Below is the animatic (rough, animated storyboard) trailer for my independent film, Multiplexing, that I've been trying to get produced for years. Multiplexing is a teen comedy that traces the antics of a group of slackers, slobs and smart-asses working at a typical suburban multiplex and what happens when their theater is chosen to host a big Hollywood premiere. If you want to know the full story behind the movie, how it came to be, and it's journey to get made, check out the film's website.
Many thanks to talented animator Laura Maue, who worked with me on storyboarding and character design and then expertly realized the vision of the film and its story as I distilled it to under 5 minutes.
So maybe you're wondering where've I been the past 3 months. Sorry, but I've been doing rewrites on one of my screenplays. There's some encouraging things happening and I've made new connections that could perhaps lead to getting something sold and maybe even into production. I'm also about halfway through a new screenplay and that will be taking up most of my time -- probably until mid-summer. Still, I'll try to find time to blog and I want to start by talking about this year's crop of summer movies, which I think is unequivocally the best slate of summer films in more than a decade. No exaggeration, Hollywood has outdone itself. I look at this lineup of summer releases and I see over a dozen films that I would put on my "Definitely Must See" list. I'm especially stoked for Snow White and the Huntsman, Prometheus, The Avengers, Ted, Rock of Ages, and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. But for this blog entry, I'm not even gonna waste your time going over the list of hugely anticipated and hyped movies that you can read about on a thousand other websites. What I'm going to focus on here are some of the "under the radar" pics that won't have as much hype, expectation, or marketing push behind them as The Amazing Spider-Man, The Dark Knight Rises or G.I. Joe: Retaliation, for example. So here it is, a list I'm calling: 10 OTHER Summer Movies You May Want to See May
4
Just
dropped the grandkids off to see The Avengers? Don't
worry old-timer, you can stick around and catch...
The
Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Directed
by John Madden (the guy who did Shakespeare in Love, not that fat
football announcer) it's an English dramedy about a group of senior
citizens who retire, move to India and find it's not all they thought it would be.
See
it for its
all-star cast of British film legends – Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Tom
Wilkinson and Peter O'Toole (Yes, he's still alive!)
May
18
Go
ahead and see Battleship (the movie based on a 45-year-old board
game) but also consider...
What
to Expect When You're Expecting (the movie based on a 28-year-old
pregnancy guide.)
Cameron
Diaz, Elizabeth Banks, and Jennifer Lopez (Average age: 40... Just
sayin') play expectant mothers in a film that traces several
interconnected couples as they prepare to welcome their new babies. See it for its ensemble cast
that also includes Chris Rock, Anna Kendrick, Dennis Quaid, and
Glee's Matthew Morrison.
May 25
Why force yourself to see Men in Black III -- you know the ship has sailed on that franchise. Instead, take a chance on...
Chernobyl Diaries
Fans of the Resident
Evil and
Walking Dead series might enjoy this horror flick about six tourists who
visit the abandoned Soviet city of Pripyat
(site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster) which turns out to be not
entirely abandoned after all. See it because director Oren Peli's track record (Paranormal Activity, Insidious) shows he's definitely an expert in the thriller/horror genre.
June 8
Director Ridley
Scott's Prometheus is a much-anticipated sci-fi thriller. But if you
like your sci-fi mixed with comedy buy a ticket for...
Safety Not
Guaranteed
Three magazine employees answer the following ad:
*WANTED* Someone to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. You'll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before. See it because of the intriguingly amusing premise and because it killed at the Sundance Film Festival.
June 22
If you've already
seen the film adaptation of the 80s jukebox
musical Rock of Ages (scheduled for release a week earlier) then
check out...
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
The Underworld movies, True Blood, Vampire
Diaries, Priest, Fright Night, Dark Shadows, Breaking Dawn...
Still no end in site for all this vampire crap. But the historical backdrop this film is set against offers something different. Honest Abe fights to win the
Civil War and reunite the nation... while battling hordes of vampires
looking to take over the country. See it because it's one of
those rare instances where there's no other information needed
–- the film's title gives you the concept, the plot and the hook.
also June 22
Seeking a Friend for
the End of the World
With an asteroid
about to destroy life on Earth, a man (Steve Carell) hits the road to find his high school sweetheart before the world ends. See it because it's the first (and likely the last) apocalyptic/road-trip/romantic-comedy you'll ever see.
July 6
What's that Mr. Pimply-faced teen selling movie tickets in the box office?... The
Amazing Spider-Man is sold out?... Okay, then give me one for...
Savages
It's Scarface meets
Blow with a smattering of Breaking Bad. A murderous Mexican
drug cartel tries to move in on three friends running a small
marijuana business. See it if
you're an Oliver Stone fan (he co-wrote and directed) and are in the mood for a
WHOLE lot of killing.
July 13
The big release this
week is the latest in the Ice Age franchise, Ice Age:
Continental Drift. Or, you can ditch the kids and go see the adult
comedy...
Ted
Mark Wahlberg stars
as a grown man whose
teddy bear came to life when he was a child... and hasn't
left his side since. See it to find out what Seth
(Family Guy) MacFarlane can do when he's freed from the constraints of
network television and allowed to sink his teeth into an R-rated
feature.
July 27 Summer will be winding down and pickings will be slim, but you'll get at least one more chance at a decent comedy with... Neighborhood Watch Suburban dads who formed a neighborhood watch group as an excuse to get out of the house find themselves facing an alien invasion. See it for its cast featuring a triumvirate of comedy masters -- Jonah Hill, Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller.
August 17
Just when you
thought The Expendables included every last action hero ever born, The Expendables 2 adds Chuck Norris and Jean Claude Van Damme to the cast. You can enjoy that one with the guys but take
your wife to see...
Sparkle
American Idol winner
Jordin Sparks hopes this remake of the black cinema classic will do
for her what Dreamgirls did for Jennifer Hudson. See it if you want to see the late Whitney Houston's final film performance.
An all new set of trailers... and hearty commentary. Enjoy.
The Sitter (December 9)
"Adventures in Babysitting meets Superbad with a smattering of Sex Drive."
"Adventures in Babysitting is right. The movie's already drawing tons of criticism around the internet for copycatting. And deservedly so -- it's the exact same movie, only with tons of f-bombs!"
"It really is disgraceful how much they stole from that movie -- reluctant babysitter, same number of kids (3), taking them into the city to an all-black nightclub, criminals chasing them... The list goes on and on."
"This seems really raunchy. What kind of parent would let their child act in a movie like this? Still, I did laugh when he whispered, 'I f**king hate you too. I'll destroy you,' to the little girl."
"Bruh, I want 'Soul Baby' to be my new nickname!"
Melancholia (Now playing)
"Melancholia is the perfect title for this film. I wanted to like that trailer but it was really depressing."
"In fairness, it's a movie about a shaky marriage set against the backdrop of a rogue planet crashing into the earth. So what's there to be happy about?"
"By the way, Kirsten Dunst won Best Actress at Cannes for this."
"Nazi jokes to a roomful of Frenchmen?... Dude, know your audience!"
New Year's Eve(December 9)
"Ensemble pieces like this (Valentine's Day, He's Just Not That Into You)that have the multiple storylines going on at the same time, always seem really gimmicky to me."
"Box office poison Ashton Kutcher in the same movie with box office poison Katherine Heigl... Why didn't they throw in Nicholas Cage too? This film has no chance."
"Zac Effron, Jon Bon Jovi, Carson Daly, Seth Myers... I can't imagine any heterosexual men would want to see this."
"My focus is on the women. Halle Berry is still hot. Jessica Biel looks great too. But someone needs to tell Sofia Vergara that her spicy Latina schtick is wearing thin."
"I guarantee you, Robert DeNiro will only be in that one scene you saw at the very end."
"It's also very similar to The Condemned, which was distributed by the same studio -- Lionsgate."
"The release date is what concerns me. March and April are typically months where studios clear the decks for summer releases they think are going to make a lot of money. Scheduling this for March 23rd makes me think execs in the know don't believe this movie's any good."
"Stunt casting Lenny Kravitz and featuring him so prominently in the trailer should also be a warning sign."
My Week With Marilyn (Now playing)
"So I heard this is based on a supposed real-life incident that took place when Marilyn was filming The Prince and the Showgirl."
"I'm planning on seeing it. Michelle Williams is the new Jennifer Jason Leigh. Young actress who started off doing light, teen-oriented stuff. You didn't think much of her at first but she turned out to be really talented."
"Absolutely. Shutter Island, Blue Valentine... She always chooses interesting roles and she's always really good."
Hi folks, it's Trailer Friday again. Check out the in-the-moment commentary on an all new crop of movies.
Immortals (November 11)
"I missed Clash of the Titans and was kind of disappointed by Troy but still enjoyed it. This looks way better than both."
"Not enough audience for this movie. It's probably gonna do poorly at the box office. Too bad -- I love my Greek mythology movies."
"I dunno, the last big picture the director [Tarsem Singh] did was that JLo movie The Cell, which was one of the worst pieces of crap I ever saw."
Snow White and the Huntsman (Summer 2012)
"This film has a lot to live up to. The writer got an unbelievable $3 million for what was essentially a spec script. That said, the trailer looks awesome! Of the two Snow White movies, this is definitely gonna be the one to see."
"Someone needs to return that magic mirror to Home Goods. There's no way that skinny, pasty, Kristen Stewart is "fairer" than Charlize Theron. Also, it's hard to buy Stewart as an ass-kicking action hero."
"Agreed. Seriously bad casting for that lead role. Stewart always looks so mopey and bored. Like she's thinking, 'Yeah, being a movie star sucks.'"
Project X (March 2)
"Can't Hardly Wait meets Risky Business with a smattering of The Blair Witch Project."
"First of all, they need a more original title. Project X is the name of an 80's movie about astronaut monkeys... No bullshit, Matthew Broderick was in it."
"Sex-starved teens have a wild party and wreck the house while their parents are away -- how original!"
"Here's a red flag for you -- Todd Phillips [Old School, The Hangover] is listed as producer but DIDN'T write or direct."
Justice (November 18)
"Why, oh why, do they keep giving Nicholas Cage starring roles?... Box office poison he is."
"I say the exact same thing about Ashton Kutcher, Katherine Heigl, and Anna Faris. But seriously, this could be good. Roger Donaldson [No Way Out, Thirteen Days, The Bank Job] has a lot of great thrillers on his resume.'"
"Seems very predictable. Did anyone NOT think the favor the guy was gonna ask for was for Cage to kill someone?"
A Thousand Words (Coming soon)
"Broad, high-concept comedies like this (Liar, Liar comes to mind) often work. Wish I'd thought of that premise."
"High-concept... or gimmicky? It worked for Liar, Liar, not so much for Yes Man. It's all in the execution."
"I agree it's a great premise but judging from that trailer, they're not doing enough with it. I was expecting to laugh out loud watching that preview and it just didn't happen."
"This movie would work better with a stronger supporting cast. Someone like Chris Tucker as the best friend and Halle Berry instead of Kerry Washington as the girlfriend."
Every other Friday (or so) I get together with the crew to view a bunch of the latest movie trailers. So check out what we watched and enjoy the commentary:
A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas [red band trailer]
"Yes! Harold's girlfriend [Paula Garces] is back, wearing lingerie and talking dirty!"
"Geez, Kal Penn is looking kinda old... and pudgy."
"This movie actually looks like it could be okay. Babies doing drugs is always good for a laugh."
Tower Heist
"Tea Leoni's Hollywood career is like a Wack-a-Mole game. Every so often she pops up completely unexpectedly, then disappears again."
"It's been 25 years but Eddie Murphy's still got it. It's like as soon as you see his face, you smile."
"Is anybody else looking at Matthew Broderick and thinking, 'Wow, Ferris Beuller really let himself go."?
Piranha 3DD
"Was that Doc Brown from Back to the Future?"
"Cool -- Ving Rhames has guns for legs just like Rose McGowan in Planet Terror."
"Ten bucks says this movie never makes it theaters and goes straight to DVD."
"Campy, low-budget crap... But hey, can we watch that 'Double the D's' part again?"
The Mighty Macs
"The producers of this movie are targeting a very specific demo -- Catholic, women's college basketball fans."
"Isn't Marley Shelton supposed to be in this movie -- cause I don't think I saw her in that trailer."
"That 70s Show meets Hoosiers with a smattering of Sister Act."
In Time
"Interesting -- this is from the same writer who did Gattaca."
"Love the premise. Very Logan's Run-ny-ish."
"This could be a great movie. I seriously hope that puss Justin Timberlake doesn't ruin it."
"They had me the second Olivia Wilde's face hit the screen."
The new film Contagion looks like a pretty darn good thriller... But doesn't it look EXACTLY like the movie Outbreak from back in 1995?
For starters, as you can plainly see, the colors used in the two movie posters are almost identical. They're so close in fact, that it makes me wonder whether this was some kind of conscious choice made by Contagion's marketing and publicity team.
Next, check out this description of Outbreak found on Rotten Tomatoes:
A handful of scientists struggle to prevent the destruction of a small town -- and possibly the entire country. In the mid-1960s, a deadly virus is discovered in Zaire that wipes out an entire village in 24 hours. Government researchers are brought in to investigate, but the military opts to destroy the village rather than risk further infection. Thirty years later, Sam Daniels, an expert on contagious diseases, is called in when the virus re-emerges.
Now here's the description of Contagion:
Contagion follows the rapid progress of a lethal airborne virus that kills within days. As the fast-moving epidemic grows, the worldwide medical community races to find a cure and control the panic that spreads faster than the virus itself.
And besides the obvious story similarities, consider this:
Each movie was helmed by a highly acclaimed director. Wolfgang Peterson (Das Boot, Troy, In the Line of Fire) directed Outbreak, while Steven Soderbergh (ErinBrockovich, Sex, Lies and Videotape, The Girlfriend Experience) handled Contagion.
Both films feature very strong ensemble casts. Outbreak stars Dustin Hoffman, Morgan Freeman, Rene Russo, Kevin Spacey and Cuba Gooding Jr. Contagion has Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne, and Marion Cotillard
At the time of their release, both casts brought strong Oscar credentials to the screen. Hoffman had already won two (Kramer vs Kramer and Rain Man), Freeman one (Driving Miss Daisy), and Spacey and Gooding Jr. would go on to win (for American Beauty and Jerry Maguire, respectively) by the end of the decade. Contagion matches that with Winslet, Paltrow, and Cotillard all having taken home the golden statuette. (Fishburne and Law were both nominated but lost.) Damon did earn an Oscar for Good Will Hunting, but won it for screenwriting.
Finally, take a look at the Contagion and Outbreak trailers. Pay particularly close attention to the common plot points and also the scenes with Sutherland, Hoffman and Law as they present the data and projection for how quickly the virus will spread. The clips and the dialog are awfully close.
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the release of the seminal street dancing movie, Breakin'.
Though it's now often mocked on pop culture "nostalgia" shows like I Love the 80s, Breakin' was a very important film. Prior to its release, there had been small, independent productions (like 1982's Wild Style) that had explored hip-hop culture, but Breakin' was the first mainstream Hollywood film to do so. Significantly, the film's low budget and the tidy profit it earned led to the birth of a new sub-genre of American film -- breakdancing/rap/hip-hop movies, which included the likes of Beat Street, Body Rock,Rappin', Krush Groove, the House Party movies, and the oft referenced, Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, which, in an effort to capitalize on the success of the original Breakin', was scripted, shot, edited and readied for release in barely 5 months. Without Breakin', there would have been no Stomp the Yard, no Honey, no Step Up series.
Intended merely to capitalize on the breakdancing craze that was peaking in 1983-84, Breakin' starred Adolfo ("Shabba-Doo") Quinones, who was already a street-dancing legend and had been an original member of The Lockers, an LA-based "pop-locking" dance group that also counted singer/choreographer Toni Basil as a member. Quinones would go on to other movie roles (Tango and Cash, Lambada), music videos (Chaka Khan's "I Feel For You"), but found his greatest success as a dancer and choreographer for major artists, including Madonna on her "Who's That "Girl" tour.
Breakin's other two stars were Michael "Boogaloo Shrimp" Chambers, who had been featured in the street dancing documentary, Breakin' and Enterin'; and Kansas-bred Lucinda Dickey, who (like her character in the film) was a classically trained ballet, tap and jazz dancer. The film also introduced us to many other less famous but equally talented b-boys (i.e., breakdancers) along with rapper Ice-T, actress Lela Rochon, who appears briefly (wearing a red jacket) in the film's opening sequence (below), and even Jean Claude Van Damme.
But above all else, Breakin' provided one of American film's first acknowledgements of hip-hop culture and that its artistic expression through dance, graffiti art, deejaying and MC-ing.
Was flipping through an in-flight travel magazine (Departures) and came across this cool ad for Louis Vuitton, featuring five-time Academy Award winner Francis Ford Coppola and his daughter Sophia.
I met Francis Coppola in the early 90s. I was at a really nice movie theater (at least it was back then) –- Loews Ridgefield Park, which is in northern NJ, very close to Manhattan. This theater had ten screens, which back in those days was a lot. It was an odd night because all of the auditoriums were open to the public except one that was hosting a non-publicized special screening of Frankenstein, starring Kenneth Branagh and Robert DeNiro. I look over and there, by the concession stand, is the film’s producer, Francis Ford Coppola himself. He was doing nothing in particular, so I walked over and told him what a fan I was of his films (the three Godfather movies, The Outsiders, and The Cotton Club, in particular.) The greatest living American director (sorry Spielberg, Allen, Tarantino, and Scorsese) was then nice enough to autograph my popcorn bucket.
As for Sophia, back in 1990 she was bashed quite a bit for "ruining" The Godfather Part III. The criticism isn't really fair but I will say that when you watch the film, it’s painfully clear that Sophia's part was too much for her. Her father and others should have recognized this and recast the role.
Few realize that the pivotal role in question, that of Mary Corleone, was supposed to be played by Winona Ryder. But Ryder was suffering from exhaustion -- she had just shot Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael, Edward Scissorhandsand Mermaids back-to-back-to-back. What's more, the actress had experienced some very long work days shooting the last of these films because the production had fallen behind schedule after the original director (Lasse Hallstrom) was fired. When Mermaids did finally wrap, Ryder began shooting G III in Rome, but her then boyfriend, Johnny Depp, reportedly wanted her back with him in the US. Ryder claimed exhaustion and dropped out a month into the shoot. Sophia, who had almost no acting experience, was cast by her father (who had creative control of the picture) as a replacement. The part was rewritten to better suit Sophia and the sexuality of the character was toned down. And again, all of this took place after principal photography had already begun. So all of this considered, it's amazing Godfather Part III turned out as good as it did. After being skewered by the critics, Sophia pretty much gave up acting but did go on to write and direct the critically acclaimed The Virgin Suicides and Lost in Translation, for which she won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Despite Sophia’s poor performance, Godfather III is still a must-see that’s better than 99% of the movies out there. It has an intricate, compelling plot; maintains continuity with the two preceding films; features great performances by Andy Garcia, Joe Mantegna and others; and was Oscar-nominated for Best Picture of 1990. Here’s the extended trailer:
Lastly, if you’re a hardcore fan of The Godfather films, I recommend the The Godfather Companion by Peter Biskind, which has the complete story of the production of the trilogy and lots of interesting details about Part III in particular. For instance:
Diane Keaton wanted too much money to reprise her role as Kay, so Coppola was forced to cut her part down significantly.
Mario Puzo wrote the first outline for G III way back in 1978. In it, Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) is a Howard Hughes-like recluse; the Mafia and the CIA are at war; and the film's climax tales place during a Bicentennial parade. (All of this is drastically different from how the final screenplay turned out.)
During casting, Julia Roberts was the first choice to play Mary. Madonna was also considered but at 31, it was decided she was too old for the part.
Later, Madonna was seriously considered for the role of Grace Hamilton, the reporter who sleeps with Vincent (Andy Garcia.) At the time, Madonna was coming off the hugely successful Like a Prayeralbum and was arguably the biggest name in music. Perhaps partially because of this, she demanded a salary of more than half a million dollars (for what amounted to about 15 minutes of screen time) and the producers passed, eventually giving the part to Bridget Fonda.
