15 minutes of plot twists

March 30, 2021 5:02 PM

Almost anything I could say about the short film Chicken/Egg would spoil the many entertaining twists and turns it crams into 15 minutes. It was written by James D'Arcy and stars (in order of appearance) Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones), Max Fowler (Powers) and Hayley Atwell (Agent Carter). {SLYT}
posted by rednikki (9 comments total)

This is fantastic!
posted by repute at 6:28 PM on March 30, 2021

Well that was fun! And how did I not recognize James D’Arcy’s name as the guy who played Jarvis in Agent Carter? I’m happy that he and Atwell are working together still.
posted by ejs at 7:07 PM on March 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

There's like 200 people involved in this, shorts make no money basically, even if it was a single day production that's a lot of salaries. Probably, essentially an audition tape for the director, the stars being friends or owing a favor to someone.

Fun little short.

But how does it get made?
posted by sammyo at 7:08 PM on March 30, 2021 [1 favorite]

Magic?
posted by gwint at 7:17 PM on March 30, 2021 [6 favorites]

I give it four out of four eggs
posted by Going To Maine at 8:21 PM on March 30, 2021

Is this the same James D'Arcy from Master and Commander?
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 8:38 PM on March 30, 2021

Comedy is a difficult thing to pull off (timing and all that) and this one lands pretty much every joke which is impressive. Definitely a slick production as well. Loved the brief Edgar Wright-esque (that's a known term now, right?) crash zooms and quick montage of cuts.
posted by slimepuppy at 8:09 AM on March 31, 2021

Fun little short.

But how does it get made?

That's always been my question about short films. How do they make any money at all? Are they backed by studios that want to give a push for certain actors/writers/directors? I don't see how they are economically viable.
posted by zardoz at 4:00 PM on March 31, 2021 [1 favorite]

Every short has a different origin story, obviously. But the answer to "how does this get made?" is partially the audition tape -- not just for the director but for a lot of department heads, DP, editor, composer, production design, costumes, etc. A lot of favors are called in, people donate time because they want to get to know/work with other people in the business. And sometimes people just like the script and the project.

Shorts are made all the time as quick pilots or even believe or not, spec commercials for the filmmakers to show off what they can do.
posted by lemonshush at 2:57 PM on April 2, 2021