SHOOTING STARS: Hit the road, ‘Bullrun’
Anyone who calls Southern Nevada home knows all about the traffic — and the challenge of surviving it without going ballistic.
But there’ll be an even greater challenge in store for the drivers of “Bullrun.”
Billed as “Where Reality Meets the Road,” the road-rally TV series is scheduled to hit Las Vegas Tuesday and Wednesday for driving shots of Glitter Gulch — and a top-secret driving challenge.
It’s the second Vegas visit for “Bullrun,” which last hit local roads in ‘06.
The show, hosted by wrestling star Goldberg, at right, pits 12 two-member teams against each other for 4,000 miles of competition — in their own cars. (To quote “Bullrun’s” Internet site, the vehicles range “from American muscle, to exotics, tuners and the beasts of the Autobahn.”)
During the rally, contestants must “make it to daily checkpoints first or risk finding themselves facing the wrath of Goldberg and in the most explosive automotive challenges ever seen on television,” according to the show’s Web site.
After filming this month, “Bullrun’s” second season is scheduled to run on the Speed Channel in February.
'Men' in the ‘Middle’: Preparations continue for the scheduled Dec. 8 arrival of the indie feature “Middle Men,” which recounts the wild-and-crazy adventures of a straight-arrow businessman (Luke Wilson) who becomes involved with the fledgling Internet porn industry through his credit card-processing business.
“We were the middle men,” explains producer Christopher Mallick, whose real-life experiences inspire the movie’s “highly fictionalized” action, which takes place from 1996 through 2004. (With flashbacks to 1975 and 1988, Mallick notes.)
George Gallo (whose scripts range from “Midnight Run” to “The Whole Nine Yards”) writes and directs a cast that also includes James Caan, Giovanni Ribisi and Gabriel Macht.
For more on “Middle Men,” tune in to next week’s Shooting Stars.
Submission season: The CineVegas film festival doesn’t roll until June 2009.
But, starting today — and continuing through March 1 — festival officials are accepting submissions for CineVegas’ 11th annual run June 11-20 at the Palms’ Brenden Theatres.
A total of $14,000 in cash prizes will be awarded to select films in four categories: feature film, documentary, short film and Nevada filmmaking short. (There’s also a chance that winning entries will be picked up for distribution: 2007’s grand jury award-winner, “Look,” played several film festivals and opened in theaters that year; 2008’s best documentary winner, “Beautiful Losers,” was recently acquired by a distributor that plans a global release.)
This year “was a record-breaking year for CineVegas, as the Festival received the most submissions in its history, and more people attended our films, parties and special events than ever before,” according to artistic director Trevor Groth. “I know that 2009 will also break records, not just in the number of submissions we receive, but in the quality of films that we are seeing. We look forward to showcasing these films in Las Vegas to local, national and international audiences.”
Filmmakers may submit entries through Withoutabox’s International Festival Submissions System at www.withoutabox.com. Entries received by Jan. 15 are eligible for an early-bird discount. For more information on all things CineVegas — including short films featured at previous festivals and “retrocasts” of interviews with past award-winners — click on the festival’s Internet site, www.cinevegas.com.
