Eagle vs Shark

Infobox Film |
name = Eagle vs Shark

---

caption =
director = Taika Waititi
producer = Cliff Curtis
writer = Taika Waititi (Screenplay)
Loren Horsley (Story)
starring = Jemaine Clement
Loren Horsley
Craig Hall
Joel Tobeck
distributor = flagicon|USA Miramax Films
released = flagicon|USA June 15 2007 (NY & LA)
country = flagicon|NZL New Zealand
language = English
budget =
music = The Phoenix Foundation
cinematography = Adam Clark
editing = Jonathan Woodford-Robinson
runtime = 93 min.
amg_id = 1:351771
imdb_id = 0494222

"Eagle vs Shark" is a New Zealand-made romantic comedy directed by Academy Award nominee Taika Waititi and financed by the New Zealand Film Commission. The screenplay was also written by Waititi, based on the character of Lily created by Loren Horsley. [ [http://media.movieweb.com/galleries/4696/notes.pdf "Eagle vs Shark" Press Notes (PDF).] ]

The film had its world premiere at Sundance in the World Cinema Dramatic section of the festival and opened in the US on June 15th, 2007 in New York and Los Angeles.

The soundtrack to "Eagle vs Shark" features New Zealand artists The Phoenix Foundation, Age Pryor, The Reduction Agents, and Tessa Rain, along with M Ward, Devendra Banhart and 1980s British group The Stone Roses. Along with a number of songs The Phoenix Foundation wrote the original score for the film. The soundtrack is available through Hollywood Records.

Plot

Lily is a shy, wistful girl, a songwriter when no one is listening, and an unpopular cashier at a fast food restaurant who has a crush from afar on Jarrod, a self-assured eccentric geek who works in a video game store. She waits patiently for him each day at lunchtime, hoping he will pick her queue. Jarrod, though, is interested in Jenny, a more conventionally attractive cashier, and always chooses her line.

Lily is fired from her job after her name is drawn from a hat. However, she is invited to finish out the week.

With Jenny not at work one day, Jarrod gives Lily an invitation to his "dress as your favourite animal" party to pass along to her, but Jenny crumples it up and throws it away upon receiving it. Lily retrieves the invitation from the trash, hoping Jarrod won't mind when she shows up with her brother Damon. She also finds that the trash is full of the slips of paper that were drawn from the hat, and that her name is on every one.

The party is sparsely attended with what are apparently teenage and adult customers of Jarrod's store, all dressed extravagantly as their favourite animal. Jarrod is impressed with Lily's shark costume (though he insists an eagle is slightly better) as well as her savant-like video game skills, making it to the finals of a "Fight Man" video game competition, though she is no match for defending champion, Jarrod (principally because she spends most of their contest staring at him). The two end up in Jarrod's room alone that night and awkwardly begin their relationship.

Lily now considers Jarrod her boyfriend and hangs out around his store. They set a date one night to see "the " at the local Cine-Saurus Rex. Jarrod fails to turn up. He comes by Lily's house later that night to apologize, saying he was depressed and needed to be alone. He later says that he has to kill a man in his hometown who used to bully him in high school, but laments that he has no car to get there. Lily asks Damon, and he consents to drive Jarrod and Lily to Jarrod's home for the week to meet his fate and complete his fantasy revenge mission with the help of his inept hacker friend and his oddball family. [ [http://media.movieweb.com/galleries/4696/notes.pdf "Eagle vs Shark" Press Notes (PDF).] ]

Cast

Production

The film's script was workshopped at the Sundance Film Festival Director's and Screenwriter's Labs in June, 2005. [ [http://www.moviesonline.ca/movienews_12250.html Interview with Waititi and Horsley.] ] The script was sold in August and given a budget of NZ$1.8M ($1.35M US Dollars). It was shot entirely in New Zealand, in and around Wellington and Porirua, during 25 days in October and November 2005 with a crew of 35 workers. [ [http://creativescreenwritingmagazine.blogspot.com/2007/06/eagle-vs-shark-q.html Creative Screenwriting's Q&A Podcast.] ] [ [http://media.movieweb.com/galleries/4696/notes.pdf "Eagle vs Shark" Press Notes (PDF).] ]

The film is composed mostly of live action, but segments within the film are done in stop motion by Another Planet Ltd., utilizing both props and actors. [ [http://media.movieweb.com/galleries/4696/notes.pdf "Eagle vs Shark" Press Notes (PDF).] ]

Critical reception

The film received mixed reviews, receiving a rating of 55/100 on Metacritic [ [http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/eaglevsshark?q=eagle%20vs%20shark Eagle vs. Shark (2007): Reviews ] ] and a 54% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes [ [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eagle_vs_shark/ Eagle Vs. Shark - Movie Reviews, Trailers, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes ] ] . The critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes was that while there were "frequent moments of wit and mordant humor, Eagle vs Shark needs more to distinguish itself from other precious, Napoleon Dynamite-ish comedies' moments." [ [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eagle_vs_shark/about.php#consensus ROTTEN TOMATOES: Movies – Top Movies, Trailers, Tickets & Showtimes ] ] Joe Morgenstern of the Wall Street Journal commented that "..."Eagle vs Shark" has its own distinctive style, partly thanks to whimsical little interludes of animation, but mainly because it ties blithe absurdity to a rock bed of emotional truth." [ [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118186395464336075.html Kiwi Comedy'Eagle vs Shark' Is Endearing, Odd.] ] Jim Ridley of the Village Voice noted the dissimilarity to "Napoleon Dynamite" saying "Napoleon Dynamite looks like Cary Grant next to the hero of this Kiwi quirk-a-thon: a hulking, sullen creep named Jarrod whose goony sulking, petulant selfishness and dweeby videogame obsession somehow work like Spanish fly on mousy burger-flipper Lily." [ [http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0724,various,76922,20.html Eagle vs. Shark review.] ]

Distribution

At Cannes 2006 it was announced that Miramax Films had purchased the North American theatrical rights after watching a five-minute trailer. [ [http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=features2007&content=jump&jump=story&dept=sundance&nav=Dsundance&articleid=VR1117957583 Variety.] ]

Box office

"Eagle vs Shark" opened on Friday, June 15th, 2007 on three screens (one in New York City, two in Los Angeles) grossing $20,361: an average of $6,787 per screen. [ [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=eaglevsshark.htm Box Office Mojo.] ] This was preceded by a series of free screenings, some with a Q&A with Taika Waititi and Loren Horsley, in certain cities to gain a word of mouth buzz. [ [http://creativescreenwritingmagazine.blogspot.com/2007/06/eagle-vs-shark-q.html Creative Screenwriting's Q&A Podcast.] ]

The film expanded to 18 screens the following week, June 22nd, 2007. It took in $35,597, a gain of +74.8% over its opening numbers. [ [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=eaglevsshark.htm Box Office Mojo.] ]

The creators of the movie asked freelance-design site DeviantArt to hold a competition to come up with a poster for the movie. [ [http://browse.deviantart.com/projects/contests/2007/eagleshark/ DeviantArt poster competition page] ] The winning poster, by DeviantArt user 'puggdogg', was used at movie theaters worldwide. [ [http://puggdogg.deviantart.com/art/Eagle-Vs-Shark-No-1-57072064 DeviantArt poster competition winner] ]

Home Media

"Eagle Vs Shark" was released January 8, 2008 on DVD. Bonus features include a commentary by director Taika Waititi, outtakes, deleted scenes with optional commentary, and The Phoenix Foundation music video "Going Fishing".

References

External links

* [http://www.eaglevsshark.net/ Official website]
*imdb title|0494222|Eagle vs Shark
*rotten-tomatoes|id=eagle_vs_shark|title=Eagle vs Shark
* [http://video.movies.go.com/eaglevsshark/ "Eagle vs. Shark" DVD and Blu-ray Official Site]