Sometimes Hollywood’s Cinderella stories come from behind the camera instead of what we actually see up on the big screen. Take a look at Tarantino’s rise from working at a video store to directing such classics as Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs. Now, a virtual unknown named Fede Alvarez looks to make a similar impact because of a video he put on YouTube.
No, it’s not a video of Afro Ninja or the Star Wars kid. Instead, Fede produced a four minute short film of Montevideo, Uruguay’s capital being destroyed by a robotic invasion. The amazing part of this short is that it only cost him about $300. Fede told the BBC, “I uploaded ‘Ataque de Panico!’ on a Thursday and on Monday my inbox was totally full of emails from Hollywood studios.” After a bidding war, Fede settled on signing with Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures for a reported $30,000,000 deal.
After seeing what Fede was able to do with just $300, it is a shame he won’t be taking “Ataque de Panico” ever to the big screen with a full length version as he said he is starting his next project from scratch.
But until his next release does come out, take a peek at the video that may have taken him from obscurity and secured him a place in Hollywood for years to come.
