PRESENTS
A FILM BY J.T. PETTY
HELLBENDERS 3D
IN THEATERS NATIONWIDE AND ON DEMAND
OCTOBER 18, 2013
Running Time: 85 minutes
Rating: R
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HELLBENDERS 3D
There are demons so terrible that no mortal man of God could successfully drive them back to Hell. The only option is for the exorcist himself to invite possession and then commit suicide, dragging along the demon to damnation - so the Augustine Interfaith Order of HellboundSaints - or Hellbenders - was formed. A group of elite, highly-trained exorcists, they live in a constant state of debauchery so they will be ready to go to Hell at any moment. When an infernal Norse demon called BLACK SURTR escapes into New York City intent on cracking open the gates of Hell, the Hellbenders must use every ounce of their debauchery to battle the demon and save the planet from eternal damnation!
The Brooklyn Parish of Hellbenders has six members led by cantankerous LutheranANGUS (Clancy Brown), with clever but undisciplined LARRY (Clifton Collins Jr.), cynical Unitarian ELIZABETH (Robyn Rikoon), New Age Southern Baptist marshmallow MACON (Macon Blair), officious and sincere Catholic STEPHEN (Andre Royo) and joyless Polish Catholic pessimist ERIC (Dan Fogler).
HELLBENDERS is written and directed by J.T Petty. Jon S. Denny, Lawrence Mattis, David Moscow, Mark L. Pederson andAldey Sanchezproduced the film, with Gregor Habsburgserving as co-producer. Director of Photography Ryan Samul, production designer Russell Barnes, costume designer Abby O’Sullivan and editorsJacob Craycroft and Joel Plotchled the creative behind-the-scenes team. Casting for HELLBENDERS was done by Adrienne Stern and music was by Jeff Grace. Executive producers are David Alpert, Miranda Bailey, David Engel, Matthew Leutwyler, Kelly McCormick and Jay Rifkin.
Circle of Confusion, Unreal Pictures, Un Ltd Pictures in association with Ambush Entertainment present an Off Hollywood Pictures production ofHELLBENDERS. The film is distributed domestically by Lionsgate.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT:
I’m just barely old enough to have experienced the anxiety of possible nuclear annihilation. In the early ‘80s we still had bomb drills at my Catholic school outside Washington, D.C. I’ve always been grateful for the nightmares of slow, rotting death via radiation poisoning, if only for giving me the context to later understand what an awesomely inspiring movie DR. STRANGELOVE is.
Kubrick treats nuclear war as absolutely real, dangerous and terrifying, but still manages somehow to laugh at it. It’s thrilling and cathartic, a premise filled with amazing visuals and the kind of ecstatic, paradoxical misbehavior that pulls iconic performances from its cast. I can only imagine what a frightening and inspiring movie it must have been in ’64.
I’ll let other filmmakers pretend they can grow up to be Stanley Kubrick, and I don't
think HELLBENDERS is as scary as STRANGELOVE - I'd rather face demonic possession than nuclear annihilation, and to be honest, I'd probably rather face Hell than total oblivion. (This is a director's statement about a comedy, I promise.)
It's now 2012, and more Americans believe in The Devil than they do the Theory of Evolution, and by a widening margin. The Devil is real in America and exorcism is a film conceit that can still frighten a jaded movie-going audience.
When the extended cut of THE EXORCIST made a theatrical run in 2000, I attended a screening at Radio City Music hall and watched it with more than a thousand people. It was still effective twenty‐seven years later, and I don't think anybody in the audience was less than terrified. The most remarkable part of the experience for me, though, was how much the audience laughed. I can't imagine anybody thought the movie was ridiculous; I think it was laughter as release, a communal cry of “Uncle!” We had all just been so thoroughly emotionally pummeled, so overstuffed with sensory input that we would have opened any valve we could. As an audience, as a crowd of strangers at the mercy of the same overwhelming spectacle, laughter was all we could reach for. (I laugh and cringe at UFC fights by the same instinct.) But does that mean THE EXORCIST is a funny movie? I kind of think it does.
I don't remember how the concept for HELLBENDERS first landed on me, the idea that a preacher would necessarily need to court sin and debauchery in order to be spiritually prepared for total war with Hell, but once I had it, it was impossible to think about an exorcism story on any other terms. And I thought that was really, really funny.
There's been no shortage of exorcism movies in the past few years and the conceits are starting to stretch pretty thin. But when you make all those ideas explicit ‐ all of the rules, the discipline, the antispiritual bureaucracy of any church -‐ it gets ridiculous enough to be fun.
And it's such an opportunity for character. It was great fun thinking of the kinds of ministers and priests who would end up as Hellbound Saints; the compulsively-‐ sinful man the church wouldn't take in any other branch, the overly‐pious man who hates sin and sinning but will make that sacrifice to fight Satan, the female minister who wants to be doing spiritual battle on a scale she couldn't with the Unitarians. The entire cast (Clifton Collins Jr! Dan Fogler! Andre Royo!) was so good and so clearly got the fun and weird innocence of the concept. I grew up thinking of Clancy Brown as the heaviest of the heavies; he spends half this movie wearing nothing but a rug and a woman's purple bathrobe.
But HELLBENDERS isn't satire. I don't have any interest in camp. The hardest part of the movie was balancing the gonzo characters and real idea of violence, both spiritual and physical. From the few small screenings we've had so far, the hardest laughs and biggest reaction we've had came from Catholics, people who were raised on a weekly diet of church.
What I hope is funny about HELLBENDERS is what's scary about THE EXORCIST- Hell might be real. Our kind and benevolent Creator may be holding the threat of eternal damnation and unimaginable suffering over our heads until the day we die. Hilarious!
ABOUT THE CAST
CLANCY BROWN(Angus)
This prolific and versatile actor emerged from the fertile Chicago theatrical scene of the early 1980's. Roles such as "Jean" in August Strindberg's Miss Julie; "Aaron" in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus; and "Geisler" in Glen DeCoasta's A Constant Wish brought him to the attention of critics and audiences alike. His film debut as "Viking" in Bad Boys' starring little known actor Sean Penn, brought him to the attention of Hollywood.
It is hard to say for which roles Mr. Brown is best known as his career has been both distinguished and quirky. Legions of Highlander fans know him as the prototype immortal villain "Kurgan" in the initial film that grew into a franchise. Then there is the ferocious "Captain Hadley" in the multiple Oscar® Nominated TheShawshank Redemption. And on television Clancy found fans with his portrayal of the 1934 preacher, Brother Justin Crowe, on HBO’s Emmy® award winning series, Carnivale.
His films have crossed the genres from thrillers (Pathfinder, Blue Steel; Pet Sematary 2) to true-life drama (Desperate Rescue; Love, Lies and Murder; The Man Who Broke 1000 Chains); from family films (The SpongebobSquarepants Movie, Flubber) to social dramas (Normal, The Laramie Project); from action dramas (Cowboys and Aliens, The Guardian, Starship Troopers; Extreme Prejudice; Shoot to Kill) to animation (SpongebobSquarepants; The Justice League; Super Robot Monkey). And some of his work defies conventional classification (The Bride; Cast a Deadly Spell; and cult favorite The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai).
In 2012 Clancy appeared in Vanity Fair’s March issue celebrating Hollywood’s great character actors, and he’ll be on the big screen with five different feature films slated to arrive in theatres in 2013 and 2014.
Clancy was born in the rural southwestern Ohio town of Urbana, where his family owned and operated the local newspaper. He attended Northwestern University on a track scholarship and remains an active alumnus. He was married to television news producer, Jeanne Johnson in 1993 and is the proud father of a daughter and son.
CLIFTON COLLINS JR.(Larry)
Nurturing an impressive body of work, Clifton Collins, Jr. is one of Hollywood’s most versatile talents and his career continues to evolve with exciting and challenging projects. “Collins is mesmerizing…” and “Mr. Collins eloquent performance…” are just a few of the accolades he received for his portrayal of Perry Smith in the director Bennett Miller’s Academy Award nominated film “Capote.” Clifton was also received an Alma Award nomination for Best Actor.
Clifton’s passion for the art of acting keeps him drawn to both studio and independent features. As one of Hollywood busiest actors, Clifton has starred in films that embrace both comedy and drama. Clifton just wrapped filming the Warner Brothers feature TRANSCENDANCE opposite Johnny Depp and with Wally Pfister making his directorial debut with as well as shooting two films back to back for Terrence Malick for KNIGHT OF CUPS opposite Christian Bale and a yet to be titled feature. He was last seen in the Warner Brothers / Legendary Films feature PACIFIC RIM directed by Guillermo del Toro and starring Clifton alongside Charlie Hunnam, IdisIlba and Charlie Day. Previously, Clifton starred alongside Amy Adams and Emily Blunt in the Sundance hit SUNSHINE CLEANING as well as starring in the Paramount 2010 Summer Blockbuster STAR TREK, in which he played the Romulan ‘Ayel.’ Notable performances that year also included starring in CRANK 2 for Lionsgate opposite Jason Statham, the Mike Judge directed Miramax film EXTRACT alongside Jason Bateman, Mila Kunis and Ben Affleck, Jim Sheridan’s feature BROTHERS alongside Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman and Sony’s sequel feature BOONDOCK SAINTS 2.
Clifton’s other notable film credits include “Traffic” directed by Steven Soderbergh where Clifton played the unforgettable assassin ‘Frankie Flowers’ opposite Benecio Del Torro, “Rules of Attraction” directed by Roger Avary for Lion’s Gate and “Tigerland” directed by Joel Schumacher. Even at the beginning of his career, Clifton found himself working with some of the town’s bright young filmmakers including the Hughes Brothers’ in “Menace to Society” and “Dead Presidents”, John Singleton’s “Poetic Justice”, Kevin Reynolds’ “187” and Antoine Fuqua’s “The Replacement Killers.”
No stranger to the small screen, in 2010 Clifton shot a starring role in NBC’s drama “The Event,” an emotional, high-octane conspiracy thriller that follows Sean Walker, (Jason Ritter) an ordinary man who investigates the mysterious disappearance of his would-be fiancée, and unwittingly begins to expose the biggest cover-up in U.S. history. The series ended after 26 episodes in early 2011. He received and Emmy nomination for his role in highly acclaimed miniseries “Thief” in which he starred alongside Andre Braugher. He has also recurred on some of primetime’s highest rated shows including “24,” “The Shield” and “Alias.” In 2013, Clifton signed on to ABC’s 1 hour drama series RED WIDOW starring opposite Radha Mitchell and GoranVisnic.
On the directing side, Clifton directed the video for Zac Brown Band’s single “Chicken Fried,” which debuted on CMT to rave reviews and was nominated for two CMT Awards (Group Video of The Year and USA Weekend Breakthrough Video of the Year) and won the CMT USA Weekend Breakthrough Video of the Year award! It was awarded a Bronze for over all Video and Editing at the Telly Awards. Clifton has also directed the music videos for the Zac Brown Bands follow up single “Whatever It Is,” Jamey Johnson’s “High Cost of Living”, the Counting Crow’s “You Might Think”, Chris Still’s “100 Year Thing” and Slash’s latest video for “Gotten.”
From an early age, Clifton Collins Jr. was encouraged to pursue his artistic talents by his actor-grandfather who allowed Clifton the opportunity to surround himself in the acting community. Born to a Mexican mother and a German father, Collins realized his diverse background coupled with strong intellect would provide for a unique quality rarely seen on screen.
Clifton currently resides in Los Angeles.
DAN FOGLER(Eric)
Making an exceptional transition from theater to film and television, Tony award winning actor Dan Fogler was most recently seen in the leading role opposite Josh Duhamel in SCENIC ROUTE which premiered earlier this year at SXSW. Dan is also a recurring guest star on NBC's critically-acclaimed new series, HANNIBAL. Prior to that, he was a series lead in the ABC sitcom MAN UP!
On the big screen, Dan has starred opposite Jennifer Aniston and Aaron Eckhart in LOVE HAPPENS for Universal Pictures and Ang Lee’s TAKING WOODSTOCK with LievShreiber and Emile Hirsch. He was the lead in Relativity’s TAKE ME HOME TONIGHT opposite Topher Grace and Anna Faris and Disney’s MARS NEEDS MOMS opposite Seth Green. Fogler has also starred opposite Christopher Walken in BALLS OF FURY for Focus Features and was heard as part of the voice cast in the animated features KUNG FU PANDA for Dreamworks, alongside Jack Black and Jackie Chan. Earlier features include Fox’s HORTON HEARS A WHO with Steve Carrell and Jim Carrey, as well as the independent THE MARCONI BROTHERS. Prior to that he starred in Lions Gate’s GOOD LUCK CHUCK, opposite Dane Cook and Jessica Alba.
Dan Fogler made his directorial film debut with HYSTERICAL PSYCHO, at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival. The film stars the ensemble of Stage 13, the film and theater production company of which he is a founding member and Fogler makes a cameo appearance as well as narrates the film.
Fogler won a Tony Award in 2005 for his performance in the Broadway production of William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin’s musical, “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” directed by James Lapine. Fogler was also honored with the Outer Critics Circle, The Lortel, Drama Desk for Best Ensemble, and Theatre World Awards for his portrayal. He was also awarded the New York Magazine Culture Award for Best Breakthrough Performance that year. He reprised the role in the Spring of 2007 for the West Coast run of the musical.
He returned to the New York stage in the fall of 2006 in Dan O’Brien’s “The Voyage of the Carcass,” directed by Randy Baruh. Fogler had previously appeared in off-Broadway and regional productions, including “Bobby Gould in Hell,” “Joe Fearless,” “Crepuscule,” “Bridges and Harmonies,” “White Devil,” and “Dilettantes & Debutantes.” Fogler’s theatrical directorial debut was for a play that he also wrote, “Elephant in the Room” (inspired by Ionesco’s “Rhinoceros”). It premiered at the 2007 Fringe Festival in NYC. This play was also produced by Stage 13. Fogler also passes time as a member of Second Rate - a rock band with his friend Law Tarello.
ANDRE ROYO (Stephen)
Andre Royo has that rare ability to give the characters he plays depth and emotion without overshadowing his cast mates. As evidence, see Royo’s amazing turn as Bubbles on HBO's critically acclaimed drama The Wire, Henry Arliss Higgins on Fox’s Fringe and Stephen Canfield in Heroes.Royo has also appeared on a diverse range of shows, including How to Make it in America, Memphis Beat, Prime Suspect, The Whole Truth, Party Down, CSI: Miami, Numb3rs and Criminal Minds.
The first time Royo appeared on the big screen was in John Singleton’s Shaft. He’s also appeared in an eclectic array of features such as Red Tails, Hellbenders, Remnants, The Collection, August, Super, and Calloused Hands. Most recently he will appeared in The Spectacular Now which premiered in competition at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and is currently in theaters.Beyond acting, Royo executive produced the independent feature film Would You Rather and is attached to produce two additional features.
ROBYN RIKOON (Elizabeth)
Robyn Rikoon was born in Roswell, NM. Her mother is a textile artist and her father is a painter. She grew up in Santa Fe, NM which contributed to her great love of adventure and the outdoors. After graduating from The North Carolina School of the Arts with a BFA in Drama, Robyn made her professional theatre debut at The Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, MN performing the role of Catherine in Arthur Miller’s A View From The Bridge. She moved to NYC in 2009 where she was cast in guest star roles on HBO’s inTreatment, playing Debra Winger's daughter alongside Gabriel Byrne, NBC’s Mercy and Law & Order SVU, FOX’s Fringe as well as CW’s Gossip Girl and ABC’s The Unusuals.
Robyn’s first Indie film experience took her to Portland, OR in 2009 where she co-starred in Cold Weather, an Official Selection of SXSW in 2010 which earned distribution by IFC. Currently Robyn lives in Brooklyn, NY where she is a founding member of the new theatre art company, NowHere, experimenting with sprouts and is desperately trying to become a member of the Park Slope Food Co-op.