PRESS RELEASE: "The Seventh Python draws cheers, standing ovation at Beatles fan festival in Chicago"

Entertainment

1000+ fans line up for morning screening of Neil Innes biopic

The Seventh Python
draws cheers,
standing ovation
at Beatles fan festival
in Chicago

HOLLYWOOD (JONAS PR) -- The Seventh Python, the acclaimed musical biopic of satirist, Monty Python collaborator and Rutle Neil Innes, received a standing ovation from more than a thousand fans in Chicago this weekend as producers previewed the film at the year's largest Beatles fan convention as part of its screening tour for distributors and tastemakers.

The Frozen Pictures film, which also stars Monty Python veterans John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin, along with British comedian Phill Jupitus and Academy Award-nominated singer-songwriter Aimee Mann.

'This was the screening that was most nervous-making,' director Burt Kearns said this morning. 'This is largest Beatles fans convention of the year, and because Neil's fans and story are so closely connected with the Beatles, we knew a thumbs-down or even a shrug could do us in. But they loved it! More than a thousand a people showed up at 11 in the morning after a wild Friday night. And a standing ovation? Thank you, Fest for Beatles fans.'

'One thing these screenings are proving is that The Seventh Python deserves a theatrical run,' added producer Brett Hudson, himself an attraction at the fest as a member of the re-formed Hudson Brothers. 'The comedy from the Pythons and newcomers like Phill Jupitus has the audience rolling with laughter; the music has them singing and clapping along; the story of Neil's friendship with George Harrison actually has them crying. And in the end, they're on their feet.'

The film had its world premiere June 26th as the opening selection of the American Cinematheque's Mods & Rockers Film Festival in Hollywood. This Chicago 'Heartland premiere' was the next step on the way across the country to a distributors' screening in New York City, and across the Atlantic to a showing for Innes friends, fans and colleagues in London.

'This is a film that comes with the fans' seal of approval," Kearns said. "But it's for the mainstream audience who loves rock ‘n' roll, comedy, the Beatles, Monty Python- and are ready to be introduced to an awesomely talented songwriter and performer who's only managed to avoid fame for 40 years because he's insisted on it!"

Added Hudson: "The acclaim for Neil is well-deserved."

Additional film festival dates are due to be announced. Plans are also underway for The Seventh Python soundtrack and companion book.

Neil Innes-Hudson Brothers power combo helps turn The Seventh Python into greatest hit at Chicago Fest for Beatles Fans

The following post is adapted from a post on TabloidBaby.com:

With its star, supporting cast, director, producer and music supervisor in prominent attendance and a special, surprise late-night screening that followed up the packed, enthusiastic showing on Saturday morning, the unreleased Neil Innes biopic The Seventh Python is surely the hottest news to come out of The Fest for Beatles Fans that continues with overflow crowds today in Chicago.

Our latest film had its world premiere in June at Martin Lewis' Mods & Rocker Film Festival in Hollywood and is on the march to a New York City screening soon to be announced, as we look for theatrical distribution for what's proving to be a crowd pleaser that has audiences cheering, laughing, crying and singing along!

Neil Innes with superfan, Barbara Poudrier, who’s developed and runs several Innes fansites.

Key to The Seventh Python mania among the thousands of fans who’ve lined up this weekend with Python memorabilia and posters, is the approachable charisma of the movie’s star, Neil Innes, who's become a key figure at these Beatles Fests-- and an unexpected comeback of Seventies pop stars and John Lennon compadres The Hudson Brothers (one-third of which is our own Brett Hudson), who teamed up with Neil onstage and at signing sessions.

Mark and Brett Hudson eat in public.

Mark Hudson, familiar to Beatle Fest fans for writing with and producing Ringo Starr (and in a remarkable coup, filling for a lost friend by recording a tracks with George, Paul and Ringo ) was joined by brother Brett, who returns to performing after 28 years. A noted television and film writer and producer, Brett is producer and writer of The Seventh Python (Mark is music supervisor).

The trio was a triple-threat of promotion and star quality, joined occasionally by non-celeb Seventh director Burt Kearns.



Brett Hudson and Kearns entertained a large crowd last night with their stories of the making of The Seventh Python, a forum in which Brett revealed publicly that there will indeed be a Hudson brothers reunion (probably in New York City) and a documentary film produced by himself and Kearns.


Their talk was dwarfed by the no-standing-room-left Mark and Brett discussion moderated by Martin Lewis ("A Brit a A Brett & A Brat"). The fest continues today, and will be capped by another huge concert featuring the Hudsons (two out of three, so far) and Neil Innes.

Brett Hudson surrounded by the Mark Hudson power sales and promotion team, borrowed for The Seventh Python promotion: Still Nancy, Killer Heels, Soft Focus and Cheryl.

The Seventh Python is a hit at Chicago Beatles fest!

This exclusive video shows the audience response to the closing moments of The Seventh Python, our new Neil Innes musical biopic, at its special 11 a.m. showing Saturday morning at the fest for Beatles Fans in Chicago. More than a thousand fans crowded into the Rosemont Ballroom for the exclusive screening, and the response was overwhelming.

So was the standing ovation!

Exclusive photo! Neil Innes (right) watches the movie
with The Fest for Beatles Fans director Mark Lapidus.

Martin Lewis, Beatles Fest emcee and
curator of the American Cinematheque's
Mods & Rockers Film Festival that had
The Seventh Python's world premiere
as its opening selection, has another look.

Musician, songwriter and producer Mark Hudson
is caught watching The Seventh Python at its
Chicago fest for Beatles Fans screening

Chicago Sun-Times heralds The Seventh Python

The Chicago Sun-Times features Neil Innes in today's issue, in anticipation of Saturday's Heartland premiere of our Innes biopic, The Seventh Python.

The film will screen at 11 a.m. Saturday for early-bird fans at The Fest For Beatle Fans at the Hyatt-Regency O'Hare Hotel.

Jeff Elbel interviews Neil from his home in England:

Chicago Sun-Times
August 7, 2008

A satisfied Rutle spends lost weekend with Beatles fans in Chicago

BY JEFF ELBEL

According to Neil Innes, he stumbled innocently into show business with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band during the 1960s and has been falling through open doors ever since. He’s happier as a respected peer of timeless entertainers like the Beatles and Monty Python troupe than being considered a star himself.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Rutles film “All You Need Is Cash,” a wickedly funny Beatles spoof. Monty Python’s Eric Idle wrote the screenplay about the “Prefab Four,” and Innes starred as John Lennon figure Ron Nasty. Innes’ compositions for the soundtrack (and 1996’s “Archaeology”) rival the wit and craft of the Beatles’ works they affectionately skewer.

This weekend in Chicago, Innes will speak at The Fest for Beatles Fans and perform Rutles favorites with the band Liverpool. Attendees also can see a new documentary called “The Seventh Python,” dedicated to Innes’ “accidental career.”

Innes spoke with the Sun-Times from his home in England.

Q. The Rutles song “Joe Public” could make a fitting theme song for the pro-anonymity stance of “The Seventh Python,” if you weren’t such an inspiring skeptic. Would the lyric “I put my faith in the powers that be” ever suit you?

A. No, but that’s what Joe Public does. If you go right back to Socrates, intelligence has not been a commodity held in high esteem. Most Joe Publics are happy to support a football team or form some sort of tribe, which plays into the hands of anyone wanting to take away their hard-earned dollar. [The general public] are not stupid, but we are unaware of how things work.

Q. Does “The Seventh Python” stoke your ego, or provoke your contempt for fame?

A. It’s a wriggly, awkward place to be, I’ll tell you [laughs]. I quite like that they went ’round with a photograph and nobody recognized me. My favorite bit was on Hollywood Boulevard, where the guy says, “So, you’re making a documentary about somebody nobody knows?” Fame and money have become the twin pillars of modern culture. I love the idea of a D-list celebrity, which is someone who’s been hit on the head by Tiger Woods’ golf ball.

Q. Would people at The Fest for Beatles Fans have the same trouble with the photo?

A. No, no. I just don’t cross into the mainstream. I’ve [witnessed] very big fame through people I know. It’s a lot more fun being a Rutle than a Beatle!

Q. Will you find the type of fans who made life challenging for the Beatles at the Fest?

A. No; it’s people on a voluntary Lost Weekend with family, playing songs to each other that they love. What unites everybody is a preferable reality to the one that comes down the pipe every other day of the year. It’s a little oasis of friendliness and hope. I’m incredibly flattered that they should find the Rutles songs not that wide of the mark.

Our Spinal Tap moment!

Hey! Maybe The Seventh Python is our Spinal Tap!

Two days until we follow up the June 26th Hollywood premiere of our Neil Innes docofilm with Saturday morning shwoing at the Fest for Beatles Fans in Chicago.


The gigantic Beatles fan convention is taking place tomorrow through Sunday at the Hyatt Regency-O'Hare Hotel (and taking over the hotel).

The film will be screened in the hotels' Rosemont Ballroom at 11 a.m. Saturday as an "early bird special" for the thousands of Beatlemaniacs who'll be descending for the memorabilia swap, sell and songfest.

The Spinal Tap connection? Well, just as in the movie This is Spinal Tap, The Seventh Python is sharing billing, in this case, the "early bird" slot, with a puppet show!

On Sunday at 11:15 a.m., early birds are treated to Bob Abdou's Puppet Show (and a rockin' good Beatles puppet show it is)!

See you all in Chicago!