Feast Premiere

Posted By:	Adam Mast
Posted On:	Fri Sep 22nd, 2006

A "FEAST" FIT FOR A KING!

I've been anxiously awaiting Feast for a long time. Readers of Zboneman.com are well aware of my affinity for the horror genre. It's been a long road for the latest feature spawned from the spectacularly entertaining reality show/film making competition Project Greenlight. And in fact, the third season of Project Greenlight was easily the strongest. At the very least, it was the most intimate and intense season the show had to offer.

Producers Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Chris Moore decided fairly early on, that they wanted the third Project Greenlight competition geared toward the horror genre, so they brought in Dimension Films (a studio primarily known for the genre) and horror auteur Wes Craven. Ultimately, a screenplay called Feast by screenwriters Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunston would emerge as the winner, with the slightly eccentric, socially awkward John Gulager (son of veteran character actor Clu) being picked to helm the project.

I'm not going to go into the rigors of the actual production of Feast (which made for immensely entertaining television) because that's not really what this story is about. I will, however, encourage everyone to get ahold of Project Greenlight Season 3 DVD and buy it! It's that good.

Actually, this piece is really about the World Premiere of "Feast" at The Palms Hotel's Brenden Theaters in Las Vegas. The Boneman and I were lucky enough to attend the red carpet event, as well as the swank after party at Little Buddha. Firstly, we'd like to give a special shout out to the stunningly beautiful Public Relations rep Laura Paulsen (I'm not kissing ass – I'm simply reporting the facts) for her kindness and hospitality. She made this possible for us and we're eternally grateful. We've been to several premieres before, but this was certainly one of the most exciting.

Immediately after checking in, we bumped into Judy Thorburn of theflickchicks.com and her husband Stephen of trippervision.com. We've covered a lot of Las Vegas events, and they've sort of become our kick ass connection in Sin City. A special thanks to Judy for hooking us up with a press screening of Steven Zaillian's All the King's Men the next morning (we also showed up early, split up and took-in Factotum and Idlewild - watch for reviews of all three).

Several of the folks responsible for Feast were on hand to walk the carpet, and we did have an opportunity to speak to a few of them. The highlight for me was getting to meet Clu Gulager. This veteran character actor has been around for many, many years, but I sort of came to know him from his wonderful performance in the 80's cult classic Return of the Living Dead. I adore that movie and I was sure to let Clu know it. I loved Return of the Living Dead so much in fact, that I'm hoping to screen it at Horror-Fest 2006. Anyway, it was a thrill just getting to shake this man's hand. We also got to meet Duane Whitaker, who you may remember as the villainous Maynard in Pulp Fiction. In Feast, he plays a horny redneck (to great effect I might add).

I also had a fairly lengthy discussion with screenwriter Patrick Melton. This guy clearly loves horror films (as does his writing partner Marcus Dunston), and when you see Feast it becomes even more evident. We talked a bit about Feast, but mostly we discussed other works of horror that have more or less inspired him through the years. Somehow, we got on the topic of Hostel which we're both big fans of. That lucky bastard got to see Eli Roth's original ending. I have yet to see this version, but I'd prefer it to the ending that was ultimately used (although the ending used is effective as well). We then began discussing crappy endings in general. The Descent immediately came up. Amazing movie, crappy ending. I have had an opportunity to see the original ending of The Descent, and most horror aficionados agree it is the true ending of that outstanding movie. The Boneman and I would eventually talk to Patrick at length during the kick ass after party. We'll get to that in a bit.

The Maloof Brothers were in attendance. They co-financed Feast and own the Palms Hotel and Casino. They also own the Sacramento Kings basketball team. A "Feast" Fit for a King! Get it? That's my lame ass attempt at being witty. Sorry. I'll leave the jokes to The Boneman. We didn't actually get to meet the brothers Maloof and, since I'm leaving the jokes to the Boneman, I wouldn't say they were altogether aloof, but they did make a rather quick exit.

John Gulager also walked the carpet with his long time girlfriend Diane Goldner. Actually, I got an outstanding shot of them flipping the bird to a cheering crowd. I met Gulager once before. Strangely enough, it was at a midnight screening of The Descent at The Sundance Film Festival last Jan. The first thing that struck me about Gulager is how damn accessible he is. He came across as socially awkward on Project Greenlight, and he isn't the world's greatest public speaker, but when you get him in a one on one, he's an awesome dude to talk to. I didn't get to talk to him on the Red Carpet, but I did bump into him in the screening room, and he and his girlfriend did remember me from The Descent screening. We talked for a couple of moments and at the end of the conversation, Gulager asked me if I had seen his film yet (it's had several test screenings in the past several months). I said I hadn't yet. He then asked if I was staying for the screening to which I replied; "What, are you kidding me? I've been waiting for this movie forever!" I'm fairly confident he dug that response.

Back to the Red Carpet. As the Boneman and I began talking for a moment, our conversation was cut short by deafening cheering from the crowd. Seriously, it was so damn loud, we couldn't hear shit! That could only mean one thing. Two things actually; the arrival of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Sure enough, there they were. In the flesh. It was apparent that a good portion of the fans hanging around the outer perimeter of the Red Carpet were there to see these famous performers. Even though The Boneman and I were well positioned, we were unable to interview Affleck and Damon. Their appearance was about as brief as the Maloofs.

As fate would have it, however, we would get to say a couple of words to Affleck and Damon shortly thereafter. As The Boneman and I made our way to the theater to grab our seats for the Feast screening, guess who popped up right behind us in line? Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Judy approached Affleck immediately knowing she probably wouldn't