| Zyzzyx Road | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | John Penney |
| Produced by |
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| Written by | John Penney |
| Starring |
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| Music by | Ryan Beveridge |
| Cinematography | David Klein |
| Editing by | Joseph Gutowski |
| Distributed by | Zzyzx LLC |
| Release date(s) | February 25, 2006 |
| Running time | 88 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1.3 million[1] |
| Box office | $30 |
Zyzzyx Road ( /zəˈzɪzɪks/ zə-ziz-iks) is a 2006 independent thriller film. It stars Leo Grillo, Katherine Heigl, and Tom Sizemore. The screenplay was written by John Penney, who also directed the film. The film has gained a degree of notoriety due to its extremely low U.S. box office gross ($30 USD).
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Grant (Leo Grillo) is an accountant with a bad marriage and a daughter whom he loves. He takes to the road to service his accounts in Las Vegas. While there he meets seductive Marissa (Katherine Heigl). They have a week-long affair which culminates in the arrival of Marissa's ex-boyfriend, Joey (Tom Sizemore). Joey attempts to kill the lovers, but Grant gets the upper hand and in turn kills Joey. Grant and Marissa then drive Joey's body to Zyzzyx Road and Grant buries Joey in the desert there. The next morning, the body is missing and something is trying to kill Grant and Marissa.
Filming took place in the summer of 2005 and lasted 18 days, plus an additional two days for pickup scenes. The film is 88 minutes long. The film was shot entirely on location in the Mojave Desert, in and around local mines.[2] Tom Sizemore and long-time friend Peter Walton, who worked as Sizemore's assistant, were arrested during the film's production for repeatedly failing drug tests while on probation. Police discovered that Walton had a warrant out for his arrest for child pornography distribution and was subsequently jailed. Sizemore was not jailed, however, making it possible for him to film his scenes.[1]
Zyzzyx Road was shown once a day at noon for seven days (February 25 through March 2, 2006) at Highland Park Village Theater in Dallas, Texas,[3] a movie theater rented by the producers for $1,000.[1] The limited release was deliberate: Grillo was uninterested in releasing the film domestically until it underwent foreign distribution, but needed to fulfill the U.S. release obligation required by the Screen Actors Guild for low-budget films[1] (films with budgets less than $2.5 million that are not for the direct-to-video market).[4]
The strategy had the side effect of making the film at the time the lowest grossing film of all time, earning just $30 at the box office from six patrons.[5] Unofficially, its opening weekend netted $20. The $10 difference is due to a personal refund by Grillo to makeup artist Sheila Moore, who had worked on the film, and her friend.[1] It has since been beaten by the film The Worst Movie Ever! which took in $11 and sold only one ticket.[6]
Both Zyzzyx Road and the similarly named Zzyzx have been cited as the lowest-grossing film of all time.[7]
The film was released on DVD in 23 countries, and by the end of 2006 had earned about $368,000.[1] As of 2010[update], the film has not yet received the legitimate domestic distribution that the producers had hoped would follow its foreign release.