Gritty Detroit Crime Movie Garners Film Festival Nominations

Summary:

Independent Detroit filmmaker makes award-nominated new heist flick Guns, Drugs, & Dirty Money as loving tribute to the hard-bitten Motor City. The film has been nominated for two awards at the 2^nd Annual Detroit Independent Film Festival, March 9-13, 2011.

Detroit, MI—March 1, 2011—

They said it was dead. They said it couldn’t be done. The good times were over—permanently. Times have been tough in Detroit, but eventually, if a town hits rock bottom hard enough, there has to be some bounce. One of the people cheering on the city is budding filmmaker John Anton.

John Anton: by night successful Detroit club owner, by day aspiring auteur, has finally done what he always wanted to do--write, direct and produce a love letter to his beloved hometown in the form of his new hard-hitting crime drama, Guns, Drugs, & Dirty Money.

Guns, Drugs, & Dirty Money is a madly violent graphic novel brought to vivid, bloody life on the big screen. Firmly in the tradition of Reservoir Dogs, Sin City, and any other gloriously trashy bullet ballet ever made, Guns is already generating major buzz.  Upon its debut at the 2011 Detroit Independent Film Festival, it was immediately nominated for best editing and best supporting actor.

Guns, Drugs, & Dirty Money tells the story of graphic novel author Michael Steele (Eric Roberts), who reads the first issue of his comic book of the same name to his ten-year-old-nephew. As he reads, the viewer is instantly transported to the violent Detroit underworld where mob enforcer Nino Capazo, facing imminent retirement, is out for revenge against New York crime boss Benito Fontaine. Marked for death, on the run, and with no one else to turn to, he enlists the help of his former partner in crime, Rio. There’s only one problem—Rio is currently under lock and key at the Jackson State Pen. Nino helps Rio pull off the big break-out and together they round up a crew of vicious new bloods who are then forced to attempt the biggest heist in FBI history.

This is John Anton’s first major project with himself at the helm, and completely self-financed. It all started eleven years ago, when Anton made a decision that changed his life. He went down to the Detroit HBO shoot for 61*, Billy Crystal’s Roger Maris picture.  After absorbing everything he saw, Anton continued his apprenticeship: acting in movies with Detroit locations, helping other filmmakers with their projects, making the right connections, and letting his nightclub be used in over twenty-three films.

As a result, he learned a thing or two about acting, directing, and everything else that goes into a successful film production. Anton says. “It was a great learning experience to be involved in every aspect of the process of filmmaking. It was my ten-year film school.” His appetite whetted, Anton spent all his free time writing, thinking, and writing some more. Eventually, he put together all the pieces that would comprise his homage to the hard side of life in Detroit: Guns, Drugs, & Dirty Money.

Guns, Drugs, & Dirty Money, a Smoke Screen Films production, was written by John Anton and Jason Waugh, directed by John Anton, and produced by John Anton and Anthony Moscato. The cast includes the Oscar and Golden Globe-nominated Eric Roberts, Anthony Moscato, Alex Safi, Jason Waugh, Carlos Rubio, Cal Somers, James Hyde, Rich Goteri, and Sarah Sid. Now available on DVD at SmokeScreenFilms.com or Amazon.com.