We made it into Screen International's Cannes "buzz titles" list!
https://www.screendaily.com/features/cannes-2024-the-buzz-titles-from-north-america/5193348.article Lon Haber & Co will talk up dramatic thriller The Ghost Trap, James Khanlarian’s story about a lobsterman whose fiancée is swept off the boat by a rogue wave, and who is beset by mysterious rivals. Zak Steiner, Greer Grammer, Sarah Catherine Hook and Steven Ogg star.
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An in-depth conversation with Zak Steiner of "The Ghost Trap" and "Euphoria" fame | DAMAN Magazine4/25/2024 American model-turned-actor Zak Steiner talks about the remarkable journey he’s on and his passion for storytelling, both in front and behind the camera lens. From model to actor to lobsterman, read how Steiner prepared for his role in The Ghost Trap and how he and his castmates felt right at home in Maine. Read article by Daman Magazine"A week prior to principal photography, my co-star, Greer Grammer, and myself went out for Lobster Boot Camp, where we learned how to drive boats, haul traps, band lobsters and basically live the whole Mainer life. Shout out to Ryan, Cheri and Dan the Lobster Man for taking us in with open arms and helping us out throughout the duration of shooting. But even before that, I was watching a lot of YouTube videos on lobstermen: What their day-to-day was like, how they held themselves, the dialect. Along with homework on my relationship with Jamie and other characters in the movie."
Our encore screening at RED Cinemas in Greensboro took place on April 22, 2024 at 8 p.m. wrapping up a whirlwind week of appearances, book signings, and press. Many of the producers' friends and family live in Greensboro and so we had a big turnout and support for the film with many arriving early while K. Stephens signed books. We invited anyone who either bought a book or just came for the show to pose with the author, cast, and producer. It was a lot of fun for everyone. The Ghost Trap producers, James Khanlarian and Rachel Slawson with K. Stephens and Zak Steiner. A friend from Maine, Mandie Sawyer, who has now relocated to NC, came to support K, whom she's known for 15 years. Said Mandie, "The movie was fantastic. It captured Maine so well, it made me homesick. Thank you, for making such an authentic movie!! We sold out of the last original cover of the book before it switches over to the film cover this summer. Thanks also to Brian and Mo at Scuppernong Books who not only hosted us for one book signing, but also came to the second screening with more books to sell and sign. Thanks to Greensboro and Winston-Salem for a wonderful week! We're all flying back home now!
Author K. Stephens, lead actors Greer Grammer, Zak Steiner, and director/producer James Khanlarian at the premiere of The Ghost Trap at the Hanesbrands Theatre in Winston-Salem, April 19, 2024 (Missing from this line up is producer Peter Couture who had to fly to Amsterdam the night before.) The Ghost Trap Narrative Feature The haunting story of Jamie Eugley, a young lobsterman who is forced to choose between right and wrong when his fiancée suffers a traumatic head injury, and a rival lobstering family sabotages his gear. The evening was lots of fun. The film started at 8 p.m. and we sat up in the balcony, watching the audience's reaction. Some laughs, but really quiet at the end--they didn't applaud until the final credits rolled. Then they had us all up on stage for an informal Q&A, ranging from how was the book discovered, how did Zak prepare for his Maine accent, how did Greer prepare for her portrayal of someone with a traumatic brain injury and how many weeks did we film in Maine? Then, off to an after party at an old southern Gothic mansion filled with eclectic art. A beautiful night all around! Greer Grammer portrays Anja, the live-in love of lobsterman Jamie Eugley, played by Zak Steiner. Author/screenwriter K. Stephens with Greer Grammer and Zak Steiner. The second premiere is at RED Cinemas in Greensboro, NC on April 22 at 8 p.m. Stephens is doing a book signing with Scuppernong Books in Greensboro April 20 with the cast and producer and will be giving away a raffle of two free physical tickets and five virtual tickets to the second premiere. The film will run virtually until May 6.
We've been waiting almost nine months to make this announcement! Movie Release: THE GHOST TRAP Posted on April 9, 2024 by Behind the Rabbit Productions
New drama/thriller starring Zak Steiner (Euphoria), Greer Grammer (Deadly Illusions), Sarah Catherine Hook (First Kill, White Lotus), and Steven Ogg (Westworld) makes its festival premiere at RiverRun on April 19 followed by Q&A with cast and crew.LOS ANGELES/WINSTON-SALEM (April 9, 2024) – Khanlarian Entertainment and MITH Entertainment are thrilled to announce the world premiere of The Ghost Trap, based on the novel of the same name by K. Stephens, on April 19, 2024 at 8pm EST followed by a Q&A with cast and crew at the highly acclaimed RiverRun Film Festival. The new elevated drama/thriller stars Zak Steiner (White Men Can’t Jump, Euphoria), Greer Grammer(Awkward, Deadly Illusions), Sarah Catherine Hook (First Kill, The White Lotus), and Steven Ogg (The Walking Dead, Westworld). James Khanlarian is directing from Stephens’ script, which is based on the book she authored by the same name, with Khanlarian Entertainment producing. The producers on the project include Peter A. Couture, Simon Fawcett, Larry Mortorff, Grammer, Steiner, Khanlarian and Stephens. The Ghost Trap is Khanlarian’s feature directorial debut. The cast is further bolstered by Taylor Takahashi (Boogie), Xander Berkeley with more than 200 film and TV credits to his name including The Terminator franchise, Shanghai Noon and Apollo 13, Sarah Clarke (Twilight), and Billy Wirth (The Lost Boys). There will be a special book-signing event with cast and crew present to coincide with the film’s festival premiere at Scuppernong Books in Greensboro, N.C., on Saturday, April 20, 2024 from 2-4 pm. “It was such a joy to film in Maine, where the scenery and landscape create the perfect natural setting, and to have worked with such an incredibly talented cast and crew, many from Maine, North Carolina, as well as other places around the world,” said Khanlarian. “I think the entire cast wanted to move there by the end of production. Now we have our festival debut in my hometown and can’t imagine a better place for The Ghost Trap to premiere. The entire experience has come full circle and been beyond incredible.” “This movie is not about saving the world from giant monsters, zombies, or nuclear war,” said producer Couture. “It’s about people like you and me doing real work, making mistakes and facing the challenges before them.” The Ghost Trap, which was filmed in Maine, and has recently been completed, is based on the novel of the same name by K. Stephens. It tells the story of Jamie Eugley (Steiner), a young lobsterman struggling with the grinding responsibilities of a head-injured girlfriend (Grammer) and a mounting trap war with a rival lobstering family. Hook plays Happy, a potential love interest of the protagonist and Ogg plays the antagonistic patriarch of the Eugley family. “A ghost trap is a lobsterman’s wire trap that has been cut off at the surface and is lost and forgotten at the bottom,” said Stephens. “That could have been my book, published so long ago. But thanks to the producers and to my Maine lobstermen friends who believed in it and backed me up every step of the way, this film is gorgeous and gritty, featuring a culture that people rarely get to see.” Steiner is best known for his role in the hit series Euphoria as Aaron Jacobs. He can also be seen in supporting roles in White Men Can’t Jump on Hulu and A Hollywood Christmas on HBO Max. Grammer is best known for her role as Lissa Miller in the long-running and critically acclaimed MTV series, Awkward. Most recently she produced and starred in the hit Netflix film, Deadly Illusions alongside Kristin Davis and Dermont Mulroney. Deadly Illusions went on to globally hold the #1 spot on the streaming platform. Hook recently found her first leading role in Netflix’s series First Kill, based on V.E. Schwab’s short story, which launched her into the spotlight. She stars in the eight-episode drama series as Juliette, a vampire who falls into forbidden love with the vampire slayer, Calliope (Imani Lewis). Hook is currently filming the third season of The White Lotus for HBO Max. Ogg currently appears in BBC’s new critically acclaimed TV show Boiling Point,, based on the hit film starring Stephen Graham. Ogg is best known for playing Simon in AMC’s The Walking Dead, Rebus in HBO’s Westworld, Sobchak in another AMC hit, Better Call Saul, Pike in TNT’s Snowpiercer, and he also played Captain Howard in Apple TV’s movie, Emancipation. Ogg has a global notoriety for his role as Trevor in the video game GTA V.
We ran a contest and got some amazing talent behind what would eventually be chosen as our official poster for the movie. We discussed this poster quite a bit and why it needed to convey both the love triangle and the danger of the lobstering feud. Plus, Dan's boat Antares made it in, so he's pretty pleased about that.
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Two whirlwind summers in a row--2022 and 2023--and I'm ready for a little down time. The film is still in a holding pattern as we apply to film festivals. We do have other news that I can't release publicly yet, but we are making progress. So I got in the car and took a drive, not knowing where I'd end up. I ended up down in Bristol, first at Shaw's Wharf, which is closed for the season. How to describe the smell of a fish wharf in Maine: It's like your cat's breath, off and disturbing, but you crave it. It's the decaying smell of shellfish with an underbloom of salt and a hearty blast of fresh sea air. Like something dying, but you want to drink up its gasping last breath. This is a scent familiar to people who've lived with trauma; it's off putting to those who haven't. I kept going until I got to Pemaquid Point, which was delightfully uncrowded on a Thursday afternoon. The lighthouse of course is what people come to see, but I like all of the furrowed ledges of metamorphic gray rocks running down to the sea. Sometimes when you don't feel like doing anything, the best thing to do is to get in the car and drag yourself to some place beautiful. And take a rest. Photos ©Kay Stephens
K. Stephens will be at the press conference Aug. 3, (and signing books afterward at the Marine Tent) and again on live TV at the crate races Aug. 6 talking about the book/film connection. When I wrote the book back in 2002, I included the Maine Lobster Festival calling it "Lobster Weekend" in several pivotal scenes. Little did I know that in the summer of 2022, we'd be filming scenes for this book, adapted into a feature film with..you guessed it..the Maine Lobster Festival as a third character in the background. Last August, we began pre-production with cinematographer Michael Tedford, director/producer James Khanlarian and myself front and center at the Festival filming b roll and the Great International Crate Races...that is..until a thunderboomer came out of nowhere and began to douse the crate races. We were working with a $100,000 camera and had to get out of there...fast! Still, we managed to gather enough behind the scenes footage along with the crate races that appears about 10 seconds in the film. Fun fact: we had to de-age some of the signs at the festival as the book/film is set in 1993. Fun fact: Shannon Kinney appears in two seconds of the film as she welcomes a crate racer to the end. Later in the summer, we blocked off an entire day of shooting in Rockland and our set designers had to "re-create" a section of the Maine Lobster Festival for one scene in Gilbert and Adams Central Park (next to police station). Here's a blog post with more photos from that day. Alec Wirth, nephew of actor/writer Billy Wirth (The Lost Boys). Alec plays the son of antagonist lobsterman, Dale Fogerty. Fun fact: the giant inflatable lobster behind them was a last minute addition. Since I'm a journalist and did a story on the food truck Mac Attack who had the lobster, I walked down to the harbor and asked if we could borrow it for our scenes for a few hours. Although The Ghost Trap deals with scenes depicting the struggles and unseen wars between rival lobstering families, it is, at heart, a tragic love story. In rehearsal, going over lines. Here, Zak Steiner, who plays the lead character lobsterman Jamie Eugley, has an animated conversation with his girlfriend Anja, (Greer Grammer) who lives with a traumatic brain injury. A laugh between scenes. Zak jokes with Sarah Catherine Hook (First Kill), who plays Happy Klein, a free-wheeling schooner boat First Mate. Sarah Catherine is a new friend and a welcome distraction for Jamie, but he worries, will it go too far? Stay tuned I will be attending the Festival for three events this year:
1. August 3. To support the #SaveMaineLobstermen campaign, on Thursday, Aug. 3 at 11am in the North Tent on the Festival grounds at Harbor Park in Rockland, Maine, a panel will discuss the plans to support the Maine lobster industry and the families who make their living on the water. I'll be there as we screen the trailer for the first time in front of the press and to talk a little bit about how real Maine lobstermen (not actors) were integral to making the movie. 2. August 3. Following that, (around noon, I'll be in the Marine Tent, signing limited edition copies of The Ghost Trap ($16.95 credit/$17 cash) til around 4 p.m. 3. August 6. The International Great Crate Race is a crowd favorite at the Maine Lobster Festival! This year's event, held Sunday, Aug. 6 at 2pm will be announced by the hilarious Emily Dillon and covered live by FOX ABC Maine. I'll be there talking about the book & film. Watch the livestream starting at 1:30pm Aug. 6: https://bit.ly/3O7IGqW Stay tuned to our New page because we will have more announcements to come! The Lobster Pound in Lincolnville and Bonnie's Place in Rockport both carry signed copies. The Ghost Trap is is also back in stock on Amazon for a limited time before we redo the cover. (Do authors a favor and buy new--never used from third-party sellers on Amazon or else we never earn the royalty.) We'll soon have a space at Maine Micro Artisans' newest retail location in the Bangor Mall starting August 1. Update! We are SOLD out of The Lobster Pound. I have a number of book signings coming up in August so I need to hold onto my stash of books until then. You can still order from Amazon and IndiePubs (discount promo: tadpole) while the limited edition is in stock!
Whew! We did it. The final scenes wrapped on Saturday, 11/5. Seen here in a friendly moment between rivals in the bar Churchie's is Jay Huguley (Paul) and Kip Weeks (Ev Fogerty), James Khanlarian in the center, Zak Steiner (Jamie Eugley), and Alec Wirth (Russell Fogerty) Here's a scene in the convenience store with Zak and I think, Tim Peper (Neal Ames) judging by his super creased golf pants. The last scenes of the week were on a sailboat for the scenes between Jamie and Happy. James and Zak hanging in the background here. Here's Sarah Catherine Hook (Happy) getting ready for a scene. Greer got a lot of her final scenes done early in the week. Here's her picture wrap (taken from her IG story) on how Zak and the crew surprised her with a bouquet of roses. Stay tuned. We're now officially in post-production and a lot has to still happen behind the scenes, including editing, composing, and working out some distribution details. As far as my book, it is still awaiting a new print run, and you can go a long way to ensure we get more copies available by going to my publisher Leapfrog Press and putting in a pre-order. It's been a heck of a ride!
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