Stephen Amell and Robbie Amell Team Up for Short Film 'Code 8'
Nora Dominick ‘17/ Emertainment Monthly Co-Executive Stage Editor
Stephen Amell (Arrow, TMNT 2) and Robbie Amell (The Flash, The X-Files) have teamed up to bring their fans something truly extraordinary. On March 22nd the Amell’s released Code 8, a short film they have been working on with hopes of making it into a full length feature film.
Code 8 takes place in a world where 4% of the population are born with some type of supernatural ability. Instead of being billionaire superheroes like those seen in films, TV shows and comics in the past, most of these “specials” live in poverty and resort to crime. This forces the police to become more militarized. The story of Code 8 follows a young man with special powers (Robbie Amell) who is struggling to find work as a day laborer. After a dispute over a payment, he finds himself in a confrontation with a police officer (Sung Kang) and the autonomous robots backing him.
Starring alongside Robbie Amell in Code 8 are Sung Kang (Fast & Furious franchise) and Aaron Abrams (Hannibal, Blindspot). Both Kang and Abrams can be seen in the short film. Stephen Amell may not be seen in the Code 8 short film (his voice can be heard if fans are listening close enough), however he is slated to be in the feature length version.
Alongside the short film, Stephen and Robbie Amell also announced an Indiegogo Campaign to help make Code 8 into a feature film. In a video released with the campaign announcement, the Amell’s discuss their drive for making the film. Robbie says, “Stephen and I always wanted to work together. We got a small taste of it on Arrow and The Flash. We wanted to do something bigger together.” Although both Amell’s have been working in the film and TV business for a long time, the duo have never really shared any screen time. Stephen says, “We had a meeting about a year ago, right around the time of the Arrow/The Flash episode, and we talked about doing a project together with Jeff [Chan] and Code 8 is that project.”
The production for the short version of Code 8 involved a lot of self financing by Robbie and Stephen Amell as well as asking for a lot of favors. “We called in every favor we possibly could,” Robbie says. He mentions that their friends on The X-Files, Arrow and The Flash helped make this dream a reality. Stephen and Robbie Amell wanted to demonstrate to their fans that they can make their idea an actual reality. The short film was a way to show their fans what kind of feature film they have in mind. Not much is known about Code 8, but the Indiegogo campaign page sums it up best (and has some Amell flair in it). It reads:
“The short film is just an introduction to this world. We want to delve deeper! But, we hate spoilers, so we won’t say too much about the story. We can say this: this movie will be intense, it will feel real, and you will see a side of Robbie and Stephen that you haven’t seen before. Oh, and there will be robots, superpowers, and a ton of badass action.”
If all goes accordingly, production is slated to begin in February 2017 with a premiere date estimated for October 2017.