Exclusive: Shane Paul McGhie (Deputy) and Karimah Westbrook (All American) have signed on to star in Panorama, a short film exec produced by former New York Giants player Spencer Paysinger and the NFL team’s current defensive end, Leonard Williams.
The film, written and directed by former theater director Scott Felix, is described as a sense-bending drama that tells the story of Sam (McGhie), a young man grieving the unexpected loss of his Mother (Westbrook). Upon being hit by a car, Sam is catapulted into a near death experience where his Mother guides him through various chapters of his life.
Panorama also stars Thomas Q. Jones (Luke Cage), Myles Cranford (Mindhunter), Maleah Goldberg (On My Block) and Krystian Alexander Lyttle (Foster Boy).
Jordan Orsak, Jevin Lee, Jp Hughes and Dane Morck are set to produce the short, which is heading into production in Los Angeles. Paysinger and Williams exec produce alongside McGhie.
The film, written and directed by former theater director Scott Felix, is described as a sense-bending drama that tells the story of Sam (McGhie), a young man grieving the unexpected loss of his Mother (Westbrook). Upon being hit by a car, Sam is catapulted into a near death experience where his Mother guides him through various chapters of his life.
Panorama also stars Thomas Q. Jones (Luke Cage), Myles Cranford (Mindhunter), Maleah Goldberg (On My Block) and Krystian Alexander Lyttle (Foster Boy).
Jordan Orsak, Jevin Lee, Jp Hughes and Dane Morck are set to produce the short, which is heading into production in Los Angeles. Paysinger and Williams exec produce alongside McGhie.
- 7/14/2021
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Co-writer and director Dan Pritzker's long-in-the-works biopic Bolden is an ostentatious production with an enigma at its center. An opening title card admits to there being little information about its subject, African American cornetist Buddy Bolden. It then goes on in a second text crawl to claim him as the prime inventor, during the early 20th century, of the New Orleans style of music that became Jazz.
That's some primo mythmongering, though Bolden was a crucial figure in the genre's development whose work was lost to time for a variety of reasons. These include such tragic-artist perennials as drug ...
That's some primo mythmongering, though Bolden was a crucial figure in the genre's development whose work was lost to time for a variety of reasons. These include such tragic-artist perennials as drug ...
Co-writer and director Dan Pritzker's long-in-the-works biopic Bolden is an ostentatious production with an enigma at its center. An opening title card admits to there being little information about its subject, African American cornetist Buddy Bolden. It then goes on in a second text crawl to claim him as the prime inventor, during the early 20th century, of the New Orleans style of music that became Jazz.
That's some primo mythmongering, though Bolden was a crucial figure in the genre's development whose work was lost to time for a variety of reasons. These include such tragic-artist perennials as drug ...
That's some primo mythmongering, though Bolden was a crucial figure in the genre's development whose work was lost to time for a variety of reasons. These include such tragic-artist perennials as drug ...
The conundrum that haunts “Bolden,” a murky drama inspired turn-of-the-century New Orleans musician Charles “Buddy” Bolden, is right up front in the opening titles, which inform the audience that little is known about the man’s life story, but he happens to be responsible for inventing jazz. The gulf between Bolden’s importance in pioneering a great American art form and his anonymity in the historical record is the one director Dan Pritzker and his co-writer, David N. Rothschild, must bridge. But what sounds like a great creative opportunity proves here to be more like a trap: In trying to turn Bolden’s biography into the paradigmatic tale of early jazz musicians — and more generally of African Americans in the Deep South — they lean on stereotypes and clichés and never quite define their elusive central figure. Jazz aficionados may appreciate the ambience, including original contributions by trumpet virtuoso Wynton Marsalis,...
- 5/2/2019
- by Scott Tobias
- Variety Film + TV
"Little is known about the life of musician Buddy Bolden: He was born on September 6th, 1877. At the age of 30, he was committed to an asylum where he died in 1931. His only known recording has never been found. He invented Jazz." How's that for an intro? Abramorama has debuted the official trailer for an indie biopic titled Bolden, about the legendary musician named Buddy Bolden - a cornetist who is regarded as one of the key figures in the development of a New Orleans-style of ragtime music, called "jass", which later came to be known as jazz. Gary Carr stars as Bolden, with Erik Laray Harvey, Yaya DaCosta, Ian McShane, and Michael Rooker. Featuring music written, arranged, & performed by Wynton Marsalis. Seems to be a ravishing retelling of his life's story, perhaps not the most polished, but full of passion & zeal. Here's the first official trailer (+ original poster) for Dan Pritzker's Bolden,...
- 3/4/2019
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Exclusive: New full-service management and production company Leibo has opened in Los Angeles anchored by Jason Leibovitch, who most recently served as VP Distribution and Development for California Pictures (Scavengers, A Warrior’s Heart). Leibovitch’s client roster includes WGA-winning screenwriter Bryce Zabel (Pandemic, M.A.N.T.I.S., Dark Skies, The Crow, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation), who served as Chairman and CEO of the TV Academy from 2001-2003.
Leibo is also repping actor Shad Gaspard, the WWE wrestler-turned-actor who made over 100 WWE appearances and recently appeared on Nickelodeon’s Haunted Hathaways. Gaspard also has a role in Dan Pritzker’s Buddy Bolden biopic Bolden! and Warner Bros’ upcoming Will Ferrell comedy Get Hard.
Leibo is also repping actor Shad Gaspard, the WWE wrestler-turned-actor who made over 100 WWE appearances and recently appeared on Nickelodeon’s Haunted Hathaways. Gaspard also has a role in Dan Pritzker’s Buddy Bolden biopic Bolden! and Warner Bros’ upcoming Will Ferrell comedy Get Hard.
- 10/17/2014
- by Jen Yamato
- Deadline
• Julia Roberts has joined fellow Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow and 12 Years A Slave nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor in the remake of the 2009 Argentinian film The Secret in Their Eyes. The original feature won the Best Foreign Language film Oscar in 2010. Billy Ray, who wrote the screenplay for The Hunger Games and Captain Phillips, will write and direct the story about a former Mi-5 agent (Ejiofor) on a joint task force with the FBI, who thinks he’s finally found the man who murdered the daughter of his former partner and friend (Roberts). [Deadline]
• Drew Barrymore and Toni Collette will star in the relationship drama Miss You Already.
• Drew Barrymore and Toni Collette will star in the relationship drama Miss You Already.
- 9/5/2014
- by Jake Perlman
- EW - Inside Movies
Yaya DaCosta has joined jazz biopic “Bolden,” reports Variety. The jazz biopic is about Buddy Bolden, a New Orleans musician who was involved in ragtime music’s evolution. DaCosta is joining the previously cast Gary Carr, Nelsan Ellis and Ian McShane. While many of the roles these actors will play have not been revealed, Carr will play Bolden himself. The film has been in development for quite some time. Dan Pritzker, a jazz lover and first time director, has been taking time with this passion project. Anthony Mackie was cast as Bolden initially, but after six years in development he moved on from the [...]
The post Yaya DaCosta Boards ‘Bolden’ Biopic appeared first on Up and Comers.
The post Yaya DaCosta Boards ‘Bolden’ Biopic appeared first on Up and Comers.
- 9/5/2014
- by Alamin Yohannes
- UpandComers
Yaya DaCosta has joined the cast of jazz biopic Bolden.
The actress and model will star alongside Ian McShane, True Blood's Nelsan Ellis and Downton Abbey's Gary Carr, Variety reports.
The focus of the biopic, Buddy Bolden, was a cornet player from New Orleans who was a pioneer of ragtime music.
Perhaps best known for competing on cycle three of America's Next Top Model, DaCosta recently landed the role of Whitney Houston in the controversial Lifetime TV movie I Will Always Love You: The Whitney Houston Story.
DaCosta has also appeared in All My Children, Ugly Betty and House.
Dan Pritzker has written the screenplay for Bolden and will direct.
The first round of filming was completed back in 2010, but new scenes will begin filming on September 19.
The actress and model will star alongside Ian McShane, True Blood's Nelsan Ellis and Downton Abbey's Gary Carr, Variety reports.
The focus of the biopic, Buddy Bolden, was a cornet player from New Orleans who was a pioneer of ragtime music.
Perhaps best known for competing on cycle three of America's Next Top Model, DaCosta recently landed the role of Whitney Houston in the controversial Lifetime TV movie I Will Always Love You: The Whitney Houston Story.
DaCosta has also appeared in All My Children, Ugly Betty and House.
Dan Pritzker has written the screenplay for Bolden and will direct.
The first round of filming was completed back in 2010, but new scenes will begin filming on September 19.
- 9/5/2014
- Digital Spy
• Sigourney Weaver has signed on for A Monster Calls, the feature adaptation of Patrick Ness’ children’s fantasy novel. Weaver joins Felicity Jones and Liam Neeson. In the Juan Antonio Bayona-directed film, a boy retreats to a fantastical world through a tree monster, attempting to escape from bullies and his mother’s terminal illness. Weaver will play the boy’s grandmother, while Jones will play the mother and Neeson the monster. River Road’s Bill Pohlad and Mitch Horwits, Participant’s Jeff Skoll and Jonathan King, and Lionsgate Motion Picture Group co-chairman Patrick Wachsberger will executive produce the film,...
- 8/19/2014
- by C. Molly Smith
- EW - Inside Movies
Exclusive: Hot off his turn as the bounty hunter Yondu in Marvel’s hit Guardians Of The Galaxy, Michael Rooker is returning to Bolden. After starting production seven years ago and doing reshoots in 2009, the film’s writer, director, and financier Dan Pritzker lost key stars to scheduling including lead Anthony Mackie, who went on to superhero heights in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Now filming is set to start again this fall with Downton Abbey‘s Gary Carr in the title role as New Orleans cornet player Buddy Bolden. Rooker will resume the role of Pat McMurphy, sidekick to Bolden’s nemesis Judge Perry, when production kicks off in North Carolina.
Related: Seven Years Later, Dan Pritzker’s ‘Bolden’ Skeds New Shoot
The third time’s the charm for Pritzker’s passion project about the ragtime musician many consider to be the father of jazz. Rooker had filmed scenes before Bolden reset,...
Related: Seven Years Later, Dan Pritzker’s ‘Bolden’ Skeds New Shoot
The third time’s the charm for Pritzker’s passion project about the ragtime musician many consider to be the father of jazz. Rooker had filmed scenes before Bolden reset,...
- 8/18/2014
- by Jen Yamato
- Deadline
• Samuel L. Jackson is in talks to play the title role in The Black Phantom, replacing Jamie Foxx, who left the project due to scheduling conflicts. Jackson would join Kevin Hart in Screen Gems’ action comedy, which is being directed by Tim Story. The film follows a hit man (Hart) who strikes an unlikely partnership with the hit man hired to kill him, The Black Phantom. Dave Lease and Megan Hinds wrote the script. Will Packer and Will Gluck will produce. [Deadline]
• Lee Pace (Guardians of the Galaxy) will star in the sci-fi thriller Prisoners of War, replacing Alex Russell (Chronicle...
• Lee Pace (Guardians of the Galaxy) will star in the sci-fi thriller Prisoners of War, replacing Alex Russell (Chronicle...
- 8/7/2014
- by C. Molly Smith
- EW - Inside Movies
Dakota Fanning has joined Jennifer Connelly and Ewan McGregor in Lakeshore’s Philip Roth adaptation.
Fanning will play Merry Levov, the daughter of a second-generation immigrant who shatters her parents’ American dream when she blows up a post office in protest over the Vietnam War.
Philip Noyce will direct and Lakeshore is anticipated to commence pre-sales at Afm in association with Sierra/Affinity.
Dan Pritzker has cast Ian McShane and Nelsan Ellis in the Buddy Bolden jazz biopic Bolden. Gary Carr will play the title role and Wynton Marsalis compses the score.Ving Rhames has joined Mischa Barton, Michael Pare and Luke Goss in the action-thriller Operator, currently shooting in Georgia. The Brothers Olson direct.
Fanning will play Merry Levov, the daughter of a second-generation immigrant who shatters her parents’ American dream when she blows up a post office in protest over the Vietnam War.
Philip Noyce will direct and Lakeshore is anticipated to commence pre-sales at Afm in association with Sierra/Affinity.
Dan Pritzker has cast Ian McShane and Nelsan Ellis in the Buddy Bolden jazz biopic Bolden. Gary Carr will play the title role and Wynton Marsalis compses the score.Ving Rhames has joined Mischa Barton, Michael Pare and Luke Goss in the action-thriller Operator, currently shooting in Georgia. The Brothers Olson direct.
- 8/6/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Ian McShane (Hercules, Deadwood) and Nelsan Ellis (Get On Up, True Blood) have joined Dan Pritzker’s biopic Bolden. Gary Carr (Downton Abbey) stars as legendary musician Buddy Bolden, whom many consider the father of jazz. Pic is set in 1931 New Orleans, when Buddy Bolden, a long-time asylum inmate, hears the strains of a Louis Armstrong concert drift into his room from the radio in a nearby nurse’s station. The sound evokes memories of his long-forgotten youth as a ground-breaking cornetist, when he played and improvised his way to the forefront of a new musical style, ultimately creating what would evolve […]...
- 8/6/2014
- Deadline
We here at the Playlist have been firmly in the tank for Anthony Mackie since at least 2006’s “Half Nelson,” if not Spike Lee’s wildly uneven “She Hate Me,” so it’s nice to see Hollywood finally coming around and recognizing his talent. As “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” continues its victory lap – $708 million worldwide and counting – and Mackie’s charismatic Falcon continues to be seen the world over, we’ll bring you up-to-date on the actor’s latest moves. The journey of the Dan Pritzker-helmed “Bolden” is a long and winding one. The biopic focuses on a musician, Buddy Bolden, one of the key figures of early jazz. Not much is known about Bolden, who died in 1931” with his legend being his lasting legacy and no known recordings of his work exist. The film originally began shooting in 2007 with Mackie in the lead role before adjourning for two years until Pritzker – who,...
- 5/29/2014
- by Cain Rodriguez
- The Playlist
Exclusive: While Anthony Mackie won’t be at the finish line for Dan Pritzker’s Bolden film, the actor has a passion project of his own that he is about to shop to distributors. The Captain America: The Winter Soldier co-star badly wants to play Jesse Owens, the sprinter whose four gold medal performance at the 1936 Berlin Olympics infuriated and demoralized Adolf Hitler and put the lie to his theory that the Germans were the superior race. Mackie got together with his We Are Marshall writer Jamie Linden, and together they are producing an Owens film that was scripted by George Olson under their supervision. With longtime manager and producing partner Jason Spire from Inspire Entertainment, they will shortly shop the script in hopes of fast tracking a feature that will focus on the run-up to the 1936 games, and the profound impact that the performance by Owens had on the world.
- 5/28/2014
- by MIKE FLEMING JR
- Deadline
Dan Pritzker has formalized plans for a three-month shoot he hopes will finally allow him to finish his film about Buddy Bolden, the coronet player Pritzker believes invented jazz. The billionaire son of Hyatt Hotels magnate Jay Pritzker began shooting this movie in 2007, so this means resurrecting the period sets that have sat in storage for five years in Wilmington, N.C., and rounding up everyone who worked on the film in 2007 and did extensive reshoots in 2009. Well, not everyone will be back. Anthony Mackie, who before starring in the Oscar-winning The Hurt Locker played the title character in Bolden, has bowed out of doing the performance again. He has been replaced by Downton Abbey’s Gary Carr. Despite running up a budget he acknowledges has surpassed $30 million already, and despite hanging on to the film so long that it cost him his lead actor, Pritzker believes he is on...
- 5/28/2014
- by MIKE FLEMING JR
- Deadline
It's been four years since filming ended on Jazz icon Buddy Bolden's biopic Bolden! with Anthony Mackie in the titular role. Yet, we are still waiting to hear any news on its release! We last gave you some updates a year ago, when Cynthia posted this piece with some updates via the film's producer Jon Cornick; he said the film was still in the editing phase, but will hopefully screen at festivals towards the end of 2011. Alas, no screening sightings as of yet. However, I just found this bit of news, in which Bolden's first time director - jazz lover, musician and Hyatt hotel heir Dan Pritzker - told Forbes that he's in no rush; the film account on the...
- 5/17/2012
- by Vanessa Martinez
- ShadowAndAct
As his silent Louis Armstrong movie premieres in London, director Dan Pritzker reveals he has another treat for jazz fans
To Bolden go…
Billionaire Dan Pritzker premieres his charming silent jazz movie Louis tonight at the Barbican, with live orchestral accompaniment, as part of the London jazz festival. Complete with a score by Wynton Marsalis (incorporating Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington and Louis Gottschalk), it's a fictional story of the young Louis Armstrong growing up in New Orleans in 1907. It comes just as the French film The Artist is blazing a new trail for silent movies, rapidly becoming a favourite for the forthcoming awards season. "We shot ours two years before them," says Pritzker, an heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune. "I don't know if it was a bigger risk making it silent or making it with jazz as the soundtrack. People thought I was insane – but Wynton Marsalis got the whole idea straight off.
To Bolden go…
Billionaire Dan Pritzker premieres his charming silent jazz movie Louis tonight at the Barbican, with live orchestral accompaniment, as part of the London jazz festival. Complete with a score by Wynton Marsalis (incorporating Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington and Louis Gottschalk), it's a fictional story of the young Louis Armstrong growing up in New Orleans in 1907. It comes just as the French film The Artist is blazing a new trail for silent movies, rapidly becoming a favourite for the forthcoming awards season. "We shot ours two years before them," says Pritzker, an heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune. "I don't know if it was a bigger risk making it silent or making it with jazz as the soundtrack. People thought I was insane – but Wynton Marsalis got the whole idea straight off.
- 11/13/2011
- by Jason Solomons
- The Guardian - Film News
Charlie Chaplin's City Lights and its live score opened Dan Pritzker's eyes to the possibilities of silent movies. But was choosing Louis Armstrong as his subject a step too far?
I was working on a screenplay about Buddy Bolden, "inventor" of jazz, when I went to a screening of the classic Chaplin silent film City Lights. Dimly lit beneath the silver screen was the Chicago Symphony Orchestra playing the score live. I'd never seen anything like it. By the time the Little Tramp restored the Blind Girl's sight, I had decided to write another film, a silent one about jazz that would be stylistically like films of the Chaplin era.
Bolden's career ended in 1907, when he was committed to an asylum. The concept of there having been an "inventor" of jazz seemed far fetched. Jazz, I figured, developed incrementally, over time. But what if there really was such a person?...
I was working on a screenplay about Buddy Bolden, "inventor" of jazz, when I went to a screening of the classic Chaplin silent film City Lights. Dimly lit beneath the silver screen was the Chicago Symphony Orchestra playing the score live. I'd never seen anything like it. By the time the Little Tramp restored the Blind Girl's sight, I had decided to write another film, a silent one about jazz that would be stylistically like films of the Chaplin era.
Bolden's career ended in 1907, when he was committed to an asylum. The concept of there having been an "inventor" of jazz seemed far fetched. Jazz, I figured, developed incrementally, over time. But what if there really was such a person?...
- 11/11/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
As you may have heard, Michel Hazanavicius’s “The Artist” (The Weinstein Company, 11/23, ?, trailer) — which made a big splash at this year’s Cannes Film Festival (where it was a serious contender for the Palm d’Or and its star Jean Dujardin was named best actor), and which will soon be seen again at the Toronto International Film Festival — is not only in black-and-white, but also silent!
Many credible analysts — including Harvey Weinstein, who is as savvy an Oscar-prospector as anyone, and whose studio purchased the film’s rights shortly after Cannes – believe that it is visually beautiful/emotionally powerful enough to seriously factor into this year’s Oscar race.
But could a silent film, in this day and age, actually catch on with the public and/or Oscar voters?
Most people today dismiss silent movies as lacking something — namely, sound — but that’s not a particularly enlightened position. After all,...
Many credible analysts — including Harvey Weinstein, who is as savvy an Oscar-prospector as anyone, and whose studio purchased the film’s rights shortly after Cannes – believe that it is visually beautiful/emotionally powerful enough to seriously factor into this year’s Oscar race.
But could a silent film, in this day and age, actually catch on with the public and/or Oscar voters?
Most people today dismiss silent movies as lacking something — namely, sound — but that’s not a particularly enlightened position. After all,...
- 8/3/2011
- by Scott Feinberg
- Scott Feinberg
Update: Fox is negotiating with The Devil's Double star Dominic Cooper to play Abe Lincoln's mentor Henry, the mysterious ageless guy who teaches Abe to kill bloodsuckers. The studio had been in talks with Joaquin Phoenix for that role, but it's going to be Cooper, another up-and-comer, whose dual performance as Uday Hussein and the man forced to be his body double was the talk of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Earlier, 12:30 Pm: Anthony Mackie is in talks to star with Benjamin Walker in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter for 20th Century Fox. Mackie will play the role of Will, Lincoln's best friend. The role is a good one, he gets to be in the center of the vampire slaying. Director Timur Bekmambetov is putting together a group of up and comers to headline the movie. Mackie is ready to pop and is on the cover of Vanity Fair's Hollywood issue.
- 2/10/2011
- by MIKE FLEMING
- Deadline
As promised, we're back with Part Two of our recent chat with Dread Central favorite Michael Rooker (click here to check out Part One, which is mostly about "The Walking Dead" and his character Merle). This time Rooker provides us with details on his directorial debut, Pennhurst.
Dread Central: Not to change the subject Too abruptly, as we All love talking about Merle and "The Walking Dead", but I’m curious about your latest project, Pennhurst, and how you came to be sitting in the director’s chair. For those not already in the know about Pennhurst, here is one of the synopses:
For decades Pennhurst psychiatric hospital has been haunted by turbulent supernatural forces. When a local TV reality show embarks on a mission to capture this paranormal activity, they discover something completely unexpected. As restless souls from the past torment the crew members, they fear for their lives...
Dread Central: Not to change the subject Too abruptly, as we All love talking about Merle and "The Walking Dead", but I’m curious about your latest project, Pennhurst, and how you came to be sitting in the director’s chair. For those not already in the know about Pennhurst, here is one of the synopses:
For decades Pennhurst psychiatric hospital has been haunted by turbulent supernatural forces. When a local TV reality show embarks on a mission to capture this paranormal activity, they discover something completely unexpected. As restless souls from the past torment the crew members, they fear for their lives...
- 12/15/2010
- by thebellefromhell
- DreadCentral.com
There was no dialog to learn for “Louis,” a new release that tells story of young Louis Armstrong in a 1910s-look silent film.
Expressing her character without dialog was “technically a challenge, but a fun one,” says Shanti Lowry, who plays the female lead Grace Lamennais, a prostitute whose baby’s father (Judge Perry, played by Jackie Earle Haley) is the film’s villain.
Lowry, Haley and director Dan Pritzker watched a lot of silent films, she says, to analyze the performances. “It’s an acting style,” she notes. “It’s still a character [who has] a purpose in the scene and is still trying to tell a story.” While melodrama was the accepted style for actresses in the old silent films to get across their characters’ vulnerability, openness and gentleness, Lowry explains, “That’s a dangerous line for contemporary audiences — it might just turn them off or make them see it as just bad acting.
Expressing her character without dialog was “technically a challenge, but a fun one,” says Shanti Lowry, who plays the female lead Grace Lamennais, a prostitute whose baby’s father (Judge Perry, played by Jackie Earle Haley) is the film’s villain.
Lowry, Haley and director Dan Pritzker watched a lot of silent films, she says, to analyze the performances. “It’s an acting style,” she notes. “It’s still a character [who has] a purpose in the scene and is still trying to tell a story.” While melodrama was the accepted style for actresses in the old silent films to get across their characters’ vulnerability, openness and gentleness, Lowry explains, “That’s a dangerous line for contemporary audiences — it might just turn them off or make them see it as just bad acting.
- 8/30/2010
- Moving Pictures Magazine
It's unheard of for a movie to play one night in five cities before it's finished and before it has a distributor. But nothing about Louis--which inspired widely divergent reactions at a recent Beverly Hills screening--is what you'd call normal. Also marking the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, radio host/writer/actor Harry Shearer's searing expose The Big Uneasy hits theaters August 30 for one night only. First, Louis is the definition of a vanity project. Veteran Sonia Dada songwriter/musician Dan Pritzker, 50, (a scion of Hyatt Hotels' Jay Pritzker) had never made a movie before when he fell in love with the silent cinema one night, watching Chaplin's City Lights with a live orchestra. For five years he has pursued filming a story about the man who ...
- 8/25/2010
- Thompson on Hollywood
Dan Pritzker, the son of the Hyatt Hotels owner Jay Pritzker and a member of one of the richest families in the country, has a definite artistic bent. Since 2007 he’s being making two, self financed films about jazz musicians. One film, Bolden!, is about Buddy Bolden, the legendary, near mythical jazz musician, who some say actually invented jazz, with Anthony Mackie in the lead role. After a lengthy hiatus on the project, shooting started again this month, and the film is scheduled to be completed by January 2011.
The other film is Louis, a 70 minute silent film about the early childhood of Louis Armstrong, co starring Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen, Nightmare on Elm Street remake) as the villain, that will make its premiere in August in a series of concert hall screenings, with live musical accompaniment, led by Wynton Marsalis.
The tour begins August 25 in Chicago, to be followed by...
The other film is Louis, a 70 minute silent film about the early childhood of Louis Armstrong, co starring Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen, Nightmare on Elm Street remake) as the villain, that will make its premiere in August in a series of concert hall screenings, with live musical accompaniment, led by Wynton Marsalis.
The tour begins August 25 in Chicago, to be followed by...
- 7/29/2010
- by Sergio
- ShadowAndAct
Here's something you don't see every day -- a silent film accompanied by a live music track featuring Wynton Marsalis and classical pianist Cecile Licad. If you're lucky enough to catch Louis live as it plays selected dates in August, though, that's exactly what you'll be watching.
The film -- directed by Dan Pritzker and starring Jackie Earle Haley, Shanti Lowry, and Anthony Coleman and featuring the work of Academy Award-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond -- is an homage to Louis Armstrong. Set in 1907 New Orleans, the story follows six year old Louis as he learns to play the trumpet and aids a young woman named Grace who's become mixed up with an evil judge played by Jackie Earle Haley.
Part film, part concert, Louis looks to be quite the event -- a throwback to the silent era of films, but one that features world class performers providing the aural accompaniment.
The film -- directed by Dan Pritzker and starring Jackie Earle Haley, Shanti Lowry, and Anthony Coleman and featuring the work of Academy Award-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond -- is an homage to Louis Armstrong. Set in 1907 New Orleans, the story follows six year old Louis as he learns to play the trumpet and aids a young woman named Grace who's become mixed up with an evil judge played by Jackie Earle Haley.
Part film, part concert, Louis looks to be quite the event -- a throwback to the silent era of films, but one that features world class performers providing the aural accompaniment.
- 7/28/2010
- by Alison Nastasi
- Cinematical
I love when pop culture becomes an immersive experience: Reading the The Perfect Storm at night on a balcony overlooking the ocean, watching Jaws while sitting in an inner tube in a swimming pool, seeing Red River at a wooded drive-in (still my dream). Maybe that’s why I’m digging the concept of Louis, a silent film that revolves around 6-year-old Louis Armstrong’s dreams of playing the trumpet and stars Jackie Earle Haley as the villain, an evil judge with a secret that could derail his bid for governor of Louisiana. The film, directed by Dan Pritzker with...
- 7/28/2010
- by Mandi Bierly
- EW.com - PopWatch
Exclusive: Dan Pritzker, son of Hyatt Hotels magnate Jay Pritzker and a fixture on the Forbes list of 400 Richest Americans, might not seem that different from all the high net worth individuals who’ve turned the film industry into their playground. Unlike Sidney Kimmel, James Robinson, Bill Pohlad, Thomas Tull or others who entered the game as producer/financiers, Pritzker took his plunge by getting behind the camera and spending nearly three years on two passion projects no studio would have made with a first-timer. Bolden! is his biopic of an obscure horn player Pritzker suspects invented jazz (he went insane and left behind no recordings, so it’s hard to verify). Louis is a 68-minute silent film--complete with title card dialogue--that turns the childhood of Louis Armstrong into an improvisational jazz riff, centered by a Chaplin-esque villainous turn by Jackie Earle Haley. Pritzker, who began shooting both films in...
- 7/28/2010
- by MIKE FLEMING
- Deadline
By Roger Friedman
HollywoodNews.com: Dan Pritzker is the heir to the Hyatt fortune. He’s also a jazz fan, and a big one. He’s been writing and directing his first film, “Bolden!” a jazz movie set at the turn of the last century, since 2007. Shooting re-commences on June 14th for three more weeks.
“Bolden!” is billed as a “mythical interpretation” of the life of legendary New Orleans cornet player, Charles “Buddy” Bolden, considered the King of Jazz from around 1900 to 1907. After that, Buddy Bolden, only 30, succumbed to schizophrenia.
Pritzker has been shooting the film since 2007 at studios in Wilmington, North Carolina. This week he resumes new shoots–not re-shoots–as star Anthony Mackie is finally available. The in-demand actor has just finished his run on Broadway in “A Behanding in Spokane.”
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HollywoodNews.com: Dan Pritzker is the heir to the Hyatt fortune. He’s also a jazz fan, and a big one. He’s been writing and directing his first film, “Bolden!” a jazz movie set at the turn of the last century, since 2007. Shooting re-commences on June 14th for three more weeks.
“Bolden!” is billed as a “mythical interpretation” of the life of legendary New Orleans cornet player, Charles “Buddy” Bolden, considered the King of Jazz from around 1900 to 1907. After that, Buddy Bolden, only 30, succumbed to schizophrenia.
Pritzker has been shooting the film since 2007 at studios in Wilmington, North Carolina. This week he resumes new shoots–not re-shoots–as star Anthony Mackie is finally available. The in-demand actor has just finished his run on Broadway in “A Behanding in Spokane.”
Awards News, Breaking News, Entertainment News, Movie News, Music News, Hollywood News
To read more go to Showbiz411.com.
- 6/8/2010
- by Roger Friedman
- Hollywoodnews.com
Reading an interview in Vanity Fair magazine, with Anthony Mackie, and came across the following piece:
Vanity Fair: So tell me about the Buddy Bolden project you were shooting at the time. You play the trumpeter in two separate films by Dan Pritzker, correct?
MacKie: Right. He actually shot two films at once. He shot a silent film, Louis, about Louis Armstrong, and he shot the main film, Bolden! And the silent film is kind of like an old-school Charlie Chaplin-esque film where he basically just gives the essence of New Orleans. He’s going to be traveling around with the film. Hopefully Wynton Marsalis is going to play the score while the film plays behind him. And the actual film, Bolden!, is the life and times of Buddy Bolden circa 1905, in New Orleans. Basically Louis Armstrong dedicated his entire career to Buddy Bolden and his style, you know.
Vanity Fair: So tell me about the Buddy Bolden project you were shooting at the time. You play the trumpeter in two separate films by Dan Pritzker, correct?
MacKie: Right. He actually shot two films at once. He shot a silent film, Louis, about Louis Armstrong, and he shot the main film, Bolden! And the silent film is kind of like an old-school Charlie Chaplin-esque film where he basically just gives the essence of New Orleans. He’s going to be traveling around with the film. Hopefully Wynton Marsalis is going to play the score while the film plays behind him. And the actual film, Bolden!, is the life and times of Buddy Bolden circa 1905, in New Orleans. Basically Louis Armstrong dedicated his entire career to Buddy Bolden and his style, you know.
- 1/23/2010
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
Oscar-nominated actor Jackie Earle Haley continues his comeback, booking a trio of projects in both the comedy and dramatic arenas.
First up is a role in the Will Ferrell basketball comedy Semi-Pro, which Kent Alterman is directing for New Line Cinema. Haley is playing a fan who wins a basketball-throwing contest.
Haley then will segue to the all-star ensemble drama Winged Creatures, being directed by Rowan Woods. Haley will join Kate Beckinsale, Forest Whitaker, Dakota Fanning and Guy Pearce, portraying an abusive husband and angry father.
Lastly, Haley will shoot Bolden! an indie drama directed by Dan Pritzker and produced by Wynton Marsalis, Ed Arrendell, Jon Cornick and Michele Tayler. The period biopic stars Anthony Mackie as Buddy Bolden, the first man of New Orleans jazz. Haley will portray a judge at the center of most of the lucrative but corrupt activities in New Orleans -- notably brothels and Battles Royale, when black men were drugged and forced to fight one another before an all-white male audience.
First up is a role in the Will Ferrell basketball comedy Semi-Pro, which Kent Alterman is directing for New Line Cinema. Haley is playing a fan who wins a basketball-throwing contest.
Haley then will segue to the all-star ensemble drama Winged Creatures, being directed by Rowan Woods. Haley will join Kate Beckinsale, Forest Whitaker, Dakota Fanning and Guy Pearce, portraying an abusive husband and angry father.
Lastly, Haley will shoot Bolden! an indie drama directed by Dan Pritzker and produced by Wynton Marsalis, Ed Arrendell, Jon Cornick and Michele Tayler. The period biopic stars Anthony Mackie as Buddy Bolden, the first man of New Orleans jazz. Haley will portray a judge at the center of most of the lucrative but corrupt activities in New Orleans -- notably brothels and Battles Royale, when black men were drugged and forced to fight one another before an all-white male audience.
- 3/19/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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