(August 25, 2009 - Toronto, Ontario) – Leslie Nielsen's most recent film wrapped production only a few weeks ago and its producers have just signed an international distribution deal, but that's not the big news. At least, not so far. The film, Brand Dead, is an independent comedy costarring Patrick Cavanaugh, Pauly Shore (pictured below) and Phil Morris. Shore erupted in an on-set tirade that was caught on film and quickly ended up online and on entertainment-type TV shows around the world. The story was originally broke by Vancouver-based movieset.com. News networks like TMZ, AOL, CNN and innumerable websites picked up the clip but that led to speculation that the whole thing was staged for the sake of publicity.
Throwing caution to the wind, and generating even more publicity, the buzz around Shore's on-camera meltdown was turned into an electronic debate and poll in an effort to discover if the pubic thought the whole thing was just a publicity stunt. As it turns out, hundreds of thousands of voters participated, which any publicity expert would have to describe as a coup for a small budget production. All the hubbub around the tirade overshadowed the news that Mass Hysteria Entertainment had picked up the distribution rights. "Surprised would be an understatement," said Mass Hysteria Entertainment CEO, Daniel Grodnik, commenting on the amount of press coverage received over the past week. "This is a funny picture, but this kind of publicity is rarely seen in the small budget comedy genre. We look forward to closing the deal and distributing the movie." Grodnik is a veteran motion picture and television producer, who plans to use his newly formed company to create theatrical comedies for young adults with an interactive component.
The comedy is being directed by Bill Corcoran (Left Behind II, Death Warrior). Patrick Cavanaugh stars as Slam Slamsky, who has built up a reputation as "the King of YouTube." After he parlays his web talents into a gig in the often weird world of advertising, he quickly learns his 15 minutes of fame only has a few minutes left. Fired, and dumped by his domineering girlfriend, Slam is down in the dumps until he finds a new source of inspiration in a beautiful fan named Erica (Alex Mauriello). Newly inspired, Slam lands a new gig promoting a gentlemen’s club and the adventure begins.
Shore only plays a small part in the film but so far has garnered most of the press. Leslie Nielsen plays the role of a Producer.
Brand Dead is a production of BD Garden Company. No release date has been announced, but post-production on the film has started in Hollywood.
thousands of voters participated, which any publicity expert would have to describe as a coup for a small budget production. All the hubbub around the tirade overshadowed the news that Mass Hysteria Entertainment had picked up the distribution rights. "Surprised would be an understatement," said Mass Hysteria Entertainment CEO, Daniel Grodnik, commenting on the amount of press coverage received over the past week. "This is a funny picture, but this kind of publicity is rarely seen in the small budget comedy genre. We look forward to closing the deal and distributing the movie." Grodnik is a veteran motion picture and television producer, who plans to use his newly formed company to create theatrical comedies for young adults with an interactive component.