Celebrity Sightings

By James Pound

On Thursday, August 2, the Austin Film Society hosted a preview screening of Killer Joe, the shocking dark comedy from director William Friedkin (The Exorcist, The French Connection) and starring Matthew McConaughey. (See Debbie's review.) All four screens of the Violet Crown Cinema were sold out and the audience couldn't have been more excited to be there, especially because co-star Thomas Haden Church was there to introduce the movie.

With his booming voice yet laid-back demeanor, Church (or THC, as my friends and I like to call him) was a true crowd-pleaser. He was more than willing to sign autographs on Killer Joe posters as well as merchandise from previous projects ranging from Sideways DVDs to Spider-Man 3 action figures. I'll always remember him for his lovable doofus character Lowell on Wings, though. Church posed for many pictures with fans as well, and gave a great intro to the film, helping to set the mood in each auditorium.

Guests were also treated to some amazingly delicious snacks before the film. Fitting in with the soon-to-be infamous fried chicken scene featured in Killer Joe, patrons got to sample some fried chicken sliders from Ms. P's Electric Cock food trailer that were "out of this world" good. Moviegoers also got to sip on some handcrafted cocktails featuring Cinco Vodka, served up by Violet Crown's accomplished bartenders. I got to sample the Killer Joe Margarita, and I have to say the drink packed just as much punch as the NC-17 movie. Also on tap was a refreshing array of Austin's own Independence Ales that paired quite nicely with the chicken.

This week marks my third anniversary of officially writing for Slackerwood, but my first unofficial post was actually five years ago. I contributed a story about my most memorable experience at the original Alamo at 409 Colorado to the Alamo Drafthouse Blog-a-thon. The original Alamo Drafthouse closed on June 27, 2007, and was marked by spectacular signature Drafthouse events including a Big Night feast and bass-generated shaking during Earthquake.

News of the passing of cult movie sensation and Oscar nominee Susan Tyrrell -- seen above with Martin Nicholson and Richard Elfman -- served as a reminder that I also first saw "SuSu" that night. I was a fan of her bizarre performances in the 1982 movie Forbidden Zone and John Water's Cry-Baby, but was totally unprepared for both her portrayal of Aunt Helen in Night Warning and her disjointed Q&A that followed.

By Mike Fleming

The deadline for Texas Filmmakers' Production Fund applications is rapidly approaching and it was with that in mind that I recently attended a TFPF Workshop with Austin Culp, Austin Film Society's Interim Artist Services Manager, at the AFS offices.

During the past few weeks Culp and Ryan Long, AFS Programs and Operations Manager, have been traveling all over the state to give workshops just like this one. The final result of these workshops will be something like two hundred separate applications, most of them arriving on the June 1 deadline date. In the past it has been quite a lot to sort through, which is why this year TFPF is switching to mostly online applications, a whole new wrinkle in the sorting process.

Since this is the first year that applications are entirely digital, the online application itself represents a respectable portion of the presentation, but it is by no means the meat and potatoes of the workshop.

One of the first things I learned about the TFPF program (because it was the first thing asked) is that there are no typical projects that are more likely to get funding than others. Many different types of films are accepted into the program, such as The Vulture Project, Zero Charisma and Far Marfa. According to Culp, the variation in the alumni roster can also be attributed to the varied group of TFPF reviewers.

Every year, candidates for funding go through three rounds of review by about 20 first-round reviewers. In the final rounds of review the applications are typically sent to three working filmmakers or film professionals who are not from Texas and have different backgrounds in filmmaking. This ensures that every year the films that apply for funding are scrutinized on different terms, which ultimately translates to a different crop of funded films every year. According to Culp, "Plenty of good films have applied for funding before and not gotten it. If a film doesn't get funding it doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad one."

By Viral Bhakta

On April 14, the University of Houston (UH) School of Theatre & Dance celebrated the career of professor Cecil J. Pickett through the eyes of his talented and well-known students Brett Cullen, Cindy Pickett, Dennis Quaid and Robert Wuhl.

The event "An Afternoon with the Artists," moderated by Houston PBS's Ernie Manouse, was a question-and-answer session that highlighted their time at UH and how their mentor, Cecil Pickett, influenced their lives and careers. The event benefitted the Cecil J. Pickett Scholarship Endowment Fund for students attending and aspiring to attend the School of Theatre & Dance.

Cecil J. Pickett was born in Ryan, Oklahoma and taught acting and directing at the University of Houston from 1970 to 1988. "Cecil's life was focused on training young artists for the profession. He touched hundreds of lives and produced many prolific actors," Manouse noted. During Pickett's time at UH, he directed a significant number of departmental productions and served as a director for the Houston Shakespeare Festival, a professional project established by the University of Houston. Pickett died in 1997.

For the four actors on the panel, one topic that helped stir up past memories was describing Pickett's experience as a teacher and director.

By James Christopher and Terissa Kelton

[Editor's Note: James Christopher and Terissa Kelton of Twitchy Dolphin Flix spent the weekend at Texas Frightmare Weekend in Dallas, and are sending us dispatches, photos and other interesting material.]

On the first day of the blood-and-gore covered Texas Frightmare Weekend, we ran into a unlikely attendee of the Dallas genre fest -- iconic Texas actor Barry Corbin. Barry greeted us with the type of Texas welcome one might expect through the introductions we as an audience have had over a decades-long film career (War Games, Lonesome Dove). He welcomed us with a firm handshake and tip of his hat to Terissa.

He spoke about being honored by the Austin Film Society this year and how much it meant to him. Barry also let us in on what he's got going on now. He's still working, flying out to LA on a regular basis. He just wrapped ten episodes on the new Charlie Sheen show Anger Management. Barry chuckled when asked how Charlie was doing. Apparently, Charlie is still winning. So is Barry.

Apologies for the late post on my third and final day at The Dallas International Film Festival. The day began by catching up with old friends, but then making sure to prepare adequately for the night's premiere event, the 25th Anniversary Screening of RoboCop in 35mm at The Texas Theater.

Why RoboCop, you ask? Well, in addition to being awesome and totally worthy of a screening because it's a damn near perfect film, to the surprise of many audience members in my screening, RoboCop was filmed in Dallas. Many Dallas cast and crew members attended the event, as you can see from the above photo.

In addition to the film playing the festival, actor Peter Weller, writers Michael Miner and Ed Neumeier, and executive producer Jon Davison were on hand for a very entertaining Q&A.

The Alamo Drafthouse recently hosted the fifth annual Off-Centered Film Festival with Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, who once again brought along his filmmaker and actor pals Ken Marino and Joe Lo Truglio (seen above with Alamo Drafthouse founder Tim League). Several hundred craft beer and film fans filled Republic Park in downtown Austin to watch the classic Mel Brooks movie Blazing Saddles on the first night of the festival.

Calagione was extremely vocal about his support for the Texas Craft Brewers Guild and their growth and legislative efforts in Texas, both during the event by rallying folks to donate at the pie booth as well as part of a panel after the film. I accompanied Calagione as he tried various craft beers at the festival, and was impressed by his thoroughness in familiarizing himself with the new brewers and attentiveness to his devoted fans. By far, Calagione received more attention from attendees than Marino and Truglio who seemed quite content to relax with a craft beer and quote along with the film.

See more photos from the Rolling Roadshow event and find out who the winners were of the fifth annual film competition after the jump.

The movie Get the Gringo premiered in Austin at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar last Wednesday night, followed by a special Q&A with producer and star Mel Gibson (seen above on the red carpet), young actor Kevin Hernandez, director Adrian Grunberg and producer Stacy Perskie. What made this Q&A moderated by Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News so special was that it was streamed live to audiences in nine other cities that viewed a simultaneous screening of the film along with Austin. Audience members were able to submit questions directly to Knowles via the internet.

In Get the Gringo, Gibson portrays Driver, a career criminal who is nabbed by corrupt Mexican police and then hidden away in a tough prison where he must learn to survive through his own street smarts along with the help of a 9-year-old boy and a not so reputable U.S. Consulate representative. There were a few technical issues during the Q&A, and Gibson was a bit abrupt on the red carpet -- perhaps due to bad and sensationalist publicity earlier that day from a celebrity gossip website. Find out more about this crime drama including what I thought of Mel's onscreen performance in Get the Gringo after the jump.

The red carpets at SXSW are often a little crazy. The SXSW staff and volunteers do an excellent job of managing these events, but there are many people in a small space and afterwards you don't really want to see the related movie as much as you want to find the nearest bar. It is not a task for the weak or easily intimidated. I did cover the Trash Dance red carpet this year but that was much smaller and quieter compared to, say, The Cabin in the Woods.

Fortunately, this year a pair of courageous and intrepid photographers offered their red-carpet shooting skills to Slackerwood: Molly Dinkins and Dick De Jong. What follows is a sampling of the great photos they snapped during a number of SXSW 2012 red carpets -- and a couple of Q&As -- whether of first-feature screenwriters or well known celebrities, representing movies from Bernie to Killer Joe to Somebody Up There Likes Me. We've got Gabrielle Union, Johnny Knoxville ... and Austin documentary filmmaker/UT professor Paul Stekler.

I want to thank Dinkins / De Jong one more time for their excellent photos both at SXSW and at the Texas Film Hall of Fame Awards.

Here at Slackerwood, we're just about ready to put our SXSW coverage away for awhile, but I couldn't resist sharing some of my favorite photos from the film festival this year. These are the photos I took myself -- I'm hoping to put together a second photo essay soon with my favorite red-carpet photos from our intrepid red-carpet photographers.

Links to all our SXSW 2012 coverage are all in one place if you want to find out more about the stories behind these photos.