let it snow

NYC was covered with an awesome foot deep blanket of snow. Now it is a dirty mess. That reminds me of this great image of The Captain (Cole Kutz) and his Second Wife (the amazing Agatha Downing...)

All About ON'D Part 1: Meet The Captain

We recently started gathering bios from the fabulous people behind Otis N' Dwayne which we will be adding to our website along with an EPK and all sorts of other good stuff. But I just can't wait to start sharing so I will be letting it out in dribs and drabs for ya'all here on the ON'D blog. Let's start with The Captain, shall we? The following is from a recent interview:
Cole Kutz was approached by his agent to audition for the role of The Captain in Otis N' Dwayne in 1997. At the time he was playing Hamlet at the prestigious Duke of York's Theatre in London. "After first looking at the script I asked my agent if he had gone completely mad!"  Kutz said in an interview in NYC.  "He then told me that he felt that this film was bound for Greatness, and that I should stretch out & expand - flex my acting muscles as it were, to try to do something other than Shakespeare, which I had been performing exclusively for the past 11 years.  I mean, I was a Purist.  He told me to CAREFULLY re-read the script.  I reluctantly did, but later was overjoyed that I did.  I then discovered how oh so very subtelty this script brilliantly reflected many of The Bard of Stratford-On-Avon's works in oh so many ways!  Otis N Dwayne is indeed a profound statement of current global issues in modern literature, as well as an innovative cinematic masterpiece.  I feel honored to be a part of it". 

it's wind's illusions I recall...

I was walking in Red Hook the other day. It was cold as a motherfucker. Then came the wind. I was leaning forward at a 45 degree angle; it was like climbing a steep hill. Tosso, trying to see the bright side, said, "well at least the wind will be going the same direction as we are on the way home."

"Don't be to sure about that," I said, having observed that the wind often changes, for some strange reason, and I get it gusting in my face, blowing off my hood, making my eyes water, cracking my lips, no matter which way I am headed, as if it is some strange metaphor for my life.

We made it to Fairway with only mild ear pain and loaded up on groceries to lug back in our packs. Froot Loops were on special and I got two huge boxes for seven bucks. Score!

On the way home, luck was on our side, and the wind was at our backs. What a difference. So much easier to walk. But then came the paranoia. If the wind is coming from behind us, then I won't be able to see when some huge chunk of garbage or a garbage can lid comes flying at me. I fantasized about a flimsy section of a corrugated metal wall with razor wire on top, which I was walking next to, getting ripped out and toppling over on me... getting sliced by the wire. Or those chalkboards that stores put out - one of those could totally come flying at me and I wouldn't know it... At least it wasn't raining so I wouldn't have to contend with stray umbrellas spiraling towards me - especially those cheap, two dollar umbrellas that invert at the first sign of wind and lie scattered on the sidewalks after a good rain.

Needless to say, I made it home in one piece where I promptly treated myself to not one, but two bowls of Froot Loops.

Bark at the Moon! Blast from the Past!

Anne's Post of the little doggie howling reminded me of a short film I made in college...

Kap'n Krunch and the Kool Aid Kid Acid Test Movie! We used Ozzy's Bark at the Moon song...

Enjoy!

howl at the moon

Must be some sort of mistake???

RE: 9550-UNF- Otis N' Dwayne

Dear Anne,

On behalf of our Programming staff, I would like to thank you for submitting your film to the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Unfortunately, we are not able to include it in our program this year. We received a record 9,800 submissions this year, and many tough decisions had to be made in order to narrow the field down to under 200 films. Please know that your work was carefully considered by our team, and we viewed far more worthy films than we had room for in the program. I sincerely hope that this decision does not discourage you in any way. We wish you the best of luck with your film, and we look forward to having the opportunity to view your work in the future.

Sincerely,

John Cooper

Director, Sundance Film Festival

more chocolate love

Applying to film festivals is a bit like standing naked in front of a bunch of blind people - you feel really nervous, excited and vulnerable about putting yourself out there, yet you hope and pray that someone will notice you. Needless to say, we are standing naked right now. This has me feeling anxious and requiring constant comforting in the form of delicious treats. Here are two of the most insanely awesome chocolate concoctions you can buy, both of which I discovered only recently so I hope to have many weeks left before I overdo it and get sick of them and never want to see them again.

This blend of rich, almost dark, milk chocolate, bacon and smoked salt is heaven in a bar. Mo's Bacon Bar is not a cheap chocolate bar but in the grand scheme of things, it does not cost a lot of money and provides much pleasure. I don't know what the chef was smoking when she came up with this one, but me likey!



Ciao Bella makes some of the best gelato this side of the Atlantic - just leave it out to soften a bit before you indulge... This chocolate jalapeno combo has my name written all over it. At first it is all innocent. But veiled in delicious chocolate is a spicy after kick in the ass. Hells yea!

f*ck it, I'm thank full

Ate like a queen although I am broke, drank away my worries in the company of friends and loved ones. I am happy. I am full. I am satisfied.

IT DIDN'T TOTALLY SUCK

IT DIDN'T TOTALLY SUCK is how this comment card from a recent focus group screening begins...



It ends with ... YOU SUCK, EAT A BAG OF SHIT! - We may end up using some of these gems for our marketing materials...

Otis N' Dwayne love it or leave it!

The film that wouldn't die

Otis N' Dwayne is a feature film twelve years in the making I pretty much gave up on finishing it a couple years ago. It was languishing on the bottom of the ocean and haunting me in the back of my mind.

Most of the filming was done and I couldn't make sense of the edit. Ironic since I edit film for a living. As a last ditch effort I put a listing on craigslist offering a $1000 to help me finish the edit.

I got a ton of responses mostly from totally unqualified individuals and then this one....

Hey there,

My name is Kelsey Hoover. I'm a working editor, or editress, as I prefer to be called... I watched your trailer and think you are a madman, and possibly a genius. I'd love to work on the film.

I have my own Final Cut at home, which suits me because I always work naked. I hope that's okay with you, and that you're comfortable with working around a nude editress. Can't say how long I've been a nuditress, really, just that ever since I quit working at Trailer Park and got my own setup at home, I haven't been able to bring myself to put on any clothes. I mean, why bother if it's hot, and you're working alone at home, right? Now I'm at the point where I only work with directors and clients who are comfortable with coming to my house and having me be nude while I work.

You strike me as someone who'd understand. So you should give me a call. 310-592-26xx. If my assistant Ben answers, just tell him who you are and leave a message. And be sure to tell him whether or not you'd be comfortable with nudity. That will determine whether or not I return your call. Sorry, but we do get a few pervs.

I can't wait to hear from you! How exciting!

Kelsey

... Sent by my co-worker Danny as a practical joke.

June 2008 I'm in New York celebrating my birthday with my wife when Curtis (my BFF and screenwriter of Otis N' Dwayne) takes me to a BBQ at his musician friends Anne and Tosso's where we drink beer and they introduce me to something called the "Volcano" - Tosso and I get to talking and turns out he's seen a rough cut of the movie and liked what he saw. I said...

"Hey why don't you do the soundtrack blah blah blah..."

And the rain was pouring down in buckets - it was my first time in Brooklyn, Anne and Tosso have a lovely garden and make a nice BBQ. Part of the building was beginning to flood. I hitched a ride back to the city with two guys named Brad and that was that...

Four months later and I'm back in LA actually found someone on craigslist to help me edit the film. Jose Manuel Jimenez from Madrid, a Spanish feature editor (here's his IMDB page), who truly responded to the trailer, the screenplay and the rough cut and offered to do it for free! What the hell, why not?

My cell rings and it's Anne and Tosso they have some songs for the film. Amazing. The songs are great. I can't believe it - I'd totally forgotten about our conversation that rainy day in June.

Jose's cut is great. He trimmed twenty to thirty minutes of fat from the film, restructured some scenes and broke it up into chapters. Suddenly it's playing and flowing with an energy and coherence that it never had before and WE HAVE ORIGINAL MUSIC.

I can't believe it. We finished the movie. Have screened it to private audiences on the big screen twice now and began applying to film festivals.

Otis N' Dwayne will not die.

I thank my lucky stars for Anne, Tosso, Jose and Curtis. From Brooklyn, to Madrid, to LA we made it happen with email, external hard drives, and file sharing on the internet. I don't even think there was the internet when we began this project. I've never even met or spoken to Jose in person. The miracle of modern technology. The miracle of Otis N' Dwayne...

Sincerely,

Haunted No More