‘Buried’ Writer and RI’s Own Chris Sparling Hits the Silver Screen

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

GoLocalProv Lifestyle Editor Andrea E. McHugh

“Oscar buzz,” isn’t a term that gets tossed around lightly, but for North Providence native Chris Sparling, the rumors are music to his ears. Next Friday, October, 8, the country will get their first chance to see what the buzz is all about when Sparling’s highly anticipated dramatic thriller, Buried, is released nationwide.

Dollar for Dollar

“It kinda was born out of financial necessity … I said, ‘Alright, to make another feature, it can’t be expensive,’ because I realized in the first go around, even though it was a no-budget feature, it still cost money, and a good amount,” said Sparling from the patio at Olga’s Cup + Saucer, who wrote the screenplay nearly two years ago. The actor’s foray into writing and directing was 2005's An Uzi at the Alamo, an independent film shot in Rhode Island which proved to be Sparling’s baptism by filmmaking fire, followed by a short film, Balance, in 2007. “So it’s, ‘Okay, what can I afford to make for like, five grand?’ And so naturally, I took from the lessons from the first one–minimal sets, minimal number of actors, everything–and so I just kept scaling and scaling the idea back until eventually, I was left with one guy in one location.”

Claustrophobia Redefined

Sparling narrowed down the concept of his central character being buried alive, but scrapped the original script that was veering more into horror territory than dramatic thriller. After researching concepts to put the plot into context, Sparling learned about the widespread occurrence of civilian contractors being taken hostage for ransom in Iraq. “This is going on all the time because this is one of the few, functioning businesses out there right now,” he explained. “They’re just criminals; not necessarily insurgents, not terrorists, just criminals.”

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Star Power

After the script rocketed from small, independent endeavor to major studio courtship, actor Ryan Reynolds (The Proposal, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Just Friends) landed the lead role and soon after, Sparling was jetting off to Spain to film with director Rodrigo Cortés. By January if this year, Buried, which is 94 minutes of being trapped six feet under, was being screened and winning rave reviews at the legendary Sundance Film Festival. “It went over like gangbusters,” Sparling beamed. Next weekend, the rest of the nation will be able to see for themselves.

Buried opens in widespread release Friday, October, 8.

 

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