I spent this past summer in NYC (and am back here again now), so I’ve had the fortune of meeting a number of luminaries that, admittedly, I just wouldn’t have met in my home town of Montreal. While here, one of my editors asked me if I wanted to meet a certain Ari Gold, quickly adding, “not Jeremy Piven”, whose character in Entourage goes by that moniker. The Entourage connection would not end there… I would soon find out.
I met up with this Ari Gold at his “home away from home”, Mogador on St-Marks Place in the East Village, to chat about NYC, the movie business in general, and in particular, his latest flick called “Adventures of Power,” starring Entourage’s Adrian Grenier, Michael McKean, Jane Lynch, Shoshanna Stern, and Ari.
I should admit here, that I’ve not seen the movie itself. To do this movie any justice, you really, really need to at least watch the hilarious trailer, so let’s cut to the chase.
Some of the reviews of the movie are, like most reviews, not all that rosy, but it’s worth noting that most successful movies don’t exactly hit the bull’s eye with critics anyway. The highest grossing movie of all time, The Titanic, got “tepid” reviews. It’s grossed $1.8B.
‘Nuff said.
Marching to the Beat of your own Drummer…
While “Adventures of Power” is Ari’s first feature, his background is littered with impressive accolades: having won a Student Academy Award (Oscar) Gold Medal and a dozen other international best-short-film prizes for his short film “Helicopter“. His short film “Culture” was called “the best 60 seconds of film at Sundance” (according to Reel.com).
I asked Ari what the difference between a Student Oscar and the real deal was: “you get to thank the Academy, too… but there’s no audience listening”.
… even if you don’t have one
Admittedly, the first thing you think of when you see the poster to “Adventures of Power” is: “is this a sequel to ‘Napoleon Dynamite‘?”. But then quickly, you realize Ari’s “marching to the beat of your own drum. Even if he doesn’t have one” to borrow from the flick’s tagline.
“I went to an air guitar contest in LA 4 or 5 years ago… the only thing was that I was playing air drums… I was booted from the event, but I could see there was something there.”That something will premiere in NY on October 9th at the AMC Village 7 theater. There’s also the release party, of course, happening October 7th at Knitting Factory Brooklyn, 8pm to 3am, 18+.
Weird Comedy
Admitting himself that “Adventures of Power” falls under the “weird comedy” genre, “but I am not sure I want to call it that”, Gold views the air drumming motif as the “concept excuse for the story, to bring in music and drummers in the storyline, as the excuse to talk about the real story which is all about not having something and wanting it. All drummers have air drummed. But everyone can relate to wanting something that you don’t have.”
Tough Room
But to highlight just how tough the movie industry is, despite all of the awards and accolades, it took Ari three years to produce the movie, and this after the 18 months it took him to raise the money from 29 investors who included friends, family and acquaintances. Gold wouldn’t tell me the budget, other than admitting it was a “low budget movie”.
Whether by choice or obligation, Gold has shunned traditional distribution to maintain “financial and creative control” and will go at it alone, hoping that word of mouth and reviews such as this one ignite the flame required for Gold to live the American filmmaker’s dream, you know: “lots of cocaine off of hookers’ backs,” jokes (I think) Gold, adding in a more serious tone, once he sees my jotting down that first definition of success, “or at least, that everyone who would love the movie to see it.”
Turning to the Web… and a bunch of Drummers
While Gold isn’t actually releasing any portion of his love child online, he is using the Web and all social media tools to promote it. Part of that promotional strategy is enlisting the help of fellow professional drummers Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rush’s drumming God Neil Peart, whose few but profound words of encouragement might be enough to carry over well with the drummer demo: “Yeah, Fuck Yeah”.
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WatchMojo NewsletterWell, this is sure to bump up the viewer numbers for Spike!
“The two hour extravaganza will feature the full cast of “Twilight” with a world premiere of footage from “New Moon” as well as the reunited cast of “Battlestar Galactica” and the cast and creators of “True Blood”. ”
New York, NY, October 5, 2009 – As twilight descends upon The Greek Theatre, Spike TV presents “SCREAM 2009,” an evening where galaxies collide and genres unite for the ultimate celebration of all things sci-fi, fantasy, horror and comic book. The 4th annual “SCREAM” is the first and only global event of its kind to honor and celebrate the hottest films, TV shows, comics, actors, creators, icons and pioneers who have influenced and shaped these genres. “SCREAM 2009” will tape on Saturday, October 17 in Los Angeles, CA. The two-hour extravaganza will premiere on Spike TV on Tuesday, October 27 (10:00 PM-Midnight, ET/PT).
Spike TV is proud to partner once again with Comic-Con International, the biggest comic book and pop culture convention in the world, to present real-life super hero Stan Lee with the Comic-Con Icon Award at “SCREAM 2009.” Lee is the creator of such legendary super-heroes as Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, X-Men, Iron Man and The Hulk. “Spider-Man’s” Tobey Maguire will lead the tribute to one of the most beloved and influential comic book legends of all time.
“SCREAM 2009” will also honor the godfather of the modern horror film, George Romero with this year’s Scream Mastermind Award. This award is presented to a filmmaker whose unique vision of horror, science fiction and/or fantasy is both critically-acclaimed and culturally significant. Romero, best known for his gruesome and satirical zombie masterpiece “Night Of The Living Dead” and its sequel “Dawn Of The Dead,” as well as the cult classic, “Creepshow,” will receive the honor previously presented to cinematic luminaries Wes Craven, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez.
“SCREAM 2009” will celebrate the year of the vampire and the phenomenal popularity of the “Twilight” saga with cast and World Premiere footage from the highly-anticipated “New Moon.” In addition, fans will be treated to appearances from the cast and creators of “True Blood” including Alan Ball, Stephen Moyer, Anna Paquin, Alexander Skarsgård, Sam Trammell, among others. The celebration continues with a “Battlestar Galactica” cast reunion for a farewell tribute featuring Edward James Olmos, Tricia Helfer, Grace Park, James Callis, Kate Vernon, Katee Sackhoff, Michael Trucco Tahmoh Penikett and executive producer David Eick.
“SCREAM 2009” will present awards in 16 different categories. J.J. Abrams’ sci-fi action-adventure “Star Trek” tops the “SCREAM 2009” list with 17 nominations including the categories of The Ultimate Scream, Best Science Fiction Movie, Best Director, Best Ensemble, Holy Sh*t Scene-of-the-Year and a nod in the all-new Fight Scene-of-the-Year category. Comic book-inspired blockbusters “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” and “Watchmen” each nabbed 13 nominations, big screen adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s best selling novel “Twilight” received 10 nominations, while HBO’s vampire-themed television series “True Blood” garnered nine nominations. Fans can log onto scream.spike.com until Saturday, October 17 to vote for their favorites.
Watch the initial teaser trailer:
Imagine living in a small town where everything is safe and happy…until suddenly it isn’t. Imagine your friends and neighbors going quickly and horrifically insane. In a terrifying tale of the “American Dream” gone horribly wrong, four friends find themselves trapped in their hometown in The Crazies, a reinvention of the George Romero classic directed by Breck Eisner from a screenplay by Ray Wright (Pulse, Case 39) and Scott Kosar (The Amityville Horror, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre).
David Dutten (Timothy Olyphant) is sheriff of Ogden Marsh, a picture-perfect American town with happy, law-abiding citizens. But one night, one of them comes to a school baseball game with a loaded shotgun, ready to kill. Another man burns down his own house…after locking his wife and young son in a closet inside. Within days, the town has transformed into a sickening asylum; people who days ago lived quiet, unremarkable lives have now become depraved, blood-thirsty killers, hiding in the darkness with guns and knives. Sheriff Dutten tries to make sense of what’s happening as the horrific, nonsensical violence escalates. Something is infecting the citizens of Ogden Marsh…with insanity.
Now complete anarchy reigns as one by one the townsfolk succumb to an unknown toxin and turn sadistically violent. In an effort to keep the madness contained, the government uses deadly force to close off all access and won’t let anyone in or out – even those uninfected. The few still sane find themselves trapped: Sheriff Dutten; his pregnant wife, Judy (Radha Mitchell); Becca (Danielle Panabaker), an assistant at the medical center; and Russell (Joe Anderson), Dutten’s deputy and right-hand man. Forced to band together, an ordinary night becomes a horrifying struggle for survival as they do their best to get out of town alive.
Trailer:
