King's Highway

"King's Highway" now available!

2008-06-13T20:54:00.000-07:00

King's Highway is now available to buy or rent. It is available to buy through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Movies Unlimited, Turner Classic Movies. It is available to rent through Netflix.

Soundtrack

2008-06-09T12:10:00.000-07:00

When putting together the music for King's Highway, we were fortunate enough to have some excellent artists like Mother Superior and Andrew Bird lend us their songs for key scenes in the movie. Additionally, we went through some 500 submissions to choose the rest of the material that plays throughout the movie. Among the many great artists we discovered were Teddy Goldstein, Ronald Jean, Mostly John, and Edie Carey. When possible, a link has been provided for the artists. Please take the time to check out their websites, and if you enjoyed what you heard, please buy their cd's. Thanks!

“Valentine’s Day” by MOTHER SUPERIOR
“Spin” by NINI CAMPS
“Joey, Jackie, Reilly” by DOMINIC GAUDIOUS
“Undercurrents” by CHRIS OSBURN
“Never Let Me Go” by RONALD JEAN
“Kandece Brown Put Me Down” by PAT GORMAN
“Still There’s No You” by JON DUNMORE
“Count Me Out” by MOTHER SUPERIOR
“Starting All Over Again” by SHEILA DJAFROODI
“How Indiscreet” written by ANDREW BIRD'S BOWL OF FIRE
“Tomorrow Never Knows” by MOTHER SUPERIOR
“Shoots to Me” by MENTHOL HILL
“Glare” by PAM ARSENEAU
“You’ve Got A Way” by GREG NICHOLSON
"Driving Song (How About Love)” by TEDDY GOLDSTEIN
“Rafael” by HAYLEY TAYLOR
“You Did The Right Thing” by MELISSA DISNEY
“Mary Annette” by MOSTLY JOHN
“Month of Sundays” by MENTHOL HILL
“Toronto” by CHRIS OSBURN
“Hereafter” by KIRIL
“Sweet Darkness” by KIRIL
“Thee Joker-Bush Harim” by DR. WALKER
“Matej” by KIRIL
“Floating” by KUROI MORI
“Want Me (Live from the Magic Mt. 1904)” by DRUMATIC
“Feeling” by TRIGGERFISH
“Ordinary Man” by MOSTLY JOHN
"Cool Cool Breeze” by MOTHER SUPERIOR
“Mi Amour” by NINI CAMPS
“You Don’t Miss your Water” by MOTHER SUPERIOR
“XQZ Mia” by RONALD JEAN
“If You Break Down” by ELLIS PAUL
“I Never Thought I’d Say This” by EDIE CAREY

Filmmakers and Crew

2008-06-09T11:38:00.000-07:00

Written and Directed by SCOTT MALCHUS
Produced by RYAN JOHNSON
Director of Photography and Editor VILLAMOR M. CRUZ
Executive Producers TONY GARDNER, VILLAMOR M. CRUZ, SCOTT MALCHUS
Co-Producers JASON KAHN, RYAN ALOSIO, ROB BERSON
Associate Producers GEOFF STULTS, MARK GUSTAVEL, MARK WALDORF

Sound by PETER CARLSTEDT
Assistant Director, Script Supervisor MARK GUSTAVEL
Costume Designer CAITLIN ALEXANDER
Casting MARYANNE DACEY
Art Director MARK WALDORF
Make-up and Hair APRIL HUTCHINSON
Makeup Assistant HEIDI GOULET
Wardrobe Supervisor, Property Master MARK WALDORF

Production Coordinator BRADLEY GORDON
2nd AD HECTOR de LORIMIER
Assistant to the Director DAVID LAMB
Production Assistants HYU ‘Q’ LEE, EMILY CHEN

Gaffer NICK TRIKONIS
Camera Operator, Steadicam Operator VILLAMOR M. CRUZ
Camera Assistant BRIAN SULLIVAN

Production Sound Recorder DAVID DEMUTH
Boom Operator HERB YANG

Sound Mix, Sound Editor PETER CARLSTEDT
ADR Supervisor PETER CARLSTEDT
Production Sound Consultant ENZO TREPPA

Additional Sound Editors RYAN MCMAHAN, KEITH REED, WILLIAM RUDOLPH

End credits by DOUG MARSHALL

Promotional logo by GREGG GORDON gigart.com
Editing Consultant ERRIN VASQUEZ
Transportation Coordinator MARK GUSTAVEL

Music Supervisor SCOTT MALCHUS
Music Consultants KEDRON PARKER, JOE FISCHER
Screen Actors Guild Rep. ARI ZELTZER
Insurance ABACUS INSURANCE
Insurance Representative DARREN LEWIN
Artist’s Asylum Bookkeeper STEPHANIE WILLIAMS
Artist’s Asylum Coordinator JESSICA HUEBNER
Artist’s Asylum Production Assistant CHRIS ROGERS

Bootmobile provided by JOHN GOLI, QUALITY SHOES, WEST LOS ANGELES, CA
Scooters provided by EDDIE ALCAZAR, ERRIN VASQUEZ
Lighting Equipment WOODEN NICKEL, N. HOLLYWOOD, CA
Camera Lenses provided by BIRNS & SAWYER
Sound Equipment provided by COFFEY SOUND, LOS ANGELES, CA

Shot on Location in: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, San Diego

Cast

2008-06-05T08:44:00.000-07:00

Todd King GEOFF STULTS
Mary Evanese LORI HEURING
Bob Miller RYAN ALOSIO
Dan JOHN DiRESTA
Rachel KARYN MALCHUS
Bridgett HOLLY FIELDS
Bruce CHARLIE FINN
Keith DAVID ZAUGH
Eric GANNON BROUSSEAU
Judd Turpin BRET RICHARDS
Mrs. King JANICE McQUEEN WARD
Jean EDGAR ALLEN POE, IV
Sarah HILLARY COXSEY
Johanna SIERRA ABEL
Todd’s Father GEORGE STULTS
Young Todd LUKE ZELON
Mrs. Evanese JODI TAYLOR
Mr. Kemer GARY DUBIN
Mrs. Kemer ELIZABETH JAROSZ
Rachel’s Dying Father HALSTAN WILLIAMS
Bartender MARK WALDORF
Brad HERB YANG

"King's Highway" Production Stills

2008-06-04T10:12:00.000-07:00

GEOFF STULTS stars as "Todd King"

LORI HEURING stars as "Mary Evanese"

RYAN ALOSIO co-stars as "Bob"

JOHN DiRESTA co-stars as "Dan"

LORI HEURING and GEOFF STULTS

Where to find "King's Highway"

2008-06-03T18:30:00.000-07:00

King's Highway is currently available to rent at Netflix.com
You can pre-order it at Amazon and through Turner Classic Movies.

About "King's Highway"

2008-06-03T15:58:00.000-07:00

In 2000, writer/director Scott Malchus submitted a screenplay entitled Southern Cross to the first Project Greenlight contest. Chosen as one of the top 250 out of 7000 entries, Malchus’ script made it through the first round. This achievement gave him the confidence to send the script to his friend, independent producer Ryan Johnson. The minute he finished reading the screenplay, Johnson picked up the phone. “People need to see this movie”, he said. “Even if we have to go out and get a camera ourselves, we have to make this movie”. And that’s exactly what they did.

Johnson and Malchus scrounged together what resources they had and as many favors as possible. Due to their full-time “day” jobs, they would be limited to just 9 days to shoot the majority of the movie, a daunting task for any production, much less a travelogue movie involving driving shots, Vespa scooters and a bizarre vehicle called the Bootmobile. With a budget of only $5000, filming began in May of 2001 on the renamed project, King’s Highway.

“We had a marvelous crew… of about six. Everyone did multiple jobs,” says Malchus. “More importantly, we had a cast that believed in the script, who worked for deferred pay and were brave enough to trust a novice director.

That cast included Lori Heuring, an actress with big budget (Mulholland Drive) and low budget (Gas Station Jesus) experience; veteran character actor John DiResta, who has acted alongside Sandra Bullock (Miss Congeniality) and Matthew McConaughey (How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days); and the talented Ryan Alosio (DarkWolf). For the crucial lead role of Todd King, the filmmakers chose then newcomer Geoff Stults, who had auditioned for a minor role in the movie. As soon as Malchus saw him perform, “I knew Geoff was our guy.”

Stults threw himself into the performance, jumping on trolley cars, diving off of runaway scooters; he even got mugged during a weekend shoot in San Francisco (but that’s another story). Stults became one of the core creative forces behind the film. Also contributing greatly to the finished film was Director of Photography and Editor, Villamor Cruz.

Malchus and Cruz worked extensively during preproduction, storyboarding and discussing how to make King’s Highway look like they had a bigger budget. “We shot on Mini Dv, which was very liberating,” says Cruz. “The format allowed us to shoot multiple takes without worrying about film stock. Yet, we still took our time lighting each scene and gave each sequence its own feel and look.

By October 2001, after a couple of pickup weekends, filming of King’s Highway was finally complete. The filmmakers had worked around busy actor schedules, equipment failures and the obstacle of everyone holding down 40 hour-a-week
jobs… typical setbacks for any independent film production. But nothing could have prepared them for what happened next.

In November of 2001, Malchus and his wife, Julie, welcomed their second child, Jacob, into the world. Celebration gave way to concern as their son struggled to gain weight in the first month of his life. Just before Christmas, Jacob Malchus was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, the genetic disease that attacks its victim’s lungs and digestive organs, shortening their lifespan. This devastating news shook the production just as the editing stage was to begin. Suddenly, making a movie wasn’t so important.

“Take care of your family,” Johnson told Malchus. “The movie will wait.”

“That was important to hear,” Malchus says. “When you’re involved with a production this small, the people you work with become a surrogate family. As difficult as it was for me and my family, I know that Ryan and Villamor were really shook up.”

While Malchus attended to his family’s needs, Cruz began piecing together the movie based on the storyboards and his discussions with the director. Five months elapsed before the two men would begin editing together what would become the final film.

“I owe so much to Villamor,” says Malchus. “A director in his own right, he gave me the freedom I needed to find my voice on set. Then, as my family faced a crisis, he took it upon himself to use the storyboards and continue working. Through his dedication, we had a rough cut to work with.”

2002 was spent editing the movie, mixing the sound, and compiling a song list of over 40 selections that would serve as the score to the movie. Finally, by March of 2003, King’s Highway was complete.

“It was a long road,” says Johnson. “In the two years since we began the movie so much has changed in everyone’s lives. But it was worth it. We have a great looking movie that is quirky, funny and truly heartfelt.”

With just 9 days to shoot and $5000, that the filmmakers completed a feature film and persevered despite all of the outside circumstances is a credit to them and their desire to create something personal and independent.

“King’s Highway is a film that is ultimately about family and holding out hope,” Malchus says. “As a parent of a child with special needs, I know that these themes are important to get out there, especially in today’s troubled world. These are not just independent themes… they’re universal.”