New update on Goats

From "Variety"

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118029983
Duchovny, Farmiga join 'Goats' herd
Russell, Driver and Arnett also join indie comedy
By Gordon Cox

David Duchovny, Vera Farmiga, Keri Russell, Minnie Driver and Will Arnett have signed on to indie comedy "Goats," which begins filming next month.
Ty Burrell ("Modern Family") and Graham Phillips are already on board for the pic helmed by Christopher Neil.

Based on the novel by Mark Jude Poirier, who also pens the screenplay, storyline follows teen Ellis (Phillips) as he transfers to the East Coast prep school where his father (Burrell) made his mark as a student. Duchovny appears as the kid's de-facto father figure Goat Man, with Farmiga tapped for Ellis' mother and Arnett and Driver cast as her boyfriend and her friend, respectively. Russell appears as the new wife of Burrell's character.

Red Crown Prods.' Daniela Taplin Lundberg ("The Kids Are All Right") will produce with Eric Kopeloff and Shannon Lail, with Arlook Group's Richard Arlook set to exec produce with Red Crown's Daniel Crown and Riva Marker. Partial financing also will come from exec producer Peter Touche of Sandia Media.

Echo Bridge Entertainment will take on the film's international sales, aiming to present it at the upcoming Berlinale.

Earlier this year Red Crown optioned graphic novel "Tumor" for a screen adaptation to be directed by Samuel Bayer.







In the Works: Duchovny and Farmiga in “Goats,” Solar Powered Africa, Boston’s DocYard
by Bryce J. Renninger (Updated 9 hours, 25 minutes ago)

An image from the goat rehearsals of Christopher Neil's "Goats." [Image by Tommy Dimaggio]
This week, indieWIRE‘s In the Works column spoke with first-time director Christopher Neil about his first project “Goats,” based on a novel by Mark Jude Poirier. Also up are two projects looking for funds on Indiegogo: A doc about a group of solar engineers looking to bring panels to Africa and a feature about one former soldier’s contribution to his community of veterans in the psychiatric ward of a veterans hospital. Finally, we’re profiling the Kickstarter campaign of the Camden International Film Festival’s DocYard program, which is now going into its second year.


“Goats”

Christopher Neil was drawn to the film industry because it’s in his blood; Francis Ford Coppola is his uncle. He was drawn to adapt Mark Jude Poirier’s book “Goats” because it’s in his blood; he grew up on a goat farm.

Neil’s directorial debut, “Goats” comes after years working in the film industry as an acting coach and a dialect coach on films like “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith,” Sundance alum “Hesher” and cousin Sofia’s “Somewhere.” Neil optioned the rights to “Goats” eight years ago and hired Poirier to adapt. Working closely, the two have explored the Tucson locations that inspired the book’s writing.

“Mark gave me the lay of the land in Tucson early on,” said Neil. “He drove me around, showing me the real places in the novel.” The two began working on the script in late 2003; Neil started taking a draft of the script out for funding a year later. “Getting the film cast and financed has been a long path” he said. “The coming-of-age drama is a difficult kind of film to get made. The script had spoken for itself and I’m very lucky to have the actors attached that I have.”

In “Goats,” 15-year-old Ellis (Graham Phillips) prepares to attend a prep school far from his home in Tucson, where his mother (Vera Farmiga) has hired a goat herder (David Duchovny) to maintain the house. For Ellis, Goat Man is his pot-smoking mentor and the only father he has ever known. When Ellis moves to a prep school on the East Coast, where his father (Ty Burrell) was a star student, he must also confront the culture of his estranged father and his new wife (Keri Russell), as well as her friends, played by Minnie Driver and Will Arnett.

The film will be shot in the same Tucson neighborhoods in which the story takes place. Filling in for the East Coast will be locations in Albuquerque, which is also the home base for production company Sandia Media. The biggest challenge, Neil anticipates, is “all of the scenes with the goats. I’m excited to film the scenes where the actors are interacting with the goats as if they’re other characters in the movie. I think it’s going to be very real and consequently very funny.”

Neil has heard horror stories about training goats, but says they are currently practicing their lines. “There’s a resident goat expert in Tucson who goes on goat treks into the mountains with people. He’s providing a couple of goats for the movie and coaching and rehearsing with goats as we speak.

Growing up on a Northern California goat farm in the 1970’s, Neil says he feels close to goats. “I spent a lot of time in a goat pen as a kid. I can tell you from experience that they are oftentimes more interesting than human beings. I felt like I knew these characters, knew them my whole life. My father was almost identical to goat man. I felt like these were my own family. I get to put everything to use that I’ve learned with themes that are not only universal, but personal to me as well.”

“Goats” is in the final stage of casting and will begin shooting shortly in Tucson, AZ, and Albuquerque, NM. Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Eric Kopeloff, and Shannon Lail will produce. Richard Arlook, Peter Touche, and Daniel Crown will executive produce. Echo Bridge Entertainment is handling international sales, and is presenting the film during the European Film Market this February.

http://www.indiewire.com/article/in_the_works_duchovny_and_farmiga_in_ goats_solar_powered_africa_bostons_doc/