Sam Raimi Helps Filmmaker Fede Alvarez Usher in an Alien Invasion
It’s amazing how much the Internet has changed everything. Look at filmmaker Fede Alvarez. A while back he put up on YouTube an incredible little invasion based short film called Ataque de Pánico (or Panic Attack! for all you gringos), and now he has a million dollar deal with Ghost House Pictures to have his brand of extraterrestrial apocalypse continue on a much larger scale.
Variety reports that Ghost House Pictures has made a seven-figure deal with a Uruguayan commercials director, Fede Alvarez, to direct his pitch for an alien invasion film.
Most first-time helmers make $250,000, but Fede Alvarez scored his million-dollar deal based on the heat generated by “Ataque de Panico!” (Panic Attack), a four-minute, 48-second short about an apocalyptic robot attack Alvarez directed through his commercial production house for less than $500. After the short found its way to the Internet and Kanye West featured a link to the film on his blog, a 30-year-old who was not on anyone’s radar outside the Uruguayan blurb market suddenly found the biggest agencies in Hollywood in a panic to sign him. That created a chain reaction of activity over two weeks that led to a trip to Hollywood, where he met with every major agency, management firm, and law firm that responded to the short.
Sam Raimi will produce with Ghost House partner Rob Tapert. Check out the original short film below.
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