Act Of Valor, And Bandito's Next Projects
Angelini: Related to that, I was reading Adobe’s profile on Bandito Brothers, and they said you guys focus on fearless athletes and exceptional human stories. To that end, do you ever see a company like Bandito Brothers leveraging its experience in digital technology to get involved in the gaming scene?
Rosenberg: We have a really wonderful relationship with Electronic Arts. We did a project with them for Battlefield 3 last summer that Scotty and I co-directed. And then we’ve done some stuff with the Medal of Honor team as well. So, we’re big fans of Electronic Arts. We’re big fans of the gaming platforms and the potential of gaming—specifically with an opportunity for story-telling and telling stories that you probably couldn’t tell in film. I think that there’s just a ton of IP that’s out there that’s great, that has huge built-in fan bases. And I think there are interesting projects to pursue and we see the gaming community as an exciting frontier, particularly with the right partner or right property.
Angelini: Can you tease anything about what you’re excited about working on after Act of Valor or what you’re doing at SXSW?
Rosenberg: As one of the partners of the company, I’m also a director of the company and I grew up skateboarding in the ‘90s, and being a skate filmer and making skateboard videos. So, I’ve finally, through the support of my partners, have been able to make a documentary about a skateboarder named Danny Way. We’ll have the film premiered at SXSW. That’s called Waiting for Lightning, and that’s sort of been a life passion project for me that will finally come to fruition.
So, that will come out shortly, and then we have like three other projects that we’re slated to do starting with Black Sands with Arnold Schwarzenegger, and then onto a project called God’s Gulch and another called High Speed. It’s a good moment for us, and I think, at the end of the day, we call ourselves Bandito Brothers. We’re a group of guys who respect each other and try to fill in the blanks for each other, and we see Act of Valor as our initial statement as to who we are.
Angelini: I was actually going to ask you how that feels—I know it sounds corny, but that’s a really big deal.
Rosenberg: Yeah, you know Mouse and Scott always said that one of their goals was that they wanted to make an incredible action movie that put you in the boots of the SEALs and really talked about the sacrifice that those guys have made. They always wanted to feel like they could have a beer with the SEALs afterwards because it is a really sacred community that we have a tremendous amount of respect for and we don’t know a lot of the things that they do.
The film has been so well-received by that community and audiences across America that we just feel like the people have spoken and we couldn’t be happier with their enthusiasm for Act of Valor. We were the number one movie in America without any stars, just heroes. It was like, that’s crazy for a bunch of cowboys out in Culver City.
Angelini: Definitely validating. Thanks again Jacob, we wish you guys success in the future.
Rosenberg: If you happen to be in Culver City, stop by and I’ll show you the shop.
Angelini: Our U.S. headquarters is in Culver as well, so I’d be happy to.
