support indie film. The film is a creature feature that begins with it’s ensemble in the middle of recovering from the loss of a friend during a hunting accident. To resolve their pain, they make a pilgrimage to their friend’s favorite camping ground, but awaken a Native American demon that begins to hunt them down. Primal came into being shortly after the death of Michael A. Cantu’s parents and during the process of dealing with the loss, the idea of a group of men, coming to terms with their grief and anger over the death of a friend, began to form. Add in the external threat of a creature given life by their unresolved conflicts and a horror story was born. Even though the production is in it’s initial fundraising phase, three years of work have already gone into the film, overseen by the director and a group of talented artists.
Fred Smith IV, the CGI animator has created a four minute animatic for the film’s “creature reveal” and Jason Vines, working along with Hawgfly FX have created a maquette to bring the creature from the animated realm, into the real world. “Our team has created a creature that has already begun to receive all manner of reactions on our facebook page. One woman from Israel despised it and cited it as an example that our world is shrouded in darkness.” replied Director Cantu.
Producing the film is Donna Swafford, an Indie Producer who was part of the Now Hiring (2014) team and has produced numerous short films in San Antonio, TX. Guiding the cast and crew is Michael A. Cantu, a ten year veteran of Univision who was nominated for a Lonestar Emmy for his work with anchor, Arantxa Loizaga, on Aprendiendo Escuchar. Most recently, Michael optioned his screenplay, Red Room, to Status Media and Entertainment. Working in the animation department is the talented Fred Smith IV, a graduate of Incarnate Word University and the co-designer for the creature known to the crew as “Wen.”
Primal is Fred’s first feature film as Animation Supervisor and Creature Designer. A recent addition to the Primal production group is Jon Reilly, a composer whose main influence is cited as John Carpenter. Jon will bring the needed sense of poignancy and loss for Primal’s dramatic scenes as well as the tension and fear that needs to be generated for the more intense moments. Creating the practical creature for the film will be Meredith Jons and her team at Hawgfly, located in Austin, TX.
Meredith has numerous credits in feature film, most notably her work with Robert Rodriguez on Machete and From Dusk Til Dawn:The Series.
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