Basic Instinct writer named headline guest speaker at the London Screenwriters’ Festival, which will also feature sessions with the writers of Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa among others.
Joe Eszterhas, the Hollywood screenwriter behind Basic Instinct, Jagged Edge and Showgirls, has been named as thespecial guest speaker at the 2013 London Screenwriters’ Festival (Lsf).
The event will run from Oct 25-27 at the London School of Film, Media & Performance.
In addition to being the guest for the Lsf’s centrepiece audience interview, Eszterhas will share his experience directly with screenwriters in a series of one-to-one script sessions and will also present the festival’s inaugural British Screenwriters’ Award on Oct 27.
Other headline speakers will include Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa screenwriters Neil and Rob Gibbons, who will be in conversation with the director of the comedy hit, Declan Lowney; while The Inbetweeners screenwriters Iain Morris and Damon Beesley will also lead a session at the event.
More than 100 writers...
Joe Eszterhas, the Hollywood screenwriter behind Basic Instinct, Jagged Edge and Showgirls, has been named as thespecial guest speaker at the 2013 London Screenwriters’ Festival (Lsf).
The event will run from Oct 25-27 at the London School of Film, Media & Performance.
In addition to being the guest for the Lsf’s centrepiece audience interview, Eszterhas will share his experience directly with screenwriters in a series of one-to-one script sessions and will also present the festival’s inaugural British Screenwriters’ Award on Oct 27.
Other headline speakers will include Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa screenwriters Neil and Rob Gibbons, who will be in conversation with the director of the comedy hit, Declan Lowney; while The Inbetweeners screenwriters Iain Morris and Damon Beesley will also lead a session at the event.
More than 100 writers...
- 9/20/2013
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Basic Instinct writer named headline guest speaker at the London Screenwriters’ Festival, which will also feature sessions with the writers of Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa among others.
Joe Eszterhas, the Hollywood screenwriter behind Basic Instinct, Jagged Edge and Showgirls, has been named as thespecial guest speaker at the 2013 London Screenwriters’ Festival (Lsf).
The event will run from Oct 25-27 at the London School of Film, Media & Performance.
In addition to being the guest for the Lsf’s centrepiece audience interview, Eszterhas will share his experience directly with screenwriters in a series of one-to-one script sessions and will also present the festival’s inaugural British Screenwriters’ Award on Oct 27.
Other headline speakers will include Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa screenwriters Neil and Rob Gibbons, who will be in conversation with the director of the comedy hit, Declan Lowney; while The Inbetweeners screenwriters Iain Morris and Damon Beesley will also lead a session at the event.
More than 100 writers...
Joe Eszterhas, the Hollywood screenwriter behind Basic Instinct, Jagged Edge and Showgirls, has been named as thespecial guest speaker at the 2013 London Screenwriters’ Festival (Lsf).
The event will run from Oct 25-27 at the London School of Film, Media & Performance.
In addition to being the guest for the Lsf’s centrepiece audience interview, Eszterhas will share his experience directly with screenwriters in a series of one-to-one script sessions and will also present the festival’s inaugural British Screenwriters’ Award on Oct 27.
Other headline speakers will include Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa screenwriters Neil and Rob Gibbons, who will be in conversation with the director of the comedy hit, Declan Lowney; while The Inbetweeners screenwriters Iain Morris and Damon Beesley will also lead a session at the event.
More than 100 writers...
- 9/20/2013
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Basic Instinct writer named headline guest speaker at the London Screenwriters’ Festival, which will also feature sessions with the writers of Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa among others.
Joe Eszterhas, the Hollywood screenwriter behind Basic Instinct, Jagged Edge and Showgirls, has been named as thespecial guest speaker at the 2013 London Screenwriters’ Festival (Lsf).
The event will run from Oct 25-27 at the London School of Film, Media & Performance.
In addition to being the guest for the Lsf’s centrepiece audience interview, Eszterhas will share his experience directly with screenwriters in a series of one-to-one script sessions and will also present the festival’s inaugural British Screenwriters’ Award on Oct 27.
Other headline speakers will include Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa screenwriters Neil and Rob Gibbons, who will be in conversation with the director of the comedy hit, Declan Lowney; while The Inbetweeners screenwriters Iain Morris and Damon Beesley will also lead a session at the event.
More than 100 writers...
Joe Eszterhas, the Hollywood screenwriter behind Basic Instinct, Jagged Edge and Showgirls, has been named as thespecial guest speaker at the 2013 London Screenwriters’ Festival (Lsf).
The event will run from Oct 25-27 at the London School of Film, Media & Performance.
In addition to being the guest for the Lsf’s centrepiece audience interview, Eszterhas will share his experience directly with screenwriters in a series of one-to-one script sessions and will also present the festival’s inaugural British Screenwriters’ Award on Oct 27.
Other headline speakers will include Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa screenwriters Neil and Rob Gibbons, who will be in conversation with the director of the comedy hit, Declan Lowney; while The Inbetweeners screenwriters Iain Morris and Damon Beesley will also lead a session at the event.
More than 100 writers...
- 9/20/2013
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Paramount has picked up Supermax, a pitch from executive-turned-scribe Marc Haimes. Mary Parent is producing via her Paramount-based Disruption Entertainment banner. The lid is shut tight on Supermax’s plot, but it is described as a high-concept, found-footage project. Luke Ryan and David Whitney brought it in and will oversee for Disruption. While the project may be secret, Haimes’ credits reveal it's likely to be deep in genre territory. The scribe, who spent years as a DreamWorks exec before turning to the typewriter, has an action project titled Jitters set up at Paramount. And he is
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- 4/2/2013
- by Borys Kit
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The team behind Australian film Wish You Were Here is among seven film-making teams to receive funding from Screen Australia.
Writer director Kieran Darcy-Smith, with his Wish You Were Here producer Angie Fielder as well as Ted Hope, producer of 21 Grams and Martha Marcy May Marlene, have received a share in the $216,000 of development support from the national screen agency for their film Memorial Day.
Billed as a crime drama, Memorial Day’s synopsis reads: “Two brothers – one out of his depth in a hard world he doesn’t understand, the other recently returned from a period of self-imposed exile – struggle to redress the fallout from a past family tragedy.”
Both Darcy-Smith and Fielder have been nominated for AACTAs for Wish You Were Here.
Two Australian film-makers have received professional internships through Screen Australia’s Talent Escalator Program. Bec Cubitt will join Ridley Scott’s production company Scott Free under...
Writer director Kieran Darcy-Smith, with his Wish You Were Here producer Angie Fielder as well as Ted Hope, producer of 21 Grams and Martha Marcy May Marlene, have received a share in the $216,000 of development support from the national screen agency for their film Memorial Day.
Billed as a crime drama, Memorial Day’s synopsis reads: “Two brothers – one out of his depth in a hard world he doesn’t understand, the other recently returned from a period of self-imposed exile – struggle to redress the fallout from a past family tragedy.”
Both Darcy-Smith and Fielder have been nominated for AACTAs for Wish You Were Here.
Two Australian film-makers have received professional internships through Screen Australia’s Talent Escalator Program. Bec Cubitt will join Ridley Scott’s production company Scott Free under...
- 12/13/2012
- by Colin Delaney
- Encore Magazine
Screen Australia will invest $216,000 in development funding across seven feature film projects, including three that the funding agency has previously supported.
Three of the four new projects are comedies: Pandamonium, Versus Vampire, and They Shoot Hostages, Don.t They? The final new project is horror film The Rapture. The three projects which will receive another round of development support are Matchbox Pictures comedy Ali's Wedding, See-Saw Films' biopic Life, and Kieran Darcy-Smith's crime drama Memorial Day.
Meanwhile, producer Bec Cubitt and writer/director Will Kuether have also been selected to undertake professional internships through Screen Australia.s Talent Escalator Program.
Cubitt will spend six months working in London at Ridley Scott.s production company Scott Free under the mentorship of executive producer Jack Arbuthnott. Australian producer interns Caroline Gerard and Sheila Jayadev.have previously worked there with Screen Australia support..
Kuether will work in Los Angeles for five...
Three of the four new projects are comedies: Pandamonium, Versus Vampire, and They Shoot Hostages, Don.t They? The final new project is horror film The Rapture. The three projects which will receive another round of development support are Matchbox Pictures comedy Ali's Wedding, See-Saw Films' biopic Life, and Kieran Darcy-Smith's crime drama Memorial Day.
Meanwhile, producer Bec Cubitt and writer/director Will Kuether have also been selected to undertake professional internships through Screen Australia.s Talent Escalator Program.
Cubitt will spend six months working in London at Ridley Scott.s production company Scott Free under the mentorship of executive producer Jack Arbuthnott. Australian producer interns Caroline Gerard and Sheila Jayadev.have previously worked there with Screen Australia support..
Kuether will work in Los Angeles for five...
- 12/12/2012
- by Brendan Swift
- IF.com.au
In her first producing effort since leaving as chairman of the MGM Worldwide Motion Picture Group, Mary Parent has come aboard as producer of Pacific Rim, Legendary Pictures’ big-budget action film that Guillermo del Toro will begin shooting in November. Charlie Hunnam, Charlie Day and Idris Elba star. Parent joins Legendary’s Thomas Tull and Jon Jashini as producer, with del Toro also producing. Parent has been prepping the film for the past month. After exiting MGM, she started Disruption Entertainment and made a first-look deal at Paramount., But Legendary has plenty of movies prepping and they needed an experienced hand on the ground on location in Toronto. Parent’s Disruption execs, Cale Boyter and Luke Ryan, continue to develop projects, but Parent had the time and lends an experienced hand to a tent pole pic.
- 8/24/2011
- by MIKE FLEMING
- Deadline
Exclusive: Mary Parent for 2 1/2 years kept beleaguered MGM together with chicken wire and chewing gum. It was only on the basis of her skill for talent-spotting and dealmaking that the studio was even able to make the movies it did, like the upcoming big comedy Zookeeper with Kevin James that's now Sony's major summer laugher even though Mary did the early heavy lifting by paying $2 million for the Jay Scherick/David Ronn script and hiring James a a bargain price before he made Paul Blart: Mall Cop, and then steering the pic through production. It should have been Parent's first real swing for the fences, but the MGM uncertainty led it to be turned over for distribution by its Spe partners. So all of Hollywood took a run at Parent when she finally exited MGM last October after hiring on April 2008. Now I can report that she has chosen to...
- 2/25/2011
- by NIKKI FINKE
- Deadline Hollywood
Concussion, the second production of Sydney Theatre Company?s 2009 Next Stage program is a violent, sprawling and brutally funny play by Ross Mueller, produced and presented in partnership with Griffin Theatre Company. An ensemble cast of Rachel Gordon, Belinda McClory, Sam North, Chris Ryan, Luke Ryan and Terry Serio are directed by Brett Adam with design by Sydney Theatre Award-winning team Brad Clark and Alexandra Sommer. Performances are at Sydney Theatre Company?s Wharf 2 from 13 March 2009.
- 2/13/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
MGM has picked up BenDavid Grabinski's action comedy script "The How-To Guide for Saving the World," with "Men in Black" director Barry Sonnenfeld attached to direct and produce.
"World" tells the story of a loser who discovers a book on how to prevent an alien invasion and then has to put that knowledge to use when one actually occurs. Grabinski's script landed enough votes among executives to make this year's unofficial Black List of "most liked" screenplays.
"I loved the writing and the concept: What would happen if, one afternoon, the secret group that protects Earth from alien invaders was wiped out?" Sonnenfeld said. "Fortunately, they left behind an instruction manual for saving Earth. Unfortunately, a non-action-hero guy -- not unlike me in terms of manliness -- and a woman who hates him find the book and have to save the planet from an impending attack."
Cale Boyter and Luke Ryan are overseeing for MGM.
"World" tells the story of a loser who discovers a book on how to prevent an alien invasion and then has to put that knowledge to use when one actually occurs. Grabinski's script landed enough votes among executives to make this year's unofficial Black List of "most liked" screenplays.
"I loved the writing and the concept: What would happen if, one afternoon, the secret group that protects Earth from alien invaders was wiped out?" Sonnenfeld said. "Fortunately, they left behind an instruction manual for saving Earth. Unfortunately, a non-action-hero guy -- not unlike me in terms of manliness -- and a woman who hates him find the book and have to save the planet from an impending attack."
Cale Boyter and Luke Ryan are overseeing for MGM.
- 12/18/2008
- by By Borys Kit and Jay A. Fernandez
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Rob McKittrick is swooping in to direct The Wingman for New Line Cinema. Written by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, the romantic comedy centers on a man who, as a "wingman," is uncannily gifted at helping his friends pick up women. When he finally falls in love, it's with the one woman who can resist his powers. Paul Schiff is producing. Luke Ryan, Mark Kaufman and Matt Moore are overseeing for the studio. McKittrick's directorial debut, Waiting, which he also wrote, is slated for release from Lions Gate in October. The film stars Ryan Reynolds, Anna Faris, and Justin Long. McKittrick also is writing and directing Mancrush at New Line. McKittrick is represented by Paradigm, H2F and attorney Randy Paul.
- 3/18/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Marcus Raboy has signed on to direct Whitebread for New Line Cinema. Whitebread tells the fish-out-of-water story of a wealthy white teenager who, in order to avoid losing his inheritance, is forced to join his grandfather's blue-blood fraternity -- only to discover it has become all black. Raboy, repped by WMA, directed Friday After Next for the studio and made his name directing music videos for the likes of Naughty By Nature, Ice Cube, Mary J. Blige and Santana. That experience will prove handy since the world the filmmakers plan to create is music-oriented and will include "stepping," a type of dance practiced by black fraternities. "It's how they express the unity and bond of brotherhood," Raboy said. "We've seen a lot of frat movies, but not like this. No one has really explored this world." Peter Cohen wrote the initial draft of the script; Rob Lieber wrote the latest. Producing are New Redemption Pictures' John Herzfeld along with Deacon Entertainment's Damon Lee. Urban Entertainment's Michael Jenkinson is executive producing. Mark Kaufman, Matt Moore and Luke Ryan are overseeing for New Line.
- 2/10/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
In a pre-emptive purchase, New Line Cinema has scored with Heckled, picking up the comedy script from the writing team of Jeremy Haft and Ed Gonzalez. The revenge tale centers on a heckler who causes an NBA superstar to get suspended only to find his own life in chaos when the roles are reversed and the heckler becomes the heckled. The project has been developed with an eye for Vince Vaughn to star as the heckler, sources said. The project was brought into the studio by Karz Entertainment, which has a first-look deal at New Line. The company's Mike Karz will produce, with Russell Hollander serving as executive producer. At New Line, executives Mark Kaufman, Matt Moore and Luke Ryan are overseeing for production Toby Emmerich.
- 9/15/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
LAS VEGAS -- If one were able to toss the American Pie trilogy, the John Hughes brat pack pictures and the Cheech & Chong screen oeuvre into a cultural blender and then press the pulse button a few times, the result would probably have the flavor and consistency of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, a blissfully silly, character-driven road movie with impressive laugh-per-minute performance specs.
Screened at the CineVegas Film Festival (and shown a day later at the Los Angeles Film Festival), this inspired entry in the generally languid stoner comedy genre is a comparative breath of fresh, if herb-scented, air.
Effectively carried by a pair of relative newcomers, the New Line release should satisfy the cravings of laugh-starved young-adult audiences and will likely hang around well past Labor Day.
Meanwhile, the folks at White Castle would be wise to ensure their burger inventories can withstand an inevitable late-summer onslaught from copycat customers.
Making like a multicultural Bill and Ted, Harold Lee (John Cho), a socially reserved, somewhat-anal accountant, and his outspoken, would-be med student roommate, Kumar Patel (Kal Penn), are, ahem, chronic overachievers when it comes to partaking of one of their favorite weekend activities.
Overcome with a particularly insistent case of the munchies while watching a seductive White Castle commercial, they rise to the challenge and embark on a nocturnal quest across the backwoods of New Jersey in search of the cute little burgers.
But the road to fast-food riches is paved with considerable peril in the form of potentially rabid raccoons, escaped cheetahs, corrupt cops, a boil-infested tow-truck driver named Freakshow (Christopher Meloni) and even a horny Doogie Howser (a funny Neil Patrick Harris).
Working from a lively script by rewrite specialists Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg that manages to find a place for animation, puppetry and some light CGI, director Danny Leiner keeps it all chugging agreeably forward, while his cast, which also includes cameos from Fred Willard, Anthony Anderson and Ryan Reynolds, join in the goofiness.
But it's Indian-American Penn, who is a welcome burst of comic energy, and Korean-American Cho, as his hapless foil, who keep the proceedings anchored in a real-world reality too-seldom represented in contemporary comedies. It's nice to see characters who are usually relegated to stock, stereotypical supporting roles finally allowed to carry the entire picture.
That alone is almost enough to forgive director Leiner for Dude, Where's My Car?
Maybe not.
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
New Line
New Line Cinema presents in association with Senator International
a Senator International/Kingsgate production in association with Endgame Entertainment
A film by Danny Leiner
Credits:
Director: Danny Leiner
Screenwriters: Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg
Producers: Greg Shapiro, Nathan Kahane
Executive producers: J. David Brewington Jr., Luke Ryan, Joe Drake, Carsten Lorenz, Hanno Huth
Director of photography: Bruce Douglas Johnson
Production designer: Steve Rosenzweig
Editor: Jeff Betancourt
Music: David Kitay
Music supervisor: Dave Jordan
Casting: Cassandra Kulukundis.
Cast:
Kumar: Kal Penn
Harold: John Cho
Maria: Paula Garces
Himself: Neil Patrick Harris
Goldstein: David Krumholtz
Rosenberg: Eddie Kaye Thomas
Freakshow: Christopher Meloni
Male Nurse: Ryan Reynolds
Dr. Willoughby: Fred Willard
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 87 minutes...
Screened at the CineVegas Film Festival (and shown a day later at the Los Angeles Film Festival), this inspired entry in the generally languid stoner comedy genre is a comparative breath of fresh, if herb-scented, air.
Effectively carried by a pair of relative newcomers, the New Line release should satisfy the cravings of laugh-starved young-adult audiences and will likely hang around well past Labor Day.
Meanwhile, the folks at White Castle would be wise to ensure their burger inventories can withstand an inevitable late-summer onslaught from copycat customers.
Making like a multicultural Bill and Ted, Harold Lee (John Cho), a socially reserved, somewhat-anal accountant, and his outspoken, would-be med student roommate, Kumar Patel (Kal Penn), are, ahem, chronic overachievers when it comes to partaking of one of their favorite weekend activities.
Overcome with a particularly insistent case of the munchies while watching a seductive White Castle commercial, they rise to the challenge and embark on a nocturnal quest across the backwoods of New Jersey in search of the cute little burgers.
But the road to fast-food riches is paved with considerable peril in the form of potentially rabid raccoons, escaped cheetahs, corrupt cops, a boil-infested tow-truck driver named Freakshow (Christopher Meloni) and even a horny Doogie Howser (a funny Neil Patrick Harris).
Working from a lively script by rewrite specialists Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg that manages to find a place for animation, puppetry and some light CGI, director Danny Leiner keeps it all chugging agreeably forward, while his cast, which also includes cameos from Fred Willard, Anthony Anderson and Ryan Reynolds, join in the goofiness.
But it's Indian-American Penn, who is a welcome burst of comic energy, and Korean-American Cho, as his hapless foil, who keep the proceedings anchored in a real-world reality too-seldom represented in contemporary comedies. It's nice to see characters who are usually relegated to stock, stereotypical supporting roles finally allowed to carry the entire picture.
That alone is almost enough to forgive director Leiner for Dude, Where's My Car?
Maybe not.
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
New Line
New Line Cinema presents in association with Senator International
a Senator International/Kingsgate production in association with Endgame Entertainment
A film by Danny Leiner
Credits:
Director: Danny Leiner
Screenwriters: Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg
Producers: Greg Shapiro, Nathan Kahane
Executive producers: J. David Brewington Jr., Luke Ryan, Joe Drake, Carsten Lorenz, Hanno Huth
Director of photography: Bruce Douglas Johnson
Production designer: Steve Rosenzweig
Editor: Jeff Betancourt
Music: David Kitay
Music supervisor: Dave Jordan
Casting: Cassandra Kulukundis.
Cast:
Kumar: Kal Penn
Harold: John Cho
Maria: Paula Garces
Himself: Neil Patrick Harris
Goldstein: David Krumholtz
Rosenberg: Eddie Kaye Thomas
Freakshow: Christopher Meloni
Male Nurse: Ryan Reynolds
Dr. Willoughby: Fred Willard
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 87 minutes...
- 8/26/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
LAS VEGAS -- If one were able to toss the "American Pie" trilogy, the John Hughes brat pack pictures and the "Cheech & Chong" screen oeuvre into a cultural blender and then press the pulse button a few times, the result would probably have the flavor and consistency of "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle," a blissfully silly, character-driven road movie with impressive laugh-per-minute performance specs.
Screened at the CineVegas Film Festival (and shown a day later at the Los Angeles Film Festival), this inspired entry in the generally languid stoner comedy genre is a comparative breath of fresh, if herb-scented, air.
Effectively carried by a pair of relative newcomers, the New Line release should satisfy the cravings of laugh-starved young-adult audiences and will likely hang around well past Labor Day.
Meanwhile, the folks at White Castle would be wise to ensure their burger inventories can withstand an inevitable late-summer onslaught from copycat customers.
Making like a multicultural Bill and Ted, Harold Lee (John Cho), a socially reserved, somewhat-anal accountant, and his outspoken, would-be med student roommate, Kumar Patel (Kal Penn), are, ahem, chronic overachievers when it comes to partaking of one of their favorite weekend activities.
Overcome with a particularly insistent case of the munchies while watching a seductive White Castle commercial, they rise to the challenge and embark on a nocturnal quest across the backwoods of New Jersey in search of the cute little burgers.
But the road to fast-food riches is paved with considerable peril in the form of potentially rabid raccoons, escaped cheetahs, corrupt cops, a boil-infested tow-truck driver named Freakshow (Christopher Meloni) and even a horny Doogie Howser (a funny Neil Patrick Harris).
Working from a lively script by rewrite specialists Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg that manages to find a place for animation, puppetry and some light CGI, director Danny Leiner keeps it all chugging agreeably forward, while his cast, which also includes cameos from Fred Willard, Anthony Anderson and Ryan Reynolds, join in the goofiness.
But it's Indian-American Penn, who is a welcome burst of comic energy, and Korean-American Cho, as his hapless foil, who keep the proceedings anchored in a real-world reality too-seldom represented in contemporary comedies. It's nice to see characters who are usually relegated to stock, stereotypical supporting roles finally allowed to carry the entire picture.
That alone is almost enough to forgive director Leiner for "Dude, Where's My Car?"
Maybe not.
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
New Line
New Line Cinema presents in association with Senator International
a Senator International/Kingsgate production in association with Endgame Entertainment
A film by Danny Leiner
Credits:
Director: Danny Leiner
Screenwriters: Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg
Producers: Greg Shapiro, Nathan Kahane
Executive producers: J. David Brewington Jr., Luke Ryan, Joe Drake, Carsten Lorenz, Hanno Huth
Director of photography: Bruce Douglas Johnson
Production designer: Steve Rosenzweig
Editor: Jeff Betancourt
Music: David Kitay
Music supervisor: Dave Jordan
Casting: Cassandra Kulukundis.
Cast:
Kumar: Kal Penn
Harold: John Cho
Maria: Paula Garces
Himself: Neil Patrick Harris
Goldstein: David Krumholtz
Rosenberg: Eddie Kaye Thomas
Freakshow: Christopher Meloni
Male Nurse: Ryan Reynolds
Dr. Willoughby: Fred Willard
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 87 minutes...
Screened at the CineVegas Film Festival (and shown a day later at the Los Angeles Film Festival), this inspired entry in the generally languid stoner comedy genre is a comparative breath of fresh, if herb-scented, air.
Effectively carried by a pair of relative newcomers, the New Line release should satisfy the cravings of laugh-starved young-adult audiences and will likely hang around well past Labor Day.
Meanwhile, the folks at White Castle would be wise to ensure their burger inventories can withstand an inevitable late-summer onslaught from copycat customers.
Making like a multicultural Bill and Ted, Harold Lee (John Cho), a socially reserved, somewhat-anal accountant, and his outspoken, would-be med student roommate, Kumar Patel (Kal Penn), are, ahem, chronic overachievers when it comes to partaking of one of their favorite weekend activities.
Overcome with a particularly insistent case of the munchies while watching a seductive White Castle commercial, they rise to the challenge and embark on a nocturnal quest across the backwoods of New Jersey in search of the cute little burgers.
But the road to fast-food riches is paved with considerable peril in the form of potentially rabid raccoons, escaped cheetahs, corrupt cops, a boil-infested tow-truck driver named Freakshow (Christopher Meloni) and even a horny Doogie Howser (a funny Neil Patrick Harris).
Working from a lively script by rewrite specialists Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg that manages to find a place for animation, puppetry and some light CGI, director Danny Leiner keeps it all chugging agreeably forward, while his cast, which also includes cameos from Fred Willard, Anthony Anderson and Ryan Reynolds, join in the goofiness.
But it's Indian-American Penn, who is a welcome burst of comic energy, and Korean-American Cho, as his hapless foil, who keep the proceedings anchored in a real-world reality too-seldom represented in contemporary comedies. It's nice to see characters who are usually relegated to stock, stereotypical supporting roles finally allowed to carry the entire picture.
That alone is almost enough to forgive director Leiner for "Dude, Where's My Car?"
Maybe not.
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
New Line
New Line Cinema presents in association with Senator International
a Senator International/Kingsgate production in association with Endgame Entertainment
A film by Danny Leiner
Credits:
Director: Danny Leiner
Screenwriters: Jon Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg
Producers: Greg Shapiro, Nathan Kahane
Executive producers: J. David Brewington Jr., Luke Ryan, Joe Drake, Carsten Lorenz, Hanno Huth
Director of photography: Bruce Douglas Johnson
Production designer: Steve Rosenzweig
Editor: Jeff Betancourt
Music: David Kitay
Music supervisor: Dave Jordan
Casting: Cassandra Kulukundis.
Cast:
Kumar: Kal Penn
Harold: John Cho
Maria: Paula Garces
Himself: Neil Patrick Harris
Goldstein: David Krumholtz
Rosenberg: Eddie Kaye Thomas
Freakshow: Christopher Meloni
Male Nurse: Ryan Reynolds
Dr. Willoughby: Fred Willard
MPAA rating R
Running time -- 87 minutes...
- 6/21/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
New Line Cinema has picked up Humbuggin', written by Luke Ryan, who is a creative executive at the studio. The urban comedy is set on Christmas Eve, when a greedy, cruel and selfish rap mogul is visited by a trio of ghosts who force him to re-examine his life in the tradition of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Noah Emmerich is producing through his Sandbox Entertainment, along with Craig Titley and Bill Johnson. Titley also wrote the story upon which the script is based. Ryan will oversee along with New Line execs Mark Kaufman and Matt Moore. New Line encourages its executives to jump into the screenwriting pool and be active in the creative process.
- 5/28/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
New Line Cinema has pre-emptively bought K Thru 12, a romantic comedy spec by first-time scribe Joey Aucoin. The story is described as a teen version of When Harry Met Sally ... It follows a guy and girl, tracking them as their paths cross from kindergarten to the end of high school. Doug Davison and Roy Lee of Vertigo Entertainment are producing as is Colin O'Reilly. Sonny Mallhi brought the project to Vertigo. New Line execs Mark Kaufman, Matt Moore and Luke Ryan are overseeing for the studio. Aucoin wrote plays while attending Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and won the International Student Playwright Award in 1999 for Dance Like No One's Looking, which he co-wrote with Gloria Calderon. Aucoin is repped by Colin O'Reilly, UTA and attorney Frank Lunn of Rosen Feig Conley Lunn.
- 5/13/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Writing duo Jonathan Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, who wrote the upcoming Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, have set up their first producing project, Open Bar, at New Line Cinema. The project, on which Hurwitz and Schlossberg will be the sole producers, was brought into the studio by the executives Matthew Moore, Mark Kaufman and Luke Ryan, who have been looking to work with the writers as producers, sources said. Open Bar is a described as a comedy in the vein of Old School about two friends who fulfill a lifelong dream of owning the bar that they used to sneak into in high school. First-time writer Josh Heald, the duo's protege, penned the screenplay.
- 5/13/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
New Line Cinema has picked up Senior Class, a pitch by Chris Parrish that Jay Cohen and Oliver Hudson are producing through their respective Cosmic Entertainment and Workshed banners. Jay Schinderman is on board to produce as well. In the vein of Grumpy Old Men, Class tells the story of an older man who moves into an upscale retirement community only to find out that he doesn't fit in because of high school-like rivalries that play out between popular and unpopular crowds. Marc Kaufman, Matt Moore and Luke Ryan are overseeing. Parrish was a writer on television's The King of Queens and wrote the pilot Old School, which starred Natasha Lyonne. He also wrote Cindy Crawford Wants to Bone Me, which is set up at New Line. Parrish is repped by Genesis.
- 3/15/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Donald Faison and Loretta Devine are set to star opposite Anthony Anderson in King's Ransom for New Line Cinema. The comedy is being directed by Jeff Byrd from a Wayne Conley script and is being produced by Darryl Taja under Catch 23's Alter Ego Pictures banner. The movie is about a rich, cocky and despised businessman (Anderson) who realizes that he might lose half his wealth to the obnoxious wife he's trying to divorce. He decides to arrange his own kidnapping in order to wipe himself out and claim poverty, but he discovers that several other parties have plans to kidnap and ransom him as well. Faison's character works for the businessman. Devine will play the role of the businessman's secretary. Matt Moore and Luke Ryan are overseeing the project for New Line. Faison appears weekly in the NBC hit Scrubs. His other credits include Clueless, Big Fat Liar and Remember the Titans. He is repped by UTA, 3 Arts and attorney Michael Fuller at Barnes, Morris, Klein, Mark, Yorn, Barnes and Levine. Devine is best known for her weekly work on Boston Public and will appear in the upcoming Crash. She is repped by Untitled Entertainment and Essential Entertainment.
- 2/10/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Actress-singer Hilary Duff will put her talents to use as star of the upcoming teen music drama Heart of Summer, for FilmEngine and New Line Cinema. Additionally, The Even Stevens Movie helmer Sean McNamara has come aboard to direct the film. Heart of Summer, which was penned by Sam Shriver from an idea by Mitch Rotter, centers on a small-town teenage girl who heads to Los Angeles, where she spends the summer at a performing arts school. The project, slated for a mid-January production start, is being produced by FilmEngine's A.J. Dix and Anthony Rhulen along with Sara Risher, David Brookwell and McNamara. It is being overseen by New Line production execs Mark Kaufman, Matt Moore and Luke Ryan. Duff, who has made a splash on the big screen in The Lizzie McGuire Movie and Agent Cody Banks, on television in the hit Lizzie McGuire series and on the radio with her debut album, Metamorphosis, has a busy slate of projects lined up for the months ahead. In addition to the upcoming 20th Century Fox comedy Cheaper by the Dozen and a starring role in Warner Bros. Pictures' summer offering A Cinderella Story, she recently signed a comedy pilot deal with CBS. She is repped by Curtis Talent Management.
- 12/3/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
New Line Cinema is in negotiations with Scary Movie 3 star Anthony Anderson to topline its kidnapping comedy King's Ransom. Anderson will play a rich, cocky and generally despised businessman who realizes he might lose half his wealth to the obnoxious wife he's trying to divorce. He decides to arrange his own kidnapping in order to wipe himself out and claim poverty, but he discovers that several other parties have plans to kidnap and ransom him as well. Ransom is being directed by Jeff Byrd from a Wayne Conley script. It is being produced by Darryl Taja of Catch 23's Alter Ego Pictures and is being overseen for New Line by production execs Matt Moore and Luke Ryan. Anderson has been busy lately with roles in the upcoming comedies My Baby's Daddy, Agent Cody Banks 2 and Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. He also stars in the WB Network series All About the Andersons. Anderson is repped by ICM, Principato-Young Entertainment and attorney Rick Genow.
- 11/19/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
New Line Cinema, the studio that brought Dr. Evil to the big screen, is now prepping another comedy designed to show the lighter side of world domination. The studio has optioned Neil Zawacki's book How to Be a Villain for Mandeville Films to produce. The book, a step-by-step guide to joining the forces of darkness, offers humorous takes on such issues as whether to invest in winged monkeys or ninja warriors and where to locate your evil hideout. The big-screen adaptation, for which a writer has yet to be hired, will center on a loser who, in an effort to seek retribution for a life of finishing last, sets his sights on becoming a supervillain. Mandeville's David Hoberman will produce the film, while Todd Lieberman is executive producing. New Line production execs Mark Kaufman, Matt Moore and Luke Ryan are overseeing for the studio. The book was represented by UTA.
- 11/3/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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