New movie written by BHS grad
"Don't fear the end of the world. Fear what happens next."
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This is the tagline to the movie "Pandorum," which will be released today.
Travis Milloy, an East Gull Lake native, smiled when he was on the set of the movie "Pandorum." Milloy wrote the movie that was filmed last summer in Berlin.
Dr. Paul and Marianne Milloy of East Gull Lake plan to travel to Los Angeles to watch the movie on opening night. "Pandorum" is a dark, frightening movie that may scare the Milloys, but they won't miss it because their son, Travis Milloy, wrote the story and screenplay.
Travis Milloy
Age: 40.
Resides: In Vail, Colo., and Los Angeles.
Family: Wife, Laura; daughter, Katelyn, 9; two stepsons, Brandon, 27, and Dylan, 16.
Favorite actor: "Paul Newman, he is the only actor I never get bored of watching."
Favorite movie: "Jaws."
Favorite TV program: "Hell's Kitchen."
Favorite classic movie: "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."
First movie you saw in the theater: "The Sting."
When you knew movies were your thing: "As a young kid I always loved going to see movies at the old Paramount Theater. We use to go there and pay a $1.50 for a movie, it's where I saw 'Jaws' and 'Star Wars' and all the movies that affected me so greatly. Well, I remember I went on my first 'date' with a girl from my third grade class (Nancy Hanson). We agreed to meet outside the theater. I went there and she was running late. Her mom hadn't dropped her off yet and I waited and waited. But I knew the movie was starting so I couldn't wait. I went into the movie 'Superman,' I was 9 years old. I got my soda and popcorn and sat in the front row. I was so captivated by the movie, I'd completely forgotten about the date. Twenty minutes into the movie, Nancy tapped me on the shoulder and was upset I hadn't waited for her and basically had forgotten about her. I told her 'Shhhhh! The movie started. Be quiet. I'll fill you in on what you missed later.' She was not happy. Needless to say, it was my first lesson in romance and that movies seemed to be what I was interested in the most."
Travis Milloy, a 1987 Brainerd High School graduate, has been infatuated with movies ever since he was a boy running the hallways at the former Whittier Elementary School. Milloy, now 40, said in a telephone interview this week from his home in Los Angeles, that it has been a long road from high school graduation to his first big break with his movie "Pandorum," which could either make or break his career in screenwriting.
Milloy said he was ready to call it quits when he wrote this movie. He had been working on another project for years with a lot of big names in it but it never seemed to take off. Milloy finally realized that the Hollywood producers would never proceed with the project.
"Pandorum" will be released today in theaters across the country. Travis Milloy, an East Gull Lake native, was the screenwriter of the movie.
"It was at that time that I wrote 'Pandorum,'" said Milloy. "I decided that I was not going to write it for the producers. I was going to write it for me and what I would want to see happen. I planned to shoot it independently at the Brainerd paper mill or a factory-type location and it'd be a sci-fi thriller. That was the plan and then by accident it turned out to be great. It was very unorthodox. I didn't think the studio executives would like it ... They loved it."
Milloy said the executives brought in a German director, Christian Alvart. Milloy and Alvart modified the story, which was shot in August 2008 in Berlin.
"It was great and wonderful," Milloy said of his story turning into a movie. "The interesting thing was I struggled for so many years and my priority was to get it going. When I turned the corner and realized that it wasn't the most important thing in my life, it happened. It was waiting for me to change my attitude first. But I try to take it in stride, because I know the politics and the film could flop ... Hopefully it'll do well."
It took Milloy less than a month to write the original draft of the story. When Milloy wrote "Pandorum" he wasn't sure where it'd go. He said normally writers have plot points and know what the ending will be, but he didn't.
"I put myself in (the lead character)," said Milloy. "I explored it and looked at every corner I went around and I tried to think of things that scared me the most and when I got to the end I had no idea. (The lead character) goes on a huge adventure and he looks out the window and I had no idea what was on the other side of the window and then I was like 'I got it.' The movie has an extremely secretive ending."
Milloy said the movie is "unique enough to get a following and sci-fi has a huge following. I think it'll be a movie that'll be remembered, which means more to me than how popular it'll be when it comes out."
Stars in the movie include Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster, Cam Gigandet and Antje Traue. "Pandorum" is about two astronauts who awaken in a hyper-sleep chamber aboard a seemingly abandoned spacecraft and don't remember who they are or what their mission is. The spacecraft's shocking, deadly secrets are revealed and the astronauts find their own survival is more important than they could ever have imagined.
As a student, Milloy said he was never interested in school and he wasn't involved in theater. He wanted to make films so his parents - a doctor and a lawyer - bought him an old "clunker" video camera and he and his friends made action/adventure movies. Milloy said he turned the family's basement into a movie set.
After high school, Milloy pursued his dream and took several film classes at six colleges. He held various jobs in the film world from running cameras, driving trucks to doing stunts. In 1995, Milloy got his first break in the film world by writing, producing and directing a low-budget film, which was partially filmed in Brainerd.
Milloy and his friend, Michael Jentsch, of Brainerd, had a 60-person crew and they raised money for the movie. Milloy said former Brainerd Police Chief Frank Ball worked with them and allowed the use of 15 squad vehicles and 30 officers for a scene.
"I needed them to go racing down the street by Gregory Park, surround a building and pull out their pistols," said Milloy. "They were really great ... We had to do the scene twice because they were all laughing the first time. We needed them to play it seriously."
Milloy said the movie was called "Visionary" and they sold it for double the cost of production. The new owners renamed the movie "Street Gun" and the movie did well.
"It's tough to sell a movie," said Milloy. "At least three-fourths of the low-budget movies made flop. Hollywood accepts over 200,000 scripts a year and less than 60 are made. They will only accept scripts if you have an agent."
Milloy hired an agent in 1996, Jeff Robinov, who was named president of production for Warner Bros. Pictures in 2002. In 2007, Robinov was named president of Warner Bros. Pictures Group. But Milloy said that Robinov has stuck with him.
Milloy has worked with several celebrities in his career, including Prince, Robert Downing Jr., Joe Pantoliano and Jet Li.
JENNIFER STOCKINGER may be reached at jennifer.stockinger@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5851.