Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
Part of this was reported on last week, although it’s always nice to get a new perspective:
Hey Harry
Last week I was in Seattle at a college journalism convention, and we were treated to a screening of 'Identity' followed by a Q & A with John C. McGinley (TV's Scrubs).
Here's a brief synopsis, for those who don't know about the flick.
Passing through on their way home, we have the York family. Mother Alice (Leila Kenzle) and young son Timothy (Bret Loehr) are joined in the car by anxious new step-father George (John C. McGinley). After an accident, they are brought to a seedy motel in the limo of fading movie star Caroline Suzanne (Rebecca DeMornay). Her driver, Ed (John Cusak) flees attempting to find help, but all he can find is stranded prostitute Paris (Amanda Peet). The hotel manager, Larry (John Hawkes) does not take kindly to whores, so he chooses to first give a room to newlywed couple Ginny (Clea DuVall) and Lou (William Lee Scott). Just when you think this place is out of vacancies, one more car pulls up, and this one has a state police logo on the door. Detective Rhodes (Ray Liotta) is in the middle of transferring deadly prisoner Robert Maine (Jake Busey) and needs a place to stay for the night.
Did I mention they are next to a burial ground? Did I mention it's a dark and stormy night?
As the night progresses, the crowd is reduced, thanks to a series of murders... but by who? Dun dun dun.
I don't want to give anything away, but it's not very predictable, as much as I tried to guess along the way. The script, which was a big concern, is still a bit unclear. McGinley spoke of many re-writes, stating that "Clarity was a big issue, and this was a large improvement from earlier drafts."
"I didn’t know if the end would be a cop out as I was reading it," he said about the ending. The audience reacted in a very positive fashion to this movie, and McGinley seemed proud of this ensamble work.
When asked about his upcomming work, McGinley said he was recently offered a role in the upcoming "Garfield the Cat" movie. I asked if it was the role of owner, John Arbuckle. He responded, "no, that role is already taken by Breckin Meyer." I can't believe that personally. It's a wise move by McGinley to pass, but he definately has more of the Arbuckle look than Inside Schwartz boy.
Oh - and I was at the 'Dreamcatcher', 'T3', 'Malibu's most Wanted' and 'Mighty Wind' screeners that were previously reported on, and thought I could add some things...
-Donnie Wahlberg was a no-show for Dreamcatcher, leaving Jason Lee by himself. This may have been part of the reason that he was reluctant to answer. It was a bit much for someone to use their question to ask "Why are you being such an asshole?"
-Jamie Kennedy was dressed in full Fubu attire, down to his orange 'finger-sweat-bands'.
-Kristanna Loken (T3) shot down a guy who asked about the panelists being bad influences on the students for not going to college. The guy was booed out of the place, and the emcee wanted to dump the question, but the Terminatrix decided to field it and give it to him.
-Some insane girl kept trying to get things that people left behind, like a Jamie Kennedy finger-band, and Jason Lee's water. As she got Lee's water, he yelled from the back of the theater "There's acid in that," and left.
-We were all treated to gift bags, including dreamcatchers, and tank tops for 'malibu's most wanted' with the catchphrase "Don't be hatin' " written on the front.
Alright - that's enough.
call me "The Beacon"
Man, they didn’t do events like this when I was in college. More and more today, we get reviews from these travelling previews that show up at various universities. It’s definitely a smart way to try and build buzz if you’ve got a film that delivers the goods...
Anyway, thanks for the letter, Beacon.
"Moriarty" out.
