Fresh off reopening as a movie house with a successful 70mm showcase of Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” The Alex Theatre in Glendale is partnering with Searchlight Pictures for two special 35mm screening of Martin McDonaugh’s new film “Wild Horse Nine” in November.
The screenings, for which tickets are now on sale, will be held on Nov. 5 and 12. Attendees on Nov. 5 will have the chance to buy exclusive merchandise connected to the film, while the Nov. 12 screening will be followed by a Q&A with talent from the film to be announced. The Alex screenings will be one of the few public opportunities to see the film in a celluloid format.
“Wild Horse Nine” stars John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell as two CIA agents who are sent on a trip to Easter Island in 1973 just before Pinochet’s military takeover of the Chilean government. While there, the bickering longtime partners are confronted by their dark past, while a new relationship with two college students on the island threatens to turn the trip sideways.
“Wild Horse Nine” premiered at the Venice Film Festival to rave reviews, with Malkovich winning the Volpi Cup for Best Actor. It is currently touring the festival circuit ahead of its nationwide release on Nov. 6.
Filmed on location in Easter Island and other locations, “Wild Horse Nine” was shot in various formats by cinematographer Ben Davis, who previously worked with McDonaugh on “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.”
Due to the difficulty of using film stock on one of the most remote islands in the world, Davis used digital cameras to replicate the color palette of Ektachrome, a film stock used in the 1970s.
“The way Ektachrome photographs the color red was particularly important to us, because red really pops out of a landscape of green grass and blue sea and sky. We tried to limit the color palette so that whatever we put with that landscape, it would pop out,” said Davis.
Earlier this year, the Alex Theatre was given an acoustic overhaul and a brand-new projector room with 35mm and 70mm capability, marking the first time the Glendale theater would be used for celluloid screenings since it closed as a first-run playhouse in 1991. In the years since, the Alex has primarily been used as a live performing arts venue.
The refurbished theater reopened with a standard 70mm print of “The Odyssey,” becoming the highest grossing theater to screen Christopher Nolan’s film in that format.
