Kerberos: What's in a name?

We've all heard, whether or not we understand the implications, that bit from Romeo and Juliet (act 2, scene 2) where the star-crossed lovers lament their feuding clans and question the impact of their respective family names. Persuasively, with great conviction, Juliet asks her beau: "What's in a name?" Now while I find her to be almost as distasteful a character as Ophelia, I gotta give Miss J the nod on this one. It is a very down question, and not many people would give the same answer. That rose smells the same, but our perception of it changes until we can convince ourselves it is the same thing. No, don't give me that look--think about it. You are going to perceive green mashed potatoes differently even if they taste the same...until you are blindfolded and can't tell a difference. Only then does Juliet get the win. My point, and I do have one, is that names matter to the intellectual part of us, so we have to force ourselves to peel it back and expose the visceral.

Case in point: Kerberos.

Now, this one is tough from the jump. People are squinting and wrinkling up their noses, trying any way they can find to avoid having to pronounce the name of the film for fear of getting it wrong, or are heckling thinking it is a typo that just isn't getting picked up by scores of editors. "Do I say it with that hard K sound or is it the soft S?" or "Can't believe they misspelled the name of the film!" So, how do you decide to go forward with a name like that when already it is causing friction? In my opinion, because it is causing friction. Let people argue it out. Let them spill their blood in the streets like the Capulets and Montagues. Better publicity, right? (Nah, we'll have enough of that on film to go around.)

So then it occurs to me that the director is totally stacking the deck in his favor with a hybrid "Juliet name syndrome meets neurolinguistic programming" in his right- and left-hand guys on this project: Attila (1st AD) and Future (Producer). Real names. No kidding. Talk about heraldic symmetry!! Very nice, in that "devil is in the details" kind of way.
With the ferocity of a barbaric horde and unmatched strategic genius, First AD Attila will be cracking the whip and making sure everything runs as close to smooth as it will get, people are where they need to be, places are what they need to be. Lock up your daughters and your livestock, villagers. And with everyone looking toward the f/Future, Kerberos' producer will be unstoppable, no matter what he undertakes. The Future is now!

But wait--there's more! Check out the character names in the story. The triad referenced by the film's title leads off with Quint VonCanon fleshing out the more sinister and volatile elements of Detective Tony Menace. (Yeah, read it first, then say it in your head with an Italian flavor.) And Rob Pralgo as Armstrong, criminal mastermind leading a cabal of evil minions but carrying a filthy little secret. These two dudes are pitted against not only each other but also against the protagonist Finn, played by Kely McClung, the name taken from an Irish warrior hero in the 12th century. Now those are some big shoes to fill for each of the three heads of the title hellhound.

So, what's in a name? To some lame Italian chic hanging off her balcony for centuries and speaking in measured rhyme, maybe not a whole hell of a lot. But for the kick ass action film Kerberos, the names carry a great deal more weight than we realize at first blush.

A Plan Takes Shape

Only a week or so since the green light was officially switched to the "on" position and already I begin to see glimpses of just how dramatically the excitement of making an independent movie, the joy of the active creative process, and the wonderful tests of our collective skills are balanced precariously against the constraints of time, budget, and real life. This being my first time in the maelstrom inherent in the production of a feature film, I am feeling both a nervous excitement and a sense of "what the hell have I gotten into?" Unlike my duties as line producer for AM Session (which seemed so common sense and fluid, the job executed almost accidentally and at a breakneck pace), my tasks on Kerberos will be varied and loosely defined, giving an even larger dose of "wtf" to my daily routine. That being said, it is so on!

On my first read of the script I knew there was something so much darker and cooler than what Kely (McClung, writer/director) was seeing, him being so close to the story. He kept asking me to articulate what it was about Kerberos that captured my interest so completely and intensely. And to tell the truth, I'm not sure if I have ever answered him. Is it the moral ambiguity of the characters? Is it the completely believable violence and action? What about the identifiable patterns and situations that resonate across every demographic? Or the wickedly unrepentant dialogue? The anxiety born of a story with such consequences being told in thirty-six heart-thumping, lung-searing, gut-wrenching hours? The paradigm shift it requires of the viewer with archetypes being torqued in the vice of a writer's twisted imagination? Or is it...something else, something that sneaks up on you in the dark alley when the footfalls sound so close behind you and the breathing gets closer and more ragged?

Well, all I can say for now is keep reading and I'll let you know more as we flip the safety off the weapons, remove the brakes from the vehicles, and thrust a stick into the hornet's nest in pursuit of a better way to pull off a better kind of independent film capable of kicking the establishment in the teeth and making 'em ask for more. You ready for Kerberos? I am.