Memphis filmmakers Allen Gardner and Brad Ellis had such a good experience working on their last feature film, Bad, Bad Men, that they wanted to do it again. “I just wanted to get the old band back together for a new movie,” says Gardner.
Cold Feet
While in post production on Bad, Bad Men, Gardner had an idea for a follow up. It had been years since the long time partners made their last horror movie, and Ellis was thirsty for some onscreen blood. Gardner had been scoring with funny screenplays lately, so why not a horror comedy? Gardner was on a layover on a flight from Los Angeles, where he now lives, to Memphis when the setup came to him: A bachelor party in a haunted house.
Cold Feet takes eight actors who have worked with Old School Pictures before and locks them in a rambling, Modernist East Memphis bachelor pad, complete with hot tub, pool, and disco room. “Allen had the story in mind, but we tailored the scenes to match the layout of the house,” says Ellis.
The actors, who include Bad, Bad Men’s Nathan Ross Murphy and Adam Burns, had their parts chosen by chance. “We had a cold read before the first Memphis screening of Bad, Bad Men,” says Gardner. “It was really exciting to me, because none of the guys had read it before. So instead of putting names into a hat, we put names on the bottom of shot glasses. Whatever shot you got, that was the role you played. I was curious to find out who was going to be who. It was like Christmas.”
Cold Feet
“That was our way of putting a lot of trust in the actors,” says Ellis. “It worked out for the best. Two weeks into the production, and you couldn’t imagine any of these guys being anyone else.”
Joining the core cast is Lindsey Roberts and Kenneth Farmer as cops who crack down when the party gets a little out of hand. “Lindsey is playing the straight man, essentially, which can be a thankless role, but without that balance, you have nothing,” says Ellis.
“Hearing her do the hard-nosed cop with Kenneth, who is just so on the other side of that equation, has been hilarious,” says producer Gabe Arredondo, another Bad, Bad Men veteran.
Cold Feet was shot over the course of three weeks last month. Now the producers have started a crowdfunding campaign to help with post-production. For more information, visit the campaign page on IndieGoGO.
Cold Feet