Thirty seconds after I wrote an oblique Tom Waits joke into an article about The Return, I hit on another news item that actually features the guy. Expect a lot more Waits jokes in the future if they’ll always conjure up new film appearances by my favorite voice.
Waits is among the cast members of Wristcutters: A Love Story, which bears no relation to the Ted Raimi classic Lunatics: A Love Story. Wristcutters is more of a Beetlejuice road movie, in which a couple of suicides (Patrick Fugit and Shannon Sossammon) travel through purgatory. Along the way they end up in a camp run by Waits, and eventually meet The Messiah, rightfully played by Will Arnett. Jake Busey is in there somewhere, too, probably sweeping up in the background while Patrick Fugit has a burger and milkshake. Is there no justice?
Wristcutters debuted at Sundance last year, and has been picked up by AfterDark Films for release through Lions Gate in August. Apparently having disregarded that whole thing in Boston a few weeks back, AfterDark plans to market the film with cutout signage of characters committing suicide. Hopefully they won’t miss that flashing lights = bomb scare = MASSIVE PUBLICITY.