My name is Aaron Kurmey and I’m a filmmaker currently in preproduction on my first feature, entitled ‘Hoodoo Voodoo.‘ For the next couple months I’ll be blogging about the process of putting the movie together from location scouting, to shopping at sketchy liquidation warehouses, to the shoot itself and finally postproduction.  For more information about the movie visit http://www.hoodoovoodoofilm.com

Auditions… Shit.

.

I was worried at first, you know. We spent close to eight months writing the script with only blurry visuals of most of the characters in our heads. Always wondering if there was anyone out there capable of filling these massive shoes we had literally sewn with our bare hands. In the time leading up to A-Day all our unspoken fears weighed heavy on our shoulders. What if we couldn’t find the perfect cast? I mean, real movies see hundreds of hopeful potentials before they make their choice. For a single role we may only get to see two or three. Some parts were only auditioned for once. Lucky for us (more so than for them) they were right for the part. The greater deity of casting and auditions must have recognized our mountains of faith and our hours of silent prayer.

Religious or not ‘Judge thy neighbor’ is the mantra of audition day. The second that person steps through the door you immediately begin to mentally rip everyone fiber of their existence to shreds. Too fat, too tall, too old. And this is before they have even begun reading lines. Some people are literally dead in the water before they’ve even swum a stroke. By the end of the casting process the Devil has personally prepared a limo for your speedy trip to hell.

But enough with the negative waves…

We have our cast, with the exception of one or two parts. A few of our regulars are coming back, Jeremy Park and Alan Edward Johnson for example. But for the most part the actors are people that we have never worked with before. Tim Strom, known to many only as the PZW Champion Stormbriger, has been enlisted to play the leader of the Devil’s Legion – the Tracker.

Tim ‘The Stormbringer’ Strom getting into the ring

Adam Munro, lead singer of the local band Endangered Ape, has signed on to play the part of Officer Hobbs (one of the only two characters with actual names). This is a little inside joke for friends of ours from grade twelve French class, where we showed a movie called ‘La Neige En D’Euil 2′ which followed two officers of the law, Officer Johnson and Detective Calvin Hobbs, on the trail of a murder case in the Swiss alps. Everybody dies at the end. Spoiler alert. Sorry, but it’s not like you’ll ever see it. Shit, I’m rambling. Check out part of Adam’s audition below:

.

.

Our most famous cast member though is most likely Marek Czuma, also known by his screen name Marek Wiedman. His first screen appearance was in 1987 on the second episode of 21 Jump Street. Since then he has had many roles in television, stage and film. I believe he also did some directing work in there somewhere too. Most recently he was my drama professor at the University of Lethbridge. Check out this clip from 21 Jump Street. He’s the man with the thick Polish accent from 3:22-4:45:

.

.

Contrary to what I said before about being worried about finding a perfect cast, we do what many in the industry consider taboo. We often write for actors we know. When you’re working on ‘no-budget’ films that’s all you can really do. You have to take a look at your available inventory, whether it be costumes, props, sets, or people and use them all to your full advantage. Never rely solely on chance, or hope that people will want to be in a movie they know nothing about. When you’re just starting out you have to go to them.

Three of the cast members I had never even met before, but had seen in various performances around town. I sent them each a message asking if they would come audition for our mystery movie, a movie they had never more than a few out of context script pages. Thank God for Facebook and the allure of being a movie star.

Out of the past four movies we’ve done, Hoodoo Voodoo is only the second to have a casting process. And even then we asked about 70% of the auditionees to come out. Without those people we would not have a movie. One day we hope to repay their kindness and dedication with more than thin layers of canvas and stacks of hot dogs.

The Top 10 Films of the Year

“I play these songs at night or I wouldn’t make any money.”

10. Once

I’m a big fan of musicals, but this is a different kind of musical. Instead of setting it in a fantasy world where everyone breaks into song and sings together and knows choreography etc, it’s a musical grounded in realism. It follows a pair of musicians (real life musicians Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova) who meet and start developing music together, and of course falling in love. But don’t expect a typical love story here – it’s actually a very honest film in that regard. On top of that, the music is absolutely beautiful.

Ten Things We Love This Week

1. TV – LOST’s Season Finale

I am very much  a ‘Lostophile.’ I’ve been watching the show ever since I decided to rent the entire first season on DVD and watch it all in one day. Since then I haven’t missed an episode on TV, and I’m what you might call a ‘Lost apologist.’ Whenever someone complains about some aspect of the show (and usually for good reason) I feel the need to defend it. So as the penultimate season began, I was worried about all the time travel stuff and heavy dip into science fiction and away from characters. But as it continued I realized how fucking AWESOME the season is, and I became more and more excited for each episode. The finale was…unbelievable. Questions were answered, but not in a lame ‘I am the Architect’ Wachowski brothers wank fest kind of way. The story progressed and so much was given to the fans who stayed with the show. Jacob is a great character and likely will continue to be so in the final season. And that ending…well, they always end in cliffhangers but this one made my heart hurt. I can’t wait 8 months.

- Alan

Opening This Week:

Angels & Demons

Opens: May 15th

Director: Ron Howard

Starring: Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, Ayelet Zurer

What to Expect: Aside from the always fun to mock haircut, expect much of the same big-budget-mystery-mixed-with-action you got from The Da Vinci Code. This time around Ewan McGregor and Stellan Skarsgard are there to help round out the supporting cast, and Tom Hanks of course returns as Professor Robert Langdon. I’ve been told by many that the book this film is based on is superior to The Da Vinci Code, so perhaps the same will be said about the film.

Watch the Trailer

“I’m coming for blood, no code of conduct, no law.”

Director: Gavin Hood

Writers: David Benioff, Skip Woods

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Liev Shreiber, Danny Huston

Rating: 2/5

Some movies are triumphs of art over commerce and others are a triumph of commerce over art. X-Men Origins: Wolverine is unabashedly the latter.

No one is unfamiliar with this beloved comic-book character, but to set the scene the movie is about Wolverine, a character from the X-Men comics and later the ‘okay to good to bad’ X-Men movie franchise who has metal claws and a shadowy past or some such thing. Think of him as something of a comic-book Steve McQueen, the man who does not say much, but whose actions are more decisive than those that do. Here we explore the origin of his character as Logan/Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) avenges his true love by attempting to track down her killer by cutting through as many people, helicopters and bathroom sinks as need be while uncovering something called the Weapon X Program headed by the shady William Striker (Danny Huston).

The McQueen reference may seem excessive, but to his credit Jackman has created a character as iconic in today’s culture as, say McQueen’s Bullitt. And like Bullitt, Jackman’s Wolverine is best when he is brooding in the background, stepping into the fray only when the time is right. Here we are dealing with all Wolverine all the time, and the movie suffers because Wolverine was never meant to say anything intelligent or insightful and…doesn’t. What can a character say whose most memorable lines end in “bub?”?

My name is Aaron Kurmey and I’m a filmmaker currently in preproduction on my first feature, entitled ‘Hoodoo Voodoo.‘ For the next couple months I’ll be blogging about the process of putting the movie together from location scouting, to shopping at sketchy liquidation warehouses, to the shoot itself and finally postproduction.  For more information about the movie visit http://www.hoodoovoodoofilm.com

After a year of beating the molten iron of the Hoodoo Voodoo script over a fiery anvil, it is finally time to submerse it in a mound of cold Canadian snow. Holding it high above our heads, gleaming in the arctic sunlight, the script is finished and it is time to emerge from the depths Mount Doom and begin the long trek along the path of preproduction.

To many that have heard it’s name, Hoodoo Voodoo has become a single speedily said word that has lost all trace of its original syntax and now only represents the title of the film itself. To most others though it the question remains, what exactly is a Hoodoo Voodoo?

The film is to be shot in Southern Alberta amongst the Hoodoos, which are large oddly shaped rocks created by millions, possibly billions, of years of erosion. My Uncle, a geography professor could probably explain it a lot better than I just did. Instead, I’ll just show you a picture.

Pretty slick, hey?

But what does the Voodoo mean? Originally, I think it was just a cool word that rhymed with Hoodoo, but it has since come to represent a fictional ghost town in the story. Voodoo – Population 0.

As the locations are so important in the movie one of our first steps in the preproduction process was to get a lay of the land where we wanted to shoot.

Another re-post.

I’ll admit it: I love Disney movies. I was, like many kids, raised on them, and still watch many of them to this day not only for fond memories but because I truly believe they are well made movies. This generally doesn’t include anything the company has pumped out since and including Treasure Planet because that is the movie I remember most vividly seeing in the theatre and thinking “what is this shit Disney Corporation?” Also, anything by Pixar is still great but that goes without saying (in my mind).

Recently I began re watching many cartoons/movies from my childhood, including many Don Bluth films as well as the classic Disney movies. It was around the time I saw the ocean waves transform into demons of the sea in An American Tail that I realized just how twisted and messed up the majority of children’s movies were during the 80s and 90s. That of course got me thinking about Disney movies themselves, as they are generally regarded as the ‘best’ kids movies, and yet I’m sure they have some of the most twisted and creepy moments ever put to film while still being intended for children.

So here is a personal selection of some of the creepiest Disney moments ever put to film. Also just assume the entirety of Meet the Robinsons is creepy as fuck.

Synecdoche, New York

Director: Charlie Kaufman

Writer: Charlie Kaufman

Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michelle Williams, Samantha Morton, Emily Watson

Rating: 20/20

I may be biased here. Charlie Kaufman is without a doubt my favorite writer in the history of writers. I knew I had witnessed something special when I saw Being John Malkovich way back in 1999. I knew I had seen one of the greatest movies ever when I suddenly gained respect for Nicolas Cage. And let’s not forget the reason why I called this site ‘The Spotless Minds.’ When I heard about his new film I was excited, but numerous setbacks meant I never got to watch it until now. And I was blown away.

The Premise

Here’s the thing: This film can be appreciated much more the less you know about it. So here’s the abbreviated concept: Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Caden Cotard, a neurotic theatre director who is awarded a grant which enables him to basically do whatever he wants. So he decides to create a theatre piece in a large warehouse with a cast of thousands. What happens throughout would be hard to explain anyway, and I doubt I will ever fully understand it. But that’s the way I like it. Now the usual 4 category format I use for reviews really will be useless for this film, so get ready for some ramblings about life, art, and why everything we do is beautiful.

“The Tale of the Dollmaker”

Season: 3

Episode : 5

Storyteller: Betty Ann

Original Airdate: 11/25/1992

“What do people scream when they see you coming?”

Monsters vs. Aliens

Director(s): Rob Letterman & Conrad Vernon

Writer(s): Maya Forbes & Wolodarsky

Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Will Arnett, Seth Rogen, Hugh Laurie

Rating: 13.5/20

I am a sucker for 3D. Not for children’s films though. (Or children for that matter.) I have to want to see something pretty bad to sit in a theater full of snot-nosed kids. That was this movie. Now, I’m not the biggest fan of Dreamworks animation by any means. Shrek was not funny. (But fans will be happy to know that 2 MORE SEQUELS are planned.) But voice talents by Will Arnett, Seth Rogen & Paul Rudd?! Well, how can a girl decline? I should also note that Stephen Colbert plays The President, which automatically calls for laughter.