Dark Star Pictures Lands Acclaimed Genre-Bending Comedy THE BECOMERS, Featuring Sparks Frontman Russell Mael, Ahead of EFM
Ahead of the 2024 European Film Market, Dark Star Pictures has acquired North American distribution rights to the acclaimed genre-bending comedy THE BECOMERS from celebrated American independent filmmaker Zach Clark (White Reindeer, Little Sister) with a theatrical release planned for Q3.
THE BECOMERS is written, directed, and edited by Clark and produced by Joe Swanberg (Happy Christmas, Digging for Fire), and Eddie Linker (recent Sundance breakout Ghostlight, Queen of Earth) of Slasher Film Company. It stars Molly Plunk (Little Sister, See You Next Tuesday), Mike Lopez (May December, All Jacked Up and Full of Worms), Frank V. Ross (Drinking Buddies), Isabel Alamin, and Keith Kelly, and features the iconic voice of Russell Mael, lead singer of the explosive pop-rock duo Sparks. The film world premiered at the 2023 Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, Quebec, with its US premiere following at Beyond Fest and European premiere at the 37th Leeds International Film Festival. Praised by critics upon its debut, Mashable called it “the chaotic bodysnatchers movie 2023 demands,” with Collider describing it as an “amalgamation of cringe love and Cronenbergian body horror” and Bloody Disgusting stating it “defies easy categorization as it blends absurdist humor with gross-out sci-fi and quirky rom-com conventions… An ambitious voyage aimed to challenge perceptions and occasionally the gag reflex as it examines the power of love amidst a turbulent world.” Filmmaker named it a highlight of Fantasia, hailing the film’s handling of dynamic tones as “toggling between a Jarmusch cool and a Linklater chill.”Penned by Clark in March 2021, the film reverberates with the pulse of American politics of that time —drawing from COVID, Qanon, and constant states of anxiety— while exploring themes of confusion, isolation, and the deep need for human connection through the story of two body-snatching alien lovers. Dropped to Earth and escaping their dying planet, the two extraterrestrials (played by a sequence of actors) seek each other out —jumping from body to body— on our planet while becoming increasingly drawn into the madness of modern-day America.
“The beauty of The Becomers is its uniqueness; the film successfully touches so many different genres and wraps them all up with a backdrop of US politics — which can be a horror or comedy movie in itself,” said Dark Star president Michael Repsch. “We could not be more thrilled to be working with Zach and bringing his zany brainchild to audiences in 2024.” “I made The Becomers to capture the way 2020 felt for me,” said Clark, “and it’s been both moving and unnerving to see that feeling continue to resonate with audiences. I’m so excited to be working with Dark Star to get this thing out into the weird, wild world.” Best known for the critically acclaimed White Reindeer (SXSW) released by IFC Films, and Little Sister (SXSW), featuring Addison Timlin and Ally Sheedy, Clark is also a celebrated editor whose credits extend beyond his own films and include Sophia Takal’s Always Shine (Tribeca 2016), Hannah Fidell’s The Long Dumb Road (Sundance 2018), Michael Tully’s Don’t Leave Home (SXSW 2018), and Michael M. Bilandic’s indie cult film Jobe’z World. Repsch negotiated the acquisition deal for Dark Star with Yellow Veil Pictures on behalf of the filmmakers.
