“Goats”

Christopher Neil was drawn to the film industry because it’s in his blood; Francis Ford Coppola is his uncle. He was drawn to adapt Mark Jude Poirier’s book “Goats” because it’s in his blood; he grew up on a goat farm.

Neil’s directorial debut, “Goats” comes after years working in the film industry as an acting coach and a dialect coach on films like “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith,” Sundance alum “Hesher” and cousin Sofia’s “Somewhere.” Neil optioned the rights to “Goats” eight years ago and hired Poirier to adapt. Working closely, the two have explored the Tucson locations that inspired the book’s writing.

“Mark gave me the lay of the land in Tucson early on,” said Neil. “He drove me around, showing me the real places in the novel.” The two began working on the script in late 2003; Neil started taking a draft of the script out for funding a year later. “Getting the film cast and financed has been a long path” he said. “The coming-of-age drama is a difficult kind of film to get made. The script had spoken for itself and I’m very lucky to have the actors attached that I have.”

In “Goats,” 15-year-old Ellis (Graham Phillips) prepares to attend a prep school far from his home in Tucson, where his mother (Vera Farmiga) has hired a goat herder (David Duchovny) to maintain the house. For Ellis, Goat Man is his pot-smoking mentor and the only father he has ever known. When Ellis moves to a prep school on the East Coast, where his father (Ty Burrell) was a star student, he must also confront the culture of his estranged father and his new wife (Keri Russell), as well as her friends, played by Minnie Driver and Will Arnett.

The film will be shot in the same Tucson neighborhoods in which the story takes place. Filling in for the East Coast will be locations in Albuquerque, which is also the home base for production company Sandia Media. The biggest challenge, Neil anticipates, is “all of the scenes with the goats. I’m excited to film the scenes where the actors are interacting with the goats as if they’re other characters in the movie. I think it’s going to be very real and consequently very funny.”

Neil has heard horror stories about training goats, but says they are currently practicing their lines. “There’s a resident goat expert in Tucson who goes on goat treks into the mountains with people. He’s providing a couple of goats for the movie and coaching and rehearsing with goats as we speak.

Growing up on a Northern California goat farm in the 1970’s, Neil says he feels close to goats. “I spent a lot of time in a goat pen as a kid. I can tell you from experience that they are oftentimes more interesting than human beings. I felt like I knew these characters, knew them my whole life. My father was almost identical to goat man. I felt like these were my own family. I get to put everything to use that I’ve learned with themes that are not only universal, but personal to me as well.”

“Goats” is in the final stage of casting and will begin shooting shortly in Tucson, AZ, and Albuquerque, NM. Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Eric Kopeloff, and Shannon Lail will produce. Richard Arlook, Peter Touche, and Daniel Crown will executive produce. Echo Bridge Entertainment is handling international sales, and is presenting the film during the European Film Market this February.