Something about Howard Jones is very appealing to me right now. This song especially. Here's a link:
I'd post the original music video, but there's a fucking mime in it.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
KATANA Press
Friday, January 9, 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
KATANA
Well, my Hollywood debut is finally here. "Katana" is a webisode pilot I co-wrote and directed starring some of the biggest A-list action/stunt talent in the world. It debuts on Strike.TV Janurary 7th. Hopefully I can turn it into a feature film or continue it as a series, either online or broadcast cable, preferably something like HBO films.
Produced by Yuji Okumoto of Karate Kid 2 fame, we co-wrote it together. We're hoping to make it the Godfather of Ninja movies/series. Which I think is pretty cool, I mean, why not? We spent the other night watching all the Godfather films back to back. I brought over a bottle of Coppola's Pinot Noir (Francis has a vineyard and winery) to enjoy watching the films with, playing a drinking game with the movies where every time a character in the Godfather series takes a drink, I did too.
Unfortunately, the Godfather films happen to have the distinction of having the ALL TIME greatest number of scenes of characters drinking or eating. What luck! I finished the whole bottle by myself, downing it straight without bother to use a glass. Gangsta huh?
Produced by Yuji Okumoto of Karate Kid 2 fame, we co-wrote it together. We're hoping to make it the Godfather of Ninja movies/series. Which I think is pretty cool, I mean, why not? We spent the other night watching all the Godfather films back to back. I brought over a bottle of Coppola's Pinot Noir (Francis has a vineyard and winery) to enjoy watching the films with, playing a drinking game with the movies where every time a character in the Godfather series takes a drink, I did too.
Unfortunately, the Godfather films happen to have the distinction of having the ALL TIME greatest number of scenes of characters drinking or eating. What luck! I finished the whole bottle by myself, downing it straight without bother to use a glass. Gangsta huh?
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
A FOBulous journey
Making a film is a very personal and special journey to embark upon. You learn a lot of things about yourself, such as things you all ready knew, and of course, things you didn't want to know. But in the end they're all things you should know. You just gotta hope that when you see the final edit it was all worth it. And if not, well, I guess there's always the special-edition DVD director's cut.
I wrote “Simply FOBulous” in 2 days. It's probably the best thing I've ever written. But honestly, I really shouldn't take any credit. The script wrote itself.
I should also admit the concept was my wife's idea. She's Vietnamese-American, and had gotten fed up watching films with Vietnamese people playing prostitutes, gang-members, and Charlie. She had a point — it wasn't fair.
Being a white guy growing up in Trailer Park USA, I loved it when Chuck and Stallone opened up a can of whoop-ass against the Viet Cong in South East Asia. But after being married to my wife, getting a chance to really see her life and get to know her and her family as real people, not simply screaming extras running around with AK-47s, I realized life does imitate art, and vice versa. What we do see on TV becomes the fabric of our society. Being that I had now seen and lived on both sides of the issue, I found myself in a place where I could be honest and tell a good story, a real story that would not be ashamed to look at life’s stereotypes and also not be limited by them, thereby transcending them.
It wasn't hard getting people excited about the project. What was hard, however, was finding money. We live in Seattle, so there aren't a lot of opportunities to "power lunch" with Bruckenheimer.
So, armed with a $5,000 budget scraped together by my wife’s family, we went down to LA, where we found some great actors. But needless to say, with that kind of budget, Dustin Nguyen wasn't busting down our door. In Hollywood, nobody is in a hurry to make a film with an all-Vietnamese cast. Unless, of course, it has a high enough body count.
We came back up to Seattle, determined to make our film no matter what. We found actors, most of them Vietnamese. We shot over the course of 3 months, on the weekends and some week nights. I was very nice to the actors, to the point where some people complained. (You know how actors get). But I had to be nice, they weren’t being paid! (Deferred payment)
With an ensemble cast of 30 or so people, half of them non-actors, I couldn't afford a mutiny. Our budget wouldn't allow us to CGI Vietnamese people in post if anyone quit. I was fair and determined, and that won everyone over. We even got Sir Mix-A-Lot to show up for a day. He's always ready to represent Seattle. Not to mention, always down for free Chinese food.
A lot of people do come up to me and ask, why or how was I able to write and direct a story about a culture I obviously am not really a part of?
I tell them the film is universal, not about a culture or particular race. It's really about a facet of the human experience everyone struggles with at one point or another. If you were born and raised in America and had to move to Mexico tomorrow, forever, would you ever really consider yourself "Mexican"? If your kids grew up in Mexico, would you consider them Mexican? Would you want them marrying Mexicans, or someone of your own race? Does that make you racist? Or just terribly homesick? (I'm sure even the Pilgrims missed their English Breakfast and afternoon tea for a bit).
It's something that I think that if asked, it can help you understand issues others find quite painful. Pain is often a doorway into something much more beautiful and positive, if you can hold the door open long enough and have a laugh or two while doing so.
In any case, I hope you enjoy the film.
Oh, and Viva Mexico!
-Rich
I wrote “Simply FOBulous” in 2 days. It's probably the best thing I've ever written. But honestly, I really shouldn't take any credit. The script wrote itself.
I should also admit the concept was my wife's idea. She's Vietnamese-American, and had gotten fed up watching films with Vietnamese people playing prostitutes, gang-members, and Charlie. She had a point — it wasn't fair.
Being a white guy growing up in Trailer Park USA, I loved it when Chuck and Stallone opened up a can of whoop-ass against the Viet Cong in South East Asia. But after being married to my wife, getting a chance to really see her life and get to know her and her family as real people, not simply screaming extras running around with AK-47s, I realized life does imitate art, and vice versa. What we do see on TV becomes the fabric of our society. Being that I had now seen and lived on both sides of the issue, I found myself in a place where I could be honest and tell a good story, a real story that would not be ashamed to look at life’s stereotypes and also not be limited by them, thereby transcending them.
It wasn't hard getting people excited about the project. What was hard, however, was finding money. We live in Seattle, so there aren't a lot of opportunities to "power lunch" with Bruckenheimer.
So, armed with a $5,000 budget scraped together by my wife’s family, we went down to LA, where we found some great actors. But needless to say, with that kind of budget, Dustin Nguyen wasn't busting down our door. In Hollywood, nobody is in a hurry to make a film with an all-Vietnamese cast. Unless, of course, it has a high enough body count.
We came back up to Seattle, determined to make our film no matter what. We found actors, most of them Vietnamese. We shot over the course of 3 months, on the weekends and some week nights. I was very nice to the actors, to the point where some people complained. (You know how actors get). But I had to be nice, they weren’t being paid! (Deferred payment)
With an ensemble cast of 30 or so people, half of them non-actors, I couldn't afford a mutiny. Our budget wouldn't allow us to CGI Vietnamese people in post if anyone quit. I was fair and determined, and that won everyone over. We even got Sir Mix-A-Lot to show up for a day. He's always ready to represent Seattle. Not to mention, always down for free Chinese food.
A lot of people do come up to me and ask, why or how was I able to write and direct a story about a culture I obviously am not really a part of?
I tell them the film is universal, not about a culture or particular race. It's really about a facet of the human experience everyone struggles with at one point or another. If you were born and raised in America and had to move to Mexico tomorrow, forever, would you ever really consider yourself "Mexican"? If your kids grew up in Mexico, would you consider them Mexican? Would you want them marrying Mexicans, or someone of your own race? Does that make you racist? Or just terribly homesick? (I'm sure even the Pilgrims missed their English Breakfast and afternoon tea for a bit).
It's something that I think that if asked, it can help you understand issues others find quite painful. Pain is often a doorway into something much more beautiful and positive, if you can hold the door open long enough and have a laugh or two while doing so.
In any case, I hope you enjoy the film.
Oh, and Viva Mexico!
-Rich
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
"Simply FOBulous" gets DVD deal..
Well guys, the day has finally come. Been wanting to write this for quite some time. So glad to be able to finally do so.
I just finished talking to Liam Finn of Breakthrough Distribution. He's partnered with Mill Creek Entertainment, and they've selected my film to be part of their "Reel Indies" line of films.
Here's their website: http://www.reelindies.com/index.html
Simply FOBulous will recieve retail distribution throughout all North American territories in such stores as Best Buy, Wal Mart, Barnes and Noble, Target, and also on Amazon and Netflix. (Not sure if we'll be in all stores in all locations, but should be in some)
It's also going to be part of the Ingram entertainment catalouge, which means it might be Blockbuster at some point as well.
Signing the paperwork now. I'm really thrilled. It's a very good deal for a low budget filmmaker to get. Didn't see any potential problems in the contract. If they live up to their end of the bargain, this will be a very nice end to a great filmmaking adventure.I'll have more info later. -
Monday, April 2, 2007
I'm Long and Firm in Holland
While I was in Amsterdam I did interviews with the AsiaScope Rotterdam Film Festival and also with Dutch-Chinese radio. I'll post some pics soon, but for now, here's a link to the print interview:
http://www.asiascope.nl/index1.php
You'll have to run it through an online webpage translator to see what it says. Here's a snippet though:
"The Director Rich Cranor makes an immediate impression in the Amsterdam hotel lobby. He is LONG AND FIRM, a real American"
I love it!
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