The filmmakers of the new romantic indie Elephants, actor/producer Luca Malacrino and writer/director Alex Hanno – both LA based – are sharing an in depth look at their portrayal of toxic modern love, an ambitious project shot in just 12 days under a budget of less than $50k.
Elephants follows ex-convict Lee Riley (played by Malacrino) as he returns to Los Angeles after a prison stint in hopes of wooing the girlfriend he left behind three years ago, Kate Caldwell (played by Allison Blaize).
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Unfortunately, Kate has moved on and is now a marketing manager keen on hot yoga and green smoothies rather than the nights of binge drinking they were so prone to coaxing one another to partake in. At his pleas though, she allows him stay with her while he looks for a new apartment.
That first night, when asked why Kate never went to visit while Lee was in jail, she admits, “You’re bad for me.” And yet, they soon discover that even three years on, they still make each other laugh – and find it impossible to keep their hands off each other.
What follows is a tumultuous but sweet love story that finds Lee and Kate falling for one another once more, even as their toxic love threatens to tear down the new life Kate has built just as it also prevents Lee from growing up at long last.
The film currently holds a score of 4.8 on Amazon Prime and is fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with an audience score of 94%. The Cinema Soloist describes it as: “An emotionally charged tribute to those special relationships when we’re young,” and Cinema Crazed raves, “the performances here border on brilliant at times, as the trio of Luca Malacrino, Allizon Blaize, and Lauren Kelly are just downright impressive to watch.“
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It’s the first feature for Alex and Luca, who met on the set of The Chameleon. A short film written and co-produced by Alex originally from Massachusetts. At the time, Alex was considering moving on from writing and directing. But, after having a conversation with Luca, originally from Wales in the UK, on their last day of filming, he was encouraged to stay in Hollywood and keep his artistic pursuits alive.
From there, the pair started working together on projects such as Between, a sci-fi short, and the TV pilot Served, a half-hour ensemble comedy-drama which won the award for Best Cinematography at ITV Fest.
Above all else, the film was inspired by crossroads Luca and Alex were experiencing in their own romantic lives at the time, leading them to ask the question, how do we know if someone’s right for us or if it’s simply time to move on?
