Zombie Plane

{{Short description|Upcoming Australian film by Lav Bodnaruk and Michael Mier}}

{{Use Australian English|date=May 2024}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}

{{Infobox film

| name = Zombie Plane

| image = Zombie Plane Poster.png

| alt =

| caption = Promotional release poster

| native_name =

| director = {{Plainlist|

  • Lav Bodnaruk
  • Michael Mier

}}

| writer = William Strong

| screenplay =

| story =

| based_on =

| producer = Jessica Butland

| starring = {{Plainlist|

}}

| narrator =

| cinematography =

| editing =

| music =

| production_companies = {{Plainlist|

  • Radioactive Pictures
  • Entertainment Squad

}}

| distributor = Studio Dome (international sales)

| released =

| runtime =

| country = Australia

| language =

| budget = {{$|AUD|lk=on}}6.2 million

| gross =

}}

Zombie Plane is an upcoming Australian action comedy film directed by Lav Bodnaruk and Michael Mier about a government organisation's efforts to prevent a zombie outbreak using high-profile celebrities. It stars Chuck Norris, Vanilla Ice, Joey Vieira, and Sophie Monk as fictitious versions of themselves. A press release on the film stated that it "uses comedy, the zombie genre and '90s nostalgia as a vehicle, to comment on pop-culture as much as it feeds it".{{cite web |last1=Ritman |first1=Alex |title=AFM: Chuck Norris, Vanilla Ice, Sophie Monk Board 'Zombie Plane' (Exclusive) |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/chuck-norris-vanilla-ice-sophie-monk-zombie-plane-1235619339/ |website=The Hollywood Reporter |date=16 October 2023 |access-date=May 13, 2024}}

Plot

Undercover agent Vanilla Ice, who trained under Commander Chuck Norris, uses his skill set to dispatch a plane overrun by the undead before fighter jets can neutralise it to save humanity from a zombie outbreak.

Cast

Production

The Hollywood Reporter and Entertainment Weekly jointly announced on 16 October 2023 that Chuck Norris, Vanilla Ice, and Sophie Monk would be playing themselves in Zombie Plane, an action comedy film which was directed by Australian filmmakers Lav Bodnaruk and Michael Mier.{{cite magazine |last1=Collis |first1=Clark |title=No joke: Chuck Norris and Vanilla Ice are starring as themselves in Zombie Plane |url=https://ew.com/movies/chuck-norris-vanilla-ice-zombie-plane-movie/ |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |date=16 October 2023 |access-date=13 May 2024}} THR also noted that the film would feature additional celebrity cameos as well as "a '90s pop soundtrack including tracks by Ice himself".

The film had completed shooting in Brisbane earlier in 2023, "mostly in a purpose-built 60-meter long airplane", as reported by THR on 1 November 2023.{{cite web |last1=Ritman |first1=Alex |title=AFM Hidden Gem: "Stop, Decapitate and Listen" to Vanilla Ice in Bloody Comedy 'Zombie Plane' |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/zombie-plane-vanilla-ice-chuck-norris-stop-decapitate-listen-1235632952/ |website=The Hollywood Reporter |date=1 November 2023 |access-date=13 May 2024}} Mier said that the idea for the film was inspired by a TMZ episode screenwriter William Strong had seen, in which Ice told the reporter that some kind of biohazard had caused his flight to be grounded. The script employs self-referential humour that "mercilessly mocks its main stars": for example, Monk spends a considerable amount of time deriding Ice's career in the film, at one point referring to him as "a one-hit wonder and a has-been". In addition, Mier revealed that he had almost sanitised the film's heavy use of the word "fuck" (one of which is "mischievously" uttered toward an eight-year-old character) as demanded by American censors, but that they had reconsidered their decision and allowed him to keep it in the film.

Marketing

The film went up for sale at the American Film Market (AFM) in November 2023, as well as the Marché du Film section of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.{{cite web |last1=Kay |first1=Jeremy |title=Cannes 2024: the buzz titles from North America |url=https://www.screendaily.com/features/cannes-2024-the-buzz-titles-from-north-america/5193348.article |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240514150703/https://www.screendaily.com/features/cannes-2024-the-buzz-titles-from-north-america/5193348.article |archive-date=14 May 2024 |website=Screen Daily |date=14 May 2024 |access-date=18 June 2024}}

See also

References

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