Cloud 9 fleshing out to be a movie comedy classic!

Pop culture phenomenon alert: with a MySpace tribute page, constant exposure on pay cable television and a slobbering Internet-ogler fanbase Cloud 9, the beach volleyball sex comedy written and produced by our pals at Frozen Pictures along with Academy-Award winning producer Albert S. Ruddy is becoming a modern-day comedy classic.

Seriously.

The movie starring Burt Reynolds and featuring an all-star ensemble cast including D.L. Hughley, Paul Rodriguez, Angie Everhart, Gabrielle Reece, Gary Busey, Bruce Bruce, former Miss USA Kenya Moore, prime time TV star Katheryn Winnick, Tom Arnold and current Maxim en Espanol covergirl Patrica de Leon, among others, made a splash when it was released on DVD two years by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (a release held up by Ruddy’s successful Oscar® campaign for Million Dollar Baby), but its longevity and sleeper status is a surprise to everyone but its creators.

We stumbled upon the “Mr.Skin” factor to Cloud 9 when researching de Leon earlier this week. A Google search leads to a screen grab from Cloud 9 and a CelebVid site featuring sexy and naked stills of famous actresses. The Cloud 9 posting focuses on bikini’ed butts!

Other sites like SuperiorPics Celebrity Forums, Celebrity Movie Archive and HotFlick.net freeze the action from the flick, download the stills, polish and color them up and fetishize the beautiful actresses and, and we’re embarrassed to say—their individual body parts!

But even wilder is the new MySpace page that pays tribute to the film!


”Cloud 9 Movie Tribute” pays respects to "the sexiest, most hilarious and socially insightful beach volleyball motion picture comedy ever!" It includes video, stills and reviews, good and bad—including one that reads:

"...The definition of the phrase, "cloud nine", means a state of elation or happiness, but that's obviously a bad title for this movie. There's no one that should be happy about seeing Burt Reynolds and company at the nadir of their careers doing what they can to peddle T&A for not-even-worthy-of-Skinemax straight-to-video entertainment..."

Cloud 9’s script, that has Reynolds in a familiar rascal role, as a conman who strikes gold with a scheme to sell a beach volleyball team comprised of strippers, does have its “social insights,” with its Malibu location and characters like Tenspot the limo driver and Juan Gonzalez, a Chicano nursery owner who masquerades as Asian because "In this town, you're Mexican, you’re just an ordinary gardener-- you're Asian, you’re a landscape designer."

And it's clear that for a number of reasons (not the least being Reynolds’ charming central performance), the movie has struck a chord among moviegoers. It's become a staple on pay cable television in the States (it’s running on a number of systems this month), and has struck gold internationally. Cloud 9 is a hit in India, thanks to its kinship to a popular field hockey film starring Bollywood legend Shahrukh “King” Khan.

In an interview with journalist Yasmin Brennan coinciding with the film’s release by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, writer-producers Hudson and Kearns seemed to realize their film's potential as a sleeper hit:

HUDSON: Early on, we had this budgeted and scheduled to get Cloud 9 out for the Olympics. This was going to be a real 21st Century production. We were going to shoot this on Hi Def. We had a top DP who knew Hi Def in and out, and we had Panavision ready to do tests. But (Director) Harry (Basil) and his crew wouldn’t hear of it. They pleaded for film. And Al’s old school instincts won out.

KEARNS: Of course, it’s the best of the old school. In the end, all our experience and styles produced one hilarious, exciting picture. Harry goes for straight, lowbrow comedy. Al has the classic Hollywood sensibility. He knows how to tug at the heartstrings. (Executive producer) Gray (Frederickson) is from the Easy Riders, Raging Bulls era. He was in Big Wednesday! Burt Reynolds, what can you say? He’s an all-out legend and a true artist. And us?

HUDSON: Well, we made it happen. And we brought the contemporary vibe.

KEARNS: We kept reminding these guys to keep it more Ben Stiller and less Jerry Stiller.

HUDSON: More Vince Vaughn and less Robert Vaughn.

KEARNS: More Dodgeball, less bocci ball--

HUDSON: We get the picture.

KEARNS: Because of all that, because of the mix, Cloud 9 works.

HUDSON: We’re going straight to DVD, of course... But Harry is a direct-to-DVD director. That’s the kind of picture he makes and everyone knew that going in. And that’s not negative. It’s a whole new business and DVD and direct demand are the way of the future. Cloud 9 is going to be a great seller and a perennial rental.

At least check out that MySpace page.