Neon’s brain-scary functions cuckoo Many clever maneuvers had to be performed on the flight to the theatre.
As with many projects, the coronavirus pandemic delayed the 2020 launch date. Then the HBO hit starring Hunter Schafer was delayed Euphoria lead to cuckoo was pushed further, resulting in some cast members needing to move on to other commitments, forcing the production to turn to finding new actors to join Schaeffer.
Writer-director Tilman Singer’s project ended up in pre-production in West Germany when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, leading to a German government takeover Cuckoo’s Filming location where Ukrainian refugees were resettled. This is a necessary response to a humanitarian crisis, cuckoo The team gets it. But this left the production needing other locations for filming.
“It took a lot of different people to make a lot of transitions during difficult times,” producer and Waypoint co-founder Ken Kao said of the film finally reaching the starting line.
Finding a new actor to replace former star John Markovich was a particularly challenging task.
“My team did this recon and I know where every white guy over 60 is,” quipped producer and Waypoint partner Josh Rosenbaum of recasting antagonist Herr König. Dao, whose character is a German man in his 60s. Eventually they went in a different direction and cast a much younger Dan Stevens in the role.
They also found new locations for the film, which follows Shaffer’s Gretchen as she mourns the loss of her mother after she moves to a Bavarian Alpine resort run by Mr. King, played by Stevens. As Gretchen settles in with her father (Marton Csokas), his young wife (Jessica Henwick) and half-sister (Mila Liu), she notices Her half-sister is acting strange. At the same time, a mysterious woman in a trench coat seems to be following Gretchen, which leads her to discover a sinister conspiracy.
The team declined to share the budget, but incentives for filming in Germany made the project financially feasible. Although after being released in theaters on August 9, cuckoo Not reaching the heights of neon horror movies long legsthe Waypoint team said it was very pleased with its revenue of $6.7 million.
“That’s Neon’s credit,” Kao said of the investment in the project, especially “at a time when a lot of people are turning to streaming.” Waypoint enters into production and financing agreement with Neon, with Neon providing full financing cuckoo.
A high point for the group was attending a screening of the film at Quentin Tarantino’s Vista Theater in Los Feliz, where a 35mm print (the feature film was Photographed on film).
Now, with the film now available for digital release, Waypoint is developing Singer’s next feature. The German filmmaker popped up on the scene with his film school thesis Luza 70-minute supernatural horror film. back Luz and cuckooviewers might assume his third project will be a horror movie. But it’s unclear what genre he’ll be exploring, other than it’s said to be a step forward for the filmmaker.
“He’s more of a classic director who makes a different kind of movie every time he tries,” Rosenbaum said.
