![]() For now, I can best describe the intended look as being lifted slightly towards "magic realism". However, the notion of shooting something with a Kodachrome look (like the look that Shane Hurlbut gave "The Greatest Game Ever Played") was appealing. This seems like a good project to try out the new Vivid 500T stock along with the Vivid 160T stock, though you may think that a lower contrast stock would be better-suited for harsh daylight. The producer had a good experience with Fuji on a previous project and asked me to consider it, which was fine with me. We picked 3-perf and I convinced the director to shoot this in the 2.40 aspect ratio, which I think is well-suited for the Hill Country landscape. Seems like a smart choice considering all the harsh day exterior work we have to do, and all the moving around. I haven't shot 35mm since "Jennifer's Body" two and a half years ago. When I got the call about the job, I was told that they were going to shoot in 35mm, which was nice to hear. The production sound mixer is Matt Nicolay, who does the Polish Brothers movies and also did "Akeelah and the Bee", we've probably done seven or eight features together. Due to the tax breaks and whatnot in Texas, I have to hire most of the crew locally, but I'll probably have my key grip out there, Brad Heiner, and maybe one or two others. Turns out that I've worked with the AD before, Joe McDougall, on "Infested", a small F900 horror movie I did in Long Island, NY back in 2001. ![]() The director/screenwriter is a young man named Matt Russell, who comes from a visual efx background. Shooting golf is a challenge due to all the open ground you have to cover, and the lack of shade. Schedule will be pretty tight considering we have some major golfing sequences to shoot, and it's going to be very hot out there. We are shooting in Utopia, TX and also in Fredericksburg, TX. and ends up in this small town for a week and finds a mentor. This is a fictionalized account about a young pro golfer has has a career setback and is looking for some direction, salvation, enlightenment. It's based on a Christian-themed inspirational book about life lessons from golf learned on a real golf course in a remote area of the Hill Country in Texas, in a small town called Utopia. Black, who worked well with him in last year’s “Get Low,” suggests dark edges that the film quickly smooths, just as it treats all conflicts that arise.I'm leaving town on Monday to begin prep on an indie feature called (for the moment) "Seven Days in Utopia". Even without tension or enlivening contradictions, Duvall is terrifically watchable. There are no real bumps in that road, and though the drama has its heartfelt moments, it unrolls as flat as the Texas terrain, cast in an idyllic summer glow.įirst-time director Matthew Dean Russell underscores every simplistic note of the material, with the actors lending whatever depth can be found. The road to golf/life enlightenment leads to churchgoing orthodoxy, but it’s paved with Johnny’s unconventional teaching repertoire, which includes fishing, landscape painting and light-plane flying. With their white clapboard church, town socials, fireworks and fireflies, everyone is so grounded they might sprout leaves - but instead they spout homilies, not least the lovely horse whisperer (Deborah Ann Woll) Luke falls for. It takes a while before the film makes explicit its faith-based slant, but the wholesomeness of Utopia is never in doubt.įrom Johnny’s surrogate father figure to the sturdy widow who runs the diner (Melissa Leo), the prevailing mood is the gentle feistiness of hardworking people. ![]() When Luke Chisholm (Black) crashes his car into a fence owned by Johnny Crawford (Duvall), providence has delivered him into the hands of a former pro with a higher calling. Cook’s book “Golf’s Sacred Journey,” it plays as a “Zen and the Art of the Links” with a Bible Belt persuasion. Choi participating, the film bears an official stamp of approval. With Golf Channel commentators and players such as K.J. Played by Lucas Black, he’s a young golfer fresh off a humiliating pro-circuit debut, and he receives life-changing mentoring from a soulful old rancher - Robert Duvall, as a milder version of the many country-wise characters he’s brought to life over the decades. The title “Seven Days in Utopia” might suggest a flight of metaphoric whimsy or irony, but it’s as literal and earnest as everything in this inspirational drama: It refers to a week the protagonist spends in the small town of Utopia, Texas.
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