Directors: March 2008 Archives

If you want to see a superb movie this weekend, go see "Shelter." I've seen it about a dozen times since I was given a screener of it last summer and it gets better with each viewing and my admiration for the work of stars Trevor Wright and Brad Rowe and director-writer Jonah Markowitz.
While this has been labeled as "a gay surfing flick," surfing is really just a sexy backdrop for the story of Zach (Wright), a young man working a dead-end job and helping his needy sister care for her young son. When Zach becomes involved with the older brother of his best friend (Rowe), the relationship calls into question all of his assumptions about family, self-identity and the future.

I spoke with Jonah recently about his much buzzed-about directorial debut which debuts today (March 28) in LA at Sunset 5 and in 12 markets total: New York, San Francisco, Atlanta, San Diego, Palm Springs, Minneapolis, Portland and Ft. Lauderdale.

"I just can't wait to get it out and have the public see it outside the festival circuit," Jonah said. "It's just getting to see it in that environment, it will be kinda great to see how it does."

Jonah is confident that he has made a film that will move people: "It was always the goal to really make this movie about people and about their struggles. People who have seen it really love it, regardless if they are straight or gay.It's a question of getting them into the theater. I think it will be a word of mouth thing. It's a story that lots of different kind of people can relate to."

The surfing backdrop allowed for a lot of beach scenes: "That was part of making a gay film that we hoped would be different, making as film where they fell in love outside - not in a bar, nightclub or locker room. Outdoors and being active, breaking the mold of what we usually see."

In the end, Jonah hopes the movie entertains but also sends this message: "If you have love, you can create family. We've got the families we were born with and the families we create. They are just as valid, The movie's about these guys whio create a family together."

On the casting of Brad Rowe, already known to gay audiences from being the object of Sean Hays' obsession in "Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss" a decade ago: "It had nothing to do with 'Billy's.' He was really the right gfuy for the part, he understood where the character was at and he got along well with Trevor. I thought he could bring something real and beautiful to it. He understood the character was at a different point in his life than Trevor was."

On Trevor Wright's and Brad's love scenes: "Trevor is really talented. He and Brad and I kept it real loose, The initmate scenes, I asked if they knew what it was like to spend a day with somebody you love and what does that feel like to you? They are both straight and they were able to go off on that. I made a mixed tape for them and we just scheduled it: we had the first kiss, the fooling around then real full on."

"Shelter" marks the first project to be produced by here! Networks' Independent Film Initiative and here! films presented the premier party last night at Eleven Nightclub in West Hollywood and on Sunday, here! films and N2N present The Shelter Sunset Soiree from 4-10 p.m. poolside at The Standard Hotel, West Hollywood. If you see "Shelter" opening weekend at Sunset 5, don't forget to bring your ticket stub for free admission to the soiree. For more info, go to www.thesmokingcocktail.com

Learn more about the movie at: HereTV.com/sheltermovie

Earlier posts: The Out In Hollywood Interview: "Shelter" star Brad Rowe...

Got the chance to talk to director Kimberly Peirce last week about her new movie "Stop-Loss" starring Ryan Phillippe (pictured with the director, above), Abbie Cornish, Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, at the movie's premiere.

It's her first film since 1999's "Boys Don't Cry." It's release date on Friday is especially timely with the Iraq war at the five-year milestone this month and the death toll of U.S. soldiers reaching at least 4,000 this week. Her movie is about the soldiers who are forced into additional tours of duty and the toll the war is taking on their lives back home.

Q. Why did you wait almost 10 years to do another film?
A. "I was looking for something that really moved me and broke my heart and spoke to me in the deepest possible way. "Boys" was a dream come true, it is something that I will think about my entire life - it was about gender, sexuality, my friends, myself, my family. Once you have an experience that satisfying, that's what you want to put your whole life towards. When 9-11 happened and I saw the towers fall - I had been living there 13 years - and my country went to war, I knew I needed to make a movie about the soldiers: who they were, why they were signing up, what their experience in combat was and upon coming home. Not long after that, my baby brother signed up so we were a military family. We had a gandfather fight in WWII and we were deep in it. I can't think of anything that I would be prouder to have made in these last couple of years. I was just so excited to be able to talk to the real soldiers. I love to do things that I both have a sense of, but that I come to understand better and I now understand our soldiers and the experiences they've had fighting, what comraderie means to them and what it means for them to come home and I want everybody to understand that. It's the most important issue I see facing our country."

Q. How do you think the movie will be received?
A. "I've been to 22 cities in America and people are loving the movie and I think the reason is, look at the cast: it's all young guys who are totally reflective of real soldiers - they studied with real Iraq vets, they studied with Marines - they're just a young group of good looking charismatic guys. They're a lot like the American soldiers that I interviewed."

Q. How was it working with Ryan Phillippe?
A. "Ryan was fantastic. He came in, he had that gorgeous deep voice, he's got that cleft chin. He's just that all-American boy. In addition to being good looking, he;s also just incredibly mature and incredibly sensitive. He's a great father and I think he brings that into the role because he's the brother of the guys but he's also really the father of the guys. That's really what the movie's about - the comraderie between soldiers when they're over there in combat. All that matters is keeping alive the soldier to your left, the soldier to your right and bringing them home."