Local filmmaker Andrew Hunt wows 'em in "On the Lot."
By Neal Justin, Star Tribune
Last update: May 25, 2007 ndash; 12:06 PM
Anyone who thinks filmmaking is all glamour and thrills should visit a movie set. The process is about as exciting as watching someone boil eggs.
And, yet, we now have Fox's "On the Lot," a new reality series geared toward finding the next great auteur through such exercises as having contestants pitch lame movie ideas and face edge-of-the-seat nail-biters, such as where to place the camera. Competing with the finale of "Dancing With the Stars," Tuesday's premiere didn't get great ratings. It retained only 38 percent of the audience that had watched its lead-in show, "American Idol" -- the kind of numbers that might have the show's executive producer, Steven Spielberg, contemplating an "E.
T." sequel. Hunt, a promo producer for the ShopNBC channel in Eden Prairie, was the premiere's breakout star, deftly handling the initial challenge of selling an idea about a priest who considers leaving the flock, while most of his competitors hemmed and hawed or completely melted down.
One entrant removed his belt at one point and started whipping the stage, for reasons only David Lynch could understand. Unfortunately, Lynch was nowhere to be found. Brett Ratner asked if he would be willing to pitch his next movie.
Garry Marshall offered to take out his wallet and give him the million-dollar prize right now. Carrie Fisher hasn't looked so wowed since Han Solo planted a kiss on her in "The Empire Strikes Back." Hunt, who wasn't available for interviews, is tailor-made for the show, according to Jason Lausche, his partner in the local film company Sleepy Eye.
For the past three years, the two have teamed up for the Twin Cities' 48 Hour Film Festival, which forces directors to create a piece of work in a weekend. Perfect training for the series' second task: making a 180-second short in just one day. "All these people were freaking out, but you could see Andy thinking, 'OK, no problem,' " Lausche said.
Jane Minton, executive director for IFP Minnesota, a local nonprofit center for filmmakers and photographers, said that Hunt is determined to bring any Hollywood success back home. "There are so few representatives on the show from the Midwest," said Minton, who talked to Hunt several weeks ago, after the taping of the initial episodes (later episodes will most likely air live). "Andy really feels a responsibility to represent flyover land and to help people recognize that there is talent outside the industry center.
If anyone can do it, he can." Hunt's skewed sensibility seems in line with Minnesota's most famous filmmakers, the Coen brothers. His submission for the contest, in which 50 were selected out of 12,000, was "Say Nothing," a spoof of "Say Anything.
" A recent work, "Buzzkill," codirected by Lausche, features a couple arguing over a life-size, human-looking vibrator that has become the wife's best buddy. Another project has a traffic cop taking on a driver who happens to be a manic-depressive muppet. The chances of Hunt's comedy darkening the big screen seem strong.
Fox isn't revealing how far he goes, but Minton said Hunt was in the Twin Cities last month doing a short film as part of the competition, a sign that Hunt won't be cut any time soon. If he ends up champion, we have a suggestion for his first feature: "Boiling Eggs." Bet he'd make it a winner.
News RSS