- Zyzzyx Road
Infobox Film
name = Zyzzyx Road
amg_id = 1:317168
imdb_id = 0429277
writer =John Penney
starring =Katherine Heigl Leo Grillo Tom Sizemore
director =John Penney
producer =Leo Grillo Valerie McCaffrey John Penney Dorian Vernacchio
distributor =Regent Releasing
released =February 25 ,2006
runtime = 88 minutes
language = English
music =Ryan Beveridge
awards =
budget = $2,000,000cite news | url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20011268,00.html | first=Rob | last=Brunner | title=The Strange and Twisted Tale of...The Movie That Grossed $30.00 | publisher="Entertainment Weekly " | date=February 16 ,2007 | pages=46-49]"Zyzzyx Road" (
IPA pronunciation: /zʊzɪzɪkʰs/; orphonics : /"zuh-zih-zix"/) is a 2006 independent thrillerfilm . It starsKatherine Heigl ,Leo Grillo ,Nick Noonan ,Sean Morrissey ,Russ Baldwin andTom Sizemore . The screenplay was written byJohn Penney , who also directed the film.The film has gained a degree of notoriety due to its extremely low U.S. box office gross ($20 USD).
Plot synopsis
Grant (Grillo) is an accountant with a bad marriage and a daughter whom he loves. He takes to the road to service his accounts in Las Vegas. While there he meets seductive Marissa (Heigl). They have a week-long affair which culminates in the arrival of Marissa's ex-boyfriend, Joey (Sizemore). Joey attempts to kill the lovers, but Grant gets the upper hand. Grant and Marissa then drive Joey's body to Zyzzyx Road and Grant buries Joey in the desert there. But in the morning the body is missing and something is trying to kill Grant and Marissa.
Production
Filming took place in the summer of 2005 and lasted 18 days, plus an additional two days for pickup scenes. The film was 88 minutes long. The film was shot entirely on location in the
Mojave Desert , in and around local mines.cite web
title = Leo Grillo Interview
work = Katherine Heigl Online
date = 2006-06-10
url = http://www.kheigl.com/print/leogrillo100606/index.shtml
accessdate = 2007-01-02 ]Tom Sizemore was arrested during the film's production for repeatedly failing drug tests while on probation, but was not jailed, making it possible for him to film his scenes.Release and box office gross
"Zyzzyx Road" was shown once-a-day for six days (
February 25 ,2006 throughMarch 2 ,2006 ) atHighland Park Village Theater inDallas, Texas ,cite news
last = Strowbridge
first = C.S.
title = Little Films Hoping to be Big Fish in Limited Release Pond
work = The Numbers News
publisher = Nash Information Services, LLC.
date = 2006-02-24
url = http://www.the-numbers.com/interactive/newsStory.php?newsID=1764
accessdate = 2007-01-02 ] a movie theater rented by the producers for $1,000. The limited release was deliberate: Grillo was uninterested in releasing the film domestically until after it underwent foreign distribution, but needed to fulfill the U.S. release obligation required by theScreen Actors Guild for low-budget films (films with budgets less than $2.5 million that are not for thedirect-to-video market). [ [http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1593130,00.html The New Ishtar] , a February 2007 article from "Time" magazine]The strategy had the side effect of making the film the lowest grossing film of all time, earning just $30 at the box office from exactly six patrons.cite web
title = Zyzzyx Road (2006)
work =Box Office Mojo
url = http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=zyzzyxroad.htm
accessdate = 2007-01-02 ] Unofficially, its opening weekend netted $20. The $10 difference is due to a personal refund by Grillo to makeup artist Sheila Moore, who had worked on the film, and her friend.Both "Zyzzyx Road" and the similarly-named "Zzyzx" have been cited as the lowest-grossing film of all time; "Zyzzyx Road" is in fact the lowest-grossing film. [Faraci, Devin. (January 10, 2007)
Chud.com " [http://www.chud.com/index.php?type=news&id=8472 Crisis on infinite Zyzzyx roads.] "]The film was released in twenty-three countries and by the end of 2006, had earned about $368,000. As of today, the film has not yet received the legitimate domestic distribution that was supposed to follow its foreign release.
Notes and references
External links
*imdb title|id=0429277|title=Zyzzyx Rd.
* [http://www.zyzzyxrdthemovie.com/ Official movie site and trailer]
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