The Human Fly generates press

 Marvel’s ‘The Human Fly’ is getting his own movie  

From Film Drunk  06.27.12

Written by Vince Mancini 

So if a fly was human... he'd ride motorcycles? With The Avengers crossing $600 million domestically this week and surpassing the billion dollar mark worldwide (now the number three highest-grossing film of all time, behind Titanic and Avatar) you can bet your stinky ass everyone in Hollywood is running around trying to find the next superhero movie. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that any exec who wasn’t planning on it would probably get fired. So what’s next? How about everyone’s favorite comic book, The Human Fly. What? Don’t look at me like that, I know you own every issue. A Human Fly comic, based on real-life stuntman Joe Ramacieri, was licensed and published by Marvel from 1977-1979. Over its 19-issue run and in various other Marvel comics, the Human Fly had run-ins with Spider-Man and Daredevil, among others in the Marvel stable. Alan Brewer and Steven Goldmann picked up the reverted rights on the property recently. Eisenberg-Fisher Productions, which is based on the Paramount lot, will executive produce the proposed indie, with financing said to be coming from private-equity sources. Goldmann is poised to direct. Brewer, along with James Reach, will produce. Tony Babinski, Cirque Du Soleil’s in-house historian, wrote the Montreal-based screenplay. [Deadline] Whoa whoa whoa, time the f**k out: Cirque Du Soleil has an “in-house historian?” Screw the human fly, that’s the guy I want to see the movie about. I like to imagine him wearing glasses, sitting at his desk trying to do his research while naked gay trapeze artists fly by above him eating fire and dripping sweat and astroglide all over his priceless scrolls.”No, not my scrolls!” he’d yell. Here’s the rundown on The Human Fly from the site the producers run: Inspired by true events, this is the story of Joe Ramacieri and his buddies, the guys behind the quasi-legendary and mysterious 1970s figure they christened The Human Fly. Joe’s only wish was to do something big, become famous, and never have to work in the family business, a sausage factory. After something has become so pervasive as a euphemism, it’s weird hearing it used literally, like that a sausage factory is a real place, or that a Dutch oven is a real thing you cook with. I can imagine someone looking down at a recipe going “what the hell? They want me to fart on some onions?” His life was changed forever when he met “Hollywood Ron,” whose only wish in life was to be “the greatest daredevil who ever lived.” Yes, the Human Fly rode on the back of jet planes, and attempted to beat Evel Knieval’s record by jumping over 27 school buses at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, became the star of his own Marvel comics series, and a man celebrated on television and in print who rubbed shoulders with the great and not-so-great. Ultimately the man beneath the mask was more nuts then [sic] sane, more con man than stuntman… an accident waiting to happen. Unfortunately for Joe it was all on his dime. The Human Fly is a colorful and boisterously comic look at group of guys who just want to be famous for something and how they set out to do it. Well that explains it. If he wore tights and fought aliens, you can bet Marvel would still own the rights.

Tony's note: I am not Cirque's "in-house historian," though I do know quite a few sweaty circus artists — gay, pretty gay, not-so-gay, and not gay at all. 

C2mtl - a couple of shots

C2mtl Looming

My life hasn't been quiet since January - just subject to NDAs. But I can talk about this. Next week, C2mtl begins. I worked on the initial concept a couple of years ago, and am happy to see it becoming a reality. In the last few weeks, I've been acting as Creative Director of evening events with Circo de Bakuza, including the Illumination Party on May 24. This has involved many interesting meetings with some very talented people at the Psi Centre, Moment Factory, Boogie Studio and Cirque du Soleil, all of whom are making important contributions. I've also been helping to shape some presentations by a couple of key players at Sid Lee. This week, I started mentoring the young people in the Sid Lee Boot Camp, who will be presenting their work for the RED foundation during the conference. There's a good article about the event on the Tourism Montreal event here:

Snack Box wins big at the Retail Design Awards

The Snack Box project picked up three awards at the Retail Design Award's annual ceremony in New York City last night (January 16, 2012.) First Prize Innovation, First Prize Sustainability, and Best Store. Very nice! (I'm pictured at right holding the award backward, next to Michel Dubuc and Stephane Bernier of Aedifica.)

AJAX: Up and running

Here's a great video about the Ajax Experience project. I was on this baby from the pitch through video content, and learned a lot working with gsm and the various Lees on it. As always, its incredible to see something leap off the page and take shape in the real world.

SID LEE ARCHITECTURE | The Ajax Experience from sidlee on Vimeo.

SNACKBOX New York

I was recently hired by Montreal retail architecture company Aedifica to bring some creative direction to the branding and graphics of a new container restaurant that just opened in Times Square, next to the TKTS booth. "SnackBox,"a high-end street food concept, is the brainchild of acclaimed restaurateur Jonathan Morr, who worked with Montreal's Muvbox on the project. Check it out in when you're in NYC - the marshmallow shake is a stand-out.

IN THE COOLER

This is a film I produced and "star" in, along with some real and very talented performers, based on some of my poetry, created with J.Jacob Potashnik a couple of years ago. After playing the festival circuit, it is ready for continued existence online.

Bell-One Night Under a Blue Sky

Wow, what a wonderful event this was.

The Bell Gala - One Night Under a Blue Sky was a black tie gala dinner hosted by Bell in support of CAMH (Center for Addiction and Mental Health) at the Metro Toronto Convention Center on on October 11, 2011. I was invited in as Creative Director by my good friends at Circo de Bakuza, and enjoyed every step of the ride. The client was very supportive and ambitious (thanks Rick) and our team at Circo was working at peak efficiency. Not only were we encouraged to dream big, but we were enabled to pull it off without a hitch.

No small feat - the show was so big that we had to set up in a phantom rehearsal hall in a hangar near Pearson Airport for several days, to allow time for our crews to move into the MTCC on Saturday morning at 1:00 a.m. and begin loading everything in (at least, I think it was 1:00 a.m. - it's a all a blur.) Cast and crew = about 300.

The show featured Ballet Freedom from Kiev, the incredible fire troupe from France La Salamandre, and the angelic Zazi Trio from Holland, as well as some homegrown aerialists, gymnasts, dancers and models. All set to music by my soul brother Robert Marchand, who continues to outdo himself with every gig, and deftly directed/stage managed with warrior focus by the mighty Stefan Miljevic.

Well done everybody!

Conversational Capital in Polish

Just got my hands on the Polish translation of Conversational Capital.

It joins the French, Dutch and Spanish translations of the English language original - though, given my family history, this one's kinda special.

He writes, he scores!

My brother Bob just posted this clip from a documentary we created together a few years ago for Radio Canada - POINGS D'APPUI ("Connecting" in English.) It is about the boxer Otis Grant and his spectacular return to fighting after a near-fatal car crash. Bob developed and directed the film, and I wrote and scored it (the latter with Robert Marchand.) It was fun to watch this clip again - I had a particularly good time wanging away on the guitars you can just hear under the rest of the soundtrack.

Opening sequence ..Otis Grant's life story from Bob Babinski on Vimeo.