Production Report: 'Day Zero,' 'Gracie,' 'In the Footsteps of Orpheus,'

"Day Zero"

Set in the near future where the state of global terrorism has forced the military to reinstate the draft, Bryan Gunnar Cole's debut feature follows three friends who've received their induction notice and have 30 days to report for duty.

Written by Rob Malkani, the film stars Elijah Wood, Chris Klein and Jon Bernthal as the drafted friends who must battle their political views and thoughts on war before making a decision that will change their lives forever. "The question of service, duty, honor and friendship all comes out," says Cole while taking a break from editing.

Directing stage plays and making documentaries for most of his career, Cole joined the project after producer Anthony Moody optioned Malkani's script last summer and asked Cole to direct. After a few months of reworking the script, they sent it out to agents, and along with catching the eyes of Wood, Klein and Bernthal, also nabbed Ginnifer Goodwin, Elisabeth Moss and Ally Sheedy.

Shot in 25 days on HD around New York City's Lower East Side, Cole brought a loose style to the shoot as he and his longtime DP, Matthew Clark, often shot handheld, encouraging the actors to move freely in the scenes. "There was a lot of freedom for both myself and the actors to do what they do and that's something I promised them at the very beginning," Cole says.

Cole hopes the film's topic sparks as much interesting discussions among audiences as it did on set. "You'd be hanging out and realize that you had completely opposite politics from the person next to you," he says. "So everybody brought their own ideology and that was exciting."

Produced by Moody's Indalo Productions, Malkani is executive producer.

[For more information, please visit www.indalo.biz]

http://www.indiewire.com/movies/2006/07/production_repo_9.html