Welcome to Last Resort Films: The Story So Far! Chad Taylor checking in here with a new series that will take a look back at LRF’s illustrious past, five seasons at a time. In this second edition, we will cover seasons 6-10.
When we last left off, LRF was gaining steam in its fifth season. More writers than ever had joined the fray and a variety of different genres, adaptations, and original stories were hitting the big screen. Last Resort Films was steadily gaining a foothold in the Hollywood landscape.
Season 6
The momentum of Season 5 carried forward for the studio with another season of high highs. Season 6 featured seven film with a Metascore of 80 or higher (and an eighth film at 79). Most notable among these was David Robert Mitchell’s Death Dream, a chilling remake of a relatively forgotten 70s horror film. After making a name for himself in films like Flicker, Cosa Nostra, and To the White Sea, Alden Ehrenreich continued his ascent into superstardom and won his first Best Actor Golden Reel Award.
Elsewhere, the studio saw some surprise box office hits, chief among them Peter Jackson’s manga adaptation Made in Abyss. John Malone and I debuted our original science fiction epic, Scion, which would go on to spawn its own franchise. Video game IP continued to be a hot commodity with Mass Effect 2, Uncharted, Alien: Isolation, and Grand Theft Auto all proving to be hits for the studio. Dead Space proved that not all video games were viable properties, joining High Society as big flops for the studio. Speaking of, George Miller’s High Society was one of the most talked-about films of the season given the box office failure relative to its starry cast, leading to a brief public back-and-forth between writer James Morgan and now-famous critic Jeff Stockton.
On the debuts front, Roy Horne made his LRF debut with his live-action remake of Perfect Blue, which earned Elle Fanning a Best Actress trophy and cemented her stellar season (alongside Made in Abyss). The GRAs largely belonged to Death Dream, collecting Best Picture, Best Adaptation, and 3 of 4 acting awards. The biggest surprise was perhaps Steven Soderbergh coming relatively out of left field to nab Best Director for Carmilla.
Best Picture: Death Dream
Best Director: Steven Soderbergh - Carmilla
Best Actor: Alden Ehrenreich - Death Dream
Best Actress: Elle Fanning - Perfect Blue
Best Adaptation: Death Dream by John Malone
Best Original Story: Scion by John Malone & Chad Taylor
Season 7
In conversations about LRF’s overall history, it is hard to say if any film from Season 7 would come up. That’s not to say that there were no good films - there were plenty! - just a lot that seems lost to time. Some of the studio’s biggest writers - John Malone (Ranger, Revolution), Dwight Gallo (The Lady in the Lake), Lon Charles (Stained) - had successful releases, but ones that don’t seem as talked about amongst their oeuvre.
The DC Universe continued its impressive wave of turning lesser-known characters into A-list names; Glenn Howerton’s Plastic Man debuted to rave reviews while Ryan Gosling’s Question series came to its conclusion. While Halo and Mass Effect logged more successful entries, this season largely belonged to original works.
My film, The Squared Circle, won Best Picture and Best Director that year but I still wonder what could’ve been with Daniel Day-Lewis in the lead role as originally intended. In The Death of an Honest Man, Dominic Wilkins conjured a script perfectly suited for Yorgos Lanthimos to make his debut at the studio. My personal favorite film from this season is Revolution, which was somewhat criticized at the time for being overstuffed but I appreciate the ambition on display there.
Best Picture: The Squared Circle
Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson - The Squared Circle
Best Actor: Collin Farrell - The Death of the Honest Man
Best Actress: Christina Hendricks - The Question: The End
Best Adaptation: The Death of the Honest Man by Dominic Wilkins
Best Original Story: The Question: The End by D.R. Cobb
Season 8
Season 8 came out the gate hot, with Round 1 featuring one of its highest grossing films (Splinter Cell: Double Agent) and eventual multi-GRA-winning film Crowley. The season saw multiple debuts of writers who would become regulars, including Alex Conn (The Life of a Champion, Queen Mary) and H.G. Hansen (Eleanor & Park, Maximum Ride). In his third season, Roy Horne hit new heights with The Tower - a film that still haunts me from time to time.
I remember this Golden Reel Awards distinctly because it felt like it could in any which direction. When stacked up against Crowley, Cascade, and Nevada, Iowa, some thought Runaway had the longest odds to win Best Picture - in part because it failed to land a Best Adaptation nomination (a category in which none of those films were eligible). But the film ended up winning four of the final six awards that night, including Picture and three acting awards.
Best Picture: Runaway
Best Director: Nicolas Winding Refn - Crowley
Best Actor: Tom Hardy - Crowley
Best Actress: Haley Lu Richardson - Runaway
Best Adaptation: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City by Mo Cobb
Best Original Story: Cascade by Chad Taylor
Season 9
That shock value would also transfer over to the Ninth GRAs, which felt quite chaotic. At the box office, things were going great with the second highest money totals up until that point (Season 3 still held the crown). That’s in part due to multiple franchise installments lining up nicely for the studio, with Batman, Halo, Scion, and Mass Effect also being joined by newcomer God of War.
However, the season was a relative nadir for critical reception. Just three films nabbed a MUST SEE tag from Metacritic. One film stood fairly ahead of the pack, David O. Russell’s Spark of Madness. Calamity was its closest competitor, with Leonardo DiCaprio stealing Spark star Steve Carrell’s thunder a bit by winning his second Best Actor award. And then in another relatively surprising Best Picture result, To The Moon - a modest sci-fi dramedy from Charlie McDowell and Seth Overton - catapulted to a surprise victory.
On the debuts front, Jacob Jones made his debut with his satire Happy Nuke Year.
Best Picture: To the Moon
Best Director: David O. Russell - Spark of Madness
Best Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio - Calamity
Best Actress: Natalie Portman - One for the Ages
Best Adaptation: Batman: Caped Crusader by APJ
Best Original Story: Calamity by Mo Buck & Chad Taylor
Season 10
Reaching ten seasons felt like a monumental occasion at the studio. By season’s end, the studio had produced its 300th film in the span of only 15 months. And to mark that occasion, the studio celebrated with Justice League International - its most expensive and arguably most epic film to date, tying together the various DC superheroes who had been introduced to that point. It paid off in a huge way as it ended up breaking Batman: Caped Crusader’s record as the highest grossing LRF film to that point.
Mo Buck - one of the most prolific writers at the studio - won the second Lifetime Achievement Award this season. Funnily enough, this happened to be the debut season of Jimmy Ellis (Missing Men), who would later vy for the crown of most prolific himself. Overall, the season’s most acclaimed films had a darker undertone with films like Kite, Blackbird, and 7 Days. Best Picture contenders Ghost Town and Letter to Myself - featuring the first pairing of future Spider-Man duo Lucas Hedges and Elle Fanning - also carried a certain somberness, giving the tenth season almost a reflective tone. If you want something a little lighter from that time, I’ll say that Hands on a Hard Body is still one of my favorite adaptations I’ve ever done.
Best Picture: Ghost Town
Best Director: Barry Jenkins - Ghost Town
Best Actor: Bryan Cranston - 7 Days
Best Actress: Mackenzie Foy - Kite
Best Adaptation: Blackbird by Seth Overton
Best Original Story: Ghost Town by Chad Taylor
Box Office Top 20 (Seasons 6-10):
20. Paradiso - $508 million
19. Scion 2 - $523 million
18. Uncharted - $554 million
17. Gargoyles - $561 million
16. Skyrim - $563 million
15. Green Arrow 2: Hunters - $571 million
14. Uncharted 2 - $587 million
13. Scion - $604 million
12. Halo: Reach - $624 million
11. Mass Effect: The Shadow Broker - $637 million
10. Plastic Man - $647 million
9. Made in Abyss - $673 million
8. Mass Effect 2 - $696 million
7. Halo 3 - $753 million
6. Halo 4 - $976 million
5. Splinter Cell: Conviction - $982 million
4. Splinter Cell: Double Agent - $1.16 billion
3. Booster Gold II: The Booster Gold Story - $1.21 billion
2. Batman: Caped Crusader - $1.49 billion
1. Justice League International - $ 1.52 billion
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