We previously mentioned in passing the newly announced Ryan Reynolds’ indie thriller, Rodrigo Cortés’ “Buried,” which will find center on a civilian contractor who is kidnapped and buried alive in Iraq with only a cell phone, candle and knife at hand.
Reynold’s role was noted by the trades to be one that will “stretch his acting chops” as the film would be “one in which he holds the screen through most of the picture.” Sure, we thought, they’re a dime a dozen. And that was that – until an interview with Reynolds on Australian television caught our attention:
“‘Buried’ is the story about a guy whose buried (laughs). It’s the only movie I’ve ever heard of with only one person in it. So it’s just me, I’m the only person in the whole movie so, I don’t know, we’ll see. It’s either going to be, you know, the greatest, most experimental cool movie ever made or god knows what.” Wow, pretty bold, not to mention super minimalist and claustrophobic. Sounds like “Kill Bill 2,” in the sequence where Uma Thurman is buried under ground, but instead of being a brutal 10 minute sequence, it’s the whole excruciating picture.
Carson Reeves at Script Shadow provides further insight describing the script as “top-notch storytelling” by scribe Chris Sparling who “does a bang-up job creating tension” despite the fact “the whole thing took place in a coffin.” Eighty minutes of Ryan Reynolds in a coffin?! That’s ambition for you.
Shooting will begin this month in Barcelona.
Read it and wasn't really feeling it…
It has and excellent sense of claustrophobia and an absolutely terrifying scenario that kept my heart pumping. Unfortunately, the premise of the live burial is a bit contrived, and required me to suspend more disbelief than I was willing. The secondary characters lacked any depth, though I suppose there’s only so much that can be conveyed in a series of short phone calls. I could have done without the ham-fisted commentary on U.S. policy, too.
It's a rather gimmicky set-up that too often reminded me of the Saw quintilogy (!). But, given its resources, and ability to tell a feature-length story in just one location, it was fairly impressive. And a quick read. Good for a brief thrill, but not much more than that.
Will wait for the trailers to ultimately decide, of course. There was just one cutaway from Reynolds in the entire script, which would be impressive to see pulled off.
You should send, some of the writers are interested and probably specifically the one that wrote this.
You got it.
The director is one of the greatest talents in Spain. You should check his first movie "Concursante", kind of Palahniuk´s nightmare
Secondary characters, you say? Oh, Ryan, you scab, you!
"Secondary voices" may be more apt…