Reconstructing Reality
The local indie thriller ‘The Day Hollywood Died’, recently had its Sydney premiere, and we caught up with Drew Pearson, who plays the anonymous lead.
Drew Pearson describes the experience of having The Day Hollywood Died premiere at Sydney's Entertainment Quarter as nerve-racking. "You can never exactly know how the audience will respond. Especially with Ronnie S. Riskalla [director] and K.G. Donovan [writer] stretching pretty much every boundary in a small cult film. But it had been in post for quite some time and it was such a relief to see it hit the big screen with a packed audience."
The Aussie film's (which has the tag line "His name isn't important. His story is.") structure coincides with Pearson's character suffering from amnesia after a botched burglary. The premise is reminiscent of Memento, the narrative leads you to question where memory ends and mania begins with alternating colour hues to askew one from the other.
"It's one of those films where if you don't stay focused or miss out on a second of the film, you lose track of the story and back stories," Pearson tells us, "but there are opportunities to jump back on it when given the opportunity. A lot of cinema-goers were exchanging thoughts and realisations trying to de-construct the puzzle after the screening which was great to see. They were intrigued by the writing.
"The specials effects had some serious explosions and when you have SFX artists that have worked on Happy Feet and Knowing, you realise you're in safe hands," Pearson says.
Pearson says that despite having a low budget, the acting scenes were just as explosive. "With Maroun Joseph [Garage Days], Nenif David [Rescue Special Ops] and Tommy Bradson constantly supporting you and giving you fantastic performances to work off, really makes the shoot so much easier. The chemistry was amazing and you create dynamite when you have that kind of chemistry."
The Day Hollywood Died made the official selection at the ECU European Independent Film Festival in Paris. In Australia, look out for its release in selected cinemas in some states, then on DVD and other avenues.
For more information on the film, head here.
Picture caption: Pearson with director Ronnie S. Riskalla at the film's Sydney premiere at Fox Studios.
