(MENAFN- Arab Times) Thousands have signed a petition against indie horror film "Del Playa," asserting that the movie, featuring a college killer, too closely resembles the 2014 Isla Vista killings.
"Del Playa," directed by Shaun Hart and produced by Berger Bros. Entertainment, follows a troubled college student who, after being turned down by girls and bullied by his peers, turns to violence. Just hours after the trailer for the film hit YouTube, protesters started a charge.org petition, demanding that "Del Playa" halt its release. It also proposed that filmmakers could change the name of the film and contribute to a memorial fund for the victims.
On May 24, 2013, Elliot Rodger, son of "Hunger Games" second unit assistant director Peter Rodger, killed six people and wounded 14 others in Isla Vista, near the UC Santa Barbara campus. Rodger then killed himself. All six murdered individuals were UCSB students. The petition against "Del Playa" has received more than 17,000 signatures in under 24 hours.
"It is clear that the creators of this film conceived their idea immediately after the Isla Vista shootings, seeking to profit off the horror felt by the students and community," the petition reads. "The film 'Del Playa' intentionally seeks to commoditize the death of six beloved students, and makes light of the tragedy faced by the entire Isla Vista/UCSB community," it goes on. The trailer includes footage of Isla Vista and USCB.
Hart has issued a statement, apologizing for the controversy and claiming that the film is not about Rodger.
Apologize
"First and foremost, I would like to publicly apologize to everyone who has been offended in any way by our making of this film," Hart wrote. "It was never our intent to monopolize on the tragic shootings in Isla Vista that took place last year. While I do admit there is the connection of Santa Barbara, this film is not about Elliot Rodger. The fictional character in the film is not meant to portray anyone in particular. It is meant to portray incidents that take place, not only in Santa Barbara, but across the country on a daily basis. Our intentions were not to make light of such a serious issue, but to engage our audience in an active discussion about bullying and violence.
As a graduate of UCSB and a former resident of Del Playa, that day was a knife to my heart. For me, the actions of one individual tainted a lot of good memories of an innocent time and brought darkness to a place that should only be home to the hopes and dreams of the young.For all touched by the tragedy at DP, know this: I stand right there with you.
And share love and compassion for our fallen Gauchos." USCB graduate Hart's other feature credit is drama "Victory Blvd.," which debuted in 2012. "Del Playa" presumably takes its name from Del Playa Drive, the street that serves as the party hub for Isla Vista. The trailer shows the killer striking at a large college party. The crowded beach town was also the site of a 2001 incident in which David Attias, son of director Daniel Attias, drove into a group of pedestrians, killing four people.
The controversy comes as the debate on gun violence rages on. In July, a gunman killed two people and himself at a movie theater in Lafayette, La., during a screening of Amy Schumer's "Trainwreck." On Wednesday, an assailant entered a movie theater in Antioch, Tenn., with a pellet gun, axe and pepper spray and slashed one man before being shot by police. In June, a shooting at a church in Charleston, SC, killed nine. A release date for "Del Playa" has not yet been announced.
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What should be the policy of Switzerland towards Cuba now that the political situation in Cuba has turned? a Swiss journalist asked Andy Garcia at the beginning of a journalists' group interview in Locarno, where Garcia received the Leopard Club Award. That got Andy Garcia going. "The political situation is Cuba has not turned," Andy Garcia said politely, but very adamantly. "There is one government, a dictatorship. The Castros are still in power.
There's never been a popular election in Cuba. Nothing will change in Cuba until the Castro regime leaves and the people are free." And Garcia expanded on the state of Cuba for another full minute. Later on at the presser, at the stately Orsalina Hotel, high above a crustal blue Lake Maggiore in the Swiss Alps, Garcia, more relaxed, ironized that whenever he gave an interview, whatever he spoke about, the only headlines would be about Cuba.
Heritage
That in a way, however, is natural. He left the island aged five, when his father preferred emigration, settling in Miami Beach, to sending his children to a state school, he recalled. But Garcia's rich Cuban heritage has informed his career and his life. Garcia spent much of the former, at least in its early stretches, he remembered at Locarno, battling against Latino stereotyping, citing the famous example of Brian de Palma "The Untouchables," where he was envisioned for the role of Al Capone's henchman Frank Nitti, but battled and won to play Italian agent George Stone. That battle he won.
In mid-August, Locarno is sweltering in a heat wave, the sun hitting like an anvil. Most journalists at the interview are dressed as if they've just come in from a rather informal beach. Garcia respectfully wears immaculately a blue suit, setting off polished black shoes. He has been married to the same woman for thirty years. Though that is hardly a world record, one journalist remembered with a certain reverence by at the press conference. He is a family man. "I wake up in the morning as a father, not as an actor. My responsibilities are first and foremost to my family. Within that I try to exist creatively."
Garcia is faithful to his past: "I still have the same idealism that I had when I started in wanting to be an actor, in the 1960s, when it was just in my subconscious. I still feel exactly the same way," he said. He added: "Whatever you perceive me to be right now, I still think I am the same person I was when I was 12 years old. I have the same interests, I have the same friends, I have the same dreams, I've been blessed that I've been able to achieve my dreams, but I'm still dreaming."
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