By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com

Sundance PING PONG SUMMER Locks Deal With Gravitas Ventures

Posted Monday, February 3rd, 2014 - Comments Off on Sundance PING PONG SUMMER Locks Deal With Gravitas Ventures
Be Sociable, Share!
Sundance PING PONG SUMMER Locks Deal With Gravitas Ventures Susan Sarandon, Amy Sedaris and newcomer Marcello Conte love the ’80s in this critically-acclaimed comedy which hits theaters this summer

El Segundo, CA (February 3, 2014) – Following an uproarious Sundance premiere, one of the festival’s biggest crowd-pleasers, Michael Tully’s PING PONG SUMMER, has landed a deal with Gravitas Ventures. Gravitas plans to take the film out theatrically and digitally early this summer, with a home video release later in 2014.

Set during the summer of 1985 in Ocean City, Maryland, PING PONG SUMMER follows awkward 13-year-old Rad Miracle as he attempts to live up to that name by becoming a master breakdancer, ping pong player and ladies man all before the end of summer break. Based on his own childhood experiences (poor guy), writer-director Michael Tully’s (SEPTIEN, SILVER JEW) meticulous recreation of the characters, fashions and emotions that populate our teenage years proves that remembering perfectly is the best (and most hilarious) revenge.

PING PONG SUMMER features a gut-busting and heart-tugging breakthrough performance from Marcello Conte as Rad Miracle, as well as hysterical supporting turns from Amy Sedaris (STRANGERS WITH CANDY), Judah Friedlander (30 ROCK) and Lea Thompson (summer of ’85s own BACK TO THE FUTURE). Rounding out the note-perfect cast is Academy Award winner (and co-owner of the SPiN ping-pong club empire) Susan Sarandon as Randi Jammer, the table tennis Miyagi to Rad’s Daniel-son.

“Having been a fan of Tully’s work, both as a filmmaker and as a writer at Hammer To Nail, I was still not prepared for what a truly joyous blast of a film PING PONG SUMMER turned out to be,” said Gravitas VP of Theatrical Distribution Dustin Smith. “Anyone (i.e. me) who spent lonely teenage summers dreaming of rapping, breakdancing or even talking to a girl is going to love this movie. Plus, where else are you going to see Susan Sarandon wield a fish like a weapon?”

“I’ve been a fan of Gravitas Ventures since its inception, so when I heard the recent news about
their venturing into the theatrical sphere I became quite excited,” said Tully. “In this tricky 21st century market, Gravitas has the intelligence, creativity, and enthusiasm to help make sure our 20th century movie gets seen. Not to mention their funky fresh addition of Dusty Smith to the Gravitas team, which further sealed the deal.”

George Rush and Submarine’s Josh Braun and David Koh negotiated the deal on behalf of the filmmakers, with Gravitas CEO Nolan Gallagher handling duties for the distrib. Rush also produced PING PONG SUMMER along with Brooke Bernard, Ryan Zacarias, Billy Peterson, Jeffrey Allard and Michael Gottwald in association with Epic Match Media, Compass Entertainment and Nomadic Independence.

ABOUT GRAVITAS VENTURES
Gravitas Ventures is a leading distributor of independent cinema. Founded in 2006 with a focus on Video-On-Demand, Gravitas connects independent filmmakers, producers and distribution companies with leading distribution partners across the globe. Working with more than 500 content partners, Gravitas Ventures has distributed thousands of films across all platforms. Some of their recent releases include Dave Grohl’s 2013 Sundance premiere SOUND CITY and the Naomi Watts, Matt Dillon starrer SUNLIGHT JR. For more information, go to www.gravitasventures.com and @GravitasVOD.

# # #
Be Sociable, Share!

Posted in Movie City News, Press Releases | Comments Off on Sundance PING PONG SUMMER Locks Deal With Gravitas Ventures

Comments are closed.

Quote Unquotesee all »

It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon