Caymanian filmmaker Frank E. Flowers has revealed the trailer for his latest film, ‘The Bluff’, this week ahead of the feature film’s launch on Amazon Prime Video on 25 Feb.
Billed as “a non-stop thrill ride, blending historical context with modern cinematic flair, filled with gripping sword fights, tactical traps, and bloody brawls,” the film stars Priyanka Chopra Jonas as the heroine and former pirate Ercell ‘Bloody Mary’ Bodden, who has to confront her bloody past to save her family.
It was directed by Flowers from a script he co-wrote with Joe Ballarini. Big Hollywood names were involved in the making of the movie, with siblings Anthony Russo and Joe Russo – best known for directing four of the Marvel films – and Angela Russo-Otstot serving as producers on the film through their production company AGBO.
Iconic setting
The film is set in the Cayman Islands and features some real-life locations, including Skull Cave and the iconic bluff, although the majority of the film was made in Australia.
Appearing from Los Angeles on Compass TV’s Daybreak, Flowers said, “I’ve been blessed to work with really incredible people and to be able to follow that guiding light of telling Caribbean stories that speak to my heart.”
He added, “Whether that be as a writer or as a director, it’s been very much what I’ve wanted to do and I’m blessed to be able to do it, especially here with ‘The Bluff,’ which is the Caymanian story told with an incredible group of people.”
The writing team took inspiration from Caymanian archives to make sure they were being historically accurate, while also bringing Cayman’s fascinating history to life.
The decision to film in Australia was made due to the sheer size of the project, explained Flowers.
“We looked at filming in Cayman but by the time the ball started rolling, we started to understand the scope and the size of what the movie needs to be,” he said. “We just didn’t have the infrastructure, all the things that you need to make a movie … I work with the film commission and we’re working really hard to be able to accommodate movies to be able to be shot there. But we needed a big, big canvas to paint on.”
Instead, Flowers and his crew built and entire Caymanian village, complete with seawall and dock, for the movie’s major scenes, and great efforts were taken to make it as authentic as possible, even bringing a tiny vial of sand from Seven Mile Beach to make sure that the sand was the right colour.
Said Flowers, “We brought in trees which were exactly like Caymanian trees, so you’ll see that the foliage matches, the sand matches and you’ll see historical photos come to life which is super-exciting.”
The Bluff debuts on Amazon Prime Video on 25 Feb.
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Congrats Frankie! Next, please make a film, perhaps expanding on “Haven”, about the piracy in Cayman during the late 70s and 80s how drug trafficking influenced local politics and made a certain “national hero”.
While there are still people around who can give you tid-bits.