BY GARETH DAVIES for the SWANSEA EVENING POST (view the original article)
A Prize-winning American director who was at the Swansea Bay Film Festival reckons it is better for independent film- makers than Cannes.Michael Attardi won the category for Best CGI (computer-generated imagery) movie at the festival awards last Friday.
The animated film is called Once Upon a Christmas Village and stars the voices of Tim Curry and Jim Belushi.
The film is not yet on general release, but it has been shown in Swansea as part of the festival after already gathering a mantelpiece worth of awards at other festivals.
The film was also shown at the Cannes Film Festival just last month, where it was runner-up out of 4,000 films entered in its category.
But the 40-year-old father-of-two preferred the Swansea experience to the French star-studded hotspot.
He took his wife Colleen, four-year-old Mikey and 11-month-old Nathaniel along for the visit to our city as well as his 25-year-old god-daughter Noelle.
And after spending a few days in London following the festival, they are coming back to Swansea for a spell because they liked it so much.
Michael said: “The thing I like about Swansea is you are really made to feel welcome here.
“Cannes has got a lot of history, but I think it is more concerned with American movie stars.
“What I love about the Swansea Bay Film Festival is that it embraces the American film-makers.
“I prefer it to Cannes – you get a personal touch here that could never happen there because it is such a big event.”
Michael’s life story could make a good film in its own right.
The boy from New Jersey was originally an American football star for Los Angeles Raiders and went into journalism by becoming the owner of local paper the Jersey Sports News.
He successfully battled cancer of the large intestine in 2003 and then decided to get into TV and film. Oh, and he also writes a comic strip called Bow and Buzzie.
“I get called Forrest Gump by all my friends as I do so many things,” he explained.
He wrote, produced and directed the film itself, which is described as a family musical drama.
He also wrote the song lyrics for the film but left the music to his collaborator Dani Donadi.
The story centres around Santa losing his magical pocket watch which helps him deliver all his presents on time.
The power of Santa’s watch brings to life the village of Snowyville based under a troubled family’s Christmas tree.
It is about 15 minutes long and was made for 125,000 – what would be considered a shoestring budget in Hollywood.
Another thing that worked in his favour was both Tim Curry and Jim Belushi agreeing to drop their normal million-dollar film fees to do the voices as they both liked the script to the movie so much.
“Ever since the Rocky Horror Picture Show film I have been a fan of Tim Curry. I contacted his agent and she asked me how much money I was prepared to pay,” he explained
“When I told her, she laughed.
“But I sent the script and a couple of days later he calls me, asks me to fly over to London and we recorded the voice at a studio in Piccadilly.
“He plays a character called Sir Evil Medevil in the film – he’s a cross between Frankenfurter from Rocky Horror and the butler he played in the comedy film Clue.
“Jim Belushi is currently earning 1 million an episode in a TV show over in the States called Life According to Jim.
“It hasn’t come over here yet but it’s very popular in America.
“He plays a bad Santa. He joked that the reason he took the part was that his first ever role as an actor was as Santa!
“He sings in this film too – obviously his late brother John was well known for singing in movie The Blues Brothers. But Jim has a good voice too.”
Michael has also rubbed shoulders with a star who hails from somewhere that is closer to home – Port Talbot.
He filmed a video message with Michael Sheen, who is currently enjoying a successful run in the play Frost/Nixon off Broadway, which was beamed to the audience at Swansea Bay Film Festival awards on Friday.
Michael was shown holding an honorary silver “Tinny” award he was presented with for agreeing to become the festival’s vice-president.
“I’m trying to get Michael Sheen as a voiceover for a feature film I’m going to make next,” the director said.
“Michael showed an interest and I will be contacting him shortly.”
Looks like the two could be a sizzling new prospect for the world of film.
