We know already ...

... but it's nice when others notice. Filmstew.com has a story on the ascendancy of the Bluff City as a moviemaking mecca.

"Long overshadowed on the feature film location front by Nashville, the Pork Barbecue Capital of the World is now starting to gain a reputation of its own."

Of course, not much will happen without competitive edges that the Tennessee General Assembly can provide but has shown little interest in.

Casting for indie movie

Posting this from the eCallboard:

Lead actress had family emergency at last minute so immediate casting needed. Looking for thin very fit attractive female for a lead role. The role is an action heroine role (i.e. Charlies Angels or Alias butt kicking action hero). The shoot would take place over 1 weekend August 6th and 7th (about 45 minutes outside Memphis area) Outdoor day shoot and 1 indoor night shoot that would total 2 days work. Movie is feature length and will receive a wide video release. The role will lead into a sequel option (which will be paid). Other roles (mostly extras available but will require Special Effects foam latex prosthetics application (male and female available)

Contact Spencer lightnowent@yahoo.com please send photos with e-mail and any resume information, prior acting experience not required.

More H&F revs

The Village Voice turns its pretty little nose up as far as it can:

"To the film's credit, Memphis never looked worse."

Three Black Chicks give it an enthusiastic OK:

"This wasn't going to be just an ordinary pimp and ho movie, I knew I was looking at something brilliant."

The Onion A.V. Club offers a thumbs up:

"Brewer and a stunning Terrence Howard bottle the excitement of the creative process and the burden that long-shot dreams put both on the dreamer and those who support him."

H&F review sampler

David Edelstein in Slate seems to want to like it but can't quite bring himself to commit:

"My sense is that Brewer knows he needs the abrasive material so that audiences will think they're getting unmediated realism instead of the usual rags-to-riches cliches."

Roger Ebert is in full gush over Terrence Howard:

"Every good actor has a season when he comes into his own, and this is Terrence Howard's time."

And The New York Times turns on the purple prose extruder, saying the movie:

"... is a volatile mixture of slickness and sincerity, hard-edged naturalism and sheer show-business hokum. ... A rough, sticky sense of place - you can almost smell the sweat of Memphis coming off the screen - dresses up a story so conventional that it sometimes verges on self-parody. Mr. Brewer's attempt to fuse hip-hop street credibility, art-house cachet and follow-your-dream, triumph-of-the-underdog Hollywood uplift is canny but clumsy."

Looking for actors

Arnold Edwards II sends an email saying Amy Frazier is shooting a short film as her thesis for film school. She's looking for actors and can be contacted at: Amy@novenafilms.com.
Or you can contact Arnold at kugar13@gmail.com.

Acting for the camera

Work your craft here: Red West Actor's Studio, 6676 Memphis Arlington Road, Bartlett, Tenn. 38134. Ongoing at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays. Call 384-6464.

The rules of storytelling

"You can't bluff someone who's not paying attention."

--House of Games

So you wanna be in "Black Snake Moan" ...

You and everyone else. Here's a Hollywood listing for Black Snake Moan to whet your frustrations.

Meisner class

There's a Meisner for the Creative class starting Aug. 4. It's grounded in an acting technique, but it can take you far beyond that creatively. I took the class earlier this year and highly recommend it if you're ready to commit to it. As it is with most rewarding things, it's rigorous work that can pay off in innovative ways you can't now imagine.

Producing "Hustle & Flow"

You've read a lot about Craig Brewer in all this H&F buzz. Here's an interview in SAGIndie with Stephanie Allain, who was in there early with lots of faith.

"I knew I was in the hands of a master storyteller. The original ending was a little darker than it ended up and I had a few concerns about that, but I was ready to give Craig a call and tell him what a wonderful job he’d done and how much I wanted to produce it."

Indie film audition

(Culled from the eCallboard)
Independent Film Seeking eccentric female, 19, punk/hippie (any race)
Auditions at Full Moon Club above Zinnie's East, 1718 Madison Avenue
Saturday, July 30th, 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
For more information please contact bc@middlefingerfilms.net

The eCallboard

The eCallboard is a local chat room with discussion and announcements of professional, community and university theater, opera, and dance in the Memphis area. There are often announcements of auditions and casting calls for movies as well -- this is the source of many of the audition notices I send out to folks on my mailing list. But you don't need me -- sign up and check it out. It's good to know what's going on in the local performing arts community. And it's free.

Why we tolerate screenwriters

There are stories of coincidence and chance, of intersections and strange things told, and which is which and nobody knows; and we generally say, "Well, if that was in a movie, I wouldn't believe it."

--Magnolia

Show me the money

Indie lovers, you've been reading about how Hollywood box office numbers have been tanking yes? And yet, this report appears in Slate.com:

"Instead of a box-office decline, the studios actually took in more from the U.S. box office in the first quarter of 2005 ($870.2 million) than they did in the similar period of 2004 ($797.1 million). So even though the total audience at movie theaters declined during this period, this came mainly at the expense of independent, foreign, and documentary movies. For the Hollywood studios (and their subsidaries), in fact, there was no slump at all."