You might remember Michael Stahl-David as one of the shakily filmed bits of monster bait in this year's creepy horror hit Cloverfield. Though the movie enjoyed considerable box-office success, Stahl-David has remained remarkably down-to-earth — but what if he hadn't? "When I was doing press for Cloverfield, Jeremy Beiler, who's an old friend of mine, said, 'So are you gonna become a total jerk when this movie comes out?'" Stahl-David recalls, laughing. "And I said, 'Yeah, definitely.' We started thinking about how funny it would be if literally my whole personality just changed."Thus, a Web series was born. Michael Stahl-David: Behind the Star chronicles a fictitious version of the actor's life post-Cloverfield — one in which he has let a modest bit of success go completely to his head. "I could make my bed before I became a movie star; I can make my bed after," he announces...
- 11/12/2008
- by Sarah Kuhn
- backstage.com
9 new Shooting Stars chosen for Berlin
MUNICH -- European Film Promotion, the EU cinema marketing agency, has revamped its signature Shooting Stars program for the upcoming Berlin International Film Festival. The festival is set for Feb. 7-17.
For the first time since EFP was founded in 1997, a jury has selected the top new European actors from among nominees by member organizations. Until now, each country represented in the EFP got to chose its own Shooting Star -- and Germany and France, because of the size of their markets, got two picks each. This led to a veritable meteor shower of hopeful young actors at the annual press conference, casting agent breakfast and awards ceremony during the Berlinale.
The jury for the 2008 Shooting Stars is made up of Italian casting director Beatrice Kruger, U.S. personal manager Derek Power, Danish producer Vibeke Windelov, German cinematographer Michael Ballhaus and the U.K.'s Shooting Star from 2002, Lucy Russell. In another innovation, the jury will mentor the actors selected for this year's program in order to nurture their international careers.
For the first time since EFP was founded in 1997, a jury has selected the top new European actors from among nominees by member organizations. Until now, each country represented in the EFP got to chose its own Shooting Star -- and Germany and France, because of the size of their markets, got two picks each. This led to a veritable meteor shower of hopeful young actors at the annual press conference, casting agent breakfast and awards ceremony during the Berlinale.
The jury for the 2008 Shooting Stars is made up of Italian casting director Beatrice Kruger, U.S. personal manager Derek Power, Danish producer Vibeke Windelov, German cinematographer Michael Ballhaus and the U.K.'s Shooting Star from 2002, Lucy Russell. In another innovation, the jury will mentor the actors selected for this year's program in order to nurture their international careers.
- 12/12/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Krabbe to helm 3rd film
AMSTERDAM -- Dutch actor Jeroen Krabbe next year will shoot his third film as director, his producer Hans Pos said Monday.
Based on the 1993 novel "Rico's Wings", by Dutch writer Rasha Peper, the story revolves around a love affair between a 60-year-old man and a boy of 14.
In 1994, "Wings" was nominated for the AKO Literature Prize, one of the major Dutch literary awards.
"It is some kind of variation on 'Death in Venice, ' " Pos, of Amsterdam-based Shooting Star Co., said of the €3 million ($4.2 million) production.
The film will be shot in English, with locations likely in the Netherlands and Morocco. The screenplay is by Pieter van der Waterbeemd.
Krabbe's helming credits include "Left Luggage" and "The Discovery of Heaven".
Based on the 1993 novel "Rico's Wings", by Dutch writer Rasha Peper, the story revolves around a love affair between a 60-year-old man and a boy of 14.
In 1994, "Wings" was nominated for the AKO Literature Prize, one of the major Dutch literary awards.
"It is some kind of variation on 'Death in Venice, ' " Pos, of Amsterdam-based Shooting Star Co., said of the €3 million ($4.2 million) production.
The film will be shot in English, with locations likely in the Netherlands and Morocco. The screenplay is by Pieter van der Waterbeemd.
Krabbe's helming credits include "Left Luggage" and "The Discovery of Heaven".
- 10/9/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Film review: 'Foolish'
In the enjoyable, raunchy "Foolish", wiry stand-up funnyman Eddie Griffin ("Armageddon") and hip-hop Big Man Master P ("I Got the Hook Up") play brothers trying to make it in the comedy business. With many sequences featuring the story-spinning Griffin on stage as the lovably cranky title character, director Dave Meyers' feature debut should score solidly among African American moviegoers.
Commercial and music video director Meyers and screenwriter/co-star Master P amiably flesh out the 84-minute Artisan release with a semi-serious plot revolving around the woes of promising club comic Miles "Foolish" Waise (Griffin), who takes pride in his "storytelling," and Quentin "Fifty Dollah" Waise (Master P), who pulls a stupid prank and becomes entangled with gangsters.
A popular attraction at a local club run by a spooky Italian (Frank Sivero), Foolish is vicious but funny and knows how to entertain a crowd. Unfortunately for his girlfriend, he is angry most of the time. She leaves him after a nasty fight, and he eventually has a falling out with Fifty, who has problems with a humorless mobster (Andrew Dice Clay).
Further complicating matters is the reappearance of Desiree (Amy Petersen), Foolish's high school lover who is dating Fifty and helping the pair start their own comedy show. While Foolish remains unlucky in love, he's further discouraged by the passing of his grandmother (Marla Gibbs). In a goofy sprinkling of mysticism, he talks to "ghosts" who tell him of the "blue light" that shines from the genuinely talented, protecting them when the blues hit.
Filmmaker-actor Bill Duke appears in an amusing scene where Foolish turns down a potential movie deal at Paramount, and "Baywatch" beauty Traci Bingham is featured in many club scenes. There are generous amounts of T&A and enough rude jokes to satisfy any fan.
While executive producer Master P is also present on the soundtrack, the film belongs to Griffin -- and the veteran of several HBO specials and UPN show "Malcolm and Eddie" can be hellaciously crude. But many of his profane rants have bite, and Griffin is quite good in nonperformance scenes. "Foolish" is directed confidently by Meyers, a Loyola Marymount alum.
FOOLISH
Artisan Entertainment
A Shooting Star Pictures production
A Master P/No Limit film
Director: Dave Meyers
Screenwriter: Master P
Producers: Jonathan Heuer, Andrew Shack
Executive producer: Master P
Director of photography: Steve Gainer
Production designer: Chuck Conner
Editor: Chris Davis
Costume designer: Jhane Isaacs
Color/stereo
Cast:
Foolish: Eddie Griffin
Fifty Dollah: Master P
Desiree: Amy Petersen
Giovanni: Frank Sivero
Charisse: Daphnee Lynn Duplaix
Odetta: Marla Gibbs
El Dorado Ron: Andrew Dice Clay
Running time -- 84 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Commercial and music video director Meyers and screenwriter/co-star Master P amiably flesh out the 84-minute Artisan release with a semi-serious plot revolving around the woes of promising club comic Miles "Foolish" Waise (Griffin), who takes pride in his "storytelling," and Quentin "Fifty Dollah" Waise (Master P), who pulls a stupid prank and becomes entangled with gangsters.
A popular attraction at a local club run by a spooky Italian (Frank Sivero), Foolish is vicious but funny and knows how to entertain a crowd. Unfortunately for his girlfriend, he is angry most of the time. She leaves him after a nasty fight, and he eventually has a falling out with Fifty, who has problems with a humorless mobster (Andrew Dice Clay).
Further complicating matters is the reappearance of Desiree (Amy Petersen), Foolish's high school lover who is dating Fifty and helping the pair start their own comedy show. While Foolish remains unlucky in love, he's further discouraged by the passing of his grandmother (Marla Gibbs). In a goofy sprinkling of mysticism, he talks to "ghosts" who tell him of the "blue light" that shines from the genuinely talented, protecting them when the blues hit.
Filmmaker-actor Bill Duke appears in an amusing scene where Foolish turns down a potential movie deal at Paramount, and "Baywatch" beauty Traci Bingham is featured in many club scenes. There are generous amounts of T&A and enough rude jokes to satisfy any fan.
While executive producer Master P is also present on the soundtrack, the film belongs to Griffin -- and the veteran of several HBO specials and UPN show "Malcolm and Eddie" can be hellaciously crude. But many of his profane rants have bite, and Griffin is quite good in nonperformance scenes. "Foolish" is directed confidently by Meyers, a Loyola Marymount alum.
FOOLISH
Artisan Entertainment
A Shooting Star Pictures production
A Master P/No Limit film
Director: Dave Meyers
Screenwriter: Master P
Producers: Jonathan Heuer, Andrew Shack
Executive producer: Master P
Director of photography: Steve Gainer
Production designer: Chuck Conner
Editor: Chris Davis
Costume designer: Jhane Isaacs
Color/stereo
Cast:
Foolish: Eddie Griffin
Fifty Dollah: Master P
Desiree: Amy Petersen
Giovanni: Frank Sivero
Charisse: Daphnee Lynn Duplaix
Odetta: Marla Gibbs
El Dorado Ron: Andrew Dice Clay
Running time -- 84 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 4/12/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Film review: 'I Got the Hook-Up'
Having achieved some notoriety for selling a quarter-million copies of his direct-to-video debut, the autobiographical "I'm Bout It", rapper-writer-actor-entrepreneur Master P does it the old-fashioned way on "I Got the Hook-Up", courtesy of a pickup by Miramax's Dimension Films.
An offensive, foul-mouthed and just plain foul comedy steeped in stale stereotypes -- is there anyone left who still doubles over at the sight of expletive-spewing grannies? -- Master P's self-financed opus is obviously aimed at the young urban male market, which likely will prefer the video hook-up.
Master P (who started life as Percy Miller) teams with comic A.J. Johnson in the roles of Black and Blue, a pair of self-styled businessmen convinced that their number has come in when a shipment of cellular phones happens to be, uh, diverted onto their turf.
With a little know-how from sexy Sweet Lorraine (Gretchen Palmer), a cell phone fraud investigator who's willing to look the other way, Black and Blue get their communications operation off the ground -- but not before raising the ire of a bunch of thugs and a couple of (literally) two-faced FBI agents.
Busy music video director Michael Martin makes his feature debut with "Hook-Up", which is not surprising since the picture plays like a longform video, with performances to match.
Given that Master P's flimsy semblance of a script (for which he shares credit with Leroy Douglas and Carrie Mungo) is populated by tired caricatures and even lamer situations, it's understandable that his cast of familiar faces hasn't been given much in the way of artistic inspiration.
Still, Palmer (one of Ray Charles' "Uh-Huh" girls) shows a playful spark as Sweet Lorraine, and it's always nice to see John Witherspoon (as Johnson's lascivious, TV repairman uncle) and veteran Helen Martin (adding to her long list of wacky grandmother parts), even if their comedic talents are wasted here.
Calling on his considerable music ties, Master P managed to snag a cameo from Ice Cube (who wrote and starred in the vastly superior "Friday", the movie "Hook-Up" clearly attempts to emulate). Cube contributes a fresh tune to the soundtrack, which also features Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, C-Murder and, of course, Master P and is available on his highly successful No Limit Records.
As is becoming a common bonus these days, the picture signs off with a selection of blooper footage shown during the closing credits. Given what came before, the gesture seems rather redundant.
I GOT THE HOOK-UP
Dimension Films
in association with
No Limit Films and Priority Films
A Shooting Star Pictures production
A Master P film
Director: Michael Martin
Screenwriters: Master P,
Leroy Douglas, Carrie Mungo
Producer: Jonathan Heuer
Executive producer: Master P
Director of photography: Antonio Calvache
Production designer: Michael Pearce
Editor: T. David Binns
Costume designer: Jhane Isaacs
Music: Toomy Coster & Brad Fairman
& Beats by Da Pound
Color/stereo
Cast:
Black: Master P
Blue: A.J. Johnson
Sweet Lorraine: Gretchen Palmer
T-Lay: Tommy "Tiny" Lister Jr.
Grandmother: Helen Martin
Mr. Mim: John Witherspoon
Running time -- 93 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
An offensive, foul-mouthed and just plain foul comedy steeped in stale stereotypes -- is there anyone left who still doubles over at the sight of expletive-spewing grannies? -- Master P's self-financed opus is obviously aimed at the young urban male market, which likely will prefer the video hook-up.
Master P (who started life as Percy Miller) teams with comic A.J. Johnson in the roles of Black and Blue, a pair of self-styled businessmen convinced that their number has come in when a shipment of cellular phones happens to be, uh, diverted onto their turf.
With a little know-how from sexy Sweet Lorraine (Gretchen Palmer), a cell phone fraud investigator who's willing to look the other way, Black and Blue get their communications operation off the ground -- but not before raising the ire of a bunch of thugs and a couple of (literally) two-faced FBI agents.
Busy music video director Michael Martin makes his feature debut with "Hook-Up", which is not surprising since the picture plays like a longform video, with performances to match.
Given that Master P's flimsy semblance of a script (for which he shares credit with Leroy Douglas and Carrie Mungo) is populated by tired caricatures and even lamer situations, it's understandable that his cast of familiar faces hasn't been given much in the way of artistic inspiration.
Still, Palmer (one of Ray Charles' "Uh-Huh" girls) shows a playful spark as Sweet Lorraine, and it's always nice to see John Witherspoon (as Johnson's lascivious, TV repairman uncle) and veteran Helen Martin (adding to her long list of wacky grandmother parts), even if their comedic talents are wasted here.
Calling on his considerable music ties, Master P managed to snag a cameo from Ice Cube (who wrote and starred in the vastly superior "Friday", the movie "Hook-Up" clearly attempts to emulate). Cube contributes a fresh tune to the soundtrack, which also features Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, C-Murder and, of course, Master P and is available on his highly successful No Limit Records.
As is becoming a common bonus these days, the picture signs off with a selection of blooper footage shown during the closing credits. Given what came before, the gesture seems rather redundant.
I GOT THE HOOK-UP
Dimension Films
in association with
No Limit Films and Priority Films
A Shooting Star Pictures production
A Master P film
Director: Michael Martin
Screenwriters: Master P,
Leroy Douglas, Carrie Mungo
Producer: Jonathan Heuer
Executive producer: Master P
Director of photography: Antonio Calvache
Production designer: Michael Pearce
Editor: T. David Binns
Costume designer: Jhane Isaacs
Music: Toomy Coster & Brad Fairman
& Beats by Da Pound
Color/stereo
Cast:
Black: Master P
Blue: A.J. Johnson
Sweet Lorraine: Gretchen Palmer
T-Lay: Tommy "Tiny" Lister Jr.
Grandmother: Helen Martin
Mr. Mim: John Witherspoon
Running time -- 93 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 5/28/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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