5-25-77: Most Wanted
May 14, 2007 · Print This Article
Chris had emailed me a link to a trailer on YouTube for a movie titled 5-25-77. Since then I have been obsessing over this film. I found the website, 5-25-77.com, and it hasn’t been updated for over a year.
The producers for this movie include Gary Kurtz (Star Wars & Empire Strikes Back) and the producer of Lost in Translation. Despite these names attached to this film and a great premise, this movie is in Hollywood limbo.
I went to the archives of Aint it Fat News and since 1999 there have been reports but still nothing explaining what the hell is going on or when it will be released.
The director is Patrick Read Johnson and the film is semi-autobiographical about being a teenager obsessed with making sci-fi films and seeing Star Wars for the first time.
The trailer hit close to home with me and I want to see it in its entirety. And this year would be the best time to release it being the 30th anniversary of Star Wars. But as Chris had said, we need room in the theater for movies like Delta Farce.
And did I mention that the trailer hints to some great JAWS moments as well. What’s not to love? The trailer has a line that sums up my life.
To everybody else, movies are something to do when you’re tired of real life to you real life is something you do when you’re tired of watching movies.
I will keep my fingers crossed hoping this film gets out to us soon. In the meantime, go check out the trailer.
Here’s the link for the trailer: 5-25-77 Trailer
Ironically, there was a “test screening” of this film tonight (May 14th) at The College of Lake County in Grayslake, Illinois. I popped online to see if anyone else had posted any public reviews before chiming in myself.
“5-25-77″ is a film that had so much potential in the early days of development.
It was a great script based on the fascinating true-life story of the writer-director himself, and had the potential to be a film that would bond movie-fans and movie-makers alike. What became of “5-25-77″ is a production that led to agony, heartbreak, and irritation for many involved. If you search around the internet, you can find many postings from “PRJ” (the director) himself, often popping up on random blogs (such as this one), along with IMDB, AICN, and countless others with a trail of outdated info and promises made and broken over the course of the past 7 or 8 years.
A teaser trailer was filmed in 2002, featuring locals along with then-attached cast. Filming on the actual film began in late 2004, followed by more shooting in the spring of 2006, and yet more pick-ups being shot in January of 2007.
The much-touted appearances by Christopher Lloyd, Carrie Fisher, Joe Pantoliano, etc. never happened, with Colleen Camp and Austin Pendlton (both great actors) stepping into those roles. If I remember correctly, the part of “Herb Lightman” was originally set to be played by Bob Balaban, and changed actors at least twice before Austin came on board.
Much of the crew worked for little-or nothing, often being strong-armed into doing tasks well above and beyond their job descriptions, all while being treated fairly bad at the same time. “5-25″ had fallen victim to poor scheduling and mismanagement on so many levels.
Unfortunately, all of that shows, and the version of the film screened tonight for a couple hundred people in Illinois is a bloated, self-serving, ego-driven vanity piece. Clocking in at over 2-hours in length, the Director claims there will be a screening of the completed, less bloated cut at Star Wars Celebration in two weeks, followed by a screening in Austin in early June. How they’ll be able to pull it off remains to be seen, but yet I still hope it can be done, and somehow they find a way to salvage what could’ve been a great film. As it stands now, a few great performances by the very young cast are overshadowed and surrounded by a very mediocre movie. It’s disappointing to know what could’ve been, what might’ve been, if only it was done right and in a timely fashion. There’s an entire audience that’s been waiting for this for years, and to let them down would be a crime.
The movie’s website http://www.5-25-77.com was updated in November 2007 and includes a 3+ minute trailer. The website looks great and the movie trailer is excellent. I can’t wait to see this movie…when it is finally released. Latest rumor is sometime in Fall 2008.
Remember this is an indie film produced with a very modest budget but I’m amazed at how good the actual production looks…no one running around with hand held camcorders on this one.
yeah yaeh yeah…release the damn movie already!!!