“Postal” star Jackie Tohn answers our questions

Published by Patrick on May 21, 2008 in Interview. 0 Comments

jackie_tohn_1To mark the week of release of “Postal” we spent some time with one of the film’s stars, actress Jackie Tohn. The dark-haired lady plays the part of Faith in Uwe Boll’s send-up of pop culture. Thanks to the power of the internet and Jackie herself, I was able to ask her some questions about her “Postal” experience and learn a bit more about her likes, dislikes, deleted scenes from the movie and her other passion, singing.

Question: Out of all of the characters in the film yours could be described as pretty much the only close to normal person. What are your thoughts on playing the straight person in a crazy ensemble like the one in “Postal” — or do you think your character is the most well-adjusted?

Jackie: I don’t think that Faith is normal at all. I think she just appears that way in the context of the company she keeps. There are also some deleted scenes where Faith is nuts. In the scene where Uwe and Vince Sesi are fighting in Little Germany, we shot some stuff where I grab my tits shaped tip jar out of my coffee cup shaped kiosk and am encouraging the bystanders to bet on the fight, exclaiming, “5 bucks on the Kraut”.

Q: Did you do anything special to prepare you for your role in “Postal”, like play the video game or learn how to handle weapons?

Jackie: I had to go to the shooting range a few times to learn to handle handguns and automatic weapons. And not to blow smoke up my own ass, but the artillery guy told me I was the only lady he ever coached who didn’t even bat an eyelash when she shot a machine gun. That cracks me up! I had never even held a gun before that day and am in no way a supporter of the NRA. I leave that to Charlton crazypants Heston.

Q: Have you ever had a “Postal”-like day yourself where you just wanted to go nuts? If so, what kind of irks drive you postal?

Sure. I live in LA. The traffic will get you. I was born and raised in NY – so I’m on the move. People in LA take their time like nothing I have ever seen. It blows my mind on a daily basis. You’d think after 9 years of living on the west coast, I would have slowed down a bit or chilled out. You’d be wrong.

Q: What are your thoughts on Uwe Boll? Did you know that there is a petition on the internet to try and convince him to stop directing movies? What do you think of the petition?

Jackie: Uwe and I are good friends. Having worked together for 2 months on the film and now doing a lot or press (Comic Con, Fangoria and screenings all over the place) I see him a bunch. He is one of the smartest out spoken honest people I have ever met. I enjoy him immensely.

I think the petition is funny. It just gets him more press. He said he’s stop directing if they got a million signatures. And now some major gum company (Stride I think) is backing the petition.


People really have a lot of free time. If I had that kind of time, I’d like to think I’d volunteer at a soup kitchen not waste it on douchery like this.

Q: Your Wikipedia profile page describes you as both a singer as well as an actress. Do you have a favorite between the two?

Jackie: Plug first. Answer Second. 1.My album is available on itunes. Jackie Tohn – “Beguiling”.

2. I don’t have a favorite at all. My music is so theatrical so it incorporates all my avenues.

I like to consider myself a showman. I love all mediums. Stage. Screens both big and small. I cant do anything else other than entertain.

Q: What’s currently in your DVD player?
Jackie: The 1980’s classic “After Hours”.


Q: What’s currently in your CD player?

Jackie: Stop, Revolt’s album “2009”. Its so dope.

Q: Aside from “Postal”, what summer movie are you looking forward to seeing the most?

Jackie: Um …I’d like to see “Son of Rambow”. I also LOVED “Young at Heart”.


Q: What would be your dream gig?
Jackie: Doing a Better Midler-esque stage show at Madison Square Garden. Huge! costumes. An orchestra. Horns! An extraveganza.

Jackie Tohn has her own official website, which you should check out, because I told you to. You can see “Postal” starting this Friday (that is, if you’re living in one of the few cities in North America that has a theater showing the movie. I’ll have more on what went down in another post later on today.)

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MovieSet attends the premiere of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”

Published by Patrick on May 19, 2008 in Festivals and Movieset News. 1 Comment

The stars came out for the world premiere of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” at the Cannes Film Festival. Director Steven Spielberg, star Harrison Ford and producer George Lucas were all in attendance wearing their tuxedos, walking down the red carpet and waving to the assembled photographers and fans. And which group just happened to be there with them? If you guessed Ryan Seacrest and his “American Idol” ctew, wrong! It happened to be us, the MovieSet team, and we’ve got the photos that prove it!

indy4_cannes_star.jpgThis is a photo from the red carpet of “Indy 4″ to give you an idea of what it looks like from ground zero. The lady in the silver dress is Star Jones, former host of “The View”. Oooooh, a celebrity!

 

 

indy4_cannes_ticket1.jpg

This is what the ticket to the premiere looked like. As astute readers will note, it’s in French, the native language spoken in France, except for the part where it tells you what to wear. The French don’t want fashion snafus happening, bless them.

 

indy4_cannes_ticket2.jpg

The back of the ticket. It’s a hologram!

 

 

 

 

indy4_cannes_mark.jpgNo ladies, that isn’t Daniel Craig made up as 007. Instead, this handsome man is Mark Rutledge, MovieSet’s Chief Operating Officer. It’s easy to confuse the two as they both look the same when wearing a tuxedo, a fact that Mark learned firsthand when the producers of the James Bond franchise saw him walking down the red carpet at the premiere and asked him “What the hell are you doing here? You’re supposed to be filming ‘Quantum of Solace’ in Spain, Craig!”

 

cannes_indy_outside.jpgJust outside the entrance to the theater. So where does a guy go to get some hot buttered popcorn and a jumbo soda around here? The answer: nowhere. This is Cannes, not the Regal 12 Multiplex! (Although the rumor was that someone saw George Lucas sneaking in some freshly popped Orville Redenbacher.)

 

indy_cannes_theater.jpgOnce you’re seated inside you pass the time waiting for the show to start by watching who else is arriving thanks to the big screen. Kind of surreal, isn’t it? It gives you a chance to sit there and wonder if anyone was watching you walk down the red carpet as you were walking inside. You can look around inside the theater and yell out “Hey! It’s that hot chick wearing the red dress that we saw on the screen 15 minutes ago!”

 

indy_cannes_harrison.jpgAlright, Harrison Ford is outside the theater! That means we’re getting close to when the movie is going to start, right? Right guys?

 

 

indy_cannes_seated1If you look closely you can see Harrison Ford, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Cate Blanchett and Shia LaBeouf as they make their way to their seats. This also means that everyone around them is going to want to shake their hands and congratulate them on making their movie…which means it’s still going to be a while before the movie starts. But hey, that’s cool, I can totally see down Cate’s dress from up here.

 

indy_cannes_seated2.jpgMore handshaking, more bodyguards watching closely, more cleavage showing. Why can’t there be any hot buttered popcorn?

 

indy_cannes_seated3.jpgThis is the closest the MovieSet peeps came to Ford, Calista Flockhart and Lucas, and so ended our dreams of having Mr. Lucas autograph our Jar-Jar action figure. Sigh. Maybe next time at “Indy 5″.

 

Here ends your photographic journey to the premiere of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”. Stay tuned for more photos from Cannes including snapshots of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, whomever they are.

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Do the Cannes Cannes

Published by Patrick on May 15, 2008 in Festivals and Movieset News. 0 Comments

cannes_2008_1.jpgIn 2008 a crack commando unit of MovieSet personnel were sent to the Cannes Film Festival. Their mission? To infiltrate the world’s most prestigious film festival, to get invited to all of the hottest parties, to covertly maintain surveillance on A-list actors and to spread the word to the global film players that MovieSet is open for business.

Undercover MovieSet employee #2 (codename “Swinkle”) has been posting photos from Day 1 of the Cannes Film Fest on the MovieSet Facebook page. I’m going to show you a few of these snapshots along with my description of the action taking place (click on any photo to see it in a larger size):

cannes_2008_ads1. Street banner ads for the 61st annual Cannes film festival greet the international visitors all over the picturesque city. The photo of a beautiful blonde woman wearing blacked-out glasses was carefully chosen by the Cannes governing body so that it represents the panel’s interest in seeing “a hot chick wearing a pair of old person’s sunglasses.” Truly exquisite.

cannes_2008_restaurant.jpg2. As is the case with every Cannes festival each year, this French town is overrun with film lovers, business people, celebrities and video store clerks. Finding a hotel for the duration of the week-long event is a Herculean task in and of itself, but landing reservations for dinner at one of the five-star restaurants is practically inconceivable unless you’re the likes of Angelina Jolie. We don’t know Angie but MovieSet has been able to guarantee that we will always be served fine French cuisine by reserving an entire restaurant for lunch and dinner every day, as this photo will attest. When money is no object you go in style.

cannes_2008_love_guru.jpg3. Mike Myers is back in theaters this summer with the release of his new movie “The Love Guru”. In the film Myers plays a self-help guru named Pikta who is hired by the owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs to help the team’s star player overcome his hang-up with his wife who has run off into the arms of another rival hockey player. To help promote the film Paramount Pictures decided to have the same Scottish scientists that cloned Dolly the sheep clone a 35-foot-tall Mike Myers and then have him stand in front of a Cannes hotel holding a flower for the duration of the festival. No expense is too much when it comes to entertaining the masses. Apparently our MovieSet team was so enthralled with the giant Mike Myers clone that our company is considering using the technology to giant clone the MovieSet IT department.

cannes_2008_kung_fu_panda.jpg4. When the PR department of a Hollywood movie studio comes to Cannes to promote their latest blockbuster, you have to go all-out to make sure that your message is heard by the masses. While Paramount had its giant clone of Mike Myers standing outside a French hotel, DreamWorks decided to cut its costs and rent out two dozen panda suits, fill them with extras and then sing the theme song to “Kung Fu Panda” across the water to the visiting cruise ships. While the strategy gets points from me for its novel approach to thinking outside the box, the shame and humiliation faced by these brave, poor souls whence they return to their families may not be worth the paycheck they received. You try singing ” ‘Kung Fu Panda’ opens in theaters June 6″ for ten hours facing open water and wearing a panda suit in a foreign country and then see how you feel. Is there a psychotherapist in the house?

cannes_2008_street.jpg5. One of the biggest hits of last year proved to be the Warner Bros. film “I Am Legend”, making nearly $300 million domestic and securing Will Smith’s place as one of today’s hottest movie stars. Even with the stunning success of the movie, it took everyone by surprise when the movie studio decided to film “I Am Legend 2″ at this year’s Cannes. Sparing no expense the production blocked off several Cannes boulevards and shut down numerous businesses to give the streets an eerie, deserted look. Here is our photo of one of these exteriors just before filming took place. I smell another hit!

cannes_2008_indy4.jpg6. We’ve seen what Paramount did for “The Love Guru”, splicing together a Frankenstein-like monster version of Mike Myers that needs to be fed 4 tonnes of apples and rice a day to contain his hunger, but what are they doing for the sure-to-be-blockbuster “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”? While the film will have its red carpet premiere at Cannes with director Steven Spielberg and star Harrison Ford in attendance, apparently the heightened competition from Uwe Boll’s “Postal” has played an unexpected part in the visibility of the film’s marketing. Whereas “Postal” is being promoted with a nightly parade/sideshow and fireworks, all that’s being done to let the public know that there is a new “Indiana Jones” movie has been to post up three small signs above the world’s biggest Cartier watch. Maybe Spielberg thinks that he doesn’t need to promote “Indy 4″ against “Postal”, but I’ll let his hubris be his downfall.

cannes_2008_cars.jpg7. The fleet of cars that the MovieSet team have rented for their stay at Cannes. Not that we like to brag about lavish displays of money but, well, there it is. Yes, we paid extra to have the Canada flag flying above our parking space.

cannes_2008_crowd.jpg8. While the MovieSet team has a tight schedule to maintain we do like to spend some time now and then to remember that we wouldn’t be where we are without the support of our fans. That’s why we wanted to take a few moments while in France to meet our European supporters and shake their hands in person. While we were heartened to see so many smiling faces waving to us it was the presence of the paparazzi that really surprised us. Quickly our MovieSet camera person spun the tables on these vultures and took photographs of them leering over the security fence surrounding our hotel as the team walked to their cars on the morning of the first day of the festival. How do you like those apples, huh? You bottomfeeding scum.

(P.S.: All marriage proposals should be sent via official courier to our hotel’s front desk reception and not screamed across the street. Please also include a current photograph of yourself so we know whether to get back to you or not. Thanks!)

That’s all for now from the sunny seaside coast of Cannes but I’ll have more photos to share with you later! Until them, adieu!

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Watch the trailer for “Blood: A Butcher’s Tale”

Published by Patrick on May 14, 2008 in Films. 0 Comments

bloodposter.jpgSam is a butcher who is good at his job. He has a girlfriend, Darcy and a stable life working at a meat processing plant until the arrival of a mysterious and beautiful woman named Andris comes between him and Darcy. After Andris seduces Darcy away from Sam, the butcher makes the shocking discovery that the stranger is in fact a vampire. As Sam sets out to kill the bloodsuckers and return Darcy back to him he meets another vamp from the same clan, Lily, who longs to be human like him.

“Blood: A Butcher’s Tale” is written and directed by Mark Tuit (”Subhuman”) and stars “Battlestar Galactica”’s Aaron Douglas as Sam, Kim Coates(”Silent Hill”), Jennifer Sciole (”Descent”), Christa Campbell (”The Wicker Man”), and “Ginger Snaps” star Emily Perkins. Tuit filmed his movie using greenscreen technology to create its backgrounds à la “300″ or “Sin City” and will also incorporate a videogame sequel into the release of the movie.

MovieSet now has the trailer for “Blood: A Butcher’s Tale” on our page for the movie. You can also view video interviews with the film’s producer, set designer and director.

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Want to star in a major movie? ‘Sweetwater’ director is looking for his lead actor

Published by Patrick on May 13, 2008 in Casting and Films. 0 Comments

SweetwaterClifton-web.jpgIf you haven’t been checking “Sweetwater” director Martin Guigui’s blog here on MovieSet then you’re missing out on what it’s like being on the front lines of the film fight. Not only is Martin posting blogs about what the latest news is with his movie, he’s also told us about an open casting call happening at the end of this month. The search is underway for a talented young (25ish) black actor to play the part of Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton, the first African-American to play in the NBA back in the 1950s. Guigui has already told us about the interest of A-list actors in playing Sweetwater’s coach and teammates but for the part of the main guy, anyone with the acting chops could land the part and kick off their movie career in a huge way. Read about where and when the open casting call is taking place right here on MovieSet. We’ve even got copies of the sides to help you prepare for your audition and have created a Facebook event page to keep you informed on the latest news. Just one thing: if you land the gig ‘cuz of MovieSet, I call dibs on your first interview!

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MovieSet is off to Cannes!

Published by Patrick on May 12, 2008 in Festivals and Movieset News. 0 Comments

With the arrival of May there comes two big events associated with movies: the arrival of the summer blockbuster season and the annual Cannes Film Festival. The world’s most prestigious screening party attracts an international crowd and attention from the worldwide media. Red carpet screenings are going on everywhere, tuxedo rental stores have next to no inventory and young slender starlets seek to attract the attention of cameras, news crew and the eyes of movie producers. Hot buttered popcorn and soda pop are replaced with caviar and champagne . For one solid week everybody who is anybody in film roll into Cannes, conduct business, watch movies, network like crazy and party like it’s 1999. And MovieSet is going to be there this year!

MovieSet will be giving you on-the-scene reports from Cannes, telling you what’s going down, who’s doing what and what the vibe is like at this year’s film fest. While the fest kicks off on the 14th, keep your eyes peeled before then for the start of our reports. We’ll be trying to publish as many photographs as possible and if we can take some snaps of what the stars are wearing, we’ll do so and then show you the goods. For now, settle back and get prepared for the coming ride.

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Stop Uwe Boll and get free gum

Published by Patrick on May 9, 2008 in Humour and Weird. 0 Comments

stride-spearmint-gum.jpgIn the seemingly never-ending media scrum against “Postal” filmmaker Uwe Boll, the owners of Stride gum are siding with those who have thrown their support behind the internet petition to get Boll to stop making movies. According to Gary Osifchin, the North American marketing director for Stride, “Since gamers are one of our most supportive groups, we’ve been looking for ways to return the favor. And what better way is there to get gamers’ backs than by helping them rescue their cherished videogames from the clutches of Uwe Boll?” To help motivate the masses, Stride has pledged to give a free pack of gum to every person that signs their name on the Stop Dr. Uwe Boll petition. Now that’s a lot of potential chewing possibility.

But before the petition supports can begin warming up their mouth muscles in anticipation of their free pack of gum there is a big pothole that has to be overcome. Stride has requested that the petition has to meet its goal of one million signatures by May14 in order for their promise to be kept. That gives the troops only five more days and with the petition name count standing at 260K, there is a lot more ground to be covered if people out there really want their free chewing gum. So far I haven’t heard any counteroffer from Boll…unless…wait a minute! What if this is all some sort of crazy idea dreamed up by Uwe Boll in the first place! Maybe it was him that got the ball rolling with Stride?! Could this be some kind of crazy as a fox publicity stunt to get promotion for Uwe’s latest, “Postal”? I wouldn’t put it past that sly German guy.

So what is Steven Spielberg offering to us if we don’t like “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull?”

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More Blueberry Please

Published by Patrick on May 7, 2008 in Films. 0 Comments

blueberrynights_poster2.jpgWe’ve just been funneled some more video goodness for “My Blueberry Nights” to get you primed to see this spectacular flick. What’s the good news? For starters how does the trailer sound to you, plus three clips from the film showing stars and Mr. Sky Captain himself, Jude Law, giving it all that they’ve got.

You can check out all four new videos by hitting the “My Blueberry Nights” video wall page on MovieSet!

And don’t forget to enter our contest to win 1 of 25 double passes to see the movie. All you have to do is be cool with watching it in a movie theater in Vancouver (how you get there is none of my concern but I hear that there are some good deals on air flights out of Europe these days) and write on MovieSet’s Facebook wall before May 16. Simple, huh? Well, except if you’re living on a budget in Budapest…

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Three trailers

Published by Patrick on May 5, 2008 in Films. 0 Comments

MovieSet has three brand spanking new film pages and three trailers to show you. One is an animated tale set in a fantastic world of talking trees and animals, one addresses the controversial issue of illegal immigration by placing it in today’s world of modern cowboys and the final picture is set in a very bad neighborhood — literally. Let’s see what we’ve got.

“Spirit of the Forest“is about a group of animals that have to stop an ruthless businessman and evil woman from cutting down their forest home to make way for a highway. Four critters — a mouse named Piorno and three moles named Furi, Linda and Cebolo — will do anything to put a crink into the development plans. From director David Rubin comes this family friendly computer animated tale featuring the voices of Sean Astin (”The Lord of the Rings”), Anjelica Huston (”The Addams Family”), Ron Perlman (”Hellboy”) and Giovanni Ribisi (”Boiler Room”).

Writer/director Will James Moore made a modern day action western that addresses a social issue that’s on the tip of everyone’s tongue, illegal immigration.”Cowboy Smoke” is the story of Joe, a young man who wants to change the direction of his life by following in the bootsteps of real cowboys. After getting fired from his old job Joe heads on down to Texas to find work as an apprentice cowboy. There he finds that his mental picture of the cowboy lifestyle, where right and wrong were supposed to be as simple as white and black, aren’t as clearly defined as he imagined.

Our last movie has a title that makes it pretty easy to get what the show’s story is about:”The Last Bad Neighborhood“. Mack (Paul Logan) is an enforcer living in Docklands, the last hard bastion of street living inside the ultra-controlled metropolis he calls his home. Mack’s life consists of running errands and enforcing the will of his thus boss, Bishop. While life in Docklands is hard and dangerous, it’s also free from the corporate oversight of big business that has engulfed the rest of the city. But when the suits and ties want to grab the city’s one last free sector it will be up to Mack and the rest of those living in Docklands to fight back against the machine. It sounds like “Escape From New York” meets “RoboCop”, don’t it? I can dig that!

Watch the trailers for this trio of new films and then sound off below as to what you think of ‘em. Does one grab your attention more than the rest?

 

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Thursday round-up

Published by Patrick on May 1, 2008 in Films. 0 Comments

We’ve launched several new film pages here on MovieSet and so let’s do another round-up to show you what’s hot and happening around the site:

“Bad Biology” is a twisted romance from director Frank Henenlotter and follows a young man and woman who are obsessed about seeking sexual fulfillment. When they meet their chemisty winds up producing explosive consequences.

kettle_of_fish_poster.jpg“Kettle of Fish” is from writer/director Claudia Myers and is about a musician who finds himself falling in love with an English biologist that studies frogs. With a logline like that you have to check it out, plus it’s got a neat poster that encapsulates the pic’s quirkiness. Matthew Modine, Gina Gershon and Fisher Stevens star in it.

For you horror enthusiasts out there you need to look at our listing for “Knock Knock“. In the tradition of Halloween and Friday the 13th comes a terrifying journey of revenge and bloodlust, as a group of high school students pay the ultimate price for their parent’s transgressions. Teens and a crazed maniac go hand-in-hand, don’t they?

“Dead-Wood” is another scary movie and yeah, it involves more young people poking their noses into places where they simply shouldn’t be poking anything that they want to keep into. This time it’s four friends that think they’re taking a break from the city by heading out into the woods for a peaceful, relaxing weekend. Yeah, right! Soon things take a sinister turn when a mysterious girl appears in their camp looking for her boyfriend. Something evil is waiting for them in the woods and it soon begins to stalk them one by one. Haven’t these city folk watched “The Blair Witch Project”? DON’T. GO. INTO. THE. WOODS. Duh!

The trailer for “The Red Awn” has made its debut on MovieSet. A 50 year old father leaves his wife and son back in their hometown and goes off to the city in order to earn a living. Five years pass, during that time his wife passes away and his son grows up in the countryside alone and directionless.

Finally and on a lighter note, check out our listing for “Puckheads“. If you love hockey or even if you don’t understand why some people can bet obsessive about the game then you owe it to yourself to find out the answer why. Venturing deep into the mayhem of the Stanley Cup playoffs, filmmaker Simon Dekker explores a world of ritual, arousal and belief – and brings the audience inside the experience to become one with the magic that is fan kind.

Now none of these movies may have Robert Downey Jr. inside a super-powerful suit of armor that can fly and take on jet fighters in the sky but when was that ever a crime?

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