Having ‘one of those days’ takes on a whole new meaning in The Chosen One , a manic, hilarious Flash-animated romp by director Chris Lackey ( The Investigators ‘winner of the Atom Films Greenlight Award) that drops on DVD today. Written by Lackey and Chad Fifer (The Investigators, The Call of Cthulhu) and produced by Bossa Nova Prods. founder Andreas Olavarria, the 80-minute feature boasts an all-star cast of a calibre seldom seen in shoe-string indies: Debra Wilson (Mad TV), Laura Prepon (That 70’s Show), Danielle Fishel (The Dish), Chris Sarandon (The Nightmare Before Christmas), Traci Lords (Blade), Lance Henriksen (Millenium) and the highly prolific Tim Curry (The Wild Thornberrys) as Lucifer, the Prince of Darkness.
Lou Hanske (Fifer) seems to have hit rock bottom: Kicked out of school, fired from his job, ditched by his sci-fi starlet girlfriend (Prepon) and, just for good measure, attacked by a rogue bear, he can’t imagine his day could get much worse. Luckily for the audience, it does. The leader of crackpot cult The Church of Frank (Wilson) decides that Lou is the long-awaited Chosen One, and sends him on a messianic road trip to Kansas to meet up with the big G Himself and fulfill his destiny. Accompanied by his elderly roommate (Sarandon), his scientist babe BFF (Fishel) and Lucifer, Lou embarks on an epic road trip with all the usual hazards: Religious zealots, a sexy super spy (Lords), ninjas, Kung Fu robots and your standard giant monsters. Chosen One is flawlessly funny throughout this bizarre exodus, during which Lou must learn to master his heavenly powers to defend his friends.
Accurately described as ‘a true labor of love,’ The Chosen One was animated almost entirely by Lackey out of his Santa Monica, Calif. apartment, and from the start was intended as a truly independent answer to the influx of mega-budget animated films coming from the major studios. After teaming up with experienced producer Olavarria, Lackey and Fifer not only were able to accomplish this goal, but to set a new bar for animated independent features. Their efforts have been rewarded with a Best Experimental Feature award from the Ft. Lauderdale Int’l Film Festival in 2007 and an enthusiastic response at several more fests this year’most recently at the San Diego Comic-Con, where it screened as part of the official selection for their International Independent Film Festival.
More information on The Chosen One, including character bios, trailers and news, can be found at www.thechosenonemovie.com. To purchase the DVD, head over to www.thechosenonemovie.com/buy’if you hurry, you might catch the early bird price of $15 (list price: $24.99). Watch the trailer on AniMagTV.
