Didn’t get to see Harmony Korine‘s “Aggro Dr1ft” in theaters (or you did but didn’t get the hype)? Not to worry: Variety reports that the iconoclastic director has his next two projects lined up at this multimedia design collective EDGLRD, including a resurrected old project. So if “Aggro Dr1ft” didn’t resonate, here’s a second and third chance to figure out what EDGLRD is all about.
READ MORE: Harmony Korine’s Experimental ‘Aggro Dr1ft’ Coming To Theaters For One Week In May
First up in the EDGLRD pipeline? Korine’s “The Trap,” which once upon a time had Jamie Foxx, Benecio del Toro, and Robert Pattinson set to star in the live-action version. However, under the EDGLRD banner, Korine will reenvision the project as an anime: the same story, but told entirely differently. And the premise sounds like a mix of “Aggro Dr1ft” and “Spring Breakers,” about an ex-con newly released from prison and out for revenge against a one-time accomplice who’s now a chart-topping rapper. Variety describes the project as ““Oldboy” set through a hip-hop filter, and, to be honest, that doesn’t sound too bad. But voice actors, much less what production partners Korine will bring in for animation, remain a mystery. Still, this take on “The Trap” is much different than the one Annapurna had to pull the plug on eight years ago; an enticing project, to be sure.
The other upcoming Korine-led project? Another film helmed by the director, this one a comedy whose premise is culled from an earlier script. But it’s the way it’ll be shot, the whole point of EDGLRD, that’s the big thing there: the collective will use experimental in-house motion capture tech and virtual creation to bring the story to life. Plot details remain thin at the moment, but EDGLRD film strategy head Eric Kohn teased the project will bring new visual flair on a familiar Korine style. “Comedy is at the core of Harmony’s work, explained Kohn,” so people will be pleasantly surprised when they find out more, because this is a very familiar style for him while a bit more intimate than what people are used to feeling.”
EDGLRD has more on the way than just more Korine, however. The Miami-based collective will also back the feature debut of music director Matias Vasquez, otherwise known as Stillz. That project, a supernatural thriller, is already in post-production, with EDGLRD eyeing a 2024 release for the film. Then there’s “Baby Invasion,” a home invasion thriller filmed as a first-person shooter, which swaps the faces of assailants for baby’s faces. If that sounds similar to “Aggro Dr1ft,” that’s because it is; Korine is wrapping up that project in post right now. EDGLRD eyes a festival release for “Baby Invasion” later this year. And the collective has some goodies for fans regarding the “Aggro Dr1ft” VOD release, too; a merch drop will coincide with when the film hits streaming.
That’s a ton of new stuff on the way from EDGLRD, but the collective likes to work together on project quickly, and releasing them to audiences just as fast. And Kohn stressed that box office success is not one of the parameters EDGLRD works within. “The film marketplace, especially in the US, is very, very narrow,” he said. “If you only consider box office as a metric for success from an exhibition standpoint, you’re cutting off other ways to think outside the box. If you don’t continually reinforce this idea that movies and media can travel and exist across different frameworks, then people default to one mode. Right now, younger audiences don’t want their options limited.”
“We can take a concept and move on it, getting it done as quickly as possible rather than killing this creative drive in development hell,” continued Kohn. “We can work fast and loose with new talent around good ideas that say things about society, and can remain entertaining and stimulating to people who don’t necessarily want to overthink things.”
Bypassing a traditional box-office release isn’t new; ask any independently-financed experimental film director. But as a creative group, EDGLRD sounds like they want to integrate the release formats of certain online outlets like Twitch, Reddit, and YouTube into their work as a formal device. “We want to bring in a new generation of storytellers from unexpected places,” Kohn elaborated. “You never know where you might encounter something that you’ve never seen before, whether that’s a Twitch stream or a Reddit forum or some short film that was posted to YouTube. I don’t think the industry has necessarily embraced the opportunity of bringing those kinds of voices in. And if you keep your costs low, or at least in a responsible zone, then you have a lot more room to take risks.”
And if “Aggro Dr1ft” was anything last year, it was risky; it’s Venice Film Festival world premiere wasn’t a fiasco, but there were walkouts, and many critics were left scratching their heads (read The Playlist’s review here). But maybe Korine, Kohn, and EDGLRD are in uncharted territory right now, and the rest of the film world needs to catch up. And it’ll have a chance to, once “The Trap,” Stillz’s feature debut, “Baby Invasion,” and Korine’s stop-motion comedy reach audiences (however the may do so).