Peek Production's Soup in Seattle is Sure to Pees

An Emperor's New Clothes Story with a Controversial Topic

For those Seattleites who've always wanted to go to a red carpet movie premiere, you'd better go to Hollywood. However, those of you who love movies, enjoy a party, and want to see the debut of a local Indie film, you'd better show your pretty faces at the premiere of PEEK Productions' Soup.

Soup is about Frank; a cook at the end of his rope, with no goals, and no excitement in his life. When a snooty customer sends a bowl of soup back, claiming "Le portage est merde." Frank "doctors" the soup and sends it back to her, only to find out that she LOVES the soup, is a famed food critic, and wants to hire him as a soup chef for her flashy restaurant. It's an Emperor's New Clothes tale, when Frank becomes famous for his special soup. Will he continue his tainted charade? Or will he get some morals?

Dan Tharp and Damon Morris smooth talked four restaurants into letting them film their kitchens, dining rooms, and facades. They filmed through a faulty fire alarm in Pike Place Market and no-show crew members. Most of the money put into the film was spent on a chef's jacket with a German flag on the collar. The rest of the money...went toward the upcoming premiere. I gave Dan a call, to get the rundown on his 45 minute featurette. Together with the other half of PEEK, Damon Morris, they have been slowly building a small library of shorts.

Where did Soup come from?

Soup was an idea for a short film that was going to take a month to do. A guy works at a greasy spoon diner. Someone returns some soup. He pees in the soup and sends it back out to the table. He discovers that it's consumer happens to be a beautiful girl. So, he spends the rest of the film trying to get this tainted soup back before she eats it.

That would make a good film...

Well, it did. I gave the story to Damon, my partner, and he actually returned it to me as an expanded script with the Emperor's New Clothes element added to it. Where the woman who tastes the soiled soup, actually likes it, and she happens to be a food critic. So because she says she likes it, everyone else pretends to like it too.

How hard was the film to make?