Los Angeles-based indie production company Micheline Pitt Design is thrilled to announce their casting of The Haunting of Hill House star Violet McGraw, who is set to portray the lead character of ‘Sarah’ in the company’s soon-to-shoot independent fantasy film, GRUMMY.
Starring McGraw, Tom Degman (Limitless) and Alex Ward (Annabelle Comes Home, American Horror Story) the short film GRUMMY comes from the married writer and director duo of Micheline Pitt and R.H. Norman, and combines the pair’s impressive creative forces along with those of legendary creature effects artist Kevin Yagher.
Inspired by Pitt’s imagination (one in which she escaped into during her own abusive childhood), Pitt and her filmmaker husband Norman intend to deliver a heartbreaking yet poetic tale of a young girl (actress McGraw) whose stuffed creature “Grummy” brings a new world to life during her most vulnerable of moments.
Says Pitt of the story, “It’s very personal, because I was this little girl, and I used my imagination to escape. I used books, movies, and toys to get away. If I didn’t have my imagination, and if I didn’t have these things, I don’t think I would be here today. This is a story of how monsters saved my life.”
FX artist Yagher, whose past iconic creature work includes ‘Chucky’ in Child’s Play, ‘Freddy Krueger’ in A Nightmare on Elm Street and ‘The Crypt Keeper’ from Tales From the Crypt has been asked to provide GRUMMY‘s titular monster, and will do so entirely via practical effects, with full animatronics built into a life-sized creature suit.
“Building a believable monster and a tangible environment is just as expensive for a short as it is for a feature,” explained Norman of the challenges of realizing the extensive world of GRUMMY without the use of CGI, “and we’re fortunate to have many volunteers on our team and artists donating their craft in order to make it a reality.”
Rounding out the production team are producers Gary Deocampo and Anthony Diblasi, production designer Doug Williams (Pacific Rim, Chappie), composer Jason Turbin (Ouija: Origin of Evil, Gerald’s Game), and director of photography Sean McDaniel.
With principal photography slated to kick off later this week, aspirations for the property exist outside of the short film alone. With an eye to eventually deliver a feature film version, forthcoming iterations of GRUMMY additionally include a hardcover children’s book written and illustrated by Pitt (which serves as a prequel to the film), an art book titled “A Girl and Her Monster” featuring an all-star roster of illustrators and animators, and much more.
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