That’s probably going to be my favorite headline of the month and this my favorite story:
A Brooklyn filmmaker whose post-apocalyptic hipster survival flick premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival this week could be on the hot seat with state authorities after his actors shot a pair of live deer without a license as part of the movie.
Director Ben Dickson and his crew recorded the dramatic deer-killing scene on a private farm in upstate New York in February 2011 for their critically-acclaimed debut feature-length film, “First Winter.”
Not only did they not have a license, but the incident occurred outside of deer hunting season.
“We are idiots. We didn’t know how to do this [hunting] stuff,” said director Ben Dickson, whose film is scheduled to premiere at the prestigious festival on Thursday April 19.
That’s the info, here’s the fun stuff: [emphasis added]
The crew was practicing yoga inside the farm’s main house one day when someone spotted a herd of deer in the neighboring field. They grabbed a rifle and camera and ran outside, Dickson said.
Actor Paul Manza, a 34-year-old Brooklyn yoga instructor who plays “Paul” the yoga instructor in the film and had no prior acting or hunting experience, pulled the trigger. It was unclear who owned the rifle or whether it was registered.
If there was a firearm handy and I discovered I was stuck in the middle of nowhere with a crew of hipsters who practice yoga together, I would use it on myself.