The pulse of Hollywood could be felt in the veins of ASU this week as the red trickle of the famous carpet beckoned to the stars of “Car Dogs.”
ASU Film Spark's first feature-length film, “Car Dogs,” premiered Monday at Harkins Camelview Fashion Square where the stars, director and screenwriter all took to the red carpet to greet the press and talk about the launching of their new film.
“Car Dogs” tells the story of Mark Chamberlain, a sales manager at his father’s car dealership who, if he sells a record number of 35 cars by the end of the day, will finally have the opportunity to run his own dealership. To succeed, he’ll do almost anything, but he quickly must decide if he’s willing to risk his family, friends and customers to achieve this, or if there is more to life than the dog-eat-dog work of car selling.
ASU’s stars shine at first red carpet premiere from The State Press on Vimeo. Video by Jordan Evans.
The stars and crew spoke with press about the film and what made them excited about the motion picture and its premiere.
Mark King, ASU alumni and screenwriter/producer for the film, said when Adam Collis, the director/producer and ASU faculty professor, approached him for the idea to make this movie, it was an easy decision.
“When you write a screenplay, you set it in a particular location but it doesn’t necessarily get filmed in that location,” King said. “So when Adam called me and said, ‘Hey, do you wanna make this movie in your hometown with Arizona State?’ It took me about a half second to say, 'Yeah, let’s do this.'”
The idea to produce “Car Dogs” ultimately came from a need to provide internships to students in the Film and Media Production program. With a large portion of the crew made up of students, King said this experience is an incredible one.
“When I went to film school I got a chance to go on a film set, but I only got a day there,” he said. “So the fact that these kids were actually working on an active movie, with actors with Hollywood critical acclaim, that’s pretty remarkable. That’s a pretty good first day on the job.”
The film stars celebrities including George Lopez, Nia Vardalos (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding”), Patrick J. Adams (“Suits”) and Octavia Spencer ("Hidden Figures"). Some of the talent who attended the premiere include Josh Hopkins, Cory Hardrict, Chris Mulkey, Sean Patrick Murphy and Joe Massingill.
Since the movie takes place in Arizona, was written by an ASU alumnus, directed by an ASU professor and created through the work of many ASU students and alumni, ASU students were represented in the film through actress Alessandra Torresani, in the role of Cheri, a sassy ASU student looking to purchase a car from Chamberlain’s car lot in the movie.
To get into character, Torresani said it was a more natural fit (Torresani said it was easy to get into character, as she is very similar to Cheri).
“Well I got to be very sassy so it’s not that far off,” she said.
To learn more about her role, Torresani said she turned to her manager.
“It’s so funny because my manager is an ASU alumni so I got to speak with him and learn what it was all like,” Torresani said.
Reflecting on the actual students working on set, she said the experience was “really great.”
“I told everyone, they were professional, they showed up early, they probably were the most professional of everyone,” she said. “I would do it again.”
After the stars and crew were finished speaking with the press, there was a screening of the film, followed by a VIP after party to celebrate the film's long awaited release.
The film itself has been in production for three years, even before ASU Film Spark was officially created as a teaching opportunity in ASU's film program.
Speaking about the long time it took to get to the premiere, director Adam Collis said it was because ASU "didn’t just make a movie.”
“We didn’t just make a movie about a team of car salesmen trying to sell the most amount of cars that have ever been sold in a single day,” he said.
“We didn’t just make a movie where 85 students got to learn feature filmmaking from an Oscar-winning cast and crew …. Not only did we do all that, but we’ve actually created here at the most innovative school in the nation, an entire supply chain where we finance feature films, we make feature films …. and we are going to release a movie out of Phoenix in collaboration with the fifth biggest theater chain in the country," Collis said.
Audiences will soon have the opportunity to discover for themselves the drama of car sales, as the film will begin showing in Phoenix based Harkins Theaters this Friday, March 24.
“We are so proud and honored to be showing our film here and with the biggest, most innovative school in the country,” Collis said. “Go Devils.”
To learn more about “Car Dogs,” you can read the preview story here.
Reach the reporter at balnero13@gmail.com or follow @BaldnerOwen on Twitter.
Reach the videographer jevans29@asu.edu or follow @jordanevans on Twitter.
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