“BLACK ANTENNA” DIRECTED BY ADAM MASON, WRITTEN BY PAUL SLOAN AND ADAM MASON AND PRODUCED BY “GREEN BOOK” ACADEMY AWARD WINNER NICK VALLELONGA AND ELIZABETH MASON
90-MINUTE FILM TO BE RELEASED OVER COURSE OF 10 EPISODES
ALICE IN CHAINS have released the first two episodes of “Black Antenna,” a dark sci-fi thriller set against the backdrop of the band’s Grammy-nominated album, Rainier Fog (BMG). “Black Antenna” was directed by Adam Mason, written by Paul Sloan and Adam Mason and produced by Elizabeth Mason and Nick Vallelonga, who recently won two Oscars (“Best Original Screenplay”) and (“Best Picture”) for “Green Book” (Vallelonga also has a cameo in episode one of “Black Antenna,” “The One You Know.”)
Black Antenna also stars Darri Ingolfsson (Dexter) as Nil, Lily Robinson as Malum, Eric Michael Cole (Gia, White Squall, Hangman), Mike Hatton (Green Book), Luke Shelton, Jerry Raines, and Daniel Louis Rivas.
Special make up effects are by Autonomous FX (“Blade Runner 2049,” “Bright,” “Mindhunter,” “Maze Runner”). Jason Collins is an executive producer along with Alice In Chains.
“Black Antenna” tells the story of Alpha (played by “Green Book” actor Paul Sloan) and his 21 year old daughter, Beta (Viktoriya Dov), who drive their beat-up truck across California in silence, speaking only telepathically. Together they rob and steal from the men the girl seduces, taking cellphones, laptops, whatever they can find. Alpha is trying to build something – an antenna – desperately trying to find a way to get a message to their people back home. Meanwhile there are unspeakably dark forces who have discovered their existence, and are now hell-bent on tracking them down and eradicating them before more of their kind can come and join them.
“This movie came out of nowhere for me,” says Mason. “As soon as I heard the album, the music and lyrics spoke to me on a profoundly personal level and the film and subject matter was born directly out of that. I’ve always been a huge fan of Alice In Chains, and this has been a dream come true for me. ‘Black Antenna’ is a perfect synergy of the band’s lyrics, and ‘Black Antenna’ paints a dark and beautiful canvas of the deeply conflicted world we live in today.’
Mason has also just directed two movies for Blumhouse (“Get Out,” “The Purge,” “Insidious”) and Hulu (“The Handmaid’s Tale”), the first of which premieres this coming weekend at SXSW.
ALICE IN CHAINS first teased the film/album connection with last May’s release of lead track “The One You Know,” which was directed by Mason and featured an electrifying band performance interspersed with cryptic cinematic scenes from the film.
The band is currently touring Australia and New Zealand and recently announced an epic co-headlining summer amphitheatre tour with Korn.
ALICE IN CHAINS are touring in support of Rainier Fog, which hit No. 1 across Billboard’s Rock, Alternative and Hard Music Charts and No. 1 on the iTunes Rock Album Chart and earned them a Grammy nod for “Best Rock Album.” Over the course of their remarkable career, ALICE IN CHAINS (vocalist/guitarist Jerry Cantrell, drummer Sean Kinney, bassist Mike Inez and vocalist/guitarist William DuVall) have garnered multiple Grammy nominations, sold more than 30 million albums worldwide, and amassed a diehard international fanbase whose members number in the millions.
Their discography features some of the biggest and most important albums in rock history, including 1992’s quadruple-platinum-certified Dirt, 1994’s triple-platinum-certified EP Jar of Flies, which was the first EP in music history to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 and 1995’s self-titled double-platinum-certified Alice In Chains, which also entered the Billboard Top 200 at No. 1. They returned in grand style in 2009 with the critically acclaimed Black Gives Way To Blue, which hit No. 1 across the rock and alternative charts, earned a Grammy nomination, was certified Gold and hailed by Vice as “a record that’s as powerful as anything the band has done.” ALICE IN CHAINS remains one of the most successful and influential American rock bands of all time.