48 film festival screening aka: check your god damn audio people!

Last night I was able to convince (it wasn't that hard) a friend to go with me to the first screening of the DC 48 hour film festival. 8 films all between 3-8 minutes made in only 48 hours. How could this possibly go wrong! Well they weren't all that bad. I'm sure if I had attempted it, my piece would have been just as craptastic. But the lovely monochromatic director who was standing in front of us made for some lovely conversation about sitting on faces. Apparently there is another round of the 48 in the fall. I'm going to try and get on a team or make a team.

But I was going through the new AFI Preview and they are doing a Hitchcock series (although, didn't they already have one?) and are showing Vertigo. On the big screen. happiness!

Macaulay Culkin is a lot shorter than I would have thought

So last week (or so) I got the chance to catch an advanced screening of Saved!

Saved! is about a high school of born-again Christians with a dash of homosexuality and teen pregnancy... and hilarity ensues. A dark comedy far from the generic teen flick which isn't as anti-religion as one might guess.

Both Macaulay Culkin and Jena Malone were at the screening for a little Q&A afterwards. First with the review and then with the rest.

The movie was exactly what I thought it would be, but funnier. The obvious jokes and easy gags were there, but once the audience becomes invested in the characters, all that stuff fades off and we see real struggles these kids are dealing with. There are 3 different sub-plots (the mother, the boyfriend and the brother in a wheelchair) that more fill out this world than take away from it. I was also pretty impressed with Moore's performance. She went all out, didn't hold back at all from where this character was going and how far she had to fall at the end. A lot of the people I talked to after the screening said that they wouldn't have gone to see it originally but now are really glad they did.

now for the Q&A:

Of course the first question was about Mandy Moore. They both said she was great, easy to work with, gave 110% every day and was totally fearless in her acting.

There were a lot of dumb ass questions asked (as most of the audience except my roommate and I, were high school age) and both of them played it off. Macaulay was asked to do 'the face' to which he just laughed and said "but I'm old now! You'll see it and go "oh that's it?"

When asked how the Christian-Right was reacting, Jena said that the ones who don't like it are the ones who haven't seen it, and are missing that the movie comes out to be very pro-faith. She said that if asked, Dannelly would say that the direct audience for this movie is "Christian girls". Both Jena and Macaulay said they don't have any sort of religious affiliation, but Macaulay was raised catholic.

They said that for research they attended a lot of Christian rock concerts and rallies. Jena mentioned she was 'saved' 3 times and Macaulay said every time you're saved you get a free bible! She said that it was the conversations with the young girls her age at these rallies was the most valuable to her. Macaulay rode around in a wheelchair for a while trying to get the hang of it. He said that it was the little things that ended up being hard, such as opening
a refrigerator.

As for the question I got to ask, what they're up to next, Mac just finished shooting a pilot for NBC called Foster Hall (he had a Neighborhoodie on that said Foster Hall on the back and I couldn't read the front) and he's waiting to hear if it got picked up. Jena mentioned United States of Leland and Rose
and The Snake, directed by Rebecca Miller who also did Personal Velocity. She also said she is heading off to England in the fall to film Pride and Prejudice. Macaulay is doing a lot of writing, which is eventually what he wants to do full time and according to him Jena is a great photographer. Oh and apparently they did a lot of karaoke as a cast.

Someone also asked about romance on the set. Macaulay totally denied it while Jena said something along the lines of "you know how it is when you get a bunch of people around the same age, who are all passionate about the same thing. it's like summer camp!" funny stuff.

All in all they were both gracious and patient with the idiot audience. They both were really funny and super relaxed. Jena stuck around to talk to people, while Macaulay was whisked away only to be stopped outside of the theater.

as Macaulay said "tell a friend! who will tell 2! and soon, we've got a hit on our hands!"