“Cute Little Buggers” is Tony Jopia’s latest project due out next year. “When hostile aliens crash land on local farmland the villagers at the summer ball get suspicious when young women start going missing. The villagers soon band together around our hero Melchoir to fend off the invaders and bring back peace to the sleepy English countryside!”
Tony has an extensive resume and gained tons of film and TV experience since the early 90s. He’s worked in multiple companies as a director, producer, developer, and in the promotions and creativity departments, amongst many other jobs. He’s also been involved in children’s productions including Disney Channel Italy. Maybe “Cute Little Buggers” derived from some of his work on the children shows?
In addition to “Cute Little Buggers” be sure to check out Tony’s other film “Deadtime” and keep an eye out for his upcoming “Crying Wolf” and “Apocalypse”. Trailers and Facebook pages are listed below.
Five Quick Questions with Tony Jopia – 2014 Cute Little Buggers
Where is “Cute Little Buggers” currently in production and when will it be released?
TONY: CLB was shot over July and quickly moved into Post Production – we hope to have the first rough cut delivered in the next 3 weeks as we have a visual effects depart embarking on bring the rabbits and aliens to life.
This will be a slow process and hope to complete by next June. We’ve had approaches from a number of major distributers and all want it as soon as possible but realistically we hope to deliver something by next summer they will then decide its release date – possibly Halloween 2014 (if not earlier)
The summary states that it’s a Gremlins meets Hot Fuzz. What can we expect from this film?
TONY: We have a fantastic array of characters all great caricatures of country folks who are thrown into a fantastic situation. Armed them, give them a few kick ass lines and thrown in tsunami of crazed up rabbit alien action and its got the makings of the meatiest cocktail of movie horror comedy fun you can imagine.
Can you tell us about the special effects used in the film?
TONY: We had to combine practical with cgi mainly because of budget and time. We only had 21 days to shoot the whole film. If we had been able too, then I think the majority of the effects would have been practical. We have an amazing SFX company about to embark on creating all the CGI rabbits, their transformation and attacks. Its all very exciting as the company really are one of the best in the industry and without a doubt they will make Watership down look like thumper from Bambi. Expect lots of exploding victims from both races.
Can you tell us a little about yourself, and when and how you got into filmmaking?
TONY: Born in Chile, came over to the UK as a political refugee and one of the first words I learn to say at the age of 9 in English was ‘I want to direct films’
Ever since I’ve been on the road to Hollywood slightly sidetracked along the way by being a creative director for some of the biggest broadcasters in Europe. Mad about early John Carpenter, Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci, Spielberg! Directed a number of short films before making the slasher DEADTIME which gets its TV British Premiere on the 13th of Dec on the Horror Channel. Followed this with two features due for release next year. Crying Wolf a comedy werewolf horror and of course CLB. 2014 potentially will be my biggest year as I hope to be making a number of feature films with exciting budgets. Looks like Hollywood is closer than we think!
In 2014 you’ll be filming the “biggest low budget” film “Apocalypse.” The Facebook page says “One Movie – 20 Countries – A massive blockbuster in the making”. Sounds exciting! Can you briefly tell us why this film will stand out so much?
TONY: One of the key factors about APOCALYPSE is that it’s made and involved real zombie fans who have a wonderful knowledge of the genre. We’ve look at a number of films and studied them to identify what works and what doesn’t. We want this film to really deliver and be the zombie movie that so many other productions have failed to be become.
This is about the SHOCK, the Gore, memorable kills, great characters fighting for their lives against all the odd, scenes to make you look away or get totally funked up with excitement. Most of the effects will be practical and hopefully memorable. It’s a simple story that really is out to embrace the genre and not complicate it for the sake of trying to be cool.
We will be giving zombie fans a chance to create an ultimate zombie kill. The winning scene will be added to the film and the creator given the chance to appear. This is what’s its all about. A zombie movie made by zombie freaks worldwide fanatical about ZOMBIES. We will be hooking up with various zombie film making fans around the world who will be shooting elements for us, making this little film possibly one of the biggest indie movies to come out of 2014. It’s all very exciting and will be a lot of fun too!
Facebook page for “Apocalypse”
https://www.facebook.com/apocalypsethemovie#!/apocalypsethemovie
Tony’s passion for making films grows with each of his completed films and in the upcoming years we’ll be seeing his name attached to many entertaining films!
CRYING WOLF
“Hungry, Hairy and ready to hunt you down! The comedy horror Crying Wolf tells the story of strange and weird goings on in a little English village called Deddington. The gruesome death of local girl Charlotte by a rabid monster causes alarm and revulsion – before desperate reporters, crazy detectives and revenge seeking hunters descend on the scene! Crying wolf is a fast paced British comedy horror that will keep you howling for more!”
www.facebook.com/cryingwolfthemovie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?[v=3f8mHvAS5pE]
DEADTIME
A Birmingham-based band are ordered by their unhappy record company to an old warehouse; the goal being to re-start their ailing careers with a kick-ass new promo video. Unfortunately the band and their entourage find themselves targets of a mysterious knife-wielding maniac, haunted by the voice of Satan, and out for revenge.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/DeadTime/192015812789
http://www.youtube.com/watch?[v=y6BDZLrHJxM]
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