Scene and Heard: The Future Is Now!

For Nathaniel Sylva the future definitely is now – and apparently for the rest of us. Nat’s first feature film, called Future Justice, is premiering on May 18. It’s a an epic adventure that was commissioned by Richard Marr-Griffin (there he is again folks, I can’t seem to write an article without his name in it) after reading a screenplay Nat wrote called Behind the Door. Richard had a great interest in producing a post-apocalyptic action film and he knew that Nat was a stuntman as well.  Actor, writer, stuntman Nat sat down with Richard the director and together they created a plot. “Once that happened, it took off at a breakneck pace. I think it was four months from buckling down on the screenplay to wrapping on principal photography,” Nat said. “The real challenge was figuring out how to make a story that was epic without breaking the bank.”

The talents of a few others helped Nat achieve the look of the film. Margee Wolf (Margaret Wolf) a Rhode Islander who has made quite a name for herself in costuming and production design after working on Griffin’s Nun of That, Murder University, Normal, and the upcoming The Sins of Dracula was one. Add to that cinematography by Jill Poisson, art direction by Angela Shulman, visual effects by John Dusek, editing by Richard Griffin, and Mark Hutchinson as assistant director, and you are, as they say, off to the races.

Nat just became a union actor through the Screen Actors Guild, and he has appeared in many indie and union films produced in New England. From the short crime drama Bourbon in 2007, to most of the Griffin films mentioned above, he is no stranger to being in front of the camera. He was born and raised in Wayland, Mass., and became involved in theater in high school. Nat attended Bennington College in Vermont, an institution that has quite the history itself, with notable alumni like actor Alan Arkin, author Bret Easton Ellis, “Game of Throne”s star Peter Dinklage, dancer/choreographer Martha Graham and many more. While taking a year off from school, Nat started working in film in 2006, and hasn’t looked back since.

Future Justice is the first film he’s written to be produced, and he used all New England talent.  Nat is in the starring role, as Python Diamond, a ruthless criminal. In supporting roles we have Aaron Andrade as Uxbridge, Steven O’Broin as Gazeebo, Elyssa Baldassari as Glass, Dan Mauro as Quinn, Rich Tretheway as Wren, Anna Rizzo as Kathy, and special guest star Jose Guns Alves as Harris. Great character actor Mark Carter and the infamous Michael Thurber make appearances also. A host of others who play gang members, lab techs and victims, help round out the film quite nicely and gives it a sense of realism, which is not easy in a sci-fi flick on a limited budget.

The story opens as Python Diamond (gotta love that name) is being flown back to Earth from Saturn’s moon of Titan, a place where Earth’s worst criminals are kept waiting for their trial and execution. He’s being escorted by five military police, and upon their return to Earth, they find that a nuclear war has rendered Earth to a mostly lifeless, bleak environment. They search for clues to this disaster, or any survivors who can tell them what happened.  The journey leads them to a warehouse bunker housing scientists who hold the last hope for the foreseeable future. However, things get worse, and fast. Their spacecraft landing has drawn the attention of one of the gangs that roam this desolate place in search of food and resources, which leads them straight to the hidden and well-stocked shelter. The gang wants in of course, so they fight for it resulting in bloody warfare that takes even more lives on both sides.

I’m not gonna tell you the end of this story, but you can find out what happens on May 18 when the future is revealed. The film will premiere at Cinema World Lincoln Mall at 7pm and 9pm. It’s not a film for kids, folks, so be present with your child under 17, and for those under 12, the film makers prefer no admission.

For a peek at what’s coming, take a look at the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5_4VXn8cuc
Advance tickets for the screening:
http://www.scorpiofilmreleasing.squarespace.com/events/
Follow the film here, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3312230/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Nat Sylva on IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2575439/?ref_=tt_cl_t1
The end is near … are you ready? Doesn’t matter … film is still rolling, people.