If you grew up in the 80’s, and was a guy (or maybe even a girl) then you probably had a crush on Diane Franklin. She started her film career with “The Last American Virgin” and from there took over the 80’s in film. She was in films like “Amityville II: The Possession”, “Better Off Dead”, “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” and “TerrorVision”. Media Mikes had a chance travel back to the 80’s with Diane, chat about her films and most importantly her new memoir, “Diane Franklin: The Excellent Adventures of the Last American, French-Exchange Babe of the 80s”.

Mike Gencarelli: What made you want to write your memoir, “Diane Franklin: The Excellent Adventures of the Last American, French-Exchange Babe of the 80s”?
Diane Franklin: When I decided I wanted to write a book about my career. I looked back and I realized that I have done so much. I also look back and I think how 80’s it was. The films that I did were popular but more on a cult popular aspect. My kids are teenagers now, but when they were young they were my top priority. You always think about passing things on to them when they get older. They won’t know me as Diane Franklin. I am mom to them. Even though I did so much work in films. My role in the business was also very unusual. I started so young and I worked in various aspects of the business. I thought to myself that I need to write all this down. Firstly, since I wanted it on paper before I forgot it all [laughs]. I was in what movie? The other thing was that I wanted my kids to know my life before I was mom. Nobody can tell that story. My husband can’t tell it. My friends can’t tell it.

MG: How did you end up self-publishing the book?
DF: At the time when I wrote it, it wasn’t like I was on a show and someone approached me to write it and sell it. Most of the time know when people write a book today it is because they are on a show and it works with their current popularity. People will buy it just based on their name. For me, if you know me or my films, I thought people are really going to love to go back and finding out what my career was like from my perspective. I was the girl that you feel in love with [laughs]. There was a lot of things that came into writing this book that I think are incredibly interesting, even just from a historic point-of-view.

MG: Tell us about what we can expect from the book?
DF: I took just not factual events but also my personal experiences. I also tried to put a lot personal pictures in there as well. When I am 90, I want to look back and go “Oh yeah, I know that girl”. So this is a memento for my kids and myself but also a great way for fans to look back. It was also very important for me to make the book very accessible. If you love “Last American Virgin”, you wouldn’t have to read the whole book to find out what happened for that movie. I wanted to make specific chapters for each film. There is a “Last American Virgin” chapter, “Bill & Ted” chapter, “Better off Dead” chapter and so on. So people can go directly to that movie and totally get into it. I wanted it to be a book that they could flip through the chapters and make it easy and fun. I am an upbeat person in general and I wanted it to reflect my personality in the book.

MG: What do you feel makes this book unique?
DF: As a parent, a few of the roles I did were rather risqué. So I didn’t want to talk about this…but not that. You would never get to know me as a person or as an actress unless I talked about everything. So I do in fact talk about everything, but what I did is that I rated the chapters [laughs]. So some are rated PG-13 or rated R. So if you are a parent you can still buy the book and have your kids read it and have them skip over the mature sections. But even if they did read it, is it not too bad. It just has to do with subject matter that is more mature. There is nothing like this anywhere. There is no book like this out right now. I did the film “Amityville II: The Possession” and that deals with some risqué subject matter, I go very in depth for that chapter. I have gotten such great feedback from people that love the horror genre because it is coming directly from me and they are getting an inside scoop on it. I am also not holding back with what I talk about.

MG: So where can people pick this book up?
DF: You can only get it right now on Amazon.com (click here to purchase the book) and it is also available to download on your Kindle device. If you buy the book on Amazon and then add me as a friend on Facebook and look for the black and white photo of me from “Better Off Dead”, you can send the book to me and I will sign it! So there are advantages to being a friend with me on Facebook [laughs].

MG: Being from Long Island, I have to ask about your role in “Amityville II: The Possession”; anything strange occur during shooting?
DF: I actually talk about that in the book. The thing is that because we didn’t shoot it in the house itself, I am sure if we shot at the house it would have had a more eerie feeling. When you are shooting a movie, each one has its own tone or feeling. But when we shot this movie, the tone was definitely somber, even though we all got along. We all worked really well together though. The director, Damiano Damiani, was very calming and as an actor you follow the director. For me as an actress I totally got what he wanted to do on the film. Here is a great “Amityville” story actually. When I saw the film for the first time in Long Island, I was with my friends and I actually got carded going into the movie. I was like “Hello? I am the reason why it is rated R” [laughs]. How ironic was that!

MG: “Better Off Dead” is a film that I always loved growing up with as a kid; how does it feel to have influenced numerous people’s lives?
DF: Oh my God! That is amazing. You never know how you will be remembered. As an actress you just do your work. So many people have seen this film and it is one of those films that has really resonated with people. They will watch it and then pass it on to their kids as they grow up. It actually started as this underground college film in the beginning and developed this word of mouth. I was just so happy that people got to know me through that character. It was a good role and also a good role model. It was also totally 80’s and hilarious. I just feel so blessed and grateful for this film and everyone’s love for it.

MG: Why do you feel that 80’s films are just as popular today if not more then their original release like “TerrorVision” and they have this continued cult following today?
DF: What is that all about? Seriously? [laughs]. You never know how a film is going to do. I never expected these films to have another life down the line on Blu-ray etc. “TerrorVision” was hilarious. When we did it we thought it was a hip movie that was very funny and also campy. We thought it was going to do well. It was like a live-action cartoon. But I think since it was rated R when it came out and I don’t think it found its audience. But today people still watch it and love it. So it’s great!

MG: Recently you have been working with your daughter Olivia DeLaurentis, who has been directing films; how was this been for you?
DF: My daughter makes films and has been since she was little. She won her first film award when she was 12. She was at the Los Angeles Film Festival last year. She writes, directs, acts and edits her own films. This is not one of those “well her mom is an actress and probably helps her”. No, no, no, I wouldn’t do this to a child. She works very hard and for Olivia this is her passion and she loves it. If I had any influence it was that when they were young, I used to do comedy improv and used to involve my kids. We also just came back from the Soho Film Festival with her film “My Better Half”, which I was in. She is 16 now and her film was selected and is competing with adult films…not ‘adult’ films but against other adult filmmakers [laughs]. It is just amazing. She already has a feature script and she is ready to go! So keep an eye out!

Tippi Hedren is known best for her roles in the Alfred Hitchcock films, “The Birds” and “Marnie”. This year “The Birds” is celebrating its 50th anniversary, yet the film is as popular as ever and still very relevant. Besides acting, Tippi also works with animal rescue at the Shambala Preserve, which is a 73-acre wildlife habitat which she founded in 1983. Media Mikes had a chance to chat with Tippi about working with Hitchcock, his films and her work on the Shambala Preserve.

Mike Gencarelli: With “The Birds” celebrating its 50th anniversary, what is your most memorable experience with this film?
Tippi Hedren: There were so many of them, since it was such an overwhelming experience for me. “The Birds” was my first film. So not only having Alfred Hitchcock discover me in a commercial that I had done, but he took me under his wing – you might say. He put me under contract before I had even met him just based on my commercial and photo work. It was a very exciting time for me.

MG: Can you reflect on the film with about today’s audience and why the film is still relevant?
TH: “The Birds” really seems to have a life of its own. So many people are really enchanted with it. The fact that this film was even able to have been done is amazing. Year after year, the film gets introduced to a younger generation. When you watch it with the audience of today, when you see the telephones 50 years ago they start laughing. It is interesting for me. But on the other hand the film holds up so well. Fortunately Hitchcock always had his leading women dressing in very traditional clothes. I could wear that green suit right now and be perfectly in style, which I actually still have six of them today.

MG: I recently saw the HBO film “The Girl”, which was based on the making of “The Birds”; how accurate was the film to what happened?
TH: Yes the film was totally accurate. In fact, the writer Gwyneth Hughes came out to my Shambala Preserve, where I live and she spent an afternoon with me talking about my years with Hitchcock. So, yeah the film is absolutely accurate. Also at the time that she was writing she would also call me and discuss any issues or concerns.

MG: What are your feelings on seeing Sienna Miller playing yourself in the film?
TH: I thought she was wonderful. Sienna also came out to the preserve and I got to spend an afternoon with her as well. She called me several times during the filming, which was done in South America. There was a close comradery between all of us.

MG: In the final attack scene of the film; how many times did you have to shoot that?
TH: When I opened the door to that room and all those birds came flying at me and I was under attack for a full week from Monday to Friday. It was unbelievable and also very exhausting.

MG: How would you compare Hitchcock’s style to other director’s you’ve worked it?
TH: The thing that impressed me so much was that he was always so well prepared. He literally worked 9-5pm. At 5 o’clock, we had the martini shots…every day. Most directors will go into very late at night or tremendously long hours, which is actually the norm. With Hitchcock, he always kept to a schedule. That was pretty amazing.

MG: How did the production of “The Birds” and “Marnie” compare?
TH: They are two entirely different films. In “The Birds” you have the added problem of working with live animals, which is always a difficult situation. They do not care about being in a movie. So there is a great deal of difference. I loved doing “Marnie” since it was such a psychological piece and entirely different.

MG: My site partner told me that if I didn’t ask you about working with Sean Connery that he will quit, so tell us about working with him in “Marnie”?
TH: I was very fortunate having Rod Taylor as my leading man in “The Birds”. I was working with all  consummate actors including Jessica Tandy and Suzanne Pleshette. They were all great. So, it was kind of a surprise for me when they told me I was going to play Marnie. I play a compulsive thief that is so frigid that she screams every time a man comes near her. So when I was asked who would be playing Mark Rutland in the film, Hitchcock told me that it would be Sean Connery. I said “Sean Connery? The Sean Connery that just got out of ‘Dr. No’? Sean Connery, who could melt the iciest of blondes? Mr. Hitchcock, do you remember that Marnie is so frigid that she screams everything a man comes near her? How am I supposed to handle that?” He simply told me “It’s called acting my dear”. And that was the end of that [laughs].

MG: How was it being the topic of the season and guest starring on the season finale of “Cougar Town”?
TH: It was great fun. It was such a short piece. The whole season was about how can they find Tippi Hedren, so then at the very end is when I appeared. I wish it would have been a little longer but it was still a lot of fun.

MG: Tell us about the inspiration behind the film “Roar”?
TH: Well it goes back to 41 years ago when I started rescuing lions and tigers. I had just done two films in Africa. During those years, environmentalists all over the world were saying that if we didn’t do anything right then, which was 1969-70, to save the animals in the wild then by the year 2000 they would be gone. So my then husband (Noel Marshall) and I decided to do a film about the animals in the wild. We choose the great cat, because people are either enchanted with them, scared to death of them or think they should be admired from afar. We had seen an abandoned house while on a photo Safari in Mozambique. The owner had moved out since it flooded during the rainy season. So when he moved out a tide of lions moved in. It was the largest pride in all of Africa. We couldn’t count me but there was somewhere between 25-30 lions of all sizes that were living in this house. We thought that this was incredible. They were sitting in the windows looking like great portraits. There were going in and out of the doors. They were napping on the verandas. So we decided to use these animals as our stars. We then went back to California and got the script written. When we gave the script to the trainers of these Hollywood animals and they all came back to us laughing that this film could not be made. They told me to get my own animals for the movie. All of the sudden I had little lions and cubs all over my house. It was quite an experience and we learned right then and there that they are definitely not pets.

MG: Tell us about continued your work today with the Shambala Preserve?
TH: The preserve is 73-acres and it is very beautiful. We keep the animals that we rescue for the remainder of their lives. We give them huge areas in which to life, many of which are over an acre. It is so expensive though. I have to raise over a million dollars a year, which is quite difficult. I would appreciate if your readers can visit our website, http://www.shambala.org/ and see what we have to do in order to keep this going each year. I am doing everything I can and any help is appreciated since this place is so beautiful and necessary. I am also working on federal bill which will be introduced this month, which will stop the breeding of lions and tigers to be sold as a pets. So please look that up as well.

Don Coscarelli is one of my favorites directors in the business. He has directed films like the
“Phastasm” series, “The Beastmaster” and “Bubba Ho-Tep”. His films just seems to grab this cult following and only grow over the years. I worked as part of the street team going back to “Bubba Ho-Tep” and it was such a great experience. If you are a fan of his work then you have already seen or need to immediately see his latest film “John Dies at the End”, which arrived on Blu-ray and DVD on April 2nd. It is a fantastic film and a great return for Don. Media Mikes took out sometime to chat with Don about this film and also got some tips about the “Bubba Ho-Tep” and “Phantasm” sequels.

Mike Gencarelli: Tell us what attracted you to “John Dies at the End”?
Don Coscarelli: I am an avid reader and I always try to pick up books that are interesting. It’s not that easy to sit around and generate a completely new idea. I have done that a few times but it is a challenge. It is a lot easier when you find a nice piece of literature and turn it into a feature. True story, I got this email out of the blue in my inbox one day from a robot at Amazon.com. They told me that I would love “John Dies at the End”. I read the byline for it and thought that it would make a great movie. It is just an interesting testament to the power of these computer programs and algorithms that Amazon has in place to track our taste. I read the book and just loved the attitude and style, sense of humor, had some great characters and villains and I knew it was for me. So I tracked down the writer and bought the movie rights.

MG: The story is quite epic; where you ever concerned about the scale of the story before making it?
DC: Of course. For starters, I thought that the film would have been great for a major studio release. I might have been completely naive but I thought it would be a fresh new kind of horror with a little comedy mixed in. I went out and tried to get major studios to fund it and they just didn’t get it. Then ended up realizing that we would have to make it on a much smaller budget with the money I was able to raise myself and with investors. It was a very ambitious project going into and there were new challenges every day. It was a bit of an effort but it paid off for sure.

MG: There are quite a bit of visual effects used in the film; would you say this has been you-r most ambitious project yet?
DC: Yes absolutely. I think that part of it Mike is that I am a naturally optimistic person and I always put myself into these situations. In the first “Phantasm”, I had this pretty cool sequences written out with a flying sphere and goes into the persons head. I just thought, “Yeah, we’ll figure out how to make it fly and into his head later”. When we were out there in the mausoleum, we just sat there wondering how the hell we were going to pull this off. Thankfully using fishing line, paper clips and tape worked out for us. In this movie it was the same situation. We figured that we could find a way to make the meat monster and then send them to this other world as well and have this 80 foot long eye-ball creature. I just keep saying “We’ll figure out a way to make it work”. I get myself into trouble sometimes. I think the fact we were able to put some level of polished visual effects into the film and I am very happy with them.

MG: Tell us about the creature effects used in the film? Meat Monster?
DC: One of the benefits of having made some movies is that I have a lot of great friends out there. Robert Kurtzman helped us out on this film. He is also a great director as well and directed the film “Wishmaster” back in the day. He was one of the founding make-up effects artists with KNB EFX as well. Greg (Nicotero), Howard (Berger) and Bob have been so helpful with my career over the years. Bob created the Bubba Ho-Tep. Howard did the Bruce Campbell old age make-up. Greg was even an apprentice going all the way back to “Phantasm II”. So Bob has always offered to help out. He created the meat monster suit and it is a wonderful work of art. There is so much detail there that doesn’t even translate onto the screen. There is tons of stuff that you barely see like, a whole pineapple ham on one of the monsters hands. That was a totally old school sequence by the way. The entire shot was done with meat on fishing line. We choreographed it with all the meat on the floor. We even used some reverse motion and it was a lot of fun. There were some other great effects as well that Bob put together like the mustache bat. That was really cool. I was looking at it the other day in my office and it is this little mustache with the wing aperture on its back, like a bird. We filmed it on a green screen and then filled it in. There was a bunch of great old school stuff in this film.

MG: The flying mustache scene reminded me of the scene in “Bubba Ho-Tep”, when Elvis is fighting the Scarab in his room.
[Laughs] That’s funny Mike because when I read this book and I came across that sequence with the mustache, I thought to myself that this was sort of like “Bubba Ho-Tep”. There are other elements as well that are right out of “Phantasm”. It was my kind of stuff!

MG: David Wong (aka Jason Pargin) has written a sequel, “This Book Is Full of Spiders”; any interest in continuing the story?
DC: I would first like to say that the sequel is great. It is called “This Book Is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don’t Touch It”. It is just a very cool follow-up and I think it is brilliant in many ways. It is a little premature now to try and decide for it to be a sequel. We would need to see how this film does. If it came the time and it seemed viable, I would certainly take it on.

MG: Since the ends credits of “Bubba Ho-Tep”, over 10 years ago. we have been waiting for a sequel; is that still in the cards?
DC: It is always in the cards [laughs]. The cool thing about it is that I learned from when I was touring with “John Dies at the End” is how many people freaking love “Bubba Ho-Tep”. It’s so great. I think that maybe the delay we had is actually a good thing because it is developing this great cult following. I for sure want to do it and I know that Bruce Campbell still wants to do it. I think we just need to find a way to pull it all together.

MG: Next year is 35 years since the first “Phantasm”. Since Phantasm: Oblivion” was released, there were talks of a fifth sequel; why do you fans keeping asking and why does this series refuse to die?
DC: Look I would love to take all the credit for that [laughs], but look I think it has to do with the power of those performances. The weird thing about it is that when this first came out we were criticized for some of the acting in the movie. Yet with these performances by Michael Baldwin, Reggie Bannister and of course Angus Scrimm folks really love them. After the fourth film, I was hoping to wrap up the story since it was a bit open-ended in a “Phantasm” way. So fans have always been asking for a “Phantasm 5”. The good thing is though the actors are in great shape. Angus has a nice role in “John Dies at the End”; I thought he pulled it off beautifully. This is something that I will be looking into in the near future, since there is a definitely an audience out there.

Opening in New York and Los Angeles on April 5th, “The Company You Keep” tells the story of Jim Grant, a former member of radical sixties group The Weather Underground. Thirty years ago the Weathermen were involved with a bank robbery that turned fatal and Jim is brought out of hiding when another former member (Susan Sarandon) finally turns herself in. Jim must go on the run from both the authorities and a young truth-seeking journalist (played by Shia LeBeouf) to clear his name and reunite with his young daughter (Jackie Evancho). Along the way, he turns to other ex-Weatherman played by an array of veteran actors including Julie Christie, Richard Jenkins, Sam Elliot, Nick Nolte and Chris Cooper. Redford, joined co-stars Stanley Tucci, Brit Marling and Jackie Evancho at a press conference in New York this week to discuss the film.

What do you want people to take from this movie about the legacy of the Weather Underground?
Robert Redford: “There are a probably a number of things to take away. To simplify, I’d probably say the first thing would be that they would think. Some films are made not necessarily to think but it’s like eating cotton candy. You have a wonderful ride and then it’s over and that’s all you really want. And other films are designed in a way to at least make you ask a question afterwards. Or think about what’s happening and maybe start a dialogue with someone. I think maybe that’s what I’d prefer, it’s not always possible. So that’s would be the first thing and the second thing has to do with a criticism that I have for my own country. I don’t think we’re very good at looking at history as a lesson that we learn, so that we don’t repeat a negative historical experience. We’re not good at that. And looking back in time and saying ‘Well, this happened then, what can we learn from that?’ I just think it’s an American tradition to be so busy pushing forward and driving forward and doing, doing, doing. They don’t look back and say ‘Gee, what could I learn from the mistake that I made before?’ So I guess the hope, that’s all it can be, is the hope that you look back in this moment in time–which, by the way when this happened, I was of that age. I was of them in spirit. But because I was starting a career in the New York theater as an actor at that time and I was also starting to raise a family, I was obligated to that task so I wasn’t a part of it. But I was certainly empathetic to what they were doing. I thought it was a wrong war. I thought that it was a war that was going to cost unnecessary lives. It was also a war that was designed by people that had never gone to war. And it had a lot to with kind of a tragic history of the United States with the mistakes it’s made, they never seem to learn by. So that was my own personal criticism about my country and my history. So I guess I would hope that you would look back
on this time, it’s not about what happened then because it’s about thirty years later…There’s a wonderful poem by Yates, one of my favorite poems, there’s a line that says because he was so sick of what was happening to Ireland. He could see that calm Ireland was about to be disrupted by vandalism, by revolt, by revolution and that Ireland would never be the same. And so he was bemoaning that by taking a conservative stance. So he says…’The best lack all conviction, while the worst are filled with passionate intensity’. And I thought that was a nice thing for me to play with. Because people who were filled with that passion and intensity were all older and look back. They’re trapped by their past because in order to stay free from the law they go underground with a false name. But how long can you live without you true identity? And that’s what interested me to tell that story not then but now.”

Brit Marling was also intrigued by the idea of aging activists in this film:

Brit Marling: “…When I read the script I was really moved by the idea of the Weather Underground and how it’s not set back then but it’s set in present day as this group has sort of come into age of wisdom and experience and are looking back wondering about the radicalism of their youth and did they make the right choices? And would they do it differently now? Which, I think my generation is grappling with a lot of the same ideas. So I was very attracted to that part of the story.”

Redford likened his character’s thirty year evasion of the law to that of Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, a favorite story of his:
Robert Redford:  “I just thought from the time I was a little kid that was one of the greatest stories. So I saw similarities in Shia LeBeouf’s character is inspector Javert in Les Miserables and then I am Jean Valjean in the sense that I go to prison for something I’ve done that’s wrong, I escape, I take on a new identity to escape prison time, I live a clean life, I have a daughter, the daughter means everything to me…I had to give up another daughter before she meant too much for me to give up, that was painful, I don’t want to make that mistake again. So here it is, this means everything to me and yet there’s someone on my tail that might expose me in a way that makes it impossible for me to have the true love of my daughter and a clean, clear life. So that was the complexity that sparked me to make this film.”

Behind Shia LeBeouf’s reporter is his editor as played by Stanley Tucci who spoke about his role:
Stanley Tucci: Shia and I worked one day and we went and did it. But the scenes are very straight-forward. I think that, you know, he is the sort of classic curmudgeonly, exhausted editor. I think particularly in this day and age, he’s an interesting character because he’s the last of a dying breed. You’re not going to see those guys too much anymore.
Redford: …Just want to add something, he talks about the energy–Shia’s energy, which is extreme. Shia has a fast mind and a fast tongue. And for Stanley to work with that and still be the character he had to play. He had to be a man in control within an industry that was going out of control, which adds it’s own dynamic, but the fact that he could manage the energy by creating a counter-energy. As Shia got more crazed, Stanley, if you watch the film, Stanley goes the other way. So it creates a dynamic. When Shia slows down, Stanley goes for his throat. I just enjoyed watching.

The youngest star of the movie, Jackie Evancho is better known for her musical success since she was introduced on tv’s “America’s Got Talent”. Seeing her perform on TV prior to filming, Redford knew he’d found his screen daughter.
Redford:  “I said ‘Woah wait a minute, what’s this?’ because I don’t watch much television, so I look at this and then the camera–she’s singing Puccini! And I’m thinking ‘How does that work?’ And so the camera pulls back and there’s this symphony hall and there’s this huge orchestra in this symphony hall and this creature standing there just belting this music out there. It was so powerful…If somebody who has that composure, who can do that in front of that kind of an audience, with that kind of register, with that kind of complexity, maybe that could work. So anyway, to make a long story short, I contacted the agent, the casting person, I said ‘Find out who this person is, where she is.’ They find out she lives in Pittsburgh with her parents, they live a normal life except when she had to do these shows and they went out and taped her. They taped her, I don’t think they knew what was going on. Jackie can speak to that. They sent the tape back, it was clear she didn’t know what was going on and I thought, I don’t care, there’s something–I’m going to take this chance. She was hired on Tuesday, she came, we filmed on Wednesday. We filmed the first day I met her and I can only tell you, from that point on I figured I am one lucky man, because she turned out to be absolutely lovely…We just played together we just became people who could play together, who could have fun together and improvise together. So I ended up the beneficiary of a risk taken on Jackie.”
Jackie Evancho: All I can say was I was extremely honored to have a chance to actually act with you guys. That I was really really excited that I got the role and I just really had a lot of fun so, thank you.

Being only twelve years old, Jackie was asked if she was familiar with the name Robert Redford or his most famous films.
Jackie Evancho: Well, my dad, he always talked about it with his brothers he just would like goof around and stuff. So when I heard the name, I wasn’t very familiar with it, I shouldn’t say “it”! …The only thing that I knew was my dad was like ‘He played a cowboy.’ And that’s all I knew. I actually thought that it was an amazing honor.

Did you during the making of the film have any positive thoughts about the country and journalism?
Robert Redford: Positive? I don’t about positive so much as valuable. Because I consider journalism as so valuable. I would almost–I don’t want to be too much ego here–but I would almost take it personally if journalism failed itself. Because that’s the one avenue we have to the truth. So if I’m going to portray journalism in a film, it’s tricky business…Then you want to at least give it it’s due. Then describe the threats that are maybe against it. So in this case, the idea of Shia’s character was to me more interesting if it was complicated by the fact that is he going after the story for his own personal advertisement? Is he going after it for just getting the story? He should dance with that as he moves forward and what should be unmistakeable is what he learns about himself. In his pursuit about finding somebody else, what does he learn about himself that may change him? That was exciting to me but you have to be careful, I think you have to be careful about when you’re dealing with journalism… You have to test certain things and then back away and let the audience go with it. What they’re going to do with it.

You may not know the name Lia Beldam, but you will know her by her work. She played a very important scene in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” as the woman in Room 237 and that seduces Jack Nicholson in the film. After the film, Lia never got into acting full-time as she was already modeling. Media Mikes had a chance to track down Lia and ask her a few questions about the film and reflecting on her role.

Mike Gencarelli: Let’s start at the beginning, how did you get involved with “The Shining”?
Lia Beldam: I was a model. My agency were asked to send some people for the ballroom scene a movie called “The Shining”. So I went along thinking I would be in this ballroom scene. Prior to that, I had done a lot of nude shots for commercials and someone from the film saw them and said that they could cast me for another role in the film. I said “Sure”, since I didn’t have a clue what the film was about anyway. I went in to audition and didn’t even have to undress, so that was easy. And that is how I got the job.

MG: Did you know the extend of your scene before signing on?
LB: I knew it was a nude scene and that I wasn’t going to be in the ballroom scene. I had no idea what “The Shining” was about. They just told me it was be a nude scene and I was perfectly fine with that.

MG: How was it working with Jack Nicholson in your scene?
LB: He was very nice. As you know, I am not an actress. My main job was and still is modeling. I told him that he needed to help me. He said he would sit with me and discuss the shot. He was just very nice and absolutely charming.

MG: Tell us what it was like being directed by the legendary Stanley Kubrick?
LB: It was just another job for me to be honest. When I did my modeling, there was always an art director on set telling me what to do. It was just another job. I wasn’t really falling over in amazement being in the same room. I wasn’t familiar with how famous he way. But still he was very pleasant to work with.

MG: Did you have any interactions with Billie Gibson aka “Old Woman in Bath”?
LB: Yes I did. I believe she was about 74 at the time when we shot and was a friend of the Kubrick’s. She wasn’t an actress either. She just did it as a favor to them. She was very nice.

MG: How long did it take to shoot the one scene?
LB: It was ridiculous. I tell you what Mike, it took a whole week. Very often though, it was long waits for me sitting my dressing room. They would change something in the set whether it was the carpet or something else. It wasn’t the actually shoot itself although he did do many many different takes. I didn’t mind the many takes though since I was enjoying kissing Jack Nicholson, that was sure [laughs]. I was paid for a whole week so I was there for a whole week. It was just wonderful.

MG: When you completed this role, did you ever think that we would be still talking about it over 30 years later?
LB: Not particularly no [laughs]. My son recently put up a picture up for me online with me and Jack Nicholson and since then I have been contacted quite a bit. But I really enjoy it and it has been great fun.

MG: After this film and not being an actress, why didn’t you pursue more acting gigs?
LB: I just pursued modeling. I had some very good jobs and I just loved it. I did a few very little bits in films but nothing special at all after “The Shining”. Models are always asked to go on films to bulk out scenes. It would have been lovely if someone had asked me to do more films but they didn’t. So I just kept on working as a model and was completely happy.

MG: Have you ever considered attending horror conventions to meet fans?
LB: Never. I didn’t even know what a convention was until recently. I have never be asked to do anything like that. I live in a very tiny village in the middle of nowhere in England and I have never thought about those things. Sounds like fun though!

Eric Walter is the director of the new film surrounding Long Island, NY’s famous haunted house with the documentary  “My Amityville Horror”. The film gets a first hand revisit the former house resident Daniel Lutz, who was only 10 during the events back in the 70’s. Media Mikes had a chance to chat with Eric about the film and working with Daniel Lutz.

Mike Gencarelli: What made to you want to get involved with “My Amityville Horror”?
Eric Walter: To present a new perspective on the events in Amityville was my initial motivation. Daniel Lutz is the first of the Lutz children to come forward with his entire account of what he claims happened inside that house, so this was an extraordinary opportunity to explore these allegations with someone who was there. However, once I got to know Daniel, it was apparent he still wears the scars of The Amityville Horror to this day and has been unfortunately forever damaged by whatever happened to his family inside that house. I’ve also had an obsessive interest with this case since I was child. Reviewing the years of heated debates surrounding both the DeFeo murders and the Lutz haunting, I couldn’t help but be fascinated by the personalities that surround it and their apparent desire to defend their part of the story. This controversy would have never continued if the original participants weren’t still so entangled within it. In January of 2007, I launched AmityvilleFiles.com, an enormous online archive of Amityville-related research. I wanted to create an unbiased presentation of the known facts surrounding the case – somewhere people who are interested in these events could go and read through the original newspaper articles, view media and essentially draw their own conclusions on what they believe went down in that house.

MG: What are your thoughts on the events that took place at 112 Ocean Avenue?
EW: I believe that something very real occurred to the Lutz family that truly frightened them. I believe that they believed the house was haunted. I don’t believe their account was a complete hoax created for profit or attention, however there are inconsistencies that make it a difficult picture. How many of their stories were real or possibly elaborated upon, no one will ever know. Their accounts have been lost in over 35 years of misinformation about the story and media exposure that have clouded the truth. This is why I felt it very necessary to allow Daniel Lutz to speak openly in the film, giving him an objective stage to do so. In many ways, I think his account has only deepened the mystery.

MG: How did you get in touch with Daniel Lutz?
EW: AmityvilleFiles.com proved to be the calling card for what became “My Amityville Horror.” I was contacted by a contractor in the New York area who claimed to be a friend of Daniel Lutz. Despite being very intrigued, I didn’t necessarily believe this man’s claims until I was able to see a picture of Daniel. After this, I knew this had to be him and I went about engaging in conversation with them. In 2009, I traveled to New York and conducted nearly 12 hours of audio recordings with Daniel.

MG: Tell us about your experience working with him.
EW: Working with Daniel has been very challenging at times. He’s very angry and difficult to approach at first. My immediate impression was that his willingness to speak to me was almost therapy for him — a way of unburdening himself of these stories that have lived inside his head for over 35 years. He was struggling to differentiate his point-of-view from the public’s perception of the story. Many of his memories seem to be skewed by the media fiction that surrounds these events. The subject of memory came heavily into play when listening to his account. For me, this started to transcend the Amityville topic and touch on a broader issue – the challenge of someone attempting to comprehend the unexplained. That’s what I hope people really take away from the film. This is something that has psychologically damaged and impacted this person. Whether it’s true or not, he believes it’s true.

MG: Some of the questions you approach him with are quite tough—were you ever concerned about that?
EW: There’s such intensity with him about this topic that I was constantly aware of how far to push him on certain questions. I never shied away from asking hard questions, but it was process of being conscious of when to ask certain things. He definitely does not like discussing Amityville and becomes very tense and angry when exploring those dark areas of his childhood. Looking back, I’m amazed I was able to capture as much as did within the film.

MG: What was your biggest challenge with working on the documentary?
EW: I’d have to say bringing all of the subjects together into one film was the greatest challenge. We tried very hard to interview Daniel’s other two siblings, but there’s such pain surrounding this time in their life, the remaining family members choose not to speak about it anymore. As filmmakers, we had to respect this, but it’s difficult because you desire that corroboration for the film. They seemed to have moved on from it more than Daniel apparently has. For me, obtaining all of the necessary witness testimony was the greatest challenge in producing this film.

MG: What do you have planned next?
EW: I’m currently in development on another feature documentary concept. The realm of the unexplained is what fuels my desire to make films, so I plan to stay in this field of study. I’m very interested in the combination of narrative and documentary and how these styles can be used to enhance the storytelling process. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to explore a variety of different subjects in the future and expanding my palette of work.

Recently in New York City, Media Mikes attended a press conference with Kristin Chenoweth and Olesya Rulin about their new film “Family Weekend”, which opens Friday March 29th. The film also also starring Matthew Modine, Shirley Jones,Joey King,Eddie Hassel and Robbie Tucker and it is directed by Benjamin Epps.

“Family Weekend” follows 16 year old Emily Smith-Dungy (Olesya Rulin an incredibly motivated overachiever who has grown increasingly frustrated with her parents lack of support and guidance. Her mom, Samantha (Kristin Chenoweth), is a career focused, no nonsense high powered business executive. Her dad, Duncan (Matthew Modine), is a happy go lucky artist who can’t be bothered to earn a paycheck. When they missed their daughter’s big jump-roping competition, Emily hits her breaking point and takes it upon herself to restore order in the home. With the help of her siblings, they unite and take their parents hostages in hopes of becoming a “family” again.

I’m curious to know what kind of students you were like in high school and was there anything you were fanatical about in terms of subjects and things that you did in terms of extra curricular activities?
Kristin Chenoweth: I’m a type A perfectionist personality. I did choir and drama…I know it’s shocking! I was a cheerleader. I really just wanted to be with my friends. I did church stuff. I was just a normal kid but I was in a small town. I was like the kid from “Glee” in a tiny town. Now of course they have “Glee”, so if they had only done that 25 years ago it would have been better. I was that girl.
Olesya Rulin: Me in high school? I was kind of a loner. I had a handful of friends. I was a ballerina and I was very focused on that. You kind of have to be. So that was two thirds of my week. I didn’t take theater…sorry! I went to a small school in Utah. It wasn’t developed. We didn’t have the funds for that, but I did act all through high school on film. The Disney Channel would shoot movies out there, so I was always busy. I was gone from school a lot. My teachers did not understand me either. They would ask “How did you have 70 absences in one quarter?”. But I got straight A’s and I wanted to graduate high school with my associates. I was constantly doing charity work. So I took a lot of AP courses trying to get all my credits, so I could dive into college. I’m gonna be in all the upper level classes…ah ambition! I was really into college.
KC: This girl is pretty much who you think she is and it’s really refreshing.
OR: Aw, thank you. I had fun, but I wasn’t a cheerleader or nearly that popular.

The movie opens with the parents missing the jump rope competition; Have either of you ever missed am important event for somebody else in your life or has anybody missed an important event in your life ?
KC: That’s a good question. I still have guilt from 4 years ago, my niece graduated and I didn’t make it. Granted there was a huge snow storm in Denver and I couldn’t get in. But I still had that pang that I want to be there on those important days. I wanted to make it. My mom was a stay at home mom and my dad had his own business, but even with his business he was at the important events. I wish I could tell some tale like “oh they were never there for me and I was alone”, but no they were great parents. I try to be the same for my nieces and nephews and my Godchildren. I think I do pretty good.
OR: Oh, I think everyone who misses a huge event feels a life long guilt. I am so thankful for my family and friends because they are the ones who stick with you and understand we don’t have a normal life. My girlfriends, family and boyfriends they understand I cant always be committed 100%. I almost missed being the Maid of Honor at my best-friends wedding.
KC: Now that’s unforgivable [laughs]!
OR: The day of her wedding I was supposed to work. It was during the filming of “High School Musical 3”, I talked to my director Kenny Ortega and told him I have to be there to fluff her hair and do what Maid-of-Honor’s do. This is how much I love my director, he changed the shooting and it’s very rare to have someone do that for you. If it wasn’t for Kenny Ortega that would have been my event.

You guys are playing characters from a dysfunctional family but it seems like you both grew up in healthy families so how do you channel that for the film?
KC: We’d all like to say we have perfect families. I did grow up in a great family but we have our issues. There’s a little passive aggression going on in my family. Everybody’s different, each family unit is different. I think for me tapping into that the part of me that is the type A perfectionist but so intense-staying on schedule. I’m a multi-tasker but I’m a wreck in my personal life but that’s not actually the question is it? [laughs]. That’s for therapy! For me I tapping into the part of me that is that strong woman, who wants to have it all and does. She is sort of failing at part of her job, which is being a mom in the film. Seeing the evolution of a family, that’s what makes me happy. That’s what our family the Chenoweth’s strive to do. When we get off the rails and we do we remember that really it’s all about love and forgiveness. Forgiveness is a hard thing to do but I say this a lot. If I want to be forgiven I have to forgive. That’s what we do in the Chenoweth’s, eventually this family gets there too.
OR: A family is like a kaleidoscope…you look through it and it changes. My family is like that. We are all different colors like a prism. When we have light shine, we shine and its beautiful. When it’s dark nothing shines, like a rock. Our goal in our family is to shine. We make sure each individual shines in their own way. I was really blessed with parents who never said I couldn’t do anything. They never told me “no”. I wanted to do the dying swan ballet in the high school talent show. It’s deep, it’s very intense. Your dying for 10 minutes. My mom said “K go get ’em”. She told me “Whatever you choose to do in life be the best you can be. If you choose to be a drunk, be the best drunk. If you choose to be an architect, be the best architect”. She always gave me the freedom of that
KS: It’s a great gift.
OR: Some people have told me I have child-like ambition. I never hold myself back. My parents never told me to hold myself back.
KS: They gave you self esteem.
OR: I feel I can accomplish anything. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t at all, but I’m really thankful. My mom gave me that and my dad too. We’re not perfect but without that you don’t grow

What are your pop culture obsessions?
KC: Mine are so easy. “The Real Housewives of ANY County”, preferably “New Jersey”, and “Hillbilly Hand Fishing”. I grew up in that area where my cousins did it.
OR: If you get on it take me I’ll do it.
KC: Done! When I get home at night after being so focused I just want to feel good about myself. I turn on reality TV. I know just how much I have it together and I feel great.
OR: I love blogs. I have someone building one for me right now. I write letters. I know that’s not a pop culture thing, I guess. No one writes letters.
KC: I do. I do!
OR: I have a pen pal for seven years. He lives in France and we watched our lives evolve. Pop culture, I would have to say the new show “Hart of Dixie” and Instagram. I’m all up in that. I love that.

The characters in the movie all had hobbies were they in the original script or changed to fit you?
KC: My hobby was the Blackberry and as you can see (holding up her Blackberry) I’m really good at it. I do have it with me a lot, but this one (pointing to Olesya). She had to learn the jump rope. I can barely walk up a flight of steps anymore.
OR: I trained for 4 months in L.A. and I got really built. I ate straight protein. I never craved a whole chicken before! It’s different in ballet. It’s long lean muscles but for this I had to be short and a little stocky. Your feet don’t come much off the ground.

You were using a wire not a regular rope?
OR: It’s what spies use to capture people in spy movies. We had a great training team, based in Michigan. These kids were amazing and what level of sportsmanship. I was lucky to able to jump rope with them.
KC: She was so good and she trained all day. I was at the dessert cart saying “You go girl!”
OR: I will never jump rope again [laughs].

Joseph Julian Soria has appeared in a variety of films and television series ranging from “Crank 2” and “Fast and Furious” to the hit Showtime series “Dexter” and “Sons of Anarchy”. Soria will be reprising his role as Hector Cruz on the seasons “Army Wives” and Media Mikes had a chance to talk with him about his second season on the show and his role in the film “Philly Brown”.

Adam Lawton: What can we expect from your character this season?
Joseph Julian Soria: You can expect to see Hector struggling with what may be the end of his marriage and his discontent with how the war is being handled. You also get to see him grow up and become a man. He has an interesting storyline this season.

AL: With this being your second season on the show were you allowed to give any input on the direction of your character?
JJS: Yes, that was one of the first things Jeff Melvoin mentioned when we found out the show was getting picked up for another season. He encouraged me to call the writers office with any ideas I had. I made a couple of calls and stopped by the office and gave my input, fortunately we were all on the same page.

AL: What do you enjoy most about being on the show?
JJS: I enjoy having the opportunity to play a character that is going through a lot and that the men who have served our country can relate to. Hector has a lot of internal conflict going on and it’s great to be able to play with those emotions and see how it plays out on the show.

AL: Can you tell us about your work on the film “Filly Brown”?
JJS: Putting it simply, I do not play a nice guy. He is a total jerk to an outsider looking in. But the way I like to look at it is, I play a character who is insecure, vulnerable and willing to do whatever it takes to hold on to his spotlight. And once Filly starts to take away his shine we get to see how far he will go to keep it.

AL: Do you have any other projects in the works you can tell us about?
JJS: I have another film coming out later this year called “Mission Park” which will be released by Lions Gate on all media besides theatrical. I’m really excited for people to see this film. I’m also in talks with a few other projects but nothing I’m ready to talk about yet.

Makinov is the director, writer, producer, cinematographer and editor on the new film “Come Out and Play”. The film is about a couple that find terror on an island inhabited by a community of killer children. Makinov always wears a mask and his identity is not known but that doesn’t change anything, this film is a must-see for sure. I can’t wait to see what he has planned next. Media Mikes had the chance to ask him a few questions about the film.

Mike Gencarelli: With this being your reported first directorial debut, what was your biggest challenge?
Makinov: This is not my first film. Is the first film I shoot with actors and that was part of the challenge. Also some people didn’t trust a face they couldn’t see, but I don’t think directors are completely trusted even if they show their faces.

MG: Where was the film shot?
Makinov: The film was shot in the Holbox Island in Mexico. It’s usually a beautiful place, but there was a storm during most of our shoot. We lost communication with the mainland for two weeks, it was like if the end of the world had happened.

MG: Were you ever concerned with showing the extreme violence towards kids?
Makinov:  I didn’t think about it. I think more gruesome violence towards children has been systematized and assimilated into western culture. Family is a violent institution, schools are violent, institutions of oppression and normalizing, preparing children to be unfulfilled, unhappy adults. Passing down to the next generation values that have been proved wrong, that will only lead to death and misery.

MG: Tell us about the score/music in the film, which I felt was very effective in setting the film’s tone.
Makinov:  It’s synthesizer and drum machine music. I composed it as I was editing. I drew inspiration from obscure Mexican band called Tuareg Geeks.

MG: What do you have planned next?
Makinov:  I am not sure, I am living in the wild with animals and they have inspired me a lot, and there is a sad resonance among the animal kingdom that lives at the mercy of humans. That is an interesting subject to me.

G.B. Hajim is the co-writer, cinematographer, producer, and director the animated lesbian rock musical “Strange Frame”.  The film can only be described by seeing it. The film itself is a real trip and extremely unique. It also packs a very strong voice cast including Tim Curry, Claudia Black, Ron Glass, George Takei, Alan Tudyk and Michael Dorn…just to name a few. Media Mikes had a chance to chat with G.B. about the film, his love for science fiction and his unique animation style.

Mike Gencarelli: You acted as Co-Writer, Cinematographer, Producer, and Director on “Strange Frame”, which is such a unique film; how did this come about?
G.B. Hajim: I read a lot of science fiction and it seems like science fiction film and TV always falls short of what science fiction literature is doing. So, I am a big John Varley fan and also Neal Stephenson. It seems like most of the science fiction film or TV is a just a setting for action or battle scenes. It is not really setup to take that heady trip and imagine what is humanity going to become in the future. Right now, we are already experimenting with genetic engineering and bio-modifications. We are also at the cuff of basically beginning to be a spacefaring race. I really wanted to explore those ideas here. I am also influenced by some of my favorite science fiction like “Blade Runner”. That is the short of it. From the tone of the movie you can see that I have experimented with psychedelic drugs. So all these kind of things gelled together. Shelley Doty, who co-wrote it with me, also comes from a very similar space being a big sci-fi head. We might have crammed a little too much into the movie but we really wanted to lay out a world that was different than you have seen before.

MG: How did it end up being a lesbian rock musical?
GBH: Shelley Doty, who co-wrote it, is an African American lesbian and also a rock guitarist. She has been on the cover of Guitar Player Magazine and is a very accomplished musician. So when we sat down to write this, we thought about who would we want to write about. What is great about writing about musicians is that they are seen as the lowest end of society like playing the dingiest clubs or street corners but also seen as the rock star when they are at the highest level of society. You get this unique perspective of being able to transcend all the class barriers. Since we wanted to show so much of this new universe that we were laying out, we wanted a character that could transcend all that. It seemed like a really good fit.

MG: How did you end up working with an amazing voice cast including (deep breath) Tim Curry, Claudia Black, Ron Glass, Juliet Landau, Tara Strong, George Takei, Alan Tudyk and Michael Dorn…to name a few?
GBH: We were very lucky. Early on I knew that sound was going to be very important for our film, especially since it was a musical. I was reaching out to some of the best sound guys in the business. Finally, I was introduced to Gary Rizzo, who was mixing at the time a little film called “The Dark Knight Rises”. He looked at our film and wanted to be on board. To have an Academy Award Winning sound guy on board gives you a lot of cred when talking with voice and cast directors. They were very jazzed that we had Gary on board. We ended up working with Jamie Thomason and they asked who we wanted in terms of voice actors.  Shelley and I are big sci-fi fans, obviously, so we picked through our favorite people. We ended up getting mostly everyone that we wanted. So it was really awesome. They saw what we were doing with this project and how it was very unique but they also saw how we were doing it. I trained local kids here in East Hawaii, which is a super poor area. These kids have nothing to do, so I brought them on board and trained with in animation and they became the animation crew. They really resonated with our actors.

MG: Tell us how you got music in the film by Roger Waters?
GBH: I am a huge Pink Floyd fan. When I was animating this, most of the time I had live Pink Floyd music blasting. I think “The Final Cut” is such an under-rated album and “The Gunner’s Dream” is just such a beautiful song.  It was  also related to what we were talking about in the movie. So I approached Roger Waters’ management and told them about what we were doing with the kids and the movie. Roger was really stoked about it. First you have to get the rights from the artist but then you also need to go to the rights organization, Warner/Chappell Music and those guys dragged their feet. Roger gave us this track for next to nothing but they wanted tens of thousands of dollars for this. We are this little production and didn’t have that type of money. Roger’s management stepped in and hammered at these guys until they gave this to us for virtually nothing. It is a real rarity, if you look at Roger’s credits, he hasn’t done many domestic films. So it was a real honor.

MG: Tell us about the development of the unique type of animation used in this film?
GBH: I have done all kinds of animation. In school, I had experimented with all types and even helped developed some of the first CGI when I worked at the San Diego Supercomputer Center. That aspect is very technical and gets devoid of the hand of the artist and creativity gets riddled down and sterilized when you use that type of animation. It is also very time intensive and expensive. When I moved to Hawaii, I didn’t have clients that could give me a budget where I could do that kind of animation. So I developed this new style of cut-out, which is very economic and also very easy to train with. It is mostly drawn and photoshopped by hand. We break up the drawing into mini-pieces and then move those pieces in a compositing program. It is much quicker and as an artist also much more fun since you can just throw stuff in and get it to look really rich and dense quickly. It is a very different way of animating and it is also pretty unique. I think if we get a chance to do a follow-up movie we would be able to rival the big boys like Pixar or Dreamworks. We worked out the kinks in this movie and really sharpened it up. If we get to do a sequel it will be guaranteed to knock peoples socks off.

MG: I would have loved this seen this film on Blu-ray? Any plans?
GBH: When you go to a distributor, they do things a certain way. Unless we sell tens of thousands of DVD, they are not going to do a Blu-ray release. That is the reality of it. It is very hard to make an economical Blu-ray release. With that being said, I do feel though that people that encoded this DVD made it look fucking phenomenal, especially with the data rate that they were given.

MG: What do you have planned next?
GBH: You have to have a lot of irons in the fire. I just did a pitch to Comedy Central for a bunch of shorts. I can’t talk about that more since it is still in the works. I have got plans to pitch Sony also for another TV show, maybe based on “Strange Frame”. I am also developing an animated feature for younger teens called “Ali Jamal and the Rat Prince”. It is more of a fantasy project than sci-fi but it will be in the same animation style. Then I also have a few live action projects that I am also developed but which are much lower budget. I have a background in live action and since animation takes such a long time, I would like to get a few projects done with in that format as well next.

Television personality Audrina Patridge is probably best known from the hit reality series “The Hills” where she was one four original cast members. Since the show has ended Audrina has appeared in her own reality series as well as several movies such as “Sorority Row” and “Into the Blue 2”. Media Mikes had the chance to talk with Audrina recently about her appearance at this year’s Maxim Beach Party and her upcoming role in “Scary Movie 5”.

Adam Lawton:  Can you tell us about the Maxim Spring Break event?
Audrina Patridge: This is my second year doing the event in Panama City Beach Florida. I am the grand ambassador for Curve Appeal perfume and cologne. Maxim Magazine and Curve teamed up to put on this Spring Break party. The event features a giant stage built right on the sand next to the ocean. It is really beautiful. There is going to be a bunch of different contests held throughout the break such as hula hooping, push-up contests and of course the booty shake contest. This was one I judged last year and a guy was actually the winner. It is so much fun to see everyone out there having fun. You get to see people of all ages out there. There are also lots of Curve models walking around handing out samples so that not only do the guys and girls on break look good but they smell good as well.

AL: How did you become involved with Curve?
AP: I have always been really big on fragrance as I think it’s important to leave a lasting impression. I get a lot of compliments on the smell of the fragrances and am a really big fan myself. It’s great that we have been able to partner up.

AL: What do you like most about going to Spring Break each year?
AP: I love traveling and have had so many great opportunities to do so. I like getting to meet all the different people as well. I am 27 now and I think everyone deserves a Spring Break no matter how old you are. Fortunately I get to be a part of this and it is just so much fun. Being down here takes me back to my early twenties. It’s just a fun time.

AL: Will you be doing any promotion while you’re down there for “Scary Movie 5”?
AP: I am just there for the Spring Break Party but “Scary Movie 5” comes out April 12^th. I did a cameo in the film which was a lot of fun. We filmed my piece in Georgia at this huge, beautiful mansion that was really old. I can’t wait to see how things turned out.

AL: Do you have any other projects coming out that we can be watching for?
AP: Nothing that I can talk about just yet. Everyone has to make sure they get some Curve Appeal and go see “Scary Movie 5” on April 15^th.

Matthew Modine is probably known best for playing Pvt. Joker in Stanley Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket” and Louden Swain in “Vision Quest”. He recently appeared as Deputy Commissioner Peter Foley in “The Dark Knight Rises” and will be appearing later this year as John Sculley in upcoming “jOBS”. Matthew also is set to produce and voice act in Ralph Bakshi’s latest film “Last Days of Coney Island”, which is currently trying to become funded via Kickstarter. Matthew took out some time to reflect working with Stanley Kubrick in “Full Metal Jacket”, Christopher Nolan in “The Dark Knight Rises” and his role in “jOBS”. Check out the first part of our interview with him, here.

Mike Gencarelli: Can you believe that it has been 25 years since “Full Metal Jacket” and here we are still discussing it all these years later?
Matthew Modine: It is amazing. It is a testament to Stanley Kubrick and his genius. He didn’t make movies that are disposable. They continue to have relevance long after they have been released, whether it is “Paths of Glory”, “Dr. Strangelove”, “2001: A Space Odyseey” or “A Clockwork Orange”. They are just films that continue to speak to audiences. I always remember something that Stanley said “A film should be like a good piece of music. Something that you can listen to over and over again and have relevance long after it is written”. I think he tried to approach film with that mentality like a great piece of music.

MG: Tell us about the origin of your book “Full Metal Diary”?
MM: I had a tremendous experience working with Kubrick and I kept this diary while I was working on the film. He also allowed me to take photographs on the set. I had this 2 1/4 x 2 1/4-inch Rolleiflex camera that I tucked inside my jacket when we were in Vietnam and then kept in my foot locker when we were filming the boot camp. It was very rare that he allowed me to take photographs on the set because he was such a secretive and private filmmaker, but he almost encouraged it. I don’t know why but I am very grateful that he did and gave the opportunity to be able to share what that looked like. The thing about keeping my diary is that Kubrick often asked me to read my diary out loud to everyone on the set. The thing that it encouraged me to do was tot hen keep a very good diary with accurate notes. The thing that I love about the diary is that it is the voice of a young man that is in a situation that he really doesn’t understand. It is not a reflection is my point. It is not somebody looking back at a time working with Stanley Kubrick, as a recollection. What you experience when you reach it is this naive person about a circumstance that he doesn’t understand and I think that makes it quite unique.

MG: How did your diary go from book to the new iPad app?
MM: I was approach by Adam Rackoff. He used to work for Apple. He was one of the geniuses that worked for them. Steve Jobs was his boss. He was responsible for opening stores, advertising and more. I had done a presentation at the Apple Store in Soho talking about how the book was made on a Mac. He really just loved the book and knew that their were only 20,000 copies of the books made each with a serial number. So years later, the iPad come out with these amazing apps. He told me that he thought it would be an perfect iPad app. He said he would have me record the story in my own voice, do characterizations for the people talked about in the stories, have someone do original score along with sound effects and create this amazing and deeply immersible experience for people to enjoy with iPads. The final thing that sealed the deal for me is that he said that it would be something that Stanley Kubrick would be proud of. So with us holding the bar that high for Stanley Kubrick, that was the criteria for this…was it good enough for Stanley? In the end, I think we created something that he would definitely be impressed with.

MG: Last year you played Deputy Commissioner Peter Foley in “The Dark Knight Rises”, tell us about that experience?
MM: The thing that was amazing about that film is that people are always comparing Christopher Nolan to Stanley Kubrick. As big as that film was, as large as the cast was, the budget…everything – when you came on the set of “The Dark Knight Rises” it felt like an intimate independent film. Nolan creates an environment on the set that makes it feel very intimate. He doesn’t have a video village. He has this little monitor he wears around his neck. He is not one of those directors that is hiding behind a bunch of monitors and away from the set. He stands on the set and is with his actors and his crew. He is curious about what his technicians are going and what the actors are thinking and saying. I think that may not sound like what a director is suppose to do but you will be surprised at how many filmmakers are not that involved. There is so much chaos on a film set that you don’t know who is directing the movie. Is it the producers? Is it the writer? The crew? The director of photography Nolan is really the the captain of his ship. His wife is his producing partner and his brother is his writing partner. It is just a very tight and intimate environment. I mean how often does anyone have such a great character arc in that kind of a film. I just hope I get the opportunity to work with him again.

MG: You mentioned Apple and later this year you also have your role of John Sculley in “jOBS” coming, what can we expect?
MM: I haven’t seen the finished film but it was extraordinary to work on. I think that Ashton Kutcher did an amazing job from the work I saw. He was really fully committed to doing Steve Jobs justice. It is amazing to see how much he began to look and sound like him. I am looking forward to see it. I know it closed the Sundance Film Festival, was received positively and received a distribution deal. So all the signs are that it will be an entertaining film.

Going into its fourth season, NBC’s Community abruptly changed much of its behind the scenes creatives, including, crucially, creator and show runner Dan Harmon. At the same time, the study group on the show, headed up by Joel McHale’s Jeff, faces their senior year at Greendale University. It’s therefore fitting that when two of its stars, Alison Brie (“Annie”) and Danny Pudi (“Abed”), got together to talk about the show this year, much of the focus was on change:

Pudi: That is in some ways what we set  up for season four, embracing change, and I think specifically with the world of Abed. You see that right away, in the premiere of season four, going into his happy place especially anytime anyone mentions that it’s our senior year which is scary. And I think with Abed we’ve explored change a few different times already. In the “My Dinner with Andre” episode you know, it ends with Abed saying  that changing really isn’t his jam, you know? He’s more of a fastened lip and stoic type. And I think the thing about senior year at Greendale is that whether or not we change much as individuals, our circumstances change and our environments change. So I think that is something we have to at least address so there is part of that. And I think honestly when I look at the world around me I think most of my friends and the people I know, they’re at their core, they’re essentially the same people. You know, you do grow but in many ways the things that grow is literally just the fact that you’re a little bit older now and you have to have a job and you have kids and a family and you’re no longer living at home. Your responsibility to the world around you changes. It’s your ability to adapt to that that I think is interesting. And so I think that’s what we explore season four.

Brie: Yea I think that Annie, like all the characters, has always been changing. You know because they started out as singular beings and now they’re sort of a unit and just in terms of gaining friends like that and growing up a little, like everyone I hope, grows in college because you’re learning so much about yourself through these interactions with these other people. And Annie she started out, I always think of Annie being kind of two steps forward and one step back like in all of her growth. She started out so studious and just seemed very driven and is still driven, but we’ve seen some detours. She gets hung up on guys, she gets hung up on the friends group and trying to keep the study group together because she’s never had friends like this before. And she’s never had guys interested in her before. So we’ve see those kind of detours with Annie and this year she’s sort of returning to her studious roots and she’s discovered a new major, forensics, that she’s now interested in and feeling really passionate about it again. So we sort of see her returning to being that figure for the group. To being kind of driven and just being kind of the voice of reason for the group and that’s how she changes.

When new writers came on fans were worried that it might be less ambitious than when Dan [Harmon] was on, was that a concern for you?

Brie: I think, you know, it’s a tough thing to learn that your show runner is not coming back to the show and Dan is such a big part of the show, so I think we were a little nervous and didn’t know what to expect but that’s not really a new feeling having worked on our show for four years now. So when we met the new guys they really stressed how much they loved the show and wanted to keep it the same and some of our writers were still the same… And we all were certainly very vocal this season to sort of speak to what our characters would and wouldn’t do and the way things might go on the show and so we were all sort of working together to keep the show intact.
Pudi:… I think for us the one thing that you know we wanted to do and to make sure it comes across this year is that our genuine love for the show comes across and I think you’ll see that with us this year. Still, there’s an extra level of responsibility we had as actors to really make sure that we’re still staying true to who these people are and the world around Greendale. But there was definitely—you can’t replace Dan Harmon. He created something that’s pretty amazing and I’m forever thankful for that.
Brie: Yea, me too.

This season has already seen Malcolm McDowell guest star as a history teacher, Matt Lucas as a deranged Inspector Spacetime fan and NBC’s just announced that in the spring we will see “Seinfeld” favorite Jason Alexander as a Friendly Mountain Man.

Who is your dream guest star on the show?
Brie: I’ve always thought Jason Bateman would be this like—because we love Arrested Development here—and I’ve always thought that he would be so great on the show. Pudi: Dream would be Zach Galifrianakis. I think that would be so much fun. I think it would be amazing to see him in our world. Bruce Willis would be unbelievable. We could do like a Looper. Oh, that would be amazing!

What’re you really excited for people to see for the rest of this season?
Brie: I am really excited for the Christmas episode, that’s the one that’s Hitchcock inspired. Also we have like a Freaky Friday episode that was written by Jim Rash—who of course plays Dean Pelton, and is an Academy Award Winner for Screenwriting [The Descendents]–so that is a really fun one. And also our season finale, I am like ‘Hang in there, fans…’ I think the finale is such a special treat and it’s written by Megan Ganz and it’s one of my favorite episodes this season and I think that it has a lot of elements in it that, it’s really just made for the fans.
Pudi: In some ways it is just a little bit more of a love note.–
Brie: Because it was sort of written as if it might be our last so a lot of heart in there from all of us. And I do think that the episodes get better and better throughout the season so keep tuning in, guys!

“Community” airs Thursdays at 8pm on NBC

Charles Fleischer is known best as the man who gave the voice to Roger Rabbit” in the film “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”, which is celebrating its 25th Anniversary this year. The film is also debuting on Blu-ray for the first time on March 12th. Besides voice acting, Charles is also a stand-up comedian and also has two patents including a device to measure the golden ratio He has also invented and patented a Toy Egg. Fleischer is also the author of “The Moleeds,” a book of his own mathematical theories. In 2010, Charles spoke at the TED conference and discussed about his unique theory of everything called “Moleeds”, read more on that below. Media Mikes had a chance to chat with Charles to reflect about his role in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” and also get to find out his love for science.

Mike Gencarelli: What do you think it is about “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” that makes it so unique and holds up over the last 25 years?
Charles Fleischer: It all goes back to good storytelling. It links to the job of the director and that was Bob Zemeckis. He is a genius director and a master storyteller. You combine that with the animation skills of Richard Williams and the script by (Peter) Seaman and (Jeffrey) Price and then on top of that your introducing a new cartoon character. Certain films are just classics and hold up through time and I will certainly say that “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” is one of those.

MG: We spoke with Christopher Lloyd a few years back, read here, and he said that you voiced the role off screen, was that a difficult task?
CF: It wasn’t necessarily difficult but it was slightly different. We rehearsed face to face and I even had them make a full costume. Then I would be off-camera and I would watch exactly was (Bob) Hoskins was doing. If he reached out and grabbed Roger, I would have to reach like I was being grabbed while performing. It was a kind of performance I named “T.P.A.”, which is Trans Projectional Acting. Where you are there but you are projecting your performance from another space.

MG: Since we are going back 25 years, let’s go all the way back. What was your audition process like for this film and the creation of that wonderful voice?
CF: I was originally called in to help them find the Eddie Valiant character. They needed someone to read Roger off-camera when they did the screen-tests. After doing several of those Bob Zemeckis asked me if I wanted to do the character for the film and I said “Gladly”. So once I got it, I got to read the whole script, got to see some animation tests and I was able to find tune the voice into something that would be appropriate.

MG: How does it compare to your various other voice roles including “Rango” and “The Polar Express”?
CF: Nothing compares to “Roger Rabbit” [laughs]. That pretty much also goes for any role that I have played from “Zodiac” to “Night Shift”. The essence of Roger Rabbit is the closest to who I am. I am a stand-up comedian, I make people laugh and that is what I love to do. I felt this certain kinship with the elemental aspects of Roger Rabbit, which made it more important to me. On another note, his wife was Jessica Rabbit and my youngest daughter is named Jessica. One of my favorite scenes in the movie is when Roger is in the Alley sitting on a trash can and he is brokenhearted about Jessica playing patty cake. Just the fact that the name Jessica had an emotional sympathy within me that created this resonance that added to the whole projection of my acting dynamic.

MG: I always thought that you must have had no voice after shooting this film with all the screaming.
CF: Well it is a cartoon scream, so it doesn’t hurt you.
MG: Oh ok, I didn’t know that.
CF: Me neither. I just made it up [laughs].
MG: You got me man! [laughs]

MG: Word was released last month about “The Stooge” with Mickey Mouse & Roger Rabbit, have you been approached to reprise?
CF: I think that was a lot puffery. I do not think that there is any substance to that. I think that is the strategy that they were trying to use by putting it out there and see what people think and if they want it. I would suspect that any subsequent Roger Rabbit film would have some like Robert Zemeckis involved.

MG: Speaking of that, I have heard about talks of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit 2” for as long as I can remember, what do you think is the reason why this never happened?
CF: I think there are a number of reasons. I think one of the main reasons is that at the time it was co-produced by Disney and Amblin Entertainment. So to get both parties on board would be a challenge. It is all speculation. I can only say that eventually I hope they get around to making it because I believe there is a market.

MG: Off-topic, but can you talk a little about your unique theory of everything called “Moleeds”?
CF: You just touched my heart now we can talk now [laughs]. This is very important to me. Moleeds is something that I have been working on for over 30 years. It is a mathematical discovery that deals with prime numbers and creates patterns and relationships that I believe have some significance with the DNA of the universe. I did a talk on TED, check it out below. A mathematican in Vienna saw that and I started corresponding with him. He created these programs for me which allowed me to visualize moleeds on higher levels. The prior work that I had done was just on a calculator and making graphs on the computer. He was able to create these formulas based on my research that allowed you to plug in any prime number and see the symmetrical system that would be generated by moleeds.

CF: Since we are on science, I have another discovery which has to do with gamma ray bursts. I wrote a scientific paper, which was published on the Cornell University’s website. In order to be published there you need to be endorsed by a published scientist. Gamma ray bursts are the largest display of energy in the universe. I found patterns that indicate that they are not random, which if I am correct will change science!

On March 12th, Ang Lee’s extraordinary Life of Pi arrives on Blu-ray and DVD with many special features that delve into the making of this challenging and visually stunning film. Life of Pi tells the story of Pi Patel, a boy whose sent adrift on a lifeboat after a disastrous ship sinking with only a bengal tiger to accompany him in his struggle for survival. Life of Pi took home the most Academy Awards for a single movie at this year’s awards (for Best director, cinematography, visual effects and musical score) and director Lee joined his editor Tim Squyres and writer, David Magee in New York this past week to talk about bringing Yann Martel’s novel to the screen.

People compare the level of immersiveness in this film’s 3D with Avatar’s. At what point in the development process did you decide to do it in 3D and how did that affect the writing?
Ang Lee: In the very beginning when we think about the structure of the script, I thought of the 3D thing. Which was about six months, nine months, before Avatar was released.
David Magee: Yea we hadn’t seen Avatar yet–we were talking about 3D in our first dinner together.
Tim Squyres: We had saw a bunch of 3D movies, good ones and bad ones…
Ang Lee:  I think the success of Avatar did two things for us. One is really legitimizing 3D as a storytelling tool. I think that’s a huge jump, James Cameron really pushed that. We wouldn’t have that argument. The second thing was it helped us arguing with the studio which, they say, ‘this is literature, this is not [an] action movie, why would …you want to add like a quarter [of the budget] just to do 3D, why?’ I think our film will help film makers make the same argument such as we took it from Avatar...I really give James Cameron the credit to elevating the 3D into a storytelling tool. I think that’s a huge step and I think everybody will just add things on top of that. We learn new things. I think the way it was used was very conservative. I think we could do more but everybody’s doing what we think is good for the audience at that time…This is not a mature language yet. We’re still sort of finding it. Establishing it.

With the amount of features on the Blu-Ray sort of pulling back the curtain on the whole process, do you think this makes audiences more appreciative of what they see? Or do you think it takes a little bit away?

Tim Squyres: There’s still lots of secrets. We’re not giving everything away!
David Magee: There are also two kinds of people in the world: There are people who like to watch a magic trick and go ‘I don’t wanna know how they did that’ and there are people who like to watch a magic trick and figure out how it’s done. And I think it’s totally appropriate for either of those people–look, if you’re the one who doesn’t want to know, don’t watch those extra features. Clearly we’re going to show you how this works, just stop.
Ang Lee: I don’t mind sharing How-to. I think that’s really fun and it’s educational for young filmmakers…I think really the mystery is in the charm, the spirit of the story. In the performance. I wouldn’t share how I deal with actors. What they go through. I would share very limited of that artistic thinking, how I hold a story, how I examine that within the film’s structure. People ask me about symbolism…and I staple it. I can not tell you, I am not going there. But I think the making is fun.

While young Pi Patel was played by  new comer Suraj Sharma, the older version of Pi was portrayed by film veteran Irrfan Khan (Amazing Spider-man, Slumdog Millionaire) Did Suraj get to interact with Khan at all in order to discuss their takes on the character?

Ang Lee: A little bit, he’s still starstruck by Irrfan Khan, he’s just like the best actor taboo. So he idolized him. Not that [Suraj] ever acted before but you know, he’s a smart young man, so he knows there’s the real-deal for acting. He looked up to them. I gave him personal acting lessons and of course acting with those wonderful actors was help. I think most of all he has the ability to just believe in a situation and respond accordingly. And he has a really soulful face. There’re people that are just–I think I have a good grasp on if that works cinematically or not. That’s kind of the person, people act for him.

How was the audition process for Pi?
Ang Lee: There’s no sixteen year old movie stars, so we got to get someone new. So we know the deal. I think before we meet the boy, it’s very hard for a company to commit to a project, the expense, it would be hard for me too. Even if I already have the script, if you don’t have the boy you believe in, then you don’t have a movie, we should probably just drop it. I think I was pretty lucky…when I see Suraj, I don’t know, he looks like Pi to me…His face is full of possibilities. The deep, profound way he looks when he is thinking… I’ve done movies long enough and I think I’m also talented enough to know, to tell, to trust a thing. This is the third time in a role I’m making a movie with…a first-timer lead to carry a movie. I think it’s a matter of you believing them and then you check whether they have the ability to believe in what they’re told. I tested him. He looks right and I tested him, [his was] the most poignant reading I’d experienced with the screen test. I told him to tell the second story as if it’s for real like in his circumstances–the mother is your mother, you know, I gave some equations, it took a little while and then it just started. Halfway he’s crying–and for five minutes, eight minutes, he didn’t get out of the character. That’s tremendous talent. I don’t know what else you can–people got tears! And the casting director that’s shooting’s got tears in their eyes. When I showed that tape, that face, to the studio, they want to make the movie. One of the reasons they wanted to make the movie is we got that boy. So I don’t know what else you can trust. You gotta have some faith at some point, you got to take the leap of faith. But it’s instinct, quick impression, it’s also a quick calculation I guess. I can see that will work…He didn’t melt down, he didn’t get sick at all….The last three months we shot nothing but him. Every shot is him. We’re shooting all in order and he’s losing weight at the same time. At lunch time he’s doing crunches, we gave him a slice of apple. The last month he’s going kind of crazy!