RAGE
A little over a year ago now I shot my part in this film during one day in New York in a tiny little studio in the northern most parts of Spanish Harlem. None of the cast met each other until some of made the pilgrimage to Berlin for the films premiere (go to the Germany section of my photo page for some shots). It’s a real honor to be on screen with so much mind bending talent and it was a really proud moment for me to see myself on that screen with those people and think that this little idea I had of becoming an actor isn’t always just rejection and disappointment. There are moments that take you by surprise and encourage you to keep walking in the direction you’re going. Check out the trailer above and then click here to see the site that was just posted. Its a really interesting multi cinema – multi platform release that suits the story of the film so perfectly that I think it will really heighten peoples reaction to the film to watch it on their cell phones and computers. It’s really what Sally intended and I can’t wait to see how people respond. I run up to New York on the 20th to open the film there with a few other cast members, including Mr.Law, so I will hopefully have some photos and thoughts when I get back.
The Cove
It’s a little late for this, but a couple of weeks ago I saw this movie and it really took my breath away. I really believe that documentary films have hit their Golden Age and this one is at the top of the list. It was timed to come out so that the annual dolphin slaughter in September might get some more global attention this year. I haven’t spoken to anyone who’s seen it that hasn’t felt two things 1. That human beings seem hopelessly bent on savagely destroying everything in the world for profit. and 2. that they must do something to get the word about this insane practice that the Japanese government and whaling commission are trying to keep silent. Please check it out and tell other people to check it out.
Weather Girl
It is a shameful, shameful thing that I haven’t written about it. And that shame is driving me to action. Weather Girl is a movie I shot going on almost a year and a half ago. The budget was small so I assumed that it would just be a really good experience that would give me the chance to work with some great people and then hopefully have a DVD to sit on my shelf with a few other movies that would suffer the same fate the befalls most truly independent films. Cut to now – Weather Girl premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, won best film at the Aspen Film Festival, and has played really well in a handful of other festivals. A couple of weeks ago we had three screenings at the Los Angeles Film Festival and they were all sold out. The film has already secured international distribution, a domestic DVD wide release, a cable television run on Lifetime (in October i think), and a limited city theatrical release starting this weekend. Not to mention the trailer is on Apple’s trailer page – which for me is a major victory. Here in Los Angeles it is playing at the Sunset 5 theatre and you would have look at local listings to see if it is coming to a theatre in your town. I think the real success of this thing, beyond the incredible talent of Blayne Weaver, Tricia O’Kelley, Ryan Devlin, Mark Harmon, Kaitlin Olson, Jane Lynch, and Jon Cryer – is the fact that it is a romantic comedy in which the players are real people. I think people are tired of broad strokes in the romantic comedy genre. I wish I could say I realized this while we were shooting it but . . . nevermind . . . yeah i knew the whole time . . .
Here is the link for the trailer for it and make sure you check it out if you come across in theaters, on your television, or in a video store (before they all succumb to the crushing weight of NetFlix).
Enjoy.
And excuse my hair in this entire film. We were on bad terms but we have since made up and come to terms with our differences. Its all about compromise.
we are what we eat
Before I saw Food Inc. on a run of the mill Monday night this week, I was knee deep in Michael Pollan’s book, In Defense of Food, which was already making my daily eating habits a lot more difficult to stomach. Pun fully intended. The book and film take you on a tour of the industrialized food complex which is, and has been since the early 1980’s, responsible for creating a brand new culture of people who are overfed and under nourished. The Western world eats more food than anyone else and yet we are starving for nutrition and plagued with chronic metabolic diseases like diabetes, heart disease and obesity. I have always dreamt of eating healthier and toyed with a lot of different ideas and diets but this wave on information that has opened itself up to me has me already making a ton of changes in my daily life.
1. I signed up for a local consumer supported agriculture (CSA) box which is a box full of locally grown, organic produce that gets delivered to me every week. The box comes with more than enough seasonal fruits and vegetables to tied me over for a week as well as a recipe for any items that I may not be used to cooking with. Not only that but if I collect my scraps throughout the week and leave them out then when I get my new box they will take the scraps and compost them for me! The service is run by the Eagle Rock based restaurant Auntie Em’s. (if you do try it out – drop my name please – i think you get a week for free or something.) These CSA boxes are everywhere though so ask about them locally.
2. Staying away from supermarkets. If I was a more educated person I would be able to walk the aisles and know what produce was in season and what products were alright to buy but I’m only at the beginning of this and so while I am learning I am only shopping at my local Nature Mart. It is more expensive, there is no denying that, but our culture spends a higher percentage of annual income on medical issues every year than we do on food. It wasn’t always that way and it doesn’t have to be. The rest of the world puts more of its money into what it eats than anything else. I can hardly think of a better investment.
3. I’m eating less. The most moving part of Pollan’s book are the parts where he talks about out relationship to food. And when he say eat less he cites the diets and ceremony surrounding food all over the world. One of the defining characteristics of a healthy relationship with food is to savor it more and eat less of it. Just within the last week I have been preparing much better meals and finding that I need much less to feel satisfied. And this helps the wallet as well.
4. Found a ranch. I am having a lot of grass fed beef sent to me from a ranch in Idaho called the Alderspring Ranch. In time I’m going to try and find something more local but I just flatly refuse to eat beef that I can’t track back to its source anymore. All it takes is the visual of meat filler moving through the irradiation and ammonia processes to know that you might want to stop putting that stuff in your body right away.
This is all brand new to me so I will write more as I go but I am feeling good about this stuff so far. Please check out the movie and read the books and, most importantly, just start asking detailed question about where the food you are eating is coming from. You may not like some of the answers you find.