Ernest “Jazzman” Resendes sent us a taste of the great coverage of “Shade” in Genii magazine:
There is a lot to the cover story / interview’s on SHADE. It includes an AWESOME interview with director Damien Neiman which is one of the best I’ve read in along time. Here is a taste…
GENII: Stallone has done phenomenal work in things like COPLAND.
NEIMAN: Absolutely.
GENII: And because he became an icon so early in his career– maybe he doesn’t think it was early– but he’s been on the screen al this time, and a movie like COPLAND or SHADE must be attractive to an actor like Stallone, who is an artist.
NEIMAN: He is an artist. Most people, when you say “Stallone,” just think “Rambo,” you know, that kind of character, but he started out at the top. You can’t get any bigger than he was after the first Rocky. An Academy Awardwinning picture, he was nominated for writing it– most people forget he wrote Rocky — and he stuck by it. And he forced the studio, it wasn’t even a studio, it was UA, it was barely anything, to keep him in the lead. It was a really small independent feature. It was a small little thing that exploded. So Stallone‘s mindset is kind of back in that era. I think he’s kind of coming full circle and getting back to that, so he saw something in SHADE that appealed to him.
NEIMAN: The high concept pitch is: It’s Pulp Fiction meets The Sting….
NEIMAN: The editor was cutting while we were going. The editor’s Scott Conrda who, surprisingly enough, won his Academy Award for cutting Rocky.
NEIMAN: Yes, absolutely. And as a testament to everyone who worked on the film, from the actors on down, Gabriel , Stuart, Stallone, they all said it was the best experience they ever had on a film. They all said they dreamed of having the sequel done as soon as possible with all the same crew and all the same cast….
As Gabriel put it [ Irish brogue]: “There were angels above the set.” [Laughter]
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Thanks to Shai for posting the link on our StalloneZone Message Board. Special thanks to Ernest “Jazzman” Resendes for quickly ordering the mag and getting us the goods. There were many more pics and of course the rest of the interview… I’ve ordered a copy of the mag for myself!
I am so, pardon the expression, jazzed about “Shade.” I love playing poker and the description “Pulp Fiction meets The Sting”… well, deal me in!
– Craig Zablo