list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around My Effortless Brilliance on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/My_Effortless_Brilliance/365084/default.aspx Title: My Effortless Brilliance
Year: 2008
Director: Lynn Shelton
Plot: A successful and self-absorbed novelist makes a belated attempt to mend his fractured friendship with the lifelong buddy who unceremoniously sent him packing years ago in this drama from director/screenwriter Lynn Shelton. Eric Lambert Jones was a terrible friend, so bad that his childhood friend Dylan wanted him out of his life altogether. One day, while traveling across country on his latest book tour, Eric drops by Dylan's picturesque Washington state home in hopes that their friendship can still be salvaged. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 11
Number of Lists: 2
Number of blog posts: 8
]]>Thu, 15 Jan 2009 04:00:48 GMTMy Effortless Brilliance2008Lynn SheltonA successful and self-absorbed novelist makes a belated attempt to mend his fractured friendship with the lifelong buddy who unceremoniously sent him packing years ago in this drama from director/screenwriter Lynn Shelton. Eric Lambert Jones was a terrible friend, so bad that his childhood friend Dylan wanted him out of his life altogether. One day, while traveling across country on his latest book tour, Eric drops by Dylan's picturesque Washington state home in hopes that their friendship can still be salvaged. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide11Tag Target (>10)28http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/s365084.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/My_Effortless_Brilliance/365084/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/blogs/karina/archive/2009/1/14/39548.aspx Post By: Karina
Post To: Karina on SpoutBlog
Post Date: 1/14/2009 11:00:48 PM
Body: Director Lynn Shelton’s follow-up to My Effortless Brilliance, Sundance Dramatic Competition entry stars Mark Duplass (HumpdayThe Puffy Chair) and Joshua Leonard (The Blair Witch Project) as two college friends who meet up a decade later and somehow end up pacting to make a boy-on-boy sex tape together. Answering our 4 Questions We Ask Everyone, Shelton declared her love for The Princess Bride, named the crew member she poached from Medicine for Melancholy, and explained her philosophy of low expectations. Tell us about your movie: who did you work with, what did you shoot on, why did you make it? Give us the reductive, 25-word or less, “It’s like [pop culture reference a] meets [pop culture reference b]!” pitch, then explain what the quick and dirty sell leaves out. Humpday is like Bang the Drum Slowly meets Jaws. Only no-one dies. Either by tumor or by shark. It’s about the reunion of two old college buddies, Ben and Andrew, who haven’t seen each other for years. Somehow, within 24 hours of being in each other’s company again, they manage to box themselves into a mutual dare to have sex with each other on film. For an “art project”. Which wouldn’t be so radical or weird except for the fact that Ben’s married, and both guys are about as straight as straight can be. The film’s about fear of conformity; of not living up to your own image of yourself; about long-term romantic relationships; about a certain kind of male friendship between two guys who adore each other but who also bring out the most absurdly competitive aspects in each other. Why I made the movie: 1) an overwhelming desire to work with Mark Duplass, and, 2) a sadistic desire to watch a couple of straight guys squirm. I’d met Mark Duplass in August of 2007 on the set of True Adolescents, a film shooting in Seattle that he was acting in and I was shooting stills for. Watching him act, seeing how generous he was with the other actors, and how far he was willing to go in every single scene, I knew immediately that I wanted to work with him. We bonded at the craft services table and I pitched the idea for Humpday to him about a month or two after the production had wrapped and he’d gone back to LA. I think Mark found the premise—of two straight dudes deciding they had to try and have sex together—an intriguing, if slightly insane, challenge. He introduced me to Joshua Leonard as his potential co-star almost immediately and the two of them seemed to have just the right kind of chemistry for this intense, nutty, onscreen friendship. I brought in Alycia Delmore, a great Seattle actress, to play Mark’s wife and, soon thereafter, Mark convinced me to play the supporting role of Monica, Josh’s love interest, myself. We shot on two HVX-200s over the course of 9-10 days at the end of June, 2008. Ben Kasulke (who shot my first two features) was the DP and Nat Sanders (who I’d met on the festival circuit last year…he edited Medicine for Melancholy) moved himself up to Seattle from LA to edit the film with me over the next two and a half months. If you funded your film through a “day job” or through working on projects that were not your own, tell us about that. If not, tell us a story from your past work life, before you became a professional filmmaker. I funded the film through grants and donations and fed myself and my family by teaching part time at the Digital Filmmaking program at the Art Institute of Seattle. My most exotic past employment experience: working for 4 months on a factory trawler in the Bering Sea when I was twenty-two years old. Have you been to Sundance before? If so, tell us your best moment (or worst, which ever is funnier). If you haven’t, what are you most (or least) looking forward to based on your impressions of the festival? I have never been to Sundance before, (although I have been to Park City; my first feature film, We Go Way Back won Slamdance in 2006.) I am imagining long lines, icy sidewalks, and a constant headache the first few days due to the high altitude. (I like to keep my expectations low so if I end up having a fabulous time, it will all just be a pleasant surprise.) Let’s get hypothetical: You’re on death row. The night of your execution, you’re allowed to watch any two films of your choice. What would you pick for your last-night-on-Earth double feature? This is Spinal Tap and The Princess Bride. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth
]]>Thu, 15 Jan 2009 04:00:48 GMTKarinaKarina on SpoutBlog1/14/2009 11:00:48 PMDirector Lynn Shelton’s follow-up to My Effortless Brilliance, Sundance Dramatic Competition entry stars Mark Duplass (HumpdayThe Puffy Chair) and Joshua Leonard (The Blair Witch Project) as two college friends who meet up a decade later and somehow end up pacting to make a boy-on-boy sex tape together. Answering our 4 Questions We Ask Everyone, Shelton declared her love for The Princess Bride, named the crew member she poached from Medicine for Melancholy, and explained her philosophy of low expectations. Tell us about your movie: who did you work with, what did you shoot on, why did you make it? Give us the reductive, 25-word or less, “It’s like [pop culture reference a] meets [pop culture reference b]!” pitch, then explain what the quick and dirty sell leaves out. Humpday is like Bang the Drum Slowly meets Jaws. Only no-one dies. Either by tumor or by shark. It’s about the reunion of two old college buddies, Ben and Andrew, who haven’t seen each other for years. Somehow, within 24 hours of being in each other’s company again, they manage to box themselves into a mutual dare to have sex with each other on film. For an “art project”. Which wouldn’t be so radical or weird except for the fact that Ben’s married, and both guys are about as straight as straight can be. The film’s about fear of conformity; of not living up to your own image of yourself; about long-term romantic relationships; about a certain kind of male friendship between two guys who adore each other but who also bring out the most absurdly competitive aspects in each other. Why I made the movie: 1) an overwhelming desire to work with Mark Duplass, and, 2) a sadistic desire to watch a couple of straight guys squirm. I’d met Mark Duplass in August of 2007 on the set of True Adolescents, a film shooting in Seattle that he was acting in and I was shooting stills for. Watching him act, seeing how generous he was with the other actors, and how far he was willing to go in every single scene, I knew immediately that I wanted to work with him. We bonded at the craft services table and I pitched the idea for Humpday to him about a month or two after the production had wrapped and he’d gone back to LA. I think Mark found the premise—of two straight dudes deciding they had to try and have sex together—an intriguing, if slightly insane, challenge. He introduced me to Joshua Leonard as his potential co-star almost immediately and the two of them seemed to have just the right kind of chemistry for this intense, nutty, onscreen friendship. I brought in Alycia Delmore, a great Seattle actress, to play Mark’s wife and, soon thereafter, Mark convinced me to play the supporting role of Monica, Josh’s love interest, myself. We shot on two HVX-200s over the course of 9-10 days at the end of June, 2008. Ben Kasulke (who shot my first two features) was the DP and Nat Sanders (who I’d met on the festival circuit last year…he edited Medicine for Melancholy) moved himself up to Seattle from LA to edit the film with me over the next two and a half months. If you funded your film through a “day job” or through working on projects that were not your own, tell us about that. If not, tell us a story from your past work life, before you became a professional filmmaker. I funded the film through grants and donations and fed myself and my family by teaching part time at the Digital Filmmaking program at the Art Institute of Seattle. My most exotic past employment experience: working for 4 months on a factory trawler in the Bering Sea when I was twenty-two years old. Have you been to Sundance before? If so, tell us your best moment (or worst, which ever is funnier). If you haven’t, what are you most (or least) looking forward to based on your impressions of the festival? I have never been to Sundance before, (although I have been to Park City; my first feature film, We Go Way Back won Slamdance in 2006.) I am imagining long lines, icy sidewalks, and a constant headache the first few days due to the high altitude. (I like to keep my expectations low so if I end up having a fabulous time, it will all just be a pleasant surprise.) Let’s get hypothetical: You’re on death row. The night of your execution, you’re allowed to watch any two films of your choice. What would you pick for your last-night-on-Earth double feature? This is Spinal Tap and The Princess Bride. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2009/1/14/39547.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 1/14/2009 11:00:34 PM
Body: Director Lynn Shelton’s follow-up to My Effortless Brilliance, Sundance Dramatic Competition entry stars Mark Duplass (HumpdayThe Puffy Chair) and Joshua Leonard (The Blair Witch Project) as two college friends who meet up a decade later and somehow end up pacting to make a boy-on-boy sex tape together. Answering our 4 Questions We Ask Everyone, Shelton declared her love for The Princess Bride, named the crew member she poached from Medicine for Melancholy, and explained her philosophy of low expectations. Tell us about your movie: who did you work with, what did you shoot on, why did you make it? Give us the reductive, 25-word or less, “It’s like [pop culture reference a] meets [pop culture reference b]!” pitch, then explain what the quick and dirty sell leaves out. Humpday is like Bang the Drum Slowly meets Jaws. Only no-one dies. Either by tumor or by shark. It’s about the reunion of two old college buddies, Ben and Andrew, who haven’t seen each other for years. Somehow, within 24 hours of being in each other’s company again, they manage to box themselves into a mutual dare to have sex with each other on film. For an “art project”. Which wouldn’t be so radical or weird except for the fact that Ben’s married, and both guys are about as straight as straight can be. The film’s about fear of conformity; of not living up to your own image of yourself; about long-term romantic relationships; about a certain kind of male friendship between two guys who adore each other but who also bring out the most absurdly competitive aspects in each other. Why I made the movie: 1) an overwhelming desire to work with Mark Duplass, and, 2) a sadistic desire to watch a couple of straight guys squirm. I’d met Mark Duplass in August of 2007 on the set of True Adolescents, a film shooting in Seattle that he was acting in and I was shooting stills for. Watching him act, seeing how generous he was with the other actors, and how far he was willing to go in every single scene, I knew immediately that I wanted to work with him. We bonded at the craft services table and I pitched the idea for Humpday to him about a month or two after the production had wrapped and he’d gone back to LA. I think Mark found the premise—of two straight dudes deciding they had to try and have sex together—an intriguing, if slightly insane, challenge. He introduced me to Joshua Leonard as his potential co-star almost immediately and the two of them seemed to have just the right kind of chemistry for this intense, nutty, onscreen friendship. I brought in Alycia Delmore, a great Seattle actress, to play Mark’s wife and, soon thereafter, Mark convinced me to play the supporting role of Monica, Josh’s love interest, myself. We shot on two HVX-200s over the course of 9-10 days at the end of June, 2008. Ben Kasulke (who shot my first two features) was the DP and Nat Sanders (who I’d met on the festival circuit last year…he edited Medicine for Melancholy) moved himself up to Seattle from LA to edit the film with me over the next two and a half months. If you funded your film through a “day job” or through working on projects that were not your own, tell us about that. If not, tell us a story from your past work life, before you became a professional filmmaker. I funded the film through grants and donations and fed myself and my family by teaching part time at the Digital Filmmaking program at the Art Institute of Seattle. My most exotic past employment experience: working for 4 months on a factory trawler in the Bering Sea when I was twenty-two years old. Have you been to Sundance before? If so, tell us your best moment (or worst, which ever is funnier). If you haven’t, what are you most (or least) looking forward to based on your impressions of the festival? I have never been to Sundance before, (although I have been to Park City; my first feature film, We Go Way Back won Slamdance in 2006.) I am imagining long lines, icy sidewalks, and a constant headache the first few days due to the high altitude. (I like to keep my expectations low so if I end up having a fabulous time, it will all just be a pleasant surprise.) Let’s get hypothetical: You’re on death row. The night of your execution, you’re allowed to watch any two films of your choice. What would you pick for your last-night-on-Earth double feature? This is Spinal Tap and The Princess Bride. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Thu, 15 Jan 2009 04:00:34 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com1/14/2009 11:00:34 PMDirector Lynn Shelton’s follow-up to My Effortless Brilliance, Sundance Dramatic Competition entry stars Mark Duplass (HumpdayThe Puffy Chair) and Joshua Leonard (The Blair Witch Project) as two college friends who meet up a decade later and somehow end up pacting to make a boy-on-boy sex tape together. Answering our 4 Questions We Ask Everyone, Shelton declared her love for The Princess Bride, named the crew member she poached from Medicine for Melancholy, and explained her philosophy of low expectations. Tell us about your movie: who did you work with, what did you shoot on, why did you make it? Give us the reductive, 25-word or less, “It’s like [pop culture reference a] meets [pop culture reference b]!” pitch, then explain what the quick and dirty sell leaves out. Humpday is like Bang the Drum Slowly meets Jaws. Only no-one dies. Either by tumor or by shark. It’s about the reunion of two old college buddies, Ben and Andrew, who haven’t seen each other for years. Somehow, within 24 hours of being in each other’s company again, they manage to box themselves into a mutual dare to have sex with each other on film. For an “art project”. Which wouldn’t be so radical or weird except for the fact that Ben’s married, and both guys are about as straight as straight can be. The film’s about fear of conformity; of not living up to your own image of yourself; about long-term romantic relationships; about a certain kind of male friendship between two guys who adore each other but who also bring out the most absurdly competitive aspects in each other. Why I made the movie: 1) an overwhelming desire to work with Mark Duplass, and, 2) a sadistic desire to watch a couple of straight guys squirm. I’d met Mark Duplass in August of 2007 on the set of True Adolescents, a film shooting in Seattle that he was acting in and I was shooting stills for. Watching him act, seeing how generous he was with the other actors, and how far he was willing to go in every single scene, I knew immediately that I wanted to work with him. We bonded at the craft services table and I pitched the idea for Humpday to him about a month or two after the production had wrapped and he’d gone back to LA. I think Mark found the premise—of two straight dudes deciding they had to try and have sex together—an intriguing, if slightly insane, challenge. He introduced me to Joshua Leonard as his potential co-star almost immediately and the two of them seemed to have just the right kind of chemistry for this intense, nutty, onscreen friendship. I brought in Alycia Delmore, a great Seattle actress, to play Mark’s wife and, soon thereafter, Mark convinced me to play the supporting role of Monica, Josh’s love interest, myself. We shot on two HVX-200s over the course of 9-10 days at the end of June, 2008. Ben Kasulke (who shot my first two features) was the DP and Nat Sanders (who I’d met on the festival circuit last year…he edited Medicine for Melancholy) moved himself up to Seattle from LA to edit the film with me over the next two and a half months. If you funded your film through a “day job” or through working on projects that were not your own, tell us about that. If not, tell us a story from your past work life, before you became a professional filmmaker. I funded the film through grants and donations and fed myself and my family by teaching part time at the Digital Filmmaking program at the Art Institute of Seattle. My most exotic past employment experience: working for 4 months on a factory trawler in the Bering Sea when I was twenty-two years old. Have you been to Sundance before? If so, tell us your best moment (or worst, which ever is funnier). If you haven’t, what are you most (or least) looking forward to based on your impressions of the festival? I have never been to Sundance before, (although I have been to Park City; my first feature film, We Go Way Back won Slamdance in 2006.) I am imagining long lines, icy sidewalks, and a constant headache the first few days due to the high altitude. (I like to keep my expectations low so if I end up having a fabulous time, it will all just be a pleasant surprise.) Let’s get hypothetical: You’re on death row. The night of your execution, you’re allowed to watch any two films of your choice. What would you pick for your last-night-on-Earth double feature? This is Spinal Tap and The Princess Bride. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/12/29/38930.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 12/29/2008 4:01:03 PM
Body: A favorite on these pages for her clever 08′ SXSW hit My Effortless Brilliance, a sort of comedic cousin to fellow Northwesterner Kelly Reichardt’s Old Joy featuring former Harvey Danger frontman Sean Nelson (not the kid in Fresh and American Buffalo), Lynn Shelton will be back on the fest circuit in 09′. Her new film Humpday, which will bow at next month’s Sundance Film Festival, goes right back into the breach of examining the follies of male companionship. We caught up with Lynn to discuss stealing techniques from Kira Muratova, finding kindred a kindred spirit in Sherman Alexie and just how much KEXP in Seattle has shaped her musical tastes. What films and TV shows have you watched recently? I just gobbled up the first season of Mad Men (always late to the party!) and watched Robinson Devor’s Zoo on my laptop during an airplane ride recently. I have a kid and don’t get the theater as often as I would like to, so I tend to see films on DVD months after their release. I just saw The Savages and Margot at the Wedding that way. Which ones, if any, had any lasting significance for you? Why? Actually all the ones I just mentioned were pretty amazing. The last two felt most directly relatable to what I am trying to do as a filmmaker… they made me feel like I’d found kindred spirits in their directors. That level of naturalism and humor in the acting and writing is totally what I aspire to. How do your viewing habits effect your work as a film director? I can be pretty impressionable, so at times it can be quite direct. I remember seeing A Long Goodbye by Kira Muratova at the Northwest Film Forum while I was in the middle of editing my first feature film. I found it incredibly inspiring and I shamelessly borrowed some of her techniques in the very next scene that I edited. It was a pseudo-rape scene and I utilized jumpcuts and repeated shots to create a dream-like and vaguely horrifying sense of helplessness in the main character. What have you been reading lately? I’ve recently made friends with Sherman Alexie so I’m reading all of his work for the first time… it’s pretty astounding. My love for poetry has also been re-ignited through that friendship… we’ve been trading favorite poems back and forth. Oh, and I read a totally mind-blowing book of short stories recently, Willful Creatures by Aimee Bender. She’s incredible—I LOVE her! What would be your ideal literary adaptation? Why? Probably a story by Alice Munro. The emotional interplay between her characters is astoundingly sharp. I would love to make a movie that felt as nuanced and resonant as her work does. What are some of the books you’ve always wanted to read that you haven’t gotten around to? That list is literally endless. I’ve been way too busy the last few years to read anywhere near what I would like to have. My editor Nat Sanders has informed me that he will not work with me again until I read The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera, so I guess that’s at the top of my list. What’s been coming out of your stereo recently? I listen to this nonprofit Seattle radio station called KEXP a lot…I’ve discovered a bunch of favorite bands through them…everyone from The Ponys to Sigur Ros to Cut Chemist. My own playlists lately have included old Elvis Costello, the Scissor Sisters, The Pogues, The Long Winters, M. Ward, Jolie Holland… Is music an essential part of your process for conceiving and writing films? The right music has a real power over me, emotionally, so I find that it can carry me to places mentally that are good for tapping into my subconscious, creative center. I can’t usually listen to it while I’m actually writing because the lyrics fight with the words that I’m trying to come up with…but to get the creative juices flowing, to bring images and feelings and connections up from the deep, yeah, it’s fantastic. What would be your ideal pairing of director and musician for a concert film? Why? Fritz Lang and Carl Orff. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Mon, 29 Dec 2008 21:01:03 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com12/29/2008 4:01:03 PM A favorite on these pages for her clever 08′ SXSW hit My Effortless Brilliance, a sort of comedic cousin to fellow Northwesterner Kelly Reichardt’s Old Joy featuring former Harvey Danger frontman Sean Nelson (not the kid in Fresh and American Buffalo), Lynn Shelton will be back on the fest circuit in 09′. Her new film Humpday, which will bow at next month’s Sundance Film Festival, goes right back into the breach of examining the follies of male companionship. We caught up with Lynn to discuss stealing techniques from Kira Muratova, finding kindred a kindred spirit in Sherman Alexie and just how much KEXP in Seattle has shaped her musical tastes. What films and TV shows have you watched recently? I just gobbled up the first season of Mad Men (always late to the party!) and watched Robinson Devor’s Zoo on my laptop during an airplane ride recently. I have a kid and don’t get the theater as often as I would like to, so I tend to see films on DVD months after their release. I just saw The Savages and Margot at the Wedding that way. Which ones, if any, had any lasting significance for you? Why? Actually all the ones I just mentioned were pretty amazing. The last two felt most directly relatable to what I am trying to do as a filmmaker… they made me feel like I’d found kindred spirits in their directors. That level of naturalism and humor in the acting and writing is totally what I aspire to. How do your viewing habits effect your work as a film director? I can be pretty impressionable, so at times it can be quite direct. I remember seeing A Long Goodbye by Kira Muratova at the Northwest Film Forum while I was in the middle of editing my first feature film. I found it incredibly inspiring and I shamelessly borrowed some of her techniques in the very next scene that I edited. It was a pseudo-rape scene and I utilized jumpcuts and repeated shots to create a dream-like and vaguely horrifying sense of helplessness in the main character. What have you been reading lately? I’ve recently made friends with Sherman Alexie so I’m reading all of his work for the first time… it’s pretty astounding. My love for poetry has also been re-ignited through that friendship… we’ve been trading favorite poems back and forth. Oh, and I read a totally mind-blowing book of short stories recently, Willful Creatures by Aimee Bender. She’s incredible—I LOVE her! What would be your ideal literary adaptation? Why? Probably a story by Alice Munro. The emotional interplay between her characters is astoundingly sharp. I would love to make a movie that felt as nuanced and resonant as her work does. What are some of the books you’ve always wanted to read that you haven’t gotten around to? That list is literally endless. I’ve been way too busy the last few years to read anywhere near what I would like to have. My editor Nat Sanders has informed me that he will not work with me again until I read The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera, so I guess that’s at the top of my list. What’s been coming out of your stereo recently? I listen to this nonprofit Seattle radio station called KEXP a lot…I’ve discovered a bunch of favorite bands through them…everyone from The Ponys to Sigur Ros to Cut Chemist. My own playlists lately have included old Elvis Costello, the Scissor Sisters, The Pogues, The Long Winters, M. Ward, Jolie Holland… Is music an essential part of your process for conceiving and writing films? The right music has a real power over me, emotionally, so I find that it can carry me to places mentally that are good for tapping into my subconscious, creative center. I can’t usually listen to it while I’m actually writing because the lyrics fight with the words that I’m trying to come up with…but to get the creative juices flowing, to bring images and feelings and connections up from the deep, yeah, it’s fantastic. What would be your ideal pairing of director and musician for a concert film? Why? Fritz Lang and Carl Orff. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/karina/archive/2008/3/20/26449.aspx Post By: Karina
Post To: Karina on SpoutBlog
Post Date: 3/20/2008 7:01:22 PM
Body: Chris Thilk points to Mark Bell’s take on that “asinine piece that appeared in The Hollywood Reporter that seems to hang the failure of independent movies on their inability to get a major newspaper reviewer.” Says Bell: “I know that an audience exists for indie film; I am a part of that audience. I don’t think that audience is waiting or needing to be pandered to by the print promotion and corporation whores anymore, though.” In a recent New York Times column, Maureen Dowd made an offhanded analogy comparing George W. Bush to the late Gene Kelly. Kelly’s widow was not amused. “To suggest that “George Bush has turned into Gene Kelly” represents not only an implausible transformation but a considerable slight,” fumes Patricia Ward Kelly at the Huffington Post. “If Gene were in a grave, he would have turned over in it.” Sean Nelson, star of Lynn Shelton’s SXSW Competition entry My Effortless Brilliance (see review here) blogged his festival experience for The Stranger.  “Though there are several competitions—narrative, documentary, short, etc.—within the festival, the atmosphere among the artists is 100 percent noncompetitive. Even when you’re all drunk.” Via GreenCine Daily. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » karina
]]>Thu, 20 Mar 2008 23:01:22 GMTKarinaKarina on SpoutBlog3/20/2008 7:01:22 PM Chris Thilk points to Mark Bell’s take on that “asinine piece that appeared in The Hollywood Reporter that seems to hang the failure of independent movies on their inability to get a major newspaper reviewer.” Says Bell: “I know that an audience exists for indie film; I am a part of that audience. I don’t think that audience is waiting or needing to be pandered to by the print promotion and corporation whores anymore, though.” In a recent New York Times column, Maureen Dowd made an offhanded analogy comparing George W. Bush to the late Gene Kelly. Kelly’s widow was not amused. “To suggest that “George Bush has turned into Gene Kelly” represents not only an implausible transformation but a considerable slight,” fumes Patricia Ward Kelly at the Huffington Post. “If Gene were in a grave, he would have turned over in it.” Sean Nelson, star of Lynn Shelton’s SXSW Competition entry My Effortless Brilliance (see review here) blogged his festival experience for The Stranger.  “Though there are several competitions—narrative, documentary, short, etc.—within the festival, the atmosphere among the artists is 100 percent noncompetitive. Even when you’re all drunk.” Via GreenCine Daily. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » karina http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/3/20/26448.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 3/20/2008 7:01:13 PM
Body: Chris Thilk points to Mark Bell’s take on that “asinine piece that appeared in The Hollywood Reporter that seems to hang the failure of independent movies on their inability to get a major newspaper reviewer.” Says Bell: “I know that an audience exists for indie film; I am a part of that audience. I don’t think that audience is waiting or needing to be pandered to by the print promotion and corporation whores anymore, though.” In a recent New York Times column, Maureen Dowd made an offhanded analogy comparing George W. Bush to the late Gene Kelly. Kelly’s widow was not amused. “To suggest that “George Bush has turned into Gene Kelly” represents not only an implausible transformation but a considerable slight,” fumes Patricia Ward Kelly at the Huffington Post. “If Gene were in a grave, he would have turned over in it.” Sean Nelson, star of Lynn Shelton’s SXSW Competition entry My Effortless Brilliance (see review here) blogged his festival experience for The Stranger.  “Though there are several competitions—narrative, documentary, short, etc.—within the festival, the atmosphere among the artists is 100 percent noncompetitive. Even when you’re all drunk.” Via GreenCine Daily. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Thu, 20 Mar 2008 23:01:13 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com3/20/2008 7:01:13 PM Chris Thilk points to Mark Bell’s take on that “asinine piece that appeared in The Hollywood Reporter that seems to hang the failure of independent movies on their inability to get a major newspaper reviewer.” Says Bell: “I know that an audience exists for indie film; I am a part of that audience. I don’t think that audience is waiting or needing to be pandered to by the print promotion and corporation whores anymore, though.” In a recent New York Times column, Maureen Dowd made an offhanded analogy comparing George W. Bush to the late Gene Kelly. Kelly’s widow was not amused. “To suggest that “George Bush has turned into Gene Kelly” represents not only an implausible transformation but a considerable slight,” fumes Patricia Ward Kelly at the Huffington Post. “If Gene were in a grave, he would have turned over in it.” Sean Nelson, star of Lynn Shelton’s SXSW Competition entry My Effortless Brilliance (see review here) blogged his festival experience for The Stranger.  “Though there are several competitions—narrative, documentary, short, etc.—within the festival, the atmosphere among the artists is 100 percent noncompetitive. Even when you’re all drunk.” Via GreenCine Daily. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/thefilmpanelnotetaker/archive/2008/3/18/26341.aspx Post By: thefilmpanelnotetaker
Post To: thefilmpanelnotetaker Blog
Post Date: 3/18/2008 10:00:55 AM
Body: On Saturday, Brooklyn, NY-based filmmaker Leah Meyerhoff will be heading to Beantown to present a retrospective of her short films at the Brattle Theatre during the Boston Underground Film Festival. I had the great pleasure to hang out with Leah recently during the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival in Austin, Texas. I first became familiar with Leah’s work at a screening of short films at the Brooklyn Independent Cinema Series last year where I saw the music video she directed, Team Queen. Soon after, I watched her Student Academy-Award nominated short Twitch, which has played in over 200 film festivals around the world and won numerous awards. Last night, I spoke with Leah about her upcoming trip to Boston and what people can expect there, as well as what’s going on with her feature film in development, Unicorns, and other defining moments in her young career. Leah finds a unicorn in the Enchanted Forest in Austin, Texas, at the Bi The Way World Premiere party during SXSW.TFPN: Can you give a little preview of what you’ll be talking about at the Boston Underground Film Festival? Have you been there before?Leah: This will be my third time there. They showed Twitch and Team Queen there before. It’s a fun festival. They’re calling it a retrospective, which is a little strange because I don’t think I’m old enough for a retrospective. Isn’t that what happens after you’re dead? Anyways, I’ll be screening about a dozen of my short films. A lot of films I made in undergrad at Brown University, some experimental films I made when I was in art school in Chicago, and some of my shorts from grad school NYU. Then I have some commercials and music videos I made outside of school. I’ll be talking about my progression as a filmmaker and how I got from being a teenager going off to college to where I am now about to make my first feature film Unicorns. They’re promoting the Q&A to undergrad and high school students in the area. It’s supposed to be somewhat educational, like an artist lecture, and hopefully will inspire aspiring filmmakers to pursue their own path. Since Twitch was so successful on the festival circuit, I also give lectures at various film schools around the country about how to get into film festivals and what to do once you get in. I enjoy educating people on that process, something I didn’t learn in school and had to figure out for myself.TFPN: What made you decide to become a filmmaker?Leah: I originally thought I wanted to be a marine biologist, something totally not in the arts at all. Then I went school at Brown and started taking film classes. I started with film theory, kind of more on an intellectual basis and then began taking film production classes at RISD which was this art school nearby. I continued to make sculpture, painting, photography and other kinds of visual art for years and went to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for a year. It was almost a half-creative and half-practical decision to go into filmmaking, a way of doing something that I love while also having an impact on the world. I enjoy the collaborative aspect of filmmaking rather than being in a tiny studio all day painting by yourself. It also has a potential to reach a wide audience and affect social change on a level that other art forms aren’t capable of. The distribution system can be mind-bogglingly complicated, but it’s also great because if you can tap into that, you have the chance to really change the way people think. That is part of the reason why I’m particularly interested in coming of age stories about teenage girls. That was the age range for me when I was figuring out who I was in the world and what it meant to grow up as a female in this society. I didn’t see myself reflected in the media. To me, all the TV shows and films I saw were not my reality. Now that I’m older, this idea of creating characters that young girls can look up to or can identify with is a powerful idea.TFPN: Who are some filmmakers that have inspired you? In general, I’m inspired by artists who show the world how it is, raw, gritty and real. Kimberly Pierce is a great example. I like Lynne Ramsay, Jonathan Caouette, Catherine Breillat, and Gus Van Sant. I like artistically-minded filmmakers who are making stories about real people. And at the same time, having a creative take on it and making the world a more beautiful place.TFPN: What is Unicorns about? Has it been cast yet and when do you go into production?Leah: Unicorns is a coming-of-age film about an awkward teenage girl named Davina who escapes to a fantasy world involving unicorns when her first romantic relationship becomes abusive. The film starts on her sixteenth birthday and follows her relationship with an older, punk rock boyfriend. It starts off being fun and exciting, that kind of butterflies-in-your-stomach feeling, and then progressively becomes more and more emotionally and physically abusive. At the same time, her best friend Cassidy has a crush on her and her father is marrying a woman she despises. It’s kind of like an updated Welcome to the Dollhouse. Or another good reference is The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys or Heavenly Creatures. It’s a straight-forward narrative drama, but then there are these fantastical animated elements as well. Were hoping to start shooting this summer. Alison Anders, who is executive producing, is a filmmaker I really admire. Her film Gas Food Lodging was instrumental in my teenage years, so I’m excited to have her attached to the project. We’re hoping to start casting next month with Judy Henderson, who also cast L.I.E. and Twelve and Holding and Eyde Belasco, who cast Half Nelson. She also casts the actors for the Sundance Labs, which the Unicorns screenplay was a finalist for, so that’s a great resource as well.TFPN: Do you have anyone in mind who you’d like to cast in the role of Davina?Leah: It’s tough, because I really want the 16-year-old girl to seem like a real 16-year-old girl. There are not a lot of name actors out there who actually look 16. I like Kristen Stewart a lot. I like this girl named Mia Waskilowska who was in a short I saw at Sundance called I Love Sarah Jane. I’m guessing what’s going to happen is the lead girl will be someone we discover who is authentic and real. For the lead boy, it might be more of a name actor, along the lines of Emile Hirsch or Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Really I just want to cast whoever is most right for the part. Whoever feels the most real. I am not interested in making the next Clueless or Mean Girls. It’s more My So Called Life than 90210, you know? There are not a lot of films about teenage girls to begin with. There are a lot of coming-of-age films about boys, but there are not a lot of female stories out there. And of the ones that are, they’re usually so unlike any reality that I experienced. Which is what inspires me to make this film. To dig beneath the glossy surface and scratch at the heart of the matter. The brutal realities of adolescence. This is why I spend so much time on casting. If I can cast someone compelling and authentic, then most of my job as a director is already done.TFPN: What were some of your favorite films you saw and panel discussions you attended at SXSW?Leah: My favorite film was a documentary called Beautiful Losers, which was about street artists like Shepard Fairey and Harmony Korine. It was beautifully shot. I also liked Lynn Shelton’s film My Effortless Brilliance. And it was fun to see Bi the Way in a theater with a lively audience. Honestly, I came away from that festival wishing I had seen more narrative films. At one point, in the middle of a screening, my friend turned to me and said I just really want to see a scripted film. Kimberly Pierce has been giving me advice on my film, so I really wanted to see Stop-Loss but it played the day after I left. I also went to a lot of panels. The writing panel was useful to me, with Amy Dotson and Scott Macaulay. Also the Fact or Fiction one was interesting. I went to part of the one the Four Eyed Monsters kids were on about digital distribution. I’ve spoken on a lot of panels myself so it’s always interesting to be on the other side. In general, festival panels become somewhat redundant, but at SXSW there were so many incredible people smashed together in this small venue that even if you came in part way though you could pick some stuff up and move on to the next. That’s kind of what I did.TFPN: What would you say are some of the best festivals you’ve ever been to with the best panels?Leah: This year, I actually found the panels at Sundance and Slamdance to be really interesting, but SXSW is definitely up there in terms of good panels. They’re well moderated, have interesting guests, and are short and to the point. I tend to judge festivals on more of a filmmaker criterion. I like smaller festivals that take good care of the filmmakers and have really good programming and fun parties. I really like Woodstock, Milan (in Italy), and Avignon (in France). I used to like Brooklyn Underground, which doesn’t exist anymore. I also really like the Sarasota Film Festival as a filmmaker and an audience member. It’s a really well-run festival. And there’s another festival a lot of people haven’t heard of called Cucalorus in North Carolina that I would put on my top 10 list of all time. They make a point to bring all the filmmakers out, no matter where you’re from. You stay with a volunteer and they give you a bicycle to ride around in this tiny little town. The audience is fantastic and the theaters are beautiful and all the films are great. I also like the Newport International Film Festival in Rhode Island. They have parties in mansions with lobsters. It’s fancy but it’s also down to earth at the same time. I was there the year that they were missing the print for the closing night film and a helicopter landed in the middle of town to deliver it, and because of it, they ended up pushing my screening block. To make up for it, they gave us all a free sailboat ride the next day. I don’t like Sundance and Cannes and the larger festivals as much, especially as a short filmmaker because you can get lost in the mix, but Venice is a really great one. Actually I think Venice has the best Q&As I’ve ever seen where it becomes a real community discussion. Plus, it’s in Italy, which is always nice. Originally posted on:The Film Panel Notetaker - Miss a panel discussion? Don't worry! We took notes for you.
]]>Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:00:55 GMTthefilmpanelnotetakerthefilmpanelnotetaker Blog3/18/2008 10:00:55 AMOn Saturday, Brooklyn, NY-based filmmaker Leah Meyerhoff will be heading to Beantown to present a retrospective of her short films at the Brattle Theatre during the Boston Underground Film Festival. I had the great pleasure to hang out with Leah recently during the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival in Austin, Texas. I first became familiar with Leah’s work at a screening of short films at the Brooklyn Independent Cinema Series last year where I saw the music video she directed, Team Queen. Soon after, I watched her Student Academy-Award nominated short Twitch, which has played in over 200 film festivals around the world and won numerous awards. Last night, I spoke with Leah about her upcoming trip to Boston and what people can expect there, as well as what’s going on with her feature film in development, Unicorns, and other defining moments in her young career. Leah finds a unicorn in the Enchanted Forest in Austin, Texas, at the Bi The Way World Premiere party during SXSW.TFPN: Can you give a little preview of what you’ll be talking about at the Boston Underground Film Festival? Have you been there before?Leah: This will be my third time there. They showed Twitch and Team Queen there before. It’s a fun festival. They’re calling it a retrospective, which is a little strange because I don’t think I’m old enough for a retrospective. Isn’t that what happens after you’re dead? Anyways, I’ll be screening about a dozen of my short films. A lot of films I made in undergrad at Brown University, some experimental films I made when I was in art school in Chicago, and some of my shorts from grad school NYU. Then I have some commercials and music videos I made outside of school. I’ll be talking about my progression as a filmmaker and how I got from being a teenager going off to college to where I am now about to make my first feature film Unicorns. They’re promoting the Q&A to undergrad and high school students in the area. It’s supposed to be somewhat educational, like an artist lecture, and hopefully will inspire aspiring filmmakers to pursue their own path. Since Twitch was so successful on the festival circuit, I also give lectures at various film schools around the country about how to get into film festivals and what to do once you get in. I enjoy educating people on that process, something I didn’t learn in school and had to figure out for myself.TFPN: What made you decide to become a filmmaker?Leah: I originally thought I wanted to be a marine biologist, something totally not in the arts at all. Then I went school at Brown and started taking film classes. I started with film theory, kind of more on an intellectual basis and then began taking film production classes at RISD which was this art school nearby. I continued to make sculpture, painting, photography and other kinds of visual art for years and went to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for a year. It was almost a half-creative and half-practical decision to go into filmmaking, a way of doing something that I love while also having an impact on the world. I enjoy the collaborative aspect of filmmaking rather than being in a tiny studio all day painting by yourself. It also has a potential to reach a wide audience and affect social change on a level that other art forms aren’t capable of. The distribution system can be mind-bogglingly complicated, but it’s also great because if you can tap into that, you have the chance to really change the way people think. That is part of the reason why I’m particularly interested in coming of age stories about teenage girls. That was the age range for me when I was figuring out who I was in the world and what it meant to grow up as a female in this society. I didn’t see myself reflected in the media. To me, all the TV shows and films I saw were not my reality. Now that I’m older, this idea of creating characters that young girls can look up to or can identify with is a powerful idea.TFPN: Who are some filmmakers that have inspired you? In general, I’m inspired by artists who show the world how it is, raw, gritty and real. Kimberly Pierce is a great example. I like Lynne Ramsay, Jonathan Caouette, Catherine Breillat, and Gus Van Sant. I like artistically-minded filmmakers who are making stories about real people. And at the same time, having a creative take on it and making the world a more beautiful place.TFPN: What is Unicorns about? Has it been cast yet and when do you go into production?Leah: Unicorns is a coming-of-age film about an awkward teenage girl named Davina who escapes to a fantasy world involving unicorns when her first romantic relationship becomes abusive. The film starts on her sixteenth birthday and follows her relationship with an older, punk rock boyfriend. It starts off being fun and exciting, that kind of butterflies-in-your-stomach feeling, and then progressively becomes more and more emotionally and physically abusive. At the same time, her best friend Cassidy has a crush on her and her father is marrying a woman she despises. It’s kind of like an updated Welcome to the Dollhouse. Or another good reference is The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys or Heavenly Creatures. It’s a straight-forward narrative drama, but then there are these fantastical animated elements as well. Were hoping to start shooting this summer. Alison Anders, who is executive producing, is a filmmaker I really admire. Her film Gas Food Lodging was instrumental in my teenage years, so I’m excited to have her attached to the project. We’re hoping to start casting next month with Judy Henderson, who also cast L.I.E. and Twelve and Holding and Eyde Belasco, who cast Half Nelson. She also casts the actors for the Sundance Labs, which the Unicorns screenplay was a finalist for, so that’s a great resource as well.TFPN: Do you have anyone in mind who you’d like to cast in the role of Davina?Leah: It’s tough, because I really want the 16-year-old girl to seem like a real 16-year-old girl. There are not a lot of name actors out there who actually look 16. I like Kristen Stewart a lot. I like this girl named Mia Waskilowska who was in a short I saw at Sundance called I Love Sarah Jane. I’m guessing what’s going to happen is the lead girl will be someone we discover who is authentic and real. For the lead boy, it might be more of a name actor, along the lines of Emile Hirsch or Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Really I just want to cast whoever is most right for the part. Whoever feels the most real. I am not interested in making the next Clueless or Mean Girls. It’s more My So Called Life than 90210, you know? There are not a lot of films about teenage girls to begin with. There are a lot of coming-of-age films about boys, but there are not a lot of female stories out there. And of the ones that are, they’re usually so unlike any reality that I experienced. Which is what inspires me to make this film. To dig beneath the glossy surface and scratch at the heart of the matter. The brutal realities of adolescence. This is why I spend so much time on casting. If I can cast someone compelling and authentic, then most of my job as a director is already done.TFPN: What were some of your favorite films you saw and panel discussions you attended at SXSW?Leah: My favorite film was a documentary called Beautiful Losers, which was about street artists like Shepard Fairey and Harmony Korine. It was beautifully shot. I also liked Lynn Shelton’s film My Effortless Brilliance. And it was fun to see Bi the Way in a theater with a lively audience. Honestly, I came away from that festival wishing I had seen more narrative films. At one point, in the middle of a screening, my friend turned to me and said I just really want to see a scripted film. Kimberly Pierce has been giving me advice on my film, so I really wanted to see Stop-Loss but it played the day after I left. I also went to a lot of panels. The writing panel was useful to me, with Amy Dotson and Scott Macaulay. Also the Fact or Fiction one was interesting. I went to part of the one the Four Eyed Monsters kids were on about digital distribution. I’ve spoken on a lot of panels myself so it’s always interesting to be on the other side. In general, festival panels become somewhat redundant, but at SXSW there were so many incredible people smashed together in this small venue that even if you came in part way though you could pick some stuff up and move on to the next. That’s kind of what I did.TFPN: What would you say are some of the best festivals you’ve ever been to with the best panels?Leah: This year, I actually found the panels at Sundance and Slamdance to be really interesting, but SXSW is definitely up there in terms of good panels. They’re well moderated, have interesting guests, and are short and to the point. I tend to judge festivals on more of a filmmaker criterion. I like smaller festivals that take good care of the filmmakers and have really good programming and fun parties. I really like Woodstock, Milan (in Italy), and Avignon (in France). I used to like Brooklyn Underground, which doesn’t exist anymore. I also really like the Sarasota Film Festival as a filmmaker and an audience member. It’s a really well-run festival. And there’s another festival a lot of people haven’t heard of called Cucalorus in North Carolina that I would put on my top 10 list of all time. They make a point to bring all the filmmakers out, no matter where you’re from. You stay with a volunteer and they give you a bicycle to ride around in this tiny little town. The audience is fantastic and the theaters are beautiful and all the films are great. I also like the Newport International Film Festival in Rhode Island. They have parties in mansions with lobsters. It’s fancy but it’s also down to earth at the same time. I was there the year that they were missing the print for the closing night film and a helicopter landed in the middle of town to deliver it, and because of it, they ended up pushing my screening block. To make up for it, they gave us all a free sailboat ride the next day. I don’t like Sundance and Cannes and the larger festivals as much, especially as a short filmmaker because you can get lost in the mix, but Venice is a really great one. Actually I think Venice has the best Q&As I’ve ever seen where it becomes a real community discussion. Plus, it’s in Italy, which is always nice. Originally posted on:The Film Panel Notetaker - Miss a panel discussion? Don't worry! We took notes for you. http://www.spout.com/blogs/karina/archive/2008/3/9/26017.aspx Post By: Karina
Post To: Karina on SpoutBlog
Post Date: 3/9/2008 5:01:03 PM
Body: Lynn Shelton’s My Effortless Brilliance plays something like an overtly comic remake of Old Joy, with mountains swapped out for woods, and a third man wild card pushing the narrative along. It’s not quite like nothing I’ve ever seen before, but it’s a nicely rendered, novella-esque character study with some impressive naturalistic performances. Sean Nelson plays Erik, an exceedingly shlubby, thirty-something author trying to match the unexpected success of his first book with his third. Terribly insecure, he turns every interpersonal reaction into a grand performance with him as the star. When asked if he’s hungry, he answers, “Yes. I am INCREDIBLY hungry!” He seems right away to be faking it like he’s still making it, and eventually we get confirmation that success was something that came and went very quickly for him, a moment he was unable to grasp and fully enjoy before it floated away. Years after his fifteen minutes, he spins party stories out his failure to assimilate into the world of fame: “I got to be at the table with Liv Tyler, but I only got to talk to her ass.” (more…) Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » karina
]]>Sun, 09 Mar 2008 21:01:03 GMTKarinaKarina on SpoutBlog3/9/2008 5:01:03 PM Lynn Shelton’s My Effortless Brilliance plays something like an overtly comic remake of Old Joy, with mountains swapped out for woods, and a third man wild card pushing the narrative along. It’s not quite like nothing I’ve ever seen before, but it’s a nicely rendered, novella-esque character study with some impressive naturalistic performances. Sean Nelson plays Erik, an exceedingly shlubby, thirty-something author trying to match the unexpected success of his first book with his third. Terribly insecure, he turns every interpersonal reaction into a grand performance with him as the star. When asked if he’s hungry, he answers, “Yes. I am INCREDIBLY hungry!” He seems right away to be faking it like he’s still making it, and eventually we get confirmation that success was something that came and went very quickly for him, a moment he was unable to grasp and fully enjoy before it floated away. Years after his fifteen minutes, he spins party stories out his failure to assimilate into the world of fame: “I got to be at the table with Liv Tyler, but I only got to talk to her ass.” (more…) Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » karina http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/3/9/26016.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 3/9/2008 5:00:51 PM
Body: Lynn Shelton’s My Effortless Brilliance plays something like an overtly comic remake of Old Joy, with mountains swapped out for woods, and a third man wild card pushing the narrative along. It’s not quite like nothing I’ve ever seen before, but it’s a nicely rendered, novella-esque character study with some impressive naturalistic performances. Sean Nelson plays Erik, an exceedingly shlubby, thirty-something author trying to match the unexpected success of his first book with his third. Terribly insecure, he turns every interpersonal reaction into a grand performance with him as the star. When asked if he’s hungry, he answers, “Yes. I am INCREDIBLY hungry!” He seems right away to be faking it like he’s still making it, and eventually we get confirmation that success was something that came and went very quickly for him, a moment he was unable to grasp and fully enjoy before it floated away. Years after his fifteen minutes, he spins party stories out his failure to assimilate into the world of fame: “I got to be at the table with Liv Tyler, but I only got to talk to her ass.” (more…) Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Sun, 09 Mar 2008 21:00:51 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com3/9/2008 5:00:51 PM Lynn Shelton’s My Effortless Brilliance plays something like an overtly comic remake of Old Joy, with mountains swapped out for woods, and a third man wild card pushing the narrative along. It’s not quite like nothing I’ve ever seen before, but it’s a nicely rendered, novella-esque character study with some impressive naturalistic performances. Sean Nelson plays Erik, an exceedingly shlubby, thirty-something author trying to match the unexpected success of his first book with his third. Terribly insecure, he turns every interpersonal reaction into a grand performance with him as the star. When asked if he’s hungry, he answers, “Yes. I am INCREDIBLY hungry!” He seems right away to be faking it like he’s still making it, and eventually we get confirmation that success was something that came and went very quickly for him, a moment he was unable to grasp and fully enjoy before it floated away. Years after his fifteen minutes, he spins party stories out his failure to assimilate into the world of fame: “I got to be at the table with Liv Tyler, but I only got to talk to her ass.” (more…) Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/friendship/MemberTagFilms.aspxfriendship
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