"THE AMERICAN ASTRONAUT Written, directed, and starring Cory McAbee of The Billy Nayer Show, this space western musical uses flinty black-and-white photography, rugged Lo-Fi sets and the spirit of the final frontier to bring the film, set in the dirty, isolated vastness of outer space, to life. The film also stars Rocco Sisto and Gregory Russell Cook. THE AMERICAN ASTRONAUT follows the adventures of an interplanetary trader (McAbee) through his Homeric intergalactic journey to provide the all-female population of Venus with a suitable singular male, all the while being pursued by the cold-blooded and childish killer, Professor Hess (Sisto), an enigmatic figure from his past. The film features an original soundtrack by the The Billy Nayer Show.
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First let me set the genre: this is a music driven space western. Serving partly as a vehicle for the band who made the music for the movie (The Billy Nayer Show), the movie is so much more than a music video. It was shot in black and white for slightly under $2M and probably using dressed sets at friend's apartments or basements it rocks. The movie employs high contrast black and white filming in both tight spaces and large wide open shots such as a white suited spaceman hopping across a sea of black from a distance of what seems to be a football field+. This just got released to DVD not so long ago and it might just might be in video stores around the country. I usually don't plug movies for no compensation but this one is just too cool to go by unnoticed.
http://www.americanastronaut.com/trailers/AmericanAstronautDVD.jpgWatch the trailer
http://www.americanastronaut.com/