“HOBO” ONE OF CANADA’S BEST

Jason Eisener‘s HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN has been named one of Cananda’s Top Ten Feature Films of 2011 by the Toronto Internation Film Festival!

I was fairly certain that a very successful DVD & BluRay release would have been the cherry on top of this whole HOBO-experience, but yesterday’s announcement really took the cake (on which the cherry rests). I think the “HOBO-experience” can officially be upgraded to “HOBO-phenomena”.

I would like to congratulate my friends Jason Eisener, John Davies, Rob Cotterill, as well as everyone else who worked on the film for the outstanding success that this film has seen. Also, major kudos to TIFF for having the cojones to stand behind a film like HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN, that could so easily ignored, and pushed aside as “just another grindhouse flick”.

Oh my, who is that amazing young actor in the yellow mask going toe to toe with Rutger Hauer?

It was me. That was me.

Congrats to all the other filmmakers, as well as the folks at Grassfire Films, Ashley McKenzie and Nelson MacDonald, as their amazing short film, RHONDA’S PARTY (also shot here in Nova Scotia) was named one of Canada’s Top Ten Short Films! For the full list of films, head on over to the TIFF website: http://tiff.net/topten

FYI: Two of Canada’s Top Ten Feature Films can be rented now on YouTube for only $5! HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN (YouTube link) as well as Ken Scott‘s STARBUCK (YouTube link). Support Canadian film!

PS. Blog note: I’ve finally sat down and updated the Photos section of the website, so head on over and take a gander: https://glenjm.wordpress.com/photos/!

HOBO ON DVD/BLURAY THIS TUESDAY!

HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN is approaching the final stop on the publicity-rails as it’s DVD/BluRay release is this Tuesday, July the 5th! Rejoice!

Check out that badass pop-up cover (above) found in the HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN BluRay. I challenge anyone to find another actor with 2 minutes of screen time more prominently featured in such an extensive advertising campaign. That’s talent.

The DVD/BluRay will be released all across the great expanse of North America, so save up your nickels and dimes and run out this Tuesday to pick up this ridiculously packed package.

Magnet Releasing (obviously along with Eisener, Cotterill & Davies) really must be commended for putting together such a solid disc featuring…

• MORE BLOOD, MORE HEART, the fantastic, in-depth making-of featurette, which I had the pleasure of viewing a rough cut of. You really need to see it. So well done.
• An interview with Jason, Rutger and Fangoria’s Mike Gingold (35-40 mins).
• Two commentary tracks (which I can’t wait to hear): (1) Jason Eisener & Rutger Hauer, & (2) Jason Eisener, John Davies, Rob Cotterill, and the original Hobo, the immortal Dave Brunt!
• Deleted scenes, an alternate ending, & video blogs.
• The fake-trailer contest winner, the exquisite VAN GORE from Keith Hodder, Jerrad Pulham & Peter Strauss.
• Shotgun-Mode (which I believe is exclusive to the BluRay) where even more behind-the-scenes footage is revealed as you’re watching the film.

J. Hurtado over at my personal favourite film-news website, TwitchFilm wrote a review for the HOBO BluRay wherein he says…

This is a massive and mighty package for an explosive film that deserves all the attention it can get.  Jason Eisener is a major emerging talent, and he really deserves a lot of credit, along with his crew, for making an outstanding film that captures the spirit of a bygone era of film making without becoming cloying or nudging the audience too hard to acknowledge the joke.  This is no joke.  Magnet Releasing’s Blu-ray release of Hobo with a Shotgun is HIGHLY REOMMENDED.

Pick it up this Tuesday!

PS. Happy Canada Day!

UPDATED DEMO REEL & YOUTUBE

Check out my updated demo reel featuring clips from (1) HAVEN, (2) HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN, and (3) THE CORRIDOR…

Vodpod videos no longer available.

About four years ago, YouTube deleted my entire account (videos included) due to me repeatedly uploading videos including copyrighted materials. Ever since, I’ve been scared to return to the land of YouTube, fearing that they would chase me out of their digital-town with digital-pitchforks.

I’m happy to say that I’ve made my glorious return to the Tubes of You, and so far, no pitchforks or torches have been spotted. I’m actually quite impressed with the level of customization available to YouTube users now, and I managed to chuck together a snazzy little design for my Channel.

So from here on out, all things video-related will be found over at youtube.com/GlenJMatthews…

So head on over, and click “Subscribe” in the top left-hand corner to stay up to date with my doings, until the YouTube overlords come and escort me away.

PS. Happy birthday to me!

CANADA: HOBO W/ A SHOTGUN OPENS FRIDAY!

Check out this incredible artwork for the upcoming issue of Rue Morgue Magazine (hitting magazine-stands April 1st) created by Gary Pullin.

Well the time has come folks, this Friday, March 25th, HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN will be taking Canadian cinemas by force.  I caught the film for the fourth time last night at the Toronto premiere, and I’m still amazed by the film’s pacing. It’s relentless. Tonight, my heart is in Halifax as it’s having its hometown premiere at the Oxford Theatre; I can’t wait to hear what everyone back home thinks of it!

Photo from last night’s Q&A, which I graciously took part in.

IMPORTANT: Please try and make time to catch HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN this weekend! The Canadian film market tends to rely heavily on results of the opening weekend to determine the length of a film’s theatrical run, so (even if you get a chance to catch a preview screening) get your butt out to the cinema and buy your ass a ticket!

If you’re in Nova Scotia, you’ll have to watch HOBO where it all began; the film will be screening at Empire Theatres Dartmouth Crossing and Park Lane (Halifax). In Toronto, HOBO will be screening at Eglinton Town Centre, Empire Theatres at Empress Walk, Queensway Cineplex, Scarborough Coliseum, Scotiabank Theatre (Paramount).

Spread the word! Buy tickets! Go forth and multiply!

PS. Check out director Jason Eisener on George Stroumboulopoulos’ show this Friday on CBC (http://www.cbc.ca/strombo/)!

Update 25/3/11: Please enjoy another photo from Toronto’s premiere which provides evidence of my involvement in the Q&A…
…I generally look less impish when I’m not standing next to a 6’5″ martial arts expert.

Last but not least, I had to share my favourite tweet in regards to the HOBO trailers playing on television–perhaps my favourite tweet of all-time…
The best.

That’s all for now. Go out and see this film, you idiot!

METRO FOLLOW-UP

That’s a hefty heap of page, isn’t it? Me and the Humber College guy know what’s up.

I just wanted to follow-up on the article printed earlier today in Metro Toronto’s Newspaper (Actor with a budding career) as I felt that there were a few things that were interpreted improperly. Condensing a 30 minute sit-down interview with a rambling actor into 500 words is not an enviable task, I’ll give the writer that much.

1) I said a lot more things about Halifax than how terrified I am of it’s random violent crime. I talked about how it’s vibrant arts scene was essential in giving me the support and opportunities needed to nurture my talents into what they are today. I tried to put on my Halifax-Ambassador-Ellen-Page hat. Go Mooseheads.

2) The thrust of the article wasn’t supposed to be so focused on HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN, the film in which I have one scene (although that scene is enough for a Principal credit!), it was supposed to also feature THE CORRIDOR and also cover my recent nomination for Theatre Nova Scotia’s Robert Merritt Award for Best Lead Actor. I didn’t want to seem like I was galavanting around with my ass in the air, screaming “I’ve made it!” for having one scene in a successful film.

3) I really don’t say “terrific” that much.

4) The question I was asked [in person] was “Do you get nervous working with famous actors?”, not “What was the most important thing you felt you had to do when working with Rutger Hauer?”. And that’s why I responded that getting all worked up about working with a notorious actor is just wasted energy, and that I tend to focus solely on the scene. After the fact though, working with Rutger Hauer is pretty darn neat.

5) My blog. My poor blog. I wanted to get my digital scrapbook included in the footnotes of the article to introduce it to a whole new audience. Now I’m stuck talking to all the same schlubs as before. I can call you all that, right? Schlubs?

6) Oh, and yeah. I’m not The Hobo. Sorry.

The old adage “There’s no such thing as bad publicity” remains true. I am happy to be showcased in such a broad fashion, I just would have liked a few less surprises with my morning newspaper this morning.

PS. HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN’s Toronto premiere is tonight, and I’ll be galavanting with my ass in the air all night. Stay tuned to the Tweet-lands for updates through the evening!

HOBO THE VIDEO GAME

File this one under “Pretty neat”. In the run-up to HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN‘s screening down in Austin, Texas for SXSW, The Alamo Drafthouse along with Mondo, Powerhouse Animation, and Perfect Dork Studios have teamed up to create a 16-bit side-scrolling, beat-em-up video game for the iPhone!

Prettay, prettayy, prettayyy neat.

Wired picked up the story: Retro Hobo With a Shotgun Game Blasts Onto iOS

The game is available right now in the iTunes Store for the dirt-low price of $2.99! Wash yer thumbs and preserve your ammo! http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/hobo-with-a-shotgun/id425315735?mt=8

NEWS ROUNDUP

As I’m sure many of you already know, HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN is opening in Canadian cinemas in 3 week’s time on March 25th! The film is continuing it’s festival run (Eisener took his pants off during the intro in Glasgow for some reason), and will play later on this month in Austin, Texas as part of the uber-everything fest, SXSW. Following the 25th, the film will be available On Demand April 1st, and hits United States’ cinemas on May 6th. Fun! The official HWAS webpage is now live @ http://www.magnetreleasing.com/hobowithashotgun/

In other HOBO news, Mr. Zan Rosborough has uploaded the video he shot of our venture down south to Sundance, where you can see our exploits, including our venture into the Playboy Lounge (that’s where Utah keeps their scantily clad women). View @ http://vimeo.com/20317896

A few days ago, a bunch of internet-bloggers picked up THE CORRIDOR‘s trailer. One of my favourite movie-blogs, TwitchFilm wrote about their excitement for the film (Todd Brown specifically), so that’s pretty damn cool if I may say so. Somebody get this bastard a screener! Check out the article: http://twitchfilm.com/news/2011/03/what-horrors-lie-down-the-corridor.php

My ladyfriend Kristin Slaney recently starred in Journeyman Films’ advertisement for the Nova Scotia Business initiative to bring video game developers to Nova Scotia…

She’s fairly enticing, yes?

As if one film from Halifax conquering Hollywood wasn’t enough, Joseph Kahn‘s DETENTION is poised to do some conquering of it’s own. Shot in LA, I don’t think it can be considered a Halifax production whatsoever, but the film’s writer Mr. Mark Palermo is as Nova Scotian as they come (he’ll probably overanalyze & interpret that as an insult). The film will be joining HOBO in Austin later this month for it’s world premiere at SXSW! Check out the trailer over @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UkdZd_muq4 Fun, right?

And lastly but not leastly, I spent another day working with the wonderful students at Toronto Film School (the people who shot the Greendustries commercial I was in) filming a music video. I’ll post it when it’s available, but until then, just know that I wore a novelty mustache ala Daniel Day Lewis (in either GANGS OF NEW YORK or THERE WILL BE BLOOD, take your pick).

And exhale.

SUNDANCE ’11 – Update #4

Author: Zoe Dunsworth
January 22nd – 8:50pm

(Now I’d like to welcome the trip’s first guest-blogger, the film’s Extras Casting Director, Zoe Dunsworth telling her tales of yesterday’s premiere of HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN!)

(Above: on the left, Krista Comeau–right, Zoe Dunsworth at the premiere after-party)

This morning Glen, Adam, Kevin, Henry and I got up really early to see some short films, and met up with Jon Eisener, John Davies, Cat Maltais, Krista and Jason.  One of them was that Beastie Boys music video everybody keeps talking about (Fight for Your Right Revisited).  It was pretty funny, and jam packed with famous people, but seemed a bit out of place at Sundance in my opinion.  My favorite were an Australian student’s film set on a Russian submarine called “Deeper Than Yesterday” and a mysterious short film called “The Strange Ones”.

Molly had an interview with ET Canada this afternoon. She apparently said “Bluts” instead of “blood and guts”, but we’re hoping that coins a new term!

The world premiere of Hobo With A Shotgun was at the Library theatre- and when we arrived an hour early people were already lining up to get in.  Die hard fans were in front of us in the line-up,  saying that this was the best night of their lives. Glen and Henry wore bright orange Hobo with a Shotgun hats and everybody kept asking them “Where did you get those hats?!?!”

Before the screening, a short Canadian film played:  “The Legend of Beaver Dam”.  It was hilarious and incredible and blew everybody away.  When the music started for Hobo, everything got quiet- people took it really seriously.

A couple of women left the theatre at the school bus scene, but other than that it seemed like everybody LOVED it. I hadn’t seen the film before so it was completely fresh for me-  and surpassed my expectations.  Because I worked on it, I found it hard to watch the film as well as notice all of the details- the actors, extras, wardrobe, set design, SPFX, music, sound design, etc. All were done by friends and family so I wanted to take it all in.  I’ll be excited to watch it again so that I can pick up on more things!

After the screening we all headed to the after party in the snow.

(Left: Jason Shipley, Centre: Zan Rosborough, Right: Karim Hussain)

At first we thought that the party was really strange, since when we arrived it was jam packed with people who weren’t crew members and who weren’t at the screening. After a few drinks at the open bar it got better though.

Stars we saw last night: Ben Foster walked past us on the street and spoke to Glen; Elijah Wood was at the party and a bunch of our crew met him (not me); The slap chop guy and  Shooter McGavin walked past us; Molly met Rachel Leigh Cook; Molly also saw Kristin Kreuk; Jody Hill and Danny McBride were also at the party, says Glen.

When the party died down at around 4 AM all of the Hobo crew went to the house that Jason et al are staying at and started checking reviews. All of them are positive so far!

On the way to the house, Henry and I talked to this guy who insisted that he had been to Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. He said he had camped there for two months and showed us this scar on his arm to “prove it”. I asked him where Nova Scotia is and he said it was between Alaska and Russia. He was entirely serious.

We stayed out until around 5AM, which is 8 AM in NS. The taxi van back to our townhouse was jam packed with eight of us: Glen (in the trunk), Nova, Karim, Zan, Adam, Henry, Kevin and I.

SUNDANCE ’11 – Update #3

THE MORNING AFTER
Author: Glen Matthews
January 22nd, 2011 – 12:30pm

Last night was the night that we all were waiting for–the HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN world premiere. Check out these handsome devils, looking all proud and what-not…

Let me apologize in advance if my brain isn’t able to write proper sentences this morning. We had ourselves a really terrific night. Really terrific (that’s secret-speak for “open bar”). Thus, let’s try and do this blog entry as economical as possible, so I can go back to sipping tea and avoiding bright lights.

The screening was amazing. No other way to put it. The amount of pride that I felt for a movie that I had only technically spent one day working on, was enormous. Realistically though, I’ve been privileged to witness the creation of this cinematic anomaly from it’s inception, and wouldn’t have missed this night for the world.

Check out Jason Eisener & Rob Cotterill‘s intro for the premiere last night…

Myself and Mr. Henry “Stoked” Townsend (Make-Up Effects) all spiffy’d up with our premiere to attend…
Literally within an hour of the film ending, glowing reviews started popping up online. Three great reviews are HitFix (http://www.hitfix.com/), UGO (http://www.ugo.com/) and Vulture Magazine (http://nymag.com/). There are plenty others online, so do yourself some Googling if you like!

That’s all for now. Back to my solitude den for now. Another Hobo screening tonight in Salt Lake City!

Oh, and PS. The short film that played before Hobo, THE LEGEND OF BEAVER DAM (also Canadian) was effing terrific! One of the best short flicks I’ve had the pleasure of viewing. G’Oh Canada!

SUNDANCE ’11 – Update #2

TANIGHT’S THE NIGHT
Author: Glen Matthews
January 21st, 2011 – 3:10pm

We are t-minus 8.5 hours away from the world premiere of HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival! Through the miracle of having an awesome Producer (Rob Cotterill), all of the lovely folks who have made the trek from Canada to Utah (including myself) now have their Maple-Syrup-coated hands on tickets for tonight’s screening! Rejoice! Exclamation-marks abound!

So if you’re too impatient to wait for tomorrow’s blog update(s) and would like to keep updated on the happenings of tonight’s screening, you’re best bet would be to check out the Twitter pages of some of the members of the cast & crew. They are myself (@GlenJM), Jason Eisener (@JasonEisener), Rob Cotterill (@RobCotterill), Greg Smith (@GregoryTheSmith), & Elana Zatzman (@__Nova__).

We’re gonna make you effers proud!

Also, make sure to check out this terrific news video by the CBC’s Colleen Jones @ http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2011/01/21/ns-video-hobo-shotgun-sundance.html & this article by The Chronicle Herald’s Andrea Nemetz @ http://thechronicleherald.ca/ArtsLife/1223195.html.

And last but not least, have a peep at the Hobo swag toques being given out to all sorts of disgusting folks here at Sundance…

Odd. As I get older, my nose appears to get broke-r.

Matthews out.