It won the grand jury award at the 2018 sxsw film festival. Having impressively upped the ante on its short film roots, thunder road then faces the daunting task of stretching. In one stroke, cummings demonstrates a formal rigour, an impressionable. Heartwarming and hilarious, jim struggles to cope with everyday life.
Interview with the director of thunder road, winner of the grand jury prize at the 2016 sundance film festival. The thunder road screenplay received multiple 310 ratings on the blacklist. Director jim cummings plays a grieving cop whose home life is falling apart. Jim cummings burst onto the film scene with his short thunder road in 2016, written on the train to work and filmed with his friends. An expanded, featurelength version of the sundance grand jury prizewinning dramatic short of the same title, jim cummings thunder road tells the story of flawed police officer jim arnaud also played by cummings, who lives a shambolic life thats somehow made even worse by his mothers passing. Jim cummings, writer of thunder road and director of thunder road, is also the main actor in thunder road. It would be hard to argue that there is a lot of story in this short film, or that it is laughoutloud funny, but the monologue and acting really is superb, the awkwardness tangible and its simplicity impressive. Reach out to press through film festivals attending press lists and ask them kindly to write something about the. Watch thunder road at vue cinema book tickets online. For years, weve seen his name fly under the producer credit line for many of our favorite staff pick films from the film collective ornana. A cop, a character study, an instant classic writerdirectoractor jim cummings tale of a policeman on the verge of a. Published on oct 20, 2018 based on the sundancewinning short film, thunder road follows a southern police officer jim cummings on his journey to raise his young daughter as a love letter to his. It won at sundance, which has a history of screening uncomfortable american comedies though very few comedies from outside the united states.
The result does of course make for uncomfortable viewing. A case study how a short film turned a successful festival run into a feature film which made its money back through selfdistribution. Jan 23, 2016 jim s plans for the eulogy go slightly off the rails as his emotions take over leading to a stream of consciousness delivery about how he is truly feeling. A cop, a character study, an instant classic writerdirectoractor jim cummings tale of a policeman on the verge of a nervous breakdown introduces a major talent. After his short film thunder road won the grand jury prize at the 2016 sundance film festival, he landed a subscription deal with streaming company fullscreen to shoot six more shorts. Cummings also served as coeditor, composer and visual effects artist. Jim cummings chats about his indie hit thunder road. Jim cummings in thunder road 2016 jim cummings and francesca i. Jim cummings gives one of the best performances of the year in thunder road. A rising star in indie film, director jim cummings plays a grieving cop. After winning the grand jury prize at the sxsw film festival, director and star jim cummings was underwhelmed by the distribution offers he received. Officer arnaud raises his daughter as a love letter to his mom. The common element that brings the technical and the storytelling sides together is jim cummings. If you like thunder road by jim cummings be sure to rate it and share it.
Directed and written by jim cummings the robbery, he also stars as the lead in this emotional and gripping story that won the coveted narrative feature award at the 2018 sxsw film festival. Independent filmmaker jim cummings on how filmmakers can. Cline answers our five burning questions about her favorite film genre, her tv crush, and more. Its a hilarious and heartbreaking onetake film, where officer jim arnaud played by cummings unsuccessfully attempts to eulogise his mother at her funeral. The story, written in collaboration with his friend dustin hahn, was inspired by a real life episode that hahn told jim. Thunder road director jim cummings on failure and alan. To push things even further, the film was shot in one unrelentless 15 minute take, all brought together by jim cumming who wrote, directed and performed in this memorable piece. Thunder road follows a broken cop who comes to grips with a. Thunder road is a 2018 american comedydrama microbudget film directed, written. So this random guy named jim cummings followed me on twitter the other day and like all new follows, i clicked through to see his profile and find out who he is. Thunder roads writerdirectoractoreverything is at the center of the film, taking up nearly every frame, and his performance is revelatory. Thunder road was shot in 14 and a half days, under budget. Exploring the process of taking a short film and developing it into a feature film.
Fullscreen has signed up for 6 new shorts from cummings, which will all adopt the singleshort format of thunder road, and those are expected to land online in september. The sense of this sentence is suspended even at the end of its 12 minutes, also after the ending titles. The story, written in collaboration with his friend dustin hahn, was inspired by a real life. On top of all that, a new independent film, us funny, was successfully kickstarted just this month.
It features several long takes, like the shorts, and. Jim cummings short film thunder road didnt get a distribution deal, but it did open all the right doors for a career in filmmaking. These shorts came to form the comedy series minutes. Jul 14, 2017 jim cummings short film thunder road didnt get a distribution deal, but it did open all the right doors for a career in filmmaking. This year at sundance, however, we saw a different jim shine this time as the writer, director, and star of his own short, thunder road. May 28, 2019 we meet actorwriterdirector jim cummings to talk his new film thunder road, failing and his love of alan partridge. Thunder road is a 2018 american comedydrama film directed, written by and starring jim cummings, based on his 2016 short film of the.
Hes taken a magnetic short film and transmogrified it into a featurelength. Jim cummings is raising funds for thunder road on kickstarter. It won the short film grand jury prize at sundance, and was named by indiewire as one of the best short films ever made. Jim cummings wrote, directed and starred in this incredibly heartfelt, yet funny movie. How you see thunder road says a lot about the movie. The question becomes whether he can hold it all together for what was going to be the centerpiece of the eulogy around brendas favorite song, bruce springsteens thunder road. Shot in one take, the film depicts a police officer giving a eulogy for. Thunder road is a short comedydrama film written, directed by, and starring jim cummings. Via a 12min monologue, arnaud is instantly understandable and charismatic. How having the right gear and crew can enhance a story. Thunder road is a short comedydrama film written, directed by, and starring jim. Based on cummings awardwinning 2016 short film of the same name, this drama also stars jocelyn deboer greener grass, nican robinson reasons why. When it played the festival circuit in 2016 winning jury prizes at sundance and practically everywhere else, jim cummings minute short thunder road was hard to.
The film, adapted from a short cummings made in 2015, has won plenty of praise, and it hits the cringeworthy highs of the office in scenes like this. Watch thunder road by jim cummings on short of the weeka comedy about loss in liveactionusa, 12 min. Jim cummings was a freelance line producer for comedy website until he transitioned into filmmaking fulltime. Aug 28, 2018 jim cummings plays jim arnaud, the main character in thunder road, a boyish police officer who tries to deliver a eulogy for his mother. Apr 05, 2018 so this random guy named jim cummings followed me on twitter the other day and like all new follows, i clicked through to see his profile and find out who he is.
Jim cummings thoughts on directing and editing his own performance. As a result, thunder road is a singular film and its fitting that as singleminded as cummings was in the time leading up to thunder road, he plays a man possessed in front of the camera as well, slipping into the skin of officer jim arnaud, who always appears as if he wants to crawl out of it following his mothers death, not. The robbery by jim cummings dark comedy short film. Thunder road is a masterpiece in achieving this glorious combination, all while placing you in an uncomfortable, but relatable situation. Starring, written and directed by jim cummings, this short film won the grand jury prize at the sxsw film festival. Jim cummings, a 33yearold from new orleans, has written, directed, starred in and written the theme music for the brilliantly funny and desperately. Thunder road director jim cummings on failure and alan partridge. Jims plans for the eulogy go slightly off the rails as his emotions take over leading to a stream of consciousness delivery about how he is truly feeling. Director jim cummings on making unignorable films musicbed blog. The new indie film barnstorming across america is jim cummings thunder road.
By now, im sure you have heard about the short film turned feature thunder road which is written by, directed by, and stars jim cummings. We meet actorwriterdirector jim cummings to talk his new film thunder road, failing and his love of alan partridge. From there, i clicked through to his vimeo channel you should too just click and there i watched his 2016 sundance grand jury prize winning short film. Thunder road is a 2018 american comedydrama microbudget film directed, written by, and starring jim cummings, based on his 2016 short film of the same name. Jim cummings, a 33yearold from new orleans, has written, directed, starred in and written the theme music for the brilliantly funny and desperately sad thunder road, which was made for the. After winning the grand jury prize at the sundance film festival 2016 with thunder road, jim cummings renews his participation to the 2017 edition with his new short film, the robbery. It also stars kendal farr, nican robinson, macon blair, jocelyn deboer, chelsea edmunson, ammie leonards, and bill wise.
The south by southwest conference and festivals has announced its 2018 jury and special award winners of the sxsw film festival awards, with thunder road by director jim cummings taking home the co. Pulling back the curtain on the distribution process. Jim cummings thunder road short producer on patrick wangs the grief of others and trey edward shultss krisha, jim cummings showed everyone who is the boss with the devilishly funny, conceptually sophisticated and fastidiously well executed short film. Cummings brings thunder road to deauville festival the.
Thunder road is a 2018 american comedydrama microbudget film directed, written by, and starring jim cummings, based on his 2016 short film of the same. The film which would go on to win the sundance short film grand jury prize not only paved the way for jims career. The fame of this work is certainly caused by the ability to generate an unsettling emotional ambivalence. Jun 02, 2019 director jim cummings plays a grieving cop whose home life is falling apart. Thunder road is an original and perfectly constructed short film, winner of the grand jury prize at the 2016 sundance film festival as well as the special jury prize for acting at 2016 south by southwest. The film that follows reflects cummings background as a shorts director in that its very episodic, arguably containing a few variations on the original thunder road as jim loses his cool in key moments, including a courtroom and the parking lot of his police department. Sep 20, 2018 kendal farr and jim cummings in thunder road.
Hes taken a magnetic short film and transmogrified it into a featurelength masterclass in the exploration of emotion. The film presents the ups and downs of life with such emotional honesty, youll either laugh or cry till it hurts. Sep 12, 2018 adapted from cummings own awardwinning sundance short film of the same name, thunder road is about a southern police officer who must come to grips with a. Jim cummings plays jim arnaud, the main character in thunder road, a boyish police officer who tries to deliver a eulogy for his mother. The film presents the ups and downs of life with such emotional honesty. A t the sundance film festival in january 2016, multitasking forceofnature jim cummings unveiled a brilliantly excruciating short about a bereaved cop struggling to say goodbye to his mother at. The life of this film presents an interesting case study for. Written, directed and starring jim cummings, thunder road is a oneshot black comedy that is pretty painful to watch. Shot in one take, the film depicts a police officer giving a eulogy for his mother. Jim cummings thunder road follows up his sundance winner with a new singletake short about a cashstrapped woman and her misadventures at a local convenience store. Preorder the feature of one of the best short films ever made. In jim cummings breakout onetake short film, thunder road, a heroically unselfconscious police officer played by cummings takes the stage at his mothers funeral to sing a cringeworthy, albeit gutpunchingly heartfelt, rendition of springsteens classic tune. Jun 14, 2019 jim cummings is raising funds for thunder road on kickstarter. Thunder road jim cummings writes, directs, and stars in the uncanny tale of a middle american cop whos a funny, crazy, moving, indelibly authentic lost soul.
It started as a minute, oneman film that came out of nowhere and won the short film grand jury prize at sundance in 2016. Jim cummingss thunder road won the grand prize at the 44th edition of the normandieset deauville american film festival. When it played the festival circuit in 2016 winning jury prizes at sundance and practically everywhere else, jim cummings minute short thunder road was hard to forget a deeply strange. Nov 16, 2018 exploring the process of taking a short film and developing it into a feature film. The short to feature lab curriculum jim cummings medium. So i was writing the thunder road short film in my car on the drives to work. Lowell meyers vision behind the cinematography of thunder road. Things are happening fast for cummings at the moment, and audiences.
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