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David Gordon Green Secretly Shot A Movie In Austin Last Month With Paul Rudd And Emile Hirsch!

Published at: June 6, 2012, 2:42 p.m. CST

Beaks here...

While David Gordon Green has repeatedly said that he's happy with the direction of his career, some fans of his early work have felt a bit miffed by his decision to make three lowbrow studio comedies (PINEAPPLE EXPRESS, YOUR HIGHNESS and THE SITTER) in a row. Would he ever return to the visual poetry of GEORGE WASHINGTON or ALL THE REAL GIRLS?

It appears he's done just that - i.e. he's finished shooting the movie already. Though his SUSPIRIA remake is almost ready to go before cameras, Green somehow carved out a month in his schedule to clandestinely shoot a movie in Austin, Texas starring Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch. It's called PRINCE AVALANCHE, and, according to Twitch, it's a remake of the Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurosson's EITHER WAY - which has yet to receive U.S. distribution, but just played the Seattle International Film Festival. Here's the fest's snyopsis:

Finn and Alfred are summer employees of the Icelandic Road Administration in the 1980s, spending days painting yellow lines on a rural highway with only each other for company. The roads receive little to no traffic; the only frequent passerby is a jolly farmer who rewards them with bottles of booze for their good work. Finn is older and seemingly wiser than skirt-chasing Alfred, his girlfriend’s brother, for whom sex is constantly on the brain. The two men barely tolerate each other at first, but ultimately share—during a comical, drunken night—their deepest questions and possible answers about life and love. Director Hafsteinn Sigurdsson uses the isolated countryside of northern Iceland to highlight the nuances of Finn and Alfred’s colorful dialogue and behavior, their Sisyphean work mirroring the difficulties of human connection. With its beautiful ocean vistas and barren plains, the landscape suggests both the splendor and the severity of life as Finn’s and Alfred’s relationship unfolds. Sigurdsson, who began his career making skateboarding films, has an eye for the subtleties of body language. This endearing comedy, his feature film debut, announces him as a talented director to watch.  

I imagine that, tonally, it'll be closest to ALL THE REAL GIRLS: funny, but with the kinds of lyrical passages that tend to get vacuumed out of studio movies. I love that Hirsch is involved. He's a very talented actor who shouldn't be reduced to starring in Z-grade crap like THE DARKEST HOUR. Pairing him with Rudd, who can pretty much do no wrong, is inspired.

The film reportedly shot throughout the month of May, so it'll depend on Green's SUSPIRIA commitment as to when he has time to finish it. I'm betting on a Sundance 2013 premiere, though, who knows, he could surprise everyone and turn up at the 2012 New York Film Festival (where GEORGE WASHINGTON played in 2000). In any event, it's nice to have Green working on a smaller scale, even though I have no issues with the lowbrow stuff (provided it's done well).

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