Premonition is now CERTAIN-ty
C-U Blogfidential has been around long enough, starting with our debut as the “C-U Confidential” section in the original MICRO-FILM released 10 years ago this month, to verify that the best filmic intentions in our backyard do not always pan out. It is as much a matter of wishful thinking versus concrete realization as it is whether one’s filmmaking dreams will fall victim to the inevitable life changes lurking in the future – particularly with college students once they graduate. Suffice it to say, Derek Klein and Marc Morin, Jr., seem to have avoided this potential quandary.
The fellow University of Illinois alums followed up their set-on-campus television serial ONE FINE DAY! with a feature-length drama called A CERTAIN POINT OF VIEW, which we briefly reported on over here and over there. Since the filming took place during Spring Break 2009, again on the UIUC grounds and C-U vicinity, Klein has moved the duo’s Premonition Pictures from Chicago to Los Angeles in the hopes of finding success in the heart of the business we call show. CERTAIN has certainly not been put on the back burner, as evidenced by a second trailer released in July:
What initially looked like a post-graduate dramedy from the original teaser trailer that we showed at the C-U Confidential Local Movie Show in April has morphed before our eyes into a different beast entirely with this one – it’s a murder mystery, too? We’ll ultimately see for ourselves once Premonition releases the DVD on December 16, but at the least we can tell Klein changed it up by casting his OFD! regulars in radically different roles. CUBlog also likes the SPIDER-MAN style titles, although the best effect in trailer no.2 has to be the straight face that actress Brittney Refakes keeps while calling our town(s) “Chambana” – as a reporter on a news cast!
Klein also seems to be wasting no time in helping other filmmakers as both the brand-new Premonition Web site and the old-school OFD! page promote an additional “Christmas release” of a silent-era homage called KUMAR’S DAY AT THE PARK, produced by 1896 Films and directed by Andrew Blackwood. The log line reads, “When a hungry young Indian Man discovers a basket full of food he just found isn’t free, he must evade capture to win the love of his bemused sweetheart.” We’ll cross our fingers that White Castle hamburgers are nowhere to be found in this adventure.
For now, we’ll end with images taken at the aforementioned CUZine event by the talented Jamie Newell – photographer, novelist, journalist, horse race aficionado – that we should have posted a long time ago. Pictured from left to right are Elisha Reichert (“Christi Vanderbilt” in OFD!, “Lynda Bloom” in CERTAIN), Betsy Trevarthen (“Monica Burns” in OFD!, “Wendy Jacobson” in CERTAIN), Prashanth Venkataramanujam (“Jacob Winters” in OFD!, “Ben Falls” in CERTAIN), director/writer Klein, and your humble editor in discussion after showing the audience CERTAIN trailer no.1 and the series finale of OFD! Man, was that aroma of Caffe Paradiso coffee wafting in from stage left hard to ignore … mmmmmmmmm, coooooooffeeeeeeeee…
~ Jason Pankoke
