What’s more fun in the summer than a drive-in movie? How about a free one?
The Wexner Center for the Arts once again brings 35mm prints to Wexner Center Plaza (15th Ave. and High Street) for free, open-air screenings beginning at dusk (generally around 9pm).
According to Chris Stults, co-curator for the Film/Video department at the Wex, with a number of years behind them, he and colleague Dave Filipi have fallen in to a popular pattern when choosing the drive in series of films.
The blueprint they believe hits the sweet spot: one Wes Anderson, one classic, and one film with a cult following. Stults says it was during 2010’s Italy-themed films that they stumbled upon the formula, when the classic Roman Holiday and the Anderson film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou proved very popular.
They’ve rotated through a number of Anderson’s flicks in previous years, landing this time around on one of his more under-appreciated efforts, 2007’s road movie The Darjeeling Limited.
This year’s classic – much darker fare than the Audrey Hepburn/Gregory Peck romance – is Orson Welles’s gorgeous, sleazy noir Touch of Evil.
Rounding out the program and the summer, heartthrob Johnny Depp’s first feature lead in “Prince of Perversion” John Waters’s ode to the rock’n roll drive in movie, Cry-Baby. Set in the filmmaker’s beloved Baltimore, it’s a raucous romp with Depp, Iggy Pop, Traci Lords, Troy Donahue and a host of Waters’s peculiar regulars. Any party with Johnny Depp and Iggy Pop is one you want to attend.
Moviegoers will enjoy beer from Seventh Son Brewing, pizza from Mikey’s late Night Slice, and free Pam’s Market popcorn.
In the event of rain, films screen in Marshon Auditorium at 9pm.
Full series:
The Darjeeling Limited (Wes Anderson, 2007)
Thu, June 18, dusk
Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958)
Thu, July 16, dusk
Cry-Baby (John Waters, 1990)
Thu, Aug 13, dusk
For more information, visit wexfilms.org.
Related: Big List of 80+ Outdoor Movie Events in 2015
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