Thursday, July 31, 2014

Due North

With a tweet that suggested that Jake might be up in Toronto (at least for the day) got OMG looking ahead to next month and Jake's return to TIFF.

Jake has a long history with Toronto and TIFF going all the way back to beginning of the his career, and it continues to be a place that he loves to return.


Toronto is also somewhere that brings out the fun and friendliness  of Jake too.  His smile is contagious.











 Although Nightcrawler is such dark movie, here's hoping that Toronto grin returns. (And the rings too)

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Bag Man

 Keys, shopping bags, hoodie

 Hand sanitizer, cash, frozen yogurt coupon
 Sunscreen, scrunchie,  wait..... is this an old Popsicle stick?




Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Accessory and Accessorize

Austin found his Southern accent and all the accessories in his drawer to play the Boss in We Can't Help You.



The man loves a big watch


 There's Big Gold that he got over the holidays one year and sported on OTH's big Julian's Film Festival arch.



Now who else does the gold band pinky ring?

And a big jangle on a chain?


And we know that with many of these kinds of projects, the actors provide their own wardrobe, and since Austin's such a big fan of accessories and has worn some of these before, no doubt they're all his.

As one of those famous Steel Magnolias said... "The only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize."

You can check out the whole film here:  We Can't Help You  or NoBudge.com

And it's not the only film of Austin's this summer.  Stroker has its premiere next month at The 10th Annual HollyShorts Film Festival on Wednesday August 20th at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

The HollyShorts Film Festival (HSFF) is an annual film festival showcasing the best and brightest short films from around the globe. HollyShorts is devoted to the advancement filmmakers through screenings, Q&A sessions and networking events.

The HollyShorts Film Festival showcases the top short films produced 30-minutes or less.









Monday, July 28, 2014

Courtside without the (Brooklyn) Nets

Both Jake and Austin took it to the courts. Some traveling involved.

For Jake he shot several scenes for Southpaw at the Washington County (PA)Courthouse.

According to unit publicist Scott Levine, the movie includes several “important” courtroom scenes and Washington County President Judge Debbie O’Dell Seneca permitted the film crew to use her courtroom, two jury deliberation rooms and the downstairs jury lounge to serve as the location for  the New York courts where Billy finds himself after the death of his wife and the downward spiral of his career.  It is thought that these courtroom scene are about the welfare of Billy's daughter, Leila.

 Despite all that comes with filming on location, cast, crew, equipment and security, the daily court proceedings went on without any interruptions.

Actor and Washington, PA native Charles Hoyes was cast in the role of Jake's lawyer. While he couldn’t provide additional details Hoyes gushed about working with Jake.

" 'He’s a fantastic actor to work with,' the Thousand Oaks, Calif., actor said. 'I’m just playing off of him.'

Hoyes said he auditioned for the role a while back but learned only Wednesday that he got the part.

'I wasn’t sure if they were going to change the role or not,' he said."

The chief clerk for the Washington County commissioners, said the they were contacted this summer about using the courthouse and were more than happy to show off their building and courts. The production company was charged only $1,000 to use the space,  with the money earmarked toward a future building restoration project.

While not many pictures have appeared of Jake and crew in action for Southpaw , a couple of pictures from the courthouse did pop up.





Jake wasn't the only hitting the courts, so was Austin via his twitter.

My kind of gal - AUS10

 What kind of gal is that Austy?

The plastic variety?

The one that can pull off wearing a hoop?

Or maybe you just like the mythological ones that don't exist in real life.... ;) 

And while  he may not be The Man in the Yellow Hat,  Austin will be in his yellow suit in the short We Can't Help You  which is now available to watch on Nobudge.com

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Out Spotlight

Today's Out Spotlight was an Australian-American screenwriter, actor, director, and producer. He was best known for writing the screenplay for the 1971 film Harold and Maude directed by Hal Ashby and for directing the films Foul Play and 9 to 5. Today's Out Spotlight is Colin Higgins.

One of six sons, Colin Higgins was born on July 28, 1941 in Nouméa, New Caledonia, a French territorial island in the South Pacific, to an American father and an Australian mother. His brother is Australian actor, John Higgins.

He spent most of his early childhood in Hunters Hill, a suburb of Sydney, Australia and attended Saint Ignatius' College, a Catholic school for boys located in Riverview, a nearby suburb located on the Lower North Shore of Sydney.

In 1957, Higgins and his family moved to Redwood City, California, where he attended the local public high school. In 1959, he was awarded a scholarship to attend nearby Stanford University.

He excelled at Stanford his freshman year, and became a well-known figure on campus for his standout performance in a student-written musical comedy. Although he was initially interested in English literature as his major, and thought he might become a writer, his surprising onstage triumph instead drew him toward acting as a possible profession.

As a result, Higgins dropped out of Stanford his sophomore year, and hitchhiked to New York City to take acting classes at the acclaimed Actors Studio. He also found employment as a page at the ABC Television Studios in Manhattan's theater district.

He lost hope at becoming an actor and enlisted in the US Army, where he was sent to Germany and worked for Stars and Stripes newspaper.

Higgins was discharged in 1965, spent six months in Europe, mostly in Paris, then returned to Stanford University to study a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing. While at college he supported himself as an actor, playing in small theatre productions, including acting in a sex farce called Once Over Nightly for a year an a half. He then did a M.F.A. in screenwriting at UCLA, where his classmates included Paul Schrader. While there he made two short films, Opus One (1968), a satire on student films and Retreat, an anti-war statement. His M.F.A. thesis would serve as the basis for Harold and Maude (1971).

After graduating he went to work for a rich man and his wife in Los Angeles as a part-time chauffeur and pool cleaner in exchange for free accommodation. The man was a film producer, Ed Lewis; Higgins showed a draft of Harold and Maude to him, and he showed it to Robert Evans at Paramount. Higgins wanted to direct the script himself and was allowed to shoot a director's test for $7,000 but Paramount were not sufficiently impressed, and Hal Ashby was hired. Higgins collaborated well with Ashby and both were pleased with the final film, but it was not a large box-office success on original release.

In 1972, Higgins got an offer to write a Movie of the Week for TV, The Devil's Daughter, which he later described as "just a job". He then received an offer from Jean-Louis Barrault in Paris to turn Harold and Maude into a play for French actor Madeleine Renaud. He did so, working on the French translation with Jean-Claude Carriere, and the play ran for seven years. The film of Harold and Maude continued to run in cinemas around the world, with some people having seen it over a hundred times; by 1983 it was in profit.

While in Paris, Higgins met theater director Peter Brook and worked with him as playwright-in-residence for his company. They did a play about mountain people in Uganda called The Ik which ran in Paris, London and New York.

He then wrote the script for the comedy thriller Silver Streak, starring Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder, which became a big hit under the direction of Arthur Hiller. The success of the movie enabled him to direct the movie Foul Play with Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn. It was enormously popular and launched his directing career.

He then went on to write and direct the movie 9 to 5, with Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton and then teamed with Parton again writing and directing The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

In 1986, he established the Colin Higgins Foundation, which is dedicated to supporting glbtq youth in underserved communities with programs and organizations "that foster and build leadership and empowerment."

Higgins, who was openly gay, died of AIDS at his home on August 5, 1988 and was buried in Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery.

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Bronx Beat

Here is some of the street art work that was created by Southpaw's art department to transform the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Carrick into the Bronx.













The National Enquirer is reporting there was bit of a scruffle on the set of Southpaw between Jake and 50  Nothing officially confirmed just an NE "source".
The source says:

“ '50 Cent – who hangs out in boxer FLOYD MAYWEATHER JR.’s entourage – plays a boxing promoter in the film, and at one point he started offering Jake some ‘friendly’ off-screen advice on how to play a professional boxer.

"But things got heated as he kept taunting him about his lack of ‘heart’ and inferior boxing skills. So 50 Cent got into the ring, and suddenly started slamming his co-star with powerful left-right combinations. Jake suddenly went down, but jumped right back up and started flailing back at 50! The blows got harder and harder, and that’s when the director suddenly leaped into the ring and forcibly separated the anger-driven actors!”

No one was declared the winner – but Fitty was flat-out warned: Stay OUT of the ring and do NOT slug the star of our film…EVER!"