PhonY, the feature about the (ab-)use of cell phones, bears the unusual concept of being told in interweaving segments located in five countries.

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The segments playing in Switzerland, Thailand and Canada were already filmed in spring 2018.

 

 

 

 

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The segments in Los Angeles and Australia were scheduled for October 2018.  But on September 6, a mere month before the filming had to start in Hollywood, PhonY’s lead actor,  the five-time-world-star-number-one-screen-legend Burt Reynolds passed away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This incident has left PhonY  to only 60% filmed.   However, as this production is uniquely filmed in segments, the existing footage represents completed segments, the difficult all-exterior segments. 

The 40% remaining segments call for the well-known Hollywood names.  Being mostly interior, these are easier and less risk-bound to achieve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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With Golden Globe-winner Elke Sommer’s commitment to participate, pre-production went underway for the Los Angeles-segment (one of the two remaining segments) to be filmed April 14 - 24, 2020 in Thailand’s Phuket (doubling for California).

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Though, as the current Corona-crisis has imposed severe restrictions, the April-filming was postponed first to May 18 - 28, and then finally to June 9 - 19, 2020.  But eventually, due to the imposed travel- and immigration-restrictions, Ms. Sommer was not able to join filming, and only some additional scenes of the Thai-segment along some 2nd Unit were able to be achieved, by employing local (Thai-)cast and crew.

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Once the lockdown of filming is lifted, the production of the remaining two segments will be undertaken at once- in Hollywood, or else.

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Then...the problem-laden production of PhonY will come to a final Happy End, and we may proudly present this truly unusual work of film - right in the mold of the 2020-Best Film of the Year 'Parasite' .  A  number of striking resemblances such as low-budget and a farce-comedy are being explained here.

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