Thunder road short film jim cummings

Thunder road director jim cummings on failure and alan. Jul 14, 2017 jim cummings short film thunder road didnt get a distribution deal, but it did open all the right doors for a career in filmmaking. Lowell meyers vision behind the cinematography of thunder road. Thunder road is a masterpiece in achieving this glorious combination, all while placing you in an uncomfortable, but relatable situation. So this random guy named jim cummings followed me on twitter the other day and like all new follows, i clicked through to see his profile and find out who he is. When it played the festival circuit in 2016 winning jury prizes at sundance and practically everywhere else, jim cummings minute short thunder road was hard to. The question becomes whether he can hold it all together for what was going to be the centerpiece of the eulogy around brendas favorite song, bruce springsteens thunder road. Thunder road is a short comedydrama film written, directed by, and starring jim.

After his short film thunder road won the grand jury prize at the 2016 sundance film festival, he landed a subscription deal with streaming company fullscreen to shoot six more shorts. Aug 28, 2018 jim cummings plays jim arnaud, the main character in thunder road, a boyish police officer who tries to deliver a eulogy for his mother. It won the short film grand jury prize at sundance, and was named by indiewire as one of the best short films ever made. Thunder roads writerdirectoractoreverything is at the center of the film, taking up nearly every frame, and his performance is revelatory. In jim cummings breakout onetake short film, thunder road, a heroically unselfconscious police officer played by cummings takes the stage at his mothers funeral to sing a cringeworthy, albeit gutpunchingly heartfelt, rendition of springsteens classic tune. The life of this film presents an interesting case study for.

Thunder road follows a broken cop who comes to grips with a. Having impressively upped the ante on its short film roots, thunder road then faces the daunting task of stretching. Jim cummings, a 33yearold from new orleans, has written, directed, starred in and written the theme music for the brilliantly funny and desperately sad thunder road, which was made for the. Via a 12min monologue, arnaud is instantly understandable and charismatic. Jun 14, 2019 jim cummings is raising funds for thunder road on kickstarter. Thunder road jim cummings writes, directs, and stars in the uncanny tale of a middle american cop whos a funny, crazy, moving, indelibly authentic lost soul. This year at sundance, however, we saw a different jim shine this time as the writer, director, and star of his own short, thunder road.

When it played the festival circuit in 2016 winning jury prizes at sundance and practically everywhere else, jim cummings minute short thunder road was hard to forget a deeply strange. It won the grand jury award at the 2018 sxsw film festival. Jim cummings thunder road wins deauvilles grand prize. After winning the grand jury prize at the sxsw film festival, director and star jim cummings was underwhelmed by the distribution offers he received. Published on oct 20, 2018 based on the sundancewinning short film, thunder road follows a southern police officer jim cummings on his journey to raise his young daughter as a love letter to his.

Thunder road is an original and perfectly constructed short film, winner of the grand jury prize at the 2016 sundance film festival as well as the special jury prize for acting at 2016 south by southwest. The thunder road screenplay received multiple 310 ratings on the blacklist. Jim cummings was a freelance line producer for comedy website until he transitioned into filmmaking fulltime. Thunder road is a 2018 american comedydrama microbudget film directed, written by, and starring jim cummings, based on his 2016 short film of the same name. For years, weve seen his name fly under the producer credit line for many of our favorite staff pick films from the film collective ornana. Sep 12, 2018 adapted from cummings own awardwinning sundance short film of the same name, thunder road is about a southern police officer who must come to grips with a. In one stroke, cummings demonstrates a formal rigour, an impressionable. The fame of this work is certainly caused by the ability to generate an unsettling emotional ambivalence. Thunder road is a 2018 american comedydrama microbudget film directed, written by, and starring jim cummings, based on his 2016 short film of the same. So i was writing the thunder road short film in my car on the drives to work.

Thunder road director jim cummings on failure and alan partridge. Director jim cummings on making unignorable films musicbed blog. After winning the grand jury prize at the sundance film festival 2016 with thunder road, jim cummings renews his participation to the 2017 edition with his new short film, the robbery. On top of all that, a new independent film, us funny, was successfully kickstarted just this month. A rising star in indie film, director jim cummings plays a grieving cop. To push things even further, the film was shot in one unrelentless 15 minute take, all brought together by jim cumming who wrote, directed and performed in this memorable piece. Director jim cummings plays a grieving cop whose home life is falling apart. A cop, a character study, an instant classic writerdirectoractor jim cummings tale of a policeman on the verge of a. Jim cummings thunder road short producer on patrick wangs the grief of others and trey edward shultss krisha, jim cummings showed everyone who is the boss with the devilishly funny, conceptually sophisticated and fastidiously well executed short film. The way cummings weaves the eponymous song, thunder road, throughout the story elevates this movie to art and that brought tears to our eyes. Jun 02, 2019 director jim cummings plays a grieving cop whose home life is falling apart. It features several long takes, like the shorts, and. The sense of this sentence is suspended even at the end of its 12 minutes, also after the ending titles.

The story, written in collaboration with his friend dustin hahn, was inspired by a real life episode that hahn told jim. A case study how a short film turned a successful festival run into a feature film which made its money back through selfdistribution. The robbery by jim cummings dark comedy short film. A cop, a character study, an instant classic writerdirectoractor jim cummings tale of a policeman on the verge of a nervous breakdown introduces a major talent. Officer arnaud raises his daughter as a love letter to his mom. Thunder road is a 2018 american comedydrama film directed, written by and starring jim cummings, based on his 2016 short film of the. The film presents the ups and downs of life with such emotional honesty. Its a hilarious and heartbreaking onetake film, where officer jim arnaud played by cummings unsuccessfully attempts to eulogise his mother at her funeral. Sep 20, 2018 kendal farr and jim cummings in thunder road. Sep 08, 2018 jim cummingss thunder road won the grand prize at the 44th edition of the normandieset deauville american film festival. The story, written in collaboration with his friend dustin hahn, was inspired by a real life. Jim cummings is raising funds for thunder road on kickstarter. Hes taken a magnetic short film and transmogrified it into a featurelength.

Preorder the feature of one of the best short films ever made. Directed and written by jim cummings the robbery, he also stars as the lead in this emotional and gripping story that won the coveted narrative feature award at the 2018 sxsw film festival. Thunder road follows a southern police officer jim cummings on his journey to raise his young daughter as a love letter to his late mom. Heartwarming and hilarious, jim struggles to cope with everyday life. How having the right gear and crew can enhance a story. Reach out to press through film festivals attending press lists and ask them kindly to write something about the. Jan 23, 2016 jim s plans for the eulogy go slightly off the rails as his emotions take over leading to a stream of consciousness delivery about how he is truly feeling. Jim cummings burst onto the film scene with his short thunder road in 2016, written on the train to work and filmed with his friends. The south by southwest conference and festivals has announced its 2018 jury and special award winners of the sxsw film festival awards, with thunder road by director jim cummings taking home the co. Adapted from cummings own awardwinning sundance short film of the same name, thunder road is about a southern police officer who must come to grips with a. These shorts came to form the comedy series minutes. The film, adapted from a short cummings made in 2015, has won plenty of praise, and it hits the cringeworthy highs of the office in scenes like this. It won at sundance, which has a history of screening uncomfortable american comedies though very few comedies from outside the united states. Pulling back the curtain on the distribution process.

It also stars kendal farr, nican robinson, macon blair, jocelyn deboer, chelsea edmunson, ammie leonards, and bill wise. Shot in one take, the film depicts a police officer giving a eulogy for his mother. From there, i clicked through to his vimeo channel you should too just click and there i watched his 2016 sundance grand jury prize winning short film. Jim cummings gives one of the best performances of the year in thunder road. Jim cummingss thunder road won the grand prize at the 44th edition of the normandieset deauville american film festival. Shot in one take, the film depicts a police officer giving a eulogy for.

Thunder road is a short comedydrama film written, directed by, and starring jim cummings. Fullscreen has signed up for 6 new shorts from cummings, which will all adopt the singleshort format of thunder road, and those are expected to land online in september. Jim cummings thunder road follows up his sundance winner with a new singletake short about a cashstrapped woman and her misadventures at a local convenience store. Thunder road is a 2018 american comedydrama microbudget film directed, written. Thunder road was shot in 14 and a half days, under budget. Cummings also served as coeditor, composer and visual effects artist. Jim cummings, a 33yearold from new orleans, has written, directed, starred in and written the theme music for the brilliantly funny and desperately. Watch thunder road at vue cinema book tickets online. Jim cummings wrote, directed and starred in this incredibly heartfelt, yet funny movie. Cummings plays a grieving cop, jimmy, who is the only one of three siblings to turn up for his mothers funeral.

May 28, 2019 we meet actorwriterdirector jim cummings to talk his new film thunder road, failing and his love of alan partridge. Watch thunder road by jim cummings on short of the weeka comedy about loss in liveactionusa, 12 min. The film that follows reflects cummings background as a shorts director in that its very episodic, arguably containing a few variations on the original thunder road as jim loses his cool in key moments, including a courtroom and the parking lot of his police department. The result does of course make for uncomfortable viewing. The film that follows reflects cummings background as a shorts director in that its very episodic, arguably. Jim cummings in thunder road 2016 jim cummings and francesca i. Jims plans for the eulogy go slightly off the rails as his emotions take over leading to a stream of consciousness delivery about how he is truly feeling. Interview with the director of thunder road, winner of the grand jury prize at the 2016 sundance film festival. Hes taken a magnetic short film and transmogrified it into a featurelength masterclass in the exploration of emotion. Written, directed and starring jim cummings, thunder road is a oneshot black comedy that is pretty painful to watch.

How you see thunder road says a lot about the movie. The common element that brings the technical and the storytelling sides together is jim cummings. Nov 16, 2018 exploring the process of taking a short film and developing it into a feature film. If you like thunder road by jim cummings be sure to rate it and share it. The film presents the ups and downs of life with such emotional honesty, youll either laugh or cry till it hurts. An expanded, featurelength version of the sundance grand jury prizewinning dramatic short of the same title, jim cummings thunder road tells the story of flawed police officer jim arnaud also played by cummings, who lives a shambolic life thats somehow made even worse by his mothers passing. Cline answers our five burning questions about her favorite film genre, her tv crush, and more. Jim cummings short film thunder road didnt get a distribution deal, but it did open all the right doors for a career in filmmaking. Independent filmmaker jim cummings on how filmmakers can.

Apr 05, 2018 so this random guy named jim cummings followed me on twitter the other day and like all new follows, i clicked through to see his profile and find out who he is. We meet actorwriterdirector jim cummings to talk his new film thunder road, failing and his love of alan partridge. The film which would go on to win the sundance short film grand jury prize not only paved the way for jims career. It would be hard to argue that there is a lot of story in this short film, or that it is laughoutloud funny, but the monologue and acting really is superb, the awkwardness tangible and its simplicity impressive. Based on cummings awardwinning 2016 short film of the same name, this drama also stars jocelyn deboer greener grass, nican robinson reasons why. It started as a minute, oneman film that came out of nowhere and won the short film grand jury prize at sundance in 2016. Starring, written and directed by jim cummings, this short film won the grand jury prize at the sxsw film festival. As a result, thunder road is a singular film and its fitting that as singleminded as cummings was in the time leading up to thunder road, he plays a man possessed in front of the camera as well, slipping into the skin of officer jim arnaud, who always appears as if he wants to crawl out of it following his mothers death, not. Jim cummings thoughts on directing and editing his own performance. Things are happening fast for cummings at the moment, and audiences. The short to feature lab curriculum jim cummings medium. By now, im sure you have heard about the short film turned feature thunder road which is written by, directed by, and stars jim cummings. Exploring the process of taking a short film and developing it into a feature film.