"The Cup of Tears," a super slick short that appeared online last fall, is getting made into a major motion picture.
Writer-director Gary Shore posted the two and a half-minute trailer on Vimeo in September 2009, with the bold pronouncement, "This is a trailer for the forthcoming feature I am writing and directing, 'The Cup of Tears.'"
Now Universal and Working Title have bought the film rights and are helping to shepherd it to the big screen, according to Heat Vision.
The highly stylized clip, while visually stunning, is sort of a hodgepodge of every martial arts movie cliche, topped off with a soupçon spaceships.
According to the caption on the YouTube version of the clip that was posted by his production company, Windmill Lane, "Cup of Tears" is:
"(A) visually modern fairytale, set in old world Japan. The narrative follows a scorned geisha who creates a magical cup made of tears that causes any man who drinks from it to fall under a stasis of permanent sleep. One night the cup is stolen, setting off a chain of events that threatens civil war amongst the clans. Taro, a once gifted samurai, and his companion Jin set out to find the cup and the one who can break the spell before inner turmoil consumes the land."
U.S. & World
Shore, who makes a living directing commercials, made "Cup" in between jobs over the course of six months last year in the hopes of breaking into features. Well played, sir.
