Archive for the ‘Internet ’11’ Category

Sheehan’s old story to become new film

Friday, July 15th, 2011

After writing 18 books, Las Vegas author Jack Sheehan has landed his first movie deal.

What makes it most gratifying is that he’s lived with the story for 47 years.

“Hayden Lake” is the story of Sheehan’s close friend, Pete Peterson, who spent half his life living down a boating accident that left two young girls dead.

The 15-year-old son of a Spokane dentist, Peterson was cruising his dad’s boat, a Tollycraft, across Hayden Lake, just north of Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho.

It was about 10 p.m. on Aug. 15, 1964.

The Spokane Spokesman-Review retold the story recently.

Darkness was approaching as Peterson and his date were heading back to the family’s lake home.

In a flash, their world exploded. Their boat hit something and was sinking. They were dazed, but OK . A nearby boater picked them up.

Sheehan, who grew up in Spokane, was at Hayden Lake that day. His father also owned a home on the lake. A neighbor came by with some shocking news the next day.

Two 16-year-old girls were missing. The wreckage of a 13-foot fiberglass outboard was found floating on the lake.

“He was clearly blamed for their deaths,” Sheehan told the Spokesman-Review. “It was just an assumption in the Hayden Lake community that my bad-boy best friend had killed these girls.”

Peterson assumed the worst and spent decades under a cloud. Earning a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star in Vietnam didn’t change that.

That was the way it was until December 1982, when an amateur diver discovered wreckage that showed the bow deck of the girls’ boat was wedged in the side of the Tollycraft.

Further exoneration of Peterson came when further inspection showed the girls’ boat was stuck at full throttle.

Sheehan wrote about Peterson’s redemption for a magazine and in 1987 wrote a screenplay that was sold to Warner Brothers in 1987. Patrick Dempsey, then 22, was to play Peterson. But Sheehan backed out over “creative differences.” Translated, that usually means little control of the project and wholesale changes in the story.

In 1991, ABC-TV optioned it as a movie of the week. Again, Sheehan balked.

Last year an independent filmmaker came forward, and principal photography starts shooting Aug. 15, the 47th anniversary of the accident.

The lead role is down to Hayden Christensen , who played Anakin Skywalker in two “Star Wars” films, and Elijah Wood, best known as Frodo in the “Lord of the Rings” franchise.

Having been a part of the story for so long, Sheehan said “to see it produced is beyond a dream come true.”

Source & credit to Norm Clarke

Popularity: 2% [?]

Detroit a perfect setting for postapocalyptic ‘Vanishing on 7th Street’

Sunday, February 20th, 2011

The postapocalyptic thriller “Vanishing on 7th Street” was originally set in New York, but director Brad Anderson wound up filming the picture in Detroit. “No. 1, they had nice tax incentives and No. 2, if you’re doing postapocalyptic, Detroit is the go-to place,” he says. “The streets are already devoid of people, and abandoned buildings are everywhere.”

Filmed in just 20 days last fall on digital video using the cost-effective Red camera, “7th Street” follows four strangers (Hayden Christensen, Thandie Newton, John Leguizamo and 14-year-old newcomer Jacob Latimore) who try to regroup in a tavern after a huge blackout that has left the rest of the world in ruins.

Anderson says he liked Anthony Jaswinski’s script because “it’s not about monsters lurking in the shadows. The shadows themselves are the monsters. How do you pull that off technically so it feels organic and creepy? I liked taking on that challenge.”

The film’s confined setting also proved a draw. “Some of my favorite movies, like ‘Das Boot’ or ‘The Shining,’ are all kind of claustrophobic in the way they deal with cabin fever,” Anderson says. “My last movie, ‘Transsiberian,’ was shot on a train. My first film, ‘Session 9,’ was also very contained. It took place in an abandoned mental hospital with a cast of five actors. Whether it’s a train or a mental hospital or a bar in the middle of a city, I like stories where the characters’ true personalities begin to pop through under these kinds of quarantined conditions.”

Source & credit to Hugh Hart

Popularity: 1% [?]

Motor City runs on empty

Thursday, February 10th, 2011

The producers of Magnet/Magnolia Pictures’ “Vanishing on 7th Street” found just the right city for their sci-fi pic.

“If you’re doing a post-apocalyptic theme, Detroit fits the bill,” helmer Brad Anderson said at Monday’s Cinema Society preem at the IFC Center. “Even if they didn’t have a 41% rebate, that town works for this movie thematically. It’s a place that really is suffering a vanishing of people and we didn’t have to do a lot to create that reality there.”

Hayden Christensen agreed: “There were so few people around, which worked well for our movie. Usually passersby come by and see you — and there was nobody.”

Source & credit to Variety Staff, Variety Staff, Stephen Schaefer

Popularity: 1% [?]

Even Darth Vader doesn’t love the Dark

Wednesday, February 9th, 2011

Hayden Christensen, Eve and Russell Simmons were in the house for a Cinema Society party.

Although Cinema Society’s Vanishing on 7th Street’s screening afterparty at Beauty & Essex was not the official start to Fashion Week, it had the blessing of the God of Going Out himself, Russell Simmons. No Fashion Week could possibly begin without a sighting of the nocturnal Mr. Simmons. The Observer caught up with him while he was sitting with his friend, Eve.

”Have you met Eve?” He asked. “She’s a rapper, although do you prefer to be called an actress?”

”I would say that I’m an entertainer,” she said, while pulling on her cocktail.

The Observer complimented her on her tattoos.

”I love my tattoos, they are all varied and tell a story,” but before we could ask her to illuminate us as to what some of those stories were, a huge tray of cocktails fell right at the table and shards of glass flew everywhere. No one flinched.

Picking up a pair of discarded sunglasses on the table, Eve put them on and turned to Russell, ‘Don’t you think these look just like my Ray-Bans?”

Speaking of Fashion Week we asked Russell which shows he would be attending.

“Oh Tory’s, of course. She’s a friend of mine, Tommy, and Charlotte Ronson. You know, only the ones I need to support.”

Star of the film, Hayden Christiansen, was happy to have a quick chat about his latest vacation to Barbados with his family.

Looking very dapper in a Burberry suit and skinny tie he told us about the best restaurant on the island, called Chicken Rita’s. “It’s the best fried chicken you’ve ever had in your life. All Rita makes is fried chicken and friend fish.”

Source & credit to Daisy Prince

Popularity: 1% [?]