I Kill Giants
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1492 Pictures/Ocean Blue Entertainment Presents an XYZ Films Production a Umedia Production in association with uFund Man of Action Parallel Pictures I KILL GIANTS Directed By ANDERS WALTER Starring MADISON WOLFE, IMOGEN POOTS, ZOE SALDANA, SYDNEY WADE Produced by CHRIS COLUMBUS, MICHAEL BARNATHAN, KIM MAGNUSSON, ADRIAN POLITOWSKI, NICK SPICER, KYLE FRANKE Running Time: 104 minutes TIFF SALES CONTACT: XYZ Films [email protected] TIFF PUBLICITY CONTACT: The DDA Group [email protected] I KILL GIANTS SHORT SYNOPSIS I Kill Giants tells the story of Barbara Thorson (Madison Wolfe), a teenage girl who chooses to escape the realities of school and a drab family life by retreating into her magical world of Titans and Giants. With the help of her new friend Sophia (Sydney Wade) and her school therapist (Zoe Saldana), Barbara will learn to battle her Giants and face her fears – tackling the mean bullies at school, her sister (Imogen Poots) and her difficult home life and eventually her biggest dread of the unknown. I Kill Giants, an adaptation of Joe Kelly and Ken Niimura's Man of Action/Image Comics internationally acclaimed graphic novel is directed by Academy Award-winning director Anders Walter. LONG SYNOPSIS Barbara Thorson (Madison Wolfe) kills giants; she devotes every moment of time she can in researching all the variations of giants, learning how to kill them, laying traps and, when a giant strikes her town, killing it. BARBARA resides with her gaming obsessed teenage brother DAVE and her workaholic sister KAREN (Imogen Poots); their life appears somewhat ramshackle; Karen seems to be barely holding down a job, interspersing her disastrous attempts at cooking with frantic phone calls to her boss, desperately fighting to keep her position. Dave lives in a world of computer games with his friends whilst Barbara lives in the basement, her den in which she has constructed a fortress of protection against the giants and where she plots her next moves, drawing runes and reciting spells for protection. Her actual bedroom, upstairs, is not a room in which she ever sets foot. Indeed ‘upstairs’ is a place she no longer dares to go, as if something sinister and terrifying appears to lurk up there. Barbara’s giant-hunting is perpetually interrupted by her requirement to attend school, where she is an outcast, seen as a geeky-weirdo who spends her life with her head buried in odd books and adorns herself with a rabbit-ears headband. She is rude and sarcastic to her teachers, seemingly unafraid of and lacking any respect for authority. She finds herself called to see the new school Psychiatrist, MRS MOLLE (Zoe Saldana); Barbara sees this as just another distraction preventing her from her vital research and preparation for the next giant attack. Similarly distracting is the arrival of SOPHIA (Sydney Wade) who moves in across from Barbara. Sophia is eager to befriend her new neighbor and classmate, despite her squeamishness and lack of interest in such ‘geeky’ books, and takes an interest in giant-lore. Barbara cautiously allows Sophia a peek into her dangerous world and they begin to form an unusual friendship. Any normality or stability in Barbara’s life is, however, constantly threatened by the forces around her she only just manages to keep at bay. She sees ‘Harbingers’ – odd spindly cloaked creatures – lurking around corners and dark spaces, runes and strange symbols appear and other omens constantly threaten any momentary peace; another giant attack is coming and she is frantically trying to prepare for it. As a result, her behavior becomes all the more erratic and soon she garners the attention of the female bully in her year, TAYLOR, who delights in demonstrating to everyone else what a freak-show Barbara is. Barbara is initially, by and large, able to resist Taylor concocting various witty put-downs. Taylor is, however, ruthless in her desire to destroy Barbara and turns her attention to Sophia. After threats and violence Sophia confesses Barbara’s belief she is a giant hunter and killer, which Taylor takes delight in ridiculing Barbara about. Barbara’s unwavering resolve starts to crack and we understand there are no giants; there is something far more real, which haunts Barbara’s life, though, and it is her giant-killing activities which she uses to as the façade to escape into and to give the demons she faces a form she believes she can control and destroy. Much as we, the reader, understand the giants to be a figment of Barbara’s imagination, she is still utterly convinced they are a real and dangerous force threatening her family. As a bad storm rips through Barbara’s seaside town, she prepares for the biggest challenge she has faced thus far. With the help of her new friend Sophia, she begins to realize she no longer needs to face her biggest fear alone. ORIGINAL GRAPHIC NOVEL Joe Kelly's Eisner-nominated I Kill Giants (illustrated by Ken Niimura) received numerous awards and accolades domestically and internationally including the "International Manga Award" in 2012 and was named the one of the "Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens" by the Young Adult Library Services Association upon its release. Now I Kill Giants is in post-production as a feature film with a script by Kelly and produced by Kelly, Man of Action Entertainment, Chris Columbus' 1492 Pictures, XYZ Films and UMedia. DIRECTOR’S NOTE I Kill Giants is the sweeping, bittersweet story of a young girl struggling to conquer monsters, both real and imagined, as her world crumbles at the feet of giants bigger than any one child can handle. I was really touched and moved when I first read the script for I Kill Giants. It is funny, it had me laughing out loud many times. The story looks at fantasy through a real-world lens and make it feel real because of the level of emotions. The strength of the story is obviously the emotional one of Barbara and my ambition as a director is to prioritize her inner journey, since this is what makes the story so compelling. This is not just a story about bravery and courage. It is a tale of friendship and family, of growing up and facing your demons, and of learning to cope with any situation that is thrown at you. Barbara’s growth through the story should be inspiring to every young girl, boy, father, mother, or grandparents. Barbara resonates in you with such a force that it is impossible to shake her off. At its core, I Kill Giants is a character piece and it is important for me to really emphasize that. There are some characters in here that care so much that your heart literally aches. There are characters in this film who bully and act tough but they don’t come close to the real giants in Barbara’s life. These young women set examples to us all on how to support and empower one another instead of tearing each other down. DIRECTOR ANDERS WALTER Born in Arhus, Denmark, Anders Walter is an OSCAR winning film director and screenwriter. He won the Academy Award for his short film HELIUM in 2014. Another of his short films 9 METER was shortlisted for an OSCAR in 2013. Originally an illustrator at DDB Needham in Denmark, Anders attended the School of Visual Arts in New York for Film. He is also the founder of the studio The Dance Palace. He has also directed more than 25 music videos for various Danish artists. Anders is both a voting member of The Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences and the Danish Film Academy. I Kill Giants is his first feature film. WRITERS JOE KELLY Man of Action Entertainment is the bi-coastal writers' collective behind comic's largest franchise characters as well as original characters published by their Man of Action imprint at Image Comics. The four met while working on Marvel and DC most prized franchises from Superman to X-Men and realized that they were stronger together. Man of Action launched Disney XD's Marvel's Ultimate Spider-Man and Marvel's Avengers Assemble as EXP/writers. Man of Action also created the characters and team Big Hero 6, featured in Disney/Marvel's Academy Award®-winning feature and the only comic book IP to win that award. Man of Action are the creator/producer/ writers of current and upcoming live-action feature films and TV series based on their original comic books and graphic novels including I Kill Giants, Officer Downe, Kafka, The Crusades and The Great Unknown. Joe Kelly's legendary Superman story, Action Comics #775: "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice & the American Way?" was turned into a hit DC Universe 2012 animated film, Superman vs. The Elite, scripted by Kelly. He's long been credited with revising and revitalizing Deadpool and his creative thumbprint informed the characters, villains and origin story featured in the mega-hit film franchise. Kelly's recent comic book projects include the dark irreverent comedy, Bad Dog, Four Eyes, the genre-splicing revenge tale about dragon-fighting in depression-era Manhattan, and BANG!TANGO, a crime noir thriller that is violent, sexy, and perverse while simultaneously an examination of violence, sex, and perversion. Kelly also launched the New York Times Bestseller Spider-Man/Deadpool for Marvel. His MOA/Image series, Kid Savage, debuted in May and was Image's FCBD selection in 2017. His Kickstarter-funded short film, Poughkeepsie, debuts this year. J.M. KEN NIIMURA At the crossroads of Japanese, European and American comics, Ken Niimura has developed a dynamic, vibrant and humorous style of his own.