‘Bellflower’ Producer Vincent Grashaw to Make Directorial Debut With Juvenile Delinquent Drama, ‘Coldwater’By Kate Erbland, Film School Rejects, June 4, 2012Last’s year most buzzed about indie flick, Bellflower, introduced us to a whole new cadre of up-and-coming talent, including writer and director Evan Glodell and his co-stars Tyler Dawson and Jessie Wiseman, but there was another essential driving force behind the production – producer Vincent Grashaw. If you’re familiar with Bellflower, you’re likely also familiar with the hands-on nature of the production, one that entailed that just about everyone involved had to do more than just their standard job description. Grashaw was one of those people, and he and Glodell were even nominated for a John Cassavetes Award at the Independent Spirit Awards in reflection of that.
Like Glodell, Grashaw has done a number of different projects in front of and behind the camera – from acting to directing to writing, even editing – and he’s now lined up to make his feature directorial debut with Coldwater. According to Variety, Grashaw has also written the film’s script with Mark Penney, one that centers on “the stark realities behind juvenile rehabilitation in the U.S.” and that “follows a teenage boy’s struggle inside a wilderness boot camp, where a retired war colonel and his counselors break inmates’ spirits to correct delinquent behavior.”
Coldwater sounds like it could be pretty compelling stuff, and Grashaw is certainly familiar with young men gone wild. Horror stories about juvenile boot camps are slowly seeping into the news cycle, with various camps being accused of abuse, starvation, torture, and even death. Even the most scant Google search turns up innumerable items about “boot camp horror stories,” including the well-publicized death of Martin Lee Anderson in a Florida boot camp back in 2006, a case that made national headlines partially thanks to a videotape that was released showing guards beating Anderson before he died.
The production will film on location in the Sierra Nevadas later this summer.
Grashaw will also direct Anatomy next year, a thriller about an aging assassin and his younger female protege.
