The 'Atlantis' lands in Olde Towne

The premier week of the move "Atlantis Down" will be shown in Olde Towne Portsmouth at the Commodore Theater.

 October 1-7, 2010

Portsmouth’s High Street  was closed to traffic Friday night as limousines rolled up to the Commodore Theater, klieg lights illuminate the skies, and stars tread the red carpet.

The occasion was the premiere of the science-fiction thriller “Atlantis Down,” filmed, spaceship and all, in Hampton Roads and the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The cast, headed by lead actor Michael Rooker, will parade. Parties followed. The movie will play for a week.

Executive producer Ethan Marten is a filmmaker and a showman. He acknowledges that it’s a big event for a little movie that doesn’t yet have a distributor and was made, according to his only budgetary statement, “for less than $1 million.”

Still, everyone has gotten on the premiere bandwagon, from the Italian Embassy in D.C. (honoring the film’s director) to the local Filipino community (honoring the movie’s leading lady) to the Virginia Film Commission (which contributed a grant to get it made) and proclamations from Virginia Beach and Portsmouth officials (where most of the film was shot).

About half the film was shot at First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach. Sets built at Studio 463 on Court Street in Portsmouth, just blocks from the site of the premiere, served for shooting interiors. One scene, depicting a desert wasteland, was shot in Kill Devil Hills in North Carolina.

The movie, set in 2025, begins in space. The shuttle Atlantis has become a private taxi between space stations. Rooker, whose breakthrough came as the title role in “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer” in 1986, plays an alien who challenges a young astronaut to a game of chess. It becomes a psychological battle, pitting reality vs. illusion.

Marten and his family, particularly his father, have a history of ambitious film projects in the area. The Marten family built and managed Atlantic Film Studios, billed as Virginia’s first full-service motion picture studio. Ethan Marten founded 2nd Story Theater in the Ghent area of Norfolk. He became friends with Italian director Max Bartoli four years ago when both had award-winning films in the New York International Independent Short Film Festival – Bartoli for “Ignotus” and Marten for “Samaritan.”

A little more than a year ago, Bartoli, now located in Los Angeles, called Marten about a script called “Atlantis Down.” Marten encouraged him to bring the production to Hampton Roads.

“The script promised to be both entertaining and thought-provoking, and I could see how the whole thing could be filmed locally,” Marten said.

The two took the project to the Virginia Film Commission and got a governor’s grant.

“We had to be very time-conscious,” Marten said, “so it was a blessing that we learned that First Landing State Park could double for desert, tropical rain forest  and swamps, just by moving the camera a bit.”

Six sets, including the spaceship, were constructed inside a building that was formerly a Masonic temple, built in the 1890s on Court Street in Portsmouth.

Rooker plays both father and alien. The actor has appeared in a variety of films that range from “Mississippi Burning” to “Sea of Love,” “JFK” and “Days of Thunder.” His role in “Atlantis Down” is ambiguous. He appears to be a father who punishes his young son severely for losing at chess. But he might not be a bad guy – just one who is trying to teach his son not to give up. The audience is asked to choose.

The cast includes local actresses Pamela Good, who plays the mother who may have died of cancer, and Kera O’Bryon as an astronaut. She is a veteran of local theater, including the musical “Guys and Dolls.” Other Hampton Roads cast members are Travis Quentin Young as the young astronaut and Darla Grese.

Hollywood personages that flew in for the premiere include cast members Dean Haglund (of “X-Files”) and Greg Travis of “Starship Troopers” and “Showgirls.”

“Atlantis Down” plays for a week (October 1-7) nightly at 7 p.m. and at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday. Students with an ID will be admitted free on Monday. Fifteen percent of proceeds from Tuesday and Wednesday’s screenings go to Operation Homefront.

On screen, it’s something like “Twilight Zone Meets Star Trek.” Off screen, it’s a great deal of partying.

Here's a link to the Commodore Theatre- http://www.commodoretheatre.com/index.php 

THE COMMODORE THEATRE is a luxuriously restored 1945 Art Deco style motion picture theatre presenting first run films with a fine dining restaurant within the main auditorium. 421 High Street in Olde Towne Portsmouth, VA 23704 (757) 393-6962. Just a short walk from the marinas and the High Street basin.