MPI Media Group has wrapped production on Catfight, written and directed by Onur Tukel, one of the leading lights of the new American independent film, and produced by Gigi Graff. Catfight, which was shot in New York, will have an all-star cast including Anne Heche (Hung, Psycho and Six Days Seven Nights), Sandra Oh (Grey’s Anatomy and Sideways) and Alicia Silverstone (Clueless, Beauty Shop, The Crush).
Catfight is about two bitter rivals whose grudge match spans lifetime. Struggling outsider artist Ashley Miller (Anne Heche) and wealthy housewife Veronica Salt (Sandra Oh) were close in college, but haven’t seen each other since. When they find themselves attending the same glitzy birthday party, verbal barbs lead to fisticuffs and an all-out brawl that will keep these two locked in combat for years to come. Alicia Silverstone will play Ashley’s love interest, Lisa.
Catfight promises to be an outrageous, hilarious and action-packed film from writer-director Onur Tukel, the creator of festival hits Applesauce, Summer of Blood and Richard’s Wedding.
“I expected the lead performances to be brilliant but what they did blew my mind,” says Tukel of Sandra Oh and Anne Heche. “The fight scenes are also insanely intense. We’ve made a very funny comedy here, but it’s also tragically dark. I’m so proud of what the cast and crew accomplished. It was so collaborative that I feel like I didn’t do much work at all. I just sat back and watched a bunch of young, passionate people pull this movie together. It was magical.”
But he adds that Catfight will offer much more than fighting – it is really about two tragically flawed women. In the background of their story is a newly elected U.S. president who is hell bent on starting a new war in the Middle East. The film, says Tukel, comments on male aggression, American apathy, class conflict, Islamophobia, maternal sacrifice and the absurdity of war.
Tukel adds, “I’m not quite sure what we’ve got here but I’m excited! Every movie is an adventure, a risk, especially when you’re trying to do something different. But this is just what independent film culture needs right now, a swift punch in the gut to snap us out of this mumble-cored emo rut that we’re in.”
“We worked with Onur on his previous two films, and his Catfight screenplay had us hooked from the very beginning,” MPI’s Greg Newman said. “We look forward to seeing this latest collaboration come to fruition.”
