August 2013 PHANTOM LIMBS Set in present day rural Nebraska and the Desert Southwest, PHANTOM LIMBS is an intimate coming-of-age story and a contemporary mythology of the Great Plains as seen through the eyes of two sisters abandoned by every adult in their lives. Eleven years after their father’s mysterious death and their mother’s subsequent abandonment, serious wallflower Mabel (21), and capricious flirt Lily (18), barely subsist amidst drought and recession-ravaged farmland. Following years of raising her little sister while tending to their dying, now dead, grandmother, resourceful but haunted Mabel finds herself stuck, running an old junk shop in their decaying family home. Lily, meanwhile, flirts her way through life with her wise-cracking slacker boyfriend Jordan (19) attending her like a puppy dog. With sisterly and sexual tensions running high, the walls and weight of abandoment seem to be closing in when a brief letter arrives from the girls’ estranged and potentially dangerous mother. In spite of Mabel’s warnings, Lily and Jordan take off in a stolen car to confront the woman in the Desert Southwest. Meanwhile, without Lily to care for and obsessed with the past, Mabel desperately seeks to carve out her own identity. As the sisters extract themselves from their cocoon of co-dependency to confront how personal and regional history made them who they are, Mabel and Lily embark on separate paths riddled with emotional landmines, fragmented memory, burgeoning sexuality, and growth. Based on celebrated Nebraska author Timothy Schaffert’s novel The Phantom Limbs of the Rollow Sisters - called “Blithe, quirky, spirited and offbeat” by Janet Maslin, The New York Times, and “Boondocks-Gothic...quietly tragic” by The Washington Post - this feature film adaptation is a rich, dusty tale of self-reliance and an allegory of a generation abandoned by parents and leaders who’ve sucked America’s economies, cultures, communities, and the land itself dry. MICHAEL SLADEK (Director / Writer / Producer) is an award-winning filmmaker whose recent directorial works include the documentary feature BAM150 (BAM, Ovation, Cinema Guild, Tribeca), the acclaimed docu-comedy CON ARTIST (The Group Entertainment, Ovation, New Yorker Films, Tribeca, Rome), the animated short WE LIVE ON YOUR STREET (Slamdance: Jury & Anarchy Awards), and the narrative dark comedy feature DEVILS ARE DREAMING (Dances With Films: Jury Award). A 2013 Acker Award recipient, Sladek is currently in development on a feature adaptation of Alan Kaufman’s memoir JEW BOY. Also an actor and stage director, Sladek grew up in the live theater, studied acting in college, is working on new theater productions, is a member of SAG-AFTRA, and currently serves as NY Rep for SAGIndie. He has worked as a Filmmaker Coordinator for Tribeca Film Festival, as Talent Coordinator for MTV News, and as Assistant to the author Jamaica Kincaid. Sladek grew up in Denver, CO and Newport Beach, CA. MARK STEELE (Producer) currently serves as VP of Production at Werc Werk Works where he was Co- Producer on Lawrence Kasdan’s DARLING COMPANION (Sony Pictures Classics), Jill Sprecher’s THIN ICE (Sundance, ATO Pictures), Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Freidman’s HOWL (Sundance, Oscilloscope), and Associate Producer on Todd Solondz’s LIFE DURING WARTIME (Telluride, IFC Films). Other credits include Co-Producer on Zachary Heinzerling’s CUTIE & THE BOXER (Sundance, RADiUS-TWC), and Producer on Michael Sladek’s CON ARTIST (Tribeca, New Yorker Films). PAUL SCHNEE (Producer / Casting Director) has, along with casting partner Kerry Barden, cast a wide range of films. Forthcoming projects include AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTRY (Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor), THE JUDGE (Robert Downey Jr, Robert Duvall, Vera Farmiga), LOVELACE (Amanda Seyfried, Peter Sarsgaard, Sharon Stone), and PRISONERS (Hugh Jackman, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard). Recently, Paul and Kerry cast the Oscar-winner THE HELP (Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Jessica Chastain), the Oscar-nominated and Indie Spirit Award-winning WINTER’S BONE (Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes), as well as PITCH PERFECT, COMPLIANCE, HIGHER GROUND, WIN WIN, HELLO I MUST BE GOING, and numerous others. JOSEPH KRINGS (Editor / Co-Producer) is an accomplished editor whose feature film credits include Shannon Plumb’s TOWHEADS (New Directors/New Films), Matt Ross’ 28 HOTEL ROOMS (Sundance, Oscilloscope), and Michael Sladek’s BAM150 (Tribeca, Cinema Guild). Short form videos for directors such as Azazel Jacobs, Brody Baker, and Michael Sladek have earned VMA, AICE and Slamdance nominations and awards. Krings is the 2013 Sundance Sally Menke Memorial Editing Fellow and just finished editing comedian Mike Myers’ directorial debut SUPERMENSCH. Michael Sladek Mark Steele ( 917) 202-6068 (612) 868-8336 [email protected] [email protected] PHANTOM LIMBS DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT Well aware of our shared affinity for raw, cinematic, character-driven stories set in the West, my friend, regular collabo- rator, and native-Nebraskan Joseph Krings brought Timothy Schaffert’s novel The Phantom Limbs of the Rollow Sisters to my attention many months ago. Having myself grown up in Colorado with a deeply personal relationship to issues of abandonment and memory, I fell in love with the book and immediately felt a strong desire to explore its main characters, settings and themes on film. Seldom seen in contemporary American cinema, the novel’s young female protagonists are multi-layered and complicated. And their equally-young male counterparts are fresh takes on rural manhood. Aside from stirring my own issues with abandonment, I recognized in Mabel and Lily, Jordan and Wyatt, young people whose self-destructiveness and issues with boundaries and trust relate directly to the sudden absence of parental figures.Additionally, these people exist in a setting and time that serve as perfect allegories for the state of the larger American Dream. As economic collapse and manmade drought suffocate the seat of America’s farmland, it is the youth who are left abandoned by the adult world, suffering from the pain caused by the phantom limbs of absent or inept parents and leaders. Still however full of love, humor, and hope for a re-imagined future, one cannot help but root for them all to succeed in their quest to build new family structures in a new world. PHANTOM LIMBS will be a highly cinematic project. The drought-stricken land, the crumbling facades, and the light and space of Nebraska and the Desert Southwest are key to the emotional landscape. The intimacy of very real people filled with fears, lusts, dreams, and humor juxtapose the vastness of the space between them. While the details of junk shop detritus fill in for missing relationships, the heat of summer adds to the sexual awakenings of youth.As with all my films, a sense of improvisational realism will be paramount while every shot will be artistically composed. We hope to find as many existing locations as possible and will cast as many roles as possible from local communities. And moreover, given my background as an actor who loves to collaborate with actors, raw and truthful performances will be the bedrock of the entire film. CONTACT INFORMATION Michael Sladek Mark Steele Paul Schnee Joseph Krings ( 917) 202-6068 (612) 868-8336 (212) 727-7600 (646) 522-7419 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] © Plug Ugly Films Inc. PHANTOM LIMBS © Plug Ugly Films Inc..