Killing Season Information

Killing Season (previously titled Shrapnel) is a 2013 action film written by Evan Daugherty and directed by Mark Steven Johnson for Millennium Films, as the first on-screen pairing of actors John Travolta and Robert De Niro. The film pertains to a personal fight between an American war veteran and a former Serb soldier.

Daugherty's script caught the attention of producers after winning the 2008 Script Pipeline Screenwriting Competition. Upon release the film received negative reviews from critics and as of August 2013 has a rating of 11% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Plot

After a brief flashback of the Bosnian War, the film forwards to current-day Belgrade, Serbia, where former Scorpions soldier Emil Kova? (John Travolta) from Lukomir meets his informant to retrieve a file on American military veteran and former NATO operative Colonel Benjamin Ford (Robert De Niro). Ford has fled to a cabin retreat somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains, to forget the war which he fought in. Now a recluse, he meets Kova?, posing off as a European tourist, during a hunting trip. The two men strike an unlikely acquaintanceship which disappears when Kova? reveals his true identity. Intent on revenge, he initiates a gory game of cat-and-mouse with Ford. The latter is greatly injured but is quick to rebound. After a gory showdown, Kova? is overpowered by Ford. They however reach a peaceful compromise after understanding each other's predicament. Kova? quietly returns to Serbia, while Ford visits his son, to make up for missing his grandsons baptism.

Cast

• Robert De Niro as Benjamin Ford
• John Travolta as Emil Kova?
• Milo Ventimiglia as Chris Ford
• Elizabeth Olin as Sarah Ford

Production

"It's thrilling, imaginative, unexpected and dominated by two extraordinary characters on a collision course"

"? Paul Breuls, Corsan's Chief Executive Officer, when asked about the film.

The project was originally set in the 1970s and titled Shrapnel. It was being considered by John Travolta and Nicolas Cage as a project to follow up on their film Face Off and by director John McTiernan as a directing vehicle. Subsequently renamed and modified to take place in modern day Appalachia, and co-financed and co-produced by Corsan, Nu Image and Millennium Films, filming began on January 16, 2012, in the Appalachian Mountains of north Georgia. Major filming was scheduled for Tallulah Gorge State Park and Black Rock Mountain State Park. The locations in Rabun County were chosen by director Mark Steven Johnson to create the effect and mood he had previously seen in the film Deliverance. Other minor filming locations included Sofia, Bulgaria, Sweetwater Creek State Park, and the Pine Mountain Gold Museum in Stockmar Park, Villa Rica. International sales for Killing Season, offered by the American Film Market, commenced on November 2, 2011, in Santa Monica. American cellist/singer/songwriter Ben Sollee contributed solo cello performances as well as an original song, "Letting Go", for the end credits.

Release

Critical response

Killing Season was released in the United States on July 12, 2013, in both the home screen and the cinemas. Boyd van Hoeij of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the film would be better off as a "small-screen item". The film has received unanimously negative reviews from critics, and as of August 2013 holds an 11% on Rotten Tomatoes. Joe Neumaier of the New York Daily News awarded the film one out of five stars, panning Travolta's character's Serbian accent. David DeWitt of The New York Times stated that "[i]t's not worthless, but it's not good. As a genre film, it's too ambitious; as an art film, it's too obvious."

See also