Scene Magazine October/November 2012

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VOL. 3, ISSUE 6 | October/November 2012 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Micah Haley CREATIVE DIRECTOR Erin Theriot MANAGING EDITOR Alexandra Fraioli EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Jenny Bravo, Jillian Aubin GRAPHIC ARTIST Burton Chatelain, Jr. DESIGN ASSISTANTS Alanna Scurlock DIRECTOR OF SALES Gene Jones

EDITOR’S LETTER

T

he unexpected loss of prolific filmmaker Tony Scott is a profound one. Though sometimes misunderstood by film critics, Scott was a pioneer who created the look of the modern blockbuster with films like Top Gun, Days of Thunder and Crimson Tide. Big, loud and full of ambition, Scott’s films in the late 1980s and the 1990s defined studio filmmaking.

A little known story about Tony Scott is an important one for Louisiana. Hurricane Katrina endangered the State of Louisiana’s experiment in attracting the entertainment industry. The films that were prepping in the city were forced to evacuate north to Shreveport. But as floodwaters receded, no one was sure if filmmaking would ever return.

Enter Tony Scott. Only a few months after Katrina, with the city still mostly empty, Scott brought a major studio feature to New

8 | October/November 2012

Orleans. Reuniting with frequent collaborator Denzel Washington, the director decided to shoot the scifi actioner Déjà Vu in the Crescent City. He not only created over 100 jobs for local crew members to come home to, but he gave the city a much-needed success story.

Filming Déjà Vu in New Orleans let the international film industry know that New Orleans was back.

Later, he would executive produce the New Orleans set and shot film Welcome to the Rileys, and Cyrus, a comedy from Metairie natives, the Duplass Brothers.

Scott was always innovating, both in terms of style and substance, with films like Man on Fire and Domino. He also mentored many filmmakers, Quentin Tarantino, Joe Carnahan and Richard Kelly among them.

Tony Scott is a filmmaker we won’t soon forget.

MICAH HALEY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

editor@scenelouisiana.com

SALES Brinkley Maginnis, Sean Beauvais FASHION STYLIST Alexandra Fraioli COVER PHOTO Tiffany Rose CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Jason O’Dell, Heidi May, Frank Aymami, Scott E. Simon, Chad West, Anne Marie Fox, Alan Markfield, Eric Charbonneau, Caitlin Barry, Barry Wetcher, Mark St. James, Michael Tran, Synthia Bittenfield, Elizabeth Shaw, Frank Masi, Jody Lee Lipes, Zade Rosenthal, Wilson Webb, Saeed Adyani, Ron Phillips, Claudette Barius, Murray Close, Frank Ockenfels CONTRIBUTING WRITERS James Napper, III, AJ Buckley, Susan Ross, Jillian Aubin, Jenny Bravo, Arthur Vandelay Scene Magazine At Raleigh Studios Baton Rouge 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 Champagne President, AJ Buckley Vice President, Micah Haley Display Advertising: Call Scene Magazine 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 @ 2012 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.

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CONTENTS ON THE COVER

Henry Rollins

10 | October/November 2012

SCENE ON THE EXPENDABLES 2 JASON STATHAM and Sylvester Stallone are teaming up in yet another actionpacked project. Their latest film, The Expendables 2, was an epic blockbuster, setting records this summer. The duo is set to work together again this fall in Homefront, an action drama laced with drug deals and narco trafficking. Set to open in 2013, the film also stars Winona Ryder, Kate Bosworth and Frank Grillo.

Jason Statham as Lee Christmas photo by Frank Masi

James Franco as Will Rodman photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES Elizabeth Olsen as Martha photo by Jody Lee Lipes

MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE It’s almost seems impossible to step out of the shadow with siblings like Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen. The superstar sisters have mastered all markets, from television to movies to fashion. But don’t discount the star power of their younger sister, ELIZABETH OLSEN. A riveting Martha in Martha Marcy May Marlene, Olsen delivers a powerful performance. She leads as Marie in Spike Lee’s remake of the 2003 South Korean thriller Oldboy.

14 | October/November 2012

Something about JAMES FRANCO just screams chemist. In Rise of Planet of the Apes, his creation, originally intended as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, causes the apes to develop higher level thinking, resulting in an attempt to overtake mankind. He goes from brewing biochemical monkey brain-food, to brewing meth in his next project, Homefront. Franco is working with Sylvester Stallone in the action thriller, now filming in Louisiana.

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SCENE ON THE AVENGERS SAMUEL L. JACKSON, as S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury, recently brought together Marvel superheroes Iron Man, Captain America, The Hulk and Thor to save the world from the evil Loki. In a vastly different upcoming role, Jackson will have a small, but key ‘bad guy’ role in the upcoming American remake of Oldboy. Though his specific role is still under wraps, he is said to be the victim in a crucial torture scene.

Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury photo by Zade Rosenthal

Ryan Phillippe as Louis Roulet photo by Saeed Adyani

THE LINCOLN LAWYER RYAN PHILLIPPE turned heads in his performance alongside Matthew McConaughey in 2011‘s The Lincoln Lawyer as a wealthy playboy with a violent streak. Unlike any previous role, as well as his personality, the brutal character was a challenge for him. Now, Phillippe is ready to take on new challenges behind the camera in his current project Shreveport (aka Chained), filming in Baton Rouge. In addition to starring in the thriller, Phillippe will also direct. The film is being produced

by Marc Burg’s Twisted Pictures, responsible for the SAW franchise.

MEN IN BLACK III

Josh Brolin as Young Agent K photo by Wilson Webb

The battle for the universe is never-ending. Just ask Agents J and K from the MIB. This summer, Agent K, or at least a younger version of Tommy Lee Jones’ Agent K, was played by JOSH BROLIN in the third film in the Men in Black series. His current project, Spike Lee’s Oldboy, was originally directed by South Korean director Chan-wook Park. Brolin actually asked for Park’s permission to star in the remake because of his high regard for the 2003 original. Park gave his blessing, and the film is underway in Louisiana at Second Line Stages.

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McConaughey returns to the Crescent City to shoot a new television series, True Detectives.

Alongside Woody Harrelson, McConaughey plays the role of Rust Cohle in a manhunt for a serial killer deep in the bayou. HBO has picked up the drama for eight episodes, so far.

Matthew McConaughey as Dallas in Warner Bros. Pictures’ Magic Mike photo by Claudette Barius

Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox photo by Ron Phillips

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES MORGAN FREEMAN recently reprised his role as Lucius Fox, the Wayne Enterprises CEO and close friend to Batman in this summer’s record smashing The Dark Knight Rises. His next project, Olympus Has Fallen, which brings him to Louisiana, has been described as ‘Die Hard in the White House.’ Filming in Shreveport, the action thriller will be distributed by Nu Image/Millennium upon its release in 2014.

THE HUNGER GAMES WOODY HARRELSON’s recent HBO project Game Change just won big at the Emmys, but it was his performance in the wildly successful The Hunger Games that introduced him to legions of teenage fans unaware of a little movie about Larry Flynt. He’ll next be appearing in HBO’s True Detectives with Matthew McConaughey.

Woody Harrelson as Haymitch Abernathy photo by Murray Close

18 | October/November 2012

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by AJ Buckley

DAVID NUTTER David Nutter is an Emmy Award winning director well known for his success directing television series pilots, including Millennium, Roswell, Dark Angel, Smallville, Without a Trace, Supernatural, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and The Mentalist. He has also directed episodes of 21 Jump Street, The X-Files, The Sopranos, ER, Entourage, HBO’s Game of Thrones and the feature films Cease Fire and Disturbing Behavior.

What made you want to become a director?

I was a voice major in college. I was a singer and I wanted to be the next Barry Manilow. And after about three years of that, I realized that wasn’t going to happen. So I kept saying to myself, “What can I do? What can I attach my passion for music and emotional storytelling to?” In 1980, after three years of music school, I took a Super 8 film class because I wanted to maybe write music for films. And in doing that, I fell in love with the process, almost in respect to the blue collar aspect of rolling up my sleeves and just going and making something. I had something I could take and transfer my love of music into that, and it worked out very well. It’s always the situation in people’s lives, I find, that they may have a dream to be “this” but a lot of times they aren’t able to be that. So they have to find what they can become to, in some respects, fill that need in life that one needs to fill.

Sometimes you have to swivel and change and find what’s going to be best for you. I tell people, everyone wants to be a director but if you can’t direct, maybe you could be a photographer or a cameraman or a different area in this business that still includes the things that you like that you can succeed at.

What was your biggest fear?

Not being prepared. Not having the answers. Not having the knowledge.

You walk onto a set and it’s a situation where you have 200 people sitting there saying, “What’s next?” And you have to know what’s next. You have to be one step, two steps, ten steps, or a hundred steps ahead of everyone else. It’s very important for me as a director to be the navigator. I have to navigate the ship. I don’t always have to drive it, but I have to at least navigate it so everyone knows where we’re headed, and we all feel like we’re working in the same world. That’s very important: to create an atmosphere on set where everyone feels like we’re accomplishing something, that “this guy” knows what he’s doing and it’s coming out well. My real fear is going to sleep every night and not being prepared for the next day’s work.

What was your lowest point?

I had directed a thousand pilots, and I was very successful at that, and I started getting offers for films. I kept turning the films down. I finally started to do a film that, on the outside, had the makings of a good movie. It was called Disturbing Behavior. And of course, you were in it, AJ. And I got a chance to meet you and a lot of wonderful actors, and show the world what you could do. But for me as a director getting the film together, the toughest thing was that the script wasn’t all the way there and I needed to make changes. It was a tough slog from the beginning to the very end of it. And it got to the point where I was in the cutting room of the show, and the studio 22 | October/November 2012

had cut the movie down to seventy-two minutes. At the lowest point of my career, I went to the bathroom. As they were cutting frames out of scenes, I was sitting on the toilet in the bathroom. I said to myself, “I’m never going to go through this again. This is my lowest point.”

I got up after that and really fought like hell to be able to drive my own life. To do the things I wanted to do. To work with the people I wanted to work with. To do the caliber of work I wanted to do. But I needed that moment in my life to say, “I don’t want to feel like this again.” Now, on any project I’m involved in, it’s about the caliber of the material, the caliber of the people and whether or not I feel like I can do a good job.

And now, with respect to my career, I get an opportunity to do that.

I’m able to do the best jobs in town. I get to work on the best material in television, the best storytelling out there. I think television is a superior art form when it comes to telling stories. Film is much more limited.

What kept you from walking away?

I guess I had done it long enough that I still had confidence in myself. I had been very successful until that point, and I realized I wasn’t going to let this situation deter that. I still had faith in myself and the people I worked with.

And I had a family, so I couldn’t go pump gas or something else! I had to keep going but I wanted to do it on my own terms.

After that low point in my career, a year later, I did a pilot for 20th Century Fox and Fox Television that ended up becoming a pilot on the WB called Roswell. It was a television pilot that was not unlike my movie Disturbing Behavior, with respect to the tonality and attitude of what I wanted that movie to be. I got a chance to do all the things I wanted to do on my movie on that pilot, and the pilot ended up being very successful.

That was really a nice opportunity to have a terrible low point in my career lead up to a high point. Woody Allen once said, “You don’t grow as an artist unless you fail.” I’ve tried to use that adage as long as I can remember.

Who has been your closest ally?

I’ve had great agents at William Morris Endeavor, Richard Weitz and Rick Rosen. They were very positive. I’ve worked with great people. Chris Carter is someone who gave me a lot of great opportunities early on. He really believed in me. Probably the two guys that gave me my biggest opportunities were Glen Morgan and Jim Wong. They plotted to get me on the X-Files and they also gave me the opportunity to direct my first pilot.

But I have to say prior to that, my biggest ally, the real luckiest point of my career was when I directed a low budget film called Cease Fire back in Miami. Prepped in ’83 and did the movie in January of 1984.

George Hernandez, who was a great guy and a Vietnam veteran, he’d written this film about a Vietnam veteran who had post-traumatic stress disorder. I talked him into hiring an actor who at that point hadn’t done a whole lot of stuff. He happened to be Don Johnson. And a month after we finished our movie, he became Sonny Crockett [in Miami Vice].

I move to Los Angeles on a big high, very happy, and went out and got an agent. I started to take meetings. I was in Los Angeles for about a year. I should have gone right into television because, really, the movie I directed was a movie-of-the-week type of film. I would go to all these big feature meetings and they would say, “What do you want to do next?” But I didn’t have that next script in my hand to say, “This is what

I want to do.” But I would always say, “I’m ready! I’m ready to go!”

So, I came out to Los Angeles and I couldn’t get arrested directing traffic. I actually didn’t work for a year. When you’re a director in Los Angeles, you’re kind of a jack-of-all-trades, master of none.

You can’t really do anything else. You want people to think you’re a director because, in some respects, it’s sometimes about making people believe you’re doing well in what you want to do. At least I could say I directed something. But I hadn’t directed anything in a long time, and I was becoming very frustrated with Los Angeles.

When I was in junior high, I used to play golf. When you’re in Los Angeles and you’re not working, you get to play a lot of golf. I was playing very well, and I went out with two buddies to play golf at the Harding Golf Course in Los Angeles. Some guy happened to join us as a fourth player.

He was a gentleman named Patrick Hasburgh, who had just created a new show called 21 Jump Street. An interesting story about Patrick is that eleven years earlier, he was a ski instructor in Aspen, Colorado for people like Michael Eisner, Michael Ovitz and Stephen J. Cannell.

Stephen Cannell took him under his wing as an aspiring writer. Patrick went on to create Hardcastle and McCormick and now he had done this new show 21 Jump Street about cops working high school undercover.

I was kind of baby-faced and a younger guy, and we played rounds of golf, and he asked me lots of questions about my film and about myself.

I guess I answered all the right answers because after we played, we had a little beer and he said, “I’ll be in touch.” I said, “Oh great, nice to talk to you.”

The next day my agent called me and said, “You’ve got an episode of 21 Jump Street to direct.” It even got to the point where he had called a producer, and said, “I want to hire Dave Nutter to direct an episode.” The producer said, “Ok, I’ll take a look at his film and we’ll talk.” Patrick said, “No, I want you to hire him.”

On this episode of 21 Jump Street, one of the producers Bill Nuss came up to me and said, “So you did go to film school, right?” And I had gone to film school! So it turned out very well and I did that for a little while, built up my career by building up friendships, and the rest is history.

The morning before the moment that changed your life, what were you doing?

I almost didn’t play golf that day. The guys I normally played with weren’t playing, so I went off and played with two guys that I normally don’t play with. I remember sitting at their house and saying, “Hey are we going to go play? Yeah, let’s go play.” And I almost didn’t go. It was just one of those things where I had almost just given up, accepting that I would never work again. I didn’t know whether an opportunity would happen.

But opportunities happen when you least expect them, and you have to know when to dance, so to speak. Opportunities may happen, but you have to have the talent and ability to back it up, or at least work hard on the opportunity, sometimes it may not be a positive experience. But it has turned out well and I can write off all my golf games from now on.

What were some words that kept you going?

It’s about perseverance. It’s about energy. It’s about drive. I’m a big believer in positive manipulation. You can get a lot more done by being positive. I like to have a good time. I like to work hard but I like people to know that they are contributing something. People like to work with me, I think, and that’s important to me. Everyone tries very hard, and I think if you live a positive life and take a positive attitude about your work, positive things can happen. And I’ve found that about working with actors and crewmembers, that if they know that you are there, and that you give a s**t and you care, they’ll do anything for you.

BEFORE THE SCENE

DAVID NUTTER How have you changed?

I’ve hopefully become more mature, but, probably, not really. It’s interesting, I’m talking to you right now on a Saturday afternoon in Belfast, Ireland, and I’ll be prepping on Sunday as well. It never gets easier. It’s always about doing the work. And I believe that I need to do that. Sometimes people will say, “David, you know what you’re doing. You don’t have to work so hard.” I always say, “I do have to work so hard, and it’s something I’ve always done and always will do.”

What are some words that you have to inspire others?

In life, one has to be an idealist. But you have to be pragmatic. You have to realize where you fit. It’s a situation where if you keep your eyes open, you’ll find that spot where you fit. It may not be what you want to do, but it may be something that’s kin to that, close to it that you can actually make something out of. To make it your own.

When I did my first film, I had an interview with The Today Show and the film had done very well with helping veterans cope with being back from Vietnam. It was really one of the first films about post-traumatic stress disorder. And they were having lots of screenings all over the country and it was affecting veterans. They finally felt welcomed home. That’s the final line of the movie, “Welcome home.” It really affected a lot of veterans in a powerful way. I’d actually gone to a screening once, and when it was over, I saw three sets of veterans with their wives. Actual tears, bawling and crying, after seeing the film. They asked me a question. I was, at the time, twentythree years old. They asked me about the process and I said, “Y’know… we walked blindly into the fire but we had a firm step.” You may not know where you’re going, but whatever you do, take a firm step and go for it. S A partner in Scene Magazine and the president of Louisiana Entertainment Publishers, AJ has starred for the last eight years as Adam Ross on the hit TV show CSI:NY, now on Friday nights at 8pm on CBS. Originally from Dublin and raised in Vancouver, he has spent the past twelve years in Los Angeles acting, writing and directing. He is currently in pre-production in Louisiana on North of Hell, in which he will star and produce. Find out more on Twitter at @AJohnBuckley and at www.ajbuckley.net. www.scenelouisiana.com | 23

STATE OF THE ARTIST

RJ MITTE

photo courtesy of AMC

IS BREAKING BAD

by Jillian Aubin

A

native of Lafayette, RJ Mitte moved to Los Angeles in 2006. A newcomer to acting, he soon booked the role of Walt, Jr. on AMC’s Breaking Bad, one of the most critically acclaimed shows of the last decade. On hiatus in the middle of the show’s fifth and final season, Mitte speaks with Scene.

“Growing up in Lafayette was awesome, I loved it. I actually moved to Los Angeles for my younger sister. And I just got into acting really quickly, and it was insane. Once I started it, I just kept going and going. I’ve been in L.A. for six or seven years now and I love it,” says Mitte. “I still go back to Lafayette every once in a while to visit friends.”

Ironically, Louisiana’s film industry

24 | October/November 2012

began to expand just after Mitte’s move to Los Angeles. “I literally left Lafayette, and then all the movies moved from L.A. to Louisiana,” he says.

“It was funny when I heard someone had booked six movies to shoot in New Orleans. I was like, ‘What?!’”

After taking acting lessons, Mitte was cast as Walt Jr., the son of Walter White, a role that has brought actor Bryan Cranston three consecutive Emmys for outstanding lead actor in a drama series for playing a high school chemistry teacher who turns to dealing meth after being diagnosed with lung cancer. Over its five-season run, the drama has chronologically progressed only one year, while Mitte has aged six years since the pilot was shot.

Mitte six years ago in the pilot episode of Breaking Bad photo courtesy of AMC

STATE OF THE ARTIST

Mitte six years ago in the pilot episode of Breaking Bad

photo courtesy of AMC

“The show’s been in production for about six years, which is so character [Walter White]. That’s the great thing about the show, crazy because I got the show when I was thirteen or fourteen, and is that you never know what’s going to happen. You’re really I’m twenty now,” says Mitte of the role that requires him to remain just a puzzle piece, and at the end of the day, I don’t even know a teenager. “When the show’s in production, I shave every day, who the next bad guy is going to be. It’s always a mystery as to but it’s also the hair cut and style. There’s the makeup and clothes how all of these pieces of the show are going to come together.”

The television show has accumulated a devoted, cult following too. I luckily don’t have to do too much since I look younger.” in addition to its critical acclaim, and the cast made an appearance Despite the show’s chronology, it is anything but slow. The at Comic-Con in San Diego this past summer. Usually a convention AMC drama has become notorious for unpredictable storylines reserved for superhero movies, that grow from the seemingly RJ MITTE ON BEING A LOUISIANA NATIVE the cast of Breaking Bad attended simplest elements.

Under without knowing what to expect. the leadership of creator and Growing up in Lafayette was awesome, “Comic-Con was really just so executive producer Vince I loved it.

I still go back to Lafayette every once surreal.

I’m still in shock about Gilligan, even the cast can’t it.

It really is crazy,” he recalls. wait to read every script that in a while to visit friends.

“We were getting ready to go on emerges from the writer’s room. stage, we were all behind this big “It’s wild, it really is. It’s curtain and they showed the season five trailer for Breaking Bad, weird, because we really don’t talk to the writers. We’re filming and the crowd was just crying.

I think there was close to 5,000 fans in New Mexico, and they’re in Burbank, California. We don’t showed up and they had to turn people away.

I walked out onto the have too much communication with them,” he says. “We get stage and thought, ‘Wow, this is rock star status!’

The fans there the scripts just a week before, or sometimes a day before filming. What you see on Breaking Bad is all in the scripts. It’s are very intelligent, and I think that the fans are even worse than just astonishing every week to see what they come up with.” critics [to please]. They’re just so harsh on everything they watch.”

Prior to Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston starred in Malcolm Even Mitte confesses he has very little knowledge of the fate of his character on the show. “My character can really go in any in the Middle. Since joining the series, Mitte cites the series star direction,” he says. “You never know, especially with Bryan’s as a major influence on his career. “I love Bryan, I’ve learned 26 | October/November 2012

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STATE OF THE ARTIST

Mitte and Bryan Cranston in Breaking Bad

most of everything I know about acting from him. It’s wild because without this show, I think I would be a completely different person. I don’t know where I would be or how I would be as an actor. It’s great watching Bryan, who’s such a truly talented actor, and a very genuine guy as well.

Everyone on the show is a great actor, they’ve all had years of experience. It’s one of those jobs where you get to learn on the job. I get so excited every day just driving to work.”

In addition to his work on Breaking Bad, Mitte recently starred in a short film called Stump. “I did a short film in New Mexico with some friends of mine,” he says. “It’s a very 70s horror, almost a Quentin Tarantino style to it.”

Mitte also has a documentary in the works called Vanished: The Tara Calico Story. “It’s about a missing person’s case, and it’s been really interesting because I knew her family, and I’m good friends with their family. It was amazing to be a part of something to bring this story to life.”

Mitte is confident about his future as the end of Breaking Bad’s run draws nearer. “I’ve kept moving forward, and I’m going to see what the future has in store for me. We’re getting to the end of Breaking Bad. It’s very scary, but it’s also freeing in a way. I’m just excited to see the ending.”

The final eight episodes of Breaking Bad’s highly anticipated final season are currently in production, set to premiere on AMC in the summer of 2013. S 28 | October/November 2012

RJ Mitte

photo courtesy of AMC

photo by Frank Ockenfels/AMC

FILM |

NOAH SEGAN IN LOOPER

by Micah Haley Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Noah Segan in Looper

N

oah Segan is an actor who has starred in Deadgirl, Brick and The Brothers Bloom. The latter two were collaborations with writer/director Rian Johnson and actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who Segan joined again on Looper, a sci-fi film that shot in New Orleans last year.

We spoke on the phone before Looper’s world premiere.

MH: I’ve been excited about Looper since I first heard it was Rian’s next project. How does your character “Kid Blue” fit into the film?

NS: The hierarchy of the Looper world is such that we have the

bosses who are in the future that you really don’t know anything about, and the guy who oversees stuff in the present is Jeff Daniels’ character, Abe, and he’s a working man. He has two sets of people who work under him. He’s got the Gat Men and the Loopers. The Loopers have this job that is very simple: they are triggermen. They have the job with the big gun called the blunderbuss, which is sort of this futuristic shotgun. Their job is to blow people away when they need to blow them away. And they blow away people from the future.

The guys who are just right above them are called Gat Men. And they’re the real gangsters. They’re the guys in all black in the hats, they carry a gat, which is sort of a pristine revolver – a tool of accuracy and elegance. And my character Kid Blue is has pretty much the most badass gat. Everyone else’s gat is this black color and mine is this beautiful chrome with a wood handle that they molded for my hand. It looks like something out of an old west movie and I get to dress like a badass cowboy. It’s a game of cat and mouse between Joe and Bruce, and I’m the bulldog coming after the both of them.

It’s a great, unique movie. I just got so lucky with it. I feel like I got invited to a really fancy party, and I showed up and got wasted.

30 | October/November 2012

photo by Alan Markfield

MH: “Kid Blue” is also your nickname in real life, isn’t it?

What’s the story behind it?

NS: A buddy of mine in New York is a writer named Paul

Sato. He’s one of the guys who gave me the love of cinema that you get when you’re a teenager. He was the guy who showed me Dennis Hopper and Westerns and 60s and 70s culture. The American New Wave, Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, that kind of stuff.

I was going through the transition that a young man goes through as he discovers what he wants to do with his life. I had my share of adventures as a teenager and Paul said, “You gotta see this movie. You gotta see Kid Blue. I don’t know how you’re gonna see it because it’s not on tape. It’s Dennis Hopper, it’s Warren Oates, and it’s about an outlaw who’s getting a little long in the tooth to be an outlaw. He’s called Kid Blue and he’s getting a little too old to be a kid, if you know what I mean, in the old West. He’s trying to go straight and you gotta find this movie.”

So, I went to Kim’s Video in New York, and I found a bootleg version of Kid Blue. I watched it and something clicked. It just became my movie. And people started calling me Kid Blue. They started calling me Kid. I got this thing for Westerns, I got this thing for Billy the Kid, and they started calling me Kid. And I was always sort of the youngest guy hanging around anyway, so it made sense and eventually it stuck as a nickname. And when Rian was writing Looper and he had a vision for a character and that vision was Kid Blue.

MH: Now I have to track this movie down and see it.

So, you’d worked with Rian before on Brick and The Brothers Bloom. When did he tell you that he wanted you for Looper?

NS: Brick was the first movie that I really worked on and it made me my best friends in the world. Joe and Rian are two of my best friends.

And the extended family of his producer Ram and his DP, Steve, his

| FILM

composer, Nathan… these are people who are my friends, real friends. Like, bury-a-body-for-them kind of friends. We had this great experience with Brick just getting to show it to people. Who knows what’s going to happen with a little movie like that? And it turns out people saw it and they like it. We were able to keep being friends and do The Brothers Bloom. And I think Looper was a really concerted effort on Rian’s part - then subsequently the big players around us, Ram Bergman his producer and Joe. When I opened up the script for Looper, I saw this character that was named after me. It’s the greatest gift ever to have someone put that kind of trust in you. And then we all go down to New Orleans and spend three months playing and making it. It’s kind of the best city in the world. And I’m from New York, man! So for me to say that, for me to put New Orleans up there with New York… five generations of New Yorkers are rolling around in their grave right now.

MH: That’s a great story. And I’ve heard other New Yorkers say similar things about New Orleans.

NS: It really puts perspective into the phrase ‘working

for the weekend.’ There aren’t many places that are what they report to be. You have this fairytale idea about the great cities, about Paris and London, Los Angeles and New York.

And then there’s New Orleans, which is selling this concept of great food and great music. Everybody having drinks and everybody laughing. And that’s a great thought, right?

Then you get there, and you realize that even the people who live there want that! You go to work and then you expect to listen to awesome music and have a great cocktail, a good meal, and spend time with wonderful people who are all working their asses off so they can live in harmony together. I don’t think there are many places like that, but New Orleans is one. I had the best time. I told my film friends, “Anything in New Orleans, just send me down there.”

It’s a really old city that has to police itself and stand up for what it believes in. It’s got this ethos that’s written, and people take it really seriously. People take the idea of being kind to one another, of enjoying art and cuisine, really to heart.

You walk down Magazine Street from one end to the other and you see real people who are doing it. My best memories are enjoying reading the paper and sitting outside of Mojo Coffee on Magazine with the people that live in New Orleans.

MH: I remember that you and Paul Dano were kind enough to drop by a party we had at Le Phare.

NS: Your party was one of the first movie events I attended

in New Orleans. I had been there for a while and Paul Dano and I walked in and immediately it was like, “Welcome.” We were relaxed. It was like we had this sense that it was a weirdly egalitarian event. There were people in gowns, in suits, and there were also guys who looked like us, who had just come from work and were maybe a little bit tired but it felt like a real party. Not some schtick that people were putting on to sell something. It just felt like people were trying to have a good time!

MH: Another party you guys made it to was Comic Con. I heard that the reception for Looper was amazing.

NS: Again, I snuck into a fancy party. I’ve never been in a really

big movie. I’m used to film festivals, which have good parties and fans, but this is like the inmates running the asylum. This is

Noah Segan at Comic Con photo by Eric Charbonneau/SPE www.scenelouisiana.com | 31

FILM | exclusively for people like us. People who know about movies, about comics, about cool stuff [get together and say] let’s freak on that for a while.

I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s basically an entire city devoted to that.

It was great for me too because I don’t really have to do any of the heavy lifting. Not to say they don’t care about me, but we’ve got Bruce Willis in there. We’ve got Joe, we’ve got Emily Blunt, we’ve got Jeff Daniels. We’ve got people who are seasoned vets. I got to go say hi and get my picture taken and say a couple of nice things to people, but I really got to enjoy what all my friends didn’t get to enjoy. Just walking around and talking with people like me who like the same kind of stuff I do.

MH: After Looper is a hit and Rian Johnson is tapped to pick up where Christopher Nolan left off in the Batman universe, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt reprises his role from The Dark Knight Rises, what character would you like the opportunity to play in the Batman universe?

NS: I think Nolan and Rian have a lot in common in terms of their

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt and Noah Segan at Comic Con photo by Eric Charbonneau/SPE

philosophy and in terms of how hard they work and their attention to detail.

And also, their movie family: making movies with your friends is what you should do. I would be very happy to continue to fit in that paradigm.

As far as a specific character, that’s is tough! And I’m a big Batman fan. As a kid, you always identify with Robin, and I always sort of feel like everybody’s sidekick so that would be fun. I feel like I’d be stepping on Joe’s toes, though. The guy was tight-lipped for a year and a half on that.

MH: I don’t know how he was that disciplined.

NS: I don’t know how he was either, man. Because when you’re

hanging around with your buddies, a flinch, a wink or a smile’s gonna do it. He wouldn’t give anything up for the entire time.

But one of the things that I always liked though was the various degrees of Robin. I think I can handle the Robin that died, Jason Todd. Other than that, I’ve always enjoyed the Riddler.

There was something that I thought of when I first heard that Joe was hired for The Dark Knight Rises. People talk about the Riddler as sort of the dime store, poor man’s Joker, and one of the things that I always thought would have been interesting would have been if the comics or the films had explored that as part of the Joker’s cult of personality.

Like in The Dark Knight, you start seeing this Batman cult of personality popping up with all the fake Batmans and people starting to embrace the costume of this vigilante. It makes sense to apply the same thing to the Joker, and then, that makes room for the Riddler. I think I could do something like that. I’d like to come in as another DC character.

That’d be fun. I heard they were gonna do Green Arrow and I’ve always liked him. But if I could walk across the screen, I would be happy.

MH: Only a few years ago, there were some truly terrible movies made that were based on comic books, but now they are some of the most critically and commercially successful films being made.

NS: I would like to think some of the people making movies now,

whether it’s Nolan or Rian or even Wes Anderson, that this is the result of the geeks inheriting. This is the result of people that really do understand myth and philosophy. There is a really powerful, universal, hard-to-face truth that is in Looper. And a lot of it is built on archetypes. People sort of go, “Ok, what’s the character you play in 32 | October/November 2012

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Noah Segan

photo by Alan Markfield

Jeff Daniels and Noah Segan

photo by Alan Markfield

the movie?” Normal question. And I compare it a lot to Oliver Twist in that there’s a lot of dynamics there. You have Jeff Daniels that’s sort of this Fagan character. And then you’ve got Oliver in Joe. My character is sort of the Artful Dodger. Looper has this grand juxtaposition, which is old versus young. That’s the heart of the movie: Joe and Bruce. So I think that’s something that filmmakers are getting really sensitive to. I think that audiences are finding a comfort and a catharsis there.

One of the most exciting, original films in a decade, Looper is playing in theaters everywhere now. S

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TODAY’S SCENE

WHAT TO WATCH

AT THE 2012 NEW ORLEANS FILM FESTIVAL

by Alexandra Fraioli

K

eeping pace with the rapid growth of the film industry in Louisiana, the New Orleans Film Festival continues to expand with executive director Jolene Pinder at the helm. Louisiana-shot films are filling out film festivals around the world, and now locals have the opportunity to see them prior to their theatrical release. Films like The Paperboy, starring Matthew McConaughey, Nicole Kidman and Zac Efron, and The Iceman, starring Michael Shannon, Chris Evans and James Franco feature performances that will echo into awards season. And while the festival will continue to highlight films both locally shot and by locals, it is also attracting films like Fox Searchlight’s The Sessions, starring John Hawkes, William H. Macy and Helen Hunt.

Take a look at some of our most anticipated films of the festival, along with a sneak peek at A Film Fest Affair, Scene Magazine’s celebration of film and music that will be held at Second Line Stages, New Orleans’ own film studio in the Lower Garden District.

Compliance

courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

>>FRIDAY COMPLIANCE

>>THURSDAY

Directed by Craig Zobel. Produced by Craig Zobel, Theo Sena, Lisa Muskat, Sophia Lin and Tyler Davidson. Runtime: 90 min.

THE PAPERBOY

How easy it is to fall in line and comply without question, to blend in among the masses blindly following each other. Based almost entirely on true events that occurred in Kentucky in 2004, Craig Zobel’s Compliance explores just how far people are willing to go to follow orders, and how easily it is to persuade them from what they know is right and wrong. Starring Ann Dowd as the manager of a fast food restaurant and Dreama Walker as an employee, the film exposes human tendencies to bow to authority. The film has been recognized as one of the most disturbing, provocative and well executed films of the year, already sparking heated debates and conversations.

Perhaps the only way fitting to kick-off the New Orleans Film Festival is with a southern-fried, sweat-drenched film that keeps viewers on the edge of their seats. Opening the fest, Lee Daniels’ The photo by Anne Marie Fox Paperboy brought a slew of Directed by Lee Daniels. Produced by Hollywood heavyweights Lee Daniels, Cassian Elwes, Hilary Shor to the bayou while the and Ed Cathell III. Runtime: 107 min. film shot in Louisiana.

The drama features A-listers Matthew McConaughey, Nicole Kidman, Zac Efron, Macy Gray and John Cusack in what promises to be a true thriller as reporter Ward Jansen (McConaughey) and his younger brother Jack (Efron) uncover a corrupt legal system leading them all the way to death row.

Based on the bestselling novel by Pete Dexter, The Paperboy digs deep, exposing the inner workings of a seemingly sleepy, southern town.

34 | October/November 2012

>>SATURDAY NOT FADE AWAY From David Chase, the creator of the wildly popular and critically lauded series The Sopranos, comes Not Fade Away, a coming-of-age story set in 1960s suburban New Jersey. Starring John Magaro, the film follows a group of friends who try to break into the world of rock and roll and form a band. The film

photo by Barry Wetcher

Directed by David Chase. Produced by David Chase and Mark Johnson.

Runtime: 112 min.

has been selected as the 2012 New York

TODAY’S SCENE Film Festival’s Centerpiece Gala movie and is also set to open this year’s Austin Film Festival. This marks Chase’s first feature length film, though his television experience is quite extensive. Not Fade Away also features The Sopranos leading man and Emmy winner James Gandolfini alongside Bella Heathcote, Jack Huston and Brad Garrett.

PARTY LIKE IT’S 2012 >>>>>>>>>AT A FILM FEST AFFAIR

THE WOODSHED A recent graduate of the University of New Orleans, Kd Amond is a budding screenwriter, director and producer.

Her most recent short, a psychological thriller entitled The Ashton Leigh with Mason Joiner in Woodshed, originated The Woodshed as her graduate thesis Directed by Kd Amond. Produced by in film. The Woodshed Megan Edwards and JonGunnar Gylfason. features another UNO Runtime: 25 min. alumna, Ashton Leigh, as the film’s leading lady alongside rising New Orleans actor Hunter Burke. The Woodshed is about a young girl who escapes from the constraints of a religious cult, but eventually returns to face them.

>>SUNDAY

AKA DOC POMUS Directed by William Hechter & Peter Miller. Produced by Peter Miller, William Hechter and Sharyn Felder. Runtime: 98 min.

In a classic story of triumph over adversity, AKA Doc Pomus tells the transformation of Jerome Felder from a paralyzed victim of polio to one of the greatest blues songwriters of all time. After beginning his career as blues singer Doc Pomus, he transitioned to creating music for the most revered and prominent singers ever. Some of his most recognized work were the biggest hits of the era, including “Save the Last Dance for Me,” “This Magic Moment,” “A Teenager in Love” and “Viva Las Vegas.” The documentary features cameos by jazz and blues big names like Dr. John, Ben E. King, Joan Osborne, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and the legendary B.B. King. The film is already an instant favorite, having won the Festival Grand Prize at Stony Brook Film Festival.

photo by Mark St. James

For the first time, Scene Magazine is opening the doors of an exclusive, previously invitation-only party. The single largest event of the 2012 New Orleans Film Festival, A Film Fest Affair will feature live music from The Honorable South, an open bar, food from ten of Louisiana’s best restaurants and the opportunity to mingle with film professionals currently working on films shooting in Louisiana.

The venue is Second Line Stages, New Orleans only built for purpose film studio, constructed within a historic warehouse in the Lower Garden District. Second Line is currently hosting the next film from director Spike Lee, the American remake of Chan-wook Park’s Oldboy. Filming will pause for the weekend as filmmakers gather for A Film Fest Affair.

The centerpiece of the Affair’s live soundtrack is new school soul rock-nrollers The Honorable South, fronted by the beautiful Charm.

A melodic mix of Frontlady Charm of resurrected Southern The Honorable South rock, Motown and electric blues, the band will headline A Film Fest Affair, sandwiched between two soon-to-be-announced musical acts.

With over 2000 in attendance last year, A Film Fest Affair will sell out fast.

Advance tickets can be purchased at scenelouisiana.com/tickets or by buying an All-Access pass to the New Orleans Film Festival at neworleansfilmsociety.org/tickets.

Cocktail attire. Dress code strictly enforced.

www.scenelouisiana.com | 35

TODAY’S SCENE

WHAT TO WEAR

>>>>>>>>>AT A FILM FEST AFFAIR

SHATTERED Directed and produced by Imraan Ismail. Runtime: 14 min.

Imraan Ismail’s latest short, the dramatic horror mystery Shattered, is a glimpse into the life of a family dealing with a life altering event, the traumatic loss of their only child. As they strive to maintain a loving relationship and some sense of normalcy, the pain clearly affects the couple, seen in their dealings with each other. The short raises many unanswered questions about the child and parents. How did the child die? Is it the husband or wife who is actually going mad? But that doesn’t compare to the mystery of what lies in the laundry room...

>>MONDAY ABOUT CHERRY Eighteen year old Angelina’s (Ashley Hinshaw) home life is far from ideal. With an alcoholic mother, a shady step-father and a dead end job, she turns to posing for nude photography to collect an income. photo courtesy of NOFF When finances allow, she Directed by Stephen Elliott. Produced moves to San Francisco

by Gordon Bijelonic, Elizabeth Destro, and takes her newfound Jordan Kessler, Elana Krausz and Datari career to the next level Turner. Runtime: 102 min.

- adult movies. The whirlwind of the adult film industry coupled with her new cocaineaddicted lawyer boyfriend ( James Franco) present a contrast between the innocence of a young woman and lust of the body. About Cherry exposes a girl’s journey to self discovery amidst the backdrop of the San Francisco porn industry. Stephen Elliott’s bold directorial debut also features Heather Graham as Margaret, an adult film director.

36 | October/November 2012

Deciding which screenings to attend during the New Orleans Film Festival is always a challenge.

Deciding what to wear to A Film Fest Affair can be downright stressful. Take these tips to heart, and you won’t get denied at the door. You will be able to concentrate more on the movies and less on what you are wearing. [continued

on

p.

38.]

Karl Urban and Olivia Thirby at the Toronto International Film Festival Premiere of Dredd photo by Michael Tran

>>TUESDAY

THE SOMNAMBULIST Directed by Rachel Grissom. Produced by Debra Burke.

Runtime: 90 min.

Rachel Grissom had already established a successful career as a production sound mixer for film and television when she decided that she wanted to tackle a new challenge: the desired but often exhausting task of director for a full length film. Her directorial debut, The Somnambulist, will premiere at the New Orleans Film Festival on Tuesday, October 16.

“It’s nothing but exciting to finally be able to get to a point where we can start putting it out into the world and showing people,” says Grissom.

“It is about a woman who was viciously attacked before the movie even opens,” says Grissom, “and she is struggling to tell the difference between the emotional and mental fallout of that attack. She can’t remember what happened really, and she’s not even sure who did it.”

“Somnambulist” means sleepwalker. It’s an unusual title that calls to the early days of film. “Part of it came from the story that was pitched to me before I wrote the screenplay, focused on the male character

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TODAY’S SCENE who spends half of the movie in a coma,” explains Grissom. “And so the idea was, what kind of person is he? There are hints throughout the film - I’m not saying if this is true or not - that he might be a literal somnambulist.”

“I’m sort of a closet fan of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, so I liked the reference to that classic, horror film,” says Grissom of the 1920 silent horror film about a somnambulist named Cesare.

“Also, it’s a metaphor for the way some people go through their lives,” she says. “[The female lead, Rebekah] walks through her day in this sort of, terrified fog. The story is about her trying to figure Director Rachel Grissom out if she’s just losing it or photo by Caitlin Barry if she’s still in danger; if the person, whoever it is that did this to her, is still coming after her.”

Because of last minute changes in the film’s financing, the casting process underwent several phases, including the addition of several well-seasoned actors close to the start of filming. “We were [originally] only budgeted to fly in a couple,” explains Grissom, “and so we were going to have to choose which ones we were going to fly in. But then when the model changed, that changed to more like five or six.”

“It felt like a leap of faith to cast [Heather McComb, who plays Rebekah],” she says, “because I was having to do it without having met her and having to just go by the work I’d seen her do in other projects. It just felt right. So when she came in and was just fantastic, it was like, ‘Ha! Maybe I know how to do this.’”

“Heather delivers an amazing performance,” says Grissom of the veteran actress. “She just knocks it out of the park. The movie is basically from her point of view, so she’s in every scene. I cannot imagine how exhausting that had to be because it’s a very emotional part. She was just such a wonderful presence to have on set.”

Grissom’s first venture wearing the hat of director was a lengthy, but gratifying experience. “I’m very excited about it. It’s been such a long road, that to have a reward of any kind just feels a little surreal.” she says. “You just get so used to the hard part, that when the fun part finally starts to arrive, you’re like, ‘What?’ To have this large endeavor finally reaching the end is just so, it feels like a major milestone.”

38 | October/November 2012

WHAT TO WEAR

>>>>>>>>>AT A FILM FEST AFFAIR [continued from p. 36.]

Ladies, this fall one trend can carry you from work to a night out at a Hollywood premiere: leather makes everything better. Rock this trend and you can’t go wrong. Dresses, jeans and everything in between are running rampant in stores and on the red carpet. Not too sure about squeezing into that leather mini or skinnies? Fear not. Accessories can easily add dimension to your look without making you feel like a piece of beef jerky. Think leather jackets, boots and bags to accent an ensemble.

Another trend for gals this fall is lace. Lace everything. From entire outfits constructed of the delicate material to accents that really pop, lace is a timeless choice. Lace dresses incorporate the classic elegance of the fabric with contemporary cuts. Lace body-con dresses are wildly popular for cocktail parties or a girls’ night out. Donning blouses with lace cutouts is another great way to tweak this craze for work or going on a date.

Gentleman, it’s all about mixing in spice-tones and various shades of tan: rich cinnamon, deep mustard yellow, caramels and peanut butter rusty orange. The method of choice for effortlessly flaunting this fall trend are proper pants. Match with a neutral shirt and dark brown boots or sneakers for a casual event, throw on a blazer and you are ready to hit the swankest clubs in any city. Do it right, and you might even get into A Film Fest Affair.

On the other side of the color spectrum lies another cool hue for guys this fall. Midnight blue is a great alternative to traditional black or grey, especially for cocktail or formal attire. Pair with a button-up with an open collar for the right balance of cocktail and casual for a trendy event. Midnight blue suits are fantastic for the red carpet as well.

This incredibly versatile color can work with black or brown accessories, depending on the exact shade, making it immensely simple to fit in any wardrobe.

Of course, guys also have the option of a triedand-true staple: jeans and a sports jacket. But don’t let this seemingly casual suggestion be your go-to out of laziness. Ties aren’t a necessity, but leather shoes are a must for this look, that shirt and jacket better be pressed, and those jeans or slacks should look great, or beware: you risk the wrath of the fashion police at the front door. Anything less-than-classy will keep you from getting in.

Whether you are attending a screening at NOFF or bumping elbows with the elite at A Film Fest Affair, our fall trends are a perfect fit for a chic shindig in the steamy south. These simple additions to your closet can ease you into the fall season.

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TODAY’S SCENE >>WEDNESDAY deeply and candidly into the life of the poet, exposing concealed emotions that he dealt with on a daily basis. The drama premiered at 2012 Sundance Film Festival, garnering the Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic and also the Special Jury Prize for Ensemble Acting.

photo by Cynthia Bittenfield

FOUR Directed by Joshua Sanchez. Produced by Christine Giogio, Andrew Hauser and Kishori Rajan. Runtime: 76 min.

Starring Treme’s Wendell Pierce - featured on Scene’s August/ September cover - Four stirs up controversy and questions social norms in an intense narrative. The film explores two separate relationships and their effect on others in their lives, both directly and indirectly. Pierce, in a dramatically different role than Treme’s Antoine Batiste, plays Joe - a professor and father who seduces a teenage boy, June (Emory Cohen), via the Internet. Though Joe’s sexual deviance is clear, he maintains a gentle and caring nature throughout their relationship. Winning the audience award for best performance in a narrative at the Los Angeles Film Festival, Four shows what it means live a life authentic and honest to one’s own self.

>>THURSDAY THE SESSIONS When Mark O’Brien ( John Hawkes), a polio survivor living in an iron lung, seems destined to remain a virgin for his entire life, he turns Helen Hunt and John Hawkes in The Sessions to his local priest, courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures Father Brendan Directed by Ben Lewin. Produced by Ben (William H. Macy) Lewin, Stephen Nemeth and Judi Levine. for guidance. With Runtime: 94 min.

Father Brendan’s blessing, O’Brien implores the aid of a sex surrogate, Cheryl Cohen Greene (Helen Hunt), to help him officially reach his entry into ‘manhood.’ Based on O’Brien’s true story, The Sessions delves 40 | October/November 2012

Michael Shannon in The Iceman

photo by Anne Marie Fox

THE ICEMAN Directed by Ariel Vromen. Produced by Ehud Blieberg and Ariel Vromen. Runtime: 103 min.

Partially shot in Shreveport, The Iceman is the true story of seemingly ideal family man Richard Kuklinski (Michael Shannon) living a double life as a brutal hit man. He lives an apparently normal life in the New Jersey suburbs while secretly and shamelessly murdering over 100 people during the course of his career with the mafia. “Richie” keeps his contract killing career hidden until a former ‘business partner’ threatens the safety of his family. The thriller has already premiered at the Venice Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival and Telluride Film Festival. The star studded cast includes Winona Ryder, James Franco and Chris Evans. S

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scene SCENE’S PITCH PERFECT PREMIERE AT LSU’S UNION THEATRE

by Jenny Bravo photos by Elizabeth Shaw

P

itch Perfect returned to LSU’s campus on Tuesday, September 25 for a special cast & crew screening, hosted by Scene Magazine.

Supplementing cast and crew to fill the 1000 seat Union Theatre were eager LSU students. The showing began at 8:00, but students, eager to catch a free movie with an LSU backdrop, queued outside of the LSU Student Union as early as 4:30pm. The Union turned away the rest of the students in line, but producer Scott Niemeyer of Gold Circle Films ordered a second screening following the first.

Niemeyer introduced the film to students, thanking them for their patience with last year’s filming around campus. The fifth movie filmed on LSU’s campus since 2005, shooting occurred during the school day and in recognizable areas such as the Quad, the Greek Theater and the Swine Palace Theatre. It began filming in October and wrapped in December. Students at the screening embraced Pitch Perfect like it was an LSU football game, cheering for the LSU scenes and laughing at all of Rebel Wilson’s quick-witted one-liners.

Scene and Gold Circle Films hosted a VIP after party for cast and crew who attended the screening, many of whom are again working together in Baton Rouge on the feature film Shreveport, the directorial debut of Ryan Phillippe. In a reserved room in the Union, VIPs wined and dined after the showing, catered by LSU. The film follows Anna Kendrick’s character Beca, an edgy girl forced to attend college by her English Lit professor dad. As a bargain, he asks her to join one club, and if she doesn’t like it, he’ll allow her to drop out. She finds herself among the recently less-hot Bellas, an all-girl a cappella group struggling to reclaim its name in the competitions.

It’s a fun mix of musical and comedy, that does a great job of laughing at itself. See Pitch Perfect in theaters now, and prepared to get pitch slapped. S

The 1000-seat theater just before reaching capacity

LSU students wait for hours to see Pitch Perfect

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WILLIAM JOYCE’S RISE OF THE GUARDIANS

by Jillian Aubin

A glimpse of Rise of the Guardians

W

illiam Joyce is on the rise. In addition to his work in the film industry, the Shreveport native has illustrated and written over fifty children’s books. One of the author’s most recent works includes The Guardians of Childhood, the inspiration for a new animated feature film. Joyce and Guillermo Del Toro serve as executive producers on the film – re-titled Rise of the Guardians - which follows the story of beloved mythical characters, including Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and Jack Frost, as they unite to protect the imaginations of children everywhere from the dark spirit known as Pitch.

Even before its release, Rise of the Guardians will be recognized with the Hollywood Animation Award during the 16th Annual Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Film Awards on October 22. Then on November 21, actors Chris Pine, Isla Fisher, Hugh Jackman and Alec Baldwin will star in the computer-animated film.

Joyce’s previous work includes the animated series Rolie Polie Olie, also based on one of his book series, which received two Emmy Awards for outstanding special class animated program in 1999 and 2000, respectively. Joyce has also worked on animated feature films such as Toy Story, A Bug’s Life and Meet the Robinsons.

In 2009, Joyce co-founded Moonbot Studios, an animation and visual effects company based in Shreveport, with Reel FX co-founder Brandon Oldenburg. The animation studio has quickly garnered notice, producing The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore in 2011, which won the Academy Award for best animated short film.

Next up for the prolific visionary, Blue Sky Studios will adapt Joyce’s picture book Leaf Men into a feature film tentatively titled Epic. Joyce is the writer, producer and production designer on the film, which is set to be released in May of next year.

Be sure to check out Shreveport-based Moonbot Studios’ website at www.moonbotstudios.com to keep an eye on William Joyce’s work. S

46 | October/November 2012

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ABOVE THE LINE

HENRY

ROLLINS still rocks

by Micah Haley

H

enry Rollins can hold up his end of a conversation. The former frontman of the hardcore punk band Black Flag, Rollins has no shortage of enthusiasm, which he brings to audiences now as Grammy-winning spoken word artist and occasional film and television actor.

Now, in an election year, he is on a nationwide tour of all fifty state capitals.

48 | October/November 2012

ABOVE THE LINE

photo by Heidi May www.scenelouisiana.com | 49

ABOVE THE LINE MH: I’m a big fan of FX’s Sons of Anarchy. In the second season,

you played a character who is a white supremacist, who seems diametrically opposed to your personal ethos. How did you prepare to play a character like that? What your inspiration was for it?

a show at the House of Blues. That’s what the tourists know. But there are parts of New Orleans that are colorful, and if you’re not local, you didn’t know that you shouldn’t walk there after 9pm and now you have something in the memory like a scar on your cheek or something [laughs]. There’s a very wild side of New Orleans, and that’s also of great interest to me.

HR: By the very nature of the part, there wasn’t really a lot of preparation

MH: I’ve heard a lot of stories about crewmembers working in

to do. The character is fairly linear in that he’s an ideologue. He takes orders from his boss, who’s ultimately screwing him, just using him as a fall guy. And he just dispatches people. He doesn’t think about it. He doesn’t lose sleep over shooting a woman in the face if she has brown skin.

He’s part of a solution, in his mind, so it’s not like he’s having these deep moments of, “What have I turned into?” He just goes and does his thing.

The thing that threw a monkey wrench into that kind of flat mindset is that he’s a good dad. And so there is a nice opportunity [to contemplate], “How do you reconcile that conflict?” Which makes it more interesting.

But past that, he’s just kind of one of those guys who benefits by not thinking too much. So, the delivery is very flat, and there’s not a lot of complexity to it. He’s a blunt instrument. He’s not a scalpel. That made it kind of simple, in a way. If you think about it, he’s that guy. Why do you kill people? “Because the target needs to be eliminated.” Ok, well, you can’t reason with a guy like that. There he is, hugging his kids, and you’re like, “Jeez, what a weird dude.” And otherwise, he’s just another psychopath and a sociopath. There’s the fact that it’s never explained to you, the viewer, who the mom is. Where is she? Hell, maybe he killed her. And one time, I think I remember asking [writer and show creator] Kurt Sutter, is there back story on how these kids got here?

And I forget what he said. Maybe he said, “Think it up and bring it with you.” But I was never made clear on how those kids arrived at my house.

MH: You’ve mentioned before that you’re a big fan of New

Orleans, where Scene Magazine is based. What is it that you find attractive about the city? And what you find attractive about performing in the city, as well.

HR: Well, I think New Orleans is - and it’s been said to you before and

you’re quite aware of it, I’m sure - it’s this cultural Mecca in America. There’s nowhere in America like New Orleans. And there’s no state in America like Louisiana. It’s completely unique, it’s amazing. And so, it’s a great place to be. The culture is fascinating, old, historic and you can see it. You can see the history of it, the French influence and all of that. It’s American history right in your face. All of that is interesting to me. And the people, the accent - that New Orleans accent - I can’t do it, but I know it when I hear it - and the food. It’s a true melting pot of European and American culture. They’ll tell you that America is a melting pot, and in some parts and to a certain degree it is, but someone else - I wish I came up with it, but someone else did - said, “It’s more of a tossed salad.” In that, you’ll find a lot of component parts people-wise, but not necessarily assimilation and a true melting of the parts unless the black, Brazilian lady marries the white, Ohio guy. That’s the melting as I see it. Otherwise, it is a tossed salad in that everyone’s kind of smashed in together, but they’re all different.

But in New Orleans, you see the product of that kind of integration over centuries, or several decades. You see it. That to me is just fascinating to see history on the faces of people. And I always enjoyed a great deal of hospitality here. New Orleans is a place you can get caught up, and I know the locals know that, but a lot of tourists know Bourbon Street, Decatur, the House of Blues, the neighborhood that my bus is parked in when I do

50 | October/November 2012

New Orleans who didn’t make it to set the next morning.

HR: You gotta be careful in New Orleans. It’s a fast game, and if you’re not local, you could have a rough time. And I’m not putting anyone down, I’m just saying, [laughs] it’s a place where you really gotta watch it.

MH: Recently, you were introduced on a panel as some who

uses his shows to educate while you entertain. Do you consider yourself an educator?

HR: No, but I know at some points on stage I probably was saying something to someone in the audience that they were unaware of. Be it a fact or a statistic or reportage from a country I’ve been to. I realize that it might be new information to someone, but I’m just talking about it because that was what was in front of me. And so to me, I’m almost like a journalist reporting to you. But I think it’s a bit pretentious of me to say, “I’m here to teach you.” That’s a little much for me.

Put it this way: if I went to my show and Henry Rollins stood there and said, “Ok, I’m going to teach you a few things.” I’d go “Really? Really?” I’d leave. That would be really offensive to me, and you might not believe this, but I really do not seek to offend people anywhere at any time, really. I really don’t. Yeah, we might have flagrant disagreements on things, but I’m really not there to insult, and I’m not there to patronize - which to me is one of the gravest of insults - and so, I’m very careful not to do so. And that’s why I would never tell anyone who to vote for. That is just one of the rudest things ever. I would beg that you vote, if you are eligible, then to go get yourself an opinion.

Democracy needs you. But tell you who to vote for… I wouldn’t dare.

MH: I find it interesting what you were saying about sometimes being a journalist. Do you find that journalism is entertainment?

HR: No, not necessarily. If it’s done well, it can educate and entertain. Like a good documentary. Like Too Big to Fail or whatever a great documentary is for you. Where at some points, they may get funny. Inside Job. I don’t know if you ever saw that, I think it was up for an Academy Award. It’s about the financial meltdown. I recommend it to you very strongly.

There’s moments in it that were funny. They edited it in a way where there’s a few laughs when you’re in the middle of watching basically the world being turned into a financial funeral pyre. There’s moments of it that were funny. The point I’m making is that you can get hard information across and it doesn’t have to be dull. You can make it interesting and entertaining where the viewer or the listener is drawn in, and I think that’s really the goal. What I’m ultimately trying to do is be compelling, and I do that by keeping the material, hopefully it’s damn interesting because the best compliment I get, and it happens like every other tour, one guy will say, ‘You said goodnight, thanks for the show. And I thought to myself, what a rip off. He charges me twenty-five bucks, he’s only on stage for forty-five minutes. And then I looked down at my watch and

ABOVE THE LINE

Rollins as AJ Weston on Sons of Anarchy

you had been on stage for two and a half hours. And I didn’t understand how you were able to make the time pass so quickly.” And that’s about as good as it can possibly get for someone sitting in front of you. “Wow, the time went quickly.” And that’s about as good as I can make it for you.

MH: To promote your 2012 Capitalism tour, you took some interesting photos as Uncle Sam.

HR: I can take no credit for that whatsoever. I have this wildly creative, amazing assistant. She’s been working at my company for fifteen years, and she has a lot of great ideas. That was her idea. We were thinking, “Well, we have to put a face on this tour. There has to be an image for a cool Shepard Fairey poster.” And she said, “What do you think?” I said, “I got nothing.” She said, “Ok. Here’s my idea. It’s you dressed up as Uncle Sam, but you have a split lip and a black eye. Basically, Uncle Sam’s taking a beating right now.” And I said, “Wow that’s a great metaphor for America. Uncle Sam getting in a street fight and getting his ass kicked.”

Right now our economy’s getting kind of beat up, but we’ll recover. So it’s Uncle Sam out there getting kind of pushed around. I said, “How do we do that?” She goes, “I go to a costume store, I buy an Uncle Sam outfit, we bring in Michelle [the makeup lady from the Henry Rollins Show on

photo by Jason O’Dell/FX

IFC], we pay her for half a day. She comes in, she makes you up, and you give her your camera and you set the F-stop and I shoot it.” And that’s how those photos came about. Michelle came in for four hours, we dressed me up, we bloodied me up and we shot it. My assistant shot all that. And she doesn’t charge for the photo. And so instead of bringing in the $5,000-a-day photo guy, we brought in Michelle and paid her whatever it is she asked for, and we were done in about twenty minutes of shooting. We gave the image to Shepard Fairey and said, “Can you work with this?” And he said, “Sure.” And so, he made the poster, which we picked up from his studio a couple Thursdays ago. It’s on the road with us right now, and that’s it.

Heidi comes up with all the good ideas. When I did the Henry 50th tour, where there’s a grim reaper standing over me, and I’m in my Superman outfit from the “Liar” video. That’s from an actual photo. We took my old manager, we put him in a grim reaper outfit, the photographer Chapman, he brought in a scythe from a Hollywood prop place, that was a full weight, wooden metal scythe, and I put on the Superman outfit - which I still had amazingly in a box - and we shot that in my driveway. And you come up with these ideas. You get everyone on the phone. I mean, it’s Hollywood.

Everything’s available. We need a grim reaper outfit. No problem, there’s one in Burbank right now. Go over and pick it up. We need a scythe. Sure.

You can get whatever you need. We need a photographer. He’ll be there in fifteen minutes. That’s one of the upsides of living in Los Angeles www.scenelouisiana.com | 51

ABOVE THE LINE or New York City. You can come up with an idea, and you can be in the studio that evening doing that song, or shooting that video, or doing that photo session. It is that fast. Almost as fast as you can think it up.

MH: The title of this tour, Capitalism, it seems inherently political, or at least inherently economic.

HR: I’m in the capital city of every state. That’s kind of what we were getting at. But, you know, capitalism is kind of the way we do our thing here in America. I wish [the title] was my idea, but I’m regrettably noninventive. I’m just not a very imaginative person. I’m good at being me.

I’m good at being very transparent, telling you what’s on my mind or conveying a point of view. But as far as like a tour? What do we call it? I’m like, “I don’t know. Tour 2012? Get off my back and let me go do this.”

My agent John came into my office last year, like last April when we were basically storyboarding this year. We plan these things way far in advance and the tour I was on in 2010, it ended and three months later, we were planning 2012. That’s how far out from these things you have to plan them. So he comes over to the office, he sits down with me and my assistant Heidi, and he goes, “I have a great idea for next year. I want to propose it to you. The Capitalism Tour.” And he rolls it out, saying, “You’re going to do every capital city.” He goes, “What do you think? It ends at the 9:30 club in Washington D.C. on the eve of the election.” I said, “To get the 9:30 club on the eve of the election, you need to book this, like, today.” He said, “Yes, I’d like to start working on this today.” I said, “Damn man, that’s amazing. Let’s go.” And then we started work on that tour that day. He was ready to roll out to his assistants to get going because he kind of figured out the end of it. Every night, we play in a state capital, ending in the District of Columbia on the election eve.

As far as politically, well it’s an election year. It’s an interesting election. I feel bad for Republicans in that, I don’t think they have a person running that represents their party very well. I think in 2016 they’re going to represent themselves far better than with a guy like Mitt Romney. It very well could be Jeb Bush or someone like Condoleezza Rice or at least Chris Christie, who I think made it very clear that you’ll be seeing him again in 2016. Whether Mitt Romney wins or not, I don’t know, I don’t have a crystal ball. But I’ve been talking to a lot of Republicans and I ask them, “You can’t be too happy about this guy. I mean, you can’t really think he represents you very well.” And they all say, “Yeah, he doesn’t.” And I’m sure there are people who are for Romney, I’m sure there are about two dozen of them, I think most of the other votes you’ll be seeing, the other millions and millions of votes, are anti-Obama votes because people do hate him that much.

And I don’t understand that hatred, I can understand the disagreement because even I have some with him, but the hatred registered and unleashed upon Mr. Obama is very depressing. I mean, to the guy who lowered your taxes and killed Osama Bin Laden, I don’t understand where all the hatred comes from. But heaven forbid because he’s black.

MH: I think it’s really interesting that you will be hitting every

capital city with this tour, when it is likely that both presidential candidates will not.

HR: Well, I don’t know if necessarily that the hotbed of activity can necessarily be found in every capital city. I’m speaking to you from Sacramento, California, the state capital of California. There’s not a whole lot going on here. I mean, I am here every tour anyway, there’s a 52 | October/November 2012

beautiful theatre called The Crest Theatre. And I’m here on tour every year, anyway. We put the Sacramento date on this leg of the tour because it’s the capital city. But in 2010 I was here because it’s a city I always do a show in. But as far as a hotbed of activity, it’s not Sacramento. I can understand Mitt Romney going to Los Angeles or San Francisco.

But Sacramento? There’s just not enough people here. It’s government buildings and a lot of homeless folks and a lot of blown-out, kind of sad, low-level buildings. I’m looking out the window right now. It’s Sacramento and we have a day off here and when the road manager says, “Hey, a day off in Sacramento.” I’m not putting Sacramento down, but trust me, all of my road-wearied road warriors who are all out on the road with me are kind of like, “Oh, groan.” Because it’s not a place you go, “A day off in Sacramento? Hell yeah!” It’s not that. There’s a lot of capital cities like Frankfurt, Kentucky. I don’t know what that’s going to be like. Helena, Montana. It’s the capital because one copper baron won out against the other copper baron. So it’ll be interesting, I just don’t know if it’s necessarily going to be big draws in each city.

MH: If Obama were to win a second term, what hopes would you have for his second term?

HR: No. I don’t have a crystal ball, but I think he will win in that I think a lot of independent voters are finding themselves not all that satisfied with Mitt Romney, so they might have to hold their nose and vote for Obama.

So I think he might win. I think more and more, Romney and Ryan… they didn’t roll themselves out very well at their convention, and as the weeks go on, they will not come out cleanly on any real point. Where the president, whether you agree with him or not, I think, is very forthright in comparison. I think people respect that, to a certain degree. Where there are people that I disagree with, but if they present themselves clearly, at least I can respect them, and our disagreements can be imbued with respect. Which is cool. That’s a good way to go. But anyway, if he were to win, I think he’ll still be dealing with a Congress, I don’t think America is going to hand him a Democratic majority Congress. So I think it’s going to be another four years of the President trying for something and John Boehner and company saying no. I think you’re going to get another four years of mediocrity and gridlock. That’s what I think is going to happen.

MH: If Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan were to win, do you have any hopes for their presidency?

HR: I would hope that they would treat my fellow Americans equitably.

I think their plans, which smack of austerity, are going to do some people a great disservice. There’s a certain demographic or economic swatch of the American population that’s going to have a very tough go of things if these two men get their way. If they become the President and Vice President - which is very, very possible - they will very possibly have a Congress that will just green light everything they do. What happens in the Senate? Who knows? But if anything gets past the Senate, it’ll go right to the President Mitt Romney’s desk, and he’ll sign it. And so you might see some changes in Medicare or at least how welfare or unemployment checks are meted out. What would happen in the emergency room?

What would be happening in some states with women’s reproductive healthcare? And so, that would be tough for some people. There is a certain demographic of Americans who are financially stabilized to the point where it doesn’t really matter who the President is. Their cash flow remains [unshaken] by a Democrat or a Republican in the White House.

ABOVE THE LINE

photo by Heidi May www.scenelouisiana.com | 53

ABOVE THE LINE MH: Another campaign issue that I’m sure will be significant

is our presence in the Middle East. Recently, the U.S. Embassy in Libya was attacked. Do you have any thoughts on that or anything that might provide some perspective?

HR: Yeah, it’s a great opportunity to get your embassy people out of Libya and never return. I really am coming to the end of the idea that America needs to be everywhere all the time. Maybe an embassy where peaceful negotiations and basically representatives from other countries keeping a global communication line open. That I don’t mind because it maybe allows for progress. But when they’re being bombed and threatened, just get out. America has this idea that it’s the world’s cop. And I don’t necessarily agree with that idea. The fact that America has a military presence in over 150 countries. I don’t understand why we have to have military presence. Put it this way: what would you think of a military presence of Belgium in Louisiana?

MH: Jean-Claude Van Damme is quite ruthless. I don’t think I would be a fan of that.

HR: Right, and who would? And so, when you’re in Japan and you see the American Army guys walking by, as affable as they usually are, as a Japanese citizen, how’s that working out for you? And when you’re in the local bar, and an American service person who’s had too many beers, he shoves one of your friends or rapes one of the locals. And because of the status of forces agreement, he gets out of that country and is not tried in a Japanese court of law. Would you find that offensive? I find that infuriating. And closely insulting to your country and your culture and your sovereignty. And so these are issues that are not addressed enough to my liking. You know Chalmers Johnson - he passed away, he’s a pretty interesting social critic - three of his books Blowback, The Sorrows of Empire, and Nemesis, I read with great interest. And it was those books that made me understand and learn about America’s military presence in these countries. All three books are almost the same, they’re basically kind of variations on the basic theme of American hegemony. And I learned quite a bit from those books. I would probably do myself a favor by reading the second and third one over again. And re-reading the highlighted parts. So when you see American diplomats getting threatened, hurt or killed in these countries, well I’m not saying it’s their fault and I can’t defend someone who kills, but it’s time to maybe rethink America’s presence in other countries in the world.

I was in Syria a while ago and my opinion after I left, my opinion of Damascus was a city holding its breath. The tension - and I’m not a spiritual person so I can’t talk to you about having a vibe - but the tension was absolutely palpable. And I was in the Al-Hamidiyya Souq everyday walking around, talking to the locals, joking around with the vendors, like you know “Come in my friends! Let me show you this.” I go into the store, I’ll sit down and have tea with the guy, talk with him and his nephew, and I’ll buy something out of respect for the cup of tea and the conversation, and I did this, like I’d have the conversation, and so I would ask these men, “What do you think of America?” [They’d respond] “I like you! America good!” I’d say, “Ok, great. Nancy Pelosi just came to visit you in your souq, I saw photos. What do you think?”

“Oh, great lady from America. Very beautiful.” They’re just being friendly and maybe being nice to make me buy something, so I said, “What do you think of Bashar al-Assad?” And they just would get very, 54 | October/November 2012

very quiet. Like, literally speechless. Like, I don’t want to show my cards. I don’t know who you are. You could tell there was tension, and posters of that guy are everywhere. When there’s posters of a leader everywhere, that, to me, is so you don’t ever forget who the boss is.

I also saw that in Sri Lanka of Mahinda Rajapaksa, because he had recently, when I was there, he had recently overthrown the Tamil Tigers, which were, look them up, I’m sure you know who they are, but that’s a rough group. Yeah, those guys were very effective in that they didn’t mind blowing themselves up now and then. And they gave the government of Sri Lanka quite a battle. I’m not into terrorism, so I can’t really side with the Tamil Tigers, but they put them down very convincingly. Like they basically went in and routed them, like they blew their brains out, pretty much, and they were sporting that victory.

The signs of Rajapaksa standing around with the military were on billboards all over the city. They wanted you to be reminded that the Tamil Tigers had been smashed and that Rajapaksa was responsible.

And little did I know that during that week, he was entertaining Than Shwe, the senior general of Burma. And I found that out as Than Shwe walked by me to his limo. And I asked one of his handlers, I said, “How many days has he been here?” He said, “A week.” I said, “Where was he staying?” He goes, “In this hotel.” I go, “I was staying in the same hotel as Than Shwe? Who kept Aung San Suu Kyi incarcerated?

Who had his elite guards shoot monks and students? That Than Shwe?” [Laughs] It was unbelievable! Because I was in for a little while, he was in charge of things, and his folks were surveilling me by day three. I mean, I was literally getting followed by a film crew, and I took photos of them, and they filmed me taking photos of them.

MH: That is just crazy.

HR: Yeah, totally crazy. And he literally walked by me, and to my

credit, when he got in his limo, he looked at me and waved like I’m his fan. And I flipped him off. [Laughs] And he pretended he didn’t see.

MH: That’s pretty rock and roll there, Henry.

HR: I was trying to bring the rock to Sri Lanka. I thought I was easily going to get arrested, and I turned around and the local cops and the hotel staff were all giving me the thumbs up.

MH: Well, that is an amazing story. I can’t wait for your show

in Baton Rouge. I’m really excited for it, and I think we should have a good showing.

HR: I hope so. So far it’s been great. So far, it’s been like packing out, but we’re only four shows in, and I think there’s going to be some of these shows - Idaho, Montana, the Dakotas, Wyoming - that are going to be pretty, pretty intense. [Laughs] It’s always intense in those places. I do shows in those places too. And you talk about the Second Amendment and all of a sudden you can hear hair growing and safeties coming off weapons. I mean it’s a very, very intense place. S

Henry Rollins’ Capitalism will take over the Manship Theater in Baton Rouge on October 15. For tickets, visit www.manshiptheatre.org.

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SCENE |

FAMOUS FACES COME OUT FOR THE 2012 EZRA OPEN

by Susan Ross

N

ow in its eleventh year, the Ezra Open continues to raise money for charity by rocking and rolling. The event starts off every year with a celebrity bowling tournament and closes with a performance from Better Than Ezra and friends at a sold-out event featuring famous faces and an auction to benefit the Better Than Ezra Foundation.

Actors Jonathan Silverman and Jennifer Finnigan served as celebrity co-chairs. “We have fallen in love with the people and city of New Orleans and we want to do anything we can to help,� said Finnigan in advance of the event.

Also co-chairing the Open was New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis and his wife, Melanie Loomis.

Just a few of the famous faces who attended this year in addition to Silverman and Finnegan were Friday Night Lights alum and G.I. Joe: Retaliation star Adrianne Palicki, D.J. Cotrona, Travis McNadd of Sugarland, Emerson Hart of Tonic,

56 | October/November 2012

photo by Frank Aymami Photography

photo by Frank Aymami Photography

SCENE |

photo by Frank Aymami

photo by Nolagraph Productions

Marc Broussard, Tyler Bryant, Paul Rae and Tania Raymonde.

For those who weren’t able to make it, the concert was streamed live over the internet, with performances from Marc Broussard, Tyler Bryant, Emerson Hart and of course, Better Than Ezra.

Previous projects that have received funding from the Ezra Open included a partnership with Preservation Resource Center to rebuild a first responder’s flooded home after Katrina, the Summer Program held by the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA), the building of the Cool Zoo Splash Park at the Audubon Zoo and Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation.

Recently, the foundation adopted Bethune Elementary in the Hollygrove neighborhood of New Orleans, donating school supplies and building an educational playground for students.

For more information on the charitable works of the Better Than Ezra Foundation, visit www.btefoundation.org. S 58 | October/November 2012

photo by Frank Aymami Photography

| SCENE

photo by Nolagraph Productions

MUSIC |

FEST

with the

BEST

VOODOO MUSIC EXPERIENCE 2012

by Arthur Vandelay

A

fter a summer of almost unbearable heat and humidity, it’s finally time for fall fun. With the New Orleans Film Festival, NOLA Fashion Week and the Voodoo Music Experience all in one month, October in Louisiana is better than anywhere else in the world.

The 2012 Voodoo lineup promises to relax and then reignite you with a wide range of rock, hip-hop, folk, punk and electronic artists. We’ve compiled a selection of some of the local and international artists we’re most looking forward to, along with a few reasons to see them. For the full Experience, visit Voodoo’s official website at thevoodooexperience.com.

FRIDAY Neil Young Sixty-six year old Neil Young still rocks. Twice inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Young’s impact on modern music is immense. With his distinctive, high-pitched voice, Young has carved a pathway through the rock landscape that has run the gamut from folk country to grunge rock.

For the 2012 Voodoo Experience, Neil Young will be joined on the Voodoo stage by Crazy Horse. While we’d welcome any flavor of Neil Young, again saddling up with Crazy Horse signals that on Friday, October 12, Young is ready to rock.

Neil Young

photo by Julie Gardner

The Avett Brothers Equal parts Townes Van Zandt and Bob Dylan, the Avett Brothers are central to the current [glorious] folk rock revival, along with better known names like Mumford & Sons. Led by brothers Scott and Seth Avett, the band combines folk, rock and roll, honky tonk and ragtime to create a lumpy stew of sounds inspiring in its uneven glory.

Listen for the sounds of their newly released album The Carpenter. Produced by the great-bearded Rick Rubin, songs like “The Once and Future Carpenter” and “Paul Newman vs.

The Demons” better be played, or boy, there’ll be hell to pay.

Die Antwoord Featuring the best haircuts ever, Die Antwoord can’t stop being awesome. Doubt us? Their frontman is a ninja. His name is Ninja.

A hip-hop product of post-apartheid South Africa, Die Antwoord self-describes their style as zef rap-rave. We could explain what that means, but that wouldn’t be nearly as 60 | October/November 2012

Die Antwoord

photo by Clayton Cubitt

fun as going as frontlady Yo-Landi Vi$$er for Halloween.

Taking over the Le Plur stage and maybe never giving it back, Die Antwoord visits Voodoo for the second time.

| MUSIC

The Avett Brothers www.scenelouisiana.com | 61

MUSIC |

Say Anything

Say Anything From Los Angeles, California, Say Anything manages to bring together a broad audience while cultivating a specific voice. The band’s punk/emo vocals stand out with often lush harmonies, with the whole band pitching in backing vocals when Say Anything performs live. The result is a cathartic experience you can have at Le Carnival stage on Friday night.

Big History Big History plays Voodoo after rocking Fashion Friday during Mode Fashion Week last spring. It’s music that pushes the limits of genre definitions while still making music you can sing along to. The sixpiece soul pop act from New Orleans features frontlady Meg Roussel, Amanda Werstlin, Blandon Helgason, Bret Bohnet, Cory Schultz and Matt Glynn. Check them out on Le Carnival stage on Friday afternoon.

SATURDAY Green Day In the dwindling shadow cast by the progenitors of punk, Green Day emerged to revive punk in the early 1990s, along with fellow 62 | October/November 2012

Why Voodoo is the Best

by Micah Haley, Editor-in-Chief

1) The Music The music aficionados who select and schedule the Voodoo Music Experience are unparalleled, full stop. The big names are just the beginning. When I see Ozzy’s name in the lineup, I need to see that old man out-rock his juniors.

But it’s the names I don’t know that most excite. Voodoo is the best place to discover the new music you will be listening to for the next twelve months. Or the rest of your life.

2) City Park In a city steeped in aged beauty, New Orleans City Park competes with all comers. The sumptuous oaks provide optional shade for festivalgoers who want to enjoy the sunshine without sunburn. And did I mention it’s beautiful?

3) October Weather While statewide, Louisiana has a festival literally every weekend, not all of them happen in October, when New Orleans feels like Santa Monica. The low humidity and cool weather that can only be found in the fall make everything better. [continued on p. 66.]

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MUSIC |

Why Voodoo is the Best

by Micah Haley, Editor-in-Chief

4) Halloween The people-watching at Voodoo is first rate. There are only so many times I can see a scantily clad, aginghippy-begging-for-skin-cancer without getting bored.

But because Voodoo overlaps with New Orleanian Halloween, a never ending supply of painstakingly constructed costumes is guaranteed. Ninja Turtles.

Atreyu. Skrillex. Catwoman. Sloth from The Goonies. The photo ops alone are gold, Jerry. Gold.

Green Day

photo by Marina Chavez

rockers Rancid and The Offspring. Though younger fans will know Billy Armstrong and the boys by songs like “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” from Nimrod and “21 Guns” off 21st Century Breakdown, we’re looking forward to “Basket Case”, “Longview” and “Brainstew.”

The Dookie days. The Insomniac nights. The stripped down punk sounds that rescued popular music from the excesses of the 1980s.

We want them. And on Saturday, October 27, we’ll have them.

Justice French electronica fits for New Orleans like a thrift shop leather glove. The indie rockers of the electronic music world, Justice’s Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay have one of the most distinct sounds of the genre. We’re big fans of their first album † (aka Cross), a far cry from the crisp techno so prolific in the early 2000s, stripping electronica down in much the same way that Green Day beat back the overindulgence of 1980s rock.

Although they are not as well known as big names in dubstep like Skrillex, they helped create it. Their sometimes elusive existence, coupled with their love of vintage tees and mustaches, may errantly lead you to conclude that Justice is purposefully avoiding the mainstream. But don’t be too hard on yourself: you won’t be the first person to confuse a Frenchman for a hipster.

5) The Art From massive nine meter high art installations to paint-oncanvas, the art portion of the Voodoo Experience serves to enhance every aspect of the festival. The art makes every picture you take interesting, and gives your brain food for though in between sets. And it makes that picture of you with the guy in the Atreyu costume so much sweeter.

6) The Aftermath Voodoo may turn off the lights every night around nine, but don’t think anyone is going straight to bed. There will be special musical guests at the House of Blues, Republic and Eiffel Society. And then, on Saturday night, it starts. Halloween on Frenchmen Street. How much better can it be, you might ask? Ask another stupid question, I’d respond. But, gentleman that I am, I’d follow up the insult with an invite: to the super secret Scene Halloween Party in the French Quarter.

The Vettes A Scene favorite since the beginning of time, The Vettes are a Voodoo mainstay. They are always worth it, always. Always, always, always. You can bond with real-life siblings Rachel, Mitch, Chad, Todd and Brian Vette on Le Carnival stage on Saturday night.

Jack White

66 | October/November 2012

| MUSIC

Nas www.scenelouisiana.com | 67

MUSIC |

Coheed & Cambria

SUNDAY Jack White Returning to the Voodoo Experience for the second consecutive year is Jack White. A prolific and frequent collaborator, White has made music as a member of The White Stripes, The Dead Weather and The Raconteurs, the band with which he headlined Voodoo last year. He has also collaborated with a wide array of well-known artists, including legends like The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Loretta Lynn, and cross-genre collaborations with Alicia Keyes, Insane Clown Posse and the biggest name in music history, Stephen Colbert.

White released his debut solo project, Blunderbuss, in April, appearing on Saturday Night Live to promote it. And to play these new songs of injuring love? He assembles two bands, boys and girls. On SNL, White was backed by The Peacocks, his handpicked all-girl band, which includes Louisiana native Brooke Waggoner on the Wurlizter. At Voodoo, he’ll be backed by The Buzzards, the all-male band that alternates with The Peacocks. This is a show not to be missed. We’ll see you there on Sunday night.

Nas Impressive and influential, Nas released his tenth studio album this summer. Knocking on forty’s door, Nas shows no signs of slipping, still able to effortlessly carry a track on his back. After two decades of music, the rapper still mesmerizes with little more than his voice. As long as his brings that to Voodoo, we’ll be there.

68 | October/November 2012

Coheed & Cambria Sci-fi songwriters Coheed & Cambria will continue the Amory Wars on stage this year, bringing Comic Con to Le Ritual. Carrying on the tradition of concept albums in the age of single-song purchases on iTunes, the progressive rockers from Nyack, New York have been telling the epic saga of the fictional Coheed’s love for Cambria since the release of their first studio album. A story set against the backdrop of the universe, The Amory Wars have been adapted into comic books written by frontman Claudio Sanchez.

At the 2012 Comic-Con, it was announced that Mark Wahlberg’s Leverage Entertainment was adapting the series into a feature.

If you’re not sold on the lofty aspirations of the band’s epic trans-media storytelling, take comfort in the simple glory of Claudio Sanchez’s epic hair.

Skrillex Once the frontman for the screamo band From First to Last, Sonny John Moore is now ubiquitously known as Skrillex, one of the best-known Stateside dubstep artists. The music video for “First of the Year [Equinox]” is one of the best we’ve seen in years, using speed-ramping at a level even Zack Snyder would appreciate. Plan on showing up early for this show. An ocean of an audience will fill the grounds in front of the Red Bulletin stage. S

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We recently finished our first independent feature and we are looking to submit our project to film festivals. As we decide which festivals to submit to, what issues should we be aware of? How can we protect our film while getting exposure?

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With the New Orleans Film Festival right around the corner, this is a great question. There are not necessarily a large number of specific legal issues related to submitting to film festivals, but it would be appropriate to point out some of the considerations crucial for any producer seeking admission into a film festival.

The primary legal issue of consequence for submission to a film festival is one of the chief issues faced by a filmmaker in any production; acquiring and clearing the rights to all protected content and material contained in your film. A film festival will require that you indemnify and hold the festival harmless for any potential unauthorized use of copyrighted, trademark or other protected material contained within your film. However, as noted previously, this is a matter you should be concerned with whether or not you are submitting to a film festival. The solution here is to have complete and clear chain of title from the very beginning of the filmmaking process, including acquiring the rights to a literary work, screenplay or other source material.

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Here’s wishing you success on entering the film festival that is right for you and celebrating the art of filmmaking. S

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IN THE MIX

POST MODERN:

Bradley Greer on How Cineworks New Orleans Continues Developing

by Micah Haley photos by Chad M. West “People like to make a war out of digital vs. film, but everything’s got its pros and cons,” says Bradley Greer, post-production supervisor and digital intermediate (DI) colorist at Cineworks New Orleans. “To me as an artist, as a colorist, are you painting with oil or water colors? That’s it. Which palate tells your story better artistically? It’s not being agnostic [to digital or film]. It’s a matter of knowing what you want to get out of it and what’s important to you.”

Scene spoke with Greer at Cineworks’ post-production facility in New Orleans, located inside of the NIMS Center Studios. It is the only post-production company in New Orleans that is fully equipped to handle both film and digital workflows on site. “We have a facility in Miami, we have a facility here in New Orleans and satellite offices throughout Louisiana,” says Greer. “We are a full service facility handling all aspects of both film and digital.”

With Greer one of the primary creative forces at Cineworks, the post house has attracted some of this year’s most provocative projects on the film festival circuit, including director Lee Daniel’s The Paperboy and Ariel Vromen’s The Iceman. “[With The Iceman], we had a real tough film to DI as we worked on a real tight schedule to make it for The Venice Film Festival, Telluride and Toronto Bradley Greer at Cineworks deadlines,” says director Ariel Vromen of The Iceman’s ambitious delivery schedule. “Having Bradley on the controls and around you - as you know Bradley is also a great filmmaker - so he knows the feeling that we gotta get it done right. This was the only reason that we were able to finish on time and be real happy from the final grading.”

Born and raised outside of Washington, D.C., Greer knew he wanted to work in film at an early age, making short films with his friends throughout his teens. After getting his foot in the door on Hellraiser 3 as an unpaid intern, he worked in production before deciding he was interested in the world of postproduction. “I wanted to work in a film lab,” he says. But rather than trying to get a gig at DuArt or one of the other big post houses in New York with no experience in post, he decided to try to get a job at Continental Film Labs in Miami as a stepping stone.

“Vinny hired me. And that first year with him at Continental, he was my mentor,” says Greer of Vincent Hogan, the founder 92 | October/November 2012

and CEO of Cineworks Digital Studios. “I mean, he was amazing.

Vinny’s passion for celluloid, for film, for the image, is spiritual.

It’s profound. That was inspiring because I felt the same way.

Vinny and I clicked in a beautiful way because that passion is so rare. A lot of people lose it. A lot of people get jaded or become cynical. Here’s this gentleman who has been doing it for twenty years and he still cared and I found that incredibly inspiring.”

Right out of the gate, Hogan put Greer out front on a film. “The first film I actually photochemically color timed myself was the dailies on Oliver Stone’s Any Given Sunday,” says Greer, noting that Hogan was there every step of the way to assure Stone was happy. “I’ve discovered I have a knack for post. I have a knack for color and I love doing DI finishing color work.

Now I also function as the post supervisor of the entire facility.”

After working with Hogan for nearly two decades, Greer relocated to Louisiana to work out of Cineworks New Orleans. “I moved here from Florida because of the industry.

We opened up the first film lab in Louisiana, still the first and only legitimate full postproduction facility in the state,” says Greer. “I had visited New Orleans before; I had done the Mardi Gras thing. I’d done Halloween here and I loved it.

But working in the film industry, I never thought I would live here.”

Greer has since relocated his family to New Orleans. “It’s been three years and it’s been a non-stop rollercoaster. Within the first ninety days, it was full throttle with all the work we had here and it fundamentally hasn’t stopped,” Greer continues. “Some of the biggest pictures shot in the world are coming through our facility and a handful of beautiful indies. It has been a really eye opening experience. I mean, Miami was very successful and some big films would roll through town but never in this quantity, in this short a period of time. In New Orleans, I’ve worked with some of the best cinematographers from around the world. I mean veteran, old school, on these big movies. It’s pretty amazing.”

“We are one of the last boutique film labs. It’s been an honor to help build one and still work for one,” Greer says of Cineworks.

“We’re just that little engine that could, working at the same level as big corporations, such as Technicolor and DeLuxe. I enjoy

IN THE MIX

www.scenelouisiana.com | 93

IN THE MIX

the passion and hands on commitment that Vinny has. He just computer is just another tool and if your technician sitting in front of will not compromise, whether it’s a small indie or if it’s GI Joe 2.” that computer doesn’t know what they’re doing, you’re in trouble.”

Once an industry with relatively few competitors making the tools “The biggest myth out there right now is digital is faster to shoot of the trade, the advent – and ongoing and cheaper,” says Greer, refuting one reinvention - of digital production of the most commonly held truisms of and post-production equipment has digital filmmaking. “In fact, in the real dramatically diversified the options world, what you find time and time again available to filmmakers. “Digital is digital is actually slower and more technology has made post supervision expensive than shooting film. You’re just extremely complicated. There are just hiding your costs. What you think you’re so many choices, so many different saving in your film stock negatives and cameras, so many different post flows your lab processing and your telecine you could apply. They all lead to the fee, which is a respectable number, you same end destination point and there go, ‘All those line items are gone! Look are pros and cons to each of them, but at what we just saved.’ You’ve just taken all those choices complicate it,” says that cost and moved it to post, you’ve put Greer. “They are difficult conversations it in other line items. You’ve scattered it to have with producers because they around. And if you add it all up, it is haven’t kept up with technology and going to cost the same and most likely it’s not their job. It changes so fast now. more than shooting on film. And that’s That’s why they hire post supervisors and partially because when people shoot that job didn’t exist twenty years ago.” on digital, the discipline goes away.”

“With digital you need a guide: you The discipline Greer speaks of is need to have it in preproduction before deeply seeded in film culture. Because the you even start shooting. People too rental of film cameras and the purchase often wait to have that conversation of film itself are both very expensive, halfway through principal photography, Cineworks New Orleans’ motion picture film laboratory film crews have historically been bred even producers on big budgeted shows,” says Greer. “There’s this to make every take count. As the price of digital cinema cameras and illusion that once you get a film into the computer it’s easy because data storage has dramatically dropped, the number of cameras on set the computer does the work. And that’s a huge misunderstanding and the amount of footage shot has increased as filmmakers do their of technology. The computer doesn’t do anything for you. The best to cover their project, hopefully avoiding costly reshoots.

94 | October/November 2012

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IN THE MIX

Michael Shannon in The Iceman

However, Greer warns that discipline is still important. More footage in production means more costs in post-production. More precision on set in camera still saves time and money. “Dailies stopped being dailies ten years ago. The intent of dailies now is to have it as close to the final film as possible.

Directors and producers get married to what they look at in editorials so that’s why it’s so important that the dailies look as close as possible to the cinematographer’s intent. Otherwise, you risk the directors and producers falling in love with the wrong thing.

The ideal situation is having the same colorist working on the dailies working with the DI. That’s the best case scenario when it comes to technology.

It wasn’t possible several years ago. It Forest Whittaker in The Butler wasn’t set up that way and it’s still not common but it’s starting to happen. You have the two-to-four months of shooting to really know the film in and out, and then you get two weeks for a DI, maybe more, maybe less depending on budget. You begin to say [about working with cinematographers], ‘I’m going to be working with you for around three months, so let’s hone this vision out so that when we do the DI, it’s a no brainer.’ We know what we’re doing, we’ve mastered the vision and now we can take our time with the sweet icing on top instead of saying, ‘Wait, I’ve never seen this film before!’ That’s a 96 | October/November 2012

photo by Anne Marie Fox

really exciting part of the technology: the opportunity to intimately collaborate with the cinematographer on a daily level from the beginning of the shoot to the final DI, and that’s the ideal situation.”

Some of the most exciting films set to be released next year are currently under Greer’s supervision, including Twelve Years A Slave, Two Guns, Olympus Has Fallen, the sequel to Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and Lee Daniels’ latest film to shoot in Louisiana, The Butler. “Olympus Has Fallen is a huge production. Conrad Hall Jr. is the cinematographer. He’s fantastic,” says Greer. “Sean Bobbit from Twelve Years a Slave is doing the most fearless, painterly historical approach and it’s breathtaking. With Two Guns, photo by Anne Marie Fox you’ve got Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg. Oliver Wood is the cinematographer, who also did the Bourne series. It’s just eye-catching with pops of color.

It has contrast, it’s just beautiful. I mean we’ve got four films in house right now with four distinct, different looks. It’s really all about the artistic collaboration with the cinematographers and directors, to help them execute their vision on the big screen.”

For more information on Bradley Greer and Cineworks New Orleans, visit www.cineworks.com, and catch an exclusive early screening of The Iceman at the New Orleans Film Festival. S

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THE UNSCENE The Kingfish An oft-quoted statistic places Louisiana third nationally in production, after the historical filmmaking hubs of New York and Los Angeles. Since the inception of the State’s film incentive program in 2003, Louisiana has attracted fish, large and small. Mammoth-sized studio features and microbudgeted indies. National commercials, reality shows, scripted television and web series. The shores are rich and we have continued to plunder them for almost a decade. But the ocean is wide. And there are bigger fish.

The reputation that Louisiana has established as a filmmaking destination over the last nine years is significant. Now, nearly every major film made considers Louisiana. The reliability of the incentive program, along with the maturing base of local below-the-line crew and resources, makes Louisiana incredibly attractive. There may be others out there contending, but Louisiana is tried and true.

The next step is to start fishing for kingfish. The major content makers, the very same production companies and studios that are sending films to Louisiana now. By bringing their financing and development operations to Louisiana, these companies will open up an entirely new chapter of economic development. Writers, storyboard artists, legal work and other jobs will be relocated to Louisiana, making them eligible to receive tax incentives. An entire slate of films can save at least 30% on its entire budget. A studio or major production company relocating in part or in full would cohere the resplendent resources of the maturing film industry.

We can continue down the river, slowly adding to our haul, but there are bigger catches out there. The kingfish wait on the Western shores, begging to be caught. We ought to catch them.

Or, better yet, breed our own.

- The UnScene Writer Submit tips to unscene@scenelouisiana.com.

Anonymity guaranteed.

100 | October/November 2012