Not even a thunderstorm can dampen the excitement surrounding Web3's dystopian series RZR. On a rainy Thursday night, a close group of fans gathered for a private viewing of David Bianchi's new thriller, hosted by Metaverse game developer The Sandbox in Los Angeles.
An 8-episode series from Bianchi's Exertion3 Films and Gala Film will begin streaming on Gala's streaming platform in April.
The RZR is driven by the main character, Grimm. Hacker Grimm, who spent his life as a soldier in a nuclear war, not only survives in a dark future version of Los Angeles, but is determined to use bleeding-edge neurotechnology and biohacking to connect his brain directly to the Internet.
I grew up on games like Neuromancer by William Gibson, Snowcrash by Neal Stephens, and games like Shadowrun and Cyberpunk, so it was fun to see the RZR come to life. It reminded me of the dystopian shows on the SyFy channel.
Bianchi inspired Elon Musk's Neuralink, and says the RZR will work heavily with emerging technologies such as NFTs, blockchain, cryptocurrency, AI and neurotechnology.
“It has come full circle. [Decrypt] It was on the table read last year and looked at us from the first batch of NFTs to October 2022,” Decrypt said at the screening. Now, here we are in March 2024, and we'll start part one with Gala Movie on April 14, 2024.
As the crowd mingled, RZR creator and star David Bianchi moved around the room, meeting guests, shaking hands and hugging. To everyone's surprise, Bianchi announced that not one but two episodes would be playing that night. Streaming without commercials, each episode lasts about 15 minutes.
The screening begins with a behind-the-scenes video detailing the creation of the series, the journey from script to screen, and the first episode. Silence filled the room as the cyberpunk world of RZR came to life on screen. After each piece ran, the audience erupted in applause.
While I found RZR to be very well made and entertaining, if I had one complaint, the episodes weren't nearly as long, and I was looking forward to an edited feature-length 120 minute movie version.
Table of Contents
ToggleOur take
The RZR starts with a bang, as the Bianchi Grimes try to dig a hole in their head; I'll spare you the gory details. The show jumps to six months later and Grimm survives the experiment.
RZR does a fantastic job of conveying a world full of technological innovations with minimal special effects. For example, Bianchi told the audience that the exercise he used in the opening scene was real and not CG.
In another scene, we see the Los Angeles skyline filled with drones delivering packages. These drones aren't futuristic cyberpunk 2077-style drones, but the practical drones you see dropping Amazon packages today. The RZR Los Angeles feels lived in, with all its characters naturally fitting into the scenes. Filmed in the Los Angeles area, the show leaves the city in a modern twist, making the show take place in the future.
A true crypto native, Grimm even has a Bitcoin tracker on display. Bitcoiners will be happy to know that in the world of RZR, Bitcoin is worth more than $115,000.
The world of cryptocurrency is definitely part of RZR, with Bitcoin-themed posters, galleries of NFTs, and portraits of Satoshi Nakamoto popping up at various shows. In a Q&A after the screening, Bianchi revealed that all of the digital and physical art for the show was created by actual Web3 artists.
Bianchi appears in almost every scene and especially when Grimm has a room full of drugs, like at the beginning of episode 2. No spoilers, but you'll see a lot of Bianca.
Bianchi compared the RZR to a cross between Black Mirror and Mr. Robot. The look of the show is reminiscent of classic sci-fi shows like Level 9, Painkiller Jane, Sanctuary, The Killing Room and Jessica Alba's Dark Angel.
While the virtual reality environments are stylized, you get the feeling that this is what Meta et al are trying to do.
The world of RZR is what one hopes the Web3 conference will be like in real life. We'll have to settle for the Hollywood version for now.
Hollywood meets Web3
“This is the first title from Gala Films; it's unprecedented,” he said.
Web3's entertainment juggernaut, Gala includes Gala Games, Gala Movie and Gala Music on the Ethereum Blockchain using the GALA token.
“What Gala is doing right now is that they're creating an interesting watch and getting a model,” Bianchi said. “Thus, for the first time in the history of international cinema, viewers will be able to collect digital collections, and depending on the speed of the network, they will have a high reward potential, depending on what they have.”
Gala says fans can own a digital scene divided by shards displayed on their profile. Collecting all the shards will increase rewards, encourage and promote related scenes, emphasizing the originality of the scene and the decentralization of the blockchain.
“I'm convinced that blockchain technology will be the back of the house for all information and intellectual property systems, just as JavaScript is the back of the house for ticketing.”
Along with the RZR, Gala Films is introducing mystery boxes as a way for fans to connect with the RZR universe. Each box unlocks unique content, Bianchi said, providing a unique, interactive experience.
Diversity in Hollywood
Joining Bianchi in RZR are American beauty Mena Suvari, Barry Christopher Marquette, voice actor Mimi Davila, film and Los Angeles icon Danny Trejo, and Emilio Rivera and Richard Cabral from Sons of Anarchy and Mayans MC.
“I created a diverse cast,” Bianchi said. “I've had 58 speaking roles, and only six of them are Caucasian because the role I created looks like a lighter shade of brown.
“This is very important to me because today I will be a great grandfather,” he continued. “I'm able to lead by example, because I remember Mario Van Peebles, I remember Melvin Van Peebles, I remember all these great people who showed me it was possible, and I want to show everyone else that it's possible.”
Bianchi highlighted his production partner Noel Hubel, who produced 45 Marvel's Agents of SHIELD alongside RZR.
“When you bring all those communities together, you can do something that's really beautiful for low dollars, but you can do something amazing and fun,” Bianchi said.
During a question-and-answer session following the screening, Bianchi also revealed that RZR has launched a campaign to consider the 2024 Primetime Emmy for Best Short Form Drama.
Artificial intelligence
RZR tackles a wide range of topics including hacker culture, the black market, drug abuse, PTSD, violence and crime. Embedded in this dystopian soup is artificial intelligence. Last year, the threat of generative AI in Hollywood prompted a months-long strike for SAG-AFTRA and the WGA.
“Artificial intelligence and artificial intelligence are here, and they're here to stay,” Bianchi said. “Primarily A-listers benefit from this because they can license their artificial personas.”
Bianchi is bullish on artificial intelligence and while using the technology for the RZR, he emphasizes the importance of controlling and protecting artificial images, noting the rise of AI-generated deep fakes and impersonators.
“So the disruption is going to be huge, and it's up to us to be on the cutting edge of technology to figure out how to incorporate those workflows into our ecosystem so we don't lose the competition,” he said. . “My competition is creative as hell, and they're 18 years old.”
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.
