VANCOUVER, BC, Aug. 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE – The Wonderfilm Media Corporation (TSXV: WNDR) (OTC: WDRFF), (“Wonderfilm” or the “Company”), a leading entertainment company with offices in Beverly Hills, United States and Vancouver, Canada, released a Thank You John letter to John Travolta, who stars in their newly produced movie "The Fanatic", which opens this weekend at the box office.
Kirk Shaw, CEO of Wonderfilm and Executive Producer wrote:
Thank You John,
“August 30th the Wonderfilm produced, “The Fanatic” opens in US theaters. The star, John Travolta, is a refreshing pleasure to work with and a true Hollywood legend. An Artist through and through, over the course of his career John’s cleverly reinvented his on screen persona several times by taking risks. Most of us first met John as his TV character, Vinnie Barbarino. From that success he jumped right into iconic 70s musicals, “Grease” and “Saturday Night Fever.” I remember sitting in the audience, never in my wildest imagination thinking I’d be given an opportunity to work with John years later.
"In the 80s and early 90s John reinvented himself as a light comedy actor with “Look Who’s Talking” and its sequels. Then his career took another 180 with his very memorable character from “Pulp Fiction.” John continues to create memorable characters like his recent portrayal of the crime boss, Gotti and the character Moose in “The Fanatic.”; Gotti, a biographical film detailing the life of mobster has a scene in which Gotti had lost his son. John’s co-star was his real life wife, Kelly Preston. John and Kelly have also lost a son so this emotional scene was not just art imitating life, it was two people expressing on camera a devastating shared life experience. I couldn’t imagine psychologically going to the place these two went both as actors and as a mother and a father feeling loss. It was truly an amazingly intense scene. It’s this fearless expression of character that allows John’s performance to shine in the film.
"Roles like Gotti and Moose are not paydays for John. Rather he’s at a point where he is challenging his craft with risky characters he is interested in exploring. John carefully chooses the films he wants to do so I’m very grateful he chose to do “The Fanatic” since you rarely meet actors of his level ready to explore characters that so powerfully challenge the artist and the audience. Although the character of Moose is based on a real person, John delved inside himself, creating a unique interpretation. Moose as a leading character certainly breaks the movie storytelling norm. Travolta seamlessly breathes life into the character’s quirks to create a unique on-screen presence. John brings to Moose a likeable quality with an intense personal passion that eventually leads him to cross the line.
"The Fanatic at its core is an anti-Hollywood exploration of people existing on the fringes of the glitz and glitter. It’s a film that we knew from the outset would leave some of the audience frustrated while others are enthralled. In fact, the Fanatic script and character had been written with actor Bill Paxon in mind. Bill’s untimely death led to the coincidental meeting of John and Director Fred Hurst. This meeting was followed later with discussions that eventually circled back to John being cast as Moose. John’s career is vast and varied, his depiction of Moose in the Fanatic is the artist in John once again expressing a singular talent for creating memorable characters on screen we all will remember years later. On a personal level, I respect John more each time I see him interact with crew, cast and his fans. During “the Fanatic” shoot, John arrived on set like a refreshing ocean breeze. He acknowledged every single person and then went out of his way to introduce himself to anyone new on set. He was never the star, but always one of the team. As a producer, I admire his talent, but I’m impressed with how he puts his heart completely into promoting small independent movies like The Fanatic. We don’t have a huge budget and I’ve never worked with an actor who put so much effort and time into promotion as John. Whether it’s a spot on the Tonight Show or a private screening, John is an enthusiastic supporter of his films and his fans, including me, love him for it.”
Thank You John.
Kirk Shaw
Executive Producer
About Wonderfilm Media
Wonderfilm is a leading publicly traded (TSX Venture Exchange) entertainment company with offices in Beverly Hills, Vancouver, Canada and Seoul, South Korea. Wonderfilm’s main business is the production of high-quality feature films and episodic television that offer international appeal through the Company’s guiding philosophy of bringing new financing solutions to an entertainment industry increasingly looking for funding and co-production alternatives. Wonderfilm is a producer and distributor only for the projects disclosed. The legal ownership of movie productions is held in a special purpose legal entity held at arm’s length to the Company to facilitate for the qualification of various levels of domestic and foreign government tax credit incentives that are customary in the film and production business.
Cautionary Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to substantial risks, uncertainties and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. These statements often include words such as “believe,” “expect,” “target,” “anticipate,” “forecast,” “intend,” “plan,” “projects,” “seek,” “will,” “may” or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which involve factors or circumstances that are beyond Wonderfilm’s control and Wonderfilm’s actual results could well differ materially from those stated or implied in forward-looking statements due to many various factors.
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