Penn Jillette, from Penn & Teller, wants to make a "smart" horror movie with buddy Adam Rifkin. So he set up a crowdfunding campaign. A campaign that just got quite the boost from Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford.


Pitchford, himself a bit of a magician, kicked in $25,000 to the campaign (which is asking for just under $1 million), netting himself the biggest backer perk of them all: Penn's ponytail. Here's the reward listing for "Big Spending Whales Get our Ponytails":

Shazam! Here's Gearbox president Randy Pitchford's magic-trick-laden DICE talk, "Video Games Are… Read more

That's right, Adam and I are going to give one very lucky (and let’s say “eccentric”) contributor our actual ponytails. Chopped right off of our heads. You can brush them, braid them, sew them onto the backs of baseball hats, Hell, make voodoo dolls out of them for all we care. They'll make the perfect addition to anyone's creepy creepy collection of creepy creepy stuff.


Pitchford also got himself an executive producer credit on the movie, which with $740,000 raised at time of posting looks likely to get enough funding to get made.

The Gearbox boss tells Kotaku "I know a lot of guys in my seat spend the money they make on Italian sports cars or big houses, and I think that's great if that drives the will to make things happen, but I seem to want to keep putting my extra scratch back into creative efforts."

"Every game we've shipped this generation has seen significant investment of Gearbox money beyond what our publishing partners have put in - for better or worse - but I can still afford to throw a little bit around here and there on things and people I think are cool and feel good about doing it. I didn't buy a new car or new house or anything like that, really, with the money I've made on Borderlands 2."

"So, I guess it's about helping out cool guys who are doing a cool thing their way. It's an artist thing."


And the ponytail itself? What's in store for Penn's trademark locks?

"A part of me really loves the idea of Penn and Adam making a movie on their terms and I saw that the hole was there half-way through the campaign and decided to step up as their whale."


"It's not about the pony tail and I haven't thought about what to do with it. But I'll chat with him about it and I'm sure between us we can come up with something clever that will amuse everyone who happens to be watching. Or maybe it just goes in a box. Or maybe it stays on his head."

Or maybe it goes in a video game.

Magician ponytail trivia time: this isn't the first time Penn has sacrificed his do in the name of a good cause. In 2010 he let partner Teller chop his ponytail off for charity.