A Victoria bodybuilder, actor and filmmaker will share the spotlight with Sylvester Stallone and Dolph Lundgren in Beverly Hills on Saturday night, and not because he happens to have bulging biceps as notable as those of the aging action heroes.
Although Mike Hanus won’t be there in person (producer McKinley Hlady will accept on his behalf), the writer-director of Jackhammer and his creative collaborators will have plenty to celebrate at the Beverly Hilton, home to the Golden Globes.
Their wacky Victoria-made comedy about the exploits of a delusional and narcissistic male stripper and wannabe rapper who drags his shy brother (Guy Christie) into his high-stakes world has won three CineRocKom Festival awards.
In addition to winnng the Gold Award for feature film, Jackhammer is being honoured with a Diamond Award for Hanus for direction, and a Platinum Award for editing for fellow Victoria filmmakers Kevin Guillet and Chris Hebert.
Hanus said it’s meaningful that Stallone will be there since their grassroots marketing approach is similar to his on Rocky.
“Sly would walk around and put flyers on cars before his movie came out and we did the same thing,” said Hanus, whose self-distributed film will be released in January.
The film, produced by Hlady and Hanus’s wife and creative partner, Sylvana Azurdia, among others, was written by Hanus, Christie and Duncan MacLellan, with creative input from cast members Julian Paul and Jason Burkart.
Hanus, who stars, is supported on screen by a large cast including Azurdia, with cameos by Pamela Anderson, Robb Wells, Jamie Kennedy, Nicole Sullivan, Peter Shinkoda and Peter Chao.
Stallone, Lundgren, Dick Van Dyke and Lou Gossett Jr. will all receive lifetime achievement awards.
Jackhammer was one of 400 films from 30 countries submitted for consideration at the festival hosted each year in Los Angeles, Cannes and Hong Kong. This year’s Hollywood event, held Thursday to Saturday, is highlighted by a series of social events including parties, a fashion show, concerts and a red-carpet gala awards dinner.
Gabriel Schmidt, co-founder of CineRocKom with Andrea Karpati, said the jury had good reason to honour Jackhammer.
“It was very funny and well-made. Many times such films made on such a little budget can turn into a bad film,” the Argentine-born organizer said. “Jurors recognize when they see a director like him on both sides of the camera, that he made it happen.”