Sundance 2011: Hobo With a Shotgun premieres to 'rowdy' crowd
Director hopes for fighting during screening
One of Sundance's most anticipated films premiered last night at an enthusiastic midnight screening that writer/director Jason Eisener proclaimed would 'definitely get rowdy'.
The Nova Scotia native was given a hero's welcome after the success of his short Treevenge two years ago in Park City, and rewarded fans by giving away Hobo With A Shotgun beanie hats.
"I hope to hear bottles dropping in this theatre," Eisener told the hopped-up crowd, recalling that the last time he was in Sundance he saw a fight break out when audiences couldn't get into a screening.
"I'm hoping for kinda the same. Let's tear this place apart!"
But Eisener was equally aware that not everyone would like his violent, gross-out grindhouse feature about a hobo (Rutger Hauer) turning vigilante in a post-apocalyptic world.
"My Mom is in the audience...'Mom, please hold off scolding me til after the screening!'
Mom may have been on the warpath 90 minutes later after watching a series of gross-out offings (death by dodgem, disembowelling, digger, hanging, octopus) plus the torching of a schoolbus full of kids.
Still, Mrs Eisener might have enjoyed the cinematography. "It's beautifully filmed," Rutger Hauer assured Total Film in the pre-screening green room.
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Jane Crowther is a contributing editor to Total Film magazine, having formerly been the longtime Editor, as well as serving as the Editor-in-Chief of the Film Group here at Future Plc, which covers Total Film, SFX, and numerous TV and women's interest brands. Jane is also the vice-chair of The Critics' Circle and a BAFTA member. You'll find Jane on 12DOVE exploring the biggest movies in the world and living up to her reputation as one of the most authoritative voices on film in the industry.