Poster B

Here is the 2nd (out of 3) posters that never saw the light.

This one is actually closest to what became out poster/DVD cover, in terms of colour and the locker image. Though we really liked how stark and raw (the handwritten marker) and self explanatory it was. The distributor really wanted to see "inside" the locker and stack it with VHS titles of the films we'd be celebrating and other Hughes paraphernalia.

What do you think about it?

Alternate Poster #1

Well, I can't wait anymore. Now that the film is out there I wanted to share three posters that our distributor didn't end up going with in the end. All three give the film a completely different vibe and I'll be posting them one at a time over the next two weeks.

For the first one, below, there was just something so clean and simple. The tag line described the documentary perfectly and didn't try to make it into something that it wasn't. I also liked the sprawling message on the billboard, not only because it reminded me of "Save Ferris" on the watertower, but also because it was the first question on our mind.

The Hughes Generation

Today marks the 1 year anniversary of Hughes' death.

Before the title of our documentary eerily became "Don't You Forget
About Me", it was "The Hughes Generation.".

Our belief at the genesis of the idea to make a film about Hughes, was
that he was largely behind helping an entire generation (or two)
define themselves/grow into themselves/be okay with their selves
through adolescence and beyond.

One reviewer of our film said that his death did more to cement his
importance than our documentary could ever hope to do. And he was
absolutely right. We are sorry it took his passing for people to truly
appreciate the impact he had/has.

This blog post is devoted to John Hughes, his wife and kids and
everyone who felt a connection to themselves through his movies.

Through the amount of emails and tweets we've received about people
who have enjoyed our documentary and the articles/blog postings we've
read, it's clear there IS a Hughes Generation, and nobody has
forgotten him.

Today, let's all raise our arm to John ala Bender in the final frame
of Breakfast Club, and say thanks!

Sent from my iPhone

Today's the day

Without further adieu, today marks the day when Don't You Forget About Me gets its official US release. What took so long? We have no idea (industry politics) but we're ecstatic that the doc is finally available now for download on iTunes and in select stores on DVD.

As promised with our American debut, over the summer/fall you'll see extra cutting room floor tidbits from Kevin Smith, Andrew McCarthy and more special interviews from our film.

Lastly, did anyone read about a XXX parody of Breakfast Club being released on the anniversary of Hughes' death? We're shaking/scratching our heads.

Thank you for your patience and continued interest in our flick and, of course, Hughes. His impact his clearly unquestionable.

It's official!

July 13, our film will FINALLY be released in U.S.A for both itunes download and DVD.

Here's the official release

http://www.phase4films.com/detail.aspx?projectId=c55d4486-ae99-40eb-b8ed-9d3a0071a1b9

Sorry it took so long...and thanks for waiting!!!

Knock, Knock

Hey avid blog readers. Without our pending U.S release (May/June - we don't know for sure yet) my plan was to upload cutting room floor interview clips with some of our key players (Kevin Smith, Jason Reitman, Andrew McCarthy etc) - but my transfer deck is broken so I can't edit and upload at the moment. But they are a'comin.



Until that day I just wanted to take a moment to explain why we went on our "get an interview with Hughes" roadtrip.

It was never our intention to be in the film. After our first year of making the film and getting nowhere with trying to get the exclusive interview with the ellusive Hughes, we simply gave up. We focused on the people who worked with him or were influenced by him. It's not just that he hasn't given "an" interview since 1999. When Time magazine wanted to do an article with him, he said no. When the Biography channel wanted to do an interview with him, he said no. When MTV was giving him an award, he didn't show up. When his old high school wanted to give him an award, he didn't accept. When they dug up an idea Hughes wrote down on a napkin in the 80s (Drillbit Taylor)and Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow wanted to meet with him, he said no.

So, why did we go?

Simply, we were naive enough to believe everyone else just didn't try hard enough. Nobody else had put their lives on hold for four years, or spent private money making a tribute to him. And nobody else went as far to knock on his door and ask him face to face.

M

New Hughes Film

Well, we certainly heard it from a bunch of people we interviewed, a sorta legend that John had a barn/drawer/box somewhere out there, which had ideas for films, scripts, short stories and a whole bunch of stuff he either never made or didn't pursue making.

Well, it looks like it was true. Shortly after Hughes' death, his family discovered an endless amount of notes, binders, etc.

Naturally, Hollywood came-a-knocking and according to this site Paramount will be producing one of the screenplays. Apparently, It follows a rich Chicago family who lose everything and have no choice but to move out to the country.

Sounds like classic Hughes to me.

Whether this was going to be his comeback film or something he just felt wasn't up to snuff, we'll just have to wait and see. I really hope if they go through with it that they get Howard Deutch (Pretty in Pink, Some Kind of Wonderful) to direct it.

M

What did you think of the Hughes Oscar Tribute?

I gotta say, to quote one of my producers (Fach) "It was nice to finally see him invited to the party."

I don't know when the last time was that somebody got special treatment like that during the telecast, and I'm sure it was an immensely special moment for his family that was there.

I was sorta hoping that instead of just an assembly of clips, that the segment's producers would have tapped into some of the things we weren't able to cover, but nonetheless, I feel like the cast of his films and the Oscars itself did a proper send off to him.

We are very humbled to have stumbled across this posting, comparing our film to the tribute.
http://http://www.geekweek.com/2010/03/the-john-hughes-tribute-was-not-good.html

Our mistake

We made a boo boo. In our completed edit we credited somebody that doesn't exist, in place of someone who does. We interviewed Joel Gallen (Director) and Mike Bender (Writer) behind NOT ANOTHER TEEN MOVIE. One of the other credited writers was Jay Epstein. Somehow we amalgamated his name with Mike's to come up with MIKE EPSTEIN. I'm sure there's a Mike Epstein somewhere out there, and he's a super nice guy, but we didn't interview him in our film. We interviewed Mike Bender, and are so sorry we fudged it and it's out there now.

Other than writing some funny flicks Mike is also the brain behind a blog called AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com. Check it out!

Mike's been good humoured about the mix-up, but still, we're pretty embarrassed. How could we mess up his last name when it's BENDER!!!??!!

M

You Asked For It

Lately, we've been getting e-mails asking who is on our soundtrack. We're so happy that people are into the tunes. One of our goals, was to follow suit with what Hughes did and put music that WE liked into the film from artists not many have heard of. We're very proud to give you the list. Now get out there, download on itunes or heck, even buy a CD...and tell em we sent you :)

“How We Exit - Gentleman Reg

“The Sun Is Coming Up And My Plane’s Coming Down” - Young Galaxy

“Glory” - The Acorn

“Rabbit In A Snare” - The Paper Cranes

“Don’t Talk Down” - The Stills

"Trouble On The Patio" 
- The Waking Eyes


"Immaculate Heart" - American Analog Set 


"Not Moving At All" - Major Maker

"What Your Baby’s Been Doing?" - The Small Sins

“The Silence” - Cancel Winter

“Drugs” - Memory Bank

“Going, Going, Gone” - Stars

“Cool Kids Keep” - American Analog Set

“I Need A Friend” - The Small Sins
 
 


“What Princes Feel” - The Small Sins

“We’re In A Thunderstorm” - Gentleman Reg

“Being Here” - The Stills

“Number 12” - Memory Bank

"Last Goodbye" - Major Maker

“We Will Break Our Own Hearts” - The Small Sins

“Let Me Be Your Ferris Bueller” - The Carnations

You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried

I.love.books.

Let me tell you why. They're an entirely different medium for sharing an experience or perspective. The written word has so much more impact and a lot less "rules". This is why it's so hard to effectively adapt a well loved/read novel to the screen.

Essentially, in a book, people just talk. This is obviously most true in books that are a collection of essays or interviews or a biography. You can't achieve the same effect in a film, dramatic or documentary. People/distributors just won't sit through/buy a film that is entirely composed of "talking heads", believe me - we tried. Our first cut of the film was just one seamless conversation glued together by all of our interview snippets. On paper, when it was transcribed, it did. On film, it didn't - which is one of the reasons we ended up in the film going after the impossible interview with Hughes.

The other thing about writing a book composed of essays or interviews, is that you have much more access to the people you'd like to include. They don't have to appear on camera and/or they can just send in their stuff through e-mail.

This is why I was SO excited to see the book version of the film we wished we could make. It's called YOU COULDN'T IGNORE ME IF YOU TRIED.

We have absolutely no affiliation with this book other than trying to achieve the goal of imprinting Hughes is the conscience of the world.

Check it out!

Hughes Collage

For those that have seen our film, you may not have noticed our out-of-the box technique of how we dissolved to our amazing still photography used throughout the film. Usually, jpegs of photos are brought into the editing software and then camera moves are added similar to what almost every computer slideshow program can do. Abandoning photoshop, we decided to physically mount a collage of all the photography we were able to get out hands on and license. Our goal was to create a piece that would harken back to both a yearbook, a high school locker/hallway cork board and the kind of paraphernalia that is often left when somebody passes away. We used tape, paperclips, sticky tack etc. On an extreme close-up you can see the tiny details that you wouldn't normally see if it was done using a computer. We then took a photograph of the entire wall, that we then scan across in the documentary when using a specific still during an interview. A lot of work went into it, and it's subtle, but we're very proud of the effect. Here is a close up shot of part of the wall taken with my iphone. We hope ya like it.

Amazing Review

From Exclaim Magazine Don’t You Forget About Me Directed by Matt Austin Sadowski By Vish Khanna Even without its sad epilogue, Don't You Forget About Me is a poignant testament to the power of the late, beloved writer/director John Hughes, the man who not only launched the notion of a serious '80s teen movie, but gave the concept weight and heart, offering a cinematic blueprint that few seem able to follow. A quartet of young Canadian filmmakers are responsible for this alluring documentary delving into Hughes, with insights about him and his process from many of the actors and associates that helped shape the iconography of classics like Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Some Kind of Wonderful, among others. The film is also framed as a quest to find Hughes, who abandoned Hollywood completely in the '90s, living as a recluse in some Illinois suburb. As such, we get to know director Matt Austin Sadowski, and producers Lenny Panzer, Michael Facciolo and Kari Hollend. They're a pretty benign group of personalities, although Facciolo comes across as a silly, hare-brained enthusiast, for the most part (the broken leg and crutches don't help). Feeling alienated by the stock teen films in the current marketplace, these young folk initially wanted to write their own film in the spirit of Hughes's work. As they got further into his psyche, they wondered why he quit the business and soon decided it'd be more interesting to make a documentary about why contemporary teen films pale in comparison to what Hughes made in the '80s. What starts out as a love letter to Hughes ends up being a quest to meet him and demonstrate how much he's missed. The efficacy of Hughes's work is brought to light, sparing no expense; the doc features lots of film clips and interviews, with both Hughes colleagues like Ally Sheedy, Alan Ruck, Judd Nelson, Mia Sara, Kelly LeBrock and a host of other familiar actors (this, by the way, in itself is a great treat), but also filmmakers like Kevin Smith, Jason Reitman and the creative team behindNapoleon Dynamite. Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper grant interviews about Hughes, with Ebert in particular recalling visits to Hughes's sets in Chicago, where virtually all of his films were set. On the whole, these voices illuminate Hughes's sensibility and his uncanny ability to tap into what teens were feeling and thinking. His casting decisions were astute and reflected real teenagers, flaws and all. The filmmakers wisely poll a number of young teens about their favourite films and, remarkably, they all discuss how great Hughes's films are and how well they respond to them, particularly in relation to the high-gloss dreck they're confronted with today. Ruck suggests kids still respond to the work because Hughes's heart is in his films, as all of his offbeat characters were really bits and extensions of Hughes himself. Released after Hughes's untimely death last year, the investigative quest to find him is that much more urgent and suspenseful. But in the end, it doesn't matter; even in glimpses of the man, Don't You Forget About Mecaptures and idealizes John Hughes beautifully as the artist he truly was. (Alliance)

U.S-U.K

Hello Hughes Generation,

We just got word of what is happening with our films journey around the world. Outside of Canada, it's currently available for download on Netflix, but by winter's thaw you will be able to find it on DVD and itunes.

When we get closer to spring we'll start to post some of our remaining awesome cutting room floor interviews. People like Kevin Smith, Andrew McCarthy, Jason Reitman and Jim Kerr (Simple Minds) to name a few.

VH1 doing Tribute to Hughes

Finally!

If you find yourself home this Friday night (January 15), tune into the Critics' Choice Movie Awards on VH1. The awards show is going to feature a much-deserved John Hughes Tribute and Death Cab for Cutie will be one of the bands participating. Word on the street is that they will be covering the Simple Minds song, "Don't You (Forget About Me)".

Can't wait to see it.