In mid-2012, five celebrities—Jamie Foxx, Biz Stone,Eva Longoria, James Murphy, and Georgina Chapman—along with five consumer directors, were tasked with creating their own movies. They were to be inspired by user-submitted photos interpret different storytelling themes. Thousands of submissions were cut down to 91, with each director choosing nine for their story. To unite the films with a common thread, Ron Howard chose the 10th, which reflected the theme of Discovery. Under the mentorship of Howard himself, and with some help from celebrities who starred in select films, filming went underway.
The result exceeded expectations. Last Thursday, at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, the directors were able to showcase their work as part of Canon's Project Imaginat10n Film Festival. Stories ranged from Longoria's ass-kicking action flick and Chapman's Peter Pan-like fairytale, to Murphy's Japanese dramedy and Stone's modern-day take on Poe. However, the standout of the evening was Foxx's bizarro Frankenstein-in-Brooklyn romance, clearly inspired by his "Blame It" director Hype Williams. Think sewn up mannequin-like models and a shirtless Tyrin Turner.
Luckily, you can check out all the short films now on Yahoo! Screen. For your convenience, Foxx's short is embedded below.
Complex got the chance to hit the red carpet at last week's premiere and asked a few celebrities to get creative. After all, it is Project Imaginat10n.
Which fictional character do you relate to most?
"Bugs Bunny because growing up he was the best. He's my hero. He's always the smartest guy in the room and I wanted to be that. He was always a pain in the ass and really funny." —James Murphy, founder of LCD Soundsystem
What was your biggest fantasy as a kid?
"When I was a kid, I always thought I'd be able to fly, but just a little bit off the ground. Later on, I translated the ability to fly to the ability to do things beyond what people could do." —Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter
"To be able to fly." —Georgina Chapman, designer and co-owner of Marchesa
If you could live in another time, what would it be?
"I'd like to live in the 1950s and '60s just to hang out with my parents when they were kids. I think we'd have a lot of fun playing sports and going to bars. I want the whole Back to the Future thing without the crisis." —Max Joseph, co-creator of Catfish
"The 1970s because they seemed like they had a lot of fun. They partied, they had great wigs, and they had great afros. I'd love to hang out with Jim Brown." —Tyrin Turner, actor
If past lives do exist, what do you think you were?
"I'd say I was a sailor. As an actor, you travel all the time, and sailors used to be those people that saw the world, traveled the world." —Aaron Tveit, actor
