Did you ever think to yourself, what if Keanu Reeves in Speed wasn’t on a bus careening through Santa Monica at the behest of a madman but sitting at a piano giving the concert of his life under pain of certain death? No? Well, that’s why you, my friend, do not have a movie deal with Elijah Wood in place to star as said pianist. A classical thriller, they’ll call it! More on Eugenio Mira’s Grand Piano after the jump.
According to THR, Mira’s indie thriller trades on a concept as high as it is brilliantly simple:
“The story concerns a once-great concert pianist who suffers from stage fright and comes back to perform after a five-year hiatus. Just when he’s about to play the first bar, he notices somebody has written a threatening note on his music sheet. He’s now forced to play his best concert ever to save his life as well as his wife’s.”
“Think Speed at a piano.”
Oh, I’m thinking it. And now that I’ve thought it, I’m thinking Speed at a number of other locations.
Speed at the post office!
Speed at the dry cleaner!
Speed on a Zamboni!
Speed on a boat! (Oh, wait.)
Grand Piano will be written by Damien Chazelle (Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, The Last Exorcism 2); Rodrigo Cortes, who directed Ryan Reynolds in a box in Buried, along with Buried producer Adrian Guerra, will produce.
Director Mira previously made the genre entries The Birthday and Agnosia and appears in Cortes’ Red Lights, but you may also recognize him from this infamous 2010 Fantastic Fest karaoke video in which he, RZA, and future Grand…
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A quick update from Austin, where the Fantastic Debates took place at midnight pitting filmmakers, actors, and astrophysicists against each other in spoken debates before pounding it out in the boxing ring: If you were betting on Elijah Wood to reign victorious over Lord of the Rings buddy Dominic Monaghan (or in Hobbit terms, Frodo vs. Merry, who were debating the awesomeness of another fantasy nerd obsession, World of Warcraft), you’d have lost.
Monaghan triumphed handily in the ring and won the crowd over by revealing that he plays the game as an Undead Warlock and once met a comely lady WoW player in person only to discover she was “a guy named Dave.” Stars — they’re just like us?
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Fantastic Fest’s annual Fantastic Debates pit filmmakers, critics, and celebrities against each other in a two-part battle that begins with a podium debate and ends with the ultimate showdown in the boxing ring. This year’s Debates, held Saturday night in Austin, Texas, will get even more fantastic than usual as Elijah Wood and Lord of the Rings pal Dominic Monaghan duke it out with some Hobbit vs. Hobbit fisticuffs. Watch their challenge videos after the jump!
First, a wild-eyed Wood issues his challenge while training for the bout: “Where’s your Pippin now, bitch?”
But wait! Charlie from LOST has a bold response:
Well, good luck with that. (Their topic of debate? The merits of World of Warcraft.)
Also debating (and brawling) in the Debates: Filmmaker brothers Nathan and David Zellner on the topic of robots vs. humans, an astrophysicist vs. a NASA hater arguing for and against the honor of NASA, and Fantastic Fest founder Tim League — who fought and defeated Michelle Rodriguez in last year’s Debates — fighting undefeated bare-knuckle fighter James Quinn McDonagh, the star of the documentary Knuckle.
Watch more challenge videos over at Fandango.
• Fantastic Fest: Elijah Wood Fights Dominic Monaghan in Fantastic Debates, Check Out the Pre-Fight Videos [Fandango]
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