A slew of Hollywood talent teamed up with the Make A Film Foundation to help 16-year-old Anthony Conti make his dream zombie short film.
Actors like Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean), J.K. Simmons (Whiplash), Laura Dern (Jurassic Park), Penelope Ann Miller (Carlito’s Way), Richard Chamberlain (The Towering Inferno), Chad Coleman (Horrible Bosses), and more lent their talents to the production as well as filmmakers like Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead) and David Lynch (Eraserhead).
The short film, titled The Black Ghiandola, stars Conti as a young man out to save a girl after his family dies in the apocalypse. Conti co-wrote the film with The Amityville Horror writer Scott Kosar with additional writing from Still Alice co-writer Wash Westmoreland. The short is directed by Raimi, Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke, and St. Vincent director Theodore Melfi.
The Make a Film Foundation is a nonprofit launched in 2007 that grants film-related wishes for children with serious medical conditions. Conti is facing stage IV adrenal cortical cancer.
Usually, films made by the organization take up to a year, but Conti’s went from conception to filming in a month due to the talent that donated their time, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The film is in post-production now, and they are still collecting donations at Generosity.com.
