Paramount has released a new red band trailer for Taraji P. Henson’s “What Men Want,” in which the actress can read men’s minds.
In “What Men Want,” which is a reimagining of 2000’s Mel Gibson movie “What Women Want,” Henson’s Ali gets passed over for a well-deserved promotion at work. Yeah, a dude made partner at their sports agency firm instead.
She then drinks a mysterious tea and bumps her head, only to wake up and be able to hear men’s thoughts.
See Video: 'What Men Want' Trailer: Taraji P Henson Can Read Your Mind, Guys
“What Men Want” also stars Tracy Morgan, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Aldis Hodge, Max Greenfield, Pete Davidson and Jason Jones. Per the official preview, moviegoers can also expect to see plenty of sports stars making cameos, like Shaquille O’Neal, Grant Hill and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
Adam Shankman is directing,...
In “What Men Want,” which is a reimagining of 2000’s Mel Gibson movie “What Women Want,” Henson’s Ali gets passed over for a well-deserved promotion at work. Yeah, a dude made partner at their sports agency firm instead.
She then drinks a mysterious tea and bumps her head, only to wake up and be able to hear men’s thoughts.
See Video: 'What Men Want' Trailer: Taraji P Henson Can Read Your Mind, Guys
“What Men Want” also stars Tracy Morgan, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Aldis Hodge, Max Greenfield, Pete Davidson and Jason Jones. Per the official preview, moviegoers can also expect to see plenty of sports stars making cameos, like Shaquille O’Neal, Grant Hill and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
Adam Shankman is directing,...
- 11/23/2018
- by Beatrice Verhoeven
- The Wrap
The Hilarious Comedy How To Be A Latin Lover Starring Eugenio Derbez, Academy Award Nominee Salma Hayek, Raquel Welch, Rob Lowe and Kristen Bell, Arrives on Digital HD August 1 and Blu-ray Combo Pack & DVD August 15 from Lionsgate
Eugenio Derbez (Instructions Not Included) and Academy Award® nominee Salma Hayek (Best Actress, Frida, 2002) lead an all-star cast in How to Be a Latin Lover, arriving on Digital HD August 1 and Blu-ray™ (plus DVD and Digital HD), DVD and On DemandAugust 15 from Lionsgate. Theatrically released by Pantelion, How to Be a Latin Lover is a laugh-out-loud comedy about an aging “ladies’ man” who is thrust back into real life after years of being pampered, and onto the doorstep of his estranged sister and nephew. Directed by comedy veteran Ken Marino (“Childrens Hospital,” “Party Down”) and written by Jon Zack (The Perfect Score) & Chris Spain, the film features a standout ensemble cast,...
Eugenio Derbez (Instructions Not Included) and Academy Award® nominee Salma Hayek (Best Actress, Frida, 2002) lead an all-star cast in How to Be a Latin Lover, arriving on Digital HD August 1 and Blu-ray™ (plus DVD and Digital HD), DVD and On DemandAugust 15 from Lionsgate. Theatrically released by Pantelion, How to Be a Latin Lover is a laugh-out-loud comedy about an aging “ladies’ man” who is thrust back into real life after years of being pampered, and onto the doorstep of his estranged sister and nephew. Directed by comedy veteran Ken Marino (“Childrens Hospital,” “Party Down”) and written by Jon Zack (The Perfect Score) & Chris Spain, the film features a standout ensemble cast,...
- 8/16/2017
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The Hilarious Comedy How To Be A Latin Lover Starring Eugenio Derbez, Academy Award Nominee Salma Hayek, Rob Lowe and Kristen Bell, Arrives on Digital HD August 1 and Blu-ray Combo Pack & DVD August 15 from Lionsgate
Eugenio Derbez (Instructions Not Included) and Academy Award® nominee Salma Hayek (Best Actress, Frida, 2002) lead an all-star cast in How to Be a Latin Lover, arriving on Digital HD August 1 and Blu-ray™ (plus DVD and Digital HD), DVD and On DemandAugust 15 from Lionsgate. Theatrically released by Pantelion, How to Be a Latin Lover is a laugh-out-loud comedy about an aging “ladies’ man” who is thrust back into real life after years of being pampered, and onto the doorstep of his estranged sister and nephew. Directed by comedy veteran Ken Marino (“Childrens Hospital,” “Party Down”) and written by Jon Zack (The Perfect Score) & Chris Spain, the film features a standout ensemble cast, including Rob Lowe...
Eugenio Derbez (Instructions Not Included) and Academy Award® nominee Salma Hayek (Best Actress, Frida, 2002) lead an all-star cast in How to Be a Latin Lover, arriving on Digital HD August 1 and Blu-ray™ (plus DVD and Digital HD), DVD and On DemandAugust 15 from Lionsgate. Theatrically released by Pantelion, How to Be a Latin Lover is a laugh-out-loud comedy about an aging “ladies’ man” who is thrust back into real life after years of being pampered, and onto the doorstep of his estranged sister and nephew. Directed by comedy veteran Ken Marino (“Childrens Hospital,” “Party Down”) and written by Jon Zack (The Perfect Score) & Chris Spain, the film features a standout ensemble cast, including Rob Lowe...
- 7/31/2017
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Exclusive: Salma Hayek has come aboard Lionsgate Pantelion’s How to Be a Latin Lover, the comedy that marks star Eugenio Derbez's first English-language starring role. She joins Eugenio Derbez, Rob Lowe, Kristen Bell, Raquel Welch, Rob Riggle and McKenna Grace in the film being directed by The State alum and Wet Hot American Summer co-star Ken Marino. The story, written by Chris Spain and Jon Zack, is about an aging Latin lover forced to return to live with his estranged…...
- 6/9/2016
- Deadline
Loving
The first photo has been released of Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga in "Loving," the latest film from "Take Shelter" and "Mud" director Jeff Nichols. Inspired by Nancy Buirski's documentary "The Loving Story," the film is based on the 1967 civil rights case Loving v. Virginia which was borne out of an interracial couple being sentenced to a year in prison simply because of their marriage. The film doesn't have a release date at this point. [Source: The Wrap]
Latin Lover
"Role Models" actor Ken Marino is set to direct "Latin Lover" for Pantelion Films with "Instructions Not Included" star Eugenio Derbez playing his first English-language leading role. The film is said to have a "Bad Teacher"-style tone and will begin shooting in February.
Written by Chris Spain and Jon Zack, the comedy is about an aging Latin lover who gets dumped by his sugar mama and must fend for himself in a harsh world.
The first photo has been released of Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga in "Loving," the latest film from "Take Shelter" and "Mud" director Jeff Nichols. Inspired by Nancy Buirski's documentary "The Loving Story," the film is based on the 1967 civil rights case Loving v. Virginia which was borne out of an interracial couple being sentenced to a year in prison simply because of their marriage. The film doesn't have a release date at this point. [Source: The Wrap]
Latin Lover
"Role Models" actor Ken Marino is set to direct "Latin Lover" for Pantelion Films with "Instructions Not Included" star Eugenio Derbez playing his first English-language leading role. The film is said to have a "Bad Teacher"-style tone and will begin shooting in February.
Written by Chris Spain and Jon Zack, the comedy is about an aging Latin lover who gets dumped by his sugar mama and must fend for himself in a harsh world.
- 10/26/2015
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Exclusive: Ken Marino is set to direct Pantelion’s Latin Lover with Eugenio Derbez in what would be his first English-language starring role. The film would be the follow-up to his box office hit comedy Instructions Not Included, which was released two years ago by Lionsgate and grossed $99M worldwide. Written by Chris Spain and Jon Zack, the comedy is about an aging Latin lover who gets dumped by his sugar mama and must fend for himself in a harsh world. It is said to be…...
- 10/26/2015
- Deadline
My experience last November at Los Cabos International Film Festival was fabulous! Set up to promote film coproduction and financing among Mexico, U.S., and Canada, the festival allowed all of us to be very close and connected to our peers in the business – international sales agents, writers of all kinds, programmers and filmmakers. There we met the bright new talent, so idealistic and yet so knowledgeable and educated about film in the world. To be able to see films, concentrate on creating business and still have time to mingle -- this is what makes a festival a happy experience.
Among the many people I met there, was Ben Odell, partner at 3Pas Studios, the newly launched production company that he and Mexico’s most beloved and renowned comic star and director, Eugenio Derbez, founded on the strength and success of the $100 million dollar grossing comedy, "Instructions Not Included".
The success of this film also allowed the film’s producer Monica Lozano to establish Alebrije Distribución a new distribution company which will acquire distribution rights for the Latin and North American markets.
Monica has had her hand in 23 productions since her first film, "Amores Perros". Her most recent success was "Instructions Not Included", the Us$ 5.5 million film that became the highest grossing Spanish language film of all time in the U.S., and the second highest grossing film in any language in Mexico.
But to return to Ben and his new company, the subject of this blog: 3Pas in Spanish means three steps, but is also a play on words, something Mexicans like a lot. Tres Pas sounds like tripas, which in English means guts, or tripe. Personally, I too love tripas. Deliciosas!
I Finally met Ben at Los Cabos Film Festival. I say I "finally" met him, because we have so many friends in common and ever since I have been following Latino films and writing my book on Latin America and the film business, I had often heard of Ben as the head of production for Pantelion, U.S.'s only sustained and successful Latino film distributor.
Last September, when Strategic Partners’ Laura Mackenzie in Halifax invited me to moderate a panel on “The Games Maker”, an Argentinean-Canadian-Italian coproduction, Ben’s name was prominent as the one who made the match between Argentina’s Juan Pablo Buscarini and Canada’s Tina Pehme and Kim Roberts.
I always had him pictured as my other friend whose last name is Odell, a slight and wiry, dark haired type. How surprised I was to see this big, handsome blond who exuded warmth and a good-willed wit and storytelling skill. Love at first sight! And I am sure I am not the only one who is smitten with him.
I wish I could convey his spirit, humor and strength as he recounted his life and career(s) to me in the hour we spent together in his new spacious, airy and bright Santa Monica office where Ben Shalom-Martinez was the third person in the new company, manning a phone system not yet working.
I told Ben I had read his mini bio in IMDb, and it made me want to know how he had gotten into the Latino side of the business. I expected him to reveal that, in fact, and in spite of his name, he was Latino.
One year out of college, Ben said, "I worked in editing with the Maysles Brothers. I was a P.A. on the first film John Turturro directed called “Mac”, and I was a reader for Art Linson. And that was my degree in Liberal Arts in Film. I wanted to be a screenwriter but I didn’t feel I had enough life experience. A family friend offered me a job in commercial production in Colombia. It was 1992 and my dad said: “if you love all things Latino, go learn Spanish and become an expert in the Latino market. It’s going to need people that understand it. No one was really talking about its importance then but that piece of advice changed my life. I moved to Colombia to learn Spanish and start what would be a life long journey in all things Latino, from U.S. Latino to Latin America. It’s not a single market but there is a connectivity between all of it.”
Ben grew up in Pennsylvania and when he was six years old, neighbors, who had old friends from Colombia, did an exchange of one of their children with a Colombian child. “My father ended up basically adopting that child for the year he lived with our neighbors and from that grew a friendship with this Colombian family.”
When he was 12 years old the whole Colombian family moved to Philadelphia. “I wanted them to adopt me. They were crazy, emotional, passionate, loving. It was a warmth and lust for life I hadn’t really experienced in suburban white America. And then I realized there was a whole country full of them.” At 15 he went with a friend to Colombia and loved it.
His father eventually married someone from that family. So Ben's connection to Colombia, if not to all of Latin America was very organic. Colombia is not part of the "U.S. Latino market" per se, but Colombia and the rest of Latin America share certain characteristics and commonalities — views on life and death, family, spirituality -- that end up working their way into storytelling that are shared throughout the U.S. Latino market and Latin America along with a larger emotional scale in the tone of their storytelling.
Odell lived in Colombia from 1992 to 2000. He also worked as a freelance journalist before becoming a Spanish language television writer and screenwriter there.
When he was in Colombia working in commercials, he met Tom Quinn, a journalist Iiving there for 25 years, working for Time Magazine and running an English language rag called The Colombian Post. In his youth ,Tom had run with the likes of Hunter S. Thompson. He had lots of adventures and lots of stories of those days.
Ben asked Tom what was the most compelling story they could make into a movie that wasn’t about narcotrafficking, and Tom said one word: “Emeralds.” Colombia supplies 60% of the world's emeralds. The mines in the Emerald Zone have strong drug laundering connections as well, as one might guess. The land is leased by the government to the three or four mining companies and they control everything with no supervision by the government.
The society is totally feudal. Workers labor for the companies for 28 days of the month and on the last two days they are allowed to keep whatever they find. Victor Carranza ran everything. He was The Don, violent and scary. A small man, about 5'2". He died in prison worth over a billion dollars.
Ben thought this was a great story to develop into a movie, and so he went back to New York to the contacts he had made including an exec at Tribeca Films. “They all said the same thing, great story but you are not a writer. Go write the script and then we’ll talk.” Ben returned to Colombia to do research.
In the meanwhile he began writing for Colombian TV. He had never written a feature film script, nor did he speak Spanish. He had, however, taken a course in feature film screenwriting with Robert McKee. And he had a girlfriend who was bilingual. He knew about Colombian TV and he saw the potential for legitimizing the story first as a TV show and then making it into a feature later.
Tom Quinn was very well known in Colombia as he was the Time News correspondent there at a moment when the magazine had a lot of power; the drug wars were one of its most consistent cover stories. They pitched it to Rti TV, and structured it like "The Fugitive".
There is a drug, called Burandanga, scientifically known as Scopolamine. It comes from a plant that grows wild in Colombia. The drugged one loses control of his or her will. He once heard a story about a man in a bar who wakes up in jail accused of a murder he can’t remember. This became the basis of the story. The lead goes into the Emerald Zone and drugged by burundanga, he kills one on the wrong side in a war going on there. He wakes up with no recollection and a full on civil war going on around him. He can't get out of the Emerald Zone until he finds the man who drugged him. The title of this series that Tom and he pitched and in 1998 created was "Fuego verde", like the 1954 Hollywood movie, “ Green Fire” starring Grace Kelly and Stewart Grainger.
As a television writer, he eventually created and wrote over 300 hours of Spanish-language narrative television including “Fuego Verde” -- the first-ever action series. It was one of the highest rated series on Colombian television. He also co-wrote the Colombian political satire feature film, “ Golpe de estadio”, which was nominated for Spain's Academy Award, the Goya in 1999, and was Colombia's nomination to the Oscar in 2000. It is still one of the highest grossing Colombian films of all time.
In the film, "Golpe de estadio", (Golpe de Estado means “Coup d'état”but it also could mean “Coup d’ Stadium”), an oil company has set up a camp for geological research in a small village in Colombia that has been named New Texas. It becomes the target of the guerrillas who are constantly clashing with police in the area. The confrontation is put on hold however during the TV transmission of the world Cup qualifiers. The two sides declare a sort of truce so that they can all watch the match between Colombia and Argentina on the only working TV in the town. Colombia wins the game, 5 to 0, (a victory, in real life, infamous in the annals of world cup) and of course the Colombian police and guerrilla find themselves cheering for the same team.
"Golpe" was released in theaters in 1999 while the drug wars and war between the guerrillas and the government were moving into peace talks. It came out during the war, and Ben naively believed it could make tangible impact on the country. Instead they received death threats. It was a very volatile time.
He left Colombia and put together a business plan to make movies for Latino audiences. He was too green and he was way ahead of his time so instead he went to film school at Columbia University.
He went to film school thinking it was only to network and realized he knew nothing about film writing or production. "Going to film school's more valuable if a student already has some experience," Ben says.
"Confess", a feature length film he produced in his second year of film school (2005) was one of his thesis projects. It was made for a couple of hundred thousand dollars. Ali Larter and Melissa Leo starred in it (way before she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Role in “The Fighter”). The movie was about a disgruntled computer hacker of mixed race, who struggles to adjust to life after a jaunt in prison. He takes his anger online forcing confessions out of those who slighted him. Eventually his focus becomes political. “It had all the trappings of a first time filmmaker. But conceptually it was scratching the surface of trends that wouldn’t appear online until years later. This was several years before YouTube took hold, which is a lifetime in human years.”
"For my second film, we had Scorsese as an executive producer. When we started preproduction we quickly discovered that one of our two investors really didn’t have the money. He signed a contract to invest while he was still trying to raise the funds“
At this point in our discussion Ben and I went off on a tangent...Money that falls out at the last minute is such a common story. Do these guys think the money will come just because they have "bet" on it, using the film as collateral?... Do they just want to go for the ride, as far as they can go?... are they sociopaths, liars, gamblers, on drugs or what? I remember when I worked at Ifa (until it became ICM); at the Motion Picture Division's meetings that Mike Medavoy held every week, agents would sometimes report on someone wanting to invest in film, and once Mike said "No. Not him. He has a very bad reputation, and his money is not good. We don't want that kind of money." But young producers know very little about vetting financial prospects.
This digression is only to illustrate the fact that that in this person-to-person business it is important to know who you are dealing with.
But Odell’s luck was going to change. Just a few weeks after the implosion of the film, he got an email from Jim McNamara. NBC had bought McNamara's Telemundo for Us$ 3 billion . McNamara had been CEO of New World, a position once held by Harry Sloan and Jon Feltheimer. Feltheimer went off to Sony TV which had a majority stake in Telemundo. McNamara, who had just been president of Universal TV worldwide, was brought in to run Telemundo
After leaving Telemundo, he went back to Feltheimer, in the early days of building Lionsgate, to discuss his new idea. At the time -- this was 2006 -- there were two Spanish language networks, 600 Spanish language radio stations, 2,000 Spanish language newspapers, and no one was making movies in Spanish. Felt liked it and they made a deal. Panamax was born.
McNamara knew of Odell when he was buying TV series for Telemundo. He bought a lot of the TV shows Odell had written.
Panamax’ made a six picture deal with Lionsgate. Odell became President of Production at Panamax Films and produced many feature films and TV movies both in Spanish and in English for the Hispanic market.
On one of their first scouting trips, Odell and McNamara went to see a play called “Latinologues” written by Rick Najera. In it, there was a Mexican actor named Eugenio Derbez. Derbez was known only for Spanish language TV at the time. He wrote, directed, produced and starred in his own shows for Televisa. These shows also played on Univision in the U.S. and were building a huge fan base in both countries as well as much of the Spanish-speaking world.
Latinologues was made up of multiple monologues from different actors playing roles as Latino archetypes. Derbez did three or four different characters. “When he came on stage,” recalls Odell, “He was electrifying, hilarious, magnetic. And then I met him afterwards. He was the humblest man, quiet, and a bit shy. I realized what an amazing talent he was, he had that ‘it factor’ – when he turned it on, it turned on the room.”
At the time Odell and McNamara were packaging a project called "Under the Same Moon" and suggested Derbez for a role. They flew the director, Patricia Riggen, to N.Y. to meet him. While Lionsgate ended up not financing the project, Derbez stayed in the picture. “Looking back, I think a significant part of why that movie did $20 million in box office between U.S. and Mexico, was Eugenio. He was already a mega star. No one really knew it in the general market because they weren’t paying attention to the success of his shows. Hollywood tends to ignore the Spanish speaking market, but the U.S. is the second biggest Spanish speaking country in the world and Eugenio has built a huge following there.”
Ben also made the art house Spanish language thriller, "Padre Nuestro" in 2007 which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. IFC changed the title to “Sangre de mi Sangre” for its U.S. release. It also played at New Directors/ New Films at Museum of Modern Art in New York in the Spring of 2007, received two Independent Spirit Awards nominations, for Best First Feature (for which Odell was nominated) and Best Screenplay. Odell also produced “Un Cuento Chino” aka “Chinese Take-Out” (a Spanish/ Argentinean co-production), starring Argentina’s most popular actor, Ricardo Darin (“El Secreto de los Ojos”), written and directed by Sebastián Borensztein. In Spanish, referring to a story as a cuento chino is equivalent to calling it a tall tale.
“Chino” was the top grossing Argentinean film of 2011 and one of the highest grossing Argentinean films of all times. In its international release it has broken box office records for Latin American films in both Latin America and Europe. It won the Argentinean Academy Award for best feature and the Goya, the Spanish Academy Award, for Best Latin American Film. It won numerous festivals including the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at the Rome Film Festival.
When Odell was developing the script with Borensztein in 2009, he sent the script to Derbez, who immediately expressed interested in remaking it. “I loved the original story and movie,” Derbez said. “There is a heartfelt relationship that develops between these two very different people set around a whimsical, comical and magical world.”
Odell was also an executive producer on the English language 3D family thriller, “ The Games Maker”, starring Joseph Fiennes and Ed Asner. Made as a coproduction with Disney Latin America, the movie was produced in Argentina by Pampa Films and directed by Juan Pablo Buscarini, one of the producers of “Un Cuento Chino”. It was released widely across Latin America in the summer of 2014 and continues its theatrical release around the world.
Several years into Panamax’s deal with Lionsgate, a joint venture was created between Panamax, Televisa and Lionsgate called Pantelion Films. McNamara became chairman of Pantelion and Ben became President of Production.
Under the new deal he produced the 2012 coming of age comedy “Girl in Progress”, directed by “Under the Same Moon” director Patricia Riggen and staring Eva Mendes, Eugenio Derbez, Mathew Modine and Patricia Arquette
His most recent film was the inspirational true story, “Spare Parts”, starring George Lopez, Jamie Lee Curtis and Marisa Tomei which was released in January 2015.
While Eugenio was making his breakout film "Instructions not Included” neither he nor Ben had any idea it would be so big. “Instructions Not Included,” was released in 2013 by Pantelion and grossed $44.5 million, making it the highest-grossing Spanish-language film ever released in the U.S. It grossed another $55 million overseas making it the number one Spanish language movie in the world.
The two realized, this was The One Time In A Career To Capitalize, and they decided to go together, to focus on brand-building, based on Eugenio's popularity and to go beyond his own work, in English and Spanish. Together they formed 3pas Studios which signed a first-look deal with Pantelion in August 2014.
They are in development on many feature films including “Un Cuento Chino”, a remake of the French comedy, “The Valet” and an untitled original script about an aging Latin lover from writers Chris Spain and Jon Zack (“The Perfect Storm”) which Derbez will star in and produce with Ben.
“We are developing multiple projects with an eye to shooting one at the end of 2015,” Odell said.
Meantime, Eugenio Derbez just filmed roles in Warner Brothers’ “Geostorm” with Gerard Butler and Sony Pictures “ Miracles from Heaven” with Jennifer Garner, and Queen Latifah. The latter was directed by Patricia Riggen who directed Derbez in both “Under the Same Moon” and “Girl in Progress”.
Ben is sure that his producing partner will go way beyond his current core Latino market “He is so lovable to watch. He has a magic about him that is undeniable and transcends language and culture.”...
Among the many people I met there, was Ben Odell, partner at 3Pas Studios, the newly launched production company that he and Mexico’s most beloved and renowned comic star and director, Eugenio Derbez, founded on the strength and success of the $100 million dollar grossing comedy, "Instructions Not Included".
The success of this film also allowed the film’s producer Monica Lozano to establish Alebrije Distribución a new distribution company which will acquire distribution rights for the Latin and North American markets.
Monica has had her hand in 23 productions since her first film, "Amores Perros". Her most recent success was "Instructions Not Included", the Us$ 5.5 million film that became the highest grossing Spanish language film of all time in the U.S., and the second highest grossing film in any language in Mexico.
But to return to Ben and his new company, the subject of this blog: 3Pas in Spanish means three steps, but is also a play on words, something Mexicans like a lot. Tres Pas sounds like tripas, which in English means guts, or tripe. Personally, I too love tripas. Deliciosas!
I Finally met Ben at Los Cabos Film Festival. I say I "finally" met him, because we have so many friends in common and ever since I have been following Latino films and writing my book on Latin America and the film business, I had often heard of Ben as the head of production for Pantelion, U.S.'s only sustained and successful Latino film distributor.
Last September, when Strategic Partners’ Laura Mackenzie in Halifax invited me to moderate a panel on “The Games Maker”, an Argentinean-Canadian-Italian coproduction, Ben’s name was prominent as the one who made the match between Argentina’s Juan Pablo Buscarini and Canada’s Tina Pehme and Kim Roberts.
I always had him pictured as my other friend whose last name is Odell, a slight and wiry, dark haired type. How surprised I was to see this big, handsome blond who exuded warmth and a good-willed wit and storytelling skill. Love at first sight! And I am sure I am not the only one who is smitten with him.
I wish I could convey his spirit, humor and strength as he recounted his life and career(s) to me in the hour we spent together in his new spacious, airy and bright Santa Monica office where Ben Shalom-Martinez was the third person in the new company, manning a phone system not yet working.
I told Ben I had read his mini bio in IMDb, and it made me want to know how he had gotten into the Latino side of the business. I expected him to reveal that, in fact, and in spite of his name, he was Latino.
One year out of college, Ben said, "I worked in editing with the Maysles Brothers. I was a P.A. on the first film John Turturro directed called “Mac”, and I was a reader for Art Linson. And that was my degree in Liberal Arts in Film. I wanted to be a screenwriter but I didn’t feel I had enough life experience. A family friend offered me a job in commercial production in Colombia. It was 1992 and my dad said: “if you love all things Latino, go learn Spanish and become an expert in the Latino market. It’s going to need people that understand it. No one was really talking about its importance then but that piece of advice changed my life. I moved to Colombia to learn Spanish and start what would be a life long journey in all things Latino, from U.S. Latino to Latin America. It’s not a single market but there is a connectivity between all of it.”
Ben grew up in Pennsylvania and when he was six years old, neighbors, who had old friends from Colombia, did an exchange of one of their children with a Colombian child. “My father ended up basically adopting that child for the year he lived with our neighbors and from that grew a friendship with this Colombian family.”
When he was 12 years old the whole Colombian family moved to Philadelphia. “I wanted them to adopt me. They were crazy, emotional, passionate, loving. It was a warmth and lust for life I hadn’t really experienced in suburban white America. And then I realized there was a whole country full of them.” At 15 he went with a friend to Colombia and loved it.
His father eventually married someone from that family. So Ben's connection to Colombia, if not to all of Latin America was very organic. Colombia is not part of the "U.S. Latino market" per se, but Colombia and the rest of Latin America share certain characteristics and commonalities — views on life and death, family, spirituality -- that end up working their way into storytelling that are shared throughout the U.S. Latino market and Latin America along with a larger emotional scale in the tone of their storytelling.
Odell lived in Colombia from 1992 to 2000. He also worked as a freelance journalist before becoming a Spanish language television writer and screenwriter there.
When he was in Colombia working in commercials, he met Tom Quinn, a journalist Iiving there for 25 years, working for Time Magazine and running an English language rag called The Colombian Post. In his youth ,Tom had run with the likes of Hunter S. Thompson. He had lots of adventures and lots of stories of those days.
Ben asked Tom what was the most compelling story they could make into a movie that wasn’t about narcotrafficking, and Tom said one word: “Emeralds.” Colombia supplies 60% of the world's emeralds. The mines in the Emerald Zone have strong drug laundering connections as well, as one might guess. The land is leased by the government to the three or four mining companies and they control everything with no supervision by the government.
The society is totally feudal. Workers labor for the companies for 28 days of the month and on the last two days they are allowed to keep whatever they find. Victor Carranza ran everything. He was The Don, violent and scary. A small man, about 5'2". He died in prison worth over a billion dollars.
Ben thought this was a great story to develop into a movie, and so he went back to New York to the contacts he had made including an exec at Tribeca Films. “They all said the same thing, great story but you are not a writer. Go write the script and then we’ll talk.” Ben returned to Colombia to do research.
In the meanwhile he began writing for Colombian TV. He had never written a feature film script, nor did he speak Spanish. He had, however, taken a course in feature film screenwriting with Robert McKee. And he had a girlfriend who was bilingual. He knew about Colombian TV and he saw the potential for legitimizing the story first as a TV show and then making it into a feature later.
Tom Quinn was very well known in Colombia as he was the Time News correspondent there at a moment when the magazine had a lot of power; the drug wars were one of its most consistent cover stories. They pitched it to Rti TV, and structured it like "The Fugitive".
There is a drug, called Burandanga, scientifically known as Scopolamine. It comes from a plant that grows wild in Colombia. The drugged one loses control of his or her will. He once heard a story about a man in a bar who wakes up in jail accused of a murder he can’t remember. This became the basis of the story. The lead goes into the Emerald Zone and drugged by burundanga, he kills one on the wrong side in a war going on there. He wakes up with no recollection and a full on civil war going on around him. He can't get out of the Emerald Zone until he finds the man who drugged him. The title of this series that Tom and he pitched and in 1998 created was "Fuego verde", like the 1954 Hollywood movie, “ Green Fire” starring Grace Kelly and Stewart Grainger.
As a television writer, he eventually created and wrote over 300 hours of Spanish-language narrative television including “Fuego Verde” -- the first-ever action series. It was one of the highest rated series on Colombian television. He also co-wrote the Colombian political satire feature film, “ Golpe de estadio”, which was nominated for Spain's Academy Award, the Goya in 1999, and was Colombia's nomination to the Oscar in 2000. It is still one of the highest grossing Colombian films of all time.
In the film, "Golpe de estadio", (Golpe de Estado means “Coup d'état”but it also could mean “Coup d’ Stadium”), an oil company has set up a camp for geological research in a small village in Colombia that has been named New Texas. It becomes the target of the guerrillas who are constantly clashing with police in the area. The confrontation is put on hold however during the TV transmission of the world Cup qualifiers. The two sides declare a sort of truce so that they can all watch the match between Colombia and Argentina on the only working TV in the town. Colombia wins the game, 5 to 0, (a victory, in real life, infamous in the annals of world cup) and of course the Colombian police and guerrilla find themselves cheering for the same team.
"Golpe" was released in theaters in 1999 while the drug wars and war between the guerrillas and the government were moving into peace talks. It came out during the war, and Ben naively believed it could make tangible impact on the country. Instead they received death threats. It was a very volatile time.
He left Colombia and put together a business plan to make movies for Latino audiences. He was too green and he was way ahead of his time so instead he went to film school at Columbia University.
He went to film school thinking it was only to network and realized he knew nothing about film writing or production. "Going to film school's more valuable if a student already has some experience," Ben says.
"Confess", a feature length film he produced in his second year of film school (2005) was one of his thesis projects. It was made for a couple of hundred thousand dollars. Ali Larter and Melissa Leo starred in it (way before she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Role in “The Fighter”). The movie was about a disgruntled computer hacker of mixed race, who struggles to adjust to life after a jaunt in prison. He takes his anger online forcing confessions out of those who slighted him. Eventually his focus becomes political. “It had all the trappings of a first time filmmaker. But conceptually it was scratching the surface of trends that wouldn’t appear online until years later. This was several years before YouTube took hold, which is a lifetime in human years.”
"For my second film, we had Scorsese as an executive producer. When we started preproduction we quickly discovered that one of our two investors really didn’t have the money. He signed a contract to invest while he was still trying to raise the funds“
At this point in our discussion Ben and I went off on a tangent...Money that falls out at the last minute is such a common story. Do these guys think the money will come just because they have "bet" on it, using the film as collateral?... Do they just want to go for the ride, as far as they can go?... are they sociopaths, liars, gamblers, on drugs or what? I remember when I worked at Ifa (until it became ICM); at the Motion Picture Division's meetings that Mike Medavoy held every week, agents would sometimes report on someone wanting to invest in film, and once Mike said "No. Not him. He has a very bad reputation, and his money is not good. We don't want that kind of money." But young producers know very little about vetting financial prospects.
This digression is only to illustrate the fact that that in this person-to-person business it is important to know who you are dealing with.
But Odell’s luck was going to change. Just a few weeks after the implosion of the film, he got an email from Jim McNamara. NBC had bought McNamara's Telemundo for Us$ 3 billion . McNamara had been CEO of New World, a position once held by Harry Sloan and Jon Feltheimer. Feltheimer went off to Sony TV which had a majority stake in Telemundo. McNamara, who had just been president of Universal TV worldwide, was brought in to run Telemundo
After leaving Telemundo, he went back to Feltheimer, in the early days of building Lionsgate, to discuss his new idea. At the time -- this was 2006 -- there were two Spanish language networks, 600 Spanish language radio stations, 2,000 Spanish language newspapers, and no one was making movies in Spanish. Felt liked it and they made a deal. Panamax was born.
McNamara knew of Odell when he was buying TV series for Telemundo. He bought a lot of the TV shows Odell had written.
Panamax’ made a six picture deal with Lionsgate. Odell became President of Production at Panamax Films and produced many feature films and TV movies both in Spanish and in English for the Hispanic market.
On one of their first scouting trips, Odell and McNamara went to see a play called “Latinologues” written by Rick Najera. In it, there was a Mexican actor named Eugenio Derbez. Derbez was known only for Spanish language TV at the time. He wrote, directed, produced and starred in his own shows for Televisa. These shows also played on Univision in the U.S. and were building a huge fan base in both countries as well as much of the Spanish-speaking world.
Latinologues was made up of multiple monologues from different actors playing roles as Latino archetypes. Derbez did three or four different characters. “When he came on stage,” recalls Odell, “He was electrifying, hilarious, magnetic. And then I met him afterwards. He was the humblest man, quiet, and a bit shy. I realized what an amazing talent he was, he had that ‘it factor’ – when he turned it on, it turned on the room.”
At the time Odell and McNamara were packaging a project called "Under the Same Moon" and suggested Derbez for a role. They flew the director, Patricia Riggen, to N.Y. to meet him. While Lionsgate ended up not financing the project, Derbez stayed in the picture. “Looking back, I think a significant part of why that movie did $20 million in box office between U.S. and Mexico, was Eugenio. He was already a mega star. No one really knew it in the general market because they weren’t paying attention to the success of his shows. Hollywood tends to ignore the Spanish speaking market, but the U.S. is the second biggest Spanish speaking country in the world and Eugenio has built a huge following there.”
Ben also made the art house Spanish language thriller, "Padre Nuestro" in 2007 which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. IFC changed the title to “Sangre de mi Sangre” for its U.S. release. It also played at New Directors/ New Films at Museum of Modern Art in New York in the Spring of 2007, received two Independent Spirit Awards nominations, for Best First Feature (for which Odell was nominated) and Best Screenplay. Odell also produced “Un Cuento Chino” aka “Chinese Take-Out” (a Spanish/ Argentinean co-production), starring Argentina’s most popular actor, Ricardo Darin (“El Secreto de los Ojos”), written and directed by Sebastián Borensztein. In Spanish, referring to a story as a cuento chino is equivalent to calling it a tall tale.
“Chino” was the top grossing Argentinean film of 2011 and one of the highest grossing Argentinean films of all times. In its international release it has broken box office records for Latin American films in both Latin America and Europe. It won the Argentinean Academy Award for best feature and the Goya, the Spanish Academy Award, for Best Latin American Film. It won numerous festivals including the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at the Rome Film Festival.
When Odell was developing the script with Borensztein in 2009, he sent the script to Derbez, who immediately expressed interested in remaking it. “I loved the original story and movie,” Derbez said. “There is a heartfelt relationship that develops between these two very different people set around a whimsical, comical and magical world.”
Odell was also an executive producer on the English language 3D family thriller, “ The Games Maker”, starring Joseph Fiennes and Ed Asner. Made as a coproduction with Disney Latin America, the movie was produced in Argentina by Pampa Films and directed by Juan Pablo Buscarini, one of the producers of “Un Cuento Chino”. It was released widely across Latin America in the summer of 2014 and continues its theatrical release around the world.
Several years into Panamax’s deal with Lionsgate, a joint venture was created between Panamax, Televisa and Lionsgate called Pantelion Films. McNamara became chairman of Pantelion and Ben became President of Production.
Under the new deal he produced the 2012 coming of age comedy “Girl in Progress”, directed by “Under the Same Moon” director Patricia Riggen and staring Eva Mendes, Eugenio Derbez, Mathew Modine and Patricia Arquette
His most recent film was the inspirational true story, “Spare Parts”, starring George Lopez, Jamie Lee Curtis and Marisa Tomei which was released in January 2015.
While Eugenio was making his breakout film "Instructions not Included” neither he nor Ben had any idea it would be so big. “Instructions Not Included,” was released in 2013 by Pantelion and grossed $44.5 million, making it the highest-grossing Spanish-language film ever released in the U.S. It grossed another $55 million overseas making it the number one Spanish language movie in the world.
The two realized, this was The One Time In A Career To Capitalize, and they decided to go together, to focus on brand-building, based on Eugenio's popularity and to go beyond his own work, in English and Spanish. Together they formed 3pas Studios which signed a first-look deal with Pantelion in August 2014.
They are in development on many feature films including “Un Cuento Chino”, a remake of the French comedy, “The Valet” and an untitled original script about an aging Latin lover from writers Chris Spain and Jon Zack (“The Perfect Storm”) which Derbez will star in and produce with Ben.
“We are developing multiple projects with an eye to shooting one at the end of 2015,” Odell said.
Meantime, Eugenio Derbez just filmed roles in Warner Brothers’ “Geostorm” with Gerard Butler and Sony Pictures “ Miracles from Heaven” with Jennifer Garner, and Queen Latifah. The latter was directed by Patricia Riggen who directed Derbez in both “Under the Same Moon” and “Girl in Progress”.
Ben is sure that his producing partner will go way beyond his current core Latino market “He is so lovable to watch. He has a magic about him that is undeniable and transcends language and culture.”...
- 8/5/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Puss In Boots
Stars: Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton, Amy Sedaris | Written by Will Davies, Brian Lynch, David H. Steinberg, Tom Wheeler, Jon Zack | Directed by Chris Miller
Shrek’s feline philanderer finally gets his own starring vehicle with the eponymous Puss In Boots which sees the titular hero meet a swathe of fellow fairytale characters and a rather Batgirl-esque love interest on a quest to redeem himself and his good name in this prequel to the Shrek franchise.
The story sees Puss on a mission to relieve Jack and Jill (of “the hill” fame) of the magic beans they have stolen in order to grow the famous fairytale beanstalk and retrieve the goose that laid the golden egg so that he can return to the village where he grew up, repay the debt he owes, clear his name and finally live the classic “happily ever...
Stars: Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton, Amy Sedaris | Written by Will Davies, Brian Lynch, David H. Steinberg, Tom Wheeler, Jon Zack | Directed by Chris Miller
Shrek’s feline philanderer finally gets his own starring vehicle with the eponymous Puss In Boots which sees the titular hero meet a swathe of fellow fairytale characters and a rather Batgirl-esque love interest on a quest to redeem himself and his good name in this prequel to the Shrek franchise.
The story sees Puss on a mission to relieve Jack and Jill (of “the hill” fame) of the magic beans they have stolen in order to grow the famous fairytale beanstalk and retrieve the goose that laid the golden egg so that he can return to the village where he grew up, repay the debt he owes, clear his name and finally live the classic “happily ever...
- 11/14/2011
- by Phil
- Nerdly
Paranormal Activity 3 dropped by Puss in Boots at weekend movie box office. It may have been Halloween, but you wouldn't have guessed it at the box office as an animated film now purrs in first place over a horror movie. Still, Paramount Pictures isn't complaining, holding the first, second and fourth positions. Puss in Boots debuted with $34 million, not overly impressive for an animated film in general, averaging $8,603 from 3,952 theaters. Pic features the voice talents of Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek and Zach Galifianakis, under the direction of Chris Miller, from the writing by David H. Steinberg, Brian Lynch, Tom Wheeler and Jon Zack. Daily Breakdown Over Halloween Weekend for Puss in Boots: - Friday: $9.6 million. - Saturday: $13.9 million. - Sunday: $10.47 million estimate. In second, Paranormal Activity 3 showed a 65% change, adding an estimated $18.3 million in its sophomore weekend at the box office, bringing the total cume for the...
- 10/30/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Paranormal Activity 3 dropped by Puss in Boots at weekend movie box office. It may have been Halloween, but you wouldn't have guessed it at the box office as an animated film now purrs in first place over a horror movie. Still, Paramount Pictures isn't complaining, holding the first, second and fourth positions. Puss in Boots debuted with $34 million, not overly impressive for an animated film in general, averaging $8,603 from 3,952 theaters. Pic features the voice talents of Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek and Zach Galifianakis, under the direction of Chris Miller, from the writing by David H. Steinberg, Brian Lynch, Tom Wheeler and Jon Zack. Daily Breakdown Over Halloween Weekend for Puss in Boots: - Friday: $9.6 million. - Saturday: $13.9 million. - Sunday: $10.47 million estimate. In second, Paranormal Activity 3 showed a 65% change, adding an estimated $18.3 million in its sophomore weekend at the box office, bringing the total cume for the...
- 10/30/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Chicago – Animated family films have made a pact with their audience. For our participation – and extra 3D glasses fee – they deliver the latest in computer generated eye candy, familiar voice talent and heroes that always win while making pop culture references. Antonio Banderas is “Puss in Boots.”
Rating: 3.0/5.0
Expanding on the feline swashbuckler from the “Shrek” series of films, “Puss in Boots” is a decent exercise of the animated pact, but doesn’t offer anything new or particular exciting. The generated atmosphere is gorgeous, truly a miracle of the modern age, but the filmmakers probably think this is enough. It took four writers to sweat out the adventurous screenplay, only to fall back on litter box jokes and a greek chorus cat who offers the oh-no-you-didn’t aphorism.
Set before his Shrek adventures, Puss in Boots (voice of Banderas) is introduced in all his roguish ways, loving and leaving his feline companion.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
Expanding on the feline swashbuckler from the “Shrek” series of films, “Puss in Boots” is a decent exercise of the animated pact, but doesn’t offer anything new or particular exciting. The generated atmosphere is gorgeous, truly a miracle of the modern age, but the filmmakers probably think this is enough. It took four writers to sweat out the adventurous screenplay, only to fall back on litter box jokes and a greek chorus cat who offers the oh-no-you-didn’t aphorism.
Set before his Shrek adventures, Puss in Boots (voice of Banderas) is introduced in all his roguish ways, loving and leaving his feline companion.
- 10/28/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – A media and admirer frenzy took place last week at the Kerasotes Icon theater in Chicago, where Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek walked the red carpet at the sneak preview for the upcoming film “Puss in Boots.” Both lent their voices to characters that are a spin-off from the “Shrek” series of animated films.
The Puss in Boots character, as voiced by Banderas, first appeared in “Shrek 2,” and got more screen time as the animated series went along. It is the combination of the suave interpretation of the character by Banderas and the comedy that the Shrek team gave the feline that made the role so popular. It almost was natural that there would be a spin-off, and that Salma Hayek would join the cast – as Kitty Softpaws.
Antonio Banderas of ‘Puss in Boots’ in Chicago, October 17, 2011
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com
HollywoodChicago.
The Puss in Boots character, as voiced by Banderas, first appeared in “Shrek 2,” and got more screen time as the animated series went along. It is the combination of the suave interpretation of the character by Banderas and the comedy that the Shrek team gave the feline that made the role so popular. It almost was natural that there would be a spin-off, and that Salma Hayek would join the cast – as Kitty Softpaws.
Antonio Banderas of ‘Puss in Boots’ in Chicago, October 17, 2011
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com
HollywoodChicago.
- 10/26/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Puss in Boots to claw up box office top spot. A great buffet of genres awaits viewers this week as Paramount Pictures' Puss in Boots preps to consume Halloween weekend. Kind of odd that an animated film will top the charts on a weekend once owned by the Saw franchise, still, fans hoping for a scare should find such in current player Paranormal Activity 3, also from Paramount. Puss in Boots offshoot from the Shrek franchise, debuts in over 3,800 theaters, with a voice cast including Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton, Constance Marie and Guillermo del Toro. Chris Miller directs from the writing by David H. Steinberg, Brian Lynch, Tom Wheeler and Jon Zack.
- 10/25/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Puss in Boots to claw up box office top spot. A great buffet of genres awaits viewers this week as Paramount Pictures' Puss in Boots preps to consume Halloween weekend. Kind of odd that an animated film will top the charts on a weekend once owned by the Saw franchise, still, fans hoping for a scare should find such in current player Paranormal Activity 3, also from Paramount. Puss in Boots offshoot from the Shrek franchise, debuts in over 3,800 theaters, with a voice cast including Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton, Constance Marie and Guillermo del Toro. Chris Miller directs from the writing by David H. Steinberg, Brian Lynch, Tom Wheeler and Jon Zack.
- 10/25/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Antonio Banderas' Puss in Boots in a bar full of roughian types in this new clip. Paramount Pictures' animated adventure comedy sees release on October 28th, with voice talents which include Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton, Amy Sedaris, Walt Dohrn, Constance Marie, and Zeus Mendoza. ] Chris Miller directs from the writing by David H. Steinberg, Brian Lynch, Tom Wheeler and Jon Zack. Puss In Boots - one of the most beloved characters of the Shrek universe - tells the hilarious and courageous (daring, bold, brave) tale of Puss's (Antonio Banderas) early adventures as he teams with mastermind...
- 10/20/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Antonio Banderas' Puss in Boots in a bar full of roughian types in this new clip. Paramount Pictures' animated adventure comedy sees release on October 28th, with voice talents which include Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton, Amy Sedaris, Walt Dohrn, Constance Marie, and Zeus Mendoza. ] Chris Miller directs from the writing by David H. Steinberg, Brian Lynch, Tom Wheeler and Jon Zack. Puss In Boots - one of the most beloved characters of the Shrek universe - tells the hilarious and courageous (daring, bold, brave) tale of Puss's (Antonio Banderas) early adventures as he teams with mastermind...
- 10/20/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
See new images from Puss in Boots, starring Antonio Banderas! The Paramount Pictures animated release opens November 4th and also includes the voice talents of Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton, Amy Sedaris, Walt Dohrn, Constance Marie, and Zeus Mendoza. Chris Miller directs from the writing by David H. Steinberg, Brian Lynch, Tom Wheeler and Jon Zack, and the charaters by Charles Perrault. Puss In Boots - one of the most beloved characters of the Shrek universe - tells the hilarious and courageous (daring, bold, brave) tale of Puss's (Antonio Banderas) early adventures as he teams with mastermind Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis) and the street-savvy Kitty (Salma Hayek) to steal the famed Goose that lays the Golden Eggs.
- 10/4/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
See new images from Puss in Boots, starring Antonio Banderas! The Paramount Pictures animated release opens November 4th and also includes the voice talents of Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton, Amy Sedaris, Walt Dohrn, Constance Marie, and Zeus Mendoza. Chris Miller directs from the writing by David H. Steinberg, Brian Lynch, Tom Wheeler and Jon Zack, and the charaters by Charles Perrault. Puss In Boots - one of the most beloved characters of the Shrek universe - tells the hilarious and courageous (daring, bold, brave) tale of Puss's (Antonio Banderas) early adventures as he teams with mastermind Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis) and the street-savvy Kitty (Salma Hayek) to steal the famed Goose that lays the Golden Eggs.
- 10/4/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Check out new parody videos from Puss in Boots, starring Antonio Banderas! The eagerly anticipated animated comedy adventure opens November 4th via Paramount Pictures and is helmed by Chris Miller from the writing by David H. Steinberg, Brian Lynch, Tom Wheeler and Jon Zack. Also lending their voice talents are Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton, Amy Sedaris, Walt Dohrn, Constance Marie, and Zeus Mendoza. Puss In Boots - one of the most beloved characters of the Shrek universe - tells the hilarious and courageous (daring, bold, brave) tale of Puss's (Antonio Banderas) early adventures as he teams with mastermind Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis) and the street-savvy Kitty (Salma Hayek) to steal the famed Goose that lays the Golden Eggs.
- 9/23/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Check out new parody videos from Puss in Boots, starring Antonio Banderas! The eagerly anticipated animated comedy adventure opens November 4th via Paramount Pictures and is helmed by Chris Miller from the writing by David H. Steinberg, Brian Lynch, Tom Wheeler and Jon Zack. Also lending their voice talents are Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton, Amy Sedaris, Walt Dohrn, Constance Marie, and Zeus Mendoza. Puss In Boots - one of the most beloved characters of the Shrek universe - tells the hilarious and courageous (daring, bold, brave) tale of Puss's (Antonio Banderas) early adventures as he teams with mastermind Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis) and the street-savvy Kitty (Salma Hayek) to steal the famed Goose that lays the Golden Eggs.
- 9/23/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
By Sean O’Connell
Hollywoodnews.com: A handful of stellar titles with Oscar aspirations have been programmed into this year’s Austin Film Festival schedule, which begins on Oct. 20 with an as-yet-unnamed Opening Night selection.
In between, Aff audiences will get their first looks at Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants,” Steve McQueen’s “Shame,” Lynne Ramsay’s “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” Rodrigo Garcia’s “Albert Nobbs” and Sean Durkin’s “Martha Marcy May Marlene” – all films with awards hopes that will screen as part of the festival’s Marquee category.
“We’re proud to be taking our program in some exciting new directions while maintaining our focus on strong writing and engaging stories,” said new Film Programmers Stephen Jannise and Stephen Belyeu.
In addition, the fest has set up special screenings of “Toy Story” (presented by John Lasseter), an “Edward Scissorhands” screening, and a tribute to Polly Platt...
Hollywoodnews.com: A handful of stellar titles with Oscar aspirations have been programmed into this year’s Austin Film Festival schedule, which begins on Oct. 20 with an as-yet-unnamed Opening Night selection.
In between, Aff audiences will get their first looks at Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants,” Steve McQueen’s “Shame,” Lynne Ramsay’s “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” Rodrigo Garcia’s “Albert Nobbs” and Sean Durkin’s “Martha Marcy May Marlene” – all films with awards hopes that will screen as part of the festival’s Marquee category.
“We’re proud to be taking our program in some exciting new directions while maintaining our focus on strong writing and engaging stories,” said new Film Programmers Stephen Jannise and Stephen Belyeu.
In addition, the fest has set up special screenings of “Toy Story” (presented by John Lasseter), an “Edward Scissorhands” screening, and a tribute to Polly Platt...
- 9/20/2011
- by Sean O'Connell
- Hollywoodnews.com
Poster for DreamWorks' Puss in Boots, starring Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek The animated offshoot of the uber-successful Shrek franchise is helmed by Chris Miller from the screenplay by David H. Steinberg, Brian Lynch, Tom Wheeler and Jon Zack. Also in the cast of are Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris. Puss In Boots is certainly one of the most beloved characters of the Shrek universe and tells the courageous, and hilarious (not to mention daring, brave and bold) tale of Puss's (Antonio Banderas) early adventures as he teams...
- 9/13/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Poster for DreamWorks' Puss in Boots, starring Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek The animated offshoot of the uber-successful Shrek franchise is helmed by Chris Miller from the screenplay by David H. Steinberg, Brian Lynch, Tom Wheeler and Jon Zack. Also in the cast of are Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris. Puss In Boots is certainly one of the most beloved characters of the Shrek universe and tells the courageous, and hilarious (not to mention daring, brave and bold) tale of Puss's (Antonio Banderas) early adventures as he teams...
- 9/13/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
By Sean O’Connell
Hollywoodnews.com: “Albert Nobbs,” “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” and a regional premiere of DreamWorks’ anticipated animated sequel “Puss in Boots” are the highlights of the first wave of programming for the Austin Film Festival, which were announced this morning.
The first two films harbor serious awards aspirations, and will stop in Austin after screening at such prestigious festivals as Cannes and Toronto.
The 2011 film lineup includes several world, U.S., and regional premieres in all genres ranging from comedy to horror, documentary to drama. Filmmakers from around the world and Texas alike will showcase everything from obscure indie films to big-budget Oscar-bound productions.
This year’s festival runs October 20-27 in Austin, Texas.
The complete list of films screening at Aff this year, including short films and competition titles, will be announced in mid-September. Cast and crew attendance is subject to change and...
Hollywoodnews.com: “Albert Nobbs,” “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” and a regional premiere of DreamWorks’ anticipated animated sequel “Puss in Boots” are the highlights of the first wave of programming for the Austin Film Festival, which were announced this morning.
The first two films harbor serious awards aspirations, and will stop in Austin after screening at such prestigious festivals as Cannes and Toronto.
The 2011 film lineup includes several world, U.S., and regional premieres in all genres ranging from comedy to horror, documentary to drama. Filmmakers from around the world and Texas alike will showcase everything from obscure indie films to big-budget Oscar-bound productions.
This year’s festival runs October 20-27 in Austin, Texas.
The complete list of films screening at Aff this year, including short films and competition titles, will be announced in mid-September. Cast and crew attendance is subject to change and...
- 8/23/2011
- by Sean O'Connell
- Hollywoodnews.com
New movie poster for Puss in Boots, starring Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris. Chris Miller directs the eagerly anticipated animated comedy adventure from the script by David H. Steinberg, Brian Lynch, Tom Wheeler and Jon Zack. Puss In Boots - one of the most beloved characters of the Shrek universe - tells the hilarious and courageous (daring, bold, brave) tale of Puss's (Antonio Banderas) early adventures as he teams with mastermind Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis) and the street-savvy Kitty (Salma Hayek) to steal the famed Goose that lays the Golden Eggs.
- 6/21/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
New movie poster for Puss in Boots, starring Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris. Chris Miller directs the eagerly anticipated animated comedy adventure from the script by David H. Steinberg, Brian Lynch, Tom Wheeler and Jon Zack. Puss In Boots - one of the most beloved characters of the Shrek universe - tells the hilarious and courageous (daring, bold, brave) tale of Puss's (Antonio Banderas) early adventures as he teams with mastermind Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis) and the street-savvy Kitty (Salma Hayek) to steal the famed Goose that lays the Golden Eggs.
- 6/21/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
New movie poster for Puss in Boots, starring Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris. Chris Miller directs the eagerly anticipated animated comedy adventure from the script by David H. Steinberg, Brian Lynch, Tom Wheeler and Jon Zack. Puss In Boots - one of the most beloved characters of the Shrek universe - tells the hilarious and courageous (daring, bold, brave) tale of Puss's (Antonio Banderas) early adventures as he teams with mastermind Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis) and the street-savvy Kitty (Salma Hayek) to steal the famed Goose that lays the Golden Eggs.
- 6/21/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
In a curious but acutely unpleasant way, the crass snowboarding comedy "Out Cold" is the mutant offspring of those old '60s beach movies in which a bunch of crazy kids take time out from catching a wave to save the clubhouse.
Of course, this being 40 years later, everything has to be more extreme, including the sophomoric high jinks and the limited attention spans of first-time feature directors the Malloys (brothers Brendan and Emmett), who can't seem to hang on to any thread of story lasting longer than one of their music videos.
While the presence of pro boarders doing their thing might be a selling point for enthusiasts, the predominantly lame goings-on will leave others snow-bored. Look for this Touchstone Pictures/Buena Vista Thanksgiving offering -- which is definitely not for the kiddies -- to make a swift butt-stop at the local Blockbuster.
Set in Alaska but shot outside of Vancouver, Jon Zack's slightest hint of a script concerns the exploits of a bunch of snowboarding buddies whose endless good times on Bull Mountain could be seriously curtailed by the death of town founder Papa Muntz (the late Lewis Arquette).
It seems his son Ted (Willie Garson) has up and sold the aging hangout to slick developer John Majors (Lee Majors), who intends to convert it into a shiny ski resort.
But Rick (Jason London), Luke (Zach Galifianakis), Anthony (Flex Alexander) and Pig Pen (Derek Hamilton) have other ideas -- including some that have nothing to do with flipping outhouses or having improper conduct with a Jacuzzi jet -- and manage to save the day.
There are a couple of chuckle-worthy gags, but for the most part, a collection of sports bloopers would have been funnier. Essentially the story line is simply killing time before it can cut to another snowboarding sequence or find an excuse for another lovely young woman to peel off her bra (photographed, naturally, from the back in order to preserve the integrity of that PG-13 rating).
On the plus side, the cast appears to be enjoying its winter vacation, and the budget-conscious crew gets the job done with a minimum of fussy flourishes under those impossibly blue Alaskan, er, British Columbian skies.
OUT COLD
Buena Vista
Touchstone Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment
present a Donners' Co. production
a Barber/Birnbaum production
Directors: Brendan Malloy, Emmett Malloy
Screenwriter: Jon Zack
Producers: Lee R. Mayes, Michael Aguilar, Jonathan Glickman
Executive producers: Lauren Shuler Donner, Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum
Director of photography: Richard Crudo
Production designer: Michael Bolton
Editor: Jeffrey Wolf
Costume designer: Carla Hetland
Music: Michael Andrews
Music supervisor: Laura Z. Wasserman
Color/stereo
Cast:
Rick Rambis: Jason London
Jack Majors: Lee Majors
Ted Muntz: Willie Garson
Luke: Zach Galifianakis
Stumpy: David Koechner
Anthony: Flex Alexander
Jenny: A.J. Cook
Papa Muntz: Lewis Arquette
Pig Pen: Derek Hamilton
Running time -- 89 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Of course, this being 40 years later, everything has to be more extreme, including the sophomoric high jinks and the limited attention spans of first-time feature directors the Malloys (brothers Brendan and Emmett), who can't seem to hang on to any thread of story lasting longer than one of their music videos.
While the presence of pro boarders doing their thing might be a selling point for enthusiasts, the predominantly lame goings-on will leave others snow-bored. Look for this Touchstone Pictures/Buena Vista Thanksgiving offering -- which is definitely not for the kiddies -- to make a swift butt-stop at the local Blockbuster.
Set in Alaska but shot outside of Vancouver, Jon Zack's slightest hint of a script concerns the exploits of a bunch of snowboarding buddies whose endless good times on Bull Mountain could be seriously curtailed by the death of town founder Papa Muntz (the late Lewis Arquette).
It seems his son Ted (Willie Garson) has up and sold the aging hangout to slick developer John Majors (Lee Majors), who intends to convert it into a shiny ski resort.
But Rick (Jason London), Luke (Zach Galifianakis), Anthony (Flex Alexander) and Pig Pen (Derek Hamilton) have other ideas -- including some that have nothing to do with flipping outhouses or having improper conduct with a Jacuzzi jet -- and manage to save the day.
There are a couple of chuckle-worthy gags, but for the most part, a collection of sports bloopers would have been funnier. Essentially the story line is simply killing time before it can cut to another snowboarding sequence or find an excuse for another lovely young woman to peel off her bra (photographed, naturally, from the back in order to preserve the integrity of that PG-13 rating).
On the plus side, the cast appears to be enjoying its winter vacation, and the budget-conscious crew gets the job done with a minimum of fussy flourishes under those impossibly blue Alaskan, er, British Columbian skies.
OUT COLD
Buena Vista
Touchstone Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment
present a Donners' Co. production
a Barber/Birnbaum production
Directors: Brendan Malloy, Emmett Malloy
Screenwriter: Jon Zack
Producers: Lee R. Mayes, Michael Aguilar, Jonathan Glickman
Executive producers: Lauren Shuler Donner, Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum
Director of photography: Richard Crudo
Production designer: Michael Bolton
Editor: Jeffrey Wolf
Costume designer: Carla Hetland
Music: Michael Andrews
Music supervisor: Laura Z. Wasserman
Color/stereo
Cast:
Rick Rambis: Jason London
Jack Majors: Lee Majors
Ted Muntz: Willie Garson
Luke: Zach Galifianakis
Stumpy: David Koechner
Anthony: Flex Alexander
Jenny: A.J. Cook
Papa Muntz: Lewis Arquette
Pig Pen: Derek Hamilton
Running time -- 89 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Opens
January 30
Director-producer Brian Robbins' The Perfect Score is a high school comedy/drama that Paramount hopes will appeal to teenagers. If those teens are undiscriminating, the studio might have a fighting chance. The attractive cast includes Scarlett Johansson, though in a performance much more mundane than those in either Lost in Translation or Girl With a Pearl Earring.
Chris Evans (Not Another Teen Movie) is Kyle, a decent student whose quite unrealistic dream since childhood has been to study architecture at Cornell University. Kyle seems more likely to end up studying beer-guzzling at State, but he nonetheless is the ringleader of a scheme to break into the corporate headquarters of the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, N.J. He plans to steal the answers to the upcoming edition of the SAT, the bane of every college-bound high school senior.
Kyle fared poorly on the exam the first time. Best friend Matty (Bryan Greenberg)didn't do well either. Matty was hoping to score high enough to get into the University of Maryland, the college his (unseen) girlfriend attends. Brainy but sheltered Anna (Erika Christensen) is ranked second in their class, but she uncharacteristically froze on the test, thereby dashing any hope of getting into her first choice college, Brown University.
Francesca (Johansson) is a Goth rich kid whose father conveniently owns the office building that houses ETS. Desmond is a basketball prodigy who flirts with the idea of continuing his education at St. John's rather than turn pro. (Played by the NBA's Darius Miles, in his second film, the role somewhat mirrors Miles' real-life story.) Finally, Roy (Leonardo Nam) is the archetypal stoner who also happens to be a computer savant.
These six seniors carry out the break-in, though the entire enterprise seems to be more of a bonding experience than a purposeful crime. The characters in the screenplay by Mark Schwahn (creator of the WB Network's One Tree Hill, also for Tollin/Robbins), Marc Hyman and Jon Zack are barely fleshed out, though Kyle has a refreshing lack of swagger. Evans' conflicted adolescent actually seems real, as opposed to some of his co-stars, who resemble cardboard types. The few adults in the movie are relegated to the background -- no real surprise in an MTV Films production. The only other character of note is Kyle's older brother, Larry (Matthew Lillard, in patented grinning-underachiever-dude guise).
Robbins (Varsity Blues, Hardball) certainly knows his way around the youth market. If only this was half as entertaining as any episode of Dawson's Creek or The O.C. The story is flimsy, and when the dialogue touches on controversial issues regarding the SAT and its fairness, the slacker tone turns abruptly melodramatic.
Technically, the film resembles a TV show in its lighting, cartoon-like parents and thoroughly nondescript school and town. Not that we see much of these: There is a strange dearth of exterior, establishing, crowd or street shots. All of which creates a feeling that The Perfect Score was made cheaply and fast.
THE PERFECT SCORE
Paramount Pictures
Paramount in association with MTV Films and Spyglass EntertainmentA Roger Birnbaum, Tollin/Robbins Production
Credits:
Director: Brian Robbins
Screenwriters: Mark Schwahn, Marc Hyman, Jon Zack
Story: Marc Hyman, Jon Zack
Producers: Roger Birnbaum, Jonathan Glickman, Brian Robbins, Mike Tollin
Executive producer: Donald J. Lee, Jr.
Director of photography: Clark Mathis
Production designer: Jaymes Hinkle
Costume designer: Melissa Toth
Music: John Murphy
Editor: Ned Bastille
Cast:
Anna: Erika Christensen
Kyle: Chris Evans
Matty: Bryan Greenberg
Francesca: Scarlett Johansson
Desmond: Darius Miles
Roy: Leonardo Nam
Desmond's Mother: Tyra Ferrell
Larry: Matthew Lillard
Running time -- 97 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
January 30
Director-producer Brian Robbins' The Perfect Score is a high school comedy/drama that Paramount hopes will appeal to teenagers. If those teens are undiscriminating, the studio might have a fighting chance. The attractive cast includes Scarlett Johansson, though in a performance much more mundane than those in either Lost in Translation or Girl With a Pearl Earring.
Chris Evans (Not Another Teen Movie) is Kyle, a decent student whose quite unrealistic dream since childhood has been to study architecture at Cornell University. Kyle seems more likely to end up studying beer-guzzling at State, but he nonetheless is the ringleader of a scheme to break into the corporate headquarters of the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, N.J. He plans to steal the answers to the upcoming edition of the SAT, the bane of every college-bound high school senior.
Kyle fared poorly on the exam the first time. Best friend Matty (Bryan Greenberg)didn't do well either. Matty was hoping to score high enough to get into the University of Maryland, the college his (unseen) girlfriend attends. Brainy but sheltered Anna (Erika Christensen) is ranked second in their class, but she uncharacteristically froze on the test, thereby dashing any hope of getting into her first choice college, Brown University.
Francesca (Johansson) is a Goth rich kid whose father conveniently owns the office building that houses ETS. Desmond is a basketball prodigy who flirts with the idea of continuing his education at St. John's rather than turn pro. (Played by the NBA's Darius Miles, in his second film, the role somewhat mirrors Miles' real-life story.) Finally, Roy (Leonardo Nam) is the archetypal stoner who also happens to be a computer savant.
These six seniors carry out the break-in, though the entire enterprise seems to be more of a bonding experience than a purposeful crime. The characters in the screenplay by Mark Schwahn (creator of the WB Network's One Tree Hill, also for Tollin/Robbins), Marc Hyman and Jon Zack are barely fleshed out, though Kyle has a refreshing lack of swagger. Evans' conflicted adolescent actually seems real, as opposed to some of his co-stars, who resemble cardboard types. The few adults in the movie are relegated to the background -- no real surprise in an MTV Films production. The only other character of note is Kyle's older brother, Larry (Matthew Lillard, in patented grinning-underachiever-dude guise).
Robbins (Varsity Blues, Hardball) certainly knows his way around the youth market. If only this was half as entertaining as any episode of Dawson's Creek or The O.C. The story is flimsy, and when the dialogue touches on controversial issues regarding the SAT and its fairness, the slacker tone turns abruptly melodramatic.
Technically, the film resembles a TV show in its lighting, cartoon-like parents and thoroughly nondescript school and town. Not that we see much of these: There is a strange dearth of exterior, establishing, crowd or street shots. All of which creates a feeling that The Perfect Score was made cheaply and fast.
THE PERFECT SCORE
Paramount Pictures
Paramount in association with MTV Films and Spyglass EntertainmentA Roger Birnbaum, Tollin/Robbins Production
Credits:
Director: Brian Robbins
Screenwriters: Mark Schwahn, Marc Hyman, Jon Zack
Story: Marc Hyman, Jon Zack
Producers: Roger Birnbaum, Jonathan Glickman, Brian Robbins, Mike Tollin
Executive producer: Donald J. Lee, Jr.
Director of photography: Clark Mathis
Production designer: Jaymes Hinkle
Costume designer: Melissa Toth
Music: John Murphy
Editor: Ned Bastille
Cast:
Anna: Erika Christensen
Kyle: Chris Evans
Matty: Bryan Greenberg
Francesca: Scarlett Johansson
Desmond: Darius Miles
Roy: Leonardo Nam
Desmond's Mother: Tyra Ferrell
Larry: Matthew Lillard
Running time -- 97 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 2/23/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
In a curious but acutely unpleasant way, the crass snowboarding comedy "Out Cold" is the mutant offspring of those old '60s beach movies in which a bunch of crazy kids take time out from catching a wave to save the clubhouse.
Of course, this being 40 years later, everything has to be more extreme, including the sophomoric high jinks and the limited attention spans of first-time feature directors the Malloys (brothers Brendan and Emmett), who can't seem to hang on to any thread of story lasting longer than one of their music videos.
While the presence of pro boarders doing their thing might be a selling point for enthusiasts, the predominantly lame goings-on will leave others snow-bored. Look for this Touchstone Pictures/Buena Vista Thanksgiving offering -- which is definitely not for the kiddies -- to make a swift butt-stop at the local Blockbuster.
Set in Alaska but shot outside of Vancouver, Jon Zack's slightest hint of a script concerns the exploits of a bunch of snowboarding buddies whose endless good times on Bull Mountain could be seriously curtailed by the death of town founder Papa Muntz (the late Lewis Arquette).
It seems his son Ted (Willie Garson) has up and sold the aging hangout to slick developer John Majors (Lee Majors), who intends to convert it into a shiny ski resort.
But Rick Jason London), Luke (Zach Galifianakis), Anthony (Flex Alexander) and Pig Pen (Derek Hamilton) have other ideas -- including some that have nothing to do with flipping outhouses or having improper conduct with a Jacuzzi jet -- and manage to save the day.
There are a couple of chuckle-worthy gags, but for the most part, a collection of sports bloopers would have been funnier. Essentially the story line is simply killing time before it can cut to another snowboarding sequence or find an excuse for another lovely young woman to peel off her bra (photographed, naturally, from the back in order to preserve the integrity of that PG-13 rating).
On the plus side, the cast appears to be enjoying its winter vacation, and the budget-conscious crew gets the job done with a minimum of fussy flourishes under those impossibly blue Alaskan, er, British Columbian skies.
OUT COLD
Buena Vista
Touchstone Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment
present a Donners' Co. production
a Barber/Birnbaum production
Directors: Brendan Malloy, Emmett Malloy
Screenwriter: Jon Zack
Producers: Lee R. Mayes, Michael Aguilar, Jonathan Glickman
Executive producers: Lauren Shuler Donner, Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum
Director of photography: Richard Crudo
Production designer: Michael Bolton
Editor: Jeffrey Wolf
Costume designer: Carla Hetland
Music: Michael Andrews
Music supervisor: Laura Z. Wasserman
Color/stereo
Cast:
Rick Rambis: Jason London
Jack Majors: Lee Majors
Ted Muntz: Willie Garson
Luke: Zach Galifianakis
Stumpy: David Koechner
Anthony: Flex Alexander
Jenny: A.J. Cook
Papa Muntz: Lewis Arquette
Pig Pen: Derek Hamilton
Running time -- 89 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Of course, this being 40 years later, everything has to be more extreme, including the sophomoric high jinks and the limited attention spans of first-time feature directors the Malloys (brothers Brendan and Emmett), who can't seem to hang on to any thread of story lasting longer than one of their music videos.
While the presence of pro boarders doing their thing might be a selling point for enthusiasts, the predominantly lame goings-on will leave others snow-bored. Look for this Touchstone Pictures/Buena Vista Thanksgiving offering -- which is definitely not for the kiddies -- to make a swift butt-stop at the local Blockbuster.
Set in Alaska but shot outside of Vancouver, Jon Zack's slightest hint of a script concerns the exploits of a bunch of snowboarding buddies whose endless good times on Bull Mountain could be seriously curtailed by the death of town founder Papa Muntz (the late Lewis Arquette).
It seems his son Ted (Willie Garson) has up and sold the aging hangout to slick developer John Majors (Lee Majors), who intends to convert it into a shiny ski resort.
But Rick Jason London), Luke (Zach Galifianakis), Anthony (Flex Alexander) and Pig Pen (Derek Hamilton) have other ideas -- including some that have nothing to do with flipping outhouses or having improper conduct with a Jacuzzi jet -- and manage to save the day.
There are a couple of chuckle-worthy gags, but for the most part, a collection of sports bloopers would have been funnier. Essentially the story line is simply killing time before it can cut to another snowboarding sequence or find an excuse for another lovely young woman to peel off her bra (photographed, naturally, from the back in order to preserve the integrity of that PG-13 rating).
On the plus side, the cast appears to be enjoying its winter vacation, and the budget-conscious crew gets the job done with a minimum of fussy flourishes under those impossibly blue Alaskan, er, British Columbian skies.
OUT COLD
Buena Vista
Touchstone Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment
present a Donners' Co. production
a Barber/Birnbaum production
Directors: Brendan Malloy, Emmett Malloy
Screenwriter: Jon Zack
Producers: Lee R. Mayes, Michael Aguilar, Jonathan Glickman
Executive producers: Lauren Shuler Donner, Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum
Director of photography: Richard Crudo
Production designer: Michael Bolton
Editor: Jeffrey Wolf
Costume designer: Carla Hetland
Music: Michael Andrews
Music supervisor: Laura Z. Wasserman
Color/stereo
Cast:
Rick Rambis: Jason London
Jack Majors: Lee Majors
Ted Muntz: Willie Garson
Luke: Zach Galifianakis
Stumpy: David Koechner
Anthony: Flex Alexander
Jenny: A.J. Cook
Papa Muntz: Lewis Arquette
Pig Pen: Derek Hamilton
Running time -- 89 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 11/21/2001
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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