After achieving some success with the brilliant, independently
made short film Color Blind,
Shervin Youssefian
was given a chance to direct a feature film that would mark his
debut as a feature film director in Hollywood. The journey began
when last November he turned in a copy of Machiavelli Hangman to
producer/Disney Manager Artin Nazarian who was so impressed by
the material that he immediately made it a priority to kick the
project into full gear.
Disturbing, grotesque and very funny at times, Machiaelli
Hangman is an extremely original piece of writing that upholds
imagination over limitations of budget. The fresh storyline is
reminiscent of the films of Quentin Tarantino mixed in with Billy
Wilder's witty repartee.
Although, Machiavelli Hangman takes a few comedic detours it
always manages to remind the audience of its serious nature. The
film has a very strong theme of living your own life and not
wanting to substitute it for anybody else's.
This film's plot is similar to that of John Frankenheimer's
Seconds that came out in 1966, however, Machiavelli Hangman takes
itself less seriously and that makes for a more enjoyable joy
ride. Another interest characteristic of this new film by
Youssefian is its ability to constantly cut back and forth
through time and space without losing its audience. Other films
that have tried this technique have run the risk of either
confusing the viewer as in the example of this year's Primer, or
to lose their attention like in the Butterfly Effect.
Quentin Tarantino is a master of the broken narrative (Pulp
Fiction, Jackie Brown) and in its early stages of production, the
Machiavelli Hangman was thought to be Tarantino's next project
because of some rumors flying around that he had penned the story
under an alias. This rumor circulated until it was revealed that
the relatively unknown Youssefian was the one who wrote the
original screenplay.
Till this day, the actual premise of the film is a big mystery.
Some sources say that it is about JFK's secret relationship with
Monroe while others claim that it will reveal new information
about the 1963 killing. There are other websites that have
contributed countless of pages to the film as a tribute to
independent filmmaking and calling it the beginning of the
digital revolution.
One thing is for sure however.
Machiavelli Hangman has
a cast of celebrities that will remain anonymous until the film's
release in late November. Like Stanley Kubrick in his early
career or Woody Allen, Youssefian and his team are extremely
strict about letting anyone – except a select few – to find out
anything about the project until it is released in the theatres.