with gabe fazio eleanor hutchins

GUN
A SHORT FILM BY SPENCER
GILLIS
WITH
GABE FAZIO
ELEANOR HUTCHINS
A re you really in control ?
Synopsis
Roy and Karen, new parents living in suburbia, have a terrifying
break-in. Roy decides it’s time to purchase a handgun for home
defense, but soon becomes obsessed with the sense of power
he feels when carrying the concealed weapon. Karen is hurt and
resentful, as her husband isn’t holding up his end of the partnership. Roy continues to become more confrontational with
a neighbor and strangers, leading down a path that may have
tragic consequences.
Director’s Statement
GUN is a character study about the influence of power on the
human mind. As a viewer, I find cinema is at its best when it
tells a story about human nature. In GUN, Roy finds himself
confronted with an age-old dilemma, how to protect his home
and family. The simple act of buying a handgun unravels the
complex fabric of Roy’s humanity, as good intentions give way
to darker tendencies. Will Roy become the man he is trying to
protect his family from?
Growing up in a small town in Kansas, I had plenty of exposure to firearms. My mother was a police officer and she often
took my sister and I to the shooting range to watch her train for
the pistol team. Eventually I learned to shoot. The tremendous
sense of empowerment and responsibility while handling a firearm always shocked me. Months before writing GUN I awoke
one night to a noise outside our suburban home, my pregnant
wife asleep next to me. After tiptoeing about the house, peering
out into the darkness, I realized how unprepared we were for the
unthinkable. This compelled me to explore our alienation from
our deeply embedded primal instincts and how we respond when
they resurface.
Director’s Statement
Stylistically the DoP, Ludovic Littee, and I worked very closely
to design a minimalist aesthetic. With films like Shame (2011)
and The Robber (2010) as influences, our goal was to unfold
the narrative in a constrained and judicious way. Setting boundaries kept us focused, allowing performance and story to drive
the film. The concept was to draw the audience into Roy’s world
while crafting a visual correlation to his desire for control.
Actor Gabe Fazio and I collaborated closely to create the character of Roy. We spent hours in preproduction exploring the character, Gabe pushing me to probe further at every turn of the process. What does Roy want? What does he do for a living? What
past traumas does he have? What does he fear? Once we were
shooting very little conversation was required. Gabe brought an
immense richness to the character. He truly became Roy.
One purpose cinema serves is to offer cathartic encounters, to
play out morally or ethically dangerous experiences in a safe
space. GUN offers that space to the audience in a powerful way
because it comes so close to home. We see a glimpse of ourselves in Roy’s struggle and come away with a simple question,
are we really in control?
SELECTED BIOGRAPHIES
SPENCER GILLIS
Writer/Director
GUN marks the directorial debut of New York based Spencer
Gillis who previously studied at the University of Iowa where he
earned a Bachelor of Arts in Cinema and Master of Arts in Film
Studies. Spencer is a professional camera assistant/operator
whose experience spans more than twenty feature films – including Shame, Blue Valentine and Arbitrage – in addition to work in
documentary, episodic television, commercial and web content.
He recently finished his second feature length script titled Constance.
GABE FAZIO
‘Roy’
An up-and-coming talent based out of New York, Gabe Fazio recently worked on Derek Cianfrances’s film The Place Beyond the
Pines. He has appeared in television shows such as Law & Order
and played opposite Harvey Keitel in the ABC mini-series The
Path To 9/11 as well as several independent films and shorts.
He has starred in Off-Broadway and world premieres from prominent authors such as Tennessee Williams, Israel Horowitz and
Edward Allen Baker. Gabe graduated with am MFA from The
New School for Social Research and is a member of the Actors
Studio.
SELECTED BIOGRAPHIES
LUDOVIC LITTEE
Director of Photography
Working in the film industry for over a decade, Ludovic has an
impressive slate of feature film experience as a camera operator and assistant. His recent projects include working with Steve
McQueen and Sean Bobbitt on Shame, with Derek Cianfrance on
A Place Beyond the Pines, the financial thriller Arbitrage starring
Richard Gere, and the dark comedy Thank You for Sharing starring Gwyneth Paltrow. Ludovic just finished work as Director of
Photography for a television pilot Forever Wrong starring Jamie
Lynn Sigler and Will Janowitz.
ALEX ORLOVSKY
Executive Producer
A partner and Producer at Verisimilitude Films and an Officer of
the board of Artists Public Domain, Alex is a staple of the New
York independent film industry. He recently produced Derek
Cianfrance’s The Place Beyond the Pines which premiered at the
2012 Toronto International Film Festival, and has past producing credits on films like Half Nelson, Blue Valentine, and Terri.
CAST
Roy ................................................... GABE FAZIO
Karen .................................. ELEANOR HUTCHINS
Tina .............................. ASHLEY MORGAN BLOOM
Mike ........................................... CHRIS LAZZARO
Hoodlum #2/Intruder .......................... DREW HALE
Hoodlum #1 ........................ CAMERON MCINTOSH
Neighbor ................................. HARVEY KAUFMAN
Gun Shop Clerk ......................... LISA MARIE CASO
Shooter #1 .................................... RYMAN NAVOA
Shooter #2 ...................................... JOE LASCALA
Shooter #3 ....................... RAYMOND VASQUEZ JR.
Gun Range Clerk ........................ JOSEPH LASCALA
Gas Station Clerk ........................ EMAD A. TAWFIK
Gas Station Attendant ........................ ADEL MILAD
CREW
Written and Directed by ............... SPENCER GILLIS
Produced by ........................... NICOLE COSGROVE
MARIELA COMITINI
Executive Producers .................... ALEX ORLOVSKY
ETHAN MILLS
SPENCER GILLIS
Director of Photography ............... LUDOVIC LITTEE
Edited by ........................................ ERIN CASPER
ADAM R. BROWN
Composer ............................ MARK DEGLI ANTONI
Sound Editing, Design & Mix ......... DAN FLOSDORF
Casting ............................. ADAM CALDWELL, CSA
Production Supervisor ............ JOANNA ROCKWELL
Production Coordinator .................... NICK LORDEN
1st Assistant Director .................... LOREN MILLER
Set Production Assistant .................. KYLE CASPER
1st Assistant Camera ......................... JAMES DALY
2nd Assistant Camera ..................... JOHN VALKOS
NIKO KUHN
Gaffers ............................................ MIKE FUCHS
NEKORO BUNSIE
Key Grip .................................... TRAVIS LABELLA
Production Sound Mixer ................ SETH TALLMAN
Boom Operator ............................... MISSY WEEKS
Property Master .......................... MAX SHERWOOD
Hair Stylist - Mr. Fazio ............. TINA DEL ROSARIO
Music Supervisor ................................ JOE RUDGE
Guitar & Instrument Design .......... COLIN STEVENS
Digital Intermediate Colorist ......... ANDREW GEARY
Digital Intermediate Provided by ..... COMPANY 3 NY
Digital Intermediate Producers ...... MARIE DE LEON
COLIN DAVIS
Digital Conform ............................... JOHN DIESSO
Digital Intermediate Technician .... VINCENT BOROCCI
Re-Recording Mixer ....................... RYAN M. PRICE
Assistant Re-Recording Mixer .......... DAN TIMMONS
A-FRAME PRODUCTIONS
Production Company
641 President St, STE 201
Brooklyn, NY 11215
[email protected]
COMPANY 3
Color
218 West 18th St 12th FL
New York, NY 10011
tel: (212) 687-4000
SOUND LOUNGE
Sound Mix
149 5th Avenue, 13th FL
New York, NY 10010
tel: (212) 388-1212
ENCORE / DELUXE
Visual FX
435 Hudson Street, 9th FL
New York, NY 10014
tel: (212) 444-5555
PUBLICITY & SALES
[email protected]
Website:
www.gunshortfilm.com
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/gunshortfilm
Twitter:
@shortfilmGUN
© 2012 Spencer Gillis. All rights reserved.