Cannonball: Cabin Creeps



This one is for Ron Parritt (aka Bass Adkins). When the original cut of our first feature film clocked in at well over two hours, it became apparent that some major trims had to happen. One of the larger chunks that fell by the wayside is this scene that really served little purpose other than to further establish the creepiness of Adkins.

  • It's amazing to me how long ago we shot this. Before the days of HD. And I'm not at all pleased at how much aging I've done since then.
  • Check out Allen sacrificing his body at the 3:38 mark. Our reactions to that are genuine. Al goes stuntman-style and of course the scene gets cut.
  • Ron's "What do you think it is?" line was one of our favorites to quote, so it hurt us to cut it.
  • We shot this on Ron's uncle's property in Frankfort. He has a sort of 19th century ghost town that he built himself.
  • The training montage was originally supposed to be a little more carefully constructed and shot in Wes Anderson style.
  • Probably one of the biggest regrets was that the elimination of this scene removed Aaron Ratiere's incredible Bigfoot song from the body of the movie and moved it to the credits. I think we can all agree on the song's unadulterated awesomeness.

You can watch Cannonball free online (and leave us a tip if you'd like) or order a DVD to watch at home.

cannonball online


Today is the day. Starting now, you can watch Cannonball online!

Now, here is how this works... you follow the link and you push play. End of story. No fees, no passwords, just 90 minutes of ha-ha's instantly with a click. Think of it as a rental. Except in this case, you only leave us a tip or donation if the movie was worth your time. A buck, five bucks, zero... it's your call. In any case, every dime we receive goes directly to making more short films, Space Cops episodes, and/or even another feature someday.

On the Vimeo page where you watched the movie, you'll see a Tip Jar button. Or you can come back here and use the big orange DONATE button on the right side of the page. That button will take you to our Paypal. Either method works for us. If you really, really like it... by all means stop by our store page to order a Cannonball DVD. If you don't have any bucks to spare, we still want you to watch. You can do us a favor by sharing the link with everyone you know.

Cannonball took us roughly 10 years to produce, kids love it as much as adults, and I've never heard anyone say it was a waste of their time. Due to its age, it wasn't shot in glorious HD, but the jokes still work. So, kick back and enjoy 90 minutes with Tony, Lou, and the Bandit.

news and notes 9.24.12


News and Notes may not not be groundbreaking every week, but today's news is huge for us and it's been at least a year in the making.  So, I'll get right to it and make it brief:

Beginning tomorrow, September 25th, you'll be able to watch our feature film Cannonball online in its entirety. And it gets better. You can watch it absolutely free if you want. We'll be accepting tips/donations only and we're keeping our fingers crossed that anyone who likes it will want to slide us a few bucks to fund more productions. We wanted to give as many people as possible the opportunity to see it while opening up a new funding window at the same time and I'm excited about both. You can come right back here tomorrow for the link and official release.

Funding is especially important because...
The new WSF editing computer is here! And it's fully operational. I spent the weekend getting her all set up and the Space Cops 4 edit begins tomorrow. Get excited. You'll have new/old retro-futuristic police exploits to watch...and soon!

Cannonball on Tuesday. Indie Wednesday. And who knows what else the week will bring.

cannonball: son of satan

Happy Holidays, it's another Cannonball deleted scene!  At the diner, Tony fills Lou in on how the other GWA wrestlers have been coping since Captain Cannonball left them in the lurch.  Some notes:

  • I really wanted to keep the Son of Satan character in the movie. He made me laugh and the character was one of the GWA originals. Curtis McGirr filled the role here.

  • SOS has supposedly found work as a bag boy at a super market and it never fails to make me laugh when he wants this lady to make the 3-count for him.

  • I have no idea if anyone saw what we were doing in the Danville Walmart parking lot, but if they did, I'd love to know.

  • The wrestler lying-in-wait is the Cuban Assassin. Another original. You have a keen eye if you noticed there are some flowing blonde locks peeking out from under that hood. Could this guy actually be Randall Powers? Ahhhh, the mysteries of the Assassin!

cannonball: pussyfoot



How about another Cannonball deleted scene to start your week?  Bass Adkins unleashes a full-on verbal assault and brings back a word that has been missing from our vocabulary for FAR too long.  Here are a few notes about this scene:
  • There was a belching sheep on the set.  This thing had problems.  I might try to find and upload some of the outtakes he caused because they were plentiful and epic.
  • We shot at dusk, so the colors are all over the place and I haven’t corrected them for this deleted scene.
  • The first time we shot at this location, the farm was being leased by our friend JR Zinner.  When we went back for reshoots, we didn’t know JR wasn’t leasing it anymore.  So, when the current farmer showed up, we had some awkward moments; especially since we had Bass’ shotgun with us.
  • Multiple shoots led to a number of continuity problems.  You'll notice Todd's jacket disappears in a reaction shot.  All of those were eliminated in the final edit.
  • Like many others, this scene was a casualty of the exhaustive and manic effort to trim about 30 minutes off the movie and get it under 100 minutes.  Every second counted, so this bit had to go since it wasn’t necessary for the story.  Just consider how different our lives could have been today had this made the final cut, as Bass Adkins certainly would have vaulted “pussyfoot” into our everyday vocabulary.

stocking stuffer


We're quickly approaching D-Day or, in this case, C-Day.  Do you have your stocking stuffers?  Guess what.  We have the perfect thing for everyone on your list!  Cannonball DVD's are now only $4.99!!  Yes, that is insane.  The Bomber got one last year and, as you can see, he was stoked.  Every dollar that goes into the WSF coffers goes directly to making more goofy/wonderful productions which means you're funding a questionably worthwhile cause! Autographed copies and pages of the script are also marked down, so go get yours and I'll have it in the mail the very next day!
Learn anything you want to know about Cannonball at CannonballMovie.com

cannonball: straws



Some of you said you'd like to see Cannonball deleted scenes.  Well, here you go.  This first scene was one of the earliest set pieces in the script.  It was an idea Allen and I discussed when we had a very similar experience in the drive-thru line at Sonic.  (Hence, Tony acts out our wish fulfillment here.)  You'll notice that most of the deleted scene edits are rougher around the edges.  This one has uncorrected vignetting around the edges thanks to our janky wide-angle adaptor.  In the final version of the film, each and every one of those shots was corrected with effects software.

Within the next few days, Cannonball DVD's will have a significant price cut, so get hyped and get your dollars ready.