Kevin Tancharoen, the director of the upcoming Mortal Kombat reboot, has just released a sizzle reel that he put together while pitching to Lionsgate to get the director spot for The Hunger Games. The film of the sizzle reel is definitely different from the version that we saw in theaters. It appears that Tancharoen would have gone for a darker film with more science-fiction elements than the Gary Ross version. Check out the sizzle reel below as well as an except from an interview he did with /Film.
/Film: It seems like a lot of upcoming directors are now putting together these video reels for their studio pitches. When did this start, and when did you discover this practice?
Tancheroen: The idea of a “pitch reel” has been around for awhile and is very common practice for any director. Trying to pitch a vision to a room full of people is always very difficult verbally. In the past two years, the pitch reel has significantly become more demanding since technology allows for people to make mini movies in their own homes. It’s almost expected for a director to show some visual materials, but the need to impress has become elevated. At first, it was just some concept art, some storyboards and possibly a treatment. Then the rip-o-matic (a visual reel using clips from other movies to portray a visual style) became really popular. I even know some directors who do a full animatic at their expense just to take into a meeting.
Check out the full interview here.