get shorty Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The always-enjoyable Dennis Farina was arrested when a loaded gun was found in his carry-on luggage at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday. Farina, who's best known for being awesome in everything, was caught with a .22-caliber handgun in his briefcase. The actor claimed he forgot he had it on him when bail was set at $25,000, but then raised to $35,000 when cops learned the gun wasn't registered. 1) How do you accidentally forget that you have a loaded gun in your briefcase? 2) Why are you carrying around a loaded gun that's not registered? 3) Are there a lot of people out to get Dennis Farina -- so much so that he has to bring an unregistered loaded gun to the airport?

And when the airport security asked Mr. Farina if he was traveling with a gun in his briefcase, did the actor turn and deliver one of his trademark replies? "You kiddin' me? What? I can't carry a f**kin' gun in this country anymore. Look, Idiot #1, tell Idiot #2 that I'm Dennis F**kin' Farina and I can do what I want. You gots?"

Speaking of ... we need to get Midnight Run on Blu-ray. Can somebody make that happen? They were smart enough to stick that sucker on HD-DVD, but I want to watch one of my favorite comedies ever on Blu-ray, like, now. And then I want them to include a commentary track from Farina, and I want him to talk about getting arrested in an airport with a loaded gun. I'd love to hear what that sounds like.

Sound off ... your favorite Dennis Farina role? (For me, it's a toss up between Midnight Run and Get Shorty.)

Writer Tom Lazarus has written two of the best screenplay how-to books you can find on bookshelves (Secrets of Film Writing and Rewriting Secrets of Film Writing), and Scott Frank (Out of Sight, Get Shorty, Minority Report, Little Man Tate, Dead Again) is one of the best screenwriters working today. So when the two get together you know it's going to be something quite interesting. Lazarus has an interview with Frank at his web site (Frank did the forew0ard for "Rewriting").

But it's not just a simple Q and A; not only is the interview itself wide-ranging and a must-read for film buffs, but it's also a good lesson in screenwriting --  Lazarus has structured it as a screenplay itself, complete with fade-in's and camera directions. Frank talks about the writing process, the dos and don'ts of screenwriting, and offers tips to young screenwriters.