Hurricane Entertainment has announced that four-time Academy Award winner Ben Burtt has been attached to direct the live action feature film adaptation of their flagship comic book property Chassis.
Working alongside George Lucas since 1975, Ben Burtt has won four
Academy Awards and has been nominated ten times for his sound design
work and sound editing on; “Star Wars,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “ET” and “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”. He has directed the “Young Indiana Jones” movie; “Attack of the Hawkmen” as well as the IMAX films, “Blue Planet,” and “Special Effects”. Burtt’s most recent work includes editing the current “Star Wars” prequels as well as creating a new sound division for Pixar Animation.
When asked what attracted him to Chassis, Ben replied “Well, I love fantasy and adventure. The setting for ‘Chassis’ provides a wonderful escapism. I see a hint of the same magic I felt when working on the first Star Wars and Indy films. I think today’s audiences will be surprised and receptive to Chassis. It’s going to be something they haven’t seen before.”
Chassis is set in the world of rocket car racing in a retro-futuristic 1949. “It’s the story of a young woman who longs to be a rocket racer but her father won’t allow it. Partly due to the dangers involved in the high speed race, but mostly because of the dangerous and nefarious men who run the sport,” said Chassis creator and President of Hurricane Entertainment, William O’Neill.
Hurricane Entertainment was created in 1996 by husband and wife team William and Jan Utstein-O’Neill. As well as publishing popular creator owned titles such as Chassis and Violent Messiahs, Hurricane also recently published the comic mini-series, John Carpenter’s Snake Plissken Chronicles with Kurt Russell, John Carpenter, and the late Debra Hill, based on the hit movie “Escape From New York”.
For the San Diego Comic Con, Hurricane and Ben Burtt have created a four minute live action short to show off the world of Chassis to the public. “We have some fantastic CGI shots of the rocket cars that just blew me away.” Said Jan Utstein-O’Neill. “They were created by the very talented folks at Third Floor Studios, a start-up company consisting of the team that did the pre-visualization on “Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith”.
Also helping on the film is “Episode III” concept artist Ryan Church. “The new rocket race cars are based on his design work, and they are sweet,” added William.
The short will have its world premiere next week at the San Diego Comic Con, Saturday, July 16TH at 1 PM, in room 5-AB.
Hurricane Entertainment will also be premiering a special convention exclusive Chassis Comic Book at their booth, number 2205. Included is a short story written and drawn by William O’Neill, an exclusive interview with Ben Burtt, and a glorious cover by Ryan Church. It will have a very limited print run of only 1500.
Chassis is being produced by Hurricane Entertainment along with Josh Morris and Kevin Cleary of Content House.
Source: Hurricane Entertainment
