The West and the Ruthless European Release is today! In honor of the release, we wanted to show off one last Behind The Scenes Video! This was shot on Day 4 of the Production and the first day Paul Haapanemi was on set! It doesn’t look like it was 115 Degrees, but it is!!
For more on The West and the Ruthless, make sure to check out the Official Site!
One of the most exciting and adventurous location scouts so far has been to the wonders of Iceland. We wanted to see the ice in Iceland so we went in winter. One of the best parts was our plane flying through the northern lights. One of the worst parts was it was so cold Nick’s contacts started freezing inside his eyeballs.
The West and the Ruthless is now available just about everywhere! It’s available to rent, stream, and download on iTunes, Amazon Prime, and Vudu, it’s available to purchase online at retailers such as Amazon, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, and Target, or you can pick up a copy in stores at retailers such as Walmart, it’s even now available on Tivo, Cable and Dish via On Demand!
BUT WAIT, there’s more! The European Release has now been slated for April 26! The European Distribution is being handled by Many More Films after being acquired by Tall Tree Entertainment last year. The European Release will be available at iTunes, SF Anytime, Blockbuster, Plejmo, Elisa (Finland), and Altibox.
The West and the Ruthless, is an award winning feature film and directorial debut by Nick + Lexie (Nick Trivundza and Lexie Trivundza). The film is a Revisionist Western and was produced in association with Old Tucson Studios (Rio Bravo, Tombstone, The Quick and the Dead, 3:10 To Yuma, and The Magnificent 7) and stars (in alphabetical order) Danny Brown, Dan Fowlks, Rebecca Gomberg, Paul Haapeniemi, Alexander Harris, Benedict Mazurek, Will Roberts, Zoe Sloane with Matt Boone and Katelyn Ann Clark.
A brand new score for our short film Jack the Ripper has been composed by Gareth Murphy with a full orchestra. Gareth contacted us last year about loving the short film and wanting to try his hand at a score. What he delivers is a brand new take on the film that is wonderfully haunting and creepy and reminiscent of some of our favorite films of all time.
Gareth, seen in the photo with his back to the camera dressed in black, worked with Gavin Greenaway as the conductor who has conducted huge blockbuster films (just last year he did Dunkirk, Kingsman, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Guardians of the Galaxy)!
Jack the Ripper had an amazing run on the festival circuit and can now be seen on Robert Rodriguez’s El Rey Network.
We're really excited to be judges this year at the Red Dirt International Film Festival! As alumni of the festival with five films there (Little Red Riding Hood, The Umbrella Factory, Jack the Ripper, Haunting of the White Sparrow, and Around the World in 80 Days) we’re over the moon to be a part of the process this year and watch some amazing films from some amazing filmmakers!
For more information on the Festival, which starts March 22, check out the official site right here:
Only a few hundred feet away from the humid jungles of The Climatron is a Victorian Mansion, Mausoleum, Brick Townhouses from the 1800s, and a Maze. This was the home of Henry Shaw, the namesake of Shaw’s Garden. Out of all of the mansions we’ve been scouting lately, this is one of our favorites.
One of the coolest places in the world we’ve visited for a location scout is definitely Shaw’s Garden (The Missouri Botanical Gardens) in St. Louis. Located in the middle of the gardens is the Climatron which houses a beautiful jungle. When we visited it was about 15 degrees outside, but inside it was a humid, 90 degrees, lush and tropical.
Our location scouting adventures have taken us to mansions throughout the United States, from the Biltmore in North Carolina, to the Tower Grove House in St. Louis, to the Governor’s Mansion and Fioli in Northern California, but one of our favorites is the Greystone Manor, tucked away in Beverly Hills.
One of our favorite parts of the mansion (seen below) is the old greenhouse. It’s amazing.
As we continue our location scouting adventures (with previous adventures taking place at Yosemite, Mescal, and the abandoned remains of something from the apocalypse) we have a few more wonderful photos, this time from Fort Tejon located in the Grapevine of Southern California.
We location scout. A lot. It’s where story and creative usually starts for us and in the past has taken us to Iceland, Kauai, Costa Rica, and other wonderfully exotic places. When we were preparing to shoot The West and the Ruthless, our debut feature, we found so many cool places and eventually led us to Arizona where we filmed in the desert of Tucson.
As we prepare for our next project, we’re once again exploring locations and revisiting some of our favorite locations. One we often return to is Yosemite.
With the Award Winning Short Film, The Umbrella Factory playing on Robert Rodriguez’s El Rey Network, we wanted to show off a little behind the scenes that we’ve been working on for the Feature Film Development. The Umbrella Factory Feature has a wonderful new look that creates an even bigger world - somewhere between Tim Burton and Harry Potter.
Brian Miller, artist extraordinaire, crafted each of the amazing illustrations for the concept art below, from The Windmill on Windy Hill to the incredible details of The Peculiar Zoo!
The Windmill on Windy Hill
Graveyard Manor
The Curiosity Shoppe
The Peculiar Zoo
The Grand Lobby
An Automatted Carriage
The Umbrella Factory
Well, 2017 is almost in the rear view mirror! What an unbelievable year. Before we string up the Christmas lights and start pounding back Egg Nogs (so gross but you have to) we wanted to not only say HAPPY HOLIDAYS but also send a GIANT SIZED THANK YOU to everyone that helped us make 2017 our biggest year ever!
We kicked off the year by finishing up Post Production on our Feature Film, The West and the Ruthless! It was a great way to start off the year - and even better, it was immediately acquired for World Wide Distribution by Tall Tree Entertainment! They then headed off to Berlin to kick off international sales.
The West and the Ruthless, International Posters
The West and the Ruthless then Premiered at AIFF and we had the chance to screen the film to a sold out audience, a wonderful Q&A, and then an incredible after party with the cast and crew!
West would go on to win a ton of awards including Best Western, Best Actress, and Best Visual FX as well as rack up nominations for Best Cinematography and Best Actor at Genre Celebration! The film also grabbed some great reviews from the likes of Jonathan Martin at FilmQuest who said:
“Swaggering onto the screen with confidence and bravado, The West and the Ruthless will keep you guessing as it boils over to its thrilling conclusion. Grabbing you by the face and never letting go, Ruthless packs more grit than a prize fighter and promises a showdown that will leave you breathless.”
We did some wonderful press for the film including an interview with Scripts Magazine before the film headed to Cannes where it would be sold to 4 Digital and Sony Pictures!!
We then directed a bunch of commercials that went on to win a bunch of awards! Including two Pollies and five Telly Awards with awesome agency MTA!
After that we began preliminary work on our next features. This took us on some incredible location scouting adventures, including an abandoned western town and what looks to be the remains of another world - conveniently located in the 30 mile zone.
With the impending release of The West and the Ruthless, we began restoring two of our original shorts to their 4K and 5K glory. This was the re-release of Haunting of the White Sparrow and One Shot, which look amazing.
Then two of our other short films were acquired by Robert Rodriguez’s El Rey Network. The release included a brand new interview shot on location at the El Rey Studios and never before seen Behind the Scenes for each film.
Then we directed another round of incredible commercials! This time overseeing many of the fall campaigns for book publishing giant, Harper Collins and HarperOne!
After that, we had the opportunity to work on a brand new TV show about the war against ISIS, The Volunteers. We worked with the amazing producers at Ricky Schroder Productions and the show debuted on Audience Network with back to back episodes and some incredible advertising in Times Square!
Then, on November 7th, The West and the Ruthless was released on iTunes, Amazon, Amazon Prime, Target, Best Buy, Walmart, Barnes & Noble, VuDu, On Demand, TCM, and more!
The feeling of walking into a store and grabbing a copy is a feeling we'll never forget (although it was strange to have to buy a copy of our own movie - I mean - it's our movie, right?????)
November and December brought a ridiculous amount of film pitches - that fingers crossed - we figure out what we’re doing.
SO, here’s to an incredible and even bigger 2018!
Nick + Lexie
Our short film Jack the Ripper will be playing again this December on Robert Rodriguez’s El Rey Network! The film will be shown along with an interview shot at El Rey Studios and features host, John Carpenter, and films from other filmmakers such as Eli Roth!
El Rey has also picked up our short films Little Red Riding Hood and The Umbrella Factory which were featured on a recent episode as well as on their digital networks this last September and November!
The West and the Ruthless, Available Now!
Our feature film, The West and the Ruthless, is available now in the US and Canada with a release from 4 Digital and Sony Pictures. The Eurpean Release has been slated for early 2018.
Here’s a list of just a few of the retailers where you can Purchase, Download, Stream, and Rent!
We have a ton of really amazing releases happening in November!
First, we kick it off with our BIGGEST release, The West and the Ruthless! The West and the Ruthless comes out November 7. You can already Pre-Order the film from retailers such as iTunes, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Turner Classic Movies, Walmart and many others!
Next up is a brand new TV Show, The Volunteers! We are so excited for the world to see this brand new series produced by the amazing guys and gals over at Ricky Schroder Productions. The first episode airs November 11 and the second episode airs November 12 on Audience Network.
Also on November 11, our short film, Jack the Ripper, will be airing on El Rey Network with Special Host, and legendary director, John Carpenter!
Then on November 24, The El Rey Network will be re-releasing our short films, Little Red Riding Hood and The Umbrella Factory with brand new interviews shot at the El Rey Studios as well as brand new behind the scenes!
The West and the Ruthless is now available for Pre-Order on iTunes! If you Pre-Order now it will be available on Nov. 7 to stream and download!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/the-west-and-the-ruthless/id1293636978
The Film is also available to Pre-Order on DVD at Amazon, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, Turner Classic Movies, FYE, Movies Unlimited and more!
Just in case you missed the Sunday Sept. 24th Episode where we chatted about filmmaking over on Robert Rodriguez’s El Rey Network, (hosted by Jorge Gutierrez, director of The Book of Life and the upcoming Lego Movie Spinoff) have no fear! There will be a digital recap heading online this November with Behind the Scenes and Digital Exclusives!
On November 24th, El Rey Network will be releasing The Umbrella Factory and Little Red Riding Hood with an exclusive interview filmed at the El Rey Studios! AND El Rey has also extended the distribution of our short film, Jack the Ripper, another year!
Really excited to finally be able to tell everyone about a brand new TV show we had the chance to work on this last spring with the super producers at Ricky Schroder Productions, called The Volunteers!
The show premieres as a Two Night Event this November with back to back episodes Saturday November 11th at 8PM and Sunday November 12th at 8PM. The show debuts on Audience Network and follows the real life medics helping the wounded in the fight against ISIS on the front lines. These are some of the bravest people on the planet.
Check out the trailer below!
The West and the Ruthless, DVD is now available for Pre-Order on Amazon, Best Buy and Barnes and Noble! The film will be released by Sony Pictures and 4 Digital on November 7.
It’s really exciting to see the film, no longer in our hands, but heading out into the world! It’s also interesting to see new posters and covers being released as well.
The West and the Ruthless European Release is being scheduled for an early 2018 release.
We’re SO excited to announce that our debut feature film, The West and the Ruthless, is heading to Europe!
The West and the Ruthless will be released in the US and Canada on Nov. 7 by 4 Digital and Sony Pictures with the European release to follow in early 2018. The film will be released by Manymore Films who will oversee the distribution.
The West and the Ruthless premiered at AIFF in April and has received rave reviews with praise for it’s performances and cinematography as well as it’s non-linear structure with comparisons to Doug Liman’s film “Go” and the works of Quentin Tarantino. The film stars Danny Brown, Dan Fowlks, Rebecca Gomberg, Paul Haapaneimi, Alexander Harris, Benedict Mazurek, Will Roberts, Zoe Sloane, with Matt Boone and Katelyn Ann Clark.
Check out the official website right here:
