AUSTIN, Texas—“Elvis and Anabelle,” a feature film from The University of Texas Film Institute and its for-profit production company Burnt Orange Productions, will debut at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival in Austin on March 10.
“Elvis and Anabelle,” which follows the story of the unlikely love that blossoms between a beauty queen and a mortician’s son following her unexpected death on the stage of the Miss Texas Rose Pageant, stars Max Minghella (“Syriana,” “Art School Confidential”) as Elvis, the mortician’s son, and Blake Lively (“The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”) as Anabelle, the beauty queen. Mary Steenburgen (“Elf,” “I Am Sam”), Joe Mantegna (“Homicide,” “The Rat Pack”) and Keith Carradine (“Deadwood”) round out the film as supporting cast.
More than 40 University of Texas at Austin undergraduate and graduate students worked on the film in every stage of production from filming and editing, to set props and costumes, to casting and publicity, and accounting and office management.
“‘Elvis and Anabelle’ provided our students the opportunity to gain real-world filmmaking experience working alongside professional crew members,” said Thomas Schatz, executive director of the University of Texas Film Institute and executive producer of the film. “It is experiences like these that make our students more competitive in the marketplace and improves their chances of actually working in the film industry.”
A co-production with London-based Goldcrest Films International (“Gandhi,” “Room With a View”), “Elvis and Anabelle” is a dark romantic comedy written and directed by Will Geiger (“Ocean Tribe”) and filmed in Austin last spring.
Burnt Orange Productions CEO Carolyn Pfeiffer and Goldcrest Films principal Nick Quested produced the film, while Schatz and Goldcrest Films principal John Quested executive produced. Goldcrest Films will handle worldwide sales.
For more information contact: Erin Geisler, The University of Texas at Austin, 512-475-8071; Seth Carmichael, Goldcrest Films International, 323-650-4551.
