At a recent screening of their upcoming filmBoss Level, actorFrank Grilloand writer/directorJoe Carnahansat down for a Q&A with Collider’s Steve Weintraub and talked a bit about some of the projects currently in development at their production company War Party. If you haven’t heard anything aboutBoss Level, it’s a mind-bending sci-fi action film in which Grillo plays a man trapped in a time loop after his murder, forced to constantly repeat the day of his death until he can fight his way to a secret government project and break the loop. It’s like a mix betweenEdge of TomorrowandHappy Death Day, and if that sounds like your jam, you’ll be excited to hear that War Party’s slate of upcoming projects are similarly outside-the-box.
One film, titledGraves, Carnahan describes asSerpicomeetsPoltergeist, “where the cop car is the haunted house.” That’s an incredibly interesting idea, and I literally cannot wait to see what that film looks like. Another project, titledPound for Pound, is “an MMARocky”, which makes sense for Grillo to be involved with considering his role as an MMA trainer in the surprisingly good 2011 dramaWarrior.
The last project the War Party partners talked about isThorn, which might be the most interesting simply because of what little they were able to reveal. Grillo teased that “a very big woman movie star” was attached, but otherwise didn’t let any other details slip.
Grillo also talked a bit about War Party’s goals as a production company in the business of producing high quality genre films for relatively small budgets. “Our mission statement was not to make movies over $20 million,” he said, “and when you go and sit down with the studios, which Joe and I often have to go and sit with studio heads and the streaming companies, and we’re like, ‘We have this thing for $15 million,’ [they say] ‘Hey, what do you have for $35 million?’”
Finally, the two discuss their sleeper hit filmWheelman, the crazy stars that aligned to bring that project to life, and the possibility of aWheelman 2. It’s a great conversation, particularly for anyone with any interest in the behind-the-scenes process of getting films made. Look for more with Carnahan and Grillo later today.
