Harmony Korine Lines Up Anime Thriller ‘The Trap,’ Mo-Cap Comedy – MASHAHER

Harmony Korine has lined up his next two features, setting up his animated debut “The Trap” and a still-untitled mo-cap assisted comedy through his multimedia design collective EDGLRD.

The Miami-based collective has also backed the feature debut of acclaimed music video director Matias Vasquez — better known as Stillz – and is eyeing a 2024 release for the feature already in post-production.

This heady slate marks a busy period of development and production for the new-media outfit, which has just made its freshman effort “Aggro Dr1ft” available on-demand through the new EDGLRD website. In keeping with the company’s design background, the VOD release also comes with a merch drop.

Described as “Oldboy” set through a hip-hop filter, “The Trap” imagines another sun-kissed gangster saga, following an ex-con newly released from prison and deadset on revenge once he learns that his one-time accomplice has become a top-selling rapper.

Originally set-up at Annapurna, “The Trap” nearly saw day as a live-action feature meant to star Jamie Foxx and Benecio del Toro before the project collapsed shortly before production. Now, Korine will reimagine the title as an anime, with EDGLRD execs currently in discussions with production partners in Japan.

Back in Miami, EDGLRD is now ramping up pre-production on a Korine-directed comedy — also pulled from an earlier script, though additional details are hazy — that will build on in-house experiments with motion capture tech and virtual creation. 

“Comedy is at the core of Harmony’s work,” says EDGLRD film strategy head Eric Kohn, who was previously executive editor and VP of the editorial strategy at IndieWire. “So people will be pleasantly surprised when they find out more, because this a very familiar style for him while a bit more intimate than what people are used to seeing.”

Before launching production on his next two features, Korine is now putting the finishing touches on “Baby Invasion,” a surreal, home invasion thriller, filmed as a first-person shooter, that uses EDGLRD developed technology to swap the assailants’ faces with those of babies. As should come with little surprise, the upcoming feature is said to make “Aggro Dr1ft” look tame by comparison.

Following a trail blazed by “Aggro Dr1ft,” this latest project is eyeing a fall-festival launch ahead of a more unconventional release path later this year, though now along a more accelerated timeline.

“The film marketplace, especially in the US, is very, very narrow,” says Kohn. “If you only consider box office as a metric for success from an exhibition standpoint, you’re cutting off other ways to think outside the box. If you don’t continually reinforce this idea that movies and media can travel and exist across different frameworks, then people default to one mode. Right now, younger audiences don’t want their options limited.”

As part of the vision, the company will develop a new roster of talent. EDGLRD has recently teamed with music video maestro Stillz – a key Bad Bunny collaborator, and director of the videos for “Where She Goes” and “Monaco” – to translate the director’s unique visual sensibilities into a supernatural thriller. The project shot last month and is now in post-production, with EDGLRD aiming for a release this year.

“We can take a concept and move on it, getting it done as quickly as possible rather than killing this creative drive in development hell,” says Kohn. “We can work fast and loose with new talent around good ideas that say things about society, and can remain entertaining and stimulating to people who don’t necessarily want to overthink things.”

“We want to bring in a new generation of storytellers from unexpected places,” he continues. “You never know where you might encounter something that you’ve never seen before, whether that’s a Twitch stream or a Reddit forum or some short film that was posted to YouTube. I don’t think the industry has necessarily embraced the opportunity of bringing those kinds of voices in. And if you keep your costs low, or at least in a responsible zone, then you have a lot more room to take risks.”