Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Tahmoh talks about filming Trapped Ashes

In case you missed it, the Trapped Ashes myspace page has posted the September '07 Fangoria article on the making of the horror anthology film. It includes a few brief quotes from Tahmoh about the production:

With Russell now wrapped, the production moves immediately onto director Hellman's "Stanley's Girlfriend," a visually more subdued segment... Shooting on a sound-stage in eastern Vancouver, actor Tahmoh Penikett (whose career is catching fire due to his turn as 'Helo' on the Sci-Fi Channel series Battlestar Galactica,), says of Hellman, "Monte is an absolute pleasure. We've been working at a feverish pace, but he has put a lot of trust in me, and I've had no trouble trusting and understanding his direction."

Penikett, who portrays the screenwriter 'Leo' in the segment (with John Saxon playing the older version of the character), tells us that in addition to Hellman's involvement, the signing of fellow Canadian actor Tygh (Disturbing Behavior) Runyon was instrumental in sparking his interest. "I've heard many great things," says Penikett, "and I couldn't wait to work with him."
Read the full article for more details about the movie and shooting Tahmoh's segment.

Director Monte Hellman also had praise for Runyon and Tahmoh in a recent interview:
"I normally shy away from any subject involving well-known public figures portrayed by actors, feeling it's impossible to overcome the latent image of the real person in the audience's mind's eye. But with STANLEY'S GIRLFRIEND there were two mitigating factors. One, I felt that Kubrick at the age of 29 wouldn't be familiar to an audience today. And two, I had observed Kubrick frequently during this period, and found the challenge of recreating his personna irresistible.

Of course, as always, everything depends on casting. I was fortunate not only to find the perfect actor to play the young Stanley Kubrick, but equally exciting actors for his antagonists as well."
Remember, I posted more than 250 screencaps of Tahmoh's scenes in Trapped Ashes in January. They're available on the site's Flickr.

Trapped Ashes is due for a US DVD release this summer via Lionsgate. It's already out in Germany (with Tahmoh on the cover).

2 comments:

  1. I don't think Tahmoh could have received a better mention by Monte Hellman than "the perfect actor to play the young Stanley Kubrick." Bravo, Tahmoh!

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  2. Hi Karen! Tahmoh is not playing Kubrick , but a friend of his! I bought the dvd and checked. The movie consists of 4 short-stories connected by a background story. I can neither say I like it nor can I say I don't. What I can tell you is this: I don't see a flaw in the story's arch (so some scence are almost comical) nor in the actors playing. But somehow the story won't catch you. Let's give you an example. You want to bake a cake. You have everything ready, the best ingrediences you can get a hold on, the best oven in the neighbourhood, a lot of time and some piece of advice your granny gave you last chrismas. All in all the best possible input. And the result is a miserable little piece of something you won't feed your dog on. My advice to all of you - if you can get a hold on the dvd - watch it! But do not expect a perfect Hollywood movie. Try to find somebody who has more than just two movie categories ("great movie" and "what a piece of s...!") as a companion. All in all it is a good movie for having a whole evening of heated discussion about! Take care and good hunting!

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