December 8th, 2008 admin
This week sees the release of Brian Goodman’s gritty debut What Doesn’t Kill You, starring Ethan Hawke as a south side Boston thug trying to steer his old partner off the straight and narrow and into one last job. This time last year we caught up with Ethan as he was preparing to direct an off-Broadway production of Things We Want, a new play by his longtime friend Jonathan Marc Sherman. Here’s what he had to say.
Despite working in film almost constantly for 20 years, you keep coming back to theater. What is it that keeps brining you back?
“Theater is my first love. There is something about the simplicity of live performance that really appeals to me. Movies are all about capturing the moment and putting it in a little box. Theater is about living inside the moment. It is a much older art form… I find that appealing. Also, there is the audience.”
You have known Joanathan Marc Sherman for a long time. Some people say that you should never work with your friends, Is it hard balancing a personal friendship with a professional relationship?
“Working with friends is dangerous but it does provide you an opportunity to push your work forward in a safe and comfortable environment. With the solidarity of likeminded people it is sometimes easier to have the courage of your convictions. It can also breed laziness and a self satisfied vanity… that obviously is not ideal.”
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November 28th, 2008 admin
Click here to read the full article at Suite101.com.
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October 30th, 2008 admin
You’ve heard it. You might not think that you’ve heard it, but you have, countless times in fact. A piercing, despair-ridden wail so aurally disturbing that you instinctively glance up, even if you weren’t watching, to try to glimpse what unspeakable horror just befall the character whose demise it was assigned to signify.
Though named for its first on screen use, the 1953 film Charge at Feather River where a character named Private Wilhelm takes an arrow to the leg and screams in agony, the origin of the scream dates back two years previously. The scream was originally recorded for the 1951 film Distant Drums with Gary Cooper and slated as “man being bitten by alligator” but was never used. A post-production sound effects actor, who some believe to be none other than Sheb Wooley of “Purple People Eater” fame, made several attempts that the supervisor deemed unsatisfactory. The now infamous scream was delivered on the third attempt in response to the prompt “No, no, not an ‘Ow’ - a real scream of pain.”
The effect has been used dozens of times in countless films over the years - forwards, backwards, in homage and parody, and remains one of the most beloved and distinctive pieces of movie trivia in existence. So in honor of Wilhelm we present our very own top five Wilhelm screams.
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October 27th, 2008 admin
FADE IN:
INT. Los Angeles apartment – Night
STEROTYPICAL GAMER DUDE sits at a computer as the character in his computer game is killed gruesomely. He walks in on his roommate having sex with a girl. They exchange remarks about computer games. This, being a group exchange, validates how oddly obsessive these people are acting with regard to computer games. If he were alone it would just be creepy and a bit sad. It also suggests that people who are obsessed with video games actually get to have sex with real girls.
STEROTYPICAL GAMER DUDE is killed in exactly the same way his game character was, how cool and relevant to today’s culture of artificiality!
HERO
Hey, group of friends. I just got back from the funeral where I was given this computer game. Btw, due to some obligatory story about my childhood, I’m terrified of fire. I also met this girl at the funeral. Let’s all introduce ourselves!
HERO, GOTH GIRL, SMARTASS, NEW GIRL, and NERD (who also happens to be Frankie Muniz from Malcolm in The Middle) all introduce themselves and decide the best way to remember their dead friend is by playing his computer game.
HERO
Ok, we’ll all play together here. My BOSS will play remotely, alone in his deserted office building.
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September 21st, 2008 admin
This Monday Heroes fans who have been jonsing since the writer’s strike forced Volume II into early hiatus can finally get their fix as the long wait for Volume III, subtitled “Villains”, is finally over. As the surprise smash hit of the fall 2006 season, Heroes has gone on to become NBC’s highest rated flagship show. It has made stars out of bit part actresses like Hayden Panettiere and Ali Larter and catapulted Masi Oka’s Hiro Nakamura to the status of global phenomenon. Indeed, it was a wild ride for viewers too – an adult oriented comic book that placed ordinary people in extraordinary situations that set water coolers abuzz with activity the likes of which not been seen since the first season of Lost.
Yet if you took the time to examine it closely, you might develop suspicions that there was less substance here than might first appear to be. Unfortunately, judging by the lackluster offering of the second season, this suspicion could all too quickly turn into confirmation. The tagline that got everyone talking “save the cheerleader, save the world” always did seem more like a slogan than a solid basis for a story series. Yes, it was an inventive show about people with other worldly abilities, but it was not the only show based on that idea. Nor was it the best show based on that idea. Anyone who doubts that assessment should promptly seek out the criminally ignored USA Network’s The 4400, which tragically did not survive the writer’s strike. Yet with just twelve episodes per season, it managed to integrate a deeper story and better-drawn characters, both with and without abilities, seamlessly into realistic, urgent situations.
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September 19th, 2008 admin
As writer/director Deborah Kampmeier’s much-troubled project Hounddog finally reaches theaters after twelve years in the making, we sat down with the filmmaker to discuss her thoughts about the film and the incredible storm of controversy that has surrounded its release.
The term passion project was really invented for a film like this one. Tell us about your journey to get it made?
It was a twelve-year process and after I finished the script I got it out to cast and managed to get it to Robin [Wright Penn] who became this ferocious ally and I really consider her the Godmother of this film. We were in a situation where we had financing in place for four years in a row that fell away at the eleventh hour each time really around the issue of the rape scene and people wanting it out. I would literally be walking away from $5 million and contracts on the table time and time again because I was just not willing to compromise on that issue.
And then you put Hounddog on hold and made Virgin.
Yeah, after the financing fell through the fourth year in a row I went to Robin and said ‘Look, I have to make my first feature film or I’m going to die!’
Was that reinvigorating for you?
It was. It was fantastic, I mean it was one of those where it was a $65,000 budget and it was on video and a twenty-one day shoot. It was very intense and I had my fifteen-month-old daughter and the baby Bjorn on set the whole time and it was really a wonderful experience. It went on to receive a lot of notice and we were nominated for a couple of Independent Spirit Awards and it was really exciting because I thought ‘well, here we go, now we’ll make Hounddog’ But of course it didn’t facilitate that and it was another four years.
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