Actress/producer Lana Wood and DVK Productions, LLC present 'The Circle', an innovative new feature film that takes moviemaking in a whole new direction. 'The Circle' is the story of a group of people who meet regularly on the Internet in an online video chat room that is hosted by a bitter 'past her prime' actress, played by Ms. Wood.
These people think they know each other very well. But when one of the group is brutally attacked, stabbed and left for dead -- just off-cam -- the others quickly realize that they don't really know her, or each other, at all. So it's a race against time to try and find the wounded girl and send help before she bleeds to death!
Lana Wood is a former Bond Girl (Plenty O'Toole in the movie 'Diamonds Are Forever') and was in the cast of the TV series 'Peyton Place'. She is also the sister of the late Natalie Wood, and one of her recent projects was co-producing the movie "The Mystery of Natalie Wood" for ABC.
Having spent the last few years on the production side, Ms. Wood is excited about being in front of the camera again in such a fascinating project as 'The Circle'. "Iˇ¦m thrilled to have this innovative challenge! Nervous too... But it is wonderful to be part of this ground-breaking film.ˇ¨ says Wood. ˇ§It should be exciting for everyone involved, especially the audience!"
'The Circle' will be shot in real-time. All of the actors will do their roles using webcams, microphones and high speed Internet connections, from the comfort of their own homes or offices. This gives the cast amazing freedom, as the actors can literally be from almost anywhere.
The video chat room interface that will be used for 'The Circle' is being designed by the folks at Camfrog.com, who are also developing special audio software for the project.
The production will be handled much like a theatrical play. There will be numerous rehearsals, conducted online. Then the script will be 'performed' straight through from beginning to end without stopping. There will be three of these 'performances', and each one will be recorded digitally. The best of the three will be used for the final movie.
The script, written by Brandon Finch, is extremely character-driven. "It will be a tremendous challenge for the actors," says Victoria Brigman of DVK Productions, one of the movie's producers. "There are no cutaways, no scene changes -- the focus is totally on the actors. And nearly every actor will be on-screen and have dialogue for the entire length of the movie."
"It's an intense story," says producer/director David W. Richardson of DVK Productions, who also wrote the original story. "The characters get put through the wringer emotionally, as they go from casual conversation to shock and terror to frantically working to save their friend."
But there's more to 'The Circle' than just a good suspense story and a unique way of bringing it to life. ˇ§With everything we hear about that goes on on the Internet these days, the events in this story could actually happen to any one of us,ˇ¨ says Richardson. ˇ§It's a movie that people are really going to get drawn into."
Auditions for 'The Circle' will be conducted online, and are expected to begin in January 2005.
Once finished, the producers anticipate releasing 'The Circle' directly to video and DVD in the U.S. and abroad.
NYC News 
