What do you get when you mix four parts Bubba Gump, one part Jack Torrance and two parts Oedipus Rex? “Shrimp,” a dark comedy written and produced by Wash. U.’s own Michael Greenwald, will be premiering in the DUC this Wednesday night.

Last May, Greenwald was contacted by his friend Andrew Glor, a film major at Northwestern: “He came to me and said ‘I really want to make a movie this summer, and I want it to be about food poisoning. So…go.’” After some intense brainstorming, Greenwald finally came up with an idea that, as he said, “was just weird enough to work.”

“Shrimp” explores issues of dating, sibling relationships and self-fulfilling destiny. “We made jokier films, and a couple of serious things before, but nothing really that challenging.”

Co-starring Greenwald, the film also features various young talent from around Bethesda and adult actors who answered an ad on Craigslist. Frank Turner won the role of the chef. “We auditioned a bunch of horrible, horrible adult actors, but he turned out to be really good,” said Greenwald. This reviewer can corroborate that statement.

It took Greenwald and Co. eight months to complete the film. “I started writing it in May and we were able to start shooting at the beginning of July. The editing process was kind of slow and we didn’t finish until December.” But the extra time was well worth it: With its high-end lighting, special effects, and sound editing, “Shrimp” looks more like a studio production than a student film.

To get the film equipment needed to produce a film of this caliber, Glor had to pull some strings with the camp where he was a film counselor. And to buy the pounds and pounds of shrimp: “We had a lot of carwashes.”

Greenwald sums up his film by borrowing a line from a critically acclaimed (seriously) feature film: “There’s this line in ‘Kung Fu Panda’ where one of the characters says that sometimes you meet your destiny by trying to avoid it.’”

Don’t let your aversion to shellfish stop you from checking out this unorthodox black comedy in the Fun Room this Wednesday, Feb. 4 at 9:15 p.m.