Christmas on Mars
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Christmas on Mars is a feature film by the rock band The Flaming Lips that has been in production for over five years, and, as of early 2005 is expected to be completed by Christmas of the same year. According to the band's website, Christmas on Mars is a film "written and directed by Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne, and featuring all of the band and many of their associates as actors (including guitarist and former host of Blue's Clues, Steve Burns, and Elijah Wood of Lord of the Rings fame). The film tells the story of the experiences of Major Syrtis (The Flaming Lips' drummer Steven Drozd) during the first Christmas on a newly-colonized Mars. Coyne has described the film as "[m]aybe Eraserhead or Dead Man crossed with some kind of fantasy and space aspects, like The Wizard of Oz and maybe 2001: A Space Odyssey, except done without real actors or money, and set at Christmas-time. The story that unfolds is intended to hint at childlike magic within a tragic and realistic situation."
The band have detailed their unconventional plans for 'Christmas On Mars' on its release through Warner distribution; the movie will be screened at special concerts by The Flaming Lips, creating a unique sensory experience with the movie acting as a backdrop to the live music.
A trailer for 'Christmas On Mars' was first made available on the bands 'Fight Test' e.p, and can now be found along with movie information on the Flaming Lips own website.
Two tracks from the forthcoming movie soundtrack, 'Protonilus Death March' and 'Syrtis Major' were released as a 5000-only picture-disc e.p late in 2004, available only through the bands' online store in conjunction with the purchase of their limited-edition pictorial biography 'Waking Up With a Placebo Headwound' (with pictures by Jay Blakesburg and J.Michelle Martin-Coyne, the wife of lead-singer Wayne).
External link
- FlamingLips.com (http://www.flaminglips.com/) - Information available under the 'film' tab at the upper right