My Tale of Two Cities - SouthSide Works Cinema - March 19-25

My Tale of Two Cities is Carl Kurlander's charming Valentine to Pittsburgh. It's a project he worked on for years in the mid-00s, and while it played a few festivals and came out on DVD, it never had the release it deserved.

This week, you'll have the chance to see My Tale of Two Cities at the SouthSide Works Cinema from Friday, March 19-Thursday, March 26. It's a fun look at Pittsburgh, with excellent photography.

She's Out of My League Has Opened

During the "crazy time" in movie-making in Pittsburgh, winter-spring 2008, no fewer than three different movies were being made simultaneously:

She's Out of My League
Shelter
The Road

I was looking for some work, had always wanted to be involved in a movie. After signing up with the various extra agencies, I was called into be an extra for She's Out of My League. It was a lot of standing around and hurry-up-and-wait, but I really enjoyed it. And, there's always the danger that despite your ability to follow directions and be in the right place at the right time, that you never show up in the movie.

I'm happy to say I did get my two seconds of fame when I showed up in the hockey crowd scene. It was filmed during my two days of shooting in the arena. I then shot another six days in the airport, in various crowd scenes. Or, to look at it another way, I made about $800 for 2 seconds of screen time. ;->

League is a fun, raunchy comedy. Jay Baruchel, who is better looking in person, plays the awkward Kirk. Alice Eve, an English actress with a perfect American accent, plays the woman who becomes interested in him. Alice Eve's parents in the movie are played by her real-life parents, both well-known English actors with equally flawless American accents.

One common feature of the movies shot in Pittsburgh - the better the photography is of Pittsburgh, the worse the movie is. Inspector Gadget - a horrible, horrible movie with some of the best Pittsburgh photography ever. Smart People - a surprisingly bad movie with very good Pittsburgh photography.

By contrast, The Wonder Boys - a terrific movie that celebrates Pittsburgh architecture, but you'd have no clue you were in Pittsburgh except that the characters talk about being in Pittsburgh. The Road - shot mostly outside of Pittsburgh, has one or two neighborhood shots that makes the city, very appropriately, look like a post-apocalyptic mess.

Oh, the one exception to this, up until now, has been Carl Kurlander's My Tale of Two Cities, a charming documentary about Pittsburgh with great photography of the city. This is finally getting a formal theatrical release in Pittsburgh at the end of March - go see it!

She's Out of My League has great Pittsburgh photography and some excellent shots of the city from Mt. Washington. And they managed to keep the homeless people and drug addicts out of Market Square for a couple of days. Market Square actually looks like a place where adults would want to hang out after dark, proof that you can Hollywoodize almost anything.

This is not a brilliant script, but it is funny enough, especially the first half. As is usual with such movies, the male characters are a little better drawn than the female characters, who are generally cyphers. Nate Torrance is a particular stand-out as the only married guy of the bunch. For most of the movie, the writers seemed to be writing about sexuality and attraction as very horny virgins, but the characters were supposed to be in their 20s and at least somewhat sexually experienced. I supposed that's because the target audience is clearly teenagers. So the angst level is ratcheted up beyond all reason in places.

Still, even if you're not generally fan of the 20-something sex comedy or of movies that make Pittsburgh look like a great place to live (which, of course it is but people outside of town often don't know that), there might be enough silly jokes in this movie to make it a worthwhile diversion.

Steeltown Film Factory: The Director's Pitch

I wrote three weeks ago about how much I enjoyed going to the table reading of the 10 short film scripts judged qualifiers for the next round of the Steeltown Film Factory's script contest. Today, I went to the Director's Pitch seminar, which brought back the script finalists. Two of scripts I thought were particularly good were among the five finalists:

"Lightweight" and "Roll the Dice"

The other three finalists were "The Losing End," "Making Arrangements" and "Anywhere but Here."

Each of the finalists had 20 minutes to pitch their projects to Pittsburgh natives active in the film/TV business: Jamie Widdoes (director 2 1/2 Men), Heide Waldbaum (technical production for Spiderman 2/3, Avatar) and Lisa Smith (The People Speak, Project Greenlight). These industry professionals would then evaluate the project and the pitch and choose three semi-finalists for the next part of the competition.

Going into the pitch, Carl Kurlander, who moderated the event, stressed the importance of using the pitch to sell yourself and your passion for the project as much as the project itself. This turned out to be very true: of the five presentations, the two strongest "sellers" became finalists. However, I have to add that the two strongest sellers also had the best scripts. Some of the other finalists seemed to wander a bit.

After the pitches and some initial feedback by the evaluators, they retired to discuss the projects in more detail, and returned later to name the winners:

"Anywhere But Here," "Lightweight" and "Roll the Dice"

At the end of March, there will be a third "competition" among these scripts, and Steeltown will select whether to help fund one, two or all three projects.

A Report on the Steeltown Film Factory Script Contest and Reading

I went to Steeltown Film Factory's Script Contest and Reading today. I think Carl, Jodi, Kris and the rest of the Steeltown team have done many interesting things related to promoting filmmaking in Pittsburgh over the last few years. While I did not have anything entered in the contest, I was curious to hear other people's short scripts be read and evaluated. The contest, which ran in November and December of last year, attracted 110 entries and announced 10 semi-finalists. Based on today's judging, there will be five finalists who'll be given a week to revise their scripts based on judges' comments (and, one hopes, the audience's reactions).

Drama students from CMU table-read the scripts. Final script judges were Asher Garfinkel, President of Readers Unlimited, Author, Screenplay Analysis: The Art and the Business, Bernie Goldman, Producer, 300, Land of the Dead, Minette Seate, Senior Producer, WQED Multimedia, and Laura Harkcon who co-wrote The Lost Room. It was very interesting to hear the judge's reactions to the scripts.

I wasn't a judge, and I liked all 10 of the semi-finalist scripts presented. But, in my opinion, these were the four best scripts of the day:

• "N'At" by Adriana Ramires. The strongest script of the semifinalists, with the riskiest theme - when is a rape a rape? And how does the rapist deal with it? Very good characterizations, good sense of place.
• "Jed the Humanoid" by Nate Minier. A fantasy about a robot who lands in 1996 and tries to adjust. Very funny; think of it as The Terminator turned inside out. The two stoners Jed winds up with were right out of "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure." You can even friend Jed on Facebook!
• "Roll the Dice" by Lawrence Phillips, Dave Fedor, Joe Wincgryk, II and John Freightner (AKA the comedy team Hustlebot). A script by four guys submitted to a contest about four guys who won a script contest and took their winnings to a casino to try to win more...Hysterical in places, and self-referential in a Charlie Kaufman kind of way.
• "Lightweight" by Randy Kovitz & Deborah Hosking. A young woman returns to Pittsburgh after her father dies, and sees the clash between classic Yinzers and the rest of the world. Nice touch of magical realism, many good jokes about South Siders.

The contest judges will select five finalists, and I'll link to the list when they're announced.

I plan to go to the next Steeltown reading, which will be February 20th at Pitt, and see to how the five finalists revised their scripts. Steeltown will have information on that upcoming event soon!

Trailer for She's Out of My League Is Out - Movie Due Out 3/12/10

The trailer for She's Out of My League, that was shot here in Pittsburgh in spring 2008, has been released.

League trailer.

The trailer looks reasonably sharp, and Pittsburgh looks great!

However, IMDB also had an early poster up, and, sorry to say it, the poster looks awful.

Were you one of the thousands of extras to work on League? Want to have a premiere party when the movie's out? Leave a comment on this post, let's see what we can work out.

Next Three Days Wraps Up Local Shooting

Paul Haggis's thriller The Next Three Days has finished up local shooting. They shot all over the county and above the county (the memorable
helicopter blitz of downtown in early November). The Next Three Days stars Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks and Liam Neeson.

CBS' Three Rivers "On Hiatus"

Three Rivers is "on hiatus." It may not be cancelled yet (there are a few unaired episodes) but it's unlikely to be renewed.

I wanted to like this show, but came to the conclusion it would have made a much better made for TV movie than a series.

The Road Will Have a Midnight Show Next Tuesday

If you've been following the long and winding story of the production and distribution of The Road, you know that the release has been delayed a few times. What was supposed to be a "wide" release on November 25 has been restricted to 31 cities.

Luckily, Pittsburgh is one of those cities. And, Fandango has just announced that there will be a midnight show over at the AMC in Homestead on Tuesday night.

I'm really looking forward to seeing this. I'll probably have to wait until Wednesday to see it (I haveinsomnia, and driving the 30+ miles home at 2am doesn't appeal to me). But that'll be fine.

[[I did manage to see the movie, was generally impressed, and wrote this review. I liked the movie a little better when I saw it a second time a few weeks later.]]

Extra Call for "The Chief"

(E-mail forwarded from Fourth River Casting)

The Chief, a one-man show about Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney starring favorite Tom Atkins, is being retired after several hit seasons of presentation at the Pittsburgh Public Theater.

A live performance of The Chief is being taped on November 12th at Shadyside Academy, and we're looking for audience members interested in being part of this historic event. Audiences will see a full production of the show and be provided with refreshments. Participants will be required to wear clothing appropriate for a night at the theater, be available to stay through the estimated 5 hours of taping, and will act as extras, filling various areas of the theater and recreating reaction shots.

THERE IS NO CHARGE. This may be one the last opportunities to see this tour de force, but all audience members must be confirmed to attend. Spaces are limited, and will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis. Participants will not receive financial compensation, but will have the chance to see the production free of charge, and additionally will receive small refreshments (not a full meal) and a copy of the DVD when released. The shooting will take approximately 5 hours, beginning in late afternoon.

If interested in being a part of this historic taping, please send an e-mail to fourthrivercasting@yahoo.com for more information.

Don't miss your chance to see this incredible play, saluting one of the legends of Pittsburgh sports history and featuring one of the legends of Pittsburgh entertainment!

Great Post-Gazette Article on Love and Other Drugs

I'm a big fan of Ed Zwick, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway and Hank Azaria and am glad it sounds like the filming is going well. I would have liked to have been an extra, but between getting a contract job and being away, I missed the extra call for the Civic Arena last week.