We're still here

I promise. I haven't abandoned All About Tahmoh Penikett. The news has been a bit slow and summer has been a bit busy so I've not posted in a while. I'm hoping to grab some screen caps from The Killing in the next couple weeks. Keep your fingers crossed - we may even have a few surprises to share. For now...

Links originally posted at the Facebook site (follow us there if you're on FB).

Nerdist Podcast from C2E2
Video Interview with The Electric Playground
Tahmoh and Aleks Paunovic talk about their memorable convention moments with CNN

Netflix Subscribers can stream many of Tahmoh's earlier movies and television series, including the following (I'll update the list as I find more or they become available):

• Cold Squad
• Battlestar Galactica
• Dollhouse
• Trapped Ashes
  
• Trick r Treat
  
• Riverworld

Just because I can, I'm reposting the flickr link to screen caps Justine took of Tahmoh as Elias Noth in Whistler, which is my all-time favorite Tahmoh role. I don't know any place you can still legally watch Whistler, so these pictures are all I can share until (if?) it becomes available.

Trapped Ashes will be available on DVD on July 15 (US)

Lionsgate will release the 5-part horror anthology film, Trapped Ashes, in which Tahmoh stars as Leo in "Stanley's Girlfriend," on DVD on July 15th. You can see a trailer for the film, which includes Tahmoh, over at the Lionsgate site, where you can also pre-order it for $19.98 (Update: Amazon has it for $17.99). The new US cover art (like that of Germany) features Tahmoh prominently:

The DVD will include:

• Deleted Scenes
• Commentary with Cast and Filmmakers
• Making of TRAPPED ASHES - 5-Part Featurette
• Director's Cut of "Stanley's Girlfriend"

All of which will likely mean additional material featuring Tahmoh. The Director's Cut of "Stanley's Girlfriend" (Tahmoh's segment) will likely be the longer version that Monte Hellman shot and showed at Cannes in 2006.

See previous posts on Trapped Ashes here.
See the All.about.tahmoh Flickr for hundreds of screencaps.

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).

Screencaps of Tahmoh in Trapped Ashes (2006)

I've posted more than 250 screencaps of Tahmoh's scenes in the horror anthology Trapped Ashes. It was released on DVD in Germany this past Friday (see cover art below) and will hit US shelves early this summer. Looks like a must-see!

Spoiler Warning: The screencaps give away key plot points,
so don't look if you want to be surprised!

See the rest over at the site's Flickr.

PS: If you'd like to help finance the site buying the US version of the Trapped Ashes DVD when it comes out, consider buying your copy of the Battlestar Season 3 DVDs--now coming out a week earlier!--by clicking one of the Amazon links in the right sidebar (the site gets 5% of your purchase price at no additional cost to you).

Trapped Ashes German DVD cover art (releases Friday)

The horror anthology film, Trapped Ashes, in which Tahmoh plays Leo, a friend to the young Stanley (Kubrick), will go on sale on DVD in Germany this Friday, January 25th. (See the listing on Amazon.de here).

DevilDead.com is reporting the DVD will include a 54-minute "Making of" featurette. Click below for a high-resolution version of the German DVD cover art, which features Tahmoh prominently (see the previous art here).

According to the movie's writer, Dennis Bartok, the US DVD release by Lionsgate will be early this summer (2008).

See earlier posts on Trapped Ashes here.

More praise for Trapped Ashes & DVD news

Tahmoh's part in the upcoming anthology horror flick, Trapped Ashes, in which he stars as Leo, friend of a young Stanley Kubrick, has been garnering praise from critics (even those who panned the rest of the anthology) at festival screenings across the country. The film is due out on DVD from Lionsgate soon, with a release date of January 2008.

Fear.net has nothing but praise for Tahmoh's part of the film:

"The best episode, however, follows in the spectacular “Stanley’s Girlfriend,” directed by ‘70s Hollywood legend Monte Hellman (Two-Lane Blacktop, China 9 Liberty 37) and told by horror vet John Saxon. Set in 1950s Hollywood, and posing the theoretical question “What if Stanley Kubrick had fallen in love with a succubus?”, it follows the early careers of two budding filmmakers – Stanley and Leo – who become close friends, bonding over a shared love of the game of chess. One day, Stanley shows up with a new girlfriend, a beautiful woman who seems to be a dream match. Not soon after, Leo starts a secret affair with her, little realizing that the lethargy and fatigue he begins to feel is a result of her terrible appetite. Soon the vampiress has come between the two men, but in not the way you might expect. Less horrific and more elegiac than the other episodes, it features a well-crafted screenplay that captures not only the nostalgia of old Hollywood, but also the sadness of a lost friendship and the desperate feeling of being compelled to do something you know will hurt the one you love. Plus it’s a fascinating fictional history that should fire the imagination of open-minded movie buffs."

Shocktillyoudrop.com also liked Tahmoh's segment:

"The third vignette, directed by Monte Hellman, is an interesting entry. Like the works of novelist James Elroy, who takes real life events (such as the Kennedy assassination in "American Tabloid") and weaves fiction throughout the historical facts, writer Dennis Bartok seems to create a fictional (or is it?) story as to why director Stanley Kubrick left America to never return. Titled "Stanley's Girlfriend," the story centers on two up and coming filmmakers in 1950s Hollywood, one of them named Leo (Tahmoh "Battlestar Galactica" Penikett playing a young John Saxon who tells the story) and the other named Stanley (Tygh "Snakes on A Plane" Runyan). The two meet by chance, become fast friends and begin spending an inordinate amount of time together just about every day. That is, until, Stanley hooks up with Nina (the smoldering Amelia "Species III" Cooke).

It's not long before Stanley is spending every waking minute with this voluptuous siren; never returning calls, never leaving his home and never going to work. Until, one day, Stanley suddenly flees to Europe sending only a note indicating he never intends to return, leaving Leo to wonder why. Is something afoot? Has it something to do with Nina, whom he is drawn to like a moth to a flame? A flame he can't seem to resist touching? While Bartok certainly never uses the last name of Kubrick in relation to the Stanley character, the comparisons are quite obvious to anyone even remotely familiar with Kubrick's life. It also shows Bartok's range as a writer as this if far from your typical horror anthology story, but it is certainly one of this film's better installments."

A spoilery review on the "Stanley's Girlfriend" IMDB page lays out the parallels to Kubrick's life:

"Monte Hellman was the logical director of this piece, the only interesting episode of the otherwise dismal TRAPPED ASHES. He belonged to the circle of young directors and writers,among them Curtis Harrington, Gavin Lambert and Alexander Singer, who knew Kubrick and partner James Harris during his Hollywood period - 1956-1961. The soft-spoken, expressionless Stanley, authentic shadowy Californian interiors, and motif of chess - a life-long Kubrick preoccupation - add verisimilitude, but the lack of any overt horror, aside from some sensual clawing of Leo by Nina, and the diminuendo ending, make it sit ill among its gaudy and grisly companions.

All the same, the story has intriguing parallels to Kubrick's private life. At the time, he was married to Ruth Sobotka, a sensual, flamboyant brunette of European extraction, and their marriage foundered at just this point in his career, apparently over a sexual incident in her past life to which Kubrick took exception. And it was in Germany, while making his "movie about the First World War", PATHS OF GLORY, that he met Christiane Harlan, who became his third and last wife."

Boston-area fans: Trapped Ashes to screen this Thurs.

This Thursday, October 11th, Tahmoh's horror film, Trapped Ashes, will screen on opening night of the Boston Fantastic Film Festival at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, MA.

New England Premiere!
TRAPPED ASHES @ 10 pm
Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., in Harvard Square

Tahmoh's segment of the anthology, "Stanley's Girlfriend," screened previously at the Cannes film festival. You can read positive buzz for Tahmoh's part here. Visit the Brattle web site for directions and theater information.

I'll likely be in attendance... so if any other fans out there would like to meet up for the screening, email me at all.about.tahmoh@gmail.com.

Here's a list of the other upcoming theatrical engagements:

• October 12 - 13th -- Inwood Theatre -- Dallas, Texas
• October 19 & 21st -- Cleveland Cinematheque -- Cleveland, Ohio
• October 19 - 21st -- Phoenix Horror Festival -- Phoenix, Arizona

More positive buzz for Tahmoh’s part in Trapped Ashes

Tahmoh's horror anthology film, Trapped Ashes, is currently screening in Chicago (August 31 - Sept. 6th), which has generated some more positive buzz for Tahmoh's segment of the film, "Stanley's Girlfriend." Though the surrounding film tends to get poor reviews, all the critics thus far have praised "Stanley's Girlfriend."

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune movie critic

"Most rewarding and subtle of the bunch, "Stanley's Girlfriend" takes itself just seriously enough to stick; Monte Hellman treats this McCarthy-era tale of studio ambition and betrayal with a sense of style."

Derek Houck, Pollystaffle.com

"Directed by Monte Hellman, this segment was a lot more down-to-earth. It featured decent performances from all involved and ended up being my favorite story of the four."

Bill Stamets, Chicago Sun-Times movie critic

"Hellman, of "Two-Lane Blacktop" fame, gets a marginally intriguing premise in Bartok's yarn of a young Kubrick-like director named "Stanley" who hands off his ageless vampish muse to his chess-playing pal. Yuks and chills do not abound."

Read more positive buzz for "Stanley's Girlfriend," which screened at Cannes last year, here and here.

Here's the schedule of upcoming theatrical engagements:

• August 31 - Sept. 6th - Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago
• Sept. 7 - 8th - Esquire Theatre, Denver
• Sept. 10th - Pioneer Theatre, New York City (with Fangoria Magazine)
• Sept. 21 - 22nd -Egyptian Theatre, Seattle
• Sept. 22nd -Uptown Theatre, Minneapolis
• October 2nd - BAM Cinematek, Brooklyn

Trapped Ashes festival schedule & DVD news

According to the film's official myspace page, here is the limited theatrical release schedule for Tahmoh's horror film, Trapped Ashes. The film will be available on DVD in wide release in December from Lionsgate.

• August 16th - Dead Channels Festival, San Francisco
• August 31 - Sept. 6th - Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago
• Sept. 7 - 8th - Esquire Theatre, Denver
• Sept. 10th - Pioneer Theatre, New York City (with Fangoria Magazine)
• Sept. 21 - 22nd -Egyptian Theatre, Seattle
• Sept. 22nd -Uptown Theatre, Minneapolis
• October 2nd - BAM Cinematek, Brooklyn

Here is some recent praise of Tahmoh's part of the film:

"Hellman provides the best (and least explicitly gory) entry, about a hack screenwriter (Tahmoh Penikett, playing a younger John Saxon), who sleeps with the sultry girlfriend (Amelia Cook) of his best friend, a chess-playing, soon-to-be-great director named Stanley (Tygh Runyan). Its sense of anxiety is only increased by Hellman’s avoidance of big shock moments." -- Los Angeles City Beat

"Enjoyed the picture immensely (it is very funny and creepy) ... [Monte Hellman] is just a great director and understands performance like so few. Really impressed." -- George Hickenlooper, Director of Factory Girl and The Man from Elysian Fields

LA-area fans: Trapped Ashes premieres this week!

If you're in the Los Angeles area, you might be interested to know that the horror anthology film, Trapped Ashes, will premiere this Thursday, August 2 at 8:00 PM at the Egyptian Theater, as part of the 7th Festival of Fantasy, Horror & Science-Fiction. It will then be screened for the next six nights at 7:30pm.

Here's what the director of Tahmoh's segment, "Stanley's Girlfriend," had to say about it to the LA Times:

"'Stanley's Girlfriend,' " offers Hellman, is "the kind of horror movie that I like the best. It's really the least horror of any of the stories. It's there, but very subtle. It's hair on the back of your neck rising. When I do horror, I treat it as reality. The supernatural elements the audience can take or leave. I find a realistic way to look at it."

Here's the official movie description:

TRAPPED ASHES, 2006, Lions Gate, 105 min. Seven strangers are trapped inside an infamous "House of Horrors" during a Hollywood movie studio tour and forced to tell their most terrifying personal stories in order to get out alive.

A discusion will follow the August 2nd premiere with writer/producer Dennis Bartok, directors Monte Hellman, Sean Cunningham, actors John Saxon, Scott Lowell, Rachel Veltri, producers Yuko Yoshikawa and Yoshifumi Hosoya, and production designer Robb Wilson King.

Here's the full screening schedule:

TRAPPED ASHES

Thursday, August 2 - 8:00 PM - LA Premiere!
Friday, August 3 – 7:30 PM
Saturday, August 4 – 7:30 PM
Sunday, August 5 – 7:30 PM
Monday, August 6 – 7:30 PM
Tuesday, August 7 – 7:30 PM
Wednesday, August 8 – 7:30 PM

If anyone goes, please let me know!

Positive Buzz for Tahmoh’s part in Trapped Ashes

Royce Clemens from Horror Yearbook recently saw the horror anthology film, Trapped Ashes (to be released by Lionsgate), and posted a review.

STANLEY’S GIRLFRIEND: Directed by Monte Hellman

I may like some of these shorts, but Monte Hellman’s STANLEY’S GIRLFRIEND is the one I love. Screenwriter Leo (John Saxon) tells a story about himself back in the day when he met a young man obviously based on the late Stanley Kubrick (They don’t mention THE KILLING by name, but they say “the movie set at the racetrack was great”).

Young Leo (Tahmoh Penikett) and Stanley (Tygh Runyan) become fast friends and Stanley introduces him to his girlfriend Nina (Amelia Cooke).There’s something about her that’s a little… Off… Stanley disappears one day and Leo and Amelia start sleeping together. Then he starts withdrawing from the world.

Far from the comedy of the first short or the creeping dread of the second, there is a nostalgia and sadness for things past that drives STANLEY’S GIRLFRIEND. You can tell that Hellman (who directed the drive-in classic TWO-LANE BLACKTOP) is a fan of movies first and a filmmaker second. And it builds into a slow reveal about the characters forty years after the fact. Kind of like a ghost story around a campfire. I like that. It’s delicate.

I know there are some who will get impatient or call it boring, so if you come upon this review after watching the movie, I’ll make you a deal: You write YOUR OWN review about why you don’t like it.

Till then, of course, you can kiss my ass. (***1/2)

Update on Trapped Ashes (US premiere date set)

In case you were wondering when you might see Tahmoh's first horror film, Trapped Ashes, which screened at Cannes last year, the film's producers recently posted an update to the movie's myspace page.

Trapped Ashes -- Update

Thanks to everyone who's checked out our page and for the e-mails asking about release date, trailer, etc. We're waiting for Lions Gate to give us the official U.S. release date and as soon as we have it, we'll announce it here ... In the meantime, we're working on cutting a new trailer to post here -- the one we currently have, which was cut for us by Joe Dante (bless you, Joe!), unfortunately has some nudity and ultra-violence in it, which would not please the good folks at My Space ... But never fear, we'll have one up soon.

In the meantime -- we're thrilled to announce that TRAPPED ASHES will have its U.S. theatrical premiere at the American Cinematheque's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, August 2 - 8th, and will open the Cinematheque's annual Festival of Fantasy, Horror & Science-Fiction. We expect that most if not all of the L.A.-based cast, crew and directors will attend on August 2nd, so check here or the Cinematheque's website at: www.americancinematheque.com for more info. on tickets/showtimes.

Tickets go on sale 30 days in advance of screening date. So if you're in LA, don't forget to buy your tickets at the beginning of July and tell us all about it!

Trapped Ashes to be released by Lionsgate

A press release from Arclight films confirms that Tahmoh's horror film, Trapped Ashes, has been picked up by Lionsgate for distribution later this year.

Arclight is currently using the new still photo of Tahmoh at left to promote the film. You can see a larger and slightly different version of the pic (released for Cannes) here.

Trapped Ashes picked up by horror-hungry Lionsgate

Lionsgate has picked up North American rights from Darclight Films to the horror anthology Trapped Ashes.

No word on whether the film will be released theatrically or on home video...

To see more pics and find out more about the film, see my previous posts.

First reviews of Trapped Ashes

Tahmoh stars as Stanley in Monte Hellman's segment of the anthology horror film, Trapped Ashes. The movie has a MySpace page here.

Darclight films, the film's production company, is currently using a photo of Tahmoh and reviews of "Stanley's Girlfriend" prominently in its promotional material. They include the following quotes from Patrick McGavin, ScreenDaily.com:

"...Monte Hellman's superlative, evocative and genuinely moving Stanley's Girlfriend is the standout contribution of TRAPPED ASHES, the horror anthology of four macabre vignettes also directed by Ken Russell, Sean Cunningham and John Gaeta..."

"...Hellman's Stanley's Girlfriend is not only the strongest piece, it is the most atypical, graced by memory and guilt, involving a man (Saxon) recalling a charged episode as a young screenwriter from 1957 and his developing friendship with Stanley Kubrick and the beautiful, intoxicating woman (Cooke) that passed between them. Hellman debuted his work in a separate collection of shorts at Cannes, and the layered, fascinating portrait of male friendship and sexual competition is poetic and vibrant deepened by the authenticity of the period details, the intuitive use of jazz and a revelation that brings surprise and wonder..."

"...The Hellman is too much of a good thing, a tantalizing work that deserves a deeper and fuller investigation. It also points out the limitations of the complementary works. To its credit it lifts TRAPPED ASHES into a higher realm..."

Jonathan Doyle from Bloody-Disgusting.com interviewed "Stanley's Girlfriend" director, Monte Hellman:

MH: I had four days and my segment was originally 28 minutes. In Cannes it played for almost 30 minutes because of titles and everything, but they cut about 5 minutes out of everybody's to bring it down to an hour and three quarters. A 28-minute piece is almost a third of a movie.

BD: So will there be longer versions on the DVD?

MH: That, I don't know. There is talk of the Stanley segment having a separate, full, longer version as an extra.

Variety had this to say about Hellman's segment:

"Next, irascible veteran B-pic director Leo (John Saxon) flashes back to his earliest professional days, when (now played by Tahmoh Penikett) he befriended eccentric aspiring helmer Stanley (Tygh Runyan), who ceases contact when he gets involved with vamp Nina (Amelia Cooke). When Stanley wisely flees the country, Leo winds up experiencing her succubus-like power over men...."

Ironically, Variety objects to the Stanley Kubrick references in the segment as Hellman tells Doyle in the interview above that "Stanley's Girlfriend" is actually based on a true story involving Kubrick.

The Hollywood Reporter deemed "Stanley's Girlfriend": "by far the most stylized of the bunch, but lacking sufficient creepiness."

All that said, you don't have to look far to find less than enthused Toronto Film Festival viewers. So the verdict on the anthology seems rather mixed, though Tahmoh's segment gets generally good reviews.

Trapped Ashes to premiere at Toronto Film Festival

Tahmoh's horror film, Trapped Ashes, will have its world premiere as part of "Midnight Madness" during the Toronto International Film Festival this month. (Tahmoh's segment of the film, "Stanley's Girlfriend," premiered earlier this year at the Cannes Film Festival).

SCREENING TIMES:
Tuesday, September 12 11:59 PM RYERSON
Thursday, September 14 12:15 PM PARAMOUNT 4

Six strangers (including cult actor John Saxon!) are invited to tour the legendary back lot of Ultra Studios, one of Hollywood's most venerated movie companies. Before long, the party, along with their eccentric guide (beloved character actor Henry Gibson), find themselves trapped on the set of the infamous House of Horrors, used for the notorious sixties thriller Hysteria. A sinister force will only allow them to live if they recount their most terrifying stories, just like the characters in the movie…

Comprised of five vignettes by five unique filmmakers with their own twisted, perverse visions, Trapped Ashes follows the tradition of classic anthology horror films like Tales from the Crypt and Kwaidan, weaving yarns of the surreal, erotic and terrifying.

In "Stanley's Girlfriend," Monte Hellman spins a tale of two ambitious filmmakers in fifties Hollywood who become unlikely friends, until a mysterious beatnik beauty begins to date one of them - to gruesome effect.

The narrative thread tying them all together - the quandary of the captive storytellers - is directed by Joe Dante.

Trapped Ashes lays out tales of infidelity, sexual obsession, spiritual anguish, necromantic sex, dead souls, warped pregnancies and rotting nitrate film. Featuring an ethereal score by acclaimed Japanese composer Kenji Kawai (The Ring, Dark Water), Trapped Ashes unites these masters of the genre for a joyride of ghoulish delights.

To find out more, visit the Toronto Film Festival site or search this blog for "Trapped Ashes".

Trapped Ashes to premiere at Toronto Film Festival

The anthology horror film, Trapped Ashes, in which Tahmoh plays Leo, is set for its world premiere at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival this September. Tahmoh stars in Monte Hellman's segment, "Stanley's Girlfriend," which premiered on its own this May at the Cannes Film Festival.

The film will be one of 10 genre films aired during "Midnight Madness":

Toronto - A crop of 10 shocking, rocking films for the witching hour screens as part of Midnight Madness at the 31st Toronto International Film Festival, running September 7 to 16, 2006. Now in its 19th year, this popular late-night programme showcases the best in off-kilter genre flicks including sci-fi, horror, outlandish comedy and outrageous documentaries. Stay up past your bedtime and experience new works by electrifying and adventurous filmmakers dealing in the sublimely strange...

TRAPPED ASHES (Cunningham/Dante/Gaeta/Hellman/Russell)
USA/Japan/Canada - World Premiere

Taking cues from old anthology fright flicks like THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD, TRAPPED ASHES brings together five directors for a delirious and creepy collection of tales. After seven strangers accept an invitation to visit a Hollywood studio lot, they find themselves trapped inside a house built as a set for a notorious horror film. In order to escape, they must share their most petrifying personal stories to unlock the exit. Using this narrative thread the five imaginative directors - Joe Dante (GREMLINS), Ken Russell (TOMMY), Sean Cunningham (FRIDAY THE 13TH), Monte Hellman (TWO-LANE BLACKTOP), and John Gaeta (visual effects supervisor for THE MATRIX series) - present stories which are shocking, seductive and surreal.

First photos and quotes from Stanley’s Girlfriend

The Cannes festival webpage for Stanley's Girlfriend has added stills from the film and an assortment of memorable quotes (along with the cast list and plot description).

Two of the pics feature Tahmoh as Leo:

Tahmoh with Tygh Runyan as Stanley.

Tahmoh with Amelia Cooke as Nina.
The quotes are somewhat spoilery for the plot (I've left off the most spoilery):

"I have to hand it to anyone who can make a psycho killer out of Bobby Driscoll."

"Do you know that at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project, there was a small group of scientists who argued that setting off the atomic bomb might start a chain reaction that would destroy the earth?"

"It was a French film by a guy I'd never heard of, Jean Vigo."

"This obsession with length is killing creativity in American movies."

"But I never sleep, Stanley, you know that, I just take little cat naps."

"I didn't care that Stanley was my best friend. I didn't care that it was his apartment, his bed, his girlfriend. I just wanted to f*** her more than I'd wanted anything in my life."

Cannes screening date set for Stanley’s Girlfriend

According to the recently announced Cannes Festival schedule, Tahmoh's film Stanley's Girlfriend (part of the horror anthology film, Trapped Ashes) will screen in the Salle Bunuel on May 25th.

Thursday, May 25 @ 19.45 (7:45 pm) - Short Film program

THE WATER DIARY de Jane Campion 17'
SIDA de Gaspar Noé 19'
UN LEVER DE RIDEAU de François Ozon 30'
STANLEY’S GIRLFRIEND de Monte Hellman 27'
LES SIGNES de Eugène Green 32'

Hopefully some critical responses in the press will follow.

If you want to see my previous posts on Stanley's Girlfriend or Trapped Ashes, I encourage you to use the "search this blog" box at the top of this page. Google owns Blogger and so the search function is quite good--and more reliable than my hand-indexing of posts in the archive.

Director Hellman reacts to Cannes news

Fangoria's report that Tahmoh's movie, Stanley's Girlfriend, will screen at Cannes includes reactions from the writer, Dennis Bartok, and director of the short film, Monte Hellman.

For Cannes to showcase a genre piece is quite an accomplishment, and Bartok is jazzed. “It's a pretty amazing honor for them to show one of the episodes, and Monte is thrilled!” he says. “As he put it, ‘I’ve been making art movies for 40 years and never got invited to Cannes. So I make a f**king low-budget horror movie and what happens? Cannes wants me!’ ” Bartok further notes that they’ll also be selling the film in the festival’s marketplace, “so hopefully the screening will help generate some good visibility for our movie.”

The article also includes a summary of the film.

Fangoria: TRAPPED ASHES to premiere at Cannes

Buzz surrounding Stanley’s Girlfriend

This short film in which Tahmoh stars as Leo will be screened this May at the Cannes Film Festival. It is part of a larger horror anthology film, Trapped Ashes, that will be released in theaters sometime this year.

Several members of the yahoo film discussion group, a_film_by, have seen the film and have been posting reactions. I've included the most interesting and relevant sections of their posts below (edited slightly).

http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/a_film_by/message/34287

I just ran into Monte at Riteaid, and he invited me over to look at rushes from his new film - a 30-minute ghost story called "Stanley's Girlfriend," about a strange episode in the early life of Stanley Kubrick. It's part of an omnibus film produced by Dennis Bartok of the American Cinematheque, "Trapped Ashes," with other sections by Ken Russell, Joe Dante and 2 others....

The footage is a pleasure to see even in rough form - lots of lovely compositions in depth, great natural(-looking) lighting, spare camera moves, all shot in 3 1/2 days on a set he only saw the day before he started shooting. I found out that he never replaces dialogue. He's sensitive to the aural qualities of performances, and he doesn't like what happens when you loop afterward. Being an editor he always knew he could use one actor's line from another take to sweeten a scene where another actor was at his best, etc., like a French director.

It's all unknown actors: Stanley (who is never called Kubrick, but obviously is) [Tygh Runyan], Stanley's girlfriend [Amelia Cooke] and a young writer named Leo [Tahmoh Penikett] that he befriends in 1957, when most of the film takes place. John Saxon plays Leo in the epilogue, set in 1999. Monte showed me his last close-up and said: "I told him not to act here. Isn't he wonderful?" There's also an historical "document" filmed in black and white in a graveyard, which is Monte Does Mario (although I suspect he was thinking of the beginning of Great Expectations, one of his favorite films)....

John Saxon is also in the "wraparound" directed by Joe Dante, apparently. Monte, ever the meticulous realist, put him on a platform to make him look as tall as the other actor playing Leo (Tahmoh). [Saxon is 5'10" and Tahmoh is 6'3"]

Also, I should have made it clear that the script (written by Dennis Bartok) is about a FICTIVE strange episode in the early life of Stanley Kubrick.

http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/a_film_by/message/36090

I saw a rough cut of TRAPPED ASHES tonight....

Joe Dante's wrap-arounds are solidly conceived and shot, and fun (with a little PSYCHO reference thrown in). Really nice fun-house art direction. Monte Hellman's segment (with Stanley Kubrick as a character) is a mini-masterpiece in my opinion. Sean S. Cunningham's part is well below being competent -- a shame since it was based on some real experiences writer/producer Dennis Bartok had in Japan with his wife Susan. John Gaeta's is professional -- not sure he's a budding auteur, but it isn't bad.

http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/a_film_by/message/36124

Those of us who know Monte know what a romantic he is, and that side of him gets surprising reign to flourish within the demands of a vampire story. The film lore aspects of his sequence are just right. At one point he briefly recreates the look (framing, staging, resonance) of a great silent film. I can't imagine that much will change with his portion of the film between now and release (though they want to shave about six more minutes out of the whole).

http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/a_film_by/message/36147

Stanley's Girlfriend has been getting very good reactions. A European cinelegend who saw it thought it was Monte's best film.