It has been a very “up and down” sort of career for Val Kilmer- lauded and inundated with a multitude of offers one minute- mocked and reduced to saccharine sub-tv movies the next. For every Top Gun enjoyed, there has been a Red Planet endured, for every venerated The Doors, there has been a Batman Forever panned. Not all his fault, of course- few can turn down the lure of the caped-crusader, but history would have been very different had he donned the bat-suit under the tutelage of a director more akin to Christopher Nolan than Joel Schumacher.
Certainly, few possessed Nolan’s breathy charisma which has an effortlessness that intrigues infinitely more than Bale’s over-earnest method acting.
If there has been one film starring Kilmer that has increased in reputation since its release, it is the independent comedy, Real Genius, the story of two science students exacting revenge upon their senior tutor.
Certainly, few possessed Nolan’s breathy charisma which has an effortlessness that intrigues infinitely more than Bale’s over-earnest method acting.
If there has been one film starring Kilmer that has increased in reputation since its release, it is the independent comedy, Real Genius, the story of two science students exacting revenge upon their senior tutor.
- 2/2/2011
- by Ben Szwediuk
- Obsessed with Film
Val Kilmer is set to star alongside his fellow Real Genius star Jon Gries for a new film titled Deep In Heart.
The film is about a real-life alcoholic who reinvents himself and puts hundreds of kids through college via his charitable donations. Gries stars as Richard Wallrath, a Texas entrepreneur who is the biggest all-time individual donor to that state's 4-h and Future Farmers of America organizations.
I loved Real Genius, the characters were great and it's a true classic and one of the main reasons Kilmer's a star today. He played a genius college student named Chris who mentored his much younger roommate while working on a high powered laser beam. Gries played a reclusive genius ex-graduate student who lived in Chris' closet. Gries is best known for his role as Uncle Rico, in the 2004 hit Napoleon Dynamite.
This new film will star Kilmer as a character known only as "The Bearded Man,...
The film is about a real-life alcoholic who reinvents himself and puts hundreds of kids through college via his charitable donations. Gries stars as Richard Wallrath, a Texas entrepreneur who is the biggest all-time individual donor to that state's 4-h and Future Farmers of America organizations.
I loved Real Genius, the characters were great and it's a true classic and one of the main reasons Kilmer's a star today. He played a genius college student named Chris who mentored his much younger roommate while working on a high powered laser beam. Gries played a reclusive genius ex-graduate student who lived in Chris' closet. Gries is best known for his role as Uncle Rico, in the 2004 hit Napoleon Dynamite.
This new film will star Kilmer as a character known only as "The Bearded Man,...
- 2/2/2011
- by Tiberius
- GeekTyrant
[1] Weight gain and squandered A-list cred be damned, I've never liked Val Kilmer more than I have over the past ten or so years, and it's images like the one above that demonstrate why. After terrific turns in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Salton Sea, Spartan and -- yes, I'm serious -- MacGruber, the ex-Hollywood hunk is now returning to his '80s roots by teaming up with Real Genius pal Jon Gries (best known as Uncle Rico in Napoleon Dynamite). The role? An imaginary 'Christ-like figure' who guides an alcoholic (played by Gries) to recovery. Learn more after the break. According to The Hollywood Reporter [2], the film -- titled Deep in the Heart -- is based on the true story of Richard Wallrath, an entrepreneur who helped put hundreds of kids through college, and is the biggest all-time individual donor to two separate youth organizations in Texas (4-h and...
- 2/1/2011
- by Adam Quigley
- Slash Film
Actors Val Kilmer and Jon Gries will star in “Deep in the Heart,” an indie film based on a true story. Kilmer will play a “Christ-like figure” that guides an alcoholic towards recovery. Gries plays the alcoholic who eventually become a multi-millionaire and a well-known philanthropist. Kilmer and Gries both starred together in 1985’s “Real Genius.” “Deep in the Heart” is based on the true story of Richard Wallrath, a Texas entrepreneur who is the biggest all-time individual donor for the state’s 4-h and Future Farmers of America organizations. “Wallrath is an alcoholic who hit rock bottom and lost everything, then reinvented himself, re-established his relationships with his family and built a multimillion-dollar business,” said Scott Duthie, a producer on the film. “The stories involving real-life inner struggles with positive moral messages always attract me.” The Hollywood Reporter also reported a cameo of Texas Governor Rick Perry playing himself...
- 2/1/2011
- LRMonline.com
Val Kilmer and his "Real Genius" cohort Jon Gries are re-teaming for "Deep in the Heart", a feature film about a real-life alcoholic who reinvents himself as a multimillionaire businessman who puts hundreds of kids through college via charitable donations says The Hollywood Reporter.
Gries stars as Richard Wallrath, a Texas entrepreneur who is the biggest all-time individual donor to that state's 4-h and Future Farmers of America organizations.
Kilmer plays a character known only as "The Bearded Man" who he resides in Wallrath's mind as a "Christ-like figure" to help him on his path to recovery. Scott Duthie will co-produce.
Texas Governor Rick Perry plays himself in a short cameo while Christopher Cain ("Young Guns") is directing.
Gries stars as Richard Wallrath, a Texas entrepreneur who is the biggest all-time individual donor to that state's 4-h and Future Farmers of America organizations.
Kilmer plays a character known only as "The Bearded Man" who he resides in Wallrath's mind as a "Christ-like figure" to help him on his path to recovery. Scott Duthie will co-produce.
Texas Governor Rick Perry plays himself in a short cameo while Christopher Cain ("Young Guns") is directing.
- 2/1/2011
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
If it weren’t for the recent likes of Bad Lieutenant and, to a lesser degree, MacGruber, we’d really be worrying that Val Kilmer was sticking with tiny scale indie films (most of which rarely make it over here) for good. He’s not likely to change that impression very soon, though, since he’s now working on Deep in the Heart, about a real-life Texas entrepreneur and recovering alcoholic who has become one of the biggest charitable contributors in America.Napoleon Dynamite’s Jon Gries, who most memorably appeared on screen with Kilmer in 1985’s Real Genius, is playing Richard Wallrath, a man who completely turned his life around. “Wallrath is an alcoholic who hit rock bottom and lost everything, then reinvented himself, re-established his relationships with his family and built a multimillion-dollar business," co-producer Scott Duthie tells The Hollywood Reporter.As well as forging a new business,...
- 2/1/2011
- EmpireOnline
Country music A-lister George Strait will star in a follow-up to his 1992 film "Pure Country" for Warner Bros.
"A Pure Country Gift" is directed by Chris Cain, who also helmed the first film. He co-wrote the new screenplay with his son, "Lois & Clark" actor Dean Cain, who also has a role in the film. The father-son collaboration is their first.
"I tell funny stories, but he went to Princeton, so he can spell," Chris Cain joked.
"Country Gift" isn't a sequel, per se, but more of "a movie in the 'Pure Country' genre," Chris Cain said.
The original was produced by Jerry Weintraub for $9 million. It earned $15 million at the domestic boxoffice, sold 3 million home video units and 6 million soundtrack CDs. Weintraub is not involved in the new film.
"I went back to Jerry, and he said, 'Good luck with the picture, and God bless you,' " Chris Cain said.
"A Pure Country Gift" is directed by Chris Cain, who also helmed the first film. He co-wrote the new screenplay with his son, "Lois & Clark" actor Dean Cain, who also has a role in the film. The father-son collaboration is their first.
"I tell funny stories, but he went to Princeton, so he can spell," Chris Cain joked.
"Country Gift" isn't a sequel, per se, but more of "a movie in the 'Pure Country' genre," Chris Cain said.
The original was produced by Jerry Weintraub for $9 million. It earned $15 million at the domestic boxoffice, sold 3 million home video units and 6 million soundtrack CDs. Weintraub is not involved in the new film.
"I went back to Jerry, and he said, 'Good luck with the picture, and God bless you,' " Chris Cain said.
- 11/15/2009
- by By Paul Bond
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
September Dawn, opening in limited release from Black Diamond Pictures, is a solemn package of historical fiction and an exceedingly old-fashioned one at that. It is also quite controversial among Western historians and the Mormon community, but this alone is unlikely to boost boxoffice. History teachers everywhere could rent this indie for years to come; otherwise, the market is a small one.
Director/co-writer/producer Christopher Cain's ambitious pioneer picture tells the story of the little-known Mountain Meadows Massacre of Sept. 11, 1857, in the Utah Territory. The event represented a low point in Mormon history, and many aspects and details of the incident are still debated to this day. In a small but key role, an aged Brigham Young (Terence Stamp) is seen in isolated testimony and heard in voice-over, punctuating the drama with spiteful rhetoric that the filmmakers (including co-screenwriter Carole Whang Schutter) claim they lifted from Young's own words.
The principal story line is anything but verbatim history, and the screenplay is the weakest aspect of the film. Jacob Samuelson (Jon Voight), an invented amalgam of extremist Mormon deacons and military generals, has two young-adult sons: Jonathan (Trent Ford), the more handsome, sensitive and progressive of the two, tames wild horses. Micah (Taylor Handley) is his more obedient, unquestioning brother.
When a wagon train of humble Christians traveling from Arkansas to California asks to settle in for a few weeks of rest in a valley outside Cedar City, Utah, Jonathan locks eyes with sweet, young Emily (Canada's Tamara Hope), who is the minister's daughter. It is the young man's first encounter with outsiders, and he begins to stand up to his own martinet father (who is less God-fearing than godlike).
Samuelson still blames Missourians not only for rejecting the Latter-Day Saints years earlier but for the death of the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith (Dean Cain, the director's son, in a cameo). Apparently believing in guilt by association -- since Arkansas is near Missouri? -- he stirs up Cedar City congregants into a frenzy. He enlists deacon/lieutenant John D. Lee (an effective Jon Gries) in his scheme and dupes the local Paiute tribe into believing the worst about the innocent pioneers. All this builds toward a horrific attack that Jonathan tries his best to thwart.
Samuelson and the budding Romeo and Juliet are fictitious, but John D. Lee and other bits of the film are real, or at least based on research. (The LDS Church has been denouncing this picture for quite a while.) The performances are satisfactory, including an underused Lolita Davidovich, even if Voight appears to have left restraint in his trailer. Director Cain (The Stone Boy, Young Guns), a South Dakota native, has spent his film career outdoors. While this is weightier material than he typically handles, Cain has crafted a modest picture, filmed in Canada, that too often feels like a very elaborate episode of Gunsmoke.
SEPTEMBER DAWN
Black Diamond Pictures
September Dawn Llc./Voice Pictures
Credits:
Director: Christopher Cain
Screenwriters: Carole Whang Schutter, Christopher Cain
Producers: Scott Duthie, Christopher Cain, Kevin Matossian
Executive producers: Michael Feinberg, Patrick Imeson, Wendy Hill-Tout
Director of photography: Juan Ruiz-Anchia
Production designer: Rick Roberts
Costume designer: Carol Case
Music: William Ross
Editor: Jack Hofstra
Cast:
Jacob: Jon Voight
Jonathan: Trent Ford
Emily: Tamara Hope
John: Jon Gries
Nancy: Lolita Davidovich
Brigham Young: Terence Stamp
Micah: Taylor Handley
Joseph Smith: Dean Cain
Running time -- 110 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Director/co-writer/producer Christopher Cain's ambitious pioneer picture tells the story of the little-known Mountain Meadows Massacre of Sept. 11, 1857, in the Utah Territory. The event represented a low point in Mormon history, and many aspects and details of the incident are still debated to this day. In a small but key role, an aged Brigham Young (Terence Stamp) is seen in isolated testimony and heard in voice-over, punctuating the drama with spiteful rhetoric that the filmmakers (including co-screenwriter Carole Whang Schutter) claim they lifted from Young's own words.
The principal story line is anything but verbatim history, and the screenplay is the weakest aspect of the film. Jacob Samuelson (Jon Voight), an invented amalgam of extremist Mormon deacons and military generals, has two young-adult sons: Jonathan (Trent Ford), the more handsome, sensitive and progressive of the two, tames wild horses. Micah (Taylor Handley) is his more obedient, unquestioning brother.
When a wagon train of humble Christians traveling from Arkansas to California asks to settle in for a few weeks of rest in a valley outside Cedar City, Utah, Jonathan locks eyes with sweet, young Emily (Canada's Tamara Hope), who is the minister's daughter. It is the young man's first encounter with outsiders, and he begins to stand up to his own martinet father (who is less God-fearing than godlike).
Samuelson still blames Missourians not only for rejecting the Latter-Day Saints years earlier but for the death of the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith (Dean Cain, the director's son, in a cameo). Apparently believing in guilt by association -- since Arkansas is near Missouri? -- he stirs up Cedar City congregants into a frenzy. He enlists deacon/lieutenant John D. Lee (an effective Jon Gries) in his scheme and dupes the local Paiute tribe into believing the worst about the innocent pioneers. All this builds toward a horrific attack that Jonathan tries his best to thwart.
Samuelson and the budding Romeo and Juliet are fictitious, but John D. Lee and other bits of the film are real, or at least based on research. (The LDS Church has been denouncing this picture for quite a while.) The performances are satisfactory, including an underused Lolita Davidovich, even if Voight appears to have left restraint in his trailer. Director Cain (The Stone Boy, Young Guns), a South Dakota native, has spent his film career outdoors. While this is weightier material than he typically handles, Cain has crafted a modest picture, filmed in Canada, that too often feels like a very elaborate episode of Gunsmoke.
SEPTEMBER DAWN
Black Diamond Pictures
September Dawn Llc./Voice Pictures
Credits:
Director: Christopher Cain
Screenwriters: Carole Whang Schutter, Christopher Cain
Producers: Scott Duthie, Christopher Cain, Kevin Matossian
Executive producers: Michael Feinberg, Patrick Imeson, Wendy Hill-Tout
Director of photography: Juan Ruiz-Anchia
Production designer: Rick Roberts
Costume designer: Carol Case
Music: William Ross
Editor: Jack Hofstra
Cast:
Jacob: Jon Voight
Jonathan: Trent Ford
Emily: Tamara Hope
John: Jon Gries
Nancy: Lolita Davidovich
Brigham Young: Terence Stamp
Micah: Taylor Handley
Joseph Smith: Dean Cain
Running time -- 110 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 8/24/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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