Picture Shop’s Maxine Gervais delivers a stunning look to up the terror factor in the latest installment of The Purge horror film franchise.
The fifth movie in the popular The Purge horror franchise, The Forever Purge, follows the story of a Mexican couple who finds themselves stranded on a Texas farm while on the run from a drug cartel. They are confronted by a group of spiteful thugs who plan to continue the violent tradition of the now-outlawed Purge, a day in which all crime, including murder, becomes legal. Directed by Everardo Gout, produced by Blumhouse and distributed by Universal, The Forever Purge is the direct sequel of 2016’s The Purge: Election Year.Senior Supervising Colorist Maxine Gervais provided the color finishing on the film, explaining “I was so excited to work on The Forever Purge! It has a different feel to the narrative than the others in the series and the cinematography is beautiful.”Like so many projects, The Forever Purge encountered challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic. While principal photography was completed in early 2020, post-production began during the lockdown. With cinematographer Luis David Sansans shooting another project in South Africa, Gout in New York then in Canada, and Gervais and the post-production team including associate colorist Jeff Pantaleo and finishing editor Erik Kauffman in Los Angeles, it was not possible to review color together. As a solution, files and temp DCPs were sent to the creatives for reviews happening outside of the Sunset Gower facility. Luckily producer Sébastien K. Lemercier was on-site in Los Angeles serving as the bridge to both the Gout and Sansans. Explains Gervais “It was great collaborating with Sébastien because he has worked on every one of The Purge movies. He helped us keep somewhat of the franchise aesthetic in-line although the narrative did allow us to explore a bit of a different feel overall.”She continues “While it is always more organic and interactive to have everyone in the room together, we ended up with a beautiful movie. Luis provided gorgeous photography and I had to find a way to translate his and the director’s final vision from a distance. The entire team was amazing to work with and although it wasn’t easy to all be so far apart, everyone was understanding and worked together to achieve the best results.”The Forever Purge is in theaters beginning July 2nd.