The Great Chameleon Press Summary

The Great Chameleon Toronto Theatrical Premiere – June 2013 GAT PR Press Summary

Interviews completed

Thursday June 13

Live TV Outlet: CP24 Breakfast Interviewed: Robert Davi

Pre-­‐recorded Radio Outlet: Newstalk 1010 Interviewed: Robert Davi and Victor Altomare

Online Outlet: Criticize This!

Interviewed: Robert Davi

Friday June 14

Live TV Outlet: Global – The Morning Show Interviewed: Robert Davi

Online Outlet: Moviefone Interviewed: Robert Davi and Victor Altomare

Online Outlet: Scene Creek Interviewed: Robert Davi and Victor Altomare

Pre-­‐recorded TV Outlet: Rogers, Your World This Week Interviewed: Robert Davi and Victor Altomare

Online Outlet: Toronto Film Scene Victor Altomare Interviewed Robert Davi

CP24 Breakfast – Robert Davi Interview conducted by Melissa Grelo http://www.cp24.com/video?clipId=946225

Global News, The Morning Show – Robert Davi and singing Sinatra Hosted by Liza Former, Antony Robart, Kris Reyes & Rosey Edeh http://globalnews.ca/video/642009/robert-­‐davi-­‐and-­‐singing-­‐sinatra

Robert Davi & Victor Altomare Interview

Richard Crouse http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYwsqMi8GZ4

Toronto Japanese Film Festival highlights this week’s projections Jason Anderson http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/2013/06/14/toronto_japanese_film_festival_highlights_ this_week_projections.html

THE GREAT CHAMELEON : A locally shot comedy that plays the Royal this week, The Great Chameleon stars Victor Altomare as Joe Murky, a fast-­‐talking con man with a knack for disguises. As fate would have it, Joe’s investigation into the disappearance of his niece allows him the opportunity to try on guises ranging from a kilt-­‐wearing Scotsman to a patois-­‐speaking Jamaican. More familiar faces in the movie’s cast belong to Robert Davi, Stacy Keach and Nick Mancuso. The Great Chameleon ’s Royal run begins with a red-­‐carpet premiere with cast and crew on June 14.

Robert Davi on The Great Chameleon, And how it pushes the boundaries of political correctedness Jason Gorber http://news.moviefone.ca/2013/06/19/robert-­‐davi-­‐the-­‐great-­‐chameleon-­‐interview/

Robert Davi has been in some of the biggest movies of all time, and you might not even know his name, or even remember his face right away. A long-­‐standing character actor with an impressive résumé, Davi has made memorable turns in mainstream hits like "The Goonies," "Die Hard," and even played the Bond villain in "The Living Daylights." Born in New York, he was trained by Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg, the husband/wife team that honed the likes of Brando, Pacino, James Dean and generations of Oscar-­‐winning thespians.

So, what's a guy like that doing in a film that starts out with a man taking a poop on a bathroom floor while pretending to be mentally disabled in order to steal a hamburger?

Davi was in town to talk about "The Great Chameleon," an offensive-­‐to-­‐the-­‐max comedy that elicits few laughs.

Moviefone sat down with Robert in a Toronto hotel bar, and was soon joined by the film's writer/producer/star Victor Altomare, hours before their film's premiere.

Moviefone: Were you friends with Victor before this project began?

Robert Davi: We became friends. I looked him up online, thought he was pretty zany and had a lot of talent. I have kids that watch the Adam Sandler movies, "Borat," all of that stuff.

I wanted to do something that was absolutely politically incorrect and go crazy.

I get a little upset with being too politically correct. You can't tell a woman she's got a nice set of wheels -­‐-­‐ she gets offended. In the old days, all of those [Rat Pack] cats could make fun of each other.

What couldn't they make fun of? Where's the limit? What do you think is inappropriate?

RD: Oh, there is a limit. For me there is.

So what is your limit?

RD: Unfortunately, there's a lot of that breaking the limit in the film. I look at it like this: remember Picasso with cubism and Beethoven when he first came out? People couldn't understand the dissonance. Not that I'm comparing it to the high arts, but still, it's shocking.

There's an attempt to try to shake up the egg and that's what it is.

As the writer and as the principal performer, how did you choose between funny as opposed to strictly going for offensive?

Victor Altomare: I actually didn't know, to be honest with you. These are characters that I studied over the years, Jamaican friends of mine that I took a character from, an [Asian] that I took from.

I hear some of that stuff [charges of racism] and it hurts my feelings because I'm not racial. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings and they say that I'm stereotyping. These are real guys that I studied and I admired their characters and I took them and I put them here.

I'm an artist and I didn't do this to hurt anybody. We went a little far, a little over the top, but I mean, you know, it's a lot of fun, I'm not here to hurt anybody.

RD: You have a guy like Goran [Kalezic, the director], who likes mayhem, the more mayhem the better. And that's what he pushed. He's like Mephistopheles, he's nutty. We were pushing the envelope.

VA: We wanted to shrink the tone down and Robert was constantly helping me throughout the whole thing. He was being hard on me, which was hurting my feelings, but he was saying you need to do this, to shrink all of that mayhem and cut and don't push it to those places, you've got to be careful.

RD: It wasn't just a paycheque or a job, it became more wanting to help a talent that's been in Toronto for how many years and I think not recognized, a guy that has an ability to play these characters. Did you see the film?

I did.

RD: What is your response? Honestly.

I saw at certain times it went further than I personally thought it should have gone, not because I was offended by the topics, but because for me it veered into indulgence. What do you guys think of the film? Can you watch it all the way through and still laugh at the jokes?

VA: I can criticize it until I'm blue in the face.

RD: Don't lie. He's a liar. He's full of shit. He will laugh at his stuff.

Who better to criticize it than the guy who wrote it and starred in it and produced it?

VA: I criticize it constantly because I'm too close to it, to be honest.It was hell because I had to go back into it and restructure it to make it a story and it was mayhem.

RD: That's where I tried to help you, because it was amorphous.

VA: I created a beginning, a middle and an end and that's what Richard was pushing me to do. Three editors differed, and at the end I hadn't slept for 30 or 40 days. Hopefully, there's some sort of story there.

Given the critical reception, is there anything you would have pulled back on?

RD: I didn't want the defecation. I fought against it, I thought it was in poor taste. What I did do, I said to [Victor] you've got to set up that you want that hamburger really bad, because there was no setup for the hamburger. We should have started talking about the hamburger early on.

Now you guys are friends -­‐-­‐ are Hollywood friendships different than normal friendships?

RD: There are friends of yours that you can get in Hollywood that are fraternal. For instance, James Franco. Years ago, I did a show called "Profiler" for NBC and he was a guest star on that. He was on Howard Stern a few months ago and he talked about how during "Profiler" he got the script for "Freaks and Geeks" and I helped him with the audition.

All these years later I see him in New York, we had a big hug and now I'm doing his next film.

I'm friends with Sly Stallone, but I've never worked with him. I was supposed to do "Rambo," but I did "Goonies" instead.

Looking back at your career, are there performances that really stand out that you wish to highlight that people have missed? Clearly working with Sinatra was a huge influence.

RD: There was no one bigger than Sinatra, nor is there nor will there ever be in terms of entertainment. He tackled everything from film to TV to records to voice, the gamut of entertainment. People ask what [my] favourite film is, but I haven't done it yet.

Actor to Actor: Victor Altomare interviews Robert Davi about The Great Chameleon Kristal Cooper, Editor-­‐in-­‐Chief

http://thetfs.ca/2013/06/14/the-­‐great-­‐chameleon-­‐interview-­‐with-­‐robert-­‐davi-­‐and-­‐victor-­‐altomare/

As much as we love any opportunity to talk to filmmakers and actors here at Toronto Film Scene, when an opportunity arises to have producer/actor/screenwriter Victor Altomare interview veteran actor Robert Davi (Die Hard, License to Kill) about their new film The Great Chameleon, it goes without saying that you jump on it.

The film is a dark comedy about an ex-­‐con (Altomare), his missing niece, some stolen money and a determined cop (Davi) and the two are in town for the film’s June 14th premiere at the Royal Cinema.

Here’s what happened when they sat down together to talk about the project.

Victor Altomare: What was it about The Great Chameleon that interested you, and how did you get involved in the film?

Robert Davi: Well…[a beat]…that’s how it happened.

VA: I’m serious! What interested you in the film?

RD: I talked very seriously about that. You could answer it for me. First off, what interested me was wanting to do something that had a political incorrectness about it. I didn’t know who Victor Altamore was, except that he was Italian. And I said ‘hey, you know, an Italian brother, let me check him out.’ My agent/manager guy in LA told me about this film and I read this script and I thought ‘can this guy do all these different characters?’ and I looked online at Fearless Entertainment, and saw that they produced My Ciccio Show, with Ciccio Manguccio – and I think he’s a classic character, I love this guy. It reminded me of the Comediadel’Arte. It was that and the combination of my kid

liking something wackier, a crazier kind of movie. You have to take a shot at something. So I came up to Toronto, pushed the envelope.

VA: Talk about your character, Officer Curry, how did you get into that character?

RD: Well, you know, most characters have a certain kind of perimeter. You can’t veer from the perimeter of what the film is. But when I came up here and was working with you, one of the first things you said to me with a shit-­‐eating grin on your face was ‘Are you a master of improvisation?’ like I wasn’t. You looked at me like I was some jerk that couldn’t improvise. So that meant the challenge was on. So Curry was created from a combination of influences from myself and the director, that mad Serbian guy – Goran.

VA: Yeah, Goran Kalezic. Brilliant.

RD: I wouldn’t say brilliant. I’d say he’s more mad than brilliant. Madness in that mad way. He’s so encouraging and he has an infectious humour about him, he’s a very sweet man. He would whisper like Mephistopheles in my ear – push me to the edge saying ‘try this’, push me to the edge playing this character. I said ‘Let me go with it’, and I did.

VA: What audience do you think this film will attract?

RD: Who knows? Judging from one of the interviews we had, the guy said even people in their 40s would love the film.

I assume young kids, the college crowd would like it but I have no clue. But let’s hope people have a shit and a giggle with it.

VA: You’ve been around a long time. How do you think the film industry has changed in the last 20 years?

RD: Let’s put it this way: it’s changed more in the last 20 years than it’s changed in the last 100 years.

VA: For better or for worse?

RD: Well, you know what, there’s a lot of creative people working, a lot of great films, there’s still a lot of groundbreaking stuff. Coppola said it in the ’70s: technology is going to change everything. Spielberg and George Lucas just came out recently saying that the industry is going to have an implosion in a few years. What’s changed for me is that society has changed as well. Excellence has changed and people’s sensibilities have changed. You have the reality show, you have stuff that’s expedient, you have celebrity that’s expedient, you have people that are famous for nothing. You know what I mean, it’s like what Andy Warhol said: ‘fifteen minutes of fame’. The Great Chameleon comments on everything going on in society, it encompasses that kind of expediency and that kind of insanity.

VA: Did you enjoy yourself while making the film?

RD: I had a good time. I laughed a lot. You are fun. And Goran was fun.

VA: You’re here for the premiere of the film, but you’re also being inducted into the Italian Walk of Fame. How do you feel about that?

RD: Well, first off my Italian heritage is something that I’m very proud of.

VA: God bless you.

RD: Toronto seems to be like New York was in the ’50s in terms of the vibrancy of the Italian community, and the groups of people – I went around with you and your friends, including Italo-­‐Canadian actor Nick Mancuso, Nick is just terrific.

VA: He was in My Ciccio Show.

RD: He was. He was the one that initiated this whole Walk of Fame induction for me. Saturday I get a star on Toronto’s College Street.

VA: What do you think is the legacy of Italo-­‐American actors in American cinema?

RD: I did my first film with Frank Sinatra. Prior to Sinatra, you did not have a lot of Italians in films. Sinatra was the first guy to give the Italian immigrant a real push. He not only made a Picasso-­‐esque contribution to the music world, but also to movies and society. From Sinatra, then you have De Niro and Pacino, and my friend Chazz Palminteri and Joe Pantoliano. Now I’m a purist and I’m full Italian, I have both sides, Sicilian and Neapolitan.

VA: So you rob a guy and kill him at the same time.

RD: No! That was one of my pet peeves. Just because you have a last name with a vowel, people think you’re in the Mafia. It might be true for some people, and that’s part of our culture and heritage, including the myth of the Night of First Right, where you protected your females – that’s where the mafia came from, in the town San Giovanni in Sicily.

But then of course there is the legacy of the great Italian directors, from Fellini, De Sica, Antonioni, Visconti, Bertolucci.

These Italian auteurs influenced all of cinema. And on top of that you get the Italian actors, from Marcello Mastroianni, Albert Sordi, Totò (one of the greatest comedians of all time), and then Anna Magnani, Ornella Muti, Sophia Loren. All these great actors and directors affected us all and it took awhile.

VA: You’re proud to be an Italo-­‐American, and you love America. Italians have done so much for America.

RD: In WWII you had a large contingent of Italo-­‐Americans fighting [for America]. All cultures have their dignity and have their pride. Italians have art, literature, music – you ask anybody around the world what country would they probably like to go to, and it’s always Italia…and America…and Canada! But we’re getting complex now, not what Toronto Film Scene may be looking for.

VA: Yeah. Why don’t you tell them about your music, and your album coming out.

RD: I love my music. I have an album that came out in America on June 11 titled Davi Sings Sinatra: Road to Romance.

In the states, my live shows have been very well received.

VA: You’ve sold out The Venetian in Las Vegas.

RD: Yes, and other venues in Los Angeles.

VA: And you’ve gotten a rave reviews from Quincy Jones himself.

RD: Yes. He said “He absolutely touched me down to my soul and brought back the essence and soul of Ol’ Blue Eyes himself.” You know, the Great American Songbook is the Shakespeare of America, the Golden Age of American music.

It’s what made the world fall in love with our country and made us fall in love with each other. This music is filled with pain, but it’s explained with poetry. So for me to tackle the songbook and bring what I can as an actor and as a singer to the music, and to pay tribute to Sinatra, who, like I said, was a guy who brought a Picasso-­‐esque contribution to the world of popular music. He changed it. If you took Sinatra out of the equation, our world would be less rich.

VA: You’ve been in Toronto for a few films. What keeps you coming back?

RD: You! Toronto’s a vibrant city, probably like New York in the ’50s with the Italian community. Canada is a great country, just look at the great talents coming out of this place. I think the best is yet to come. I’m very happy to be in Toronto, I hope to come back many times.

Ran the following review in print on June 14 – No archive available online

The Great Chameleon

0 stars The Great Chameleon is so breathtakingly ill-­‐advised it might even have a future as a can-­‐you-­‐ believe-­‐this? midnight movie staple. Toronto actor Victor Altomare stars as an ex-­‐con named Joe Murky who assumes many disguises, from a mentally handicapped man to various ethnic and sexual stereotypes. He's abetted by a closeted gay makeup artist (Stacy Keach) and chased by a parole officer (Robert Davi) and gullible FBI agent (Monique Zordan). At the Royal. (June 14) L.L.

Interview: Robert Davi sits down and discusses The Great Chameleon Anthony Marcusa

http://scenecreek.com/interviews/interview-­‐robert-­‐davi-­‐sits-­‐down-­‐and-­‐discusses-­‐the-­‐great-­‐ chameleon/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=interview-­‐robert-­‐davi-­‐sits-­‐ down-­‐and-­‐discusses-­‐the-­‐great-­‐chameleon

“This is politically incorrect,” says actor Robert Davi in the back of a Toronto bar one weekday morning. He is talking about his new movie, The Great Chameleon, and he is sitting beside Canadian writer and actor Victor Altomare. The two old-­‐school Italian men have teamed up for an absurdist comedy filmed in Toronto, and one that is a marked departure for the legendary Davi.

“Political correctness pisses me off,” he says, adding that “people can’t laugh at themselves and can’t laugh at the stereotypes.” This movie is certainly not for those people. Davi plays a detective (always well-­‐dressed, just as he is in person), following the trail of an ex-­‐con and master of disguise, Joe Murky (Altomare). Murky has been released from prison to help solve a cold case, as he tackles a personal problem of his own. And so ensures chaos and frivolity in this very off-­‐colour and old-­‐school comedic endeavor.

Davi admits he wasn’t actually sure what he was getting into, having not previous met Altomare. A Canadian producer, actor, and screenwriter, Altomare had sought out Davi.

“I’ve always admired Robert,” he said, sitting across from Davi at the bar, equally well-­‐ dressed. “A lot of it was not only as an actor, but who he is as a human being: his Christian beliefs, his family, his look. I was watching him in interviews, I said, ‘yeah, this is my man.’

“I read [the script] and said ‘who the hell is Victor Altomare?!’” says Davi, half-­‐jokingly.

Having looked back on the work of Altomare, Davi had somewhat an idea of what lied ahead, but still not positive. “I saw some of his other stuff, and I knew it was going to be formless mayhem. They wanted more mayhem. I said, ‘what about story?’ They said, ‘more mayhem!’”

“[Altomare] got this mad f***ing Serbian director convinced (Goran Kalezic), and so he bought into this sh*t, and then he sold it to me.”

So what makes a veteran actor, known for more serious and darker roles such as an FBI agent on the series Profileand the movie Die Hard, and of course as legendary Bond villain Franz Sanchez in Licence to Kill, opt for a crude comedy?

“My kids watch films that I wouldn’t necessarily watch,” he explains. “It’s fun to do something that breaks you out of your wheel. I like being able to push the envelope.”

“I laughed a lot on set,” adds Davi, who is both an imposing figure and disarmingly nice and charming.

While The Great Chameleon has wrapped and is now out for public receivership, Davi continues to work hard, and continues to surprise. He has recently released an album: Davi Sings Sinatra: On the Road to Romance. The actor not only has a stirring voice that evokes the famed singer, but is a showman too, touring the country, engaging with audiences, and dazzles with a sound that is powerfully familiar.

For his triumphs – past, present, and future – Davi has been honored in Toronto’s Little Italy with his very own star. As the Taste of Little Italy festival takes over College Street in downtown Toronto, Davi will be celebrated on Saturday, June 15th in the neighbourhood’s Italian Walk of Fame. As it happens, The Great Chameleon will be playing at the Royal Theatre on College Street.

As far as the success of the film goes, Davi remarks,”who knows? You never know.”

What is certain is that Davi is dedicated and diverse, an honest and old-­‐school gentleman who has his eyes always on the future. When asked about where he is currently in his career, Davi casually and confidently declares: “The best is yet to come…the best is yet to come.”

Robert Davi’s Threefer: An album of Sinatra tunes, a new movie and a star on the Italian Walk of Fame Anne Brodie http://www.criticizethis.ca/2013/06/robert-­‐davis-­‐threefer.html

Robert Davi’s unforgettable face and steely eyes have improved many films over the last 36 years. Known mostly for villainous roles and the occasional good guy part, Davi hit the big time in the TV crime seriesProfiler, with Ally Walker. And then there was his star turn in The Goonies. Davi’s first film back in 1977 was Contract on Cherry Street, a hardboiled mob story starring his idol Frank Sinatra. Davi, a trained opera singer, suddenly found Sinatra taking an interest in his music and acting. All these years later, Davi pays tribute to Ol’ Blue Eyes on his new CD Davi Sings Sinatra: On the Road to Romance, available this week on Sun Lion/Fontana North. Also this week for Davi is the release of The Great Chameleon, a satirical and expletive-­‐crammed comedy in which Davi plays a parole officer to a career criminal. We spoke with Davi in Toronto where he will receive an honour from the Italian community.

Congratulations! You’re starting the week off with a star on the Italian Walk of Fame.

Robert Davi: I’m very excited about that, especially since it’s in Toronto and Canada. I’ve filmed a lot here and to be able to have this vibrant community outside of Italy is great. It’s so familiar to me and I’m very honoured. Also, I love Canada and I’ve worked here a lot.

The Great Chameleon is out this week too. It’s a silly film, but it must have been fun. We actually see you laugh and smile and deliver zingers.

RD: Here’s the thing with that film. I’ve got kids and they watch those Adam Sandler films and they’re crude stuff that I wouldn’t watch normally. I like watching as a fan sometimes, but I hadn’t had an opportunity to do anything as crazy as this. We’re in an age of political correctness that stifles creativity and self-­‐expression and offending this and that. I went to the edge. Victor Altomare, the comedian, pushes the ethnicities. There’s the Scotsman, Latino, Jamaican and it’s so politically incorrect. It’s mayhem especially in the scenes with the Rastafarians. Altomare is one of the funniest guys. He was one of those guys knocking around trying to make a mark in town and he’s a hidden gem. I hope the film brings him to the public consciousness.

It’s so rude.

RD: In LA I talked about how political correctness is stifling us and this film feeds into that. Let’s be able to laugh at everything, every institution and have some laughs. I went along for the ride. I put myself out there to laugh and forget the misery of the world.

There’s been an amazingly positive response to your album.

RD: I went to No. 6 on Billboard Jazz and Quincy Jones loved it. I played The Venetian in Vegas and the album is out in Canada this week. I’m hoping to draw attention to that and enjoy it all. I’ve been touring the States and the world and eventually Canada. It’ll be great. I worked with Sinatra in 1977. He was my mentor.

What does he mean to you?

RD: Frank is the greatest entertainer of his time, the Picasso of music and he came out against racial bigotry and wouldn’t play where blacks couldn’t. He fought anti-­‐ Semitism and was a real role model for the huge Italian community. He gave the immigrant society a face and a name. He was the son of Sicilian immigrant parents and proved that immigrants can come here and be anything they want to be in North America.

Your career has been solid and consistent. What made it so?

RD: I believe that you can accomplish anything you envision. I would hope one can. At least have an imagination and a dream and work hard and put all your energies into something you care about intensely as I do the music. The great American songbook, the Shakespeare of America has made the world fall in love with our country even in difficult times. No matter where you are in the world, in South America and South Africa there are fans and my music is an amalgam of the songbook. If you have that passion and approach it with all your love and hard work you can make it work.

Top image: Robert Davi in The Great Chameleon. Courtesy GAT PR.

This article can also be seen in the following outlets:

http://annebrodiecritic.blogspot.ca/2013/06/bad-­‐guy-­‐has-­‐reason-­‐to-­‐smile-­‐robert-­‐davi.html

Win run-­‐of-­‐engagement passes to see THE GREAT CHAMELEON in Toronto!

Scene Creek http://scenecreek.com/contests/win-­‐run-­‐of-­‐engagement-­‐passes-­‐to-­‐see-­‐the-­‐great-­‐ chameleon-­‐in-­‐toronto/

If you live in Toronto you can win run-­‐of-­‐ engagement passes to see THE GREAT CHAMELEON in Toronto at The Royal Cinema! Passes are good for run of engagement EXCEPT opening night.

To enter is simple. Fill out the form below and submit your info!

Get Bonus entries for spreading the word by sharing this contest on Twitter or Facebook with a @SceneCreekmention!

Winners will be chosen at random and will be notified via e-­‐mail. Contest deadline is June 13th at 12:00pm. This contest is open to Canadian residents only. Good luck!

Synopsis: The Great Chameleon is a dark comedy about Joe, a lovable ex-­‐con who has just been released from prison. Officer Curry and Katy Sim are intent on finding the stolen money he stashed before his incarceration. Joe proves equally determined to locate his missing niece, Shawna. With the clock counting down, he looks for answers about her disappearance before it’s too late. Why did Detective Pendell stop looking for Shawna? Who has been following him since he left prison and…what costume should he wear next? With the help of his friend Max and myriad disguises, Joe delves deep into an underworld of corruption to uncover the truth.

The Great Chameleon – Review Greg Klymkiw http://klymkiwfilmcorner.blogspot.ca/2013/06/the-­‐great-­‐chameleon-­‐review-­‐by-­‐ greg.html

The Great Chameleon (2012) **1/2 Dir. Goran Kalezic Starring: Victor Altomare, Robert Davi, Stacy Keach, Monique Zordan, Ted Han

Review By Greg Klymkiw

A hardened criminal has been in stir for three years and all he really wants is a burger and fries. He stops at a fast food joint and faces a huge lineup -­‐ due, as per usual, to the stupidity and indecision of the clientele and the incompetence of the minimum wage staff behind the counter. Rather than suffering through a long wait, the criminal morphs into a shuffling, slobbering, slurring, whining and demanding mentally challenged person. He moves to the front of the line. Launching into "full retard", he causes enough havoc and, rather realistically (given how stupid MOST people are), gets the pity and support of the clientele and before you can see "cheeseburger and fries", he gets it right pronto AND free.

Okay, so think less of me because this made me almost soil my pants from laughing so hard. No, better yet -­‐ fuck you! Besides, even if most of us have not resorted to the "full retard" to get what we want when we want it, we find other ways to do it. I've thought nothing about affecting a gimpy limp to get to the front of lineups or pudging out my lower lips, furrowing my brow, lowering my visage and using a very thick Ukrainian accent to get Senior Citizen discounts without providing I.D. It's the humour of recognition, right? Ah screw it, who am I trying to kid? It's low-­‐brow retard humour. But it IS funny!

The aforementioned scene is from a pretty awful, detestable movie. In fact, it's a total mess. HOWEVER, it'd be TOO easy to write it off as a complete pile of crap or maybe even one of the worst movies ever made, because the facts of the matter are this: I laughed quite uproariously all the way through the movie.

Seeing as The Great Chameleon is a comedy, this is not a bad thing at all, however, it can't change the fact that the script is little more than a flimsy clothesline to hang some of the most infantile gross-­‐out gags I've ever experienced and that it's directed with all the panache and competence that might be brought to bear if one had hired a longshoreman to helm the proceedings. The picture, on so many levels, deserves little more than my lowest rating of 1 PUBIC HAIR, but I can't bring myself to do it because for better or worse...

I pissed myself laughing.

Its star Victor Altomare (who co-­‐wrote the purported screenplay with the film's apparent director Goran

Kalezic) plays a low-­‐life criminal with a penchant for disguise who is sprung from prison by an FBI agent (Monique Zordan, perhaps one of the worst actresses now living on the planet) to lead her to the whereabouts of a little girl (Altomare's niece it turns out) who's been snatched by an Asian Mob boss (Ten Han, also awful but screamingly funny both intentionally and unintentionally). A grumpy parole officer (Robert Davi, shockingly good and funny in spite of how awful the movie often is) stakes out Altomare whilst he goes about his business with the help of his effete makeup artist played completely and utterly insanely by Stacy Keach.

Let it be said again that there is nothing remotely good about the actual filmmaking. The screenplay is a pretty inept excuse for a story and occasionally tries to sneak in stuff we're supposed to take seriously and the direction is lame at worst and barely competent at best.

Why is it funny? Well, first and foremost, Victor Altomare is clearly a funny guy. Now, anyone who knows me, knows all to well that I'm a veritable Encyclopedia Britannica of all things movie-­‐related and yet, I have no idea -­‐ NO FUCKING IDEA -­‐ who Victor Altomare is.

I've never heard of him and to my knowledge have never seen him in anything. I know virtually nothing about him. Seriously. His credits are meagre and mean NOTHING to me.

NADA!!!

Capisce?

Altomare is clearly no spring chicken and has sprung out of nowhere to produce, co-­‐write and star in this movie. Out of fucking nowhere, I tell you. Now, maybe having no idea who he is could be a good thing, because what I do know is that he IS a good comic actor who might actually be a great comic actor if he was in a movie with something resembling writing and a director who could/would tone down his tendency to over-­‐ indulge his talents to their detriment. Altomare has a great mug for the camera and his comic timing is often impeccable. Unfortunately, many of the set-­‐pieces go on far too long and bugger up their potential to be gems -­‐ or at least golden pellets of laugh turds.

As for mugs, he's surrounded himself with some of the best in the business. Craggy-­‐faced Robert Davi is one of the best working character actors in the business. He'd have been so at home in hard boiled post-­‐ war crime movies, but in these woeful days, actors like him are always taking roles in pictures well below their talent. (Kind of like this one.)

By rights, he should be wearing an expression of "what the fuck am I doing in this thing?" all the way through The Great Chameleon, but he's such a great actor that he embraces his role happily, plays it completely straight and because he's often thrust into some utterly ludicrous situations (looking into his rear-­‐view mirror to see Altomare in a kilt straddling the trunk and pissing all over the back window of his car, or sitting in a barber chair while Altomare in disguise as an effete gay hairdresser tries to seduce him, or -­‐ I kid you not -­‐ jerking off after seeing a hot, young naked woman hanging her boobs out of Altomare's

window), his straightforward approach actually makes almost everything he both does and says knee-­‐ slappingly hilarious.

Stacy Keach, one of the most respected actors of his generation, minces and lisps and prances about in one of the most shockingly stereotypical renderings of a homosexual I've seen in decades. And even though one might wince at how completely inappropriate this "light-­‐in-­‐the-­‐loafers" role and performance are in a contemporary context, there's no denying that he made me laugh almost every second he was on screen. If this were another age, Keach could well have had a fine career in his august years to rival that of Franklin Pangborn.

The two perfectly and genuinely awful performances in the film even have their charms.

Monique Zordan is stunningly gorgeous, but everytime she opens her mouth, her dialogue thuds so resoundingly upon the floor it'd been enough to have tenants below her complaining about the noise.

Given the role and the dreadful dialogue she's forced to utter, it's possible that her performance is a casualty of some of the picture's worst incompetencies. I almost want to believe this as the camera loves her so much I'd be happy to see her in more pictures AND the stellar Davi does his job so well, he almost gets HER to raise the bar on her delivery.

Ted Han as the bumblingly evil Asian ganglord is also atrocious in a thoroughly wooden fashion, but he does give it the old college try and since he's forced to deliver some unbelievably foul examples of stereotypical "Asian" dialogue, he does get a few points for actually generating laughs.

The checklist of mean-­‐spirited, old-­‐fashioned and completely inappropriate humour in this movie includes; -­‐ Shit jokes -­‐ Fart jokes -­‐ Vomit jokes -­‐ Pissing jokes -­‐ Retard jokes -­‐ Cripple jokes -­‐ Penis jokes -­‐ Sodomy jokes

and ALL of the humour is rooted in: -­‐ Misogyny -­‐ Racism -­‐ Ageism -­‐ Sexism -­‐ and every other "ism" you can think of.

But goddamn, a lot of it is funny and I know I'm headed straight for Hell because I laughed so much.

At the same time, it really might have been better if the movie had actually been good.

"The Great Chameleon" is in limited theatrical release and playing in Toronto at the Royal Theatre.

Review: The Great Chameleon Kristal Cooper, Editor-­‐in-­‐Chief http://thetfs.ca/2013/06/14/review-­‐the-­‐great-­‐chameleon/

Master of Disguise Joey Murky (Victor Altomare, who also wrote the film) gets released from prison but still can’t seem to get away from trouble. It seems his niece has gone missing and he needs to search his way through the underworld for her while wearing elaborate get-­‐ups supplied by his makeup artist buddy Max (Stacy Keach).

Meanwhile, prime candidate for anger management classes, Officer Curry (played by Robert Davi), and his partner Katy Simm (played by Monique Zordan) spend their days following Joey around hoping that he’ll inadvertently reveal the whereabouts of some stolen money.

There’s not much to say about this film other than it’s got some good performances (especially from Davi whom you might recognize from films like Die Hard and License to Kill) and it really goes for the gusto in the low-­‐brow humour department. Clearly this isn’t the type of humour that will appeal to everyone but if you’re into poop jokes and the like, you just might find something worthwhile in a film that’s very clearly trying to offend just about everyone who sits down to watch it.

Director Goran Kalezic does his best with the material, infusing a sort of oddball sensibility into a script that may or may not be trying to send up the exploitation genre — it’s unfortunately hard to tell exactly the tone that Altomare intended with the script because it’s hard to look past the broad portrayals of various stereotypes (gay men and the mentally challenged are two particularly ill-­‐advised targets). That said, none of this “un-­‐PC” humour seems particularly mean-­‐spirited…more, old-­‐fashioned and shoulder-­‐shruggingly poorly thought out. It’s as though no one really took the temperature of what audiences tend to find funny these days and instead ploughed ahead with some seriously strange and tasteless grade school humour that’s like a throwback to the bad old days when minorities were always the butt of the joke. Had The Great Chameleon gone the route of Black Dynamite, a smartly-­‐executed and thoroughly tongue-­‐in-­‐cheek satire of an outdated genre, maybe it would have generated some discussion on why society at one time thought it was funny to portray certain cultures as drunks, criminals or baffoons. As it stands however, The Great Chameleon will only serve to be an example of how not t o make a modern comedy.

Is The Great Chameleon Opening Weekend Worthy?

Not unless you’re feeling masochistic, are a particular fan of Robert Davi or Stacy Keach or are looking for another movie to add to your list of so-­‐bad-­‐it’s-­‐good cinema list.

Review: The Great Chameleon Jason Anderson http://www.thegridto.com/culture/film/the-­‐great-­‐chameleon/

GRID Rating: 3/10

This caper comedy by the Toronto team of actor-­‐ writer-­‐producer Victor Altomare and co-­‐writer and director Goran Kalezic vaunts beyond the level of the merely mediocre. Instead, The Great Chameleon generates a near-­‐continual stream of WTF moments that’s been rarely matched sinceThe Room began its ascent (or descent) to cult status.

The comparison to our era’s benchmark of so-­‐bad-­‐it’s-­‐ fantastic cinematic ineptitude is apt for reasons besides The Great Chameleon’s appearance at the Royal, The Room’s local homebase. Another is its uncanny simulation of an Ace Ventura movie as made by Tommy Wiseau.

Altomare shamelessly hogs the camera as Joe Murky, a con man sprung from prison to help find his kidnapped niece. In what’s ostensibly the character’s first act as a free man, our hero jumps a long queue at a burger joint by loudly pretending to be a mentally challenged customer, an act that culminates with him defecating on the floor before the understandably horrified employees hustle him out with a free lunch.

This piece of politically incorrect shtick is an accurate indication of what’s to come as this master of disguise continues his investigation by donning the roles of flamboyantly gay hairdresser, Latino lothario, Jamaican gangsta, and long-­‐whiskered Chinese geezer with explosive bowels. It’s all part of the curiously inclusive nature of The Great Chameleon’s thoroughly tasteless and mean-­‐spirited sense of humour.

The movie’s campaign to offend extends to bizarre appearances by the cast’s name actors: Robert Davi, Stacy Keach, and Nick Mancuso. That all three of them reach new career lows is a formidable feat given their prominence in decades worth of crud, but The Great Chameleon’s achievement is nothing if not unique. All the movie needs now is a cluster of masochistic admirers who will appreciate its brazen and weirdly courageous wrong-­‐headedness. A few midnight screenings should do the trick.

The Mind Reels The Great Chameleon (2012) – Goran Kalezic TD Rideout http://themindreels.com/2013/06/14/the-­‐great-­‐chameleon-­‐2012-­‐goran-­‐kalezic/ Opening this week, with a premiere at the Royal Cinema this evening is Goran Kalezic’s new comedy, which he penned with the film’s lead Victor Altomare.

Altomare plays Joe Murky, a bit of a crass criminal with a knack for being other people.

When the feds learn that his niece was kidnapped and being held by a notorious criminal, Mr. Chiang (Ted Han), they see an opportunity to finally capture the elusive Chiang by letting Murky and his many characters go after him.

It’s not going to be easy though, because everyone wants a slice of the money that Murky is supposed to have tucked away somewhere, including his parole officer Curry (the always exceptional Robert Davi!).

Davi seems to be having a good time just running with the script he’s given and playing, and he proves to be the delight of the film, he has some great chemistry with Stacy Keach’s Max, Murky’s make-­‐up artist, and watching the two of them work together is a lot of fun.

In fact someone should probably write the two of them a movie to star in together.

Overseeing all of this, and falling for Murky’s characters just as easily as the rest of the film’s characters is the very lovely Monique Zordan as FBI agent Katy Simm.

The stage is set, and Murky starts to infiltrate Chiang’s network to try to find his way to his niece, there’s a Scotsman from Scotland Yard, a near-­‐sighted Chinese man (who put me in mind of Jerry Lewis), an abrasive Texan, a suave Latino…

Some of the material comes across as crass, and there are more than the requisite number of bathroom humor gags, but Davi’s presence elevates the material, and he’s a lot of fun to watch play in a role that’s decidedly, a little different for him.

Between him and Keach, the two of them steal and make the movie. Keach’s Max has, since Murky went to prison, discovered he’s gay, and isn’t quite the same guy Murky left behind. He wears eyeliner and fake lashes, and is trying to craft the perfect poem to tell Joe how he feels.

The humor may not work for everyone, but for me it was awesome to see both Stacy Keach and Robert Davi (who I’ve been a fan of since The Goonies!) sharing the screen together, and they seem to be having a good time (especially during the outtakes that run through the credits).

The Great Chameleon opens tonight!

Wylie Writes

Review: The Great Chameleon Addison Wylie http://wyliewrites.wordpress.com/2013/06/14/the-­‐great-­‐chameleon/

If Goran Kalezic’s film was conceived a few years earlier, I’m certain Larry the Cable Guy would’ve played Victor Altomare’s leading role. The Great Chameleon has all those traits one would find in the comic’s low-­‐brow outings – including a cast made up of fairly familiar and puzzled faces as well as cringe-­‐worthy politically incorrectness trying to pass as humour.

I think my passiveness towards poorly written, brash racial stereotypes in recent comedies speaks volumes about how 2013 is slowly starting to chip away at my patience and my ability to feel anger towards the filmmaker and the screenwriters who should know better. Kalezic wears both of these hats; he should really give his head a good shake.

First we had Movie 43. A comedy that lobed jokes our way playing – occasionally – on silly stereotypical humour. Some of it made me giggle, some jabs made me feel uncomfortable.

Then, InAPPropriate Comedy. An anthology film with zero punchlines and a ton of hateful, offensive snap judgements towards every type of race.

Now, we have The Great Chameleon. A movie that has Altomare playing Joe Murky, an elusive “master of disguise” who is released from prison to be immediately thrown into a search for his missing niece. Meanwhile, an easily angered Officer Curry (played by Robert Davi) and his partner Katy Simm (played by Monique Zordan) follow Murky hoping he’ll uncover the whereabouts of stolen money.

With the help of his flamboyant right hand make-­‐up artist Max (played by a barely recognizable Stacy Keach who is drinking in every second of his cliched supporting role), Murky dons accessories, accents, and aberrancy to gain close contact to the underworld he’s trying to manoeuvre through.

He even goes to great lengths to enwrap himself in that character he’s impersonating. For instance, these are the types of disguises that has Murky dropping his drawers’ and defecating in public in order to “stay in character”. Or, maybe he’s going number two to take the piss out of the enemy. Either way, it’s unfunny and goes on and on.

I watched The Great Chameleon with dead eyes while succumbing to the numbness it steamed out. It’s a comedy that is so knowingly inappropriate, it almost wants to evoke a strong, negative reaction from its audience between its lame attempts to make us chuckle. It’s kind of like being bullied by the captain of the chess team or by a future Apple genius.

What’s really disappointing is that the film is on the right track early on. When The Great Chameleon is doing everything it can to excite movie goers (including adding a frenetic, oddball title sequence), Kalezic convinces his audience that he’s going to take a stab at sending up exploitation movies. Where Black Dynamite was a spoof of blaxploitation cinema, Kalezic’s film will be the equivalent to “one more job” gangster flicks.

All cylinders aren’t exactly fired on during this goofy start-­‐up, but its willingness to try and pay tribute to a certain genre of film is greatly appreciated. It also helps that the cast all seem to be game for the task. Unfortunately, The Great Chameleon breaks its cover and goes for cheap shots in order to bring in laughter with no such luck.

Here’s the thing with Goran Kalezic’s comedy: it never made me mad or even a little ticked off, just tired. It’s because The Great Chameleon isn’t worth the trouble of getting worked up about because of how confused and broad this whole debacle is. It’s flaws are so obvious, that they serve as immediate turn-­‐offs.

The Great Chameleon is a farce. A tasteless and shabbily executed farce, but a farce nonetheless. The jokes are supposed to be over-­‐the-­‐top in every sense of the word. But, these puns are hampered by being paired alongside shallow and offensive stereotypes.

Take the scenes featuring Keach. If the character of Max had his attitude and physical appearance toned down, Keach would’ve had a fun role within his reach. But, Kalezic and co-­‐writer Altomare add a secret love to the stereotype where Max is consistently making advances towards Murky. This is a type of joke that – inevitably – would be dull in any filmmaker’s hands because of how limp the build-­‐up and the payoff are.

The same can be said about a scene where Officer Curry grabs an opportunity for a free haircut. Davi’s straight-­‐faced reactions to his hairdresser (who is Murky in disguise) will have you giggling at first, but the hairdresser persona is revved up with an obscene amount of puns poking fun at how homosexual men can’t keep their hands off other good looking men. Ha Ha.

While The Great Chameleon is a disaster and will often have you asking yourself if you’re actually watching a movie going to these dimwitted lengths to make you smile, I never found it mean-­‐spirited. It’s that line in the sand that separates this from something evil like InAPPropriate Comedy. These gags were thought up by Kalezic and Altomare with their best intentions riding shotgun. Maybe the case is that these acts were funnier on paper…or at 3 a.m. while trying to exhaustively meet a screenwriting deadline.

So, if you find yourself in a theatre watching The Great Chameleon and you’re about as straight-­‐faced as Robert Davi getting a hair cut, the biggest “middle finger” you can give to a movie like this is watching it with those same emotionless looks I had. As soon as the credits roll, you check your watch and leave – instantly forgetting about everything you just witnessed. If you don’t give this filmmaker a reaction, he’ll hopefully get bored of this approach to comedy and retool his future works.

If you feel any other sort of fuming resentment towards The Great Chameleon while watching it, inclining you to want to scream and shout about it from the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, take a couple of deep breaths and remind yourself that surprisingly this could’ve been much, much, much, much worse and that the movie is almost over. It isn’t worth burning the extra calories about the miscalculations that will surely send this “comedy” into obscurity – never to bother movie goers ever again.

The Great Chameleon Review Andrew Parker http://dorkshelf.com/2013/06/14/the-­‐great-­‐chameleon-­‐review/

I am setting a timer right now. I am giving myself ten minutes to write about The Great Chameleon once this introductory paragraph is done. It’s a film that somehow manages to top the worst of the worst in local cinema this year in an already rough year for it. I’m incredibly angered that it wasted 97 minutes of my time that I could have been doing literally anything else short of an emergency surgery that would have been more pleasant. It’s further proof that local theatres need to stop giving theatrical runs for any asshole with a chequebook who thinks they have a movie. I’m openly ashamed to even be in the same room as this thing. Giving this shit even ten minutes of my time is fucking generous.

And go…

Joel Murky (Victore Altomare, who also wrote), a master of disguise and life long con artist has been sprung from prison to help with the investigation looking into the kidnapping of his niece. It might have been as a result of his past, it might not. Who cares? He’s aided by the officer who sprung him (a truly awful Monique Zordan) and his flamboyantly gay, right hand man (poor Stacy FUCKING Keach, who is thankfully doing the bare minimum and still managing to be the best thing in the film). They uncover a deeper sort of corruption all tied into the same Asian mobster.

I…I’m just staring into space right now. I just wasted five minutes trying to put into words how much I hate this movie.

And hate is the right word, since this might be one of the most ugly and hateful films to be released in quite some time, and that’s almost the only way to properly respond to such a piece of trash. Thankfully no one will see it, but it’s so noxious and obnoxious that it borders on something that should be picketed. The comedic stylings of Altomare are non-­‐existant (not to mention that he doesn’t have a single disguise that’s remotely credible or would fool everyone since he still drops countless tough-­‐guy F-­‐bombs regardless of what his character is supposed to be) can be summed up very simply. Adopt a stereotypical Italian accent and say (and I am sort for even writing this, but this is seriously what you’re in for if you see this with it being nearly every line of dialogue): “You know what’s fuckin’ kooky? Those fuckin’ Indians, fuckin’ gays, Jamaicans, and the Chinese or whateva the fuck they are. But you know what’s fuckin’ hilarious? Pants shittin’ fucking retards. (pause) You know what I do like though? Vaginas.”

These are the objects of derision are never skewered gently or in any remotely funny manner. It’s not boundary pushing. It’s ignorant. Flat. Out. Ignorant. It never rises above asinine in its finest moments. This kind of thing could have been funny in the hands of anyone with actual talent, but under the guidance of the staggeringly talentless Altomare and the hack direction of Goran Kalezic, it’s a null set of offensiveness that goes absolutely nowhere interesting or even all that dark. It’s a string of profanities and useless set pieces punctuated with inept sleaze. It made me whistful for Andrew Dice Clay stand-­‐up routines, which deal with this kind of misanthropy with almost infinitely more nuance.

My time is up. I made a promise to myself. This review is fucking done. I actually broke my rule to finish that last paragraph and this one, meaning I am simply wasting more of my time. Way to go, Great Chameleon. You’ve actually won this round. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I am going to try to enjoy the rest of my day and the rest of my life. We’re done here.

Review: The Great Chameleon Susan G. Cole http://www.nowtoronto.com/movies/story.cfm?content=193030

NOW Rating: N

Here’s a change of pace. Unlike other Canadian-­‐made disasters, The Great Chameleon does not feature a great cast and a crappy script. It offers hammy hacks working a crude and deeply offensive screenplay.

Co-­‐writer Victor Altomare stars as Murky, the master of disguise, who’s sprung from prison so he can lead the cops, including Monique Zordan – who does nothing but shriek and roll her eyes – to bad guy Chiang (Ted Han).

Murky’s motivated because he thinks Chiang may have had something to do with the kidnapping of his niece.

Chasing Murky is a parole officer (Robert Davi) whom Murky ripped off years before.

Aided by a makeup expert, veteran actor Stacy Keach – who plays the role as a confused homosexual in a performance that’s just plain weird – Murky dons various wigs and makeup to make himself Jamaican, Chinese and Latin American in unconvincing ways.

The stereotypes are gasp-­‐inducing, the fart jokes juvenile – no, infantile – and the sexual gags staggeringly stupid.

I’m sure this thing would never have been made had there not been someone somewhere in some boardroom who believed that it could find an audience.

I dunno. Early on, Murky pretends to be a mentally challenged man in order to break into the line at a burger joint so he can get the food he craves. He then proceeds to take a shit on the floor.

If that’s your thing, go for it.

Review: The Great Chameleon Scott A. Gray http://exclaim.ca/Reviews/Film/great_chameleon-­‐directed_by_goran_kalezic

You know a movie's in trouble when its puerile antics make you pine for the classiness of something like Dana Carvey's The Master of Disguise or anything featuring Eddie Murphy in a fat suit. Neither director/co-­‐writer Goran Kalezic nor star/co-­‐writer Victor Altomare have produced any credited work in the past 12 years, and we'd have been better off if it had stayed that way.

Stylistically, The Great Chameleon looks like what would happen if the Knowledge Network tried its hand at HBO-­‐style entertainment. After a horribly shot kidnapping scene and a barely competent '70s action flick-­‐inspired title credits sequence (I wouldn't want to disparage high school AV club members by suggesting this work is at their level), we meet FBI agent Katy Sims, who's about as convincing as a first-­‐ time soap opera actor.

As blandly as possible, she suggests a radical plan to rescue the kidnapped girl while lining the pockets of her and her partner, Officer Curry (Robert Davi — for when you need sleaze that costs less than Elias Koteas): unleash Joe "the Chameleon" Murky.

By freeing this repugnant man-­‐ child from prison, Sims and Curry hope that he'll penetrate the generic criminal underworld, solve the case of his missing niece and lead them to his cache of stolen bills without causing too much collateral damage along the way.

Taking a page from Who's Harry Crumb? and making a crap sandwich out of it with another from the Kevin James edition of the Happy Madison bible to cook up his petulant persona, Victor Altomare is a shoe-­‐in for most obnoxious leading man in the history of cinema. This "master of disguise" relies on broad racial stereotypes, homophobia and, at best, doltish scatological humour to befuddle his prey.

Actual actors Stacy Keach and Robert Davi must have been hard-­‐up for a gig to tackle this juvenile turkey, and their competent performances opposite all these hacks and amateurs just feel out of place.

If you're fascinated by the worst the entertainment industry has to offer, The Great Chameleon is a jaw-­‐ dropping curio of bad taste.

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