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| Marc Platt and Stephen Schwartz |
" creator), Ryan Murphy ("Glee" creator) and Rob Marshall (Chicago
). (source)
co-star Jeff Bridges won for best performance by an actor in a motion picture).
Lots of Penn news happening this week on-campus and off!...
More here
My past posts about Marc here
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Past posts about Mark Cronin here
Check out who will be hosting this new show currently in production! More here
Past posts about Roy here
Past posts about Off the Beat here
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Marc Platt (C'79, Glee Club) will be co-producing a live action movie to author Jason Carter Eaton's children's book The Facttracker.
Per a great review for the book on goodreads.com:
"The Facttracker works in the Factory finding facts which the people of Traakerfaxx then supply to the world. When the just small enough boy, who tragically has no personal facts, is accidentally involved in blowing up the Factory, the Facttracker’s sinister brother Ersatz steps in, sets up a Liebrary, imprisons the Facttracker and convinces the people of Traakerfaxx that selling lies is much more fun and lucrative than selling facts. Can the just small enough boy set things right before the whole world is filled with nothing but lies? This is a great book that asks a very important question (What is the nature of truth itself?) without being too serious—well, actually without being serious at all—okay, let’s face it, the book is downright goofy, but also very fun and exciting to read. You won’t want to put it down until you finish and find out what’s going to happen!"More about the book here!
Read More......
He's an actor and a singer and he's performing in the ensemble of a hot musical here in Los Angeles.
DJ Gregory (W'03, Off the Beat) is now performing in the ensemble of the cast of Marc Platt's (C'79) Wicked (8 shows a week!) at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles, and also understudies the lead role of Fiyero. This October, DJ debuts in the Bret Easton Ellis feature film, The Informers (starring Winona Ryder).
In addition to being an actor, DJ (going by "David James") is an acoustic rock musician. Last year he released his debut EP, 'West River Drive,'. Listen below to this fantastic song of his...
Click for the meaning behind this song!...+/-
"I always tell the story at live shows that 'I Don't Want To Be Your Friend," is about the 'friend-zone.' It's about that place you get to when you allow someone, who you long for romantically, to be your friend. And then because of how close you get to them, and how intimate your friendship is, they can't risk losing you, so they don't allow themselves to consider you romantically. I think the title is long, but I thought it was important to say exactly what it is. It's that moment when you realize that your heart is too strong to ignore, and you just lay it out there. I'm done. Here it is. This is what I need. I don't want to be your friend."
Get his West River Drive CD here!
Did you see Marc Platt's (C'79, Glee Club) movie trailer for his upcoming film Wanted during the first half of today's Superbowl? It looked really cool. (Marc's previously produced projects include Legally Blonde and Broadway's Wicked)
Wanted stars Angelina Jolie and comes out next June. Per Yahoo Movies, here is the Wanted plot synopsis:
"25-year-old Wes was the most disaffected, cube-dwelling drone the planet had ever known. His boss chewed him out hourly, his girlfriend ignored him routinely and his life plodded on interminably. Everyone was certain this disengaged slacker would amount to nothing. There was little else for Wes to do but wile away the days and die in his slow, clock-punching rut. Until he met a woman named Fox. After his estranged father is murdered, the deadly sexy Fox recruits Wes into the Fraternity, a secret society that trains Wes to avenge his dad's death by unlocking his dormant powers. As she teaches him how to develop lightning-quick reflexes and phenomenal agility, Wes discovers this team lives by an ancient, unbreakable code: carry out the death orders given by fate itself. With wickedly brilliant tutors--including the Fraternity's enigmatic leader, Sloan--Wes grows to enjoy all the strength he ever wanted. But, slowly, he begins to realize there is more to his dangerous associates than meets the eye. And as he wavers between newfound heroism and vengeance, Wes will come to learn what no one could ever teach him: he alone controls his destiny. "Click here to see the Superbowl Wanted trailer
Jonah Platt (C'08) is quite the renaissance man.
Not only can Jonah sing well, and not only is he the musical director of Off the Beat, but he started and sustained an improvised musical troupe "One Night Stand" for the past 7 years (with a show in Los Angeles this week!). Talk about being involved!
...Not a big surprise, considering he comes from an involved family of Penn alumni (his mother Julie Platt (C'79) is a University Trustee and his father Marc Platt (C'79, Glee Club) is a Hollywood executive and Broadway Producer).
Jonah tells me that at his shows the audience makes up the name of a musical ("Mongoose Diaries," "Thundercats in Love," "They Came From My Mother" and "Walk of Shame" are a few recent ones) and the troupe then makes up a cohesive hourlong musical right on the spot. Per Jonah, "We make up the music, the lyrics, the dances, the dialogue-- everything completely improvised with nothing pre-planned or rehearsed."
Check out this "Walk of Shame" clip from their performance at the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Jonah is the one lying on the floor and sings at minute 3)
Jonah will be performing their group's international (60 min.) hit show, One Night Stand, at the Hudson Guild Theater in LA this week on January 10 (8pm), 11 (8pm) and 12 (8pm and 10 pm). (6539 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90038). Running Time: 60 minutes, Tickets: $15.00. To make reservations (323) 960-5773.
(I'll be there at the Saturday 8 pm show)
Their group then performs at the Dirty South Improv Festival in Chapel Hill, NC in February, then back to Edinburgh Scotland for the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where they made their debut last summer.
Click here to learn more about how Jonah started this group and some of the big name backers to his show.
Check out the "One Night Stand" website
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Kevin Misher (far left) on the set of The Interpreter. Kevin Misher (C'87) to produce an untitled action film.
According to comingsoon.net, the film is about:
"a rough-hewn heroic tale about realizing dreams of glory, putting audiences ringside at high-stakes underground street fights. Tatum [O'Neill] will star as Sean Arthur, a young man who scrapes up a living scalping tickets in NYC. With family tragedy in his past and his father keeping him at a distance, this outsider has little to motivate him. A chance encounter with a veteran street-fighting coach leads to a whole new career for Sean. The ensuing bouts get tough, especially with the criminal element horning in, so Sean gets tougher. He will fight to win, not only the prize money but also the unexpected new relationships that are strengthening him."
Kevin is currently in post-production on Christian Alvart's Case 39, starring Renée Zellweger and Jodelle Ferland, for release this winter. For you comic book fans out there, I also see on his IMDB profile that he'll be producing "Sub-Mariner". His earlier producing credits include The Interpreter and The Rundown.
When I first moved to LA around 1996, Kevin was part of a bunch of successful Penn alumni at Universal Studios including Stacey Snider (C'82) (former Chairman of Universal Pictures, now CEO/co-chair of Dreamworks), Ali Brecker Shearmur (C'89) (former Exec VP of Universal, now producing deal at Paramount) and Marc Platt (C'79) (Executive Producer). It's great to see that they've all gone on to great success. Stay tuned on DuelingTampons.com for future posts about what all of these alumni are up to!
Click to check out an article the DP did a while back on Kevin
Click to check out some of Kevin's and other alumni films
Check out some of my other Penn film producer posts
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