Voodoo Cowboy Entertainment and Texas Avenue Films, producers of the video games-themed film The 2 Bobs, today announced the film’s world premiere as part of SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas, scheduled for Monday, March 16 at the Paramount Theatre. Written and directed by acclaimed filmmaker Tim McCanlies, the film features game-specific visual effects developed and produced by Critical Mass Interactive, a leading U.S. game developer based in Austin.The 2 Bobs is a feature film written and directed by filmmaker Tim McCanlies, best known for his direction and screenwriting on films such as the animated hit film “The Iron Giant” and family flick “Secondhand Lions,” starring Robert Duvall, Michael Caine and Kyra Sedgwick. McCanlies has carved out a unique piece of filmmaking territory in his career, also credited for conceptualizing the popular Warner Brothers TV show, “Smallville,” based on the DC Comics character Superman. By all accounts, The 2 Bobs presents edgier fare than McCanlies’ usual work, with a keen eye on pervasive geek culture, with video games as the central theme.
Matt Scibilia, President and Co-founder of Critical Mass Interactive, Inc., offers, “As an established game development company with significant film-quality animation talent on deck, we had both the necessary production experience and game playing interest to lend the needed visual effects to the film, as well as have an understanding of a game player’s aesthetic choices. This project broke ground for us, as we were able to apply our visual technology and techniques to the overall look of the film, but also bring believability to the game designed by the film’s main characters.”
Scibilia adds, “Our team utilized standard game development methodology to generate the avatars for the actors, prepping the assets for the Unreal 3 game engine. The 3D characters and environments prepared and rendered for the film are optimized for next generation gameplay in Unreal. We built an actual ‘Cataclysm’ game based upon the movie characters from these visual effects assets. It was a fun ride using our game industry methods for a feature film, and we are pleased with the end result.”
Mark Mueller of Voodoo Cowboy Entertainment, producer and chief financier for The 2 Bobs, state, “We knew we needed realistic game play elements in the film to make the main character’s experience credible to our audience. By bringing in an expert game development and visual effects team like Critical Mass Interactive, we succeeded in artfully blending the two worlds of game play and the character’s experience in the film.”
The 2 Bobs is a video game geek comedy based in Austin, Texas. The story follows two gaming legends known as The 2 Bobs. But just as they finish their ground-breaking violent video game masterpiece, these gaming gurus discover their precious game software has been stolen - and with it, their livelihoods, genius reputations, and everything they own. To get back their game - and their lives -The 2 Bobs and their fellow-geek employees Munch, Doofus and The Dark Prince are forced to ‘turn detective’ and plunge into the strange world of Christian Venture Capitalists, aged Dixie Mafia hoodlums, and bizarre Internet Spammers that inhabit Austin.
The film’s cast features an eclectic array of accomplished young acting talent, including Devin Ratray (Home Alone, Law & Order, Third Watch, The Flying Scissors), Tyler Francavilla (Law & Order, Roommates, Boston Public), Cody Kasch (Desperate Housewives, The Practice, ER), Leonardo Nam (He’s Just Not That Into You, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, The Perfect Score) and Mika Boorem (Blue Crush, Dawson’s Creek, Riding in Cars with Boys). Local heroes playing on a national stage, juggler-cum-actor/writer Turk Pipkin and film criticism savant Harry Knowles make memorable cameo appearances as well.
The film’s producers, along with Mueller (Downloading Nancy, 2009 Sundance selection starring Maria Bello, Jason Patric and Rufus Sewell), are Anne Walker-McBay (Before Sunset, Scanner Darkly, Dazed and Confused) and Seth Caplan (In Search of a Midnight Kiss, Flatland: The Movie, Teenage Dirtbag), while PJ Raval is the film’s cinematographer (Trouble the Water, nominated for an Academy Award this year).
The 2 Bobs kicks off with a preview screening for SXSW festival attendees on Friday, March 13 at 6:45 pm at the Austin Convention Center. Hosted by Voodoo Cowboy Entertainment, The 2 Bobs cast and crew premiere party is open to SXSW badgeholders and will be held at Aces on 6th St. from 6 pm to 8 pm on Saturday, March 14. The cast and crew premiere party features competitive game players and former Frag Dolls Alyson Bridge (“Nin9tyNin9”) and Alex Herbert (“Tart”) competing against party guests on Halo 3. Game competitors have a chance to win a brand new Epiphone electric guitar, donated by Gibson Guitars.
The main event is the film’s world premiere for the public, scheduled for Monday March 16 at 6:30 pm at the Paramount Theatre at 713 Congress Avenue. The film premiere will include a Q&A session with filmmaker Tim McCanlies, along with members of the principal cast and production team. Film screening tickets for The 2 Bobs are available at the Paramount Theatre box office shortly before show time. Tickets are $10 and are available on a first-come basis, with precedence given to SXSW badgeholders.