Abigail Tarttelin

Triple Hit opens a refreshingly different doorway into parallel worlds: Triple Hit Review

January 14th, 2010

By David Bentley on Jan 5, 10 12:04 AM

Triple Hit poster.jpg

PARALLEL WORLDS are very much in fashion at the moment.

There are dramas such as FlashForward and Paradox on TV while, on the big screen, the latest Star Trek movie created an alternative universe through time travel.

So sci-fi thriller Triple Hit has come along at just the right time.

And yet it still manages to seem refreshingly different. I can’t recall a series or movie where there were three incarnations of the same person existing on wildly different versions of Earth.

The film was made by Leamington-based Entanglement Productions and won third place in the Best Film Category at the recent Institute of Videography awards, held at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena. It was then screened at the first Falstaff International Film Festival in Stratford-on-Avon.

Triple Hit Huw Bowen.jpgTriple Hit’s writer and director Huw Bowen (pictured right) said: “The film festival was a lot of fun, and we won another award - Special Mention for Best Visual Effects, which was personally very gratifying as I did most of the VFX myself.”

He explained that he had worked on Triple Hit “full time - well, more than full time, actually - for two years…It nearly bloody killed me!”

Born and raised in Warwickshire, Huw moved to Denver and graduated with a BFA Multimedia degree, including video, audio and computer graphics, at the University of Colorado. In 2003 he took the Los Angeles Film School’s one-year intensive filmmaking course - where he was trained by such industry names as Danforth Green, the editor of MASH and Blazing Saddles, and Laurence Rosenthal, the script development executive for Scream.

He moved back to the UK in 2006 and founded Entanglement Productions with long-time collaborator Chris Pinches. In 2008, he began work on Triple Hit as his first feature.

The movie’s exploration of parallel worlds allowed Huw to really develop his technical and storytelling skills and the effects were widely praised, leading to the film being officially selected for screening at the world-famous San Diego Comic-Con. 

The project was previously called Schrodinger’s Girl after the Schrodinger’s catexperiment in physics that is often used to indicate the possible existence of parallel worlds. It centres on Rebecca Hunter, a disgraced scientist conducting research into alternative universes.

Triple Hit Sarah in lab.jpg

She discovers a way to travel between realities and then finds her counterparts have their own agendas: Anastasia Hunter is the science director for a gulag in the People’s Republic of Great Britain, while Sarah Hunter-Gibson is a professor in a utopian hi-tech society.

Rebecca accidentally ends up in the People’s Republic, a dystopian alternative Britain, where her encounter with a totalitarian regime is only the beginning of her problems as the multiverse begins to unravel around her.

The film, made for under £100,000, stars Abigail Tarttelin (as Rebecca/Anastasia/Sarah) alongside Damian Hayes, Al Convy, Roger Harding, Tony Holmes, Stephen Steinhaus and Amelia Tyler. Chris Pinches was the cinematographer.

The film’s strength is its story concept (nicely incorporating real-world quantum mechanics to give it grounding) and in the visuals used to bring it to life. Memorable images include dramatic scenes where the parallel worlds begin to overlap and collide and a shot of three different versions of Earth.

It leaves the viewer with thoughts about how our past, present and future might easily have gone in other directions, how they can diverge (and also converge) through human choices, and how many other dimensions or realities might exist out there.

Triple Hit official still1.jpg

Huw said his influences for the film included “Stanley Kubrick films, novels by Greg Egan, Charles Stross and William Gibson, and probably a healthy helping of Doctor Who.”

And his favourite films include Blade Runner, Moon, The American Astronaut, Star Wars (”of course, duh!”), The Matrix (”The first one only - the others do not exist to me!”), Fight Club and Nightwatch.

Since completing Triple Hit, Huw has been looking for new challenges. He is developing a new feature and a slate of short films and music videos with the intention of improving his filmmaking skills and raising his profile.

So what’s Huw working on right now? He revealed: “Well, it’s all a bit contingent on the funding situation, but I have a sort of action/horror/dramedy feature script called Ministry of Secrets. It’s a fairly insane script and a fair bit more expensive than Triple Hit so raising finance may take some time.”

Huw has already made several short films exploring the Ministry of Secrets concept, and they can be found on YouTube. Here’s one of the videos:
(see article for video…)
He added: “I’m also currently working on a music video for a band called The Unknownn which is looking really cool at the moment. And I’m also developing some short films to keep myself busy. I’ve got one about a haunted house and a 70’s exploitation-style one about superheroes. In addition to all that, I am working with Chris Pinches, producer and DoP of Triple Hit, on a couple of features that he will be directing (and I’ll be wearing the producer’s hat on).”

Huw has previously worked on several music videos, either as director or visual effects supervisor. He has a big passion for music and as well as having an album released on Terraform Records under the name Sundog, he also plays the guitar, mandolin and ukelele.

For more on Triple Hit, visit the official website. There is also a website for its earlier incarnation as Schrodinger’s Girl.

 

Thanks to David for a great review. Read the opriginal article at http://blogs.coventrytelegraph.net/thegeekfiles/2010/01/triple-hit-opens-a-refreshingl.html

 

For more info on Triple Hit or any of Abby’s films, please contact agent Louise Gubbay at louise@louisegubbay.com

For information on Abigail’s writing including two upcoming novels  please contact Jo Unwin at jo@convilleandwalsh.com



Los Angeles Photoshoot With Erin Yaeger

December 1st, 2009
Hollywood, CA. Photo by Erin Yaeger.

West Hollywood, CA. Photo by Erin Yaeger.

Los Angeles Subway August 2009. Photo by Erin Yaeger.

Los Angeles Subway August 2009. Photo by Erin Yaeger.

Me & Mickey, Los Angeles August 2009. Photo by Erin Yaeger.

Me & Mickey, Los Angeles August 2009. Photo by Erin Yaeger.

The first instalment/installment, depending on whether you’re English or American…

Find the wonderful Erin at www.erinyaeger.com.



Photos From Falstaff Film Festival Screening

November 18th, 2009
Director Huw Bowen (far right) & friends Ivan, Alana & mum Beryl out for the screening

Director Huw Bowen (far right) & friends Ivan, Alana & mum Beryl out for the screening

Director Huw Bowen & Triple Hit actress Abigail Tarttelin (me)

The awesome Huw Bowen (director/writer/producer) & Triple Hit actress Abigail Tarttelin (me)

The crowd before the screening including producer Chris Pinches (far left)

The crowd before the screening including producer Chris Pinches (far left)

Music producer, cast member & chef extraordinaire Nino Marsala & actor Steve Steinhaus

Music producer, cast member & chef extraordinaire Nino Marsala & actor Steve Steinhaus

In deep discussion before the screening.

Chris Pinches, myself and Dave Quain in deep discussion at the screening

Scientific Advisor to Triple Hit, Keith Bowen & Abigail Tarttelin at the Falstaff screening

Scientific Advisor to Triple Hit, Keith Bowen & Abigail Tarttelin at the Falstaff screening

After the festival we learnt we had been nominated for Best UK Feature and, although we didn’t win that award, Triple Hit got Special Mention for Special Effects! Well done Huw, Chris and the crew!



Award-winning Sci-fi Film Triple Hit at Falstaff International Film Festival

November 18th, 2009

Thank you to David Bentley of the Coventry Telegraph for this report of the film’s screening last night at Falstaff Film Festival. We had a full house and in attendance were the film’s producer Chris Pinches, producer/director/writer Huw Bowen and Steve Steinhaus and Roger Harding (and myself!). Thanks to everyone who came for their support and to Falstaff Film Festival for putting on the film and nominating us for an award! Details to follow…

 

Award-winning Sci-fi Film Triple Hit at Falstaff International Film Festival

By David Bentley on Nov 17, 09 01:13 PM
triplehitLEAMINGTON SPA film company Entanglement Productions has won third place in the Best Film category of the IOV (Institute of Videography) awards with its sci-fi thriller Triple Hit.     

The film’s writer/producer/director Huw Bowen is pictured below receving the award from IOV’s Chris Waterlow and former Tomorrow’s World star Maggie Philbin in an Oscars-style ceremony at the IOV Annual Convention, held at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.

Triple Hit was one of only five short-listed titles within the Best Film category. Judges were looking for exceptional video production standards, originality and creative flair.

The film is among the 150-plus movies being screened this week at the first Falstaff International Film Festival in Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire.

IOV awardsThe film - previously called Schrodinger’s Girl - centres on Rebecca Hunter, a disgraced scientist conducting research into alternate universes. She discovers a way to travel between realities and then finds her parallel-world counterparts have their own agendas: Anastacia Hunter is the science director for a gulag in the People’s Republic of Great Britain, while Sarah Hunter-Gibson is a professor in a utopian hi-tech society.

Rebecca takes a terrifying trip into the People’s Republic, a dystopian alternative Britain, where her encounter with a totalitarian regime is only the beginning of her problems as the multiverse begins to unravel around her. She has to use her sharp intellect and mastery of quantum physics to save the entire universe.

Triple Hit is being screened tonight at the Falstaff International Film Festival, which started on Saturday and is on until Friday (November 20). It includes a number of world and UK premieres as well as many animations and music videos, all made in the last 12 months.

Lovers of horror were treated to a ground-breaking feature-length zombiefest called The Revenant which closed the first night of the festival.

Among other screenings at the event, Brian Capron, best known asCoronation Street’s Richard Hillman, stars in Ambleton DelightLittle Mo Slater of Eastenders (aka actress Kacey Ainsworth) plays the main protagonist Pippa in Lynsey Miller’s Hip Hip Hooray; and Eastenders actor Jake Maskell, who was Danny Moon in the soap, plays Rick in the psychological thriller Feral.

Hollywood royalty in the form of Cass Warner, granddaughter of Harry Warner - one of the founders of Warner Brothers Studios, introduced her family documentary The Brothers Warner via satellite link all the way from Santa Barbara, California.

The festival awards night on Friday will raise money for the BBC Children in Need appeal together with Stratford College media students who will be broadcasting a live Children In Need Show via the internet during the day.

Festival Director Rowan M. Ashe said: “Stratford gave the world Shakespeare. His importance in the role of film as a medium of storytelling is unquestionably enormous. It is only right that the town has a film festival and recognises and celebrates its continuing heritage especially in the 21st century.

“This is a great chance to see independent British talent at its best as well as International filmmaking. We have tried to reduce costs for filmmakers by making it free for them to submit their films to the festival and tickets are as little as £4 a strand. We think it only right in a global downturn not to charge as much as other international film festivals and hope this will encourage filmmakers to benefit from a great festival.”

The Falstaff International Film Festival which is sponsored by Stratforward and recently awarded a grant from the Stratford Town Trust runs at the Civic Hall and Shakespeare Centre in Stratford. Festival tickets can be purchased from the Civic Hall box office by ringing (01789) 207100 or visiting the festival’s websitewhere you can also get details on film screenings and other events.

For more information on Triple Hit, see the official website.

Read the article on the Coventry Telegraph website here.



Award-winning Triple Hit Gets Re-Brand

November 12th, 2009
Abigail as the three lead characters in Triple Hit

Abigail as the three lead characters in Triple Hit

Triple Hit, formerly Schrodinger’s Girl, has a new website at www.triplehitmovie.com, and a new award, courtesy of the IOV. The sci-fi action adventure feature, which centres on the story of three scientists conducting quantum tunneling experiments into each other’s parallel realities, won third place in the Best Film category. I play all three of said scientists, Rebecca, Anasatasia and Sarah, and am excited about the rebrand, which is taking place after consultation with our awesome Los Angeles-based sales agent Multivisionnaire. The movie was officially selected for Fargo Fantastic Film Festival & Comic-Con’s International Film Festival in San Diego this summer and plays at Falstaff International Film Festival next week. Video of the trip will be up soon in a www.abigailtarttelin.com exclusive.



Abigail Signed With Leading London Literary Agency Conville & Walsh

September 25th, 2009

 

Photo by Natacha Colmez, Paris, October 2009

Photo by Natacha Colmez, Paris, October 2009

 

 

I am now represented by Jo Unwin at Conville & Walsh for literary purposes. It was wonderful to meet with Jo, who is as enthusiastic and passionate about being an agent as I am about films and books, acting and writing, and I am very much looking forward to working with her.

 

We aim to have my first book, Flick, with publishers by mid-november.



Philip Pullman’s The Butterfly Tattoo Secures UK Release

September 3rd, 2009
Philip Pullman's The Butterfly Tattoo Poster

Philip Pullman's The Butterfly Tattoo Poster

After its cinematic and DVD release in the USA earlier this year, Philip Pullman’s The Butterfly Tattoo will be coming to UK cinemas October 30th (although release was originally planned for September 25th). The UK-shot film, in which I play Fenella, Oxford undergrad and one-time girlfriend of the evil Piers Hawthorne, will be in showcase cinemas nationwide.

The film has won Best Director and Best Adaptation at the New York International Film and Video Festival, and is based on the book The Butterfly Tattoo (formerly The White Mercedes) by The Amber Spyglass author Philip Pullman.

The most recent adaptation of Philip Pullman’s work was The Golden Compass with Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. Unlike this big-budget hollywood feature The Butterfly Tattoo was shot independently, on a budget of only a quarter of a million, however, with excellent reviews and its popularity over the internet (the film was at one point the 75th most researched film on the internet and imdb!) Philip Pullman’s The Butterfly Tattoo promises to be small, but perfectly formed.

I am in it so I may be biased, but when we had the cast & crew screening at the BAFTA House in London, I really enjoyed it. It has good old British humour, drama, romance, an awesome soundtrack, a great young cast, is excellently directed, and beautifully shot. I would sincerely recommend it to anyone! We are also at Cambridge Film Festival, but to see the film in cinemas book your tickets at www.showcase.co.uk.

For more information go to www.tbtproject.com, or the official site of the director Phil Hawkins at www.philm.co.uk

PS You may remember I was a guest on Judy’s Morning Show on BBc Radio Lincolnshire at the beginning of the month to talk about Schrodinger’s Girl & The Butterfly Tattoo - and I promised her I would let her know the release date when I knew! So I came back on the show briefly to talk about the upcoming release last week - thanks Judy!



Pulpmovies.com Reports on Abigail & Schrodinger’s Girl’s Success at Comic-Con

August 26th, 2009
Pulpmovies.com Article

Pulpmovies.com Article

“Likened to cult success Shaun of the Dead for its raw Brit spirit and use of humour, British Film Schrodinger’s Girl (review, trailer) is an independent science-fiction film barely back from a successful Cannes, and now on its way to Comic-con in San Diego, to be the sole British feature film in the official film festival selection of the biggest popular arts convention in the world, screening on Sunday 26th July in San Diego convention centre.

After the resoundingly successful US release of Philip Pullman’s The Butterfly Tattoo (by the world-renowned author of The Northern Lights Trilogy), Schrodinger’s Girl’s rising star, English actress Abigail Tarttelin is set to score a second triumph with a performance heralded as the birth of ‘a real acting talent’, in the three lead roles in the movie.

Abigail portrays scientists Sarah, Anastasia and Rebecca Hunter, who each experiment with quantum tunnelling in parallel universes remarkably different from each other. Anastasia’s world is a dark, KGB-run dystopia; Sarah’s world, a futuristic heaven; and the world of rebel scientist Rebecca closely resembles our own. Abigail takes on an entirely different character for each role and has impressed critics and filmmakers alike with her performances, scoring the leading role in two Birmingham-made features off the back of the film’s first screening, and prompting Schrodinger’s Girl director Huw Bowen to call her ‘one of the most talented actors I have ever worked with’.

The director went on to state that: ‘(Abigail) has a remarkable grasp of her craft and can deliver finely nuanced performances under extremely high pressure. She throws her heart into every moment. In my feature, she plays three very different characters, and is in all but two scenes, and is absolutely compelling. If we had had an actor of a lesser caliber, my film would have been dead in the water; she made it shine. She never allows anything to distract her from delivering rock-solid drama. She’s bright, she has very good instincts as an actor, and she takes direction well and adjusts her performances accordingly…. she’s a remarkable talent and she shines in every performance she gives. I would hire her again in a heartbeat, and I will be following her career with great interest.’

Schrodinger’s Girl was filmed in the West Midlands in March 2008, with Abigail, at 20, the youngest member of the cast and crew; and also features Al Convy and Damian Hayes in the supporting roles. The film has already scored a lucrative release in Russia in autumn 2009 and excitement around the film is building even more now that it has been accepted into the official selection of Comic-Con, and Abigail is proud that a British film is doing so well in the USA.”



Abigail’s Guest Blog for womenandhollywood.com: A First Hand Report from Comic-Con

August 19th, 2009

Abigail Tarttelin attended Comic-Con with Schrodinger’s Girl a film she is in. Women & Hollywood asked her to write up her impressions of the offerings that we will be seeing on our TV screens this season.

Hello Women and Hollywood Readers,

This is Abigail Tarttelin, I’m an English actress just returned from Comic-Con 2009, after screening Schrodinger’s Girl, a sci-fi action adventure with three strong female lead characters, in the Official Selection of Comic-con’s Independent Film Festival. I was introduced to science fiction during the making of this film, and since then have been trying to reconcile where the genre sits with its portrayal of women.

Sci-fi and comic portrayal of women is a two-edged sword – on the one hand, science fiction has given birth to some of film’s strongest female characters: Ripley from Alien; Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Princess Leia and Queen Amidala from Star Wars; Starbuck from the Battlestar Galactica remake; most of Joss Whedon’s work (!), but then on the other hand, exploitation is rife and women are often scantily clad with emphasis on the “hot body”, and often relegated to victim roles.

Elizabeth Mitchell of 'V'

Elizabeth Mitchell of 'V'

In terms of film and television on offer for the female-friendly audience at Comic-Con, it was a mixed bag, but there were a few standouts to watch for. Preview night at Comic-Con showcased three pilots of shows to air later in the year including V, a remake of the 1983 two part mini-series, and this was a definite hit for women, with the leader of the Alien race, originally John, now the enigmatic Anna, played by Morena Baccarin. Even more positive is that the heroine of the piece is FBI agent and leader of the Los Angeles resistance cell, Erica Evans, played by Lost actress Elizabeth Mitchell, whose son is tempted into joining the Alien “nazi-youth” by his attraction to a young ‘visitor’. Erica plays the part well, and comes across as strong and intelligent, and while also portraying a mother and lover, she is not relegated to representing solely these roles.

Human Target, based on the comic book by Len Wein and Carmine Infantino, employs Tricia Helfer (Number Six in Battlestar Galactica) as the client that lead character Christopher Chance must save, and Vampire Diaries, the third pilot to screen on the Wednesday, stars Nina Dobrev as Elena, a human girl whose soul is the subject of two warring vampire brothers’ desires. The show could go two ways, as both vampire brothers happen to be cute so perhaps might steal the limelight away from Elena, but it does smack to me more of Buffy The Vampire Slayer so perhaps we’ll see a strong female character stick her neck out and refuse to be the victim. The show is based on the books but will be ‘tweaked’ for television, so feel free to read ahead and learn the story, but perhaps don’t get too comfortable with the specifics, as I’m sure the shows creators will want to surprise us.

The standout show this season for women, however, will be ABC’s Eastwick, starring Lindsay Price, Rebecca Romijn and Jamie Ray Newman. The pilot screening was incredibly well received, and all three actresses do a stand-up job, in three roles where the women are empowered or/and in the process of empowerment. The show is a re-imagining of the book and film The Witches of Eastwick for a modern audience, so hopefully won’t go down the semi-misogynistic route the book took, where the three witches give their female friend cancer when the subject of their desires marries her, then leave town with their ideal men. It doesn’t feel from the pilot like it will.

The show is exec produced by Maggie Friedman (Spellbound, Related) and directed by David Nutter (Roswell, Dark Angel, The Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles), who stated that “What was most important was to make this a show about everyday people, make it as accessible as possible to people, make it a show about female empowerment, as well as relationships between women, and how they can deal with these abilities.” Sounds good. The show airs this fall, Wednesdays at 10pm ET/PT.



Abigail live on BBC Radio

August 18th, 2009

Listen to Abigail on Judy Theobald’s show 9.40am - 10.10am.

To listen to the show after it has aired, go to

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/radio/bbc_radio_lincolnshire/

or

www.bbc.co.uk/radio

This was the first time I’ve been on to talk about Schrodinger’s Girl without Huw (the director) with me so I actually had to talk lots!! Lucky I was with a pro, Judy Theobald…

Thanks Judy, I had a really good time!