A FILM/FASHION AFFAIR:
NEW ORLEANS FILM FEST & NOLA FASHION WEEK
GIRL TALK AT VOODOO FEST
HANSON ON PHILANTHROPY & INDIE SUCCESS
MACHETE LEADING MAN
DANNY TREJO BEFORE THE SCENE
SELA WARD
TWILIGHT’S
PETER
FACINELLI THE DOCTOR IS IN
S
VOL. 2, ISSUE 5 | October/November 2011 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Micah Haley CREATIVE DIRECTOR Erin Theriot STAFF WRITER Brittney Franklin EXECUTIVE ASSISTANTS Elizabeth Glauser, Jon Vail DESIGN ASSISTANTS Lauren Jones, Amanda St. Pierre DIRECTOR OF SALES Gene Jones
EDITOR’S LETTER
A
fter a history-making launch last spring, NOLA Fashion Week returns this October to unite the fashion faithful. The New Orleans Film Festival returns in October as well, now under the new leadership of executive director Jolene Pinder, who brings her unique talents to the state’s premier film festival. And rumor has it that there will be an invitationonly party at an undisclosed location celebrating both NOLA Fashion Week and the New Orleans Film Fest. But, hey, that’s just a rumor. Voodoo Music Experience, one of Scene’s favorite music festivals, returns to City Park in New Orleans this Halloween. From rock to hiphop to local Louisiana fare, Voodoo Fest is something that we look forward to every year. Make sure to stop by the Scene Magazine booth and say hello. You never know who we’ll bring along with us to worship the music. Don’t miss seeing Baton
8 | October/November 2011
Rouge on the big screen as The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part I opens wide in November. It was great having familiar, pale faces walking past Scene’s offices at Raleigh Studios in Baton Rouge every day. And with the increased security, it felt like the president was visiting us every day! We’ve been fortunate to interview a number of Twilight cast members in the last year, including Ashley Greene, Kellan Lutz, Angela Sarafyan, Jackson Rathbone and Alex Meraz. And a special thanks to our current cover, Peter Facinelli, as well as his talented team of publicists at ID PR. I really hope you enjoy our conversation in the pages of this issue. From film to music to fashion and sports, I honestly can’t imagine a better time to be in Louisiana.
MICAH HALEY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF editor@scenelouisiana.com
SALES David Draper, Brinkley Maginnis, Tabitha Miles, Todd Naccari CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Kimberley French, Ken Regan, Martin Segal, Timothy White, Eliot Brasseaux, Cook Allender, Robby Klein, Kelli Binnings, John Sandau, Eliot Brasseaux, Caitlin Barry, Julia Pretus, Jessi Arnold, Jared Serigne, Kevin deLeon, Jon Racasa, Jill Cornelio, Tracy Bennett, Dan Smith, Jaimie Trueblood, Paul Schiraldi, Melinda Sue Gordon, Macall Polay, Michael Gibson, Paul Sobota, Ashley Merlin, Alicia Gbur, Erin Theriot, Matt Nettheim, Rolf Konow
GRAPHIC ARTIST Burton Chatelain, Jr. CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AJ Buckley, Elizabeth Glauser, Scottie Wells, Jacob Peterman, Susan Ross, Kasey Emas Scene Magazine At Raleigh Studios Baton Rouge at the Celtic Media Centre 10000 Celtic Drive • Suite 201 • Baton Rouge, LA 70809 225-361-0701 At Second Line Stages 800 Richard St. • Suite 222 • New Orleans, LA 70130 504-224-2221 info@scenelouisiana.com • www.scenelouisiana.com Published By Louisiana Entertainment Publishers LLC CEO, Andre J. Champagne President, AJ Buckley Vice-President, Micah Haley Controller, Jessica Dufrene Display Advertising: Call Louisiana Entertainment Publishers for a current rate card or visit www.scenelouisiana.com All submitted materials become the property of Louisiana Entertainment Publishers LLC. For subscriptions or more information visit our website www.scenelouisiana.com Copyright @ 2011 Louisiana Entertainment Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used for solicitation or copied by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording by any information storage or retrieval system, without the express written permission of the publisher.
CONTENTS ON THE COVER
Peter Facinelli
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SCENE ON THE EAGLE Dance man CHANNING TATUM will soon suit up for Steven Soderberg in Magic Mike, a different kind of dance flick. The leading man last appeared on the big screen in The Eagle, with The Son of No One hitting theaters this month. He’s now in New Orleans shooting the G.I. Joe sequel Retaliation.
Channing Tatum as Marcus Aquila photo by Matt Nettheim
FAST FIVE Perhaps the only true heir to the epic action hero mantles of Stallone and Schwarzenegger, DWAYNE “THE ROCK” JOHNSON continues his reign of intimidation as Roadblock in G.I. Joe 2, now filming in New Orleans.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Luke Hobbs photo by Jaimie Trueblood
Ray Stevenson as Porthos photo by Rolf Konow
THE THREE MUSKETEERS
TREME
RAY STEVENSON has been busy lately with roles as the great-bearded Volstagg this summer in Thor and Danny Greene in Kill the Irishman. He’s in theaters now as Porthos in The Three Musketeers, and in New Orleans now filming G.I. Joe: Retaliation with Channing Tatum and Dwayne Johnson.
Versatile actor STEVE ZAHN starts his third season starring as New Orleanian DJ Davis McAlary on HBO’s critically acclaimed drama Treme. The Crescent City-set drama resumes filming this fall.
Steve Zahn as Davis McAlary photo by Paul Schiraldi
12 | October/November 2011
MORE SCENE ON
FILM |
THE HANGOVER PART II After single-handedly bringing back the beard in The Hangover, ZACH GALIFIANAKIS re-embodied manchild Alan Garner this year in The Hangover Part II. Now he comes to South Louisiana to make a rival of Will Ferrell in Dogfight (aka Southern Rivals).
Zach Galifianakis as Alan photo by Melinda Sue Gordon
THE OTHER GUYS Former SNL star and all around fountain of funny WILL FERRELL can seemingly do no wrong. The anchorman of every comedy he appears in, Ferrell is now in New Orleans filming Dogfight (aka Southern Rivals) with Zach Galifianakis.
Will Ferrell as Allen Gamble photo by Macall Polay
Domenick Lombardozzi as Thomas ‘Herc’ Hauk photo by Paul Schiraldi
THE WIRE
BREAKOUT KINGS
DOMENICK LOMBARDOZZI is currently filming the second season of the A&E series Breakout Kings in Baton Rouge, less than an hour from where David Simon’s drama Treme is filming in New Orleans. Lombardozzi is a veteran of Simon’s landmark drama The Wire, where he played Thomas ‘Herc’ Hauk for five seasons.
One of the sirens from last winter’s Tron: Legacy, SERINDA SWAN is now shooting her second season of Breakout Kings in Baton Rouge. The Canadian actress plays Erica Reed, a lethal bounty hunter and expert tracker.
Serinda Swan as Erica Reed photo by Michael Gibson
14 | October/November 2011
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BEHIND THE
SCENES S
HAUNTED HIGH
Shot in New Orleans at Kingsley House in the Lower Garden District, Haunted High is a Syfy Original from Active Entertainment starring Danny Trejo, M.C. Gainey and Charisma Carpenter. all photos by Eliot Brasseaux
M.C. Gainey and Danny Trejo wrestle with soon-to-be-created spirits
DANNY TREJO
“This movie is fun and is going to be a blast. And let me tell you something
about sci-fi: sci-fi fans are the most loyal fans in the world. And this kind of movie makes you almost have to really, really love it, because even stunts are a challenge. If you’re going to jump off a building…well, try it in a zombie suit!
”
M.C. GAINEY
“
I am so over the top, and this character I’m playing — I’m the ghost of the school — and I am so far over the top, it’s a blast. I’m having a great time with it but really, somewhere, the acting police should be riding in and tazing me right now (laughing).
”
Lost star M.C. Gainey
MORE BEHIND THE SCENES 16 | October/November 2011
FILM |
S ON THE 7TH DAY Starring Blair Underwood, Sharon Leal, Pam Grier and Jaqueline Fleming, Women Thou Art Loosed: On the 7th Day recently wrapped filming in New Orleans. The drama is produced by Bishop T.D. Jakes and directed by Neema Barnette. all photos by Cook Allender
Blair Underwood, Sharon Leal and Bishop T.D. Jakes on set in New Orleans
SHARON LEAL
“With Blair jumping on board and with Nina, it was really the kind of movie I wanted to
do because it really broaches some really serious stuff, with a daughter being abducted, and the subject of forgiveness.
”
Director Neema Barnette setting up a shot with local Kenneth G. Smith
L: Nicoye Banks as Wil Bennett R: Bishop T.D. Jakes with local actress Zoe Carter
JAQUELINE FLEMING
“ This is the place! One of my friends - a major casting
director from L.A. - called me last night and he said ‘Girl, you hit the jackpot down there!’ I just left Hollywood, and decided, I’m going to do this in New Orleans.
”
“ Your magazine is fancy, it’s elegant, it’s gorgeous, it’s
Hollywood. I get the Hollywood Reporter every week, and your magazine is on that level.
”
18 | October/November 2011
Jaqueline Fleming with Blair Underwood
by AJ Buckley
Before the Scene is where we all start. In a small town with our families. In front of a mirror with our friends. The days spent sleeping on a couch. The nights working at a bar. Living with the unknown and surrounded by uncertainty. It’s about the times that define us. It’s about the darkness just before the limelight.
SELA WARD What made you become an actor?
I really hadn’t found my passion yet and I had moved to New York City. I was drawing up storyboards at an audio/visual production company. Somebody said, “You should model.” And the very first things I started doing were TV commercials. And to really try to hold my own when there were other actors in the spot, I started taking acting lessons to help me get confidence for that. One-on-one I was fine but the moment you had another actor come in, it would just disappear. So I took this class and it was just like I had dropped into this magical world. Like a little club. And we all did each other’s sets for showcases and worked on everything from costumes to props and did plays as showcases to get agents and we would go out after for a beer and a burger. It was just like nothing I’d ever quite imagined.
What was your biggest fear?
Then? I didn’t really have a fear then (laughs). I was fear-less! So much so that, after being offered a daytime spot on one of the daytime soaps, I said, ‘This is not what acting is about for me. I want to go to L.A.’ So I hopped on a plane, checked into a hotel and said, ‘Okay I’m here.’ And had the name of an agent. Had to go there. Had to jump through hoops and do monologues for the agent, and monologues for the other agents in the office and they finally decided to give me a shot.
What was your lowest point?
When it was pouring down rain - there were phone booths then, there were no cell phones - I went in for an audition for a show called Emerald Point N.A.S. and I had the sides I had studied the night before and when I got there the casting person said, “Here are the new sides.” And it was ten pages of something I hadn’t seen. And I was too green to say, you know, “Sorry, let me go work on this. I’ll come back tomorrow or another time or call my agent.” I thought, ‘Okay well I can do this. I did co-reading class in New York, I know how to do this.’ So I sat and looked at it for about ten minutes and I go in, I deliver the first line. The casting person is sitting in front of me and all the producers are behind her - they can’t see her face - I asked to start over because I’d just sort of gotten frazzled. She looks at me, rolls her eyes, glances over at her assistant like, ‘Who is this neophyte sitting in front of me.’ You might as well have just said, “You know what, honey? Go home.” It was so devastating because it was just so incredibly cruel and humiliating. It’s pouring down rain, I walk out, I go to a phone booth, I’m just sobbing hysterically, called this friend and said, “I’m going back to New York, it’s just horrible here.” But the greatest revenge was that they cast it and they didn’t like who they cast. So they had a totally different casting director and I go back in for the same role and I get the part. Isn’t that incredible? 20 | October/November 2011
What was it that kept you from walking away?
There’s always been this inner piece of me at my core that said, ‘I can do this. I’m gonna prove to myself and the world that I can do this.’ I can’t even tell you how many times people of power would say things to me that were extraordinarily discouraging. And I’d pick myself back up and I’d just keep charging back out there. So much so, that I was working on Nothing in Common with Tom Hanks. That was like my second big part. I was very green. I’ll never forget, Peggy Fury - she’s passed away since then - well known acting coach here in Los Angeles. Had a huge following. And so I’m paying her to coach me, I go to meet her one day right before we’re about to go to work and she looks at me and she goes, “I’m just not quite sure how you got this part. My daughter would have been so much better for this role.” And this is the kind of stuff that would happen to me over and over again. And in that Southern way, I would just look at her and kind of laugh, and disconnect it from the fact that this was the most atrocious thing she could possibly say to me and I’m paying her! Talk about undermining my selfconfidence. I just fiercely had this belief in myself and kept going back out there.
What did you walk away from?
I walked away from just being in a space of trying to figure out and find who I was and what I wanted to be. I knew I wanted to be in New York. I’d figured out how to get there. But I hadn’t really found where I was supposed to be and what I was supposed to be doing in that city in a way that was fulfilling.
Who was your closest ally?
Myself. Because I didn’t really have any connections. It really was just my inner strength and shear will and determination.
What were you doing before the morning of the audition that changed your life?
I had been here, checked into that hotel, for two weeks and somebody says, “I know a part that hasn’t been cast in this Blake Edwards film.” And she picked up the phone and called him. It was The Man Who Loved Women. I go over there and I meet with Blake. He reads with me and puts the script down and says, “Okay, you got the part.” He put the script down halfway through the scene and for that one beat, I was devastated, thinking, ‘Oh I must have just really sucked.’ And when he looked at me and said, “Okay you got the part,” I just…it was just one of those moments frozen in time where everything flies through your head at once like, ‘Oh my God, this is with Burt Reynolds, who was huge at the time, I just got here and this is Blake Edwards,’ and I think I took a breath for a minute, maybe.
Don’t wait for someone to give you permission in life.
Don’t wait for someone to give you permission in life to do anything. What words kept you going?
SELA WARD
Well the first thing that popped into my head is, when I was younger, I was talking to Dr. Apperson, the pastor of our church, and I remember I had asked him a question about achieving things in life and he said to me, “Yes, I think anyone can accomplish anything. It’s just a matter of what you’re willing to compromise.”
How have you changed?
Well, I’m not afraid anymore. I certainly have much stronger boundaries and a much stronger sense of self preservation. Not to put myself in positions that would compromise me.
What words to do you to inspire others?
Don’t wait for someone to give you permission in life. Don’t wait for someone to give you permission in life to do anything.
BEFORE THE SCENE
Can you tell us about Hope Village for Children?
It’s a home for abused and neglected children that I founded in the year 2000. We serve about 300+ kids a year that go through there. Wards of the state. It’s an emergency abuse shelter and a permanent shelter that kids that don’t make it in the foster care system can stay there and thrive and have continuity. Which is actually a wonderful thing! Anyone interested in learning more can visit the website at www.hopevillagems.org.
Sela Ward
photo by Timothy White www.scenelouisiana.com | 21
STATE OF THE ARTIST
the warrior wolf by Elizabeth Glauser photo by Alicia Gbur
M
embers of the Quileute Pack spend a Meraz put his skills and notoriety towards a lot of time showing off their muscles good cause, playing right fielder and pitcher while safeguarding their native lands for Vampire Baseball in New Orleans last from vampires. With The Twilight Saga: Breaking year at Zephyr Stadium. Proceeds from the Dawn - Part I hitting theaters, the pack and game and events surrounding it went to their six-packs will be getting a lot of attention. Haiti relief efforts, the 9TH Ward Field of This will mark Alex Meraz’s third appearance as Dreams and the Blood Drive of Louisiana. Paul in the hugely successful Twilight franchise. Meraz’s athleticism and martial arts What does reprising this role mean for Meraz? background came in handy for the Baton Rouge “Shirtless, yet again. Fake abs and more oils,” shot actioner Never Back Down 2. “It’s like 90210, laughs Meraz. “My abs are real, but they make meets mixed martial arts, meets fighting,” says [them] a little more defined.” Cast members of Meraz. Not only was the movie filmed in Baton the wolf pack spent time in the cold Canadian Rouge, but the film was also set in the capitol city. outdoors with little but makeup for warmth while The movie follows four men with completely filming their scenes for Twilight. “I’m part of the different backgrounds, training together with a wolf pack in that franchise, but my portion’s going retired MMA fighter, played by Michael Jai White. photo by Ashley Merlin While preparing for the competition, one of the to be shot in Vancouver,” he says, thus managing to avoid Baton Rouge’s Twilight vigil for the filming of the series’ finale. trainees betrays the group. Meraz plays one of the four main characters, The Arizona native has however made multiple trips, first Zack, a former boxer who turns to MMA to fulfill his need to compete. experiencing Louisiana by picking up a bat. The multi-talented “He’s just an unapologetic, fast-talking, douchebag boxer.”
24 | October/November 2011
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STATE OF THE ARTIST
Alex Meraz with Kiowa Gordon and Chaske Spencer in New Moon
The cast included many martial artists playing lead roles including White, who also directed the film. He attempted to create a film that showed mixed martial arts in as true a form as film could portray. This included casting experienced fighters. “Everybody in this movie could make a living as solely an actor as well as solely a martial artist, and many of them have,” says White. “We have an agenda that we can represent the martial arts in its true form and its best form.” “I think with MMA, it’s not a very beautiful sport: it’s very effective, it’s very gruesome, it’s about efficiency, but it’s not very pretty. And though there’s some choreographed stuff, we try to make it as close as possible [to reality],” says Meraz. “But, you can never get as close as the real thing, which is getting hit.” Though Meraz is no stranger to martial arts, this was his first time to train for MMA-style fighting. He was able to share the screen 26 | October/November 2011
photo by Kimberley French
with familiar faces from the professional world of MMA, like Scottie Epstein and Todd Duffee, training with them and absorbing all he could. “I’m like a kid in a candy store training with these guys.” Epstein shared his passion for ju-jitsu with Meraz and watched him improve at unbelievable speeds. “He’s tapping out purple belts. Yeah, that’s not supposed to happen,” says Epstein. “I’m telling you, the kid’s special and if he really wanted to focus - he doesn’t need to - but if he loves it and he focused on it, he can be a big deal. I’ve never seen anything like it.” “He’s unbelievable. No one’s seen anybody progress that fast,” agrees White. “I’ve never seen anybody catch on this photo by Alicia Gbur quick.” It seems that if Meraz chooses to leave acting, a career in MMA could be waiting for him. “In one year, I really think he can contend for a title. He’s that good.” The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part I premieres in theaters November 18, and Never Back Down 2 is available everywhere now. S
FILM |
DANNY TREJO MACHETE’S LEADING MAN
by Brittney Franklin Danny Trejo in Machete
“H
ey man, everyone down here in New Orleans is yelling about Machete!” Danny Trejo, star of filmmaker Robert Rodriguez’s renegade action-comedy, wants you to know that his machete-wielding Mexican hero isn’t gone for good: scripts for Machete Kills and Machete Kills Again are in the works. Based on the character originated in Robert Rodriguez’s Spy Kids, Machete was the first leading role for Trejo, who’s appeared in more than 200 films in his prolific career. “A leading man—he’s there every day. It’s kind of his responsibility. The movie becomes part of him,” he says. “If you are a gun for hire, you show up, do your stuff and get on to the next one. So that’s probably one of the reasons I’ve been in over 220 movies back-to-back. It’s a lot of fun and you couldn’t ask for a better career.” Trejo will be starring with Charisma Carpenter (Greek) and Lost’s M.C. Gainey in Syfy’s Haunted High, filmed in New Orleans. “This one is fun, this is going to be a blast—sci-fi. And let me tell you something about sci-fi: sci-fi fans are the most loyal fans in the world. I was in Germany doing an autograph signing, and there were people saying, ‘We came from Tennessee, we heard you were gonna be…’—‘Whoa! Why didn’t you wait ‘til I got there?!’ But they’ll just follow you, they’ll buy a bed! They’re really loyal fans. They love the way sci-fi is done. And 28 | October/November 2011
photo by Jon Sandau
this kind of moviemaking, you almost have to really love it because even stunts are a challenge. If you’re going to jump off a building, well, try it in a zombie suit! I just love the fans.” The tattooed star has had his fair share of brushes with moviegoer enthusiasm and Machete has a breed of hardcore fans of its own: “I got to England and I was doing an autograph signing, and this guy said, ‘Hey mate, will you sign my back?’ And I said, ‘What?’ He turned around…he had a Machete tattoo on his back, shirt open with all the knives. ‘Whoa,’ I said, ‘Okay!’ And I signed it ‘Machete.’ Then he said, ‘My other mates will be over there’ and about five or six of them had tattoos. I said, ‘Well, I hope you guys like the movie.’ Kind of freaked me out but, what the hell, fans are fans.” Trejo first met Rodriguez while working on the set of the Antonio Banderas-starrer Desperado, where the pair found out from Trejo’s father that they were second cousins. Familial photo by Eliot Brasseaux relationship aside, he praises the talents of the award-winning director. “I think Robert Rodriguez has done more for filmmaking in the past twenty years than anybody. He made it possible for some kid coming out of college to go get a camera, go borrow some money and shoot a damn movie, where before, Hollywood held it out of reach. There’s this, ‘You have to do this,’ and he would go, ‘No, no you don’t! Shoot that mother!’
last looks |
photo by Eliot Brasseaux
FILM
www.scenelouisiana.com | 29
FILM | And that’s what he did.” When discussions of a Machete trailer for Grindhouse began, Trejo and Rodriguez were prepared to shoot a feature film whether or not it was completed. The trailer was released in theaters with Grindhouse and word of the knife-wielding hero soon spread. Machete also starred Jessica Alba, Robert De Niro and Michelle Rodriguez. “She just came off of Avatar, and she looked at me and said, ‘Hey, you’re Mister Badass!’ I gave her a hug, ‘Wow thanks girl!’” Trejo says of his feisty co-star. “It’s funny, everybody always asks me, ‘Well, who would you rather be with— Michelle Rodriguez or Jessica Alba?’ I said well Jessica’s gorgeous, man, but Michelle will back you in a bar fight, besides being gorgeous, you know? She’s awesome. She was fun.” “We all made friends. Robert just has this unique way of bringing people together that fit,” Trejo continues. “You know the biggest problem with actors especially is that we are best friends, die-hard [mofos] for six weeks, and then we’re not gonna talk to your ass. That’s what happens. People like me that come from the streets, I didn’t become an actor ‘til I was thirty-eight years old, I’ve never understood that. But Robert brings these people together that seem to stay friends.” With a multitude of tough guy roles worth bragging about, Trejo is a man who loves his family, without a doubt. “I want to be just like my kids when I grow up! Hold me to that.” He frequently includes his children in his endeavors while they work on building their own careers in the entertainment industry, and he’s not hesitant to let them shine. “I went to dinner with Robert De Niro when we were doing Machete, and I took my son and daughter and their fiancés. I’m telling them, ‘Hey look, this is going to be like really grown up sh** so don’t be bulls***ing and don’t talk about Scooby Doo and sh**.’ We get there, Robert De Niro asked one question about some French director—I’m a good actor, I’m not a student of film—and he said, ‘What about his director?’ And my son said, ‘Oh, I think he did…’ The rest of the night was spent— Robert De Niro and my son—talking about film, and the theory behind it. I was playing with my fork and spoon. I was so proud of him.” Trejo can next be seen in A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas and The Muppets, both hitting theaters in November. And Haunted High is set to premiere on the Syfy Channel next year. S
30 | October/November 2011
photo by Eliot Brasseaux
Danny Trejo in Haunted High
photo by Eliot Brasseaux
scene MOVIES & MUSIC AT KINGSLEY HOUSE by Kasey Emas
N
ext to Second Line Stages in New Orleans’ Lower Garden for Kingsley House with Kermit Ruffins,” co-hosted by the Young District is a familiar brick building. Founded in 1896, Kingsley Leadership Council (YLC). The event is free to all business card holders, House has served the New Orleans community for over a but don’t fret if you don’t have one. “All you need is cardboard and a century with pre-school services, support services, health care, youth set of crayons,” says Jackson. The event also includes a raffle, beer and services and the Magic Ruffins’ famous barbeque, Johnson Community the perfect opportunity Empowerment program. to network with fellow “Kingsley House is a members of the Kingsley social service agency that community and learn serves 6,000 individuals about Kingsley House. every year,” says Gina At the forefront of early Jackson, who also education, it was the first remarked that the building organization in the state to was once a settlement launch kindergarten and house for immigrants summer school programs. coming from Ireland and Its Preschool Head Start and other parts of the world. Early Head Start programs “Through the years, it is provide a compelling array of constantly reinventing behavioral and social school itself to meet the needs activities to prepare young of the community.” children for future success. Like much of New Kermit Ruffins and company perform at Kingsley House in 2010 The Youth Services Orleans, the building’s period looks make it a versatile location program caters to children between the ages of five and seventeen attractive to filmmakers. While many films have used portions of and provides daily after school educational enrichment, Kingsley House for filming – including The Curious Case of Benjamin recreational and creative arts activities as well as psychosocial Button, Treme, Memphis Beat, Skeleton Key and Glory Road to mention skills building. Family Life Services provides highly qualified a few – it became an even more attractive location about two years ago counselors and therapists (all with Master’s degrees) for when Second Line Stages, New Orleans premier soundstage facility, was individuals seeking mental health support and assistance. constructed next to it. Jackson says the film industry is, “wonderful. It’s Community and Supportive Services assist with reintegration great exposure. We’ve had a lot of luck with getting a lot of movies here.” into the Columbia Parc Housing Development. Their services While Kingsley House remains loyal to its core mission of serving include employment assistance, money management, GED the community, it has been happy to accommodate the industry next prep, employment assistance, referral services and life skills door, recently hosting nearly all filming for Active Entertainment’s seminars. The Health Care for All program assists families who Haunted High School, starring Charisma Carpenter and Danny qualify for Medicaid, Food Stamp enrollment and LACHIP. Trejo, as well as other future projects. Jackson says, “People who Adult Services “keeps people out of nursing homes have lived here their whole life don’t know what Kingsley House is. and in their own homes,” Jackson explains. Designed for If these movies get our name out there even more, it’s wonderful.” senior citizens and medically disabled adults, it provides But more than just spreading the word, films are able to contribute a range of recreational and social activities that promote to the financial health of Kingsley House by paying location fees. interaction of the mind and body. The program also offers Music also continues to be an important part of supporting the a nursing staff that provides daily monitoring of healthcare. efforts of the nonprofit. On October 14, veteran trumpeter and For more information on Kingsley House and “Get Fired Up for Treme star Kermit Ruffins will once again be a part of “Get Fired Up Kingsley House with Kermit Ruffins,” visit www.kingsleyhouse.org. S
32 | October/November 2011
MORE SCENE EXTRAS
R E A LT Y G R O U P
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COMIC CON VS. THE NERDS by Brittney Franklin
L
ouisiana’s presence was firmly planted at San Diego Comic-Con with fans lining up days in advance for the Baton Rouge-shot The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn panel and stars of True Blood stopping by, but leave it to the nerds to unite in an epic takeover. With Comic-Con’s rapid growth making it increasingly difficult to score tickets, off-site events in the surrounding area have stepped it up to bring a worthwhile experience to those unable to attend the main attraction. Big hits like Slamcon and Conan O’Brien’s Museum of Conan Art (promoting The Flaming C) had guests clawing to get in but few created more buzz than Nerd HQ. The Nerd Machine, a company commanded by Chuck star Zachary Levi and prop master David Coleman, hosted the four-day event, transforming Jolt’n Joe’s restaurant in San Diego’s historic Gaslamp District into a mecca for all things nerd. A mini-con itself, Nerd HQ kicked off with Nerd Quest, a technology-driven scavenger hunt around the Gaslamp area with prizes ranging from Nerd Machine gear to swag from sponsors Gunnar Optiks and Xbox. Celebrities and friends of Levi stopped by for “Conversations for a Cause,” Q&As much smaller than their Con counterparts, making it possible for fans to get closer to stars of their favorite TV shows, such as Psych, Firefly, Chuck and more. “I love the idea of Nerd HQ because it means I don’t have to set foot on the floor of the convention center,” said Zachary Quinto during the panel with his production team, Before the Door, who recently released graphic novels Lucid and Mr. Murder Is Dead. The Conversations were the only HQ events that attendees had to pay for and the entire cost of the ticket ($20 minimum) went directly towards proceeds for Operation Smile. An anything-could-happen vibe radiated throughout the weekend at Nerd HQ with many surprises, such as Scott Bakula’s last minute signing session following his panel, Adam Baldwin and Jewel Staite joining their Firefly co-star Nathan Fillion on stage during his rescheduled Q&A, and Levi frequently popping in for impromptu photos and autographs. The Tangled star graciously took pictures in the digital photobooth with all who attended his panel and signing the last day. The second annual NERD Party was bigger than its predecessor and open to all. Jolt’n Joe’s soon filled to capacity and partygoers were able to enjoy all that HQ had to offer, including drink specials, Dominic Monaghan spinning tracks for the party upstairs (joined later by Lord of the Rings and Wilfred star Elijah Wood) while downstairs dancing split between the actual dance floor and Xbox’s demo of Dance Central 2, which kept a crowd all night. Since its launch in 2010, The Nerd Machine has expanded from its single Nintendo-inspired NERD shirt to an entire inventory of nerd-wear, and Techccessories (think iPhone cases that look like cassette mix tapes) including a Nerd HQ-exclusive flash drive. “I want to make an empire that cuts out the middle man, that’s all about the content and the people. What you want is what we bring you, starting with apparel, moving to merchandise, and hopefully hardware and software, and maybe even one day—lofty goals here—our own original content,” said Levi in a video introducing the world to The Nerd Machine website, which opened last November. Though not yet set in stone, fans have already begun planning for Nerd HQ 2012. Judging by the popularity of HQ 2011, next year will be bursting at the seams with people itching for their nerdy fix. For more information on The Nerd Machine, visit www.thenerdmachine.com. Viva la Nerdolution! S 34 | October/November 2011
Star Trek star Zachary Quinto speaks at Nerd HQ 2011 photo by Jill Cornelio
Chuck’s Zachary Levi with the Colemans
photo by Jon Racasa
Firefly & Serenity stars Adam Baldwin, Jewel Staite and Alan Tudyk photo by Jill Cornelio
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TODAY’S SCENE
NEW ORLEANS FILM FESTIVAL
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he 22nd Annual New Orleans Film Festival runs this year from October 14-20. Louisiana’s preeminent film festival continues to offer a unique selection of local and international fare, bringing film industry elite to New Orleans every fall. Films will screen at venues throughout the New Orleans area, including The Prytania Theatre, The Theatres at Canal Place, Second Line Stages, Chalmette Movies and more. While a number of excellent films will be screened, Scene is looking forward to the films below in particular. For the full festival lineup, visit the New Orleans Film Society’s website at www.neworleansfilmsociety.com.
2011
MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE
THE ARTIST
THE ARGUMENT New Orleans serves as the backdrop for this short film written and directed by Clara Aranovich. The story follows Frenchman Edouard right after an intense argument with his significant other. Soon after she deserts the apartment, their child begins crying. The beautifully shot film follows Edouard, played by Melvil Paupoud, as he tries to sooth the baby without his wallet or being fluent in English. Gorgeously shot, The Argument is an excellent example of short filmmaking. Directed by Clara Aranovich. Produced by Clara Aranovich and Rebecca Eskreis. Runtime: 13m. 38 | October/November 2011
The Olsen twins made a name for themselves before they could walk, but it’s their younger sister Elizabeth who’s getting noticed recently for her role in this thriller. Sean Durkin writes and directs Olsen as Martha, a young woman struggling to adjust after escaping life in a cult. Her painful and abusive experiences continue to haunt her creating an increasing paranoia. Constantly looking over her shoulder thinking the cult is watching and waiting to bring her back, Martha fights to return to normalcy. Directed by Sean Durkin. Produced by Antonio Campos, Patrick Cunningham, Chris Maybach and Josh Mond. Runtime: 120m.
TAKE SHELTER
A Cannes Film Festival sensation, director Michel Hazanaricius’s cinematic valentine is no post-modern academic exercise in the tropes of silent cinema, but a joyous, full-bodied piece of filmmaking that employs many of the silent period’s narrative and technical conventions. It’s Hollywood in 1927. George Valentin ( Jean Dujardin) is a silent movie superstar. The advent of the talkies will sound the death knell for his career and see him fall into oblivion. For young extra Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo), it seems the sky’s the limit. With Penelope Ann Miller, James Cromwell and a cigar-chomping John Goodman, the 2011 New Orleans Film Society’s “Celluloid Hero.” Directed by Michel Hazanaricius. Produced by Thomas Langmann. Runtime: 100m.
Haunted by apocalyptic visions, husband and father Curtis LaForche (Michael Shannon) struggles with whether to shelter wife ( Jessica Chastain) and daughter from a coming storm, or from himself. Directed by Jeff Nichols. Produced by Sophia Lin and Tyler Davidson. Runtime: 120m.
TODAY’S SCENE
SHRIMP AND PETROLEUM It may have seemed inappropriate to celebrate the oil industry mere months after the 2010 BP oil spill, but that did not stop Morgan City, Louisiana from holding their 75th Annual Shrimp and Petroleum Festival that Labor Day Weekend. In this documentary short directed by David Lee and Rex New, cameras follow townspeople as they organize the town’s beloved festival. While preparing, the organizers received international coverage due to the recent devastation that had occurred only miles away. The negativity surrounding the oil industry at that time did nothing to deter the passionate patrons from enjoying the previously renowned festival. Directed by David Lee and Rex New. Produced by Rex New. Runtime: 31m.
MILLER’S TALE AT THE NEW ORLEANS FILM FESTIVAL by Brittney Franklin
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tar of the 1973 horror masterpiece The Exorcist, Jason Miller rose from obscurity to notoriety overnight, and then left it all behind. “I think he just got so sick of Hollywood throwing him around, he just left,” said Rebecca Ferris, writer-director of Miller’s Tale, a posthumous documentary of the accidental celebrity’s life, told through stories from those who knew him well. “When I was a child growing up in Scranton, Jason walked away from his career in Hollywood to come back home. This was sometime in the mid-80s. I remember there was just this excitement around town that this celebrity had come home to live in Scranton again,” says Ferris. “I didn’t know quite who he was. I knew that he was famous for being a priest and Scranton is a very Irish Catholic town so that instantly garnered some sort of respect from me. The fact that he was a celebrity added this sort of mystique. Once he moved home, he was always around town.” Ferris got to know Miller through his activity in the Scranton theatre circuit, providing assistance in high school drama classes and acting in local films. “He acted in my first student film and I was still just so intrigued by him and thought that he would make a wonderful subject for a documentary. I wanted to do it while he was still alive, but unfortunately, he died in 2001 before I got the chance.” In 2004, the opportunity to create a film presented itself in the form of a controversy that ripped through the Pennsylvania town over a bronze bust sculpted in
Filmmaker Rebecca Ferris
www.scenelouisiana.com | 39
TODAY’S SCENE Miller’s image. “People were split. They either thought that he was a drunk who didn’t deserve to be rubbing shoulders with people like Christopher Columbus and other American heroes and other people said, ‘Well he’s the greatest thing that ever came out of Scranton,’” said Ferris. “I decided to follow that as a way to sort of get into Jason Miller’s story without having a typical, historical biopic about a dead guy. It wasn’t until 2010 that the bust was finally finished and everybody agreed, ‘Okay, we’ll put it in the center of town.’” Miller’s Tale features interviews with stars of Miller’s film adaptation of That Championship Season: Bruce Dern, Martin Sheen, Paul Sorvino and Stacy Keach, as well as The Exorcist director William Friedkin, who was enjoying success after an Oscar win for his hit crime-thriller The French Connection when he discovered Miller. Ferris has heard two versions of how the Scranton playwright came into the role of Father Karras: one told by the extras and the one told by Friedkin. “When That Championship Season opened on Broadway, William Friedkin opened up the New York Times and saw a review of the play and a picture of Jason Miller. It said, ‘From unemployment to champion,’ because Jason had literally applied to be on welfare just before the play opened, and he said he was the struggling playwright,” she explained. “He went to see the play and That Championship Season has all of these interesting themes about religion and being working class in small town America. William Friedkin was just really intrigued by the writing and said, ‘You know, I really want to meet the playwright.’ He said that he wanted to talk to him about The Exorcist because he was in the process of casting it and I think he wanted to talk to him more as a writer.” Miller wound up doing a screen test for the already-cast role of the priest, impressing Friedkin, who then replaced the original actor with Miller. The role earned him an Academy Award nomination and overnight fame. Unprepared for life in the Hollywood spotlight, Miller eventually cracked under the pressure after a decade of working on “B”movies and the box office bomb of That Championship Season, which he’d made his main focus. “That was really the trigger for Jason. He was living in Malibu. He took all his furniture, threw it off a cliff, and came 40 | October/November 2011
The Exorcist star Jason Miller
back home to Scranton and said, ‘That’s it.’” “His life is just great fodder for storytelling,” said Ferris. “He was this overnight sensation, then after that, he just seemed to disappear.” Miller’s Tale will screen
at the 2011 New Orleans Film Festival, which takes place October 14-20. For more information on the film and Ferris’s nowin-production documentary Can’t Stop the Water, visit www.cottagefilms.com. S
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ABOVE THE LINE
Peter Facinelli The Doctor is In by Micah Haley
T
he patriarch of the Cullen clan, Peter Facinelli spent much of last winter in Baton Rouge playing Carlisle Cullen while filming Breaking Dawn, the two-part finale of The Twilight Saga. But the versatile actor’s career hasn’t been defined by the undead dad. While playing another more juvenile doctor on Showtime’s dark comedy Nurse Jackie, Facinelli is also developing multiple projects across the media landscape through his production company, Facinelli Films. We spoke over the phone about becoming a parttime Louisiana resident, juggling roles in film and television, and finally being able to get a tan.
MH: You filmed the first few installments of the Twilight franchise up in the Northwest. Was it a big shift coming down to Louisiana for the final two films? PF: I actually enjoyed it, you know? I love the
scenery there, the food, the culture. I shot a movie in New Orleans a while back and I’ve always loved Louisiana. So getting to go back there was kind of nice. What was really nice about it was it was so warm there. We went up to Canada and it was freezing cold so it was a little bit of a treat to be able to walk on set in a t-shirt or go to dinners.
MH: Did you have the opportunity to make it back to New Orleans? PF: I did. My family came into town and I took them
to New Orleans and we had a good time. I think I tweeted a picture…there was an old photography place where we walked in to like a costume place where you could put on some old New Orleans garb and take a picture like an old time photo. So the kids had a lot of fun with that and I took the kids to Bourbon Street during the day, as they were hosing down the streets, and my little daughter said, “Why do they hose down the streets?” I said, “Because grown-ups throw up on it all night long.” She was like, “Dad, you can’t take me here ever again.”
MH: Yeah, there are a few things in the 42 | October/November 2011
Peter Facinelli as Dr. Cooper in Nurse Jackie
photo by Ken Regan/Showtime
ABOVE THE LINE morning that will make you blush on Bourbon. PF: They had a good time, a really good time. New Orleans, in that
part of town, there’s just so much culture, and the music’s great and the food is great. It was exciting to be there.
MH: You had to spend a lot of time in Baton Rouge. Was there anything that made it a little more comfortable there? PF: We had apartments [in Perkins Rowe] and I remember my first
night, I was so hungry and I went out to the strip mall and I had California Pizza Kitchen and I was like, “I can’t believe I’m eating at California Pizza Kitchen when I’m in Baton Rouge.” It’s pretty ironic but, yeah, we just hit up a lot of cool restaurants. We worked so many hours that most of the time we were inside the studio but whenever we got to go out, we just hit up the restaurants and had some good food.
photos by Martin Segal/Showtime
MH: I really want to talk to you about what you’re doing with Facinelli Films. In particular, can you tell me about Street Soldier? PF: Yeah, I started this company a little over a year ago. I had three
scripts that I had written and every time I’d get some traction on them, I’d go off to do a movie and it would all fall apart. So I hired a guy named Rob DeFranco to kind of oversee my company. But in the first six months, we had two films in production so things got off the bat pretty quickly. One of them was a little movie I sold to the Hallmark channel that my wife starred in and it aired in February to great ratings, so Hallmark was ecstatic. The second one was a little movie called Loosies with Jaimie Alexander from Thor, Michael Madsen and Vincent Gallo and that was a blast. It was about a two million dollar picture that we shot in New York and Rhode Island. And IFC just picked it up so it’ll get a limited release and hopefully grow from there on a platform.
MH: Oh, wow I can’t wait to see it. The cast is great. PF: We got the rights to this thing called Street Soldier, which tells the
Whitey Bulger story through the eyes of one of the enforcers, which I thought was a really good take on Whitey Bulger. So, we got the rights and simultaneously someone had written a script and had the financing and came to us. So, we have the financing, we have the script and we’re going out to directors. I want to shoot it next May. Now we’re just looking to get a director on board.
MH: And that was a project you were looking at before he was caught? PF: We got the rights to that about [a year] ago. Rob DeFranco came
to me with a book and he grew up in Boston, so he knew the story really well. I didn’t, so I read the book and I thought it was interesting. It was kind of serendipitous because [the project came together and] then Bulger just got caught so it gives us a nice ending to our movie and definitely brought more awareness to the project.
MH: Will you be doing any work on the script yourself? PF: No, it’s already done. I think that right now we’ll get a director on
board, and everybody will tweak it. I’m just producing it. I might, if my schedule allows, do a part in it, but I’m not sure if I’ll act in it or not right now. I have so many other projects with Facinelli Films
Dr. Coop gets comfortable photo by Ken Regan/Showtime www.scenelouisiana.com | 43
ABOVE THE LINE that some of them I’ll just produce and some of them I’ll write and then, hopefully, I’ll direct a few.
MH: Have you had the opportunity to direct anything yet? PF: I just directed a bunch of web-isodes for College Humor, which is
really fun.
MH: Is there a certain type of project you’re looking to create having now created Facinelli Films? PF: I have four or five movie projects that are now in development.
Some of them are written, some of them are just pitch ideas. We have about four or five TV shows and we have a deal to do a reality series. My philosophy is, it goes along the lines of my career. My career has been very versatile in the roles that I’ve played. I didn’t want to have one passion project that I spent five years trying to get made so I basically have a slate of projects that are all different. Some of them are comedies, some of them are little indies, some of them are bigger, fifteen to twenty million dollar projects. I guess our mission statement is just making projects that are character-driven and also commercial.
Edie Falco with Peter Facinelli as Dr. Cooper in Nurse Jackie photo by Ken Regan/Showtime
MH: I’m kind of a latecomer to Nurse Jackie and it is just the most amazing show. Showtime has just become this home for all the great dark comedies and Nurse Jackie is chief among those. Can you talk about how you were cast as Dr. Coop and how you prepared for that part? PF: I had done a pilot with the show runners of Nurse Jackie about
a year before for Showtime and it didn’t get picked up. It was a really good little dark comedy. It was between our show and Californication and they picked up Californication. The next year, the writers were on Nurse Jackie and they, I had just wrapped up on Twilight. Nobody knew what Twilight was at that time or that it was gonna be successful at all. They came to me and said, “There’s a role here that we’d like you for…would you wanna do it?” And I read the script and just thought, “Well, first of all Edie Falco’s on board and anything Edie Falco’s coming back to TV for…it’s gotta be good, you know? And I really liked my character. I thought it was fun. My concern was, because the tone was so different than anything I had ever seen, I wanted to make sure that what I was doing was along the same lines as what they were thinking. Normally, I don’t like auditioning because it’s such an odd process and it’s unlike anything you’re doing while you’re on the set. You’re sitting in a little chair and miming stuff and it’s kind of a weird process. But with this one, I asked them to audition for it. I said, “Can I come in and can we read this?” because they were friends. Because I had worked with them before I didn’t want to show up on set and be doing something completely different than what they expected and have them go “Oh, no.” So I came in, we sat down, we played with the material and I did my version of Coop and they were like, ‘That’s the guy,” and they sent the tape over to Edie and Edie liked it and the rest is history.
MH: It’s great to see actors that are so loved from The Sopranos on Nurse Jackie, working with a crop of talented younger actors like you. PF: Yeah, we have a good time on that show. We laugh a lot. Which is 44 | October/November 2011
Peter Facinelli, Edie Falco and director Steve Buscemi behind the scenes of Nurse Jackie photo by Ken Regan/Showtime
The narcissistic Dr. Coop
photo by Ken Regan/Showtime
ABOVE THE LINE
Peter Facinelli with Kristen Stewart in New Moon
fun because sometimes you do dramatic work or you’re doing darker stuff and there’s a tension on the set because the tone of the film sets that tension, but on Nurse Jackie we definitely end up after cuts having a good laugh. Sometimes I can’t help it, and I’ll laugh in the middle of a take.
MH: Coop just looks like the most fun character to play. PF: It is fun and what makes it even more fun is the group of people
and very talented cast. I feel very fortunate to be able to work with, not just Edie, but with the other actors on the show, too. It really feels like we’re doing a theatre piece. We’re going there, we rehearse it once and then everybody kind of plays with it. It’s fun. You know, when you’re working with really good actors, you never know what to expect and you’re just going along for the ride.
MH: Is there any connecting at all through the doctor you play on Nurse Jackie to Dr. Carlisle Cullen? PF: Absolutely none, which is what I love about it (laughs). They’re
so distinctly different. I mean, they’re probably 180 degrees from each other. When I was thinking about doing the show I thought, “What a fun thing to do because I have this one character, Carlisle, who’s kind of the rock of the family, he’s very mature, he’s confident, he’s compassionate and the leader of this family who everyone looks to. Then you have this other guy who’s basically very immature, selfabsorbed, childlike and I thought, “What a fun world…to play two
photo by Kimberley French
doctors who are so completely different that the only thing they share is the same white jacket.”
MH: And you’ve been shooting both Twilight and Nurse Jackie simultaneously, correct? PF: On last couple of Twilight movies, I’ve done double duty, doing
both at the same time, so they kind of overlapped. I thought it would be really difficult, but it actually was refreshing. I’d be doing three days on Twilight, doing Eclipse or Breaking Dawn and then I would fly back somewhere else and all of a sudden be in a completely different environment doing a completely different character. It broke the monotony. I love both characters so much that it was fun to be able to go back and forth between the two. Sometimes people ask me, “Do you ever get the lines confused or the roles confused?” They’re so distinctly different that, no.
MH: They’re both just kind of incidentally doctors. PF: Yeah, that’s the only thing that I guess they do share is that they’re
both doctors.
MH: I first got acquainted with you on Fastlane, a great show that felt like one of the first to really have the scope of a big action feature. PF: Well, McG directed it so that was what was really exciting www.scenelouisiana.com | 45
ABOVE THE LINE to me. I grew up watching Dukes of Hazzard, Starsky & Hutch, and there was nothing like that on TV at the time. I thought, “Well this is just a really fun show to do.” You go to work every day and you get to play cops and robbers and drive Ferraris and shoot guns like John Woo style. And I was proud of that show. I thought it was a lot of fun. In some ways, I wish we got one more season, but I’m not sad that it ended because if it hadn’t, and they did five or six seasons, then it would’ve been harder for me to stretch out and play the other roles that I play now. I would have been so solidified as that character that people wouldn’t have looked at Carlisle the same. So, I look back at my work and I have characters like Mike Dexter from Can’t Hardly Wait and then I put that next to the character of Van Ray from Fastlane and I put that character next to Carlisle and I put that character next to Coop. I’m proud of the very distinctness of each character. Each character is a different person and I always joked that if I had all the characters that I ever played in one room… that would be a really fun party (laughing).
MH: The other thing about Fastlane is it seems like one of the shows that brought TV production values up to film standards. PF: Well that’s what people
always say to me: “What do you like doing better, television or film?” And I say it’s just a matter of where the material is. There’s really good material on television and if I can find it there, that’s a great outlet. If I can find it in film, great. The difference is, TV is immediate and film is kind of bigger. You finish a film and it comes out eight months later but it’s a bigger premiere and it lives on in things like DVDs. But I guess TV lives on in DVDs now, too. The difference to me is that TV’s pace is faster and we’re shooting more pages a day and in film, you shoot less pages a day and it’s a slower process. I enjoy doing both. And for me, it’s just where the quality material is.
he’s twenty-three. In the books, he’s twenty-three so he has a young appearance with an old soul. Because I’m young, I thought, “How am I gonna be the leader of this family looking so young?” I don’t know how I’m gonna be Rob Pattinson’s dad, you know? When we hang out, I can be his older brother but physically it was a challenge to say, ‘I have to be the father figure.’ So what I did to create the character was, I looked at Carlisle and I did a little bit of history on the last 350 years of his life and what was going on in those times. I kind of gave myself a little history lesson and mapped out his character and his journey through those 350 years and then I felt like, ‘Okay, I’m bringing that knowledge to the screen whether it appears or not, I have that knowledge inside. Then, just making sure he has the leadership qualities and his speech patterns are a little slower and he’s a little more still than a character like Coop, who runs around like he just drank four cans of Red Bull.
MH: How much Red Bull do you have to ingest to play Coop? PF: About four cans a day
(laughs).
MH: That’s awesome! I hope the production pays for that. There have been several Twilight films now and you’ve shot the twopart finale… PF: Yeah, we shot all of it. My
filming on The Twilight Saga’s done. I mean, I still have press stuff for the next two years and films will be released this November and next November but as far as the filming process, we’re finished.
MH: Does it feel like you’re kind of at the end of that road? PF: In some ways it doesn’t feel
like it’s over, because I still get together with the cast for press and I still get to experience that for the next two years. But it saddens me that I won’t be able to be on film and be on set with the Facinelli with Elizabeth Reaser in Eclipse photo by Kimberley French cast. I mean, they’ve come to be MH: You’re so young and like family and that experience is Carlisle’s very old, this over so it’s kind of bittersweet, but at the same time, after five movies patriarch with gravitas. Was playing an older, wiser you’re kind of ready to go on and play other things. That’s taken up a lot character a challenge for you? of my time over the last three years. Other than Loosies and Nurse Jackie PF: Well, when I first read the roll, I was like how am I gonna make and Breaking Dawn, I haven’t been able to do much other stuff, which this guy who’s like 350 years old but at the same time in appearance, 46 | October/November 2011
ABOVE THE LINE
Carlisle and the Cullens in Eclipse
photo by Kimberley French
is part of the reason I started the production company so I could get other stuff off the ground that I don’t have to be in.
MH: You seem to invest a lot of energy in philanthropy. I know when you were here in Baton Rouge people were talking about how you were the first one to buy a ticket to St. Jude’s Dream House. PF: I love to be able to give back and bring awareness to things. I work a lot with children’s cancer research. St. Jude’s is one of them. Alex’s Lemonade Foundation is another one. Sometimes I’ll do autograph signings to help benefit the charities or spread awareness. I feel like it’s part of my duty is to be able to be a good role model and be able to use my name to bring awareness to different charities.
MH: Why is children’s cancer research in particular close to your heart? PF: I have three kids of my own and I couldn’t imagine one of my
daughters getting sick. One of my daughters, Lola, was sick for a little while, though she ended up being fine. She was in the hospital with fever for a month…a fever of unknown origin and there were times when they were kicking around that she might have leukemia. They had to drill into her, they had to do tests. It was a very scary period for me as a father and, though she came out of it ok. My daughter ended
up getting better and didn’t have thankfully anything [more serious]. It definitely brought awareness to me and I visited children’s hospitals. I visited cancer wings and it’s just so unfair to me that these kids are sitting in this hospital when they should be out playing, you know? And what I found most particularly interesting being in those cancer wings was that it wasn’t dark and depressing. These kids were filled with hope and I wanted to continue that hope and I felt like it was my duty to go out and do something about it to keep the hope alive.
MH: One more question, and this can be off the record if you want. Are you tired of answering that question about having to stay out of the sunlight to stay pale? PF: (Laughs) Plenty of times if I was in the sun I would sink into the
shadows unconsciously just because I was so used to staying out of the sun. I remember going to my daughter’s soccer games with sunglasses and hoodie and I would look like the Unabomber, you know, just because the more sun you have the more make up you have to put on. This summer I took the kids to Europe, to the Maldives, and it was kind of nice for the first time in, I don’t know, years where I was actually able to sit in the sun and not worry about it.
MH: So, I guess that’s a no. PF: No (laughs). S www.scenelouisiana.com | 47
MUSIC |
Voodoo 2011 Music Experience
SOUNDGARDEN
50 | October/November 2011
KREAYSHAWN
BLINK 182
V
oodoo Fest brings together the spirited citizens of New Orleans at City Park every year for a Halloweekend. The three-day concert event unites local musicians with the best old school and upand-coming artists in music. This year’s lineup includes Soundgarden, Blink-182, Snoop Dog, The Raconteurs, Girl Talk, The Original Meters, Fatboy Slim, Band of Horses, My Chemical Romance, Cheap Trick and more. Sure to entice ghouls and goblins alike, colossal rock acts Blink-182 and Soundgarden will play alongside hip hop legends Snoop Dogg and Mannie Fresh. Uniting all genres together will be mash-up artist Greg Gillis, better known as Girl Talk. Nights won’t end after lights go out at City Park, with after parties and shows continuing into the New Orleans night. In the Warehouse District of New Orleans, music will resume with the Deja Voodoo Party series. DJ sets will bewitch until six in the AM at venues such as the Republic and the Howling Wolf. Scene Magazine will be there to monitor the magic so stop by to sneak a peek at our exclusive coverage of Voodoo Fest. Come cool down in our tent and perhaps run into a musician or two. And if we like you, you might just receive an invite to our exclusive, invite-only Halloween party, hidden away in a private mansion in the French Quarter. To find out more about Voodoo and to purchase tickets, visit www.thevoodooexperience.com. S
MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE
GIRL TALK
MASTADON
MUSIC |
Girl Talk
AT VOODOO FEST 2011
by Jacob Peterman photos by Paul Sobota
“P
eople are just very used to the idea of recycled content demanding compilations. Listening to one song asks the listener all over YouTube and everywhere,” says Greg Gillis, to recall around thirty songs, each an exercise in what’s changed – better known as Girl Talk, the gold standard of music and what hasn’t – in a half century of modern music. “I think for a mash-up makers. “Every time a Lady Gaga song comes out, there’s lot of people who have never heard of it, it is an audio collage and a thousand remixes within the next week. There’s just constant that’s what it’s intended to be,” says Gillis. “I feel like most people recycling of media to make something new. So I do think the are familiar with the idea of a visual collage and to me the ultimate goal is to make a very detailed, elaborate audio discussion and the general perspective from the collage that definitely is built out of other things world has changed a bit on it, which has been and you can recognize all the source material but refreshing. I do think I got lucky - the timing with hopefully the overall picture is I think entirely new.” this project and when it did happen - to become The original career path for Gillis was in popular. Because there’s lots of performers, engineering. Music was a side project he nurtured doing pioneering work in this world who had for years, and it seemed to go hand and hand with issues, from Danger Mouse to John Oswald to his engineering studies. “You get used to doing the whole hip hop gang in the 80s and 90s.” these meticulous mathematics and attention to A favorite topic of entertainment law blogs, detail-related things and a lot of times just working his music continues to garner media attention on these very small components that will go on as a copyright controversy, but Gillis has yet Girl Talk’s latest album, All Day. to influence the much larger picture,” he says of to be sued. “I think that the labels know that engineering. “I think that definitely corresponded someone’s going to create something out of this. with the way I approach music. I just get very detail-oriented and It’s not gonna really impact the sales of our artists; it’s just gonna if you really pay attention to each second or really try to spend help spread the word. I think that’s definitely where my music stands and in no way would I ever hope that the stuff I make your time you could make something interesting. And in that would be competition for anyone, and if that was the case, I feel way it was like, well I don’t have this formalized music training, like I would be failing at what I’m trying to achieve musically.” I can’t sing that well, I can’t do many things but I can just really Using only a laptop, Gillis draws upon music from decades take a lot of time and get very detailed in how I want to do this.” With more formal training in mathematics than music, the DJ past, recycling other artists’ songs to create innovative dance-
52 | October/November 2011
| MUSIC
turned to his computer at a time when grunge and alt-rock reigned supreme. “I think when I was on the verge of being in bands with friends and a lot of other people were picking up guitars and starting to play covers and Nirvana and the bass and stuff…that was right around the time when I started circuit bending keyboards or playing around with children’s toys and trying to get them to make crazy sounds. My version of the rock band in the basement was more fiddling around with electronics with my friends.” Gillis earned his degree and began working as an engineer while still making music, always expecting it to be a side gig. But crowds spoke, and before long, Girl Talk was in demand. “I was just getting so many show demands and the shows were selling out. I was getting offers to go overseas so at that point it was kind of a no-brainer,” says Gillis. “I was like, I never thought this would become a career but this has kind of been my life’s passion, so I’m gonna quit the engineering job.” This year marks the first time Girl Talk is set to bring his danceinducing live show to Voodoo Fest, but Gillis has performed multiple times in New Orleans. “It’s definitely one of my favorite cities. I love rolling through there and I love Halloween and I love Southern spooky sh** so to me this festival has been on my radar,” says Gillis. “I see it every year in ads in a magazine so I always kind of wanted to be a part of it. I’m excited to roll through at that time of the year.” Girl Talk’s latest album All Day is available via his record label Illegal Art for fans to download at a price everyone can afford: free. To get a copy of his latest album in addition to his earlier works, go to www.illegal-art.net. S
ON NEW ORLEANS & VOODOO 2011:
New Orleans is definitely one of my favorite cities. I love rolling
through there and I love Halloween and I love Southern spooky sh** so to me this festival has been on my radar. www.scenelouisiana.com | 53
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MUSIC |
HANSON
SHOUTS IT OUT
ON PHILANTHROPY & INDIE SUCCESS
by Micah Haley
I
t’s been a long journey since their Dust Brothers-produced song “MMMBop” became a massive mid-90s hit. The three brothers — Isaac, Taylor and Zac Hanson have gone independent and have mastered social media to maintain an impressive fanbase. Scene spoke with Taylor Hanson on using technology to not only run a successful business as an independent band, but also harness the power of people for the greater good. Hanson returned to the House of Blues New Orleans on September 24.
MH: Hanson has the most devoted fan base. How have you guys managed to maintain it over the years? TH: There’s a mystery to it. You can’t control whether or not you have
passionate fans, ultimately. I do think that we’ve already expressed a kind of gratefulness for what we get to do. Making music is one of those jobs that a lot of people dream about. There’s an idea of, “I’m gonna be in a band, I’m gonna play shows,” so, it’s a rare thing to get to do it and be good enough at it, that people come back and you kinda make that your life. And so I would hope that some of that connection has had to do with our trying to consistently express gratitude and the kind of awe of it all. Even if you’re playing to 2,000 people instead of 20,000 people, you’ve still got a lot to be grateful for and excited about. The other thing is just thinking about direct fan relationship. So much of the business for so long was built around this idea that there were gatekeepers and that you couldn’t get to anybody without knocking on those doors.
MH: What are some of the new ways that Hanson is able to connect with fans in the way you do? TH: First of all, I always feel like we could do better, but there have been a couple of things: for one, we have structured our business as a band around the idea of content online. It’s not simply, “We should tweet a lot and we should do lots of stuff on Facebook and we should put this on Youtube.” It’s actually having a fan club that is legitimately a place where we do free events,
56 | October/November 2011
we do an EP every year and we post exclusive content to it. We could always do more, but for a long time, that has been the real focus: to actually create something that’s concrete. There’s an inside track that people get access to. Not the old fan club, where you get a flyer and then, you get a newsletter, but you’re actually a part of a community.
ON SXSW JAPAN:
We’ve got thousands of artists in one place....we’re gonna look back at this moment and feel ashamed that we didn’t galvanize and use the opportunity to
respond to this disaster.
MH: What prompted your decision to create the web telethon for Japan [SXSW Japan] immediately after the tsunami? TH: We were in [South by Southwest in Austin] earlier this year. It was right after the event had happened. And for no fault of a lot people, I think everyone was consumed with what SXSW was, which was kind of selfpromotion and hustling to get your thing out there. And there wasn’t a unified conversation, a unified artist activity going on toward the Japan relief effort. We got there, and for the first day we were there, it just kept building up. We were talking about it, and at one point, we were standing there about to do an event for the Grammys, and I just turned to the guys and we all just said, “We’ve gotta do something. We’ve got thousands of artists in one place, and it just feels like we’re gonna look back at this moment and feel ashamed that we didn’t galvanize and use the opportunity to respond to this disaster.”
| MUSIC One of the things we’ve used a lot is live about TOMS, early on. I was actually kind of streaming. We’ve done a lot of live content, and obsessed with a certain slip-on shoe I was trying so the concept was simple. We said, “Well, the to find. She first found it because she thought, best way to reach people immediately would be “Oh, well that’s cool” and read the story and was so essentially to create our own micro-telethon.” compelled by the simplicity of the idea and kinda And so we just started calling people. We just brought it to the guys and talked about it. Just this stopped everything we were doing and started simple point of taking something and turning it picking up the phone and just walking into rooms into another thing, and then making it into part of and people just began donating. They began your business. giving their time, artists showed up, the SXSW festival was great and they gave us the email list MH: How has leaving a major label to everybody. I was picking up the phone and and going independent allowed you to calling people like Ben Folds and my friend Gus Van Sant who knows Michael Stipe well, and I Hanson in Jackson Square with a group of fans, pursue opportunities like this? knew Michael was in town. I said, “Can you see promoting TOMS Shoes in 2007. While on tour TH: There’s no question that you are able to move if Michael will come by?” And it happened. It promoting their album The Walk, Hanson did walking more fluidly, absolutely. And mostly because fear was thirty-six hours of zero sleep, quite literally, demonstrations to raise awareness for TOMS, a is not as much of a factor. If it’s your bottom line, from our little team. It ended up being forty-five company that donates a pair of shoes to an African child it’s your passion, it’s your song, or it’s your cause, for every pair sold. photo by Erin Theriot you’re gonna weigh the risk differently than artists and twelve hours of just music and talking and raising money. In that period, we helped them raise about $100,000. somebody that gets to have a piece of the pie or somebody that’s essentially going to lose if you don’t earn money or if you don’t succeed in a certain way. It was an amazing thing. I think that fear is just a toxic thing and it’s probably one of the things that’s so damaged the music business and the entertainment business. You cannot MH: Michael Stipe was recently in New Orleans recording operate a great creative agency and vision with fear in control. It just doesn’t with R.E.M. at the Music Shed. Have you guys considered work. I don’t mean that in a way of being naive. I really mean it in a concrete recording here? way. The idea of fear is essentially that you, irrationally, are trying to control TH: New Orleans is such a legendary place for music, especially for things beyond the actual ability to control. Making great artist decisions Americans. But we’ve never recorded there, but honestly I imagine it would involves risk. Charity in and of itself is risk personified because you’re actually be an amazing thing. volunteering to go fix a problem, which for me is a great thing to be a part of because it’s impossible for it to not be better than it was when you started.
MH: Why did you guys feel like it was important to do something so impromptu? It’s one thing to just donate money, but it’s another to take action and really do something new. TH: I guess the simple answer is I honestly felt like I couldn’t
do anything else. Like something happened in our mindset. We were there, it was all happening, all this stuff was going on and something clicked. The classic example of the elephant in the room. What was happening in Japan, it was like the Goodyear blimp in the room. And it felt like it just had to be done. And I think that just felt like the moment it needed a little push. We responded but I feel like we were in, some strange way, being pushed as well. It was the moment.
MH: Would you be interested in taking a risk and pursuing a second career in another part of the entertainment industry? TH: There are so many things that we’re interested
in doing, but the band and music will absolutely stay at the center of it. Writing with other people, producing, scoring [a film] for sure. Acting, you never know. But that’s not as much of a thought. I think the stuff that we’re talking about honestly, the ability convey stuff to people that has meaning and purpose and putting art next to that is one of the most compelling things making the next chapter. And honestly, facilitating other great artists, helping MH: Tell me about your work with TOMS shoes. Hanson’s latest album, Shout It to use the tools we have to help cultivate and push TH: TOMS was kind of right in our pathway as we began Out, is available on iTunes, and at out great music that we come across. The good thing trying to engage in the issues with poverty in Africa, talking www.hanson.net. about being twenty-eight and having almost twenty to our fans about that, having had a personal experience there. It organically years under the belt is that you still have the energy to fight. [came up]. We were talking about how to articulate this vision of breaking For more from Hanson, visit the boys-turned-men band’s official down poverty in a way that was really tangible to people. In a way that wasn’t website at www.hanson.net, and to learn more about Hanson’s so daunting. And my wife actually came across a shoe company, a write-up charitable work with TOMS Shoes, visit www.takethewalk.net. S
If it’s your bottom line, it’s your passion, it’s your song, or it’s your cause, you’re gonna weigh the risk differently than somebody that gets to have a piece of the pie.
Making great artist decisions involves risk.
www.scenelouisiana.com | 57
Fall for FASHION |
NOLA FASHION WEEK by Brittney Franklin
I
n March, southern fashion designers brought their best to the inaugural NOLA Fashion Week. The fall run of the event will once again feature designers Jolie and Elizabeth and Varela + Brooks, along with newcomers making their Fashion Week debut. “While each designer is unique in their own way, the new designers stand out because of their different backgrounds. Andrea Loest is a fabulously talented artist and fashion designer. We were so excited to add her to our schedule because she uses handmade cloth, vintage pieces and her own patterns to compose the most beautiful garments,” says Fashion Week co-founder Andie Eaton. “Also, Rogersliu and Ashlie Ming of Blackout are two new designers this season that have a youthful enthusiasm to their designs. Their creative and fresh approach to their collections is contemporary, fun and impressive. Christopher Rogers of Rogersliu is still in high school, but his sketches show a mature, trained eye that’s well beyond his years.” With winter fast approaching, the designs on display will be a promising preview of warmer seasons. “I expect to see lots of expressive prints and vibrant colors on flirty, innovative silhouettes. These designers all know how to style and design for warm weather, as they’re all from either New Orleans or the South, and they’ll each present collections that showcase this skill at the shows this season,” says Eaton. In addition to new designers, other fashion-centric fun will be central to fall’s NOLA Fashion Week. “There are several new things we’re excited to introduce this season: the fashion market, new workshops and a world-class stylist. The market will feature over fifteen pop-up shops from local artists and designers - this is the perfect opportunity to support and meet members of the local fashion community. Also, we have a revamped workshop schedule that includes classes on everything from fashion photography and illustration to editorial hairstyling and even hat making!” The runway shows have been scheduled at night, making it more convenient for attendees to view presentations happening in the middle of the week, and Fashion Week opening and closing parties will be during the weekend at Second Line Stages and Eiffel Society, respectively. The Fashion Market will stay open until six p.m. Thursday and Friday. NOLA Fashion Week takes place October 15-21. For more information, visit www.nola-fashionweek.com. S
58 | October/November 2011
dress by Rogersliu photo by Jessi Arnold
| FASHION
dress by Rogersliu photo by Jessi Arnold
www.scenelouisiana.com | 59
FASHION |
NOLA FASHION WEEK
dress by Amanda DeLeon photo by Kevin DeLeon
60 | October/November 2011
jacket by Amanda DeLeon photo by Kevin DeLeon
dress by Andrea Loest photo by Jared SerignĂŠ
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Brent Caballero in Baton Rouge
BRENT CABALLERO CASTING DIRECTOR
by Elizabeth Glauser
A
mass of movie star hopefuls flock to Los Angeles every year seeking success in film. Brent Caballero arrived in L.A. years ago looking to begin his career in acting but opportunities in Louisiana brought him back home. Caballero, a Louisiana native, left for California. Absorbing the industry as a production assistant on film sets while auditioning, Los Angeles was missing something and the void only grew after the untimely death of his roommate. “We moved out there, we moved in together, and it was a confidant situation,” says Caballero. “In such a large place, and coming from the South, that was good to have.” An opportunity in Louisiana to work in casting brought Brent back. He was eager to witness firsthand the growth of the film industry in the South. “I worked every day, seven days a week, twenty four hours a day at a sugar factory in order to move to Los Angeles. So moving back wasn’t an easy decision because I had given up so much to be able to put myself in a position to be there. I didn’t want to take that away but with my son coming along and opportunities coming up in Louisiana, wanting to have my son be proud of his father and have a father he could look up to, I took the gamble and rolled the dice on the Louisiana film industry, trying to seize an opportunity.” Since Caballero’s return, he has established himself as one of the busiest casting directors in the state, helping local talent find their place in film. “I’ve been able to find some really good, unique talent 64 | October/November 2011
photo by Robby Klein
in the area and I want to credit the local talent for that.” Casting has at times brought to him back to Los Angeles, looking past Louisiana and into the sea of California hopefuls he once swam with. Most films shot in Louisiana still employ a Los Angeles-based casting director for lead roles, with a talented casting director like Caballero finding as many talented locals as possible to round out the cast. But two years ago, Caballero reached a landmark in his career by fully casting his first major film, Mirrors 2 with Nick Stahl and Christy Carlson Romano. The Louisiana film industry was expanding beyond being a location for filming: it was becoming an integral part of the film industry. “I felt like a different standard was reached for us all. That we’re being looked at now as being beyond local talent,” says Caballero. “We’re now film professionals across the board, which is a big step for us.” As the film industry continues to thrive in Louisiana, Caballero recognizes the importance of continued backing from the State. “Hopefully I continue to progress as long as we support it and continue to give it the infrastructure it needs for success, recognize why the film industry is here and how we need to continue to keep them here. I think it’s in our hands as Louisianans to take and keep it here.” The state’s been kind to Caballero by allowing him to achieve one of his proudest accomplishments: producing the film Cummings Farm (distributed as All American Orgy). “The first time I saw that movie on a big screen, it was emotional,” he says. The movie is now available nationwide and on Netflix. Now operating his successful company, Caballero Casting, while developing another project as a producer, Caballero’s decision to come home has been rewarded. To be considered for casting in Brent Caballero’s next film, visit www.caballerocasting.com. S
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SCOTT AIGES NEW ORLEANS JAZZ & HERITAGE FOUNDATION
by Scottie Wells
A
s a kid, Scott Aiges dreamed of being a musician. But once he reached college, though still consumed by music, Aiges didn’t feel he had the natural talent for a career onstage. So he decided to study political science to pursue his interest in world affairs. And he took up journalism as a way to get close to the action – first in a clerical job at The New York Times, then as a freelancer in Nicaragua during the Contra war. It was during a stint with a wire service in Washington, DC, that he was first introduced to New Orleans music. Aiges became an “instant convert” to the sound of the Meters and anything with a secondline beat. He moved to the Crescent City a few years later to write for the TimesPicayune and enjoy the vibrant culture. “In those days, it seemed like every musician would play with everyone else – they’d take a break from their set, then go down the street to sit in for a few songs before going back to their own show. And by the time they got back, the other guys were taking a break and now they’re coming and jamming at your show,” says Aiges, recalling the Frenchmen Street scene of the mid-1990s. “The music community in New Orleans is still very collegial and the musicians all know each other, but it just doesn’t feel quite as ‘jammy.’” He was covering hard news – politics, education, crime - in the Times-Pic’s River Parishes bureau when he learned that the paper was creating a new position for a pop and jazz critic. “I found out about the job and applied for it. I’ll never forget: They sat me down and said, ‘You’ve got a perfectly promising career as a journalist. Why would you want to do this?’ I said, ‘Well, I think music should be the most important beat at the paper! We should cover it as a business, not just a cultural phenomenon.’” He got the job, becoming the only full-time daily reporter covering the New Orleans music industry at that time. Aiges left journalism to try his hand in 66 | October/November 2011
Scott Aiges
the business side of music. He managed and booked several of New Orleans’ betterknown bands, learning the ins-and-outs of touring, record deals and – most important – the disconnect between city’s reputation as a music mecca and its business (or lack of one). In 2002, the newly elected Ray Nagin tapped Aiges to head a new Mayor’s Office of Music Business Development. He helped to launch several new programs, including the Music Office Co-Op (later taken statewide by the Tipitina’s Foundation). And he played a major part in creating the State’s sound recording tax credit. Katrina ended his job in City Hall, so Aiges consulted for the State while looking for full-time work. The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation – the nonprofit that owns Jazz Fest – was just starting to rebuild its staff and retool its programs. “I got very, very lucky. I got a job that seems almost tailor-made for me. I get to draw on every skill I’ve picked up over the years, and I’m constantly being challenged and stretched,” says Aiges, now the foundation’s director of programs, marketing and communications. Since he joined, the foundation has created a slew of new programs – most visibly the free festivals that take place several times
photo by Kelli Binnings
Scott Aiges with Honeyboy Edwards at the Blues & BBQ Festival photo by Demian Roberts
a year, and the Sync Up entertainment industry conference during Jazz Fest. Now in his fifth year at the Jazz & Heritage Foundation, Aiges is still on a mission. “We’ve always had great artists, but the challenge is to connect them to the global marketplace in a way that helps them control their own destiny while making a better living from their craft.” For more information on Scott Aiges’ work at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation, visit www.jazzandheritage.org. S
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IN THE MIX
THE DON OF by Micah Haley
I
QUIXOTE
n town from Los Angeles for a few days, Mikel Elliott walked into my office at Raleigh Studios in Baton Rouge. After introductions, he quickly pulled out his iPad, queuing up a smart, polished promo video for the new Quixote.com. In an industry where many websites are limited to a logo and a phone number, the ambitious marketing plans of Elliott’s L.A.-based Quixote Studios stand out, promising to integrate technology into every aspect of the company’s business. “Our new website is launching on October 1,” says Elliott. “You’ll be able to buy, you’ll be able to estimate, you’ll be able to chat with a rep online, there will be a social media aspect. We’re launching the marketing campaign now. If you look at our marketing, we try as much as we can to emulate our clients. We want the presentation to be creative, thoughtful and tasteful. Whether it’s the facilities or the marketing materials or the website, it needs to feel creative. It makes them feel like we get their business. And our vendors and competitors are not that focused on it. That’s a real focus for us. We’re in a creative industry: we want to present our products in a creative way.” As a line producer once told Mikel Elliott me, “Movies are made on the phone.” While that is still true, Elliott believes there are ways to streamline communication between his company and productions. “There’s an immediacy when you want to pick up the phone and order five or six rolls of gel or tape, so it won’t work for every transaction. But the whole idea for us online is to extend the service we have. There needs to be a technology component to it. People don’t want to talk on the phone as much as they used to! If I can just go to my screen and send you a little message, I’d rather do that than pick up the phone. It’s less invasive. Now it’s going to be so simple and you’ll get what you need the next day.” “I graduated from UCLA, and I’ve always been pretty good at sales and marketing,” says Elliott. “I worked for an international
68 | October/November 2011
computer company. I made a little bit of money that way, did it for eight or nine years and decided, ‘Enough of working for The Man.’ I was working on the East Coast for these guys, and I decided to come back to L.A. and use some of my sales and marketing tools in the entertainment field.” After starting his career, Elliott took his Don Draper-esque affinity for branding back home. “My stepfather, who raised me, was a grip. He had a motor home that he was renting to producers that were booking him on shows. I added a motor home to his fleet, so we had two, and then and just kept adding motor homes. We had two and then three, and then I brought my partner Jordan Kitaen in,” Elliott says of the early days. “We had really good guys driving these motor homes and they were functionally better. Back then, [motor homes] were little better than a card table in the back with a standup mirror, nothing professionally designed. So, we went out and professionally designed these interiors. We started manufacturing our own trailers.” As the fledgling company grew, its identity began to form. “We would continually provide an aesthetically better product that was also more functional,” he says. “It was always about the producer. What are producers booking on shows? They are booking trailers and they are booking studios.” “We primarily dealt in the beginning with commercial producers, who would have to go to a big lot, a film studio lot,” says Elliott. When Quixote entered the marketplace in the 1990s, most of the soundstages built by the major film studios were over half a century old. “In the film world, you go to a lot of studios and they are just kind of beat and old and dirty. And film studios are not in the business of renting studios. They are in the business of making movies and content. These commercial guys would have these big high-end agencies coming into this dirty studio, and they weren’t being very well serviced. Those agencies
IN THE MIX fly six or seven people in from Minneapolis or Chicago and they want to get pampered! They want to feel like rockstars. So, we had an opportunity to buy part of a studio, and we got into that.” “About four years ago, we merged our photography-based business with Smashbox Studios, and they were all photography and film. So we took our assets and merged them,” says Elliott. “Along the way, we’ve acquired a studio store, a lighting supply company, all in the way of making a producer look good and make his job easier, because [the job is] pretty damn complicated! They don’t want to be thinking about whether the trailer is working or not, or if the lights work. It has to be working, because they are focusing on on-set stuff.” “It’s always been about leveraging the relationships,” Elliott continues. “It doesn’t matter if they are renting trucks or trailers or equipment or studios or whatever: it’s the relationship that’s the most valuable. What can I do to make their lives easier?” This year, Quixote Studios decided to expand their operations to Louisiana by opening a Studio Store in New Orleans. “We’ve had very little presence in Louisiana until a couple of months ago,” says Elliott. “A year ago, we decided we were going to push eastward. Last July, we opened up a facility in Boston. A small film studio with enough to service features up there. And we put a small store within our lighting warehouse there. And then in the Spring of this year, we dropped some of our Verdes, which are these ultra-deluxe green celebrity motor homes, so part of our expansion has been to the Southeast and Louisiana. We have our expendables store in
Louisiana, which sells to our feature and TV guys. We have all of the gels and the tapes, anything for camera and grip, we do office supplies there and we have a lumberyard. It’s basically an all-in-one Home Depot/Office Depot. It really saves time and saves money. It’s all right there. We have all of the paper you need for different script revisions. It’s just very focused on every department’s needs.” Why would Elliott want to expand to Louisiana? The answer shouldn’t surprise Scene’s readership. “We are where the tax credits are,” he says. “We have a very branded experience, and there’s an opportunity in these other markets for us. When you come into the store or our studio or motor homes, it’s a consistently high-end experience. We’re moving to areas where a lot of content is being shot.” “In L.A. we are the number one guys in expendables. We have two or three trucks running around delivering expendables to set. That’s why we went to Louisiana with that,” Elliott says. “It felt like that’s the biggest need there right now. There’s guys with lighting equipment, there’s guys with trucks, there’s guys with studios. So, we felt like the biggest need [in Louisiana] was that because that’s what our production friends were telling us. Since we’re in to all of these different lines of business, we can go into a new area and provide what is needed. And it’s working: after our first month, we did pretty well. People know where we’re at now and they are driving by and saying hello.” Stop by Quixote’s Studio Store at 929 Euterpe Street in New Orleans, or visit www.quixote.com, and say hello. S
www.scenelouisiana.com | 69
FILM |
ALICE & WONDERLAND by Susan Ross
“I
could tell you if your budget is going to fly or not. Or if you are under budget or if you are over budget.” Alice St. Germain is a veteran commercial producer based in Louisiana who has produced commercials for Nike, Bacardi, Jeep, the NFL and more. “Most of the time it isn’t over because with the recession, commercials and most of the industry we have really cut back which is why you don’t see so many commercials being produced on a national level,” she says. “I mean yeah they are still doing it, but the web is here.” As high-speed internet has made its way into half of all American homes, advertising agencies are able to deliver a rich audio and video experience, or just a simple message, to very targeted markets. “You can do a lot with websites that, before, you would have to air a commercial to reach your demographic and your markets. So there is a cheaper way to [advertise],” says St. Germain. “But at the same time, these are tax credits they should take advantage of. And I’ve got to say, I’ve been doing it for seven years, and that’s longer than anybody else who is affiliated with commercials [in Louisiana] has been doing it.” “I just wrapped an ESPN/Nissan shoot,” she says. “It was actually a reshoot with Heisman trophy winners Mark Ingram and Desmond Howard. We shot in English Turn.” In the finished commercial, Heisman trophy winners are gathering at a mansion to watch football. As 1991 Heisman Trophy winner (and current ESPN college football analyst) Desmond Howard pulls up to the house, he parks his Nissan in front, where Ingram is standing on a pedestal in the iconic Heisman pose. Howard places his key ring on Ingram’s extended fingers and says, “Good form, rookie!” “I’m intimately involved with it from the very beginning to the very end, and I am intimately involved with the project and when you spend whatever it is for a crew member, I know exactly what you are talking about,” the veteran producer and production manager says, “Because I set it up. I’m the one who hired the crew. I’m the one who hired the vendors. I’m the one who wrote the P.O.s. I’m the one who’s doing the check logs. I’m the one overseeing your budget.” In the early 1980s, Alice St. Germain started her career as a broadcast producer working for Peter A. Mayer Advertising in New Orleans. “Then, I hopped the fence and started as a freelance producer for Buckholtz Productions,” she says. “I went and produced for Kenny Morison for ten years, so I did a lot of local stuff to begin with, and just about 1982-83, I started working on national commercials as a coordinator and production manager.” “I almost had to reinvent myself, so to speak,” says St. Germain of the transition. “But now, I’ve been in this industry for forty-two years and I have made my living doing predominantly national and regional commercials for thirty years. Word of mouth: that is how they know about you and it is not that big of an industry.” “Way back when, they tried to get me into [production managing] independent features and I didn’t want to parlay myself into that because it is a big commitment,” St. Germain recalls. “My son was pretty young, and I felt like boy that is going to take me out of the commercial industry and I’m the queen of commercials in New Orleans.”
72 | October/November 2011
Alice St. Germain at home in New Orleans
photo by Julia Pretus
I want to see more commercials utilize Louisiana film tax credits.
They are missing out. It would benefit them to shoot here. Not only in New Orleans but everywhere in the state.
| FILM In the infancy of the State of Louisiana’s motion picture investor tax credit program, Alice St. Germain wondered if the program could be adapted for the commercial industry. “We started doing the tax credits in 2001-02 and we didn’t think this would apply to commercials,” she says. “Then I got approached by Will French and he said, ‘Yeah, it would work.’ He was a tax broker so I jumped in. The first bunch of credits I did was a fling, but soon I was off and running.” Now, after seven years, Alice and her commercial production company Wonderland Films are going strong. “The reason [the tax credits are] so successful is that the State is on it,” she says. “And they are making sure people aren’t taking advantage of it. “I want to see more commercials [utilize] Louisiana film tax credits. They are missing out. It would benefit them to shoot here. Not only in New Orleans but everywhere in the state. We could fake the Midwest, we can fake a lot of things. We can’t fake mountains! There are a lot of things we can’t fake, but we can fake a lot of things.” In addition to Louisiana’s natural assets, St. Germain has seen a crew base grow to cater to the industry. “There is a nook where people do commercials like I do,” she says. “And you will find that in the art department, you will find that in grip and electric you will find that in production staff. Commercials are a different animal than features. The same skill set transfers but here is where it differs: in commercials, you’ve got to work a lot faster and you wear more hats. In other words, I’m waiting for paperwork on this thing I shot Monday. I don’t have a week to wrap this work (like in film), I needed that paper two days ago!” St. Germain continues to see a wide range of companies bringing large commercial production to Louisiana. “[Nike] was big,” she remembers. “I did two of them that centered around a professional sports person. Reggie Bush and Chris Paul. Those are all very big because when you start dealing with athletes of that stature, it gets big in a hurry. The Chris Paul one we were in the New Orleans Arena basketball court.” “Chevrolet was shot in several states,” she says of another national commercial, which shot in Louisiana for a few days. “Again we probably hired a crew of sixty and shot several locations. After one or two days of prep, they were like, ‘We can do the tax credits.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, that is what I was trying to tell
On set in New Orleans
you!’ That was for Station Films, and Station has brought a lot of production work to New Orleans. They have been really good and they love shooting in Louisiana. They are very, very loyal. So they did Direct TV and before that they did Nyquil and they came back in the spring and did Nyquil again. I wasn’t on it because I was doing Zatarain’s.
photo courtesy of Wonderland Films
They wanted to use me but I was already booked. But I’m saying this: they keep coming back and that is a wonderful thing.” For more information on Alice St. Germain and how commercial productions can earn Louisiana film tax credits, visit the Wonderland Films official website at www.wonderlandfilms.info. S www.scenelouisiana.com | 73
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Photos by Caitlin Barry Friends of Scene Magazine and film industry professionals sipped Colombiana Cocktails after hours at Ste. Marie on Poydras Street in New Orleans to celebrate the theatrical debut of Colombiana, starring Zoe Saldana.
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THE UNSCENE All Quiet on the Waterfront My inbox has been empty for months. The whispers of lurid business practices and lazy deals have gone quiet. Two years ago, when I started this column, braggadocio swelled within me at the mere mention of misdeeds. To pin ne’er-do-wells against a wall in a bar room brawl was my dream. But with the state filled to the brim with film and television series, it’s hard not to just sit back and be thankful. While our friends in Los Angeles and New York are struggling in harsher economic climates, Louisiana really is fortunate to be a place where locals are working, and with more work right around the corner. While the mission of this slick rag is not unlike many of the industries it covers (hint: Scene’s here to entertain, folks), they also want to do their best to remind parents and politicians alike that there are real careers in entertainment. There is real economic impact being brought to the state by the people in the pages preceding this column. From musicians to actors to producers, they are all an important part of bringing millions in economic impact while worldwide economic skies are cloudy. The list of Louisiana’s achievements continues to grow. Quentin Tarantino’s new movie Django Unchained is preparing right now to shoot in New Orleans at Second Line Stages early next year. The second season of A&E’s drama Breakout Kings is shooting in Baton Rouge at the Celtic Media Centre. Projects large and small are shooting and spending money in Houma and Lafayette and Shreveport and Monroe. And Broadway is following suit, as well it should. Oh, and Tom Cruise is on his way to Baton Rouge. How ya like them apples? Deep down, Louisiana is the same cultural melting pot it’s always been. But now, when you finish your gumbo, there’s gold. - The UnScene Writer Submit tips to unscene@scenelouisiana.com. Anonymity guaranteed.
84 | October/November 2011