I think most people will be sold by the mere idea of a grizzly bear thriller starring Billy Bob Thornton. In case that doesn’t, Billy Bob Thornton has set out to give RED MACHINE a synopsis in his own words. Check it out:
James Marsden (X MEN, ENCHANTED) and Thomas Jane (HUNG, yes, and so good in THE MIST) are a pair of estranged brothers who enter the wilderness. Marsden, fresh out of jail, is the ne’er-do-well who has come home to settle somed unfinished business. Jane is the town sheriff who helps his fiancée track the local fauna. Their outing in the great white north takes off, but goes horribly south when they are attacked, then relentlessly pursued by a monstrous and seriously territorial grizzly bear. This is clearly not Yogi Bear or Gentle Ben territory because this particular specimen of Ursus arctos horribilis goes by the nickname Red Machine.
Billy Bob plays Douglass, an Alaskan bear tracker whom James Marsden describes as much like Robert Shaw’s Quint character in JAWS. Douglass ain’t quite right in the head, but he knows that bears do more than you-know-what in the woods. The cast includes Adam Beach (THE FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS, COWBOYS AND ALIENS), Scott Glenn (“You spook easily, Starling?”), Kelly Curran (HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER), and Michaela McManus (THE VAMPIRE DIARIES). Piper Perabo (THE PRESTIGE) plays Thomas Jane’s fiancée, a wilderness-savvy photographer whose ability to survive the escalating danger may be hampered by the fact that she is deaf.
RED MACHINE doesn’t have a release date yet, but stars the aforementioned Billy Bob Thornton, James Marsden, Thomas Jane, Adam Beach, Scott Glenn, Kelly Curran, Michaela McManus, and Piper Perabo. The film is directed by David Hackl (SAW V).
