Celebrity Sightings

[Editor's note: The Unforeseen, a documentary about development in Austin that focuses on Barton Springs, has been playing at Alamo Drafthouse (first at South Lamar, currently at Ritz) for a few weeks now and is apparently still popular enough to stick around. If you haven't seen it, now's the time -- the lovely cinematography makes the documentary worthwhile to see in theaters. To whet your interest in the film, here are some excerpts from director Laura Dunn and producer Robert Redford, who were in Austin in March to promote the film.]

Laura Dunn, director: "A little over 5 years ago now, a group of us who really love Austin came together and started working on this film. We saw it as being the story of the long-running battle over Barton Springs and specifically lensing it as a microcosm for what's going on everywhere in communities across the globe. As we grow, how do we protect our most precious natural resources, like Barton Springs?

"I worked on this film for over 5 years and interviewed hundreds of people ... everyone from real estate developers to environmentalists to lobbyists to politicians to swimmers to long-time Austinites to artists, scientists, you name it. It was pretty exhausting.

On the opening night of SXSW this year, I traded an evening of filmgoing for something I hadn't done before: attending the Texas Film Hall of Fame Awards over at Austin Studios. The event is a big fundraiser for Austin Film Society, with tickets and tables going for way more money than I could afford, so I figured that covering the event as press would probably be the only way I'd ever attend.

The evening began with a red carpet setup at the entrance to the event. I was advised to get there early because a lot of celebrities are honored at the awards ceremony, so tons of media would be there, especially video cameras. Video cameras take up a lot of room on a red carpet and still photographers can have trouble squeezing into a good spot where they won't be bonked on the head with a camera or potentially stumble over a tripod. I staked out a spot near the end of the actual carpet, where the long line of video cameras ended. I was right next to the IFC video crew, which was good because any time they started pointing their camera at someone, I figured I should too.

Billy Bob Thornton, photo by Kris Krug

As "curated" by the Flickr community. See the whole slideshow.

How do you get students to show up and act enthused about class on the Monday after South by Southwest and Spring Break? If you're John Pierson, you bring in actor Steve Buscemi, who was so popular that the class moved to the Austin City Limits studio. Buscemi spoke for nearly two hours to Pierson's RTF master class at UT last night. He and Pierson held a conversation about the films he'd acted in and directed, and then he patiently answered many student questions.

I enjoyed hearing Buscemi talk about Interview, which he directed and acted in -- it's a remake of the Theo van Gogh film. He also spent time talking about one of his first films, Parting Glances, and how he went from being a firefighter to being able to pay the bills as an actor. Pierson pointed out a funny Texas connection: Early in his career, Buscemi appeared on an episode of Miami Vice, where his character was beaten up by, of all people, Willie Nelson.

Film critic/film producer Elvis Mitchell (The Black List), screenwriter Josh Olson (A History of Violence), and author Harlan Ellison after the SXSW panel "A Conversation with Harlan Ellison" on Sunday. Ellison was signing a copy of his anthology Dreams with Sharp Teeth for Mitchell.

A documentary about Ellison, also called Dreams with Sharp Teeth, is screening at SXSW this week (and is very good if you're a fan of the author). I also enjoyed seeing The Black List, which Mitchell produced, in which he interviews a number of well-known African-American politicians, artists, and other leaders.

I plan to write more about the panel with Ellison later; it was certainly memorable.

I'll write more about the Texas Film Hall of Fame awards ceremony later, and my baptism by fire into the world of professional photography. But I'm short on time this morning -- gotta get to the Paramount -- so I'll whet your appetite with one of my favorite photos from last night. Somehow, Morgan Fairchild ended up on the red carpet at the same time as ZZ Top, and they all gathered together happily for group shots. I worried my lens wasn't wide-angle enough, but I just managed to get everyone in the photo. Woo-hoo! Now let SXSW begin.

When I wrote about SXSW short films recently, I mentioned a film called X that was directed by Josh Brolin. I wasn't sure at the time whether the filmmaker was actor Josh Brolin, who's been in a couple of films shot in Texas: Grindhouse and No Country for Old Men (pictured above).

As usual, SXSW film fest director Matt Dentler has the scoop for us: The director of X is in fact that Josh Brolin, and the Eden Brolin who stars in the film is his daughter. The short will play three times at SXSW, and both Brolins plan to be in attendance at the first screening on Saturday, March 8. (It's playing before the documentary Tulia, Texas and of course you should stay for both.) I notice it's playing at Dobie, which is not a large theater, so if you're a Josh Brolin groupie you should plan to get there early.

Check out the SXSW listing for X for details on its scheduled screenings as well as a trailer for the film.

From February 9 - 11, star of River's Edge and Charlie's Angels Crispin Glover gave several performance readings of his books and screened the first two films of his controversial self-produced and directed It trilogy at the Alamo Ritz. This is what he had to say during the post-screening Q&A about his books, slideshow, self-funding his projects, and his films What Is It? and It is Fine! Everything is Fine.

"I have been performing the slideshow since 1992," Glover said, "after writing and publishing books through my company Volcanic Eruptions. I try to play to the humor in the material which I perform from the books [including excerpts from The Rat Catcher, The Backwards Swing, and Around My House, among others]."

"I started experimenting with old books in the early 1980s, blacking out parts of text by drawing tendrils and such using India ink or writing in the margins. I've always drawn and wrote since I was a child. I was taking an acting class near a bookstore which sold bindings from the 1800s for cheap, so I used books I picked up from there. Around 1985 or 86, I finished my first book Around My House. I have completed 18 books so far and plan to complete several different slide show versions using excerpts from various books.

I didn't go to the Semi-Pro preview screening at Alamo South Lamar last weekend, and boy did I miss out. Attendees were required to wear outfits resembling the team uniforms from the movie: a singlet for the Flint Tropics, gold shorts and sweatband, and those long athletic knee socks I remember my dad wearing to exercise in the 1970s. I had to wonder how many people would go to the trouble to buy or make such a costume, just for a free movie. Okay, so Will Ferrell would be there too -- that might make a difference.

Photos from the event show a packed theater full of wildly enthusiastic Austinites, with every single one dressed in the requisite gear. Some had groovy Seventies wigs, too. Even Alamo founders Tim and Karrie League were wearing the outfits, although I've seen Tim wear much weirder things in the name of film, so that was no surprise. I suppose it's also no surprise that Alamo South had a basketball goal set up in the lobby and people were playing impromptu games before and after the film.

More than 150 photos (including the one above) were taken by David Hill photography, which has a complete set of 168 images from the event. In addition, Sarah of Posh Deluxe has written a terrific entry about the Semi-Pro screening that includes photos. And Austinist interviewed Will Ferrell this weekend, and has photos of the actor from that session.

Next time, I'll go get -- and wear -- the damn outfit. (Especially if I have a better camera by then, since my current camera would never be able to capture the glorious golds of the uniform as well as these photos do.)

[Photo credit: David Hill Photography on Flickr. Original photo here. Used under terms of Creative Commons license.]

Woe be unto you, comedy lovers, if you were not Austin Film Festival members this last week and you therefore missed the Festival's sneak preview of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and the subsequent concert by the title character himself.

Director Jake Kasdan (who co-wrote the film with Judd Apatow) showed up at the Highland Galaxy 10 Theaters to introduce the film, which is even more hilarious than one could have hoped. I enjoyed Knocked Up and Superbad, but this is a high point for the Apatow collective, due in no small part to a script that never lets up and of course to the performance of John C. Reilly. Reilly has been a powerful supporting character (Talladega Nights, Tenacious D) until this point but given center stage he is stunningly, achingly funny.

The story is a satiric biopic of a moronic rock star with a tragic past, a way with lyrics, and the inability to say no to drugs or sex. Trying desperately to make up for the accidental death of his talented brother, Dewey strikes out into the world to make something of his musical career. Cox's first wife, Edith (Kristen Wiig), believes in him but thinks he's destined to fail (as she puts it). Dewey finds solace in drugs and in the arms of Darlene (a vamped-up Jenna Fischer, no trace of "Pam" here), a new backup singer. We follow Dewey through the decades of his life and his eventual realization of his life's true purpose. (More about the film and some concert video after the jump.)