Wednesday, June 29

Assassin's Tango

I love action movies. But I am no fan of Michael Bay, although admittedly his latest (The Island) does look rather appealing. Those who know me are aware of my deep love for Hong Kong cinema, old school John Woo (Face/Off was his last great movie in that mold), Robert Rodriguez, Johnnie To, James Cameron and so forth. When action films are done well they can wonderfully meld the brainlessness of pop entertainment while giving us something deeper and more complex to consider. Great action films do that. Mr. and Mrs. Smith was a great popcorn flic almost in this style. I'd written a pair of action films with a strong female lead (the same one for both) in this vein. If there was ever a sequel for Mr. and Mrs. Smith I'd love to be the one to write it, the possibilities are endless.

Still there is something to be said for the new flux of female action heroes invading the cinemas. It's something Hong Kong has done for as long as their cinema has been alive. And frankly, I love it. I love writing strong women. It's what I do.

I really need to write a film with a strong, Latina as the lead. Woo hoo, watch out!

I'm Waiting For The Man...

Progress on Bow & Arrow (the independent feature) as of this post. 77 out of 110 pages (Final Draft stylin')

Monday, June 6

Never grow old...

Life. I'm at the crossroads. I recently graduated with my MFA in something or other and I'm not quite sure what that means. I'm a master of some fine art, I think. The pressures of "what are you going to do now?" has never seemed greater or more real. To be honest, I don't know. I think that's okay though. But I do know that I want to write, be a writer. I am a writer. Right out of graduate school. And that's okay, too.

A friend and colleague recently offered me the opportunity to write an independent feature he intends to shoot in the fall. A coming of age wrestling story, about a Vietnamese teenager raised by white parents. It's got potential. I love the research part, most of the time. I'm discovering new things about "Boat people" and "Operation Baby Lift" which all seem rich for harvest. I know this is the key to making this more than your run of the mill coming of age/sports story. I want to tell a good story, plain and simple. Plus it's a (small) paying gig. So that's nice. I'll try and keep ya'll posted.

In other news, a director I used to work for has just offered me a job co-writing and shooting a film in Taiwan in August for two months. A friend (my co-writer with this director) has also been asked to come, which would be great. The director is offering to pay for travel and expenses while in Taiwan (he's possibly even going to pay my rent here for the time that I'm gone). If he can guarantee all of this, I'm as good as there.

Opportunity knocks... I just hope life doesn't get in the way.