A little later on the Kyoto rooftop I bumped into a couple chaps from the UK. I quickly learned that UKians are tough to talk to because they barely speak American. Also they are really tall. I had to stand on my tip toes to speak to Scottish filmmaker Ross Howieson. Despite these drawbacks I was able to gleen some good advice. He shared a trick for remembering everyone's name in a large crowd: Name each person after a celebrity. He dubbed me "Steve Martin". Clearly "Stone Cold Steve Austin" had already been taken.
Also in the group was Fergus Johnston, who had starred in a couple of the shorts being screened. I noticed that Fergus's hair had the power to mutate between arrow straight and typhoon wavy. I would later discover that both Ross and Fergus were masters of disguise:
So it turns out they are spies. But then aren't all tall guys from the UK spies? It's not like they have anything else to do. They don't even have real football.
Ross's cover story was that they were in LA to promote their feature film "What Would Ridley Do". Ross shot it with no budget, just determination and damn good actors. Fergus and Owen Whitelaw play struggling filmmakers who shoot a film with no budget. Irony can be pretty ironic.
I have a feeling this film is going to get picked up soon. Owen's accent alone virtually guarantees US distribution. I would listen to the kid read ingredients off a cereal box.
Keep an eye out for "What Would Ridley Do" coming soon to a theater/video store/Netflix near you.
***
I didn't get much time to talk to Ramiro Castro and his crew from "Big Dog Eat Child", but I did offer support after watching "What Up Little Kid". The Chicago natives were there to screen the film, stressing the importance of disciplining our youth.
I think the world would be a better place if this was mandatory viewing in all our elementary schools:
Coming up: Groundhogs and cellphones...
No comments:
Post a Comment