- 02/16/2011 (12:34:39 pm)
- Bob Mulrenin
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So it’s only natural that Vince McMahon’s empire would take the next logical step and get into film. Now, a little less than five years after WWE Studios released its first movie, the schlocky Kane-starring horror flick “See No Evil,” the company has become a prolific releaser.
Its family-oriented action flick “The Chaperone” opens Friday, with a DVD release on March 8, and so far there are four other movies on the docket for release this year and next.
Though one might assume the WWE’s cinematic fare is but an extension of its wrestling brand, bringing the world of feuds and tag-team matches to the big screen, “Chaperone” star Paul “Triple H” Levesque said that’s not the case.
“What we do is tell stories, and then we have this marketing machine behind it. But the heart of it is just storytelling, and that’s really what making movies comes down to,” said the wrestler, who’s also an executive advisor at the company and McMahon’s son-in-law.
The studio has fast become an appealing destination for top-flight talent. Such respected actors as Danny Glover and Patricia Clarkson have appeared in earlier films, and the Ed Harris-starring “That’s What I Am” just premiered at the Santa Barbara Film Festival.
Levesque attributes WWE Studios’ burgeoning popularity in part to its streamlined production process, taking such approaches as shooting all its movies in the New Orleans area to benefit from Louisiana’s optimal tax breaks and the utilization of the same production crew.
“We’re throwing the Hollywood template on its ear a little bit,” Levesque said. “Making these movies back to back, saving money on the cost of making them, shrinking the DVD window to allow us to only have to spend one sum on promotion and recoup faster — it’s a different way of doing things, but we think it will hopefully be a better way.”
Levesque acknowledges that WWE Studios — still a young brand — has a way to go before Hollywood’s bigwigs really start taking notice. But the company’s on the road to respectability, he says, and by selecting the right scripts and telling the best stories, it will stay on that path.
“We’re making our reputation with people one step at a time,” Levesque said. “But it’s getting there.”
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Directed by Stephen Herek
Samuel Goldwyn Films
Opens February 18, Village East
You get a bargain two high-concepts for the price of one in this amiably lame offering from Stephen Herek, who, once upon a time, cooked up an excellent Adventure for Bill and Ted, then veered off into inspirational goo with Mr. Holland’s Opus. Alas, this family-redemption drama crossed with a runaway-bus teen-action comedy, based on a tepid script by playwright S.J. Roth, makes a beeline for pap and sticks there. Paul “Triple H” Levesque, a muscled slab of meat lightly touched with Schwarzeneggerian charm, plays Ray, an ex-con who emerges from jail fortified with psychobabble and resolved to make amends with the ex-wife (Annabeth Gish) and daughter (Ariel Winter) he abandoned years earlier. Literally dumping the keys to recidivism, Ray hauls his noble intentions and the usual bag full of illicit cash onto the bus carrying his daughter’s class to the New Orleans Museum of Art, with a sorely misused Kevin Corrigan as the hoodlum in hot pursuit. As a caper, The Chaperone grinds its gears horribly right up to the inevitable rescue by geeky kids armed with tech-toys. Father-daughter bonding proceeds on dreary schedule, but it might be worth hanging in there just for the pugnacious brio of Modern Family’s Winter as the angry offspring.
