PORTLAND, OREGON -- THE MANY STRANGE STORIES OF TRIANGLE WOMAN, the debut dark-comedy feature of writer/director/producer Chris Rentzel, is chock-full of the sort of surreal stories and images that one might expect from a David Lynch or a Spike Jonze. But its inspiration was the entirely real, if bizarre, image of a woman who nearly choked to death by swallowing a spatula.
Rentzel says he was traumatized as a young boy when he witnessed the incident, but eventually "I just came to realize how utterly bizarre and ridiculous the situation was." He soon turned it into a favorite joke, telling friends that his aunt, or grandmother, was in the hospital due to swallowing a spatula - all while trying to keep a straight face. Usually, Rentzel would be laughing while his audience would eventually catch up.
Rentzel's taste for the bizarre soon developed into a cartoon character - a "triangle woman" stick figure he used to draw inconspicuously on chalkboards all around his school. Later, the cartoon character became a vehicle for "quotes of the day" that reflected Rentzel's uniquely disorienting sense of humor. The popularity of the character, combined with an interest in filmmaking, made it inevitable that "Triangle Woman" would find her way into a feature film.
After leaving a corporate career at Southwest Airlines, Rentzel produced THE MANY STRANGE STORIES OF TRIANGLE WOMAN in Dallas, Texas. "I wanted to throw out all conventional thinking about storylines, traditional characters, and 3-act-play philosophy. I wanted to create something that was unique, bizarre, and totally original," he says. Rentzel sees TRIANGLE WOMAN developing into a television series. "The world needs more stories that can challenge laughter - that can produce laughter beyond the comedic formulas that you usually find."
The film stars newcomer Vivian Jimenez Hall, and is available for rental on Netflix.com. To see a trailer or purchase a DVD, go to TriangleWomanMovie.com.
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