chris kattan Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Watch This: A Flash Mob for 'Bollywood Hero'
Filed under: Movie Marketing », Trailers and Clips »
Remember how Chris Kattan is trying to put aside the ridiculous laughs and find a good dramedy career, kicking it off with the IFC miniseries Bollywood Hero? To promote the film, there was Bollywood-style flash mob in New York's Time Square on August 4. The stars were in attendance (along with the show's choreographer) as a bunch of Bollywood dancers started sashaying in the streets in front of ad-clad busses for the miniseries.
Flash mobs are probably one of my favorite forms of marketing due to the entertainment value for passerby merged with viral possibilities. But I've got a complaint: With the stars right there watching, why in the heck didn't they get up and dance? Now that would've been something, and a bit more fun than just a group of professional dancers. Perhaps they need help from the Torrance Community Dance Group.
You can check out the mob scene after the jump, and Bollywood Hero airs on IFC from August 6-8.
Is It Time to Take Chris Kattan (More) Seriously?
Filed under: Casting », Fandom », Home Entertainment »
It doesn't happen every day, but this week, you can see Chris Kattan doing something a little different. Known as one of the goofier Saturday Night Live alums, his gigs don't stretch much farther than head-swinging nights at the Roxbury and stints as Corky Romano. But now he's getting slightly more serious for IFC. See, Kattan's starring in a 3-part miniseries called Bollywood Hero, which kicks off on the 6th. He plays a fictionalized version of himself, sick of being skipped over for leading man gigs, so he heads to Bollywood to get a starring role in a film called Peculiar Dancing Boy. Sounds apt. There is, of course, comedy, but not the sort we're used to when Kattan's name popped up.Speaking with the Fresno Bee, Kattan said: "The part about the heroic film lead is not true. I did want to be Indiana Jones when I was young. But now I know that's not the kind of roles I am going to be offered." So while he might not be looking to follow in the footsteps of Harrison Ford, he is itching for humor/drama combos, and offers Lost in Translation as an example.
Review: Delgo
Filed under: Action », Animation », Drama », Independent », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Theatrical Reviews », Family Films », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Cinematical Indie »
The story behind the making of Delgo is heartwarming and inspiring. Fathom Studios, based in Atlanta, Georgia, has been creating commercial computer animation for more than ten years. When they decided to produce their own feature-length narrative film, they did it completely independent of the Hollywood studio system. They labored long and hard with a much smaller budget and a much smaller staff than the animation behemoths. They bravely posted "digital dailes" throughout production, a kind of progressive, online series of "making of" snippets. They recruited a slew of actors with name recognition -- Freddie Prinze Jr., Jennifer Love Hewitt, Val Kilmer, Malcolm McDowell, Louis Gossett Jr., Michael Clarke Duncan, Burt Reynolds, Chris Kattan, and the late Anne Bancroft in her last performance -- to voice the characters.
If only the film as a whole was as dramatic and lively as the behind-the-scenes story. Under the direction of Marc F. Adler and Jason Maurer, the 3-D animation is quite lovely to behold, but the characters are one-dimensional and the script, credited to six writers, spends too much time on convoluted plot mechanics. Delgo falls into an uncomfortable place where the technical achievement can be admired without the emotions ever being engaged, provoking nothing more than a tepid response ("meh") when the end credits begin to roll.
Set in a lush fantasy world of flying creatures, colorful reptiles, and the odd monster, beast, and giant insect, Delgo pits two races against one another. The proud, dominant, invading race lords it over the humble, subjugated, native race. Sound familiar?
If You Don't Make it on UPN, You Can Always Go Indie
Filed under: Drama », Independent », Casting », Scripts », Cinematical Indie »
Never say die! Back when UPN was still around, there was a pilot idea cooking up called Tanner Hall -- which is not about the skiier of the same name. It never got made, but instead of accepting defeat, The Hollywood Reporter has posted that it's now finding life as an indie film. The project is the brainchild of famous offspring Tatiana von Furstenberg and Francesca Gregorini -- the former is the daughter of Diane von Furstenberg, and the latter is the step-daughter of Ringo Starr. While the pair were studying at Brown, they created a pilot describing their experiences at boarding schools -- but the idea fell when UPN and WB merged.Undeterred, they reworked their idea into a feature film, which they are now co-directing in Rhode Island. And they've put together a pretty interesting cast as well. On the adult side of things, Tanner Hall stars Amy Sedaris (Strangers with Candy), Tom Everett Scott (Because I Said So), and believe it or not, the Roxbury dancing Chris Kattan. On the kid side of things, there is Tricia Mara, who had a brief role on Urban Legends: Bloody Mary, Brie Larson (Sleepover), Georgia King, who is also in Emma Roberts' upcoming boarding school flick Wild Child, Amy Ferguson, who played the saucy, high girl hitting on Zach Braff in Garden State, and a little burgeoning testosterone with Shawn Pyfrom (Desperate Housewives). This is a coming-of-age story that has the four girls navigating "adolescence while the adults in their world -- the parents and teacher -- struggle with their on midlife hurdles." Ah, the singing slap of the "midlife" designation. Now who will Kattan be? My bet is on a weird gym teacher/dance coach.
SXSW Review: Undead or Alive
Filed under: Action », Horror », Independent », SXSW », Theatrical Reviews », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Cinematical Indie »
(Chris Kattan and director Glasgow Phillips, SXSW 2007)
Undead or Alive combines two pretty well-formalized genres: The zombie movie and the western. They're both dense fields -- but Undead or Alive skips merrily over their surfaces with the breezy glancing bounces of a well-thrown stone over a river. The zombie elements are on-loan from a series of other films, and the western stuff is this broad, six-shooter-and-saloon look of the film: What you get might best be described as Night of the Living Deadwood. Written and directed by animation-writing veteran Glasgow Phillips (South Park), Undead or Alive has a few jolts, some nice laughs and -- while it's hard to imagine the film doing Shaun of the Dead-style numbers either at the box office or in people's hearts -- it's a good example of how to do horror comedy right.
Apparently, Geronimo delivered a powerful curse at his passing -- one that makes the dead walk the Western plain in search of flesh. Wandering lone riders Elmer (James Denton) and Luke (Chris Kattan) roll into town and into trouble. They're very different men; Elmer carries a Henry rifle and dresses like John Wayne; Luke carries twin six-shooters and dresses like Gram Parsons. They get chucked in jail, neighbors in lock-up to the patient zero for the curse, (played by stand-up comedian Brian Posehn) who's in the pokey for having eaten his wife and child's brains. Escape turns into larceny and pursuit by a posse, circumstances forging an unlikely duo -- soon made a trio by Geronimo's niece, Sue (Navi Rawat), even as the bad sheriff who first locked them up becomes the undead sheriff on their trail.
Denton and Kattan Battle the Undead
Filed under: Comedy », Independent », Casting », Newsstand », Cinematical Indie »
Look out, it's the attack of the not-quite-undead
TV stars! According to this morning's Hollywood Reporter, Chris Kattan (who, technically, is an ex-TV star) and James Denton (AKA Mysterious Mike Delfino from Desperate
Housewives) have signed on to star in Wanted: Undead or Alive, an indie comedy western, which is a genre
you don't see every day. In the film, the duo will play cowboys (hence the "western" part of the description)
who, along with an Indian girl, are on the run -- in a funny way -- from an evil sheriff whose henchmen are all zombies.
The film was written and will be directed by someone named Glasgow Phillips who, despite never having directed before, has an incredibly cool name. His only writing experience was on the short-lived Father of the Pride TV series, but he seems to be friends with Matt Stone and Trey Parker, which never hurt anybody.
The film begins shooting next month in Sante Fe.
Chris Kattan's Inner Penguin...Really
Filed under: Animation », Comedy », Casting »
Like everyone else in all of Hollywood, comedian-actor Chris Kattan
is soon going to lend his voice to a wild animal in a computer animated feature no doubt packed full of cute. The movie
is Foodfight! and the animal voiced by Kattan is - what
else - a penguin, because penguins are in these days. To prepare for this important role, Kattan says he has
been busy finding his "inner penguin;" which mostly involves watching the tell-all penguin documentary March
of the Penguins. Kattan explains his role-prep by saying "I ate a lot of Klondike bars and sat in a very
cold pool for a long time. No, truly, I watched March of the Penguins and got some insight into my
character." Which makes sense, I suppose, since the only other method of studying penguins in their natural
habitat would be to head for the pole in person. In case you are wondering, the rest of the motley cast is rounded out by Hilary and Haylie Duff, Wayne Brady, Greg Ellis,Charlie Sheen, Tony Longo, and Eva Longoria. I don't know about you, but that cast just screams winner to me! Why does it seem like every time a new kids' flick is announced, the voices involved seem to be a strange collection of whatever talent the director can find hanging around that day. Maybe there's some big box full of names, and every time a new animated movie is announced they hold some big raffle and draw out seven or eight lucky names. In fact, I took the liberty of doing so myself - just in case I ever get to direct an animated children's feature. My cast will be composed of Luke Wilson, Reese Witherspoon, Matthew Broderick, Bette Midler, Eugene Levy, Christina Ricci and a musical performer to be named later. It will be a blockbuster.
Jeremy Renner Wants To Be An Avenger
Directors We Love: Jim Jarmusch
Indie Roundup: 'Sweetgrass,' 'Clarkworld,' 'Broken Embraces'
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Watch: Famous 'Matrix' Scene Re-Created with LEGOs
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