Interview conducted by Tom Stockman February 1st, 2012

It looks like Hammer Horror really is back. THE WOMAN IN BLACK, the new ghost story from the rebooted Hammer studios, made over 21 million dollars in the U.S. this past weekend. This is exciting news to the many fans of the British studio, which produced so many wonderful horror films in the ‘50’s, ‘60s, and ‘70s. THE WOMAN IN BLACK is not the first film from the new Hammer, but it is the first of their films to adopt the period gothic formula of old, and its success bodes well for the studio. Hammer is the specialty genre label of its parent company, Exclusive Media.  Simon Oakes is Vice-Chairman of Exclusive Media Group and President & CEO of Hammer. He led the acquisition and recapitalization of Hammer in 2007. Nigel Sinclair is Co-Chairman and CEO of Exclusive Media, one of the industry’s leading independent production and distribution companies. Mr. Oakes and Mr.Sinclair took the time from their schedules to talk to We Are Movie Geeks about THE WOMAN IN BLACK and the future of Hammer Horror.

We Are Movie Geeks: The trailer for THE WOMAN IN BLACK makes it look like a gothic horror film in the grand tradition of the House of Hammer, certainly more than THE RESIDENT or LET ME IN. Do you think that production designer Kave Quinn was consciously trying to make this film look like a vintage Hammer production?

Simon Oakes: Good question. I think the material lent itself to that sort of production design and I’m very pleased that you raised the point of production design because I think that Kave is extremely talented and created an incredible world and when you see the movie I think you’ll see that. Everybody who has read the book, which has been a best seller for 25 years, has a sense of what Eel March House looks like, and the play has been running in England for 22 years, so that’s what we were up against. People had used their imagination . But yes, the book is a pastiche of all gothic horror of the 19th century and it’s all about material that lends itself to that, just as with LET ME IN when we had to recreate a world that was America in the 1980′s.

WAMG: You mentioned Eel March House, which in the trailer looks wonderfully scary. Was that a set that was built or did you actually find that house somewhere?

SO: There’s always a bit of cheating going on in the process as you know. The actual house is real. We found it up the East coast of England in Peterborough at the end of a causeway so that was all real. The house was all real, but we built the interiors.

WAMG: What made James Watkins the right director for THE WOMAN IN BLACK ?

Nigel Sinclair: I think what James revealed as a director was his visual acuity, his ability to understand the mood and emotion of a moment and how a human being who was experiencing what Daniel was experiencing would not need a lot of massive visual cues, just a combination of sound and light and a sensory reaction to things which, I hate to call it Hitchcockian, but it is. I think that his talents range from production design to sound design to directing his actors and understanding his story. The scenario of this tale makes it an incredible powerful story.

SO: You’re right. I think James needs to be credited on two levels. One is that he’s a technician and that he worked carefully in building his team everything from the costume and makeup to cameraman so he basically covered all of the options in terms of production for the film. Secondly, he has a sensibility about the genre and he knows that if you don’t care about the characters, then you don’t have a great horror movie, so he wasn’t shy about having the jumps and the scares and the fear and the suspense but at the same time he made sure that you’re rooting for Daniel’s character Arthur, that you actually care about him and his family and why he’s doing what he’s doing. You never once question why he’s puttuing himself in jeopardy as opposed to just getting the hell out of there. And that’s the skill that James has, understating the genre but at the same time saying “Let’s care about the story”.

WAMG: And James Watkins had made EDEN LAKE in 2008 which was a very scary film.

SO: Of course, a very good film.

WAMG: You have a built-in audience for THE WOMAN IN BLACK with the casting of Daniel Radcliffe as Arthur. Was the role offered to him or did he audition? How did he get this role?

NS: Well Simon know Daniel’s agent very well and we had been discussing internally how powerful we thought Daniel was in his legendary performances in the Potter films. We thought he demonstrated tremendous range, which is a quality we were looking for with THE WOMAN IN BLACK and we got the script to Daniel and he read it on a plane ride to New York and he told his agent that he’d like to do this movie and meet the director.

WAMG: Daniel Radcliffe is 22 years old yet in THE WOMAN IN BLACK  he’s playing the widowed father of a 5-year old son. Was the script adjusted at all to accommodate this younger actor?

NS: No, not really. The original script was written specifically toward the description in the original novella, but we took the view that he would be in his twenties. People had children younger in those days so it was conceivable and believable that he could be that character. It was a good question, because Daniel’s first thought was that he liked the script and wanted the part but he needed to be convinced as well that he could do this. James Watkins met Daniel in Los Angeles right after Daniel had read the script and convinced him that he could pull it off. When that was decided, everything else fell into place quite easily.

WAMG: How was Daniel Radcliffe to work with?

NS: There’s an old word to use to describe people like him and that is trooper. He was amazing.

SO: Daniel’s reputation is that he’s had this character and he’s grown in to extraordinary fame and prosperity and he wears it well. With some people, that could drive them over the edge, but not Daniel. He’s got a very nice personality, he’s generous, and very conscious and aware of his great opportunities.

NS: On the last day of shooting his part. Simon got on old Hammer poster from the original DRACULA from 1957 and presented it Daniel, which was a fitting gift to give to someone who has everything. On his last day, he brought everybody up to the top of the stpes, the gaffers and the crew, and said “When I left Potter, I wondered what kind of world I was jumping in to and you all have become my new family. You’ve taken me into your heart and protected me and we’ve made this movie together and I can’t image a more magic way to go next after Potter”, and it was very touching.

WAMG: Do you think Daniel Radcliffe had any familiarity with the vintage Hammer films?

NS: Oh yes, he was a Hammer fan, that’s why this worked for him. He knew all about Hammer which is why he was so excited about Simon getting him that poster. Daniel is quite a cinephile. He’s up on movies, he knows a lot about films, he comes from a film family and I can saw that he thought helping rebuild Hammer for the 21^st century was something he wanted to be part of and looking at the press he did on London for the premiere last week, he went to great lengths to describe how proud he was to be part of relaunching this great British film label.

WAMG: Was there ever talk of a cameo for Christopher Lee in THE WOMAN IN BLACK?

SO: No, not this one. Christopher worked with us on THE RESIDENT, and he’s amazing.

WAMG: Were you both Hammer horror fans as younger men? Were you able to see the Hammer classics on the big screen when they were new?

SO: Tragically yes, we’re both old enough to remember those films when they first came out. They had a huge impact on me. I’m often asked what my favorite is and I used to love the Quatermass series. They were incredible and scary and ahead of their time. And the early Hammer Frankenstein films as well.

WAMG: Now that you’ve acquired and recapitalized the Hammer brand, do you control all the old Hammer titles?

SO: Exclusive Media, which is our group  that Nigel and I are a part of, our holding company owns Hammer and all the rights and titles to some 300 movies. Some were produced with long-term distribution rights with other studios.  Some we have the direct distribution rights for ourselves. Literally everybody involved with the Hammer films, meaning Warner Brothers, Fox, Sony have become conscious of their  part in the legacy of filmmaking and we recently  announced an initiative to restore  all of the Hammer library materials to a very high standard. We’ve found that every singe of these distributors , who are all forthright corporate people, all chipped with contributions and we’re doing a restoration of Hammer materials than any film historian would be excited about. That, we feel, is testimony to this long tradition.

WAMG: Any plans on remaking any of the classic Hammer titles and which ones would you like to see remade?

NS: We certainly are looking at a rebooting of Quatermass, I don’t think there’s any problem in saying that. The character, as opposed to the film. I don’t think there’s anything else actually on the line here that we can talk about now. I love Quatermass, I also love the Hitchcock-like Hammer such as SCREAM OF FEAR that Hammer made in the early ‘60s. I love FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN, that’s a favorite Hammer film, oh there were so many.

WAMG: Good luck with THE WOMAN IN BLACK and thanks for taking the time to talk to We Are Movie Geeks.

Interview conducted by Tom Stockman January 9th, 2012

Though disarming in appearance, actor Kurtwood Smith’s two best-known big-screen roles are memorable villains. He was the psychotic Clarence in ROBOCOP in 1988 and played a very different scoundrel the next year in DEAD POET’S SOCIETY where he was the unforgettable  Mr. Perry, the overbearing bully father of aspiring actor Neil (played by Robert Sean Leonard) who meets a tragic end. He played a comedy variation on that role as the conservative, tough-loving dad on the TV sitcom That ‘70’s Show from 1998 to 2006. Smith’s other credits include FLASHPOINT, RAMBO III, TO DIE FOR, DEEP IMPACT, and roles on both Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He can currently be seen on the TV series Chaos. The Disney classic DEAD POET’S SOCIETY has been digitally restored and presented for the first time in Blu-ray High Definition this week, and We Are Movie Geeks spoke to Kurtwood Smith about the film.

We Are Movie Geeks: When you filmed DEAD POET’S SOCIETY did you realize you were making a classic?

Kurtwood Smith: I didn’t realize we were making a classic but I knew that, with Peter Weir directing, that we were making a very good film. There were so many talented people involved. Tom Schulman the writer, and of course Robin and these young actors Robert Sean Leonard and Ethan Hawke and, in particular Josh Charles. Those guys were really really talented so I knew we had a good chance of making an excellent movie.

WAMG: How did you get the role as Mr. Perry in DEAD POET’S SOCIETY?

KS: They sent the script to my agent and wanted to know if I was interested. They started out asking me if I was interested in either the part of the father or of the headmaster (eventually played by Norman Lloyd). I said I was, and then it fell apart. Peter Weir was not connected with it at the time. Then about a year later they came back and said that Peter Weir was going to direct this so I went in and read the scene for Peter and we filmed it. That was the only time I had the director do the filming of the audition himself. We talked at length about the role and then a couple of weeks later I got it.

WAMG: What was Robin Williams like?

KS: I knew Robin from before. I had worked with him doing Theater in Marin County and I’d seen him on and off over the years. I only had two scenes with him in the movie and one of those was cut. Peter had cut it and put it back in, then cut it out again. It was a scene after Neil’s funeral . We decided it was redundant and cut it.

WAMG: Have you worked with Robin Williams since then?

KS: No, I’ve seen him and seen his stage shows and recently saw him in New York in the play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, and we caught up a bit, but that’s the only film we made together.

WAMG: Let’s talk about the character you played in DEAD POET’S SOCIETY, Mr. Perry. Why did Mr. Perry have such a hard time with his son Neil wanting to be an actor?

KS: I think Mr. Perry thought that sort of life would be a waste. Peter Weir and I decided that, as far as Mr. Perry’s back story went, we were determined that the character be understandable. He didn’t know how to express it but he obviously loved his son and was determined that his son was going to take advantage of the advantages given him and do something with his life. Obviously Mr. Perry struggled throughout his life and he saw, as most parents do today, going into theater as a very chancy, difficult future so he was determined his son wasn’t going to waste his life that way.

WAMG: Could you relate to Neil Perry? What did your family think of your chosen profession?

KS: My family was fine with my acting career, as long as I went to college.

WAMG: Did you discourage or encourage your daughter Laurel from becoming an actress?

KS: I didn’t encourage her because I know it’s a difficult thing but at the same time it would have been improper of me to discourage her. I stressed that I wanted her to get an education and graduate from college. Then it was up to her, and she’s made it work. She does mostly commercials now.

WAMG: At the end of the day, do you think Mr. Perry blames Mr. Keating for his son’s death or does he recognize his own bullying?

KS: If we had left that scene in that I mentioned, you wouldn’t have aslked the question because it’s still clear in that scene that he blames Mr. Keating but obviously in that kind of situation he would have had to know responsible. Whether or not he’s willing to accept that, given the kind of guy that he is, he wouldn’t accept that. It would be a hard thing for him to admit.

WAMG: Were there any other scenes in DEAD POET SOCIETY featuring you as Mr. Perry that were cut out besides the one you mentioned?

KS: That’s the only one I remember. There were some scenes that were cut from the script when Peter Weir took it over. In the original script, Mr. Perry drags his son off the stage while he’s performing Midsummer Nights Dream, but we all agreed that was over the top. But I don’t recall any other scenes being shot and then cut, but that’s over 25 years ago so, who knows.

(At this point in the interview, a rep from Disney breaks in the phone line and lets me know I have only one more question left ! I haven’t even brought up ROBOCOP or any of Mr. Smith’s many great film roles – oh well – one last question:)

WAMG: Were you in THE DEER HUNTER (the IMDB has him listed as “POW in Cage ” Uncredited -Unconfirmed)?

KS: No, I was not in THE DEER HUNTER but I keep hearing that I was. I really need to go back and watch that film again and see why everyone thinks I’m in there.

WAMG: Good luck with the Blu-ray release of DEAD POET’S SOCIETY and with your future projects and thanks for talking to We Are Movie Geeks.

KS: My pleasure, thank you.

The We Are Movie Geeks Blu-ray review of DEAD POET’S SOCIETY can be found HERE

Roger Corman is a Hollywood legend! Last week, WAMG got the chance to sit down with the man himself, along with Director Alex Stapleton about their new film CORMAN’S WORLD: EXPLOITS OF A HOLLYWOOD REBEL.

CORMAN’S WORLD: EXPLOITS OF A HOLLYWOOD REBEL is a tantalizing and star-studded tribute to Roger Corman, Hollywood’s most prolific writer-director producer, and seminal influencing force in modern moviemaking over the last 60 years. Featuring interviews with Hollywood icons and cinematic luminaries, some who launched their careers within Corman’s unforgettable world of filmmaking, including Paul W.S. Anderson, Peter Bogdanovich, Robert De Niro, Peter Fonda, Pam Grier, Ron Howard, Eli Roth, Martin Scorsese, William Shatner and Jack Nicholson, along with many others, this documentary chronicles how Corman created his cult film empire, one low-budget success at a time, capitalizing on undiscovered talent, and pushing the boundaries of independent filmmaking.

Check out the interview here:

Director Alex Stapleton weaves archival footage following Roger’s illustrious career: From his early days of genre-defining classics including the original Fast and Furious, the original Little Shop of Horrors, The Crybaby Killer, The Intruder, House of Usher, and The Wild Angels (which at that point in 1966 was his 100th film) – to present day video of him and his wife Julie on location, still at work as they continue to produce and distribute films outside the studio system: fast, cheap and out-of-this-world!

Distributed by Anchor Bay Films, Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel is rated R for some violent images, nudity and language. Run time 90 minutes.

CORMAN’S WORLD: EXPLOITS OF A HOLLYWOOD REBEL opens in select theaters on December 16^th

On November 27, 2011, DreamWorks Pictures presented an advance screening of Steven Spielberg’s WAR HORSE in New York City. The event, featured a live Q&A session with the director which was streamed live on MSN. Fans from around the world in over 120 countries/territories submitted questions through a live-chat function. Watch a rebroadcast here.

DreamWorks Pictures’ “War Horse,” director Steven Spielberg’s epic adventure, is a tale of loyalty, hope and tenacity set against a sweeping canvas of rural England and Europe during the First World War. “War Horse” begins with the remarkable friendship between a horse named Joey and a young man called Albert, who tames and trains him. When they are forcefully parted, the film follows the extraordinary journey of the horse as he moves through the war, changing and inspiring the lives of all those he meets—British cavalry, German soldiers, and a French farmer and his granddaughter—before the story reaches its emotional climax in the heart of No Man’s Land.

The First World War is experienced through the journey of this horse—an odyssey of joy and sorrow, passionate friendship and high adventure. “War Horse” is one of the great stories of friendship and war— a successful book, it was turned into a hugely successful international theatrical hit that is currently on Broadway. It now comes to screen in an epic adaptation by one of the great directors in film history.

WAR HORSE rides into theaters on Christmas Day, December 25th!

Website and Mobile site: www.warhorsemovie.com
“Like” WAR HORSE on Facebook: www.facebook.com/WarHorseMovie
Follow on Twitter: www.twitter.com/warhorsemovie

Interview conducted November 10th, 2011 by Tom Stockman (who had not yet seen the film)

MY COMIC SHOP DOCUMENTARY is the debut film of part-time comic-store clerk and full-time law student Anthony Desiato. Alternate Realities is the Westchester N.Y., comic shop owned by Steve Oto, a former lawyer himself. Oto had been an avid collector of comic books and original art for over 30 years when he opened Alternate Realities on June 19, 1992,and the shop is a favorite among comic book fans in that area. After working at Alternate Realities for over eight years, Desiato decided to make a documentary about the shop, specifically Mr. Oto’s relationship with his employees and his store’s loyal and eccentric clientele. MY COMIC SHOP DOCUMENTARY will play at the St. Louis International Film Festival this Saturday, November 19^th at 1:15 pm at the Tivoli Theater with Anthony Desiato in attendance. Mr. Desiato took the time to speak with We Are Movie Geeks about his documentary.

We Are Movie Geeks: How did you meet Steve Oto?

Anthony Desiato: I started out as a customer at his comic shop before I was in High School, and then I started working for him during High School.

WAMG: So how long have you worked at Alternate Realities then?

AD: About ten years.

WAMG: Is Alternate Realities considered New York’s premiere comic shop?

AD: Maybe Westchester’s premiere comic shop but as far as New York goes, there are some stores in the city, namely Midtown Comics that are the real go-to place.

WAMG: What is Steve Oto like? How would you describe him?

AD: He’s absolutely a character. I think the best way to describe him is as a man of contradictions. He’s gregarious yet misanthropic. He engages with the customers and talks to them, he enjoys the friendly rapport but at the same time, if they don’t come and pick up their books every week like they’re supposed to, he declares them dead. So he’s an interesting guy.

WAMG: When they’re declared dead, are they banned from the shop?

AD: Well, banning from the shop is the last step. Once you’re declared dead, you can come back from the dead and buy your stuff. Being banned is the last resort. Not many people have actually been banned. I’ve known Steve in a couple of different contexts. First he was the guy he sold me comics, then he was my boss, and then my film subject, but more than anything he’s been a friend and I’m grateful for knowing him.

WAMG: Does Steve Oto have a great comic book collection?

AD: He did, but he sold it.

WAMG: Did he have a lot of original art as well?

AD: He did. He had quite an extensive collection. He’s in his fifties and had been collecting since he was a child. He sold it through Heritage, the online auction house a few years ago.

WAMG: Why did he do that?

AD: I don’t know. I think it was something he’d been thinking about for a while. I think it was just time.

WAMG: What was his most valuable book?

AD: I don’t know. He had all the silver age Marvel stuff.

WAMG: What makes Alternate Realities unique as a comic shop. Is Steve Oto’s personality reflected in his store?

AD: I think that’s fair to say. More than that, what sets the store apart and what I really wanted to show in the movie is the sense of community and camaraderie at the store. For example, every Saturday night, a bunch of us go out for dinner, me and Steve and some of the customers. There’s a moment in the movie where one of the customers goes on a rant about Captain America’s costume in the new movie and this is a guy who’s normally on the quiet and reserved side. Because of the atmosphere at the store, he felt comfortable expressing himself.

WAMG: It’s funny what collectors get excited about. Are there a lot of eccentric regulars that hang out at Alternate Realities?

AD: Yes, for this film I interviewed over two dozen people. A lot of them are very quirky and colorful and that’s one of the reasons I wanted to make the movie, to spotlight this colorful group but one thing I hope the movie shows is a different side of comic book fans. I feel like every time comic book fans are depicted in popular culture, it’s a stereotype and certainly stereotypes exist for a reason and there are people who are like that but I hope the movie shows a different side, that these people don’t just talk about comic books, that they have wives and girlfriends and all of that but that was definitely something I wanted to explore. This wasn’t the case of an outsider coming and putting these people under a microscope. This is from an insider’s perspective. I’ve been reading comics since I was five. I’ve been working at the store for a decade so even if the movie does poke fun at us, there’s no malice; it’s coming from a good place.

WAMG: Is this your first film?

AD: Yes, I’m in my third year of law school. I made the film between my first and second years of law school, the summer of 2010. I didn’t have any filmmaking experience and, short of composing the music, I handled every aspect of production myself.

WAMG: Are you a comic collector yourself? What are your favorite titles?

AD: My favorite character is Superman. I tend to follow creators more than characters or publishers at this point. Anything by Jeff Johns or Brian K. Vaughn, Greg Rocco, Gail Simone, those are people whose work I really enjoy.

WAMG: How has ebay changed the face of comic book dealing?

AD: I don’t think the back issue market is as robust as it has been in the past. I think that has to do with two things. Part of it, as you said, you can get copies of all of these online. Also with rise of the trade paperbacks, the fact that you get, in a single volume, an entire arc, it makes hunting down the individual back issues less essential so ebay has played a part in that. The way the movie is set up, in different chapters or vignettes, and each one highlights different aspects of life at the store and it’s Steve who ties everything together. One of the vignettes is a segment on the man-cave, ones that our customers have cultivated.

WAMG: Did you take your camera into people’s homes?

AD: I did so you get to see some of these people’s collections. There’s one in particular that’s really intense, a guy who goes to a lot of the comic swap meets and has collected so much.

WAMG: Describe his man-cave?

AD: It’s……oh, how can I put this into words……of all the things that I’ve filmed, it left the biggest impression. It’s really just one room but it’s wall-to-wall artwork and action figures and trinkets. You have to see it to believe it. It’s all Marvel.

WAMG: Is he an older guy?

AD: Probably in his forties

WAMG: Probably been collecting for many years. It’s what happens. You start accumulating. You screened your film at the San Diego Comic-Con, is that right?

AD: Yes, the first time we showed it was at New Filmmakers New York, back in May. That’s New York’s longest running screening series. Then we showed it at the film festival at the San Diego Comic-Con.

WAMG: What was the response to your film there?

AD: It was great. The people there really seemed into it, they were engaged. A lot of laughs during the movie which is always a good thing. I do think our Q&A session was one of the longer ones. One of my goals in making this movie was to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. For comic book fans watching this, there is plenty for them to appreciate more so than “outsiders”, but at the same time it’s designed for anyone to watch. It’s more about the people than anything.

WAMG: How did you get hooked up with the St. Louis International Film Festival?

AD: Cliff at Cinema St. Louis saw an article in The New York Times about my film and contacted me. I’m really looking forward to coming to St. Louis.

WAMG: What’s your next project? Do you have something planned?

AD: No, the truth is I never set out to be a documentary filmmaker. Screenwriting is my passion, but I fell in love with the process while I was making this movie so if I found the right subject, I would absolutely love to make another documentary but as of now, I’m finishing up law school and working on distribution for MY COMIC SHOP DOCUMENTARY.

WAMG: Good luck with MY COMIC SHOP DOCUMENTARY and we’ll see you in St. Louis this weekend at the St. Louis International Film Festival.

AD: Thanks.

Interview conducted November 15th, 2011 by Tom Stockman (who had not yet seen the film)

Born in Seattle, Washington in 1921,Carol Channing made her Broadway debut in 1941 in the show Let’s Face It, and she’s been on the stage ever since, landing the star-making role of Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in 1949 and originating the role of Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly! in 1964. Since then, the actress with the big eyes, red lips, blonde mane and bubbly personality has been a one-of-a-kind presence on stage, in movies and on television, still maintaining a busy schedule as she approaches the age of 90. Filmmaker and Tony-Award winning producer Dori Berinstein offers a fascinating profile of a singular talent in the documentary CAROL CHANNING: LARGER THAN LIFE, which chronicles her life on an off the stage as she rehearses a new show while discussing her life in the theater, her four marriages (including a late-in-life reunion with her high school sweetheart, who she wed in 2006), her political causes, her status as a gay icon and the persona she’s created for herself. CAROL CHANNING: LARGER THAN LIFE will play at the St. Louis International Film Festival Saturday, Nov 19th at 1:00pm at the Tivoli Theater with filmmaker Dori Berinstein in attendance. Ms Berinstein took the time to talk with We Are Movie Geeks about the project.

We Are Movie Geeks: What was your inspiration for putting together a documentary with Carol Channing as a subject

Dori Berinstein: I got to know Carol and found her to be extraordinary beyond everything I knew about her already.  She’s just a one-of-a-kind, inspiring women. Someone who has grabbed life in every way and I just felt hers was a beautiful story that hadn’t been told.

WAMG: Hence the title “Larger than Life”

DB: Which she is.

WAMG: Was one of your goals with the film to introduce Carol Channing to a younger audience?

DB: She’s doing a very good job of exposing herself to younger audiences on her own. She was recently in an episode of Family Guy and was a regular on The Muppets and Sesame Street for many years and of course Free To Be, You and Me, everybody recognizes her from that. It’s quite remarkable, when I was shooting the film all over the country, so many people that I ran into, that were under thirty, were well aware, and very familiar with CC. She is am extraordinary entertainer for all ages.

WAMG: And she has that iconic voice that you still hear comedians and impressionists imitating.

DB: Oh my goodness yes.

WAMG: Were you able to include actual footage from her Broadway performances in your film?

DB: We have a tremendous amount of performance footage in this film.

WAMG: Her most famous role was that of Dolly Levi in Hello Dolly. How many times did she perform this role?

DB: Over 5000 times. She only missed half of a performance one time. You’ll have to see the documentary to find out why.

WAMG: She began that role in 1964. How did she get the part?

DB: She was a struggling actress LA and ended up auditioning for Gower Champion for Lend An Ear, which had just been announced for broadway in March of that year. Gower’s wife had spotted her in a casting agent’s office and suggested she come and audition. That was when Gower Champion, who ended up directing Hello Dolly, first saw her. Ethel Merman was originally cast as Dolly Levi, and when she was forced to drop out of the production, his first thought was to turn to Carol Channing.

WAMG: Why did Carol Channing not get the role in the movie version of Hello Dolly?

DB: Excellent question. Unfortunately there’s a long tradition of Hollywood bypassing Broadway stars for these type of roles even though Broadway performers are fully capable of taking on the role onscreen. Carol Channing is obviously a tremendous onscreen talent. She was Oscar-nominated for best supporting actress in for THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE in 1967.

WAMG: Streisand had just won an Oscar herself so it was probably strictly a box-office decision. You mentioned that Carol Channing was nominated for an Oscar yet she appeared in very few films. Why was that?

DB: We talk about that in the film a little bit. I think that a lot of people think of Carol Channing as a larger than life performer. There are certain parts that would allow her to be that larger than life personality on-screen. HELLO DOLLY would have worked perfectly. Muzzy in THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE was absolutely perfect for her. Some more subtle roles wouldn’t’ work for her. She has such extraordinary presence on on-stage, she owns the role so the stage was a more natural place for a talent like that.

WAMG: What can you tell me about her (current) marriage to Harry Kullijian?

DB: It’s the most beautiful, romantic story I ever heard.It’s just anyone’s hope that dreams can come true and to never give up. Carol, after 80 years, found true love in someone she knew as a kid.

WAMG: That will be a nice story. I’m looking forward to seeing the film. She described her 42 year marriage to Charles Lowe as “miserable”. Can you talk about that?

DB: It sounded pretty miserable. He was her agent. He was in the business of Carol Channing. He did everything he could to support her career which was terrific but as a husband, not so much.

WAMG: What is Carol Channing up to these days?

DB: Carol and Harry have a foundation that supports getting arts back into the schools and they are working tirelessly to do that. They’ve made much headway in California where art had radically been cut in schools, a disaster, and they are working so hard, not just in California, but they have taken their campaign nationally and they’re trying to make a difference and change the future because the arts have a huge impact on who we are as human beings and without the arts, the future is terrifying.

WAMG: Carol Channing turns 91 in a couple of months. How is her health?

DB: Fabulous. It’s hard to keep up with her.

WAMG: I looked at your credits. You’ve been involved in other documentaries about Broadway and showbiz and you have won three Tony Awards. Do you prefer being a documentary filmmaker or are you itching to get back to the theater?

DB: I can go simultaneously. I love them equally and completely and I can’t imagine not doing both. I’m happiest when I’m able to bring the two worlds I love so much together.

WAMG: What’s next for Dori Berinstein?

DB: I’m hard at work on several new Broadway shows and a new movie is brewing and I also do a lot of work with Dreamworks Theatrical.

WAMG: Good luck with CAROL CHANNING: LARGER THAN LIFE and we’ll see you in St. Louis on Saturday.

DB: Thank you.

Filmmaker Mike Dorsey with a photo of his grandfather, Lieutenant Colonel E.C. “Easy” Freeman

Interview conducted by Tom Stockman November 8th, 2011

Buchenwald was a German Nazi concentration camp built near Weimar Germany July 1937. It was the largest concentration camp on German soil and even though it was technically not an extermination camp, it was a site of an extraordinary number of deaths. Although it was highly unusual for the Germans to send Allied POWS to concentration camps, Buchenwald held a group of 168 aviators for two months in 1944.These soldiers were from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. They all arrived at Buchenwald in August of 1944.All these airmen were in planes that had crash landed into Nazi-occupied France. Though initially rescued and hidden by French citizens, many were turned over to the Nazis by Jacques Desoubrie, a French traitor who was actually a double-agent for the Gestapo.Two explanations are given for them being sent to a concentration camp: first, that they had managed to make contact with the French Resistance, some were disguised as civilians, and they were carrying false papers when caught; they were therefore categorized by the Germans as spies, which meant their rights under the Geneva Convention were not recognized. The second explanation is that they had been categorized as Terrorfliger (“terror aviators”). The aviators were initially held in Gestapo prisons and headquarters in France. In August 1944, they and other Gestapo prisoners were jammed into boxcars and transported by train to Buchenwald. The hellish journey took five days, during which they received little food or water. They were subjected to the same sadistic treatment and abuse as other Buchenwald prisoners until October 1944, when a change in policy resulted in the aviators being moved to a regular POW camp. Nevertheless, two airmen died at Buchenwald.

This remarkable story, somewhat lost in the vast histories of World War II, is the basis for filmmaker Mike Dorsey’s extraordinary new documentary LOST AIRMEN OF BUCHENWALD. Featuring on-camera interviews with seven of the surviving Buchenwald airmen (including Dorsey’s own grandfather Lieutenant Colonel E.C. “Easy” Freeman, an American B-26 pilot), the documentary pieces together the testimonies of these brave men to tell a story that contains more drama and tension than most Hollywood films about the war. These veterans share their memories of the ordeal in a candid manner and one of the many strengths of LOST AIRMEN OF BUCHENWALD is how vivid their recollections are. They clearly describe how their airplanes were shot down, how they made their way to Paris, the details of their eventual capture, and the brutal conditions they endured at Buchenwald.  Being senior in rank, Royal New Zealand Air Force pilot Phil Lamason took control and instilled a level of military discipline and bearing. He defied the German’s order that his men work in the nearby munitions factory and refused, on behalf of his men, to help clean up after that factory was bombed by Allied planes. Dorsey’s film mixes these interviews with vintage photographs, archival films, and recently-shot footage of visits by several of the airmen to Buchenwald. LOST AIRMEN OF BUCHENWALD will play at the St. Louis International Film Festival Thursday, November 16^th at 1pm at the Plaza Frontenac Theater. Mike Dorsey will be in attendance to answer questions and took the time for a recent phone interview about the project for We Are Movie Geeks.

Vintage group photo of the Allied airmen and a recent photo of the front gate of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp.

We Are Movie Geeks: Congratulations on LOST AIRMEN OF BUCHENWALD

Mike Dorsey: Thanks

WAMG: Is this your first feature-length documentary?

MD: No. it’s my third

WAMG: What were the first two?

MD: The first was a Hollywood history and the second was on the Manson Family and their murder spree in the 1960′s.

WAMG: What was your take on the Manson family?

MD: The focus on that was more of who their victims were and how they all came to be where they were when they were killed. It’s called THE SIX DEGREES OF HELTER SKELTER.

WAMG: What inspired you to tackle the subject of these Allied soldiers that were prisoners at Buchenwald?

MD: My grandfather was one of the airmen in the group.

WAMG: So he was one of the men interviewed?

MD: Yes, he was the first one I interviewed. I grew up with this story in my family.

P-38 pilot Joe Moser before his interview.

WAMG: So there were basically seven men that are profiled. When did you film these interviews?

MD: We’ve filmed them over the past two years. Most were filmed in 2010.

WAMG: So they’re still alive then?

MD: All of them, yes.

WAMG: Have you had a chance to travel with any of these men to various screenings of the film?

MD: Yes, so far five of the seven have been at public screenings. I just got back from New Zealand over the weekend where Phil Lammason, their commanding officer, lives. I was at a screening with him.

WAMG: He must be close to 90 I imagine.

MD: He’s 93 but he’s still sharp, still gets around fine, still lives alone on his farm.

WAMG: What do these men think of the final film that you’ve made?

MD: They love it. And also, none of them knew the complete story until they saw the movie. Each guy had his own experience but nobody had all the pieces of the puzzle.

WAMG: Why do you think this story is not better known? I certainly didn’t know Allied forces had been in concentration camps. I just assumed it was all Jews.

MD: That’s the first misnomer. Obviously that was the main group but at Buchenwald there were a lot of Russian POW’s and a lot of other groups were sent there. Resistance fighters, which is why these Allied guys ended up there. They were accused of being terrorists. Political prisoners, gays. Buchenwald held a very diverse group of prisoners.

WAMG: Why didn’t any of these men write their memoirs to get their stories out?

MD: Some of them have. There’s a few books out there about them. It’s all just a matter of getting the word out. If you self-publish something, how do you get people to read it?

WAMG: Do some of these men worry that people might not believe their story?

MD: They didn’t just worry about it, they experienced it. Especially when they got home. People had a hard enough time just believing tat the camps were real and even then, people believed that it was only Jews that were in the concentration camps so they would just say “Are you Jewish?”, and they would say they were an airman, and would hear “Oh, you don’t know where you were. You’re confused. You were in a POW camp; you just think you were in a concentration camp”.

WAMG: They didn’t call it a death camp though, didn’t they refer to it as a “labor camp”?

MD: Yes, Buchenwald was not a death camp. It was not a place where you were sent to be executed. Some people were executed there, especially some of the Russian POWs. A lot of them were shot there, but it was primarily a labor camp. There were factories there. Still, 50,000 people died there, but it mostly from malnutrition, disease, being murdered by other prisoners.

A guard tower at Buchenwald, with the crematorium in the background.

WAMG: Were you able to reunite some of these soldiers that hadn’t seen each other in decades?

MD: Yes, two of them got together at a screening we did in Washington and three of them got together with my grandfather in Florida a few weeks ago. So the ones that are well enough to travel have gotten around.

WAMG: Why were these particular prisoners not treated according to the Geneva Convention?

MD: What happened was, if you were a commando dropped behind enemy lines, and the Germans caught you, then they would say that you’ve voided your rights as of the Geneva Convention, that you will not be treated as a prisoner of war. You broke the rules. These guys were airmen that had been shot down. They were all hiding with the French Resistance. The Germans claimed they should have turned themselves in as soon as they crashed, but since they were hiding with the resistance, they were labeled saboteurs and terrorists and were treated the same way they would have treated a commando who purposely dropped in behind enemy lines. It’s because they were caught by the Gestapo and not by the regular military that that happened.

WAMG: There is an amazing amount of archival footage and photographs in THE LOST AIRMEN OF BUCHENWALD. Where did you get this? Did the German government grant you access to this stuff?

MD: Yes. First, the Buchenwald Memorial is a first class museum and they were incredibly helpful. They gave us a lot of the photographs of Buchenwald. The Steven Spielberg Archives gave us some footage. A lot of it came from a new website called Critical Past which specializing in high-definition transfers of public domain footage.

WAMG: I’m always a bit startled when I see color footage from World War Two.

MD: It’s amazing isn’t it? You start to see color footage more later in the war. All the early stuff, like the D-Day stuff, is always black and white but by the time they got into Germany in late ’44 or ’45 you start seeing more color.

WAMG: What happened to the Nazi double agent Jacques Desoubrie?

MD: He was hunted down, captured, put on trial, and executed.

WAMG: Good.

MD: Yeah, he got his.

WAMG: Do you think Hollywood will ever want to produce a narrative feature about this incident? There’s certainly enough drama.

MD: I think there’s definitely that possibility. It would be nice to see it. The story especially of the commanding officer, Phil Lamason, his refusal to work. That’s the kind of stuff screenwriters usually make up.

WAMG: Has Phil Lamason written down his memoirs?

MD: Of all of the airmen, Lamason is the most humble and the least exited to talk about it. He has the Distinguished Flying Cross, but he never shows it to anybody, he never wears it.

Squadron Leader Phil Lamason with director Mike Dorsey

WAMG: Were you a World War Two buff?

MD: Yes, definitely.

WAMG: Who narrated your film?

MD: One of my friends and coworkers here at Outdoor Channel who does some of our narration here.

WAMG: How long did it take you to make this film?

MD: Two years exactly.

WAMG: How did you get in touch with the Cinema St. Louis people.

MD: I submitted it and they accepted. I like St. Louis a lot and have family in Missouri so it seemed like a natural festival to get involved in.

WAMG: What’s next for Mike Dorsey?

MD: Right now I’m keeping my options open. We’re just riding this wave first, see where it goes, see where it’s distributed, and then I’ll figure out my next project down the road.

WAMG: Best of luck with THE LOST AIRMEN OF BUCHENWALD and we’ll see you Thursday, November17th at 1:00pm at the Plaza Frontenac Cinema for the screening. Thanks for your time

MD: Thank you.

WAMG:

Interview conducted by Tom Stockman November 7th, 2011

Bill Streeter is the award-winning producer of the internet video program, Lo-Fi Saint Louis, which showcases our city’s best musicians, artists and burlesque queens. For his first feature-length documentary, Streeter chose a subject that, on the surface may have seemed like an odd choice: Brick, or specifically, St. Louis’ distinctive red brick. Streeter got the idea for his doc when his out-of-town friends kept commenting on the beauty of St. Louis’ brick buildings. The resulting film, BRICK BY CHANCE AND FORTUNE: A ST. LOUIS STORY is proof that in the right hands, a film about a subject that may seem narrow, in this case building material, can transcend its limitations and entertain and inform (read the WAMG review HERE). It’s an outstanding film and after seeing it, you will never look at our city’s buildings the same way again. BRICK BY CHANCE AND FORTUNE: A ST. LOUIS STORY will be playing at the St. Louis International Film Festival this Sunday, November 20^th at 4pm at the Plaza Frontenac Cinema. Bill Streeter took the time to talk with We Are Movie Geeks.

We Are Movie Geeks: Congratulations on your documentary BRICK BY CHANCE AND FORTUNE: A ST. LOUIS STORY. I though it was outstanding.

Bill Streeter: Thanks. I read your review. It was great.

WAMG: Thanks. I call ‘em as I see ‘em. Is this your first feature-length documentary?

BS: Yes

WAMG: What did you do before tackling this project?

BS: I have a web series called Lo-Fi St. Louis which I’ve been doing for over six years and I’ve done a lot of documentary shorts with that, probably about fifty. Short documentaries.

WAMG: Is that how you met up with Pokey LaFarge (who provides some of the music in BRICK BY CHANCE AND FORTUNE)?

BS: What happened was I met Pokey when I did a video about him real early, before he was well-known in St. Louis. You could say I helped introduce him to St. Louis about six years ago.

WAMG: And he wrote a song called Brick Thieves?

BS: I asked him to do that, it was written for the film. So was the Brick by Brick song by the Rum Drum Ramblers. Both of those are original songs. I told them about this project early when I was working on it and showed them some of the interviews and asked if they wanted to do some of the music for it and they got really excited about it. We also recorded the song that plays during the closing credits, My Country by Irene Allen, which was not original to the film but was an original recording for the film. The other music was by the Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra. They wanted to so original stuff , but we ran out of time so they gave me bits and pieces of stuff that they had never used for anything before so I basically used what I could out of that. That’s where all the instrumental comes from.

WAMG: The music fits in well. Where does the title, Brick by Chance and Fortune, come from?

BS: Well, the obvious titles were already taken and kind of cliche, the titles that everyone wanted and thought it should have been titles, like Brick City. There was already a documentary series called Brick City, but that’s what we used as a working title when we got the grant proposal. Then there was Brick by Brick, which I didn’t like either, too much of a cliche. I wanted to come up with something that was unique and I came across this quote from Plutarch; “No man ever wetted clay and then left it, as if there would be bricks by chance and fortune” meaning you you can’t just wet clay and expect it to become bricks. I liked the phrase, it sounded poetic and it sort of reflected some of the themes of the film. There was sort of a chance discovery of the clay resource here and it became a source of fortune. A lot of people here in St. Louis made their fortune from brick industry, it was big business. It was the largest industry in the city at one time. It was responsible for a lot of the economy in St. Louis for a number of years in the late 1800′s. And we’re still living with this unappreciated fortune of all of this brick architecture today.

WAMG: It’s pretty eye-opening. Ever since I’ve seen you documentary, whenever I’m driving around, I find myself looking up.

BS: You’re not the first person to say that. One of the intents of the film, I wanted people to look at the city differently, and I think it’s succeeded.

WAMG: How long ago did you move to St. Louis from Chicago?

BS: I moved here in 2001?

WAMG: Did you notice the uniqueness of St. Louis bricks right away?

BS: Yeah, Chicago’s got a lot of brick architecture too but when I moved here I notice a lot of different styles and textures of brick that I wasn’t seeing in Chicago and I had a friend who came to visit me from Chicago and he was not a fan of red brick and he did not like seeing so much here. But I had another friend who came to visit later from California and he was just blown away by the brick here, and that was one of the inspirations for the film. He kept asking me where it came from, and that’s when I started looking into it. I found some stuff about the clay mines. And I saw a video that Antonio French had put together about the problem of brick theft in North city and that’s what made me think that there’s a story here. I realized that a lot of people didn’t know or understand how important brick was to the history of St. Louis.

WAMG: What is it, besides the rich red color that makes St. Louis bricks so desirable to thieves?

BS: They’re antique. They’re old, an old-style brick that’s not made any more. They’re solid. The other thing is that there are a lot of decorative bricks you see in the facades that they steal for their value on the resale market.

WAMG: Is it really worth driving these trucks in, what with the cost of gas, and hauling off these bricks?

BS: It’s hard to know if it is now or not because the economy has taken its toll on the building business. The economy could work either way. It could increase brick thievery even though it’s not as profitable as it once was because people are more desperate but there’s also the fact the building industry has taken such a hit that there’s less demand for even used brick and they’re not getting the prices they were getting at the peak of the building boom.

WAMG: Your film points out that the police in North city don’t give it (brick thievery) much priority

BS: Yeah, and that’s understandable, I mean there are other crimes but the other argument is the fact is that if you police the nuisance crimes, you solve the bigger crimes because you’re more involved in the community and the people committing the nuisance crimes are the same ones committing the bigger crimes. Also, I’ve had people argue that the brick thieves are doing the city a favor because these buildings are neglected anyway, but there are a number of problems with just letting brick thieves run rampant. One is they leave these buildings torn in half which is really dangerous because they could collapse at any time, with children in there to play. Also the gas and water service to these buildings is sometimes not turned off so they’re dangerous in that way as well. On top of that, some of these buildings are still occupied. I met a man who’d been in the hospital for a few days, and when he came out, someone had stolen part of his home.

WAMG: Do you think local lawmakers could introduce legislation to protect our bricks?

BS: Hard to know, there’s a limit to what the city can do. They can only impose fines up to a certain level.

WAMG: You’re bringing the problem to light though. You say the thieves are coming in from the Southern states?

BS: The reason is that the used brick they harvest here doesn’t hold up as well in some climates. Basically there’s a softer brick for the interior of the houses while they had a harder, less-porous brick for the outside that could stand up to the elements better. Usually there were three layers thick of brick and the inner core was made of a softer, cheaper brick and when they steal them, they mix all that up, don’t sort it properly, so the moisture can get into the brick and it can freeze and crack, so it only holds up in climates where it won’t freeze.

WAMG: I know that some brick homes that were built just 40 or 50 years ago in West (St. Louis) County are already starting to crumble. They used the wrong type of bricks?

They were using some of the reclaimed brick that wasn’t sorted correctly just as a cost-cutting measure.

WAMG: You point out that the Hydraulic Press Company, located at Kingshighway and Manchester, was at one time the largest brick manufacturer in the world. When did that company fold?

BS: It’s still around but they stopped making brick in 1967. The last brick plant they closed was on Hegge road but they had, at their peak brick plants and sales offices all over the country, but it was headquartered here in St. Louis. They’ve moved their headquarters to Indianapolis. Now they primarily make lightweight concrete aggregate.

WAMG: Are bricks still being produced here in St. Louis?

BS: Yes, Richards Brick over on the east side is the only one around here now. They make some of their own brick. It’s a specialized company. They mine their own clay.  They only do mining operation for about a month and then stockpile it for two years.

WAMG: When thing I was impressed with was the decorative bricks, the way the facades were spaced and embossed and inset are really works of art. Are there records of the artisans that created these? Are there famous brick artists?

BS: No, not really. There were special crews of guys that would do this and they were basically just builder contractors, not really well-documented. You’ll see their names on building permits and stuff around the city but a lot of the guys who did the facades were English. I England they have a long history of brick laying and a lot of English immigrants would come here and set up these elite crews who would design these facades. In my neighborhood in South City, they would do a whole street at once and they would go to a general contractor. They were called the ‘lump men’ or the ‘front men’ which meant they would do all of the facades on the project for a lump sum or they were called ‘front men’ if they would just do the fronts of the buildings. So they were specialist crews of English artisans. Sometimes you can distinguish between a really fine brick house and a standard brick house is that on a house that a lot of money was spent on, you’ll see the custom brick all around the house. You’ll see the textured face even on the back of the house, and that will tell you someone spent extra money on that house for that custom brickwork.

WAMG: You certainly chose the right people to interview. Did you do a lot of research before the interviews?

BS: We did some general research. We had limited time frame to work so my approach was to identify the experts and the research would be the interviews.

WAMG: Let the interview subjects guide the direction of the film.

BS: Yes, research generally just to know what questions to ask when I went in. I knew I wanted to get a geologist and hear from a couple of people with a historical perspective, architectural perspective. Some of the activists know a lot. I really relied on the preservationist activist community to help me figure out exactly who to talk to. A number of people said I should to Mimi Harris. She does brick walking tours in South City where she talks about the neighborhood including the brick and point out all the brick work. And of course Bob Archibald at the Missouri History Museum, and he was just great. His whole interview was about 45 minutes long and I asked him two questions.

WAMG: I’ve done interviews like that.

BS: Larry Giles (president of the St. Louis Building Arts Foundation) is another person we talked to and of course (architectural historian ) Michael Allen who I’ve known for several years and he’s just a good talker.

WAMG: Are there people out there that collect different types of bricks? Have they contacted you?

BS: Yeah, I collect them now too I guess. Ever since the movie came out, people have given me bricks so I collect them by proxy. There are a number of people that collect bricks.

WAMG: Do they gather and have conventions?

BS: I don’t know. They might. I know that there have been a number of books that have been publihshed that are basically catalogs of the different bricks. The bricks that people collect are usually either fire bricks or paving stones because they’re easy to identify, they have the names embossed right on them.

WAMG: Last night I typed in “collectible brick” on ebay. A 1925 ‘Convict-made’ brick from the Ohio brick plant sold for $20.

BS: If they’re embossed they’re a fire brick or a paving brick. One of the most valuable bricks people collect, and I have one because Larry Giles gave it to me, is a blue block brick from Indiana. It’s called Culver brick. It’s very distinct with a distinctive embossing, it’s kind of a weird purple red color they call blue block. It’s the same brick they use to pave the Indianapolis 500 track. There’s a replica of that brick on the Indy 500 trophy so if you can find one of these Culver bricks, it’s rare. They were all made between 1900 and 1920 so there’s a limited number out there. They go for about $100 on ebay.

WAMG: Did you know anything about bricks two years ago?

BS: Very little. I knew almost nothing, but I’ve learned a lot through this project. As much as I think I know, when I do these Q&As someone will come up with something that I didn’t know.

WAMG: BRICK BY CHANCE AND FORTUNE: A ST. LOUIS STORY will be playing at the St. Louis International Film Festival Sunday, November 20th at 4pm at the Frontenac Theater. Do you have other screenings lined up?

BS: There’s one December 17th at the Orpheum Theater (in downtown St. Louis)

WAMG: Have you entered your film in some documentary film festivals?

BS: I haven’t been accepted at any yet, Big Sky in Montana has invited me. Slamdance and others I’ll be submitting to but it’s just a matter of waiting for them. There’s a couple of architecture and design film festivals I’ll be submitting to as well.

WAMG: What’s next for Bill Streeter?

BS: I don’t have anything specific I’m working on yet. Most of my time right now is spent still working on this and promoting it. The DVD will be out next week.

WAMG: Good luck with BRICK BY CHANCE AND FORTUNE: A ST. LOUIS STORY and thanks for taking the time to talk to We Are Movie Geeks.

BS: Thank you.

The BRICK BY CHANCE AND FORTUNE: A ST. LOUIS STORY website can be found HERE.

http://www.stlbrickfilm.com/

Interview conducted by Tom Stockman November 8th, 2011.

Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend is Susan Orlean’s comprehensive and moving account of the famed German Shepherd’s journey from orphaned puppy to Hollywood superstar and pop culture icon. Orlean, a staff writer at The New Yorker, spent nearly ten years researching and reporting her most captivating book to date: the story of a dog who was born in 1918 and never died.

It begins on a battlefield in France during World War I, when a young American soldier, Lee Duncan, discovered a newborn German shepherd in the ruins of a bombed-out dog kennel. To Duncan, who came of age in an orphanage, the dog’s survival was a miracle. He saw something in Rin Tin Tin that he felt compelled to share with the world. Duncan brought Rinty home to California, where the dog’s athleticism and acting ability drew the attention of Warner Bros. Over the next ten years, Rinty starred in twenty-three blockbuster silent films that saved the studio from bankruptcy and made him the most famous dog in the world. At the height of his popularity, Rin Tin Tin was Hollywood’s number one box office star.

During the decades that followed, Rinty and his descendants rose and fell with the times, making a tumultuous journey from silent films to talkies, from black-and-white to color, from radio programs to one of the most popular television shows of the baby boom era, The Adventures of Rin-Tin-Tin. The canine hero’s legacy was cemented by Duncan and a small group of others – including Bert Leonard, the producer of the TV series, and Daphne Hereford, the owner of the current Rin Tin Tin – who have dedicated their lives to making sure the dog’s legend will never die.

Susan Orlean’s previous book, The Orchid Thief, was a profile of Florida orchid grower, breeder, and collector John Laroche. The book formed the basis of Charlie Kaufman’s script for the 2003 Spike Jonze film ADAPTATION. For that film, Orlean was portrayed by Meryl Streep (in an Oscar-nominated role) and was, in effect, made into a fictional character;

Susan Orlean will be in St. Louis as a guest of the St. Louis International Film Festival. The 1925 Rin Tin Tin film CLASH OF THE WOLVES will be screened Friday, November 18^th at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium with live piano accompaniment by pianist and composer Carl Pandolfi. Susan Orlean will introduce the film and discuss and sign the book, Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend, which will be available for purchase through Left Bank Books. Ms Orlean was kind enough to take time to talk to We Are Movie Geeks.

We Are Movie Geeks: Have you been to St. Louis before?

Susan Orleans: Yes, on my last book tour.

WAMG: Do you enjoy book tours

SO: Oh yes

WAMG: Why Rin Tin Tin? Why did you decide to write book about this dog?

SO: Oh, I always loved the Rin Tin Tin show when I was little and I always loved German Shepherds. What really interested me was that I discovered that Rin Tin Tin had a whole life and a whole history, particularly the background in silent films, which was amazing and surprising to me since I had only known him as a ’50s TV show character

WAMG: Your previous book, The Orchid Thief was so successful and acclaimed (and adapted into the 2005 film ADAPTATION starring Meryl Streep as Susan Orleans) What did your publisher say when you approached them with the idea about writing a book about Rin Tin Tin?

SO: It took a little bit of explaining. I wanted them to know it wasn’t just a nostalgic book about TV but actually a very complex story about a character who had a very important presence in popular culture in about every format imaginable. As soon as I made it make sense, they were all very excited about it, which was great.

WAMG: I’m fifty and barely aware of Rin Tin Tin. Was your goal to make younger generations aware of this dog?

SO: That was a collateral goal. It wasn’t my main goal which was to tell people what I thought was an incredible story about people with fascinating lives. I knew that I was swimming upstream with people under a certain age, but that’s never bothered me. So I knew that would be a nice outcome but it wasn’t my goal.

WAMG: Can you talk about Lee Duncan and how he discovered Rin Tin Tin?

SO: Lee Duncan was a young man who fought in the First World War. He had grown up in some pretty harsh circumstances and was very attached to animals. When he was in France during the war, he had been sent to inspect a battlefield that had just been taken back by the allies. When he was there, there was basically nothing left but he saw a building that had obviously been hit by artillery. He went inside and it was filled with the bodies of dogs that had been killed. He heard a sound at the back of the kennel, made his way back there and found a female who had just given birth to five puppies. So he collected them and brought them out of the kennel and back to his barracks. He kept two of them and brought them back to the United States.

WAMG: Did he name the dog Rin Tin Tin and how did he come up with that name?

SO: Yes, he did give him that name. There was a folk story in WWI about a boy and a girl who were the only survivors of a bombing in a Paris railway station. They were called Rin Tin Tin and Annette and both dolls representing the boy and girl were used as good luck charms by the GIs in the war so when Duncan found the puppies , the first thing that occurred to him were that they were like a good luck charm so named them Rin Tin Tin and Annette.

WAMG: So Duncan brought Rin Tin Tin to Hollywood and he became the number one movie star. How much was Rin Tin Tin earning and who really got the money?

SO: They each got paid but everything that went to Rin Tin Tin went into Lee Duncan’s hands but they were paid separately. In terms of today’s dollars, they were earning millions of dollars. Rin Tin Tin was paid five or six times as much as the human stars.

WAMG: Did Rin Tin Tin live an extravagant lifestyle? Do he eat steak and gourmet dog food?

SO: Actually, there was no commercial dog food at that time. He was comfortable but the rumors of him eating out of a silver bowl and having a diamond collar aren’t true. There’s a lot of Hollywood nonsense about how he lived but they certainly made sure he was very well cared for and comfortable. But a dog is a dog and he probably wouldn’t have cared if he was eating out of a silver bowl or off the floor.

WAMG: I saw on ebay an autographed photo of Rin Tin Tin sold for $150. Was that signed by Duncan?

SO: Yes, those were all signed by Duncan. These were the publicity photos that were circulated.

WAMG: The original Rin Tin Tin starred in 27 film. Are many of those silent films lost?

SO: Most of them are lost. It’s hard to believe but out of the 27 films the original Rin Tin Tin starred, there are only about six left.

WAMG: Have you seen all of those?

SO: Yes, and of course I fantasize about seeing the other ones but they are lost.

WAMG: Sometime films that are thought to be lost end up discovered so you never know.

SO: Yes, they found two in the not so distant past. I think by accident they find them or a private collector might have one and might not realize it’s the only one and they can make it available. These days it’s easy to transfer to digital so people can see it, but I don’t think they’ve found a lost RIN TIN TIN film in a while.

WAMG: The film that we’re screening next weekend here at the St. Louis International Film Festival is CLASH OF THE WOLVES. Is that one of the better Rin Tin Tin movies? Can you tell me a little about that film?

SO: I really love it. I think its really great. The plot is very coherent. You see Rin Tin Tin doing what made him so popular. Some kind of dramatic, athletic feats, some notable performances with some great acting. It’s a great example of what made him so popular. Plus it’s a restored print so it looks really nice.

WAMG: I’ll be there. I’m really looking forward to it.

SO: Great. What I don’t know is if it will be accompanied by live music or not. In some of the venues we’ve shown it with live music and it’s just so cool.

WAMG: Yes it is here, right in the program. Live piano accompaniment by Carl Pandolfi.

SO: Oh that’s fantastic!

WAMG: Did Rin Tin Tin make the transition to talkies? Were some of these sound films?

SO: He did make the transition. His contract with Warner Brothers was terminated when they shifted to talkies. They were unsure how he would transition. Then Duncan got a contract with Mascot Pictures. They were the great makers of the great serial films, and RIN TIN TIN was  a big hit in that format. And then he did make talkies between that time and before the TV show.

WAMG: And there was a radio show too?

SO: Yes, there was a radio show. People always laugh when I say it, but there was.

WAMG: That was after the original Rin Tin Tin had died. Was Duncan still controlling Rin Tin Tin at the time?

SO: Yes, he controlled him exclusively until he (Duncan) died in 1960 and he was very involved in the radio show as the person in charge of Rin Tin Tin. They usually used a voice-over actor to the barking and the noises. Occasionally they would have Rin Tin Tin do it, but more often they used a human voice.

WAMG: Where is Rin Tin Tin buried?

SO: The original Rin Tin Tin is buried in Paris.

WAMG: Have you seen his grave?

SO: Yes, and I write about going to the grave in the book.

WAMG: Lee Duncan died in 1960. Did he leave behind a lot of documents that you were able to use for research?

SO: Yes, he left a great deal of material that came very close to being thrown out, then at the last minute, somebody found it and decided that this was too valuable to throw away and it ended up in a museum in Riverside California where he was living. I feel very lucky.

WAMG: Bert Leonard revived Rin Tin Tin in the ’50s for the TV show. Can you talk about him?

SO: At the time he and Lee Duncan met, he was a Hollywood producer who wanted some of his own projects. He met Lee and even though he was not a dog person and they had very little in common on the surface, they had an immediate connection, and Bert came up with the idea that became the basis for the TV show. They just bonded. I think each of them found in the other an emotional connection that hadn’t found elsewhere in their lives. Lee never had a son and Bert never had a father, and Lee really wanted a protégé so here was this young man he felt very connected to. Bert fell in love with the idea of a show and the show became a huge success and basically changed his life from a struggling guy in Hollywood to the hottest producer in town.

WAMG: Were you able to talk to Bert Leonard?

SO: He died while I was working on that book. I did not get to talk to him but I had access to a huge amount of material including a two hours of interviews that a friend of his had recorded that were fantastic. It was essentially the interview I would have done with him so I felt like I was, in a sense, able to communicate with him much as I wish I had talked to him in real life.

WAMG: Was the character of Rusty in the movies?

SO: No, just the TV show.

WAMG: Did you talk to Lee Aaker who played Rusty on the Rin Tin Tin TV show?

SO: No, he’s a real loner. I tried to reach him but he didn’t want to do interviews so I was not able to talk to him.

WAMG: What’s next for Susan Orleans?

SO: Right now just the book tour and catching my breath. I don’t have any other big projects scheduled right now.

WAMG: Good luck with Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend and we’ll see you next Friday, November 18^th at 7pm here for the St. Louis International Film Festival.

SO: I’m looking forward to the event. Nice talking to you.

This interview was conducted by Jim Batts on November 11th, 2011.

Bill Plympton is one of the most creative and prolific artists to emerge out of the independent animation shorts film arena of the late 1980′s. His short YOUR FACE was nominated for an Academy Award and follow-up shorts like HOW TO KISS and  HOW TO QUIT SMOKING became the highlights of several traveling animation compilations and festivals. He soon branched out into feature films with THE TUNE and set up a New York animation studio to produce commercials and music videos along with more features and shorts. Recently Plympton has helmed several live action features. He’s here in St. Louis to accept the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 20th Annual Stella Artois St. Louis International Film Festival. Mr. Plympton was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to speak with me by phone.

WAMG: My name is Jim Batts with WeAreMovieGeeks.com [and] I want to welcome you to St. Louis. Great to have you here for the big film festival. I guess we can make you an honorary film geek since I saw your documentary and you mention you saw, or still do see two or three movies a day. Is that still the case?

Bill Plympton: Yeah, I do. (laughter) I’m crazy.

WAMG: Oh, that’s amazing! That’s amazing! In the documentary, which I really enjoyed, ADVENTURES IN PLYMPTOONS…

BP: Thank you!

WAMG: …you mention about getting a lot of inspiration, or I guess getting your start watching, Saturday morning cartoons. I was wondering if there was a particular animator or studio that you kind of drifted towards back then?

BP: Well certainly Warner Brothers.. the Bugs Bunny and Daffy Ducks were very,very amusing and made me laugh and that’s when I decided that laughter is the magic potient to make everybody feel good, feel healthy, love their life, and that’s what I want to do. I wanted to make people laugh.

WAMG: Oh, yeah.

BP: My Dad was actually,although he was a banker, he was a very lively guy, and he was always the center of attention at parties. Because he could make everybody laugh. And I just thought, ” Wow, you know I’m not very good at telling  jokes verbally, but I can make people laugh with my drawings. So I’m trying to emulate my Dad with my cartoons.

WAMG: Yeah, I enjoyed the stories in the film about getting into trouble with some of your drawings in school. Brought back some memories myself there.

BP: That’s true. That’s true.

WAMG: Definitely.  Did you or were you aware of some of the people behind the cartoons when you were growing up?

BP: Later actually I started looking at the directors. Not when I was really young, of course I didn’t really care. But I later I found out that Tex Avery or Bob Clampett were the geniuses behind the cartoons that I found so funny.

WAMG: Did you ever check out  or have any interest in the early Fleischer Studios stuff?

BP:  Oh, certainly. I loved the Popeyes and the Betty Boops and the Supermans were really entertaining, but I don’t know, I think for my mind the Tex Avery stuff was just a whole other level. It was very smart humor, it wasnt just stupid, punch you in the face humor. And of course the style was much more sophisticated and much better drawn than the Fleischer Brothers stuff. So that’s why I was attracted to the Warner Brothers. Then, of course, Disney was a huge influence. I mean everybody who’s an animator today grew up on Disney. The feature films, you know Song of the South, Sleeping Beauty, Dumbo. Dumbo particularly is one of my favorites. It’s a classic, classic film.

WAMG: I’m still hoping that one day we’ll see Song of the South available at our local video store.

BP: Tough to find anymore.

WAMG: Speaking of influences, since you are a print cartoonist I’m wondering if there were any particular comic strips or comic books that influence you back then, that you started to read and pick up on?

BP: Well certainly Peanuts, I love Peanuts. I love Al Capp.  Li’l Abner. Although the comics weren’t that big a deal for me. I thought they were amusing. For me it really blossomed when I saw R Crumb’s underground comics. And the others… Spain and Rodriguez, those other guys’ underground comics really opened up my eyes as to what comics could be and I was in college when I discovered Zap Comics. But also Charles Addams, the guy who did the Addams Family, was very influential because he was doing really dark, sick cartoons about death and murder and pain and suffering that were funny. And that was  kind of a verboten topic back then.

WAMG: Yeah, yeah.

BP:  Mad. I used to look at Mad. Don Martin was my favorite in Mad, certainly. Although I wasn’t a big Mad freak. I did like Mad magazine. I thought it was good.

WAMG: I was wondered if you were about the right age for when Mad first came out as a color comic book. When Harvey Kurtzman was editing it?

BP:  Certainly. Yeah, Harvey was a big hero of mine. And I was fortunate enough to become a friend of his shortly before he died. And he was a very supportive guy, really liked what I did, and supported what I was doing, so it was very nice dealing with him. I never worked for him, but he was kind of a friend actually.

WAMG: You did mention the underground comics, were you offered or perhaps did you send some stuff in to the underground Zap-type comics?

BP: Well, I was  too young then and they were all in San Francisco, so it was all sort of, it didn’t work out . I did however do a lot of comics for men’s magazines, Screw, Playboy, Penthouse, Oui (I did a lot of stuff for Rui, actually) that was my exposure,  outlet for comics.

WAMG: I enjoyed seeing those covers in the documentary. You were able to be very creative with them.

BP: Well, they only paid like ninety bucks or something. They didn’t pay very much, but it was easy money and it was fun to see it all over the city so it worked out.

WAMG: Did you first start to produce animation during your college years or did you start to fool around with the family 8mm camera?

BP: No, I became obsessed with animation in college. And unfortunately there was no animation school or industry in Portland, Oregon when I was in college. It was basically no one to turn to, at least I didn’t know who to turn to.  And so I tried to do it on my own with an 8 mm camera and that was a big failure and I did a 16 mm and that was shot upside-down accidentally, so I just decided it was too much work. And so I went to New York. I moved to New York to become an illustrator, and so my desires to be an animator were basically put on hold until the mid 80′s when animation started coming back and the whole indie-film world started exploding and I felt, well  if these guys could make films outside of the Hollywood circle, then it could do it too. People like Jim Jarmusch and Spike Lee were making films. In New York, independent films, so I was inspired by that.

WAMG: Now, getting back to the start of your animation career, did you start with just the pencil drawings, or did you try to go right in to the colored cel work?

BP: I started with pencil drawings. It was the lowest tech, it was the easiest for me. It was very simple to do that.  And it wasn’t until I think I did THE TUNE, which was in 1991 that I gave it a shot, doing cell animation and that was just an experiment with it and then I think I did cel animation just until I did HAIR HIGH, that was the last cell animation film I did. But all the features were done on cel animation. THE TUNE had some, then, of course I MARRIED A STRANGE PERSON, MUTANT ALIENS, and then HAIR HIGH was the last one and it was then that digital technology came in and the price was low enough that I could afford to a digital transfer. That was the thing that held me up was the cost.

WAMG: Watching your shorts like YOUR FACE and HOW TO KISS and those others I could just imagine how many boxes of colored pencils you’d go through.

BP: Not only that, but my apartment is filled with bins up to the ceiling with artwork that is still around from those films. So. it’s all for sale on my website.

WAMG: Really? That’s great! Did you have any mentors starting out in the business. I saw Ralph Bakshi in the documentary, Did you contact him or did he contact you around the time of producing your short films?

BP: No, I should’ve. That was a mistake. I’m a pretty shy guy and even though he was doing FRITZ THE CAT when I had moved to New York, I really wasn’t aware of it. And had no connections with anybody who was in the business and I should’ve been more pushy about that. But mentors? No, I had one woman, Connie D’Antuono, and she was the one who really showed me how to make a film, how to make an animated film, the technology of it. I knew how to draw it. I knew how to write it. I always loved the Preston Blair book that he did called ” Animation “, that was my bible. I guess if there was a mentor, it was him. And he was really the influence on how to make animated films. But once I knew the magic formula, the technology behind it, then I went crazy. I started in 1985 making two or three short films a year. And then a feature every two or three years.

WAMG: Well Bakshi brought his new Mighty Mouse cartoons in 1987 and that was when you were making your short films. I wondered if there was any talk of a collaboration once he was moving back into features with COOL WORLD.

BP: He was in LA and I was in New York, so that would’ve been very difficult and I never really knew him till about ten years ago when we met, I forget where it was, probably the San Diego Comic Con or something like that and he was a big fan and he was a big supporter and in many ways he was jealous that I could make my films without studio interference.

WAMG:  Especially television executive interference, too. (laughs)

BP:  (laughs) Yeah. But his budgets were 100, 200 times mine, so that’s the other side of the coin.  That he had these huge budgets, and he got big-name stars and I’m struggling making these little indie films that barely get distribution, so there’s both sides of the equation that are valid and I actually prefer mine even though I’m not a rich guy, I don’t make a lot of money, but I make the films I want to make. And that’s what I’ll be talking about in my appearances here in St. Louis, how it is possible to be an indie film maker, indie animator, and make a living, make money. And I hope a lot of local artists, or film makers show up to my shows and enjoy the films that I’m gonna’ show. And everybody who comes gets a free Bill Plympton drawing., so I hope they turn out.

WAMG: So besides seeing your great work, you’ll take home a piece of work!

BP: That’s it!  I didn’t think of it that way.

WAMG: Before we finish I wanted to tell you that when I’d see your films in the tournees and festivals, there’s be almost a rumple through the audience and some applause when your films would appear. Did you ever sneak into to these screenings so you could gauge the audience reactions?

BP: Yeah, it’s important. If I’m in town I definitely like to go to them. Not so much anonymously, but  I like to sit in the audience and hear how the audience responds to each individual film cause it’s important to find out what works and what doesn’t work and what the audience likes. And , obviously, with the Spike and Mike show,it’s outrageous, weird humor. That’s what I like to do.

WAMG:  It reminded me of what I’d read about movie theatres in the 30′s and 40′s. When Bugs Bunny would show up, there would be applause and your work would have a similar reaction.

BP: Occasionally I would do that. Sort of anonymously sit in there and listen to what they’d say about myself . I try not to impose myself on them. I try to remain secretive there. But it is fun to hear people’s laughter and that’s what drives me to make my films is hearing people laughing at my films  and that’s the main reason I do it.

WAMG: Well, they’re going to laughing for a long, long time at those films. I want to congratulate on getting the well deserved SLIFF Lifetime Achievement Award . It’s a terrific thing they’re doing. I’ll wish the best of luck this weekend and I look forward to seeing more of your work. The best compliment I can give you is that after seeing the documentary I pulled out my old sketch pad.

BP: Good for you! For more information people can go to plymptoons.com. Good bye!

An Evening with Bill Plympton will be at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium on Friday November 11 at 7 PM.  The next day, Saturday November 12, the same venue will present the documentary ADVENTURES IN PLYMPTOONS at 5 PM. A master class with Mr. Plympton will be held at Webster that same day at 1 PM. All the events are part of the 20th Annual Stella Artois St. Louis International Film Festival.

Hola kids. Melissa here, with another fantastic movie adventure. This past week, I got the chance to sit down with Topher Grace and Stephen Moyer to talk about their new film THE DOUBLE. I think you kids will get a kick out of the fang talk between the two of them!

In THE DOUBLE, the mysterious murder of a US senator bearing the distinctive trademark of the legendary Soviet assassin “Cassius,” forces Paul Shepherdson (Richard Gere), a retired CIA operative, to team with rookie FBI agent, Ben Geary (Topher Grace), to solve the crime.

Having spent his career chasing Cassius, Shepherdson is convinced his nemesis is long dead, but is pushed to take on the case by his former supervisor, Tom Highland (Martin Sheen). Meanwhile, Agent Geary, who wrote his Master’s thesis on Shepherdson’s pursuit of the Soviet killer, is certain that Cassius has resurfaced. As Shepherdson and Geary work their way through crimes both past and present, they discover that Cassius may not be the person they always thought him to be, forcing both to re-examine everything and everyone around them.

Written by Michael Brandt and Derek Haas, the team behind WANTED and 3:10 TO YUMA, the film also represents Brandt’s directorial debut. Produced by Patrick Aiello, Ashok Amritraj, Steffan Brunner, Andrew Deane, and Derek Haas.

Running Time: 98 minutes
Rating: “PG-13” by the MPAA for “for intense sequences of action and violence, some disturbing images and language.”

THE DOUBLE opens in theaters today

Interview conducted by Tom Stockman October 19th, 2011

THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-1975 brings together, for 90 fascinating minutes, a treasure trove of 16mm material shot by Swedish journalists who came to the US drawn by stories of urban unrest and revolution. Gaining access to many of the leaders of the Black Power Movement – Stokely Carmichael, Bobby Seale, Angela Davis and Eldridge Cleaver among them, the filmmakers captured them in intimate moments and remarkably unguarded interviews. Thirty years later, this collection of unedited film was found languishing in the basement of a Swedish Television station. Director Goran Olsson discovered this footage and assembled a documentary chronicling the evolution of one of our nation’s most indelible turning points, the Black Power movement. Featuring music by Questlove and Om’Mas Keith, and commentary from prominent African- American artists and activists who were influenced by the struggle — including Erykah Badu, Harry Belafonte, Talib Kweli, and Melvin Van Peebles, THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE is an exhilarating, unprecedented account of an American revolution (read Mellissa’s WAMG review HERE).

Danny Glover, the beloved star of THE COLOR PURPLE, PLACES IN THE HEART, SILVERADO, and of course the four LETHAL WEAPON movies, has spent much of his life involved in political activism. He considers himself an activist first and an actor second. Goran Olsson approached Mr. Glover with his idea of assembling the THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE footage into a feature documentary. With this subject so close to his heart, Glover embraced the concept and quickly agreed to sign on as the film’s producer. Mr. Glover was kind enough to take time out from his schedule to speak to We Are Movie Geeks.com about the project.

We Are Movie Geeks: Hi Mr. Glover, I’m with We Are Movie Geeks.com in St. Louis here.

Danny Glover: How’s St. Louis?

WAMG: Good, have you ever been here?

DG: Yeah, I’ve been to St. Louis many times. I love St. Louis!

WAMG: I was looking at a list of your credits and was surprised to see that you first acting role was in ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ (1979)

DG: Hah, yeah, that was one of those roles where you can decide whether it’s me or not. You can see my back. I think they even dubbed my voice in that.

WAMG: Did you get to know Clint Eastwood at all?

DG: No, I didn’t. I just did that one scene. I was very polite to him though.

WAMG: Did you ever meet Charles Bronson?

DG: Never met Charles Bronson.

WAMG: Let’s talk about BLACK POWER MIXTAPE. How did you get involved with that project?

DG: It was one of those good fortunes that we had. Because of the work we’ve been doing with black amateur films, and the way we try to support filmmakers, Goran Ollsen, the director came to us with this material. Both (co-producer) Joslyn Barnes and I saw this film, recognized its importance, and wanted to be a part of it. For me, as someone who grew up in that period of time, I was born and raised in San Francisco. I was at San Francisco State in 1967. And I’d like to think that we were…..special. We modeled a great deal of our engagement on our role models.  We found ourselves not only active on campus but active in the community. That was a critical part of our platform, to be active. San Francisco State was unique because it was kind of a community resource outlet and it was a teacher’s college. It had 12 or 13 hubs all around the city so we had immediate access, through our work studies program, to the activism that was going on in the community. Because of that, the group that filmed BLACK POWER MIXTAPE also had access to everyone from Stokely Carmichael to the Black Panther Party and other organizations.

WAMG:Was there a link between your activism and the launching of your acting career?

DG: Well, I think there was somewhat of a correlation. You have to understand it this way. My intention at a young age, in my twenties, was not to be an actor. I was involved in black activism and in the spring of 1967 we invited Amiri Baraka to start a community communication project for a semester at San Francisco State. This opened up an enormous opportunity for the Black Student Union because now we had a leading voice in the black arts out at San Francisco State, in the progressive community. He had been out in San Francisco before because he had been one of the beat poets as well. Do you know about Amiri Baraka, also known as Leroy Jones?

WAMG: No

DG: You should! Look him up, Leroy Jones. Look him up, Amiri Baraka. At the time in the black arts community, he preceded the Negro Ensemble Theater. You know the Negro Ensemble Theater?

WAMG:I’ve heard of it.

DG: Yeah, it’s in New York. So Amirir Baraka was there in San Francisco and he engaged the community in terms of the black arts. That’s my own history. So in 1966 and 1967 we had Eldridge Cleaver and Charles Fuller in San Fransisco. Do you know who Charles Fuller is?

WAMG: No

DG: (sighs) – Well, you should. Charles Fuller was a playwright. A very prolific playwright at that time in the black arts movement and an important part of the New York Shakespeare Company. These are the kinds of activities that happened to me at the time, a great movement of expression that was happening in the black community typified by the community theater, an explosion of community theater, all on the heels of the civil rights movements. All these upbeat ways that people were articulating through art the different aspects of the African experience. It was dynamic, whether it was in New York, or Chicago, or Cleveland, Oakland, you found all this emergence of black expression through art. And indirectly I was involved in it but basically I was a student majoring in economics. So I was a college student during the civil rights movement but all these calls to service were profound as I was figuring out who I was and what I was doing with my life. When I came into contact with these people later, people like Stokely Carmichael, H Rap Brown, John Lewis, these were my heroes.

WAMG: Did you know Stokely Carmichael?

DG: I met Stokely Carmichael. I didn’t know him. I was 20 years old. I was a student and I met him. I met him and Eldridge and all of those guys

Danny Glover with THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-1975 director Goran Ollsen

WAMG: When (BLACK POWER MIXTAPE  director) Goran Ollsen approached you guys and told you about these hundreds of hours  that had been shot, and I believe it had been sitting in a warehouse in Sweden ….

DG: They were in an archive but they weren’t organized. They were looking for something else when he came across this.

WAMG: Did you see a lot of this footage besides the 90 minutes that made it into the final film?

DG: No, he put it together himself. We had suggestions and we watched some of the film. It was at one time a much larger film. It’s cut down to 90 minutes but it was a film that was much larger and we were involved in the process. I called people I know and everyone had suggestions. I know Sonia Sanchez. She was one of my teachers out in San Fransisco State and a very good friend of mine. I asked her to participate in an interview and I asked others as well.

WAMG: I noticed that you yourself chose not to participate on camera. Were you asked to speak or was that a conscious decision to stay out

DG: We decided the best way to do this was to give the opportunity for others to express their feelings.

WAMG: A lot of the commentators like Questlove and  Eryka Badu were young musicians. Why were they chosen?

DG: Certainly it’s obvious that young people are influenced by that and touched by that. They are popular musicians and they appeal to young people. These were young people watching the movement forty years ago. So their connection with how they see the world has to connect with young people today. Everyone single one of the young artists were influenced by the expressions of these people spoken forty years ago. And then you have a great black poet with Sonia Sanchez. And then you have someone that the black power movement was centered around. You have Angela (Davis) speak. So you have all you need right there.

WAMG: Did you know Angela Davis before?

DG: I’ve known Angela Davis since the period around her trial (1971)

WAMG: Have you traveled with her and spoken with her?

DG: We’ve been on a couple of panels together. We’re friends, we talk. I’ve known Angela since before I was an actor.

Stokely Carmicheal, Bobby Seale, and Angela Davis in BLACK POWER MIXTAPE

WAMG: What does the term “Mix Tape” mean exactly. Why is the film is called BLACK POWER MIXTAPE?

DG: It’s the director’s prerogative. We agreed with it when he came to us with the idea of a mixtape.  I thought it was pretty self-evident because of having the information and trying to find ways to conceptualize it through the ideas of a mixtape. And also a mixtape is associated with hip-hop music so I think we got the right title.

WAMG: I like the title. Now you’ve been an activist all of your adult life. Was there a particular event that politicized you?

DG: Well, I come out a family of union workers. My parents were both postal employees who came to the post office in 1948 when the federal government desegregated the federal workplace and a lot of African Americans came to the workplace. My parents were young. When my dad came to the post office in the Deep South, he had taught a year at a high school before he came to New York and went to war. My mother was president of the National Council of Negro Women so it all came naturally to me. I was born 65 years ago. I was 9 years old when they had the Montgomery bus boycott and I viewed it as a child with my parents on television.

WAMG: Do your colleagues in Hollywood understand your activist side or do they think you’re a bit of an eccentric?

DG: I don’t know. I mean, it doesn’t make any difference to me. I don’t have any discussions with anybody.The people that I talk are people that have been friends of mine for a long time and are activists themselves. The people that I’m most close to are people like Harry Bellafonte. I’m sure you wouldn’t ask him if his friends in Hollywood understand his activism.

WAMG: I might.

DG: He’s a man who walked with Dr. King from the time he was 27 years old! I don’t think about it. I worked in city government for six years. I worked in community development right after I finished college so acting is a second career for me. I don’t renounce my responsibilities as a citizen because I’ve become a very public figure.

WAMG: What did you think of the scene in BLACK POWER MIXTAPE where Stokely Carmichael takes the microphone away from the interviewer and begins interviewing his own mother?

DG: That was amazing! I think that was quite extraordinary. Great footage and it gave kind of another dimension to Stokely.

WAMG: What’s next for Danny Glover?

DG: A TV series with Kiefer Sutherland called TOUCH

WAMG: I was hoping you were going to say LETHAL WEAPON 5

DG: No more Lethal Weapons. We finished.

WAMG: People ask you that all the time?

DG: Yeah, it’s been thirteen years since the last one. Mel Gibson and I are good friends though and we talk from time to time.

WAMG: Well, good luck with BLACK POWER MIXTAPE. It’s a very good film and look for this interview at We Are Movie Geeks.com

DG: All right, thank you.

THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-1975 opens in St. Louis Friday October 28th at Landmark’s Tivoli Theater

On Saturday I had the pleasure of interviewing actor Brian O’Halloran. He is best known for playing the character of Dante in Kevin Smith’s CLERKS & CLERKS 2. He also recently appeared in BRUTAL MASSACRE and the upcoming CALENDAR GIRL. He was at the New York Comic Con this weekend signing autographs and agreed to an impromptu interview. We talked about the convention, theater, horror films and more. He even offered some great advice for indie filmmakers. After he interview, I ended up hanging around the booth another 15 minutes talking with him and some other fans who stopped by. Check out the full interview below!

Jerry Cavallaro – www.JerryCavallaro.com

BOY WONDER is a psychological thriller about a boy obsessed with finding his mom’s killer. This weekend some of the talent behind the film were at NYCC to promote its upcoming theatrical and DVD release. Below is an interview with writer, director and producer Michael Morrissey.

Here’s the official synopsis of the film:

A young Brooklyn boy witnesses the brutal murder of his mother and grows up obsessed with finding her killer. Thus begins his life as a quiet, straight-A student by day and a self-appointed hero at night. But what is a real hero? And who decides what is right or wrong? As the boundaries blur, Sean’s dual life wears on his psyche and his two worlds careen dangerously close to colliding. Like a graphic novel you can’t put down, Boy Wonder challenges morality, distorting perceptions of what is right and what is justified, as it races to its shocking conclusion.

BOY WONDER will be in limited theaters in NY starting October 21st & Chicago October 28th. BW will be on DVD & VOD November 8th!

Jerry Cavallaro – www.JerryCavallaro.com

My second day at NYCC started off with a 25-minute wait on a line that wrapped almost entirely around the Javits Center. I later found out there was a separate press / VIP entrance I could have used but the volunteer I asked apparently did not know about it either. The line wasn’t too bad though considering how many people in awesome costumes I got to see while I waited.

Once inside the convention, I saw the reason for the massive lines. The place was packed. Some aisles on the show floor were impossible to navigate and even the press rooms were full. I knew Saturday would be the biggest day at the con but I just was not prepared. The massive amount of foot traffic made taking decent pictures of people in costumes much more difficult but I still managed some decent shots.

After a quick hello with some fellow press, I began wandering the show floor aimlessly. Eventually I did fall into a little bit of a schedule based on a few booths and panels I wanted to check out. On my way to the BOY WONDER booth, I passed Magnet Releasing and noticed that writer/director/actor Ti West was signing posters. Being a fan of his work, I waited to meet him. We talked horror movies for a few minutes and he gave me some advice on a script I recently finished.

From there I headed over to my interview with Michael Morrissey, writer & director of BOY WONDER. We discussed the origins of the film, what it is like promoting it at conventions and more. I will post the full interview soon but here is a trailer for the film.

Following the interview, I made my way to a booth that actually has very little to do with movies but I want to mention anyway. IAmAStuffedAnimal.com is a website that makes a custom “little buddy” which look like the stuffed wrestling dolls I used to have as a kid. For a pretty reasonable fee considering all the personalization, they make these really cool stuffed dolls of anyone or anything you want. They first came to my attention when actress Felicia Day was posting pics with her buddy that they made for her. I found them on twitter (@StuffYourself) and saw they made custom buddies of a lot of the celebrities at the convention. In fact, the doll Seth Green & Macaulay Culkin were posing with in my video on Friday was from these guys. I loved that promotional idea and stopped by to do a quick interview with them. Check it out:

After the interview, I made my way to the EAGLEHEART panel at the other end of the building. This was a strange one. For anyone who has seen the show, you know how insane and hilarious it is. If you haven’t, the show is essentially a WALKER TEXAS RANGER parody with some of the most absurd humor you will ever see. Obviously, it is part of the Adult Swim lineup. The show stars Chris Elliott, Brett Gelman and Maria Thayer, who were all on the panel along with creators Michael Kolman and Andrew Weinberg. So why was the panel so strange? Well I guess such a crazy show deserves crazy fans. I taped the entire panel (except the preview clips) for you to check out. My favorite questions are the ones involving Brett Gelman’s beard. Yes, there were several questions just about his beard. Enjoy!

Because of this panel, it was impossible to get into the WALKING DEAD or AVENGERS panels. On my way to EAGLEHEART, I had to pass by the IGN Theater. No one was leaving in between panels there and the standby line to get in was massive. In fact, to get through the crowd I had to follow a man with a life-size fully functional R2D2 as if he was my police escort. I didn’t feel like spending all my time on a line anyway and going to the other panel gave me a chance to catch up with Chris Elliott for a few minutes. We have been friends for a few years but it has been a while since we last saw each other. They had to clear out the room pretty quickly but it was great seeing him again.

Missing the AVENGERS panel also opened up my schedule to go explore the convention center some more. I discovered the reason I couldn’t find any of the celebrity autograph tables was because it was in an entirely different section of the Javits Center with literally only one sign advertising it. It was an open space with much smaller crowds than any other section of NYCC. In addition to the signings, there were a lot of sections for kids, as well as an area for photos with the Delorean from BACK TO THE FUTURE & two different Batmobiles. There was also a small Quidditch field where I witnessed the last 20 seconds of what was surely an epic match between Batman and a Stormtrooper.

Walking through the signing area, I learned one very important fact. Mark Hamil is the king of convention signings and he truly cleans up. It was $100 for a ticket to meet him and at least 100 people were waiting on line when I passed by. That is damn impressive. Unfortunately both Eliza Dushku and Felicia Day were not at their tables when I checked. However, I did get to see Brian O’Halloran, who is best known as Dante from CLERKS. I actually met him a few years ago at a special event in Red Bank, NJ. He signed my Mooby’s Funployee nametag & even wrote in Dante. That year I wore it on my Funployee shirt and went as Dante to a Halloween party. I did not tell Brian this though because I did not want to creep him out. He was kind enough to grant me an impromptu interview that I will post very soon. After the interview I stuck around his table another 20 minutes chatting with him and some more fans who stopped by. He is extremely friendly and very knowledgeable. He offered some great advice and it really was a pleasure talking with him. I hope that we keep in touch because I would love to work with him someday.

I pretty much ended my day on that high note. I did pass by the Troma Entertainment booth on my way out just to thank Lloyd Kaufman for the quick interview from Friday and to find out how the Graham Chapman panel went since I was unable to attend it. Completely exhausted, I made my way home and passed out immediately on my bed. The interviews and photos will be posted soon.

Jerry Cavallaro – www.JerryCavallaro.com

As I left the Javits Center tonight, I realized that I did not have anything to eat or drink in nearly 10 hours. That just goes to show you how time seems to get away from you at the New York Comic Con. It also explains why I did not get to do nearly as much as I planned for the day.

I arrived at NYCC about 2 hours after it officially opened and I was off to a good start with absolutely no wait for press check-in. I thought I knew what to expect since I attended (and COVERED) NY Comic Con in 2009. The first thing I realized walking onto the show floor was just how massive this event has become. It has expanded to take up pretty much the entire Javits Center.

Unfortunately, it seems like the film presence at the festival has not increased much. I was surprised by the absence of booths for Fox & After Dark Films, which were two of my favorites in 2009. Most attendees probably do not care though since I know I am in the minority of those who attend the convention mostly for film rather than comics, anime, toys, collectibles & video games. Regardless, I still spent the first 4 hours wandering around the show floor and there are still film booths I need to hit up tomorrow like the one for the indie film, BOY WONDER.

I will do a full photo spread on Sunday with all the incredible costumes. For now, here are a few highlights from the show floor.

Really cool Amazing Spider-Man display as soon as you enter.

Part of the always crowded AVENGERS display.

Legendary Entertainment’s booth is full of awesome props like this one.

Furry Walls!

Around 5 pm, I made my way over to the IGN Theater for the ROBOT CHICKEN panel and waited on what may have been the longest line I have ever been on. But it was worth it. The presentation started with a preview of Season 5.5, which will be hilarious and so very wrong. I don’t want to spoil anything but one of my favorite sketches shown can best be described as a mashup of PRECIOUS and ATTACK OF THE 50 FT WOMAN.

The crowd erupted in cheers when they brought out the panelists: Seth Green, Matt Senreich, Geoff Johns, Kevin Shinick, Doug Goldstein, Macaulay Culkin, and Clare Grant. Early on Green warned the crowd that they do no prep for these panels and that they are here to meet the fans and answer questions. One of the very first people to the mic instead said “things I’d like to see” and began describing some sketches. The panel humored him at first but then Seth joked that this was “not a pitch session.” It was also added that if anyone suggests a sketch to them, they legally can’t do it. However, if you are a female writer, the ROBOT CHICKEN team is hiring. Next week they will post a tab on their official FACEBOOK PAGE where female writers can submit material.

Some other highlight from the panel was Seth doing a Peter impression following it up by saying “I don’t do Peter’s voice. Please don’t tell Seth (MacFarlane) I did that.” Someone asked if comedy in the Star Wars universe has been exhausted. Seth said it definitely wasn’t and he cannot wait for everyone to see the Star Wars animated series he has been working on. He also added that “George and LucasFilm have been pretty f-ing lenient” in terms of what they can get away with in sketches. Someone with a Green Lantern logo asked a question and several of the panelists reached over the table to take pictures. One of the final announcements of the panel was that the next ROBOT CHICKEN special will be about DC Comics. Based on the preview, which was edited together using DC Comics sketches already on the show, it will be called RC/DC.

The battery on my camera would never have lasted the full panel but I did get to record this very strange moment after a fan asks Seth Green and Macaulay Culkin to make a sexy pose.

ROBOT CHICKEN season 5 will be out October 25^th on DVD & Blu-Ray, and it will include 9 episodes that have not even aired yet. They are also about to launch RobotChicken.com.

Following the panel, I made my way to the TROMA booth in hopes of running into low budget horror icon, Lloyd Kaufman. Lloyd actually made a small cameo in my film STUCK LIKE CHUCK, which you can watch right HERE for free! I ended up hanging out at the Troma booth for the last 40 minutes of the day since our conversation kept getting interrupted by fans that wanted a picture or autograph. (From Lloyd, not me) He will actually be at the booth for most of tomorrow and Sunday so I highly suggest anyone attending to stop by Booth 2007. Lloyd will also be moderating a panel from 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM on Saturday for A LIAR’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY, which is an animated 3D film from EPIX about Graham Chapman from Monty Python.

I could give you some more reasons why you should stop by the Troma booth, but instead I’ll leave you with this video of Lloyd telling you himself.

Jerry Cavallaro – www.JerryCavallaro.com

In celebration of the the JURASSIC PARK ULTIMATE TRILOGY being released on Blu-Ray and DVD, WAMG was invited to a special effects press day. Melissa (that would be me) from WAMG sat down with Ariana Richards, who plays Lex Murphy in JURASSIC PARK and THE LOST WORLD : JURASSIC PARK, and three of the top special effects professionals in the world, Dennis Muren,  Phil Tippett, and John Rosengrant to talk about their experiences working on the film. Muren, Tippett, and Rosengrant worked on the special effects of the films, create things such as the giant tyrannosaurus rex! Pretty neat, huh?

From Academy Award-winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg, the Jurassic Park Ultimate Trilogy is one of the most successful film franchises in worldwide box-office history. On a remote tropical island, an amazing living theme park becomes a game of survival for humans foolhardy enough to set foot on it. Meticulously recreated dinosaurs spring to astonishing life as the film’s breathtaking special effects and thrilling action sequences keep audiences on the edge of their seats. Each chapter of the history-making saga delivers even more action and spectacular visual effects than its predecessor, as nature’s ultimate killing machines once again rule the earth. Almost 20 years after its inception, the Jurassic Park Trilogy remains an unmatched cinematic experience.

First, here is my interview with Ariana Richards, who plays Lex Murphy. Enjoy!

Ariana is now a successful artist. Check out some of her paintings, and other works at http://www.galleryariana.com/

Next, I got the chance to sit down with Dennis Muren of Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Phil Tippett of Tippett Sudios, and John Rosengrant of Legacy Effects (Formerly Stan Winsten Studios). Check it out:

SYNOPSIS:

JURASSIC PARK

A multimillionaire (Richard Attenborough) unveils a new theme park where visitors can observe dinosaurs cloned using advanced DNA technology. But when an employee tampers with the security system, the dinosaurs escape, forcing the visitors to fight for their survival. Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum and Laura Dern star in this thrilling, action-packed blockbuster from acclaimed director Steven Spielberg and based on the novel by Michael Crichton.

THE LOST WORLD : JURASSIC PARK

Four years after Jurassic Park’s genetically bred dinosaurs ran amok, multimillionaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) shocks chaos theorist Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) by revealing that Hammond has been breeding more beasties at a secret location. Malcolm, his paleontologist ladylove (Julianne Moore) and a wildlife videographer (Vince Vaughn) join an expedition to document the lethal lizards’ natural behavior in this action-packed thriller.

JURASSIC PARK III

In need of funds for research, Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) accepts a large sum of money to accompany Paul and Amanda Kirby (William H. Macy and Tea Leoni) on an aerial tour of the infamous Isla Sorna. It isn’t long before all hell breaks loose and the stranded wayfarers must fight for survival as a host of new — and even more deadly — dinosaurs try to make snacks of them. Laura Dern, Michael Jeter, Alessandro Nivola and Trevor Morgan co-star.

The wait is finally over to experience one of the most anticipated motion-picture trilogies of all time like never before when JURASSIC PARK, THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK and JURASSIC PARK III debut as a trilogy set on Blu-ray™ October 25, 2011 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

Hey there, all you fancy kids! Melissa here. Yesterday, I had the chance to sit down with some of the people behind Dreamworks Pictures’ REAL STEEL, starring Hugh Jackman.

REAL STEEL is a gritty, white-knuckle, action ride set in the near-future, where the sport of boxing has gone hi-tech, starring Hugh Jackman as Charlie Kenton, a washed-up fighter who lost his chance at a title when 2000-pound, 8-foot-tall steel robots took over the ring. Now nothing but a small-time promoter, Charlie earns just enough money piecing together low-end bots from scrap metal to get from one underground boxing venue to the next. When Charlie hits rock bottom, he reluctantly teams up with his estranged son Max (Dakota Goyo) to build and train a championship contender. As the stakes in the brutal, no-holds-barred arena are raised, Charlie and Max, against all odds, get one last shot at a comeback.

My day was filled with roundtables, which you will find below. The first was with screenplay writer John Gatins, producers Don Murphy and Susan Montford. They talked about the inspiration behind the film, and using new technology on set.
REAL STEEL ROUNDTABLE WITH DON MURPHY, SUSAN MONTFORD & JOHN GATINS

My second roundtable of the day was with Director Shawn Levy. During our session, he talked about being compared to other directors, THE HARDY MEN, and whether or not there will be a sequel to REAL STEEL. He is quite a charismatic guy!

REAL STEEL ROUNDTABLE WITH SHAWN LEVY

Sugar Ray Leonard… What more can I say? This man is a legend. He spoke to us about teaching Hugh Jackman how to box on camera, and why he thinks boxing movies have such an impact on audiences.

REAL STEEL ROUNDTABLE WITH SUGAR RAY LEONARD

It is hard not to like Anthony Mackie… not that I tried! Mackie plays Finn in the film. It was apparent during this roundtable that he is very well read. I had no idea that he is such a history buff. It’s quite impressive. He also has a snarky comedic presence, which is something that I always appreciate.

REAL STEEL ROUNDTABLE WITH ANTHONY MACKIE

These next two are visual. Hugh Jackman, who plays Charlie Kenton, has quite the presence when he walks in the room. Not an overwhelming presence, but more of a kindness. He was extremely polite and engaging. Jackman spoke with us about shooting a film that his family could enjoy, Wolverine, and LES MISÉRABLES.

Oh, and I might have had my picture taken with him…

The final event of the day was getting to speak with John Rosengrant and Erik Nash about the special effects of the film. John Rosengrant was the animatronic supervisor for the film. He talked about designing the boxing robots in the film. The coolest part was that when we walked into the room, Atom and Noisy Boy, two of the bots, were set up in the room! All 8 feet of them! It was incredible to see the actual animatronics up close. Then Erik Nash, the visual effects supervisor, took us through a brief presentation on how they developed the fight scenes. Technology has come a long way!

What a fun day! Thanks for reading guys. Until next time…
Stay Fancy,
Melissa

Make sure you check out REAL STEEL in theaters OCTOBER 7th

How do you take a hand-drawn animated Disney classic like THE LION KING and turn it into a 3D masterpiece? With the theatrical release on September 16th and on Disney Blu-ray, Hi-Def and Blu-ray 3D on October 4th, Disney Stereographer Robert Neuman provides some insight on what a stereographer does (responsible for all 3D aspects of cinematography on the film) & the process involved and for some insight on why Disney chose to convert THE LION KING to 3D.

How long has 3D cinema been around?

We all know that 2D cinema has a rich history spanning more than a century, but 3D cinema has been around much longer than most people think. Back in the 1930s, the Lumiere brothers - who invented film - remade one of their features in 3D. They were convinced that 3D was going to be the next evolution in storytelling, but it didn’t catch on in that period of history. This means that 3D cinema has been around for nearly 80 years, but thankfully we’ve now gone past the gimmick stage. Today we’re ready to use 3D in order to tell a better story.

What does 3D add to an animated movie like The Lion King?

From my standpoint as a filmmaker, the most important aspect of a movie is the story. I knew we could add something to the storytelling of The Lion King with 3D. If we couldn’t use 3D to enhance the story, I wouldn’t be interested in the project. However, I knew we could take a classic and plus it – and I think that’s exactly what we’ve done with The Lion King 3D.

What does the job of Stereographer entail?

As Stereographer on The Lion King 3D, I’m responsible for all of the 3D aspects of cinematography. I designed the 3D look of the film, which involved working out how the characters were going to look in 3D, as well as what was going to move back into the screen and what was going to come out of the screen when you watch it in 3D. I also had to come up with a way to use depth to enhance the storytelling, which was of paramount importance.

How do you use depth as a storytelling tool?

The way I approach depth on the movie is to create a depth score, which is a similar process to the way that a film composer creates a musical score. A film composer uses the rises and falls of the score to echo the emotional content of the film. I try to do the same thing with depth in the movie.

How did you achieve that with The Lion King?

To do this with depth, I created a chart by going over the story of the film. I quantified the chart from a scale of one to ten. At a level of one would be a scene that has very low emotional content, for example an expositional scene. At a level of ten would be a big emotional moment in the movie, a big action sequence or a climatic action point. The chart is called my “depth script.”

What do you do with the depth script?

I equate stereoscopic depth to emotional depth. In other words, the shots in the depth script with a value of one get the minimum amount of depth. We’d pull out all the stops on shots with a value of ten by using as much depth as possible. Additionally, if there’s a scene where we’re supposed to feel detached from a character, then I put the character further back into the background. If we’re supposed to feel connected to a character, I bring them further forward. In this way, we’re not using 3D randomly. We’re using 3D as part of the narrative.

Is a Stereographer responsible for anything else in a movie?

I also spend a lot of time researching viewer comfort. There have been plenty of 3D movies that don’t consider viewing comfort when they are made. They don’t maintain depth continuity to ensure a great viewing experience, but that was extremely important to us. I wanted to make sure that the viewer would be comfortable and that their eyes aren’t strained when they watch the action in 3D.

How large was the team that worked on the conversion of The Lion King?

A team of 60 artists worked on the project, alongside four Sequence Supervisors and myself, the Stereoscopic Supervisor. We divided the artists up into teams that would take on one sequence at a time. That way, we were able to ensure there was 3D continuity within that sequence.

How long did it take to convert the movie into 3D?

It took four months to complete the conversion. It was extremely challenging and a very busy four months, but we got there in the end. We couldn’t be more proud of the outcome.

What was the first step in the conversion process?

At the onset, our technology team had to de-archive the original movie. The Lion King was one of the first features created with a pioneering digital ink and paint system that Disney developed called CAPS. Before that, everything had been painted by hand and was photographed on multi-plane cameras. The technology team had to convert the old system into images that we could use. Once we had the images, we could start the conversion.

The original film image.

The 3D Depth Map created by Robert Neuman, the 3D Stereographer on the film. Positive numbers refer to the amount of pixels the image will come out of the screen and negative numbers refer to the amount of pixels the image will go deeper into the screen, creating the 3D depth.

Grey Scale – The final image in the computer representation of depth. Darker images will be furthest away, and lighter images will be closer to the viewer.

What was the most difficult scene to convert into 3D?

The wildebeest stampede was very difficult. There were a lot of effects elements in that sequence and there was an entire herd of wildebeest to deal with. We also discovered that some of the movie’s characters were more difficult than others. The idiosyncrasies of the design of the bird Zazu were challenging because he has very angular features in his beak, wings and tail. Angular details are more difficult to work with in comparison to the more rounded features of other characters, such as Simba or Mufasa. That was certainly a challenge, too.

Is the same 3D version used in theaters and on Blu-Ray?

It’s basically the same version; although we slide everything back a little for Blu-Ray because a television screen isn’t as big as a movie theater screen. We take the final images and slide them along by a few pixels. But other than that, everything is identical.

How much input did the original filmmakers have into the 3D version?

One of the great things about working on this project was the fact that we had access to the original filmmakers. The input we were able to get from the original directors, Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, and the producer, Don Hahn, was extremely reassuring. It was great to make sure that what we were implementing was their vision.

Why did Disney decide to convert The Lion King into 3D?

Why do this with such a great, classic film? In creating this 3D version, we’re creating a whole new art form, a whole new medium. You have all of the charm and the energy of the hand-drawn line that the original artists put down on paper, but there’s a tangibility that you usually only get out of something that has more dimensional framework. Let me give you an example – It feels like you can touch the characters in Toy Story because they’re starting from this truly dimensional framework. The Lion King 3D has the same characteristics. It has this tangibility, charm and, in my eyes, it has become a distinct form of animation. Even if you’ve seen the movie a hundred times, you’ll feel like you’re seeing it for the first time when you see it in 3D.

Will we see more classic Disney animations in 3D?

It’s certainly a possibility, but nothing has been decided yet. We have the technology available, but there are no specific plans to do anything else right now. Personally, I think it would be amazing to see something as vintage as Snow White come to life in 3D. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it happens one day soon - and that I get the opportunity to work on it.

Become a fan on Facebook: http://facebook.com/DisneyTheLionKing

Official website: http://disney.com/TheLionKing

Director Craig Gillepsie’s FRIGHT NIGHT is a modern take on Tom Holland’s 1985 horror classic and another scary addition to the canon of vampire movies. I recently had the honor of interviewing one of my idols, the film’s screenwriter Marti Noxon.

Known as a writer and executive producer on TV’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” series, Noxon most recently wrote the script for DreamWorks Studios’ I AM NUMBER FOUR. She has also served as consulting producer of TV’s “Mad Men,” “Prison Break,” and “Angel” and is currently a consulting writer and producer on this season’s “Glee.” Besides her TV work, Noxon is currently writing and producing BAD BABY for DreamWorks.

While keeping my hero-worship in check, as well as being an ethusiastic FRIGHT NIGHT fan, I spoke with the affable Noxon by phone about the film, the surprise cameo and her favorite horror movies.

MM: What drew you to this vampire project  – a reimagining of Tom Holland’s film?

MN: I’ve spent a long time in the Vampire world. After many years in the Buffy universe, I had the appetite to visit it again. I’m very fond of the original film and I wanted to hold true to Tom Holland’s premise and the characters. So I went more with an emotional tone and really wanted to make it very scary and funny at the same time.

MM: There’s become a romantic element to vampires in today’s pop culture – thankfully missing from Colin Farrell’s Jerry and his rows of fangs.

MN: Yes, I agree.

MM: It’s almost as if they’ve been dumbed down. What’s happened to make them go from the well-known predators, (buring in the sun, no reflection in mirrors, stake to the heart), to these conflicted beings with such drama?

MN: Well there’s always been a precedent that they’re tortured souls. I loved reading Anne Rice’s novels characterizations of the vampires. But it’s become so over-saturated with romanticized vamps. Some of the mystery and shock value surrounding them is gone in today’s TV and films. So yes they’ve become love-sick vampires. We went away from that and made Jerry very scary and sexual.

MM: At the screenings a few weeks ago, I could tell there were people in the theater that hadn’t a clue who Chris Sarandon was when he popped up. Meanwhile, the rest of us went beserk - clapping and howling by the surprise. What would you say to all the naysayers of the remake?

MN: People have a real affection for the original. I wanted to combine old aspects of the original with new elements to make a fresh film. It had to be a film that reflects the affection for the 1985 film while giving everyone a new experience. 

MM: There are more than a few nods to the original 1985 film and Sarandon’s cameo was genius. Was all this part of your original screenplay?

MN: Actually Chris Sarandon’s reps contacted us. He wanted to be a part of the film. He really wanted in. You know Chris was a moderator on the FRIGHT NIGHT Comic-Con panel this year. He was so nice to everyone – very easy to talk to.

MM: I was really glad to see how you stepped up Imogen Poots’ and Toni Collette’s characters in this new version. They’re not running around screaming in hysterics. These two stand their ground in many scenes during the movie.

MN: (Laughs) Yes, yes. It takes another woman to notice that. I appreciate that! There’s a pivotal scene in the original where Mrs. Brewster is having a meltdown and I wanted to get away from that. I stayed away from having these characters being afraid. I wanted to make sure these women where smart and creative and resourceful. They don’t take any guff.

MM: On women and horror, what are your thoughts on how far women have come since the days of Buffy? You’re the screenwriter on FRIGHT NIGHT. There’s Gale Anne Hurd’s AMC zombie show Walking Dead. Many of us genuinely like to watch horror-themed movies and TV.

MN: Today, women are more widely seen as really liking horror. There are more women writers in the genre now than ever before…its little victories. Young women are writing it and watching what’s out there – True Blood, Twilight and Walking Dead - while acknowledging the dudes.

MM: On the topic of dudes, my favorite – the great Peter Vincent. Can you tell me how you revamped the immortal Roddy McDowall’s turn as the late-night TV slayer into David Tennant’s cheeky Vegas magician with all the leather.

MN: (Laughs) Yes!

MM: He’s sporting a silk robe, living in a penthouse with the women and the booze. By the end he’s in a short leather coat, sneakers and jeans. It has a 1980’s revisionist feel to it.

MN: Right, right. Well, it’s late in his career to have this success and in the end he’s really a fraud and a coward. In the spirit of the character he’s disappointed in himself and it’s not kosher. He’s loathes himself and has gone down this self-destructive path. In the end, Vincent is colored by fear.

MM: I have to ask – what’s your favorite scary movie?

MN: I had to make up a list of ten on my all-time scary films for an article. But if I had to pick one, I’d have to say POLTERGEIST. It’s really scary and I love the characters.

MM: It still plays well today, doesn’t it?

MN: Very much so – the build up to the ending is great. There’s two other films I’d add to that list. I also like the EXORCIST. I’m still terrified by it…it holds up even today. Lastly, the BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. That film messed…me…up. What makes it really scary is that they found that footage of what happened – very unexpected horror film!

FRIGHT NIGHT is in theaters now!