Know when a story isn't ready

Theatre Reset has produced one of my plays, Your Child, The Devil, and You, and in a month's time, the company will produce another play of mine, George of the Dead.

I was extremely happy with the quality Theatre Reset put into the former, and I can't wait to see what they do with the latter. I will continue writing plays, and I hope, when I submit them, Theatre Rest will produce them.

Today, April 30, is the deadline to submit plays for Theatre Reset's fourth short play festival, scheduled for later this year. I'd love to be able to submit something. I've been developing a couple of different ideas and stories that I think would be a good fit for the style of the festival. Unfortunately, they won't be ready before the deadline passes.

Mr. Arkadin

Guy van Stratten (Robert Arden) visits the rundown lodgings of drunk, old Jakob Zouk (Akim Tamiroff). Guy, who says he needs to protect Zouk to save his own life, tells him his story, how Guy and his girlfriend Mily (Patricia Medina) heard two names from a dying man: Gregory Arkadin and Sophie. Arkadin (Orson Welles) is a mysterious businessman in Europe, and Guy used Arkadin's daughter Raina (Paola Mori) to get close to him. Extremely protective of his daughter, the amnesic Arkadin approached Guy with an offer: investigate his past and prepare a confidential report.

In Mr. Arkadin (1955), Welles returns to the same basic idea of Citizen Kane - exploring the mystery of a wealthy man's life - and re-shapes it into a thriller. Like most of Welles's directorial efforts, Mr. Arkadin had a tumultuous production history, and Welles lost control of the movie, resulting in the release of a version that differed from his original vision.

 
At least three different versions of the film exist, and I don't know which one I watched or how it differs from the other cuts. The version I watched is a complex, sometimes confusing narrative that wasn't always easy to follow, but thanks to Welles' filmmaking virtuosity and style, it proves a rewarding and fascinating experience.

 

Worst movies to see on a first date

A while back, a coworker and I talked about the worst movies we had seen on first dates. Not worst as in objectively bad, but movies that one should not see on a date with someone you barely know and whom you are trying to build rapport with because these movies will ruin whatever connection you are trying to build.

My pick was Let the Sunshine In, described to my date and me as a French romantic comedy that I found neither romantic nor funny (I have my doubts about the French part). We had planned to see To Kill a Mockingbird, but after driving through heavy rain - the kind so thick, you can't see past the hood of your car - and waiting for my date to arrive, I learned that screening was full (it was a free screening, and she and I had an appreciation for older films). 

This was at the Drexel, an independent theater in Bexley near Columbus, Ohio, and it had only three screens. When my date arrived, we agreed to see the other movie showing at that time, Let the Sunshine In, since we were already there. The theater was nice enough to give us a discount for the tickets because we had been there for To Kill a Mockingbird.

The Autopsy of Jane Doe

The corpse of an unknown young woman, found buried in the basement of a house full of multiple murders, is brought to the Tillman funeral home, run by the father-son team of Tommy (Brian Cox) and Austin (Emile Hirsch). As night settles in, the Tillmans work to uncover the mystery of who this woman is and how she died, but the more answers they find, the more questions they raise because what they find makes no sense.

The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016) proceeds as a fascinating and creepy horror procedural with an emphasis on character before settling into a routine third act.

It works best when it focuses on the autopsy, the gruesome details the Tillmans uncover, and how the differing personalities of father and son affect their perspectives of the investigation while strange things go bump in the night in the old, dark funeral home.

Cast, director announced for 'George of the Dead'

Theatre Reset has announced the cast and director for my play, George of the Dead.

Dallas Ray-Macke will direct. George will be played by David Gigliotti, Suzanne by Colleen "Squiddy" Kochensparger, and "Payday" Pete by Jim Azelvandre.

I'm so excited. I've worked with or seen all these talented people work before, and I know they're going to do a spectacular job.

George of the Dead will be performed as part of Theatre Reset's 3rd Short Play Festival May 17-19 at 929 Harrison Avenue, Columbus, OH 43215.

You can order tickets here. 

Cross of Iron

Russia 1943: Sgt. Steiner (James Coburn) is a veteran who knows the German cause is lost but values the lives of his men. His new commanding officer is Captain Stransky (Maximilian Schell), a Bavarian aristocrat who requested a transfer to Russia so he could win the Iron Cross, the highest German decoration for heroism, and he will sacrifice anything to get it, including Steiner and the men under his command.

I'm tempted to call Cross of Iron (1977) “All Quiet on the Eastern Front.” After all, it is about German soldiers slugging it out in the trenches (of World War II this time) as they experience firsthand the futility of warfare and the senseless loss of life. Like Paul Baumer, they live, fight, and die in the mud, smoke, dirt and are just worn out and exhausted.

When a German colonel, played by James Mason, asks what they will do when they lose this war, his subordinate, played by David Warner, has the answer ready: “Prepare for the next one.”

Unwrapping the unproduced 'Mummy'

Years ago, I purchased a PDF copy of an unproduced Mummy script from 1994. Before the movie that exists was made as a throwback Indiana Jones-styled adventure movie, just about anyone who was anyone in Hollywood horror was attached to remake The Mummy.

I bought the script because it was written by George A. Romero of Night of the Living Dead fame, based on earlier drafts by Alan Ormsby (who wrote the Cat People remake) and John Sayles (the writer and director of Matewan and Eight Men Out but who also wrote The Howling and Piranha.).

The Nice Guys

1970s L.A. private detective Holland March (Ryan Gosling), a boozing widower with a 13-year-old daughter named Holly (Angourie Rice), is hired to tail Amelia (Margaret Qualley) when he meets Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe), an enforcer paid to get March to stop following her. When Amelia disappears, Healy and March reluctantly team up to locate her, and their search leads them to a twisted web involving Amelia's Justice Department official mother, a porn producer, environmental protesters, and Detroit's Big Three Auto producers.

Tell me if you've heard this before: a lazy and perpetually intoxicated detective figure in Hollywood, a gruff partner who does not let aggression stand, a missing young woman whose family is hiding something, corrupt businessmen, threats of castration, bohemian hippies, and a trip through the world of pornography.

You're right; those are elements of The Big Lebowski, but they are also elements that make up The Nice Guys (2016), co-written and directed by Shane Black. One part neo noir, one part screwball comedy, one part action movie, The Nice Guys is all fun.

'Season 666' trailer debuts

 A slasher film I was in, Season 666, has a trailer up and available on YouTube!

Click here to watch it.

Directed by Michelle Hanson (with a story by Hanson, Andy Batt, and Shane Stefanchik), Season 666 is an improvisational horror movie about contestants who compete on a reality show to kill a notorious serial killer, Raymond Burroughs, who is prevented from killing them in this contest because of a device implanted in the back of his head. However, when the device malfunctions, the contestants find themselves hunted by an unstoppable killer.

I played Raymond (ah, the roles you get when you're 6 feet 3 inches tall). We filmed this back in the summer 2021. It was a challenge but a lot of fun. 

The movie will be released this summer. Stay tuned for release details.

 

Brick

Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a student loner, will stop at nothing to learn the truth when his ex-girlfriend Emily (Emilie de Ravin) comes to him for help and winds up dead, face down in a storm sewer drain. His search takes him through a dangerous underbelly no adult can reach: an upper-middle class high school of cliques, rich kids, athletes, nerds, and junkies. None of that matters to Brendan; he doesn't care who he has to go through or who he has to take it out on to find out who killed Emily and why.

Brick (2005) is not a gritty expose on the reckless lives of youth. It's a postured, stylized homage to film noir, neither realistic nor credible for any moment of its running length, but that's not a drawback. Film noir is style and attitude, a sense the world is a cruel and hopeless place filled with lowlifes. Glamor, wealth, and happiness are illusions hiding a world of corruption and perversion.

Brendan is the private detective figure, taking on a case for personal reasons to find a buried truth, and in the process, he finds his soul on the line. He's sharp, sardonic, and tough but wounded, haunted by his past, which we're told includes ratting out a friend and his breakup with Emily.

Fans of film noir will also recognize the figures Brendan encounters: the femme fatale, the drug lord, the brutish thug, the whacked-out druggie, the authority figure demanding answers, the well-connected informant.

Young Frankenstein

Ashamed of his family's notorious legacy in grave-robbing and experiments in re-animating the dead, Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) returns to Castle Frankenstein in Transylvania, where he discovers his grandfather's book describing how he created a man from body parts and bestowed life into the dead tissue (the book is appropriately titled How I Did It). Convinced he can replicate the experiment, Frederick creates a man that looks like a monster (Peter Boyle) but craves love more than anything else.

The great accomplishment of Young Frankenstein is that it works simultaneously as a parody, tribute, and sequel to the original run of Universal Frankenstein films.

Yes, it's from Mel Brooks, who brought Young Frankenstein to life the same year he unleashed Blazing Saddles on the world, and it's filled with his trademark ribald gags and his regular cast of oddball performers, including Gene Wilder, Cloris Leachman, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn, and Kenneth Mars.

But look beyond the jokes; Young Frankenstein has a strong beating heart. It's very funny, arguably Brooks' best in that regard, but it's more than that. It's also touching and sweet. It's a Frankenstein movie in which the mad scientist accepts responsibility for his actions, allowing himself and his creation to live happily ever after, and more importantly, the movie makes you believe it possible.

"George of the Dead" to be performed at short play festival

I'm excited to announce my short play, George of the Dead, will be produced as part of Theatre Reset's upcoming Short Play Festival #3.

Theatre Reset is a women- and non-binary-owned theatre company based out of Columbus, Oh. This is their third short play festival and the second time they've produced something I wrote. In 2023, they produced my play, Your Child, The Devil, and You, at their second festival.

The festival will be held at 8 p.m. on Friday, May 17, and Saturday, May 18, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 19. All performances will be at 929 Harrison Avenue, Columbus, Oh 43215. Tickets are $20 each.

George of the Dead, as you can probably guess from the title, is a tribute to the late George A. Romero, the writer-director of his series of socially conscious zombie films that began in 1968 with Night of the Living Dead. His other horror films include Creepshow, The Crazies, and Monkey Shines. 

Although he is best known for making scary movies, Romero tried to branch out into other genres throughout his career, but Hollywood pigeonholed him as a horror guy. My play is about his desire to branch out as an artist, but of course, it has a ghoulish sense of humor. I can't wait to see the cast and crew bring it to life. 

To learn more about the festival, including how to buy tickets, click here.

Onibaba

As civil war ravages 14th century Japan, an older woman (Nobuko Otowa) and her daughter-in-law (Jitsuko Yoshimura) survive by murdering straggling soldiers and selling their wares. One day, their neighbor Hachi (Kei Sato) returns. He had been conscripted along with the older woman's son and younger woman's husband, whom Hachi reveals had been killed after they deserted. Hachi pursues the young widow, and despite warning from the older woman, the young woman begins a sexual relationship with him, triggering a jealous response from the older woman...

The world itself feels empty of joy and life in Onibaba (1965), a psychologically twisted drama directed by Kaneto Shindo that has the look and atmosphere of a surreal horror thriller. As the characters struggle to survive a land devastated by war, hunger drives them to commit murder, and repressed desires push them toward insanity and possibly supernatural punishment.

Onibaba has a plausible, real-world context, and its characters have believable, human motivations, but the effect is one of dream-like fantasy. The dialogue is limited, the performances of heightened physical intensity that at times feel like Kabuki. The setting is largely self-contained, as if nothing else exists beyond what the characters see, and there's nowhere else they can escape to. 

Renfield

Renfield (Nicholas Hoult), the long-suffering, bug-eating slave of Count Dracula (Nicolas Cage), has grown weary of serving his vampire master. While Dracula recovers from a recent encounter with some vampire hunters, Renfield attends a support group for people looking to escape codependent relationships. Renfield also tries to help his group members by bringing their abusive partners to Dracula to feed on, but things get out of hand when he ends up killing an assassin for a local crime family, drawing their attention...

For a character who doesn't have that large of a role in the original source material, Renfield has managed to make quite an impact on Dracula lore. In Bram Stoker's original novel, Renfield is a patient in an insane asylum, delusional, insane, and loyal to the Count. He eats insects and other small creatures in the belief consuming their lifeforce will add to his own.

Dwight Frye, the memorable character actor of Universal's Golden Age of Monsters, brought him to the life in the 1931 adaptation, which expanded his role, having him go to Transylvania instead of Jonathan Harker, and there, he falls under Dracula's spell, travelling with him on the Demeter and becoming his devoted slave.

The Last Voyage of the Demeter

In 1897, police respond when the Demeter, a derelict merchant ship, crashes on the English coast. They find the log of Captain Eliot (Liam Cunningham). The Demeter had been chartered to deliver cargo from Bulgaria for a mysterious client and paid handsomely for it. The crew - including Eliot's grandson cabin boy Toby (Woody Norman), first mate Wojchek (David Dastmalchian), and Cambridge-educated Dr. Clemens (Corey Hawkins) - began the trip in high spirts, but soon, bad omens led to deaths among the crew until it became apparent something evil was on board...

Bram Stoker wrote Dracula as an epistolary novel. The story unfolds as a series of letters, journal entries, newspaper articles, and other similar documents, and while this style can be clunky at times, it helps put the reader in the minds of the characters and identify with their perspectives.

The Captain's Log, which details the fate of the Demeter's crew, is one of the book's best passages, working on its own as a self-contained short story within the novel. Stoker captures a true sense of rising dread and despair, and the image of the dead captain tied to the ship's wheel, clutching a crucifix, is a memorably nightmarish image.