Area native to get a shot at Sundance

January 19, 2006 12:50 am

WHEN Danny McBride was growing up in Spotsylvania County in the '80s and '90s, he became fascinated with telling stories.

First, it was a love for the epic movies of the time, which he took in with all the hunger of a bear after honey.

Before long, he and friends began taking off with the family video camera, making short films of everything from static toys to neighborhood pals.

As a student at Courtland High School, McBride got involved in the drama department, at one point helping to write a one-act play that earned state honors.

After graduation in '95, he could think of no place he'd rather be than the North Carolina School of the Arts.

The choice, as they'd say on the silver screen, was pure kismet.

In four years learning movie-making there, with a concentration on directing, the young man from Spotsylvania became close to a core group of 25 or so students who shared his passion.

Some of them honed their skills in cinematography, others in screenwriting, editing, lighting and other disciplines.

It was always give and take with members of the informal group--volunteering to act or direct a friend's film one week, then asking for help with one's own the next.

Some 10 years later, the same thing is still happening, McBride said.

But these days, professional collaborations lasting long after college are yielding impressive results, such as these:

As the Sundance Film Festival opens today in Park City, Utah, a film written by McBride and School of the Arts pals Jody Hill and Ben Best is drawing critical buzz.

Called "The Foot Fist Way"--the literal translation of "tae kwon do"--the comedy about a small-town martial-arts instructor in the South has already sold out all its showings at the internationally acclaimed festival.

The 90-minute film, which had a whole host of School of the Arts alums in its cast and crew, is getting attention for Hill, who directs, and McBride, who stars as the instructor who finds his disciplined world unraveling after his wife cheats on him.

McBride and another film-school collaborator, David Gordon Green, have already pitched and completed a script for a major motion picture with Universal Studios.

The film, tentatively called "Nerd Camp," was developed with the cooperation of actor Sean William Scott, who hopes to star in it.

The same writing pair is now working with a production company linked to Tom Cruise and Paramount Studios to write a screenplay for a movie about young, black motocross phenom James "Bubba" Stewart.

These breaks in the movie business have come after the 29-year-old McBride and his friends helped to create an impressive collection of projects, including films by Green entitled "All the Real Girls" and "Undertow."

McBride, who moved to Fredericksburg in November after having put in seven years in L.A., said the North Carolina School of the Arts connections have made the difference for them all.

"On so many of these films, the word would go out and we'd all show up, taking turns directing, getting behind the camera, whatever was needed," he said.

The same is true for "The Foot Fist Way," which has two dozen or so of the School of the Arts group converging on a four-bedroom house at Sundance this week, sleeping on sofas, tables and the floor.

"When we all work together, we come from a shared film background and sort of speak the same language," said McBride, noting that he knows director Hill well enough to take the chances the acting role required.

The young writer, who moved back home to be closer to the Virginia and the South he wants to write stories about, said he never really set out to act.

"But then one of my friends would say I was right for a role and I'd jump in for him," said McBride. "I imagine it will continue like that."

Success didn't come overnight. For years in L.A., McBride worked in odd jobs, then as a cameraman for a film crew that shot projects for MTV, VH1 and others, then wrote at night.

Breaks came after "All the Real Girls" earned a spot at Sundance and focused attention on those who'd worked on it.

McBride, who noted that he only had $30 for food when he attended the festival a few years back, said the financial success from his screenwriting since then has given him the financial freedom to write full time.

Making "The Foot Fist Way" in North Carolina was a chance for many of that group to remember their roots. Current students at the college were even called in to fill out the cast and crew.

The whole project was done for less than $100,000, though that changed when a rough edit of the film won it a spot at Sundance.

Overnight, the film's budget shot over a half-million dollars as a professional edit was rushed to make the beginning of the festival. It was completed just last week.

McBride said he and all the others involved are armed with new projects and ideas should "The Foot Fist Way" raise the group's profile enough to open more doors.

"Whatever happens, I'm going to do lots of it right back here in Fredericksburg," said McBride of the region where his family still lives. "It's a lot more real and down-to-earth than L.A."

To reach ROB HEDELT: 540/374-5415
Email: rhedelt@freelancestar.com