Posts tagged NaomieHarris at Cinematical

Posts with tag NaomieHarris

Indie Triumph of the Moment: 'My Last Five Girlfriends'

Posted Apr 21st 2008 8:32PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Comedy, Independent, Romance, Deals, DIY/Filmmaking, Cinematical Indie

By now, we're all pretty familiar with the film and television system, and the fact that for every awesome break-out story, there's many others suffocating with struggle. But it looks like those days are over for a new indie film that took over seven years to make. Variety reports that Julian Kemp has finished shooting My Last Five Girlfriends, a romantic comedy that stars Naomie Harris (Tia Dalma from Pirates), Cécile Cassel, who played Petrovsky's daughter in Sex and the City, and Brendan Patricks.

Loosely based on Alain de Botton's Essays in Love, the film is an "exploration of how modern urban relationships go wrong." The film has gone through a number of financial backers, "dozens and dozens of drafts," and then finally got somewhere when writer/director Kemp and producer Michael Kelk took things into their own hands and got Girlfriends filmed. The production was originally budgeted at $15 million, but they did it for an impressive $6 million. It certainly sounds like a DIY production, and Variety says: "A skeleton crew scrambled to capture more than 300 scenes across 70 different locations, reflecting Kemp's take on the frenetic pace of life and love in the big city."

It's nice to see that patience and determination can pay off. The film is scheduled to be finished this summer.

SXSW Review: Explicit Ills

Posted Mar 13th 2008 11:02AM by Scott Weinberg
Filed under: Drama, SXSW, Theatrical Reviews

When a movie shows up and takes a clear political stance, I find it's easier to judge its successes and / or shortcomings than when a flick dips a toe into the pool of social commentary and just waggles it around for a few minutes -- which probably explains why I both enjoyed and respected Mark Webber's Explicit Ills, an Altman-esque indie drama that has something to say about poverty, health care, and the importance of basic human kindness.

Brief, honest, and admirably to-the-point, Explicit Ills follows a group of seemingly unrelated South Philadelphia folks who try to lead normal, happy, anonymous lives -- but their station on the lower rung of the income scale means that even the most basic requirements remain frustratingly out-of-reach. (In one key scene, an excellent Rosario Dawson is denied asthma medicine for her sick little boy -- because she cannot afford the $55 price tag.) Alternate plot threads involve a pair of young druggies in love, a mega-clean couple who aim to open a health food store, and a cocky adolescent who (slowly) learns how to treat a lady.

Continue reading SXSW Review: Explicit Ills

Rosario Dawson Explores Some 'explicit ills.' with Mark Webber

Posted Sep 4th 2007 11:02AM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Drama, Independent, Casting, Cinematical Indie

While she's getting ready to film Eagle Eye in November, and also has a series of webisodes on the way, the unstoppable workhorse otherwise known as Rosario Dawson is going to be in yet another new movie. She's spending September in Philadelphia to be in a new indie flick called explicit ills., according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. The movie will mark the directorial debut of actor Mark Webber, who recently starred in Ethan Hawke's The Hottest State -- and who happened to win the Rising Star award at the Philly Film Fest.

The film is about "the effects of drugs and poverty and the choices that people make," which sounds like anything but an upper, although Mike Lemon, who cast the feature, says "it's uplifting." It's also quite reminiscent of Webber's own life. He was raised in the slums of North Philly by his single mom, and spent part of his youth homeless after a welfare fiasco. Dawson will play a woman who has an asthmatic son, but no insurance. The cast is looking to be an indie smorgasbord -- there's also Paul Franklin Dano, the big, silent brother from Little Miss Sunshine, the Pirates of the Caribbean voodoorific Naomie Harris, the infamous indie Thumbsucker Lou Taylor Pucci, and Roots rapper Tariq Trotter (who has had stints in films like Bamboozled and Perfume). Production will continue through the month, and I imagine we'll get to see it some time in the next year.

Naomie Harris Joins Keanu Reeves Drama 'Night Watch'

Posted May 17th 2007 12:31PM by Patrick Walsh
Filed under: Action, Drama, Thrillers, Casting, Mystery & Suspense

Okay, bear with me because this is going to get confusing. Keanu Reeves is starring in an upcoming thriller called Night Watch. Its title used to be The Night Watchman, but it was changed, likely to avoid getting mixed up with the upcoming Zack Snyder superhero flick Watchmen. Oh, and this Night Watch has nothing to do with the other Night Watch, the 2004 Russian film that was pretty popular in its own right, and spawned a sequel -- Day Watch -- out this summer. Oh, and it also has nothing to do with the 1997 Ewan McGregor morgue thriller Nightwatch. Which was a remake of a 1994 Danish film...called Nightwatch. So in conclusion, to avoid confusion, they've changed the title to one that will probably cause much, much more confusion. Everybody up to speed? Alright, then let's move on.

Casting news on the film has been dribbling out steadily. In February, Erik told you that Keanu Reeves would star in the film, as an alcoholic LA cop framed by his former mentor. Then Jessica added that the mentor would be played by the always-excellent Forest Whitaker. And now I am telling you that Naomie Harris has joined the cast. Harris is best known for playing Tia Dalma ("Voodoo Lady") in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. She tells mtv Night Watch is "really dark. It's a really great movie, though, and I'm really excited to be part of it." David Ayer will direct the film, which he co-wrote with Jamie Moss and master of LA corruption stories -- James Ellroy. Ayer certainly knows police dramas, having written one of the best recent examples -- Training Day. He made his directorial debut with last year's very effective Harsh Times. Rapper Common, Chris "Flame On!" Evans, and Dr. House himself -- Hugh Laurie -- will round out the cast. I'm not a big Reeves enthusiast, but any movie that puts Whitaker in his "Kavanaugh on The Shield" mode definitely has my interest.

BAFTA Announces Rising Star Finalists

Posted Jan 9th 2007 2:02PM by Christopher Campbell
Filed under: Awards, Casting

If you had to choose the better year for Cillian Murphy, would you pick 2005 or 2006? In the earlier year, millions of viewers saw him in Batman Begins and Red Eye. In the later year, a few people saw him in Breakfast on Pluto (which was also seen by some in 2005) and the Cannes winner The Wind That Shakes the Barley. Okay, so I'm going by American audiences -- both were seen by a lot of people overseas. Still, 2005 was the year he seemed to shoot into stardom with higher profile roles. And he had already been widely seen a few years earlier in 28 Days Later.

Speaking of 28 Days Later, that film also featured Naomie Harris, who now co-stars with Murphy in the list of nominees for BAFTA's Orange Rising Star Award. The award debuted at last year's BAFTA Awards in order to recognize an actor or actress with great promise for the future in terms of acting talent and connection with audiences. The first winner was James McAvoy, who beat out breakthrough actors Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams (who was also in Red Eye), Michelle Williams and Gael García Bernal.

Continue reading BAFTA Announces Rising Star Finalists

#	Blogger	Posts	Cmts
1	Monika Bartyzel	163	0
2	Erik Davis	122	55
3	Elisabeth Rappe	87	0
4	Eugene Novikov	56	18
5	Kim Voynar	43	18
6	Scott Weinberg	41	18
7	Jessica Barnes	39	0
8	Peter Martin	27	18
9	Eric Kohn	25	4
10	James Rocchi	23	1
11	Jeffrey M. Anderson	19	4
12	Eric D. Snider	18	0
13	Matt Bradshaw	13	2
14	Joel Keller	13	1
15	Christopher Campbell	10	8
16	Jette Kernion	5	2
17	Patrick Walsh	3	1
18	Willy Volk	2	0
19	Nick Schager	1	0
20	Richard von Busack	1	0

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Indie Triumph of the Moment: 'My Last Five Girlfriends'

SXSW Review: Explicit Ills

Rosario Dawson Explores Some 'explicit ills.' with Mark Webber

Naomie Harris Joins Keanu Reeves Drama 'Night Watch'

BAFTA Announces Rising Star Finalists

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