Just a heads-up…this is not another documentary about the notorious serial killer. It’s about a director who didn’t get his chance to make one.
Charlie Shackleton’s biggest claim to fame is a film called Paint Drying. He made it in response to the British Board of Film Classification’s requirement that all films must be screened by the board before being released (which Shackleton believes is tantamount to censorship). This means he forced the board to sit through a 10-hour film that is literally a single shot of a white-painted brick wall.
As a joke, that’s pretty damned funny.
I learned all this from a few of the bonus features that are included with his latest effort, Zodiac Killer Project, which are far more interesting (and entertaining) than the movie itself. Essentially a documentary about a documentary he never got to make, I get the impression this one is also intended as a joke. If so, it’s a really long-winded one with no punchline, though some viewers might appreciate the meta aspects of the film.
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| Well...at least there's no CGI. |
At one time, Shackleton was close to securing the rights to adapt The Silenced Badge, a book about a cop’s independent investigation to reveal the Zodiac Killer’s identity, into a documentary film. The director was well into the planning stages when the rights were unexpectedly ranked away from him. Undeterred, Shackleton decided to make a documentary about what his film would have been.
The bulk of the movie consists of the places he would have shot, the spots where he’d have inserted dramatic reenactments and, of course, his initial dismay over losing the rights to the book in the first place. Shackleton himself narrates, mostly off-screen, and he goes into a lot of detail over how each scene would’ve looked. He also displays a little smugness, especially when discussing overused tropes in other true crime documentaries (which is admittedly spot-on).
Ultimately though, Zodiac Killer Project comes across as sort of a f**k you to those who kept a guy from doing the film he wanted to make. While there’s nothing wrong with that, I don’t think he needed 90 minutes for a joke that could’ve been succinctly told in 20. Shackleton at-least deserves an attaboy for salvaging what he could from the debacle, but his efforts are marginally more interesting than watching paint dry.
EXTRA KIBBLES
FEATURETTES - Charlie Shackleton Q&A Session from Chicago Premiere; Rejected Sundance Meet the Artist Video; Camera Test Short Film; Charlie Shackleton on Paint Drying.
FULL EVOCATIVE B-ROLL REEL
DIRECTOR UNCOMMENTARY TRACK - Same film, without any narration. Essentially a gag feature.
TRAILER
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