Killer Bean Forever

Killer Bean Forever is a 2009 computer-animated action film written, produced, and directed by Jeff Lew. Taking place in a world of anthropomorphic coffee beans, the film tells the story of a bean assassin named Jack "Killer" Bean, who is sent to hunt down a crime boss, while he himself is hunted by mercenaries and the police. The film was preceded by two web shorts: "Killer Bean: The Interrogation" in 1996, and "Killer Bean 2.1: The Party" in 2000. In 2020, an animated series that continues the story of the film was announced.

Killer Bean Forever
Promotional Poster
Directed by	Jeff Lew
Produced by	Jeff Lew
Story by	Jeff Lew
Starring	Vegas E. Trip Bryan Session David Guilmette Matthew Tyler Jeff Lew
Music by	Justin R. Durban Jeff Lew
Cinematography	Jeff Lew
Edited by	Jeff Lew
Production company	Jeff Lew Productions LLC Killer Bean Studios LLC
Distributed by	Cinema Management Group
Release date	July 14th, 2009 DVD Release Date
Running time	85 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	<$1,000,000[1]

Plot

One night, at 2:43 AM, bean assassin Jack "Killer" Bean is having problems sleeping due to several gangsters holding a loud party in a nearby warehouse. He calls the gangsters' leader to turn down the music, but he refuses, so Killer Bean resumes to killing all the gangsters; their leader is later revealed to be the nephew of crime boss and drug lord Cappuccino. Shortly after, a police investigation led by Detective Cromwell occurs at the warehouse, which is known to be owned by Cappuccino. Vagan, a lieutenant who runs guns for Cappuccino, arrives at the warehouse, discovering the massacre, and leaves after being briefly questioned by Cromwell.

That morning, Killer Bean is stopped from assassinating Cromwell (having seen him on the news) by a call from his boss, who warns him the warehouse shooting was reckless, and that only the "target" should be killed. Killer Bean assures him that the mission will succeed. In a Chinese restaurant, an assassin named Jet Bean receives a call from his boss sending him on a mission. The restaurant owner then forces him to pay the bill, but he refuses and leaves after beating the chef, who was told by the owner that Jet Bean insulted his food. At the drug headquarters, Cappuccino holds a meeting with his lieutenants, knocking two of them out the window when they annoy him, before Vagan appears and informs him of the warehouse shooting and his nephew's death, so Capuccino sends Vagan to deal with Killer Bean. Meanwhile, Detective Cromwell analyzes the evidence at the warehouse and finds Killer Bean's name on the bullets, before locating another one of Cappuccino's warehouse, just as Killer Bean arrives there and encounters Vagan. After their fight ends in a draw, Vagan flees, while Killer Bean finds a note saying "Shadow Bean, you are too late."

Shortly after, Killer Bean is found in a bar across the street by Cromwell, who suggests working together to bring Capuccino down, but Killer Bean refuses. Cromwell then finds the note referencing the "Shadow Beans" and calls his friend Harry, a police intelligence, who reveals the Shadow Beans were special assassins working for the Shadow Agency, a private organization that carried out secret government operations, but presumably disbanded years ago. That night, Killer Bean arrives at a third warehouse owned by Cappuccino, and kills both the gangsters he finds there, and several mercenaries hired by Vagan to kill him, but is ultimately knocked out by an explosion. He awakens tied up to a chair, being interrogated by Cappucino as to why he is trying to kill him. After breaking free, Killer Bean reveals that he is not after Cappuccino, but rather after Vagan, prompting Cappucino to fire him, only to get shot in retaliation.

Vagan is revealed to be a former Shadow Bean code-named "Dark Bean" who betrayed the Shadow Agency and stole their database. In response to Killer Bean's accusations, Vagan reveals the Agency had degenerated into simply guns for hire, and that he chose to work for Cappucino instead, so that he could use his knowledge on the gun trade to continue fighting crime, independent from the corrupt Agency. Killer Bean can't bring himself to believe Vagan, and ultimately kills him, not before he warns him that the Agency will now come after him as well. Detective Cromwell, who witnessed the entire ordeal from afar, arrives with police reinforcements, and Killer Bean allows himself to be arrested, believing that only the police can protect him from the Agency.

Shortly after, Jet Bean, sent by the Agency to kill Killer Bean, arrives at the warehouse and learns from a police officer that he was arrested. Jet Bean then allows himself to be arrested by beating an officer who mocked his Asian accent, and proceeds to kill everyone at the police station standing in his way to Killer Bean (save for Cromwell, who left earlier). After a final fight, Killer Bean prevails over Jet Bean, mortally shooting him. As he leaves, Killer Bean is called by his boss to come and "talk things over". He replies that will come, but not for talk, and drives off with a police van full of weapons.

Voice Cast

• Vegas J. Jenkins as Jack "Killer" Bean. He is an anthropomorphic coffee bean and veteran assassin working for the Shadow Agency as a Shadow Bean, until learning of their true nature.
  • Jenkins also voices Cappuccino's nephew, a gangster leader who dreamed of being a DJ at a night club but was killed by Killer Bean for annoying him with his loud music, the News Reporter, who is the only bean who doesn't show mild anger expressions, and other beans as extras.
• Bryan Session as Detective Cromwell, a police detective who is put in charge of hunting down both Killer Bean and Cappuccino.
  • Session also voices Vagan/Dark Bean, a gangster running guns for Cappucino and former Shadow Bean for the Agency, having quit after they betrayed him.
• Matthew Tyler as Cappuccino, a notorious crime boss and drug lord who wants to exact revenge on Killer Bean for killing his nephew.
  • Tyler also voices other beans as extras.
• Jeff Lew as Jet Bean, an Asian assassin working for the Shadow Agency who is sent to hunt down Killer Bean, and the film's secondary antagonist.
  • Lew also voices other beans as extras.
• David Guilmette as the Leader of the Shadow Agency, Killer Bean's mysterious boss who is only heard on the phone, and the film's hidden main antagonist; credited as "The Voice".[2]
  • Guilmette also voices Harry, a police officer and Detective Cromwell's friend, the Mercenary Leader, who claims to have hand-selected his squad at the Academy 10 years ago and, along with them, is sent to kill Killer Bean on Vagan's orders, and other beans as extras.

Production and Release

The concept for Killer Bean came in a short produced by Jeff Lew in the late 1990s entitled "Killer Bean: The Interrogation", which was later called "Killer Bean 1". Jeff Lew intended this short only to teach himself animation, and it only received about 3000 hits. After practicing animation for about 2 years, Lew started work on "Killer Bean 2.1: The Party", a 7-minute short. "Killer Bean 2" took about 3 years to create, and was released on iFilm in 2000. In about 6 months, it received about a million views, which was significant before YouTube.[3] A later edit, "Killer Bean 2.1", was uploaded to YouTube in 2009. Killer Bean 2.1 has since gained more than 4 million views on YouTube since its initial upload in 2009.[4]

After receiving various calls from movie producers that never developed, Lew decided to make a full feature film himself. The first rough draft of the screen play took about 5 months. Previsualization took about one and a half years. One mistake Lew regretted was not making the concept art before previz, which meant that many of the previz shots could not be reused for final animation. Lew then posted an ad on Craigslist for voices, and auditioned about 20 people and cast four. The concept artist for the characters was Von Caberte.[5] By July 2005, all preproduction was completed.

The film took about five years to create, with approximately one and half years in pre-production and three years in animation. Killer Bean Forever had approximately 1000 animated shots.[1] Generally, animators are given 1–4 weeks to complete one shot, and thus to create 1000 shots would have taken 20 years. Lew used an inexpensive 2D motion capture system to speed up animation, primarily with lip-sync.[6] During this time, Lew also worked as an animator on major Hollywood productions including The Matrix Reloaded.[7]

In 2008, the worldwide rights to Killer Bean Forever were acquired by Cinema Management Group.[8] That same year, the film was screened for buyers at the Toronto Film Festival.[8]

Reception

Scott McDanel of RMU Sentry Media called the film "an absolute dumpster fire," but wrote that he would "still highly recommend it as a 'it's-so-bad-it's-good' flick."[9]

The movie was officially uploaded to YouTube by Jeff Lew in May 2018, where it has since garnered 14 million views. This significantly contributed to the movie's cult following, causing moments and references of the film to become a meme.[10]

Home Media

The film was released on DVD in the United States on July 14th, 2009, and was released on Blu-ray in Germany in September 2010.

In May 2018, the film was officially uploaded to YouTube in its entirety in 4K resolution, gaining over 14 million views as of 2020.[11]

Mobile Game

In 2012, a mobile game, Killer Bean: Unleashed, was released for Android and IOS. The game was about Killer Bean who is on the run from mercenaries while hunting the Shadow Agency's top shadow bean.

The Killer Bean 1 & 2

The first short, "The Killer Bean: The Interrogation", was released in 1996. The short features Killer Bean captured by mercenaries who interrogate him.

The second short, "The Killer Bean 2: The Party", was released in August 8, 2000. The short is about Killer Bean being annoyed by the loud music at a nearby party held by some gangsters. When they refuse to turn it down, Killer Bean arrives to do it himself, but the gangsters won't go down without a fight.

The third short, "The Killer Bean 3: Forever", was originally intended to release in 2002, but was scrapped in favor of the movie Killer Bean Forever. The trailer featured Killer Bean on a roof, breathing in, and breathing out.

In May 2020, "The Return of Killer Bean" was released as a teaser for the upcoming 2020 series in 4K. Taking place 11 years after the events of "Killer Bean Forever", the short features Killer Bean (Jeff Lew) attacking a group of mercenaries, but when the last surviving bean (Christopher Giersz) threatens to shoot a hole through his car door, just like he did with his mother's, Killer Bean attempts to reason with him. Claiming that the mercenary has some personal problems, Killer Bean lets him take his car and throws him the keys. The last bean tries to find the keys in some trash bags, when he finds them, the keys are actually a Samsung Note 7. The explosion throws the mercenary into a garbage can, though he survives, before Killer Bean leaves in his car.

2020 Series (Killer Bean - Season 1 working title)

In January 2020, The Killer Bean Channel posted a picture on YouTube community revealing Killer Bean's return and will have a 10+ episode series,[12] although it has been delayed since late February.[13] The Twitter account of Killer Bean claimed that YouTubers and fans will voice act the characters in the mini-series.[14] On May 10, the first teaser of the miniseries was released to the Killer Bean Channel.

On May 10, 2020, "The Return of Killer Bean"., a teaser for what could come in the new series, was released on YouTube.

References

1. "Killer Bean Forever About". Archived from the original on 20 March 2011. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
2. "IMDB Page". Archived from the original on March 1, 2010. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
3. "Killer Bean Forever About the Director". Archived from the original on August 19, 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
4. Killer Bean 2.1 - The Party (HD), retrieved 2019-12-05
5. "Killer Bean Forever: The Art of Cabertevon". Archived from the original on 13 August 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
6. Killer Bean Forever DVD: Making of Killer Bean Forever (Media notes). Jeff Lew. 2009 [2009].CS1 maint: others (link)
7. Jeff Lew filmography on IMDb
8. Ball, Ryan (September 9, 2008). "CMG Bites Into Killer Bean". Animation Magazine. Retrieved January 2, 2020.
9. McDanel, Scott (January 31, 2019). "Scote's G.O.A.T.S. – Killer Bean Forever". RMU Sentry Media. Robert Morris University. Retrieved January 2, 2020.
10. Sommer, Liz (22 January 2020). "Killer Bean Memes. Its reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, and it is suspected that any and all hate towards the film is out of jealousy". StayHipp. StayHipp. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
11. "Killer Bean Forever 4K - Official FULL MOVIE". YouTube. May 19, 2018. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
12. "The return of Killer Bean??? Let me put it in a language you can understand: YES! The Killer Bean story will continue in a 10+ episode series, with the first episode coming out late February on this YT Channel! I'll be working on this series full-time, and I can't do it without your support. So get your Killer Bean Merch and support this channel! KillerBeanMerch.com". YouTube. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
13. "Sorry guys, I missed my deadline! Unreal Engine is proving to be more difficult than I thought, but I'm learning it's quirkiness. I attached a raw, untouched render from Unreal just to give you guys an idea of what the new series will look like. Hope you like it! Trust me guys, I'm working 12 hour days right now just to get the 1st video out! Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss the release date". YouTube. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
14. "This Killer Bean series will be YouTube centric (unless Netflix calls 🤔) So that means I will be casting featured roles with big YouTubers. Big YouTubers = anyone with more YT subs than my channel. All of the other roles will be available to fans! #killerbean". Twitter. March 5, 2020. Retrieved March 14, 2020.

External links

• Official website Dead link as of 9/12/2015
• Killer Bean Forever on IMDb
• Killer Bean Forever at Rotten Tomatoes
• A Killer Bean Story, a postmortem documentation of Killer Bean by Jeff Lew.
• Official Killer Bean Merch