CINEMATIC SHOCK: MOCK DOC ON THE ASSASSINATION OF BILL GATES TO PREMIERE
JANUARY 13 AT SLAMDANCE 2002 FILM FESTIVAL
Mon Dec 31 2001 12:22:11 ET

A new shock film is set to debut -- a film which depicts the assassination
of the world's richest man.

"Bill Gates was shot dead in Los Angeles on December 2, 1999. Police and
city officials say a lone assassin - an African-American hell-bent on class
war - was apprehended and killed immediately thereafter. But skeptical
citizens band together to investigate the real truth behind the last great
crime of the 20th century..."

Thus begins the controversial and eerily realistic faux documentary NOTHING
SO STRANGE by writer/director Brian Flemming (Bat Boy: the Musical; Hang
Your Dog in the Wind). NOTHING SO STRANGE, produced by GMD Studios in tandem
with key production consultant Haxan Films (The Blair Witch Project), will
premiere January 13 at Slamdance, the annual Park City, Utah, festival that
has debuted independent films by such luminaries as Steven Soderbergh and
Memento director Chistopher Nolan.

THE FILM

David James (who, coincidentally enough, recently appeared in a Microsoft
print ad campaign) and Laurie Pike (the former editor and publisher of Glue
magazine) star as leaders of the activist group Citizens for Truth, who aim
to open the files of the police investigation of the Gates assassination,
which was handled by the scandal-ridden Rampart Division of the LAPD.
NOTHING SO STRANGE documents the group's dreams and struggles in their
David-versus-Goliath battle.

Steve Sires, a professional Bill Gates impersonator, makes his feature film
debut in a scene in which his head gets graphically blown off.

"The film isn't really about Bill Gates, though, and I have nothing against
the man," says director Brian Flemming. "His murder is simply used at the
start of the film to launch a story about class, race and corrupt government
institutions."

GMD Studios has created a vast Web universe that both draws from and expands
on the plot of NOTHING SO STRANGE. Incorporating dozens of separate
websites, all of which purport to be real (and one of which prompted a
threatening call from the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office).

The real Bill Gates's only reaction to NOTHING SO STRANGE has been through a
spokesperson: "It's very disappointing that a movie maker would do something
like this."

Developing...
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