#monica ferrell

[soracities]

You need me like ice needs the mountain/On which it breeds. Like print needs the page/You move in me like the tongue in a mouth/Like wind in the leaves of summer trees.

Monica Ferrell, from “Rime Riche”

[badmovieihave]

Bad movie I have Don’t Get Caught 2018

[stopandimagineloveforever]

Robert Downey Jr. and Susan Downey spotted at Frieze L.A.

The art fair, running through March 3rd and featuring 85 galleries, also drew Leonardo Dicaprio, Rob Lowe, Jessica Biel, Will Ferrell, Michael Ovitz and Owen Wilson to a huge tent at Santa Monica Airport.

February 29, 2024

[jules-has-notes]

La La Land (Unexpected Musical) — PattyCake Productions music video

The movie musical La La Land is set in the modern day, but with the aesthetics of the 1950s. The PattyCake guys decided to lean even further into the trappings of Hollywood's golden age to evoke the stars of the early 20th century in their most iconic roles, as well as the many folks behind the scenes who help make the magic happen. They didn't quite have a cast of thousands, as was often boasted by the epic films of the era, but they did gather quite the crowd of performers, mostly from among their circle of theme park friends.

Details:

title: Unexpected Musicals — La La Land (Classic Edition)

performers: Olivia Adkins (Marilyn Monroe); Rachel Copeland-Evans (Judy Garland); Monica Carlile Edwards (Audrey Hepburn); Felix Deneau (Humphrey Bogart); Erin Cline (Bette Davis); Derek Ostrem (James Dean); Colleen Ella Defeo (Gloria Swanson / Elsa Lanchester); Bebe Caliberr Mercy (Elizabeth Taylor); Elijah Babel (Charlie Chaplin); Jack Defeo (Boris Karloff); T. Robert Pigott, David Kotary, & Jacob McAlister (directors); Amy Garton (wardrobe); Hannah Laird (script supervisor); Jaimz Dillman (reporter); Greg Hernandez (lighting grip); Melanie Simpson (ingenue); Jim Harrison (camera loader); E. Michael Evans (leading man); Jonathan Shane Ferrell (makeup artist); Laura Mansoori & Alex Colvin (showgirls); Deanna Quintero (hairdresser); Brayshawna Bates (flapper starlet)

original songs / performers: "Another Day of Sun", "Someone in the Crowd", and "City of Stars" by the cast of La La Land (2016)

written by: all songs by Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek, & Justin Paul

arranged by: Paul Vesco, Layne Stein, & Tony Wakim

release date: 22 July 2017

My favorite bits:

that brief Flectcher cameo 🐶

Olivia's perfectly breathy Marilyn voice

the contrast of having "Another Day of Sun" mostly led by the stars while "Someone In the Crowd" is mostly the crew

the instrumentation adding more jaunty piano to accompany Chaplin's dancing

the film clip interlude that includes "Will.of.Oz" footage, then turns back into live performance

gradually building rhythmic and harmonic complexity until they reach the final unison line

Trivia:

Rachel had first worn the blue gingham dress as Dorothy Gale in PattyCake's "Will.of.Oz" music video, which was released the previous December.

Olivia was already well versed in Marilyn Monroe's mannerisms, since she is a character she'd been playing for several years at Universal Studios Orlando (and has continued playing since).

Felix often works as a Dean Martin impersonator, but stepping into Bogey's trenchcoat and fedora for the day suited him, too.

Derek is one of Tony's fellow "Beetlejuice Revue" alumni, having played both Wolfman and Dracula for the last decade of the show's run. (He's also married to Stephanie Trilli, who has played Sarah Sanderson in PattyCake's "Hocus Pocus" pieces.)

Robby was also one of the many Draculas in the "Beetlejuice Revue", and he's been playing Marlin in the Disney World "Nemo" live show for over a decade. (Among many, many theme park and theater roles.)

Makeup artist Jonathan Shane Ferrell of Makeup & Creative Arts was actually applying the Frankenstein makeup to Jack Defeo's face while also playing legendary makeup artist Jack Pierce, who worked with Karloff on the 1931 film. Jonathan had been a makeup artist for the "Beetlejuice Revue" at the end of its run.

Jack and Colleen were also already comfortable in the monster makeup, as they are yet more "Beetlejuice Revue" alumni, having played Frankenstein and the Bride in the 90s and early 2000s.

The PattyCake guys created a bit of anticipation with a social media countdown.

They were very specific about recreating several famous celebrity photos and iconic movie moments. They highlighted some of them in a series of social media posts they called "Double Takes".

[themovieblogonline]

Will & Harper Review: A Heartfelt Journey at Nashville Film Fest

sThe Josh Greenbaum documentary Will & Harper is showing at select theaters now. The film will stream on Netflix beginning  September 27th. Will & Harper screened at the 2024 Nashville Film Festival. The movie originally premiered at the 40th Sundance Film Festival in January 2024.  The 114-minute documentary depicts Will Ferrell’s 17-day cross-country trip with his close friend of 30 years, Harper Steele. Harper has just come out as a transgender female. Over 250 hours of film was shot! And then cut to a  2-hour look at being transgender in America in 2024. Harper was born Andrew Steele in Iowa City, Iowa, one of five children of University of Iowa professors. Harper was the head writer at “Saturday Night Live” and started the same week that Ferrell in 1995. THE GOOD The best thing about the unscripted 17-day trip from New York to Santa Monica, California was how authentic and genuine the emotional relationship between Ferrell and Steele appears to be. Both are reduced to tears, at times, and you will be, too. Nashville Film Festival viewers come away with the feeling that Will Ferrel in real life is very much like his character in “Elf” as one of the nicest guys you could know. As a stranger in an Oklahoma City bar tells him, “I like your support for your friends.  There’s not a lot of it out there now.”  Many have commented on how brave Harper is to have come out. There should also be praise for Will Ferrell (and friends) for being so supportive of Harper in MAGA America. The trailer for the film shows Ferrell reading from the e-mail he received from Steele. He learns that his old buddy will be undergoing transgender surgery and will now go by the name Harper. Ferrell realizing, somewhat belatedly, that he doesn't really know enough about the transgender community. He proposed a 17-day cross-country road trip in Steele’s vintage Jeep Wagoneer to re-acquaint the new old friends. The camera crew follows them discreetly during the trip. We learn the purpose of the documentary with the question “What are the new ground rules? How much has changed? How much is the same?” Steele has a reputation as someone who loves to take cross-country trips. Harper loves to stop at dive bars, diners, and other such places—all of which sound dicey for a transgender woman traveling solo in the United States in 2024.  Will would be able to run interference for his longtime friend as they criss-crossed America. The music (Nathan Halpern) is very good, including the idea of having Kirsten Wiig write a “theme song” for their trip (She sings it at film’s end), a recurring joke. The cinematography—including a stop at the Grand Canyon—is also wonderful.  Harper” is simply a real-life, honest serio-comic gem amidst a sea of boring drek. THE STOPS The pair set out from New York and made stops in Washington, D.C., Indianapolis, Iowa City, Oklahoma City, Amarillo, Las Vegas and various other cities, most of them in “red” states. They were received well everywhere but Texas, where rude tweets follow the duo’s appearance at a steakhouse (Ferrell dressed as Sherlock Holmes and attempting to eat a 72-ounce steak). One Texas tweet that commented on the stop the pair had just made at Harper’s sister Eleanor’s house in Iowa City, called  Ferrell “a Satanic illuminati pedophile in Iowa.” But the general reception was the opposite, although one critic has asked the obvious question: is that  because a celebrity was running interference for Harper? (Others wondered about product placement, since Pringles and Duncan Donuts get a lot of conversational time,) IOWA CITY & SORROW Harper’s sister, Eleanor, when she received the same e-mail that Ferrell got, responded to him quickly, “Oh, good! I’ve always wanted a sister.” However, when the pair actually stops for the night at her home in my old college town, Ferrell asks her what her reaction was upon receiving the news. She admits that “I was totally surprised." The emotion she felt was “sorrow.” I felt that sorrow, too, when Harper shared journal snippets of the pain experienced for decades: “It wasn’t about body parts.  It was about how I am in my head. Fix me or kill me,” is one entry. “A lot of transitioning is learning to accept yourself” is another truth reveal. We learn this in Peoria, Illinois, in a meeting with a 65-year-old transgender woman on the road. “I dream of a world where I can lay my vulnerabilities out there for anyone…I knew something was weird in me growing up in Iowa, but it was impossible to think of doing anything about it.” In a world where gay men are being executed in some countries, you just want to repeat Rodney King’s mantra. May 1, 1992, King called a press conference in hopes of stopping the death and destruction after the L.A. riots. “I just want to say, you know, can we all get along?” CONCLUSION This is a gem of a documentary, which contains so much pain and yet provokes so much laughter.  One can’t help but smile when Ferrell, asked about his share of piloting the vintage automobile cross country responds, “I’m a narcoleptic and I’m not a good driver.” As the theme song for the documentary goes, “a friend is a friend is a friend till the end.” Catch this one when it streams on Netflix beginning September 27th.   Read the full article

[chorusfm]

Olivia Rodrigo Announces Next Single

Olivia Rodrigo will release “Can’t Catch Me Now” on November 3rd. The song will appear in the upcoming Hunger Games film. November 1, 2023 (Santa Monica, California) – A brand-new song,  “Can’t Catch Me Now” from 3X GRAMMY®-winning singer/songwriter, Olivia Rodrigo will appear on The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (Music From & Inspired By) — the official soundtrack to the highly anticipated new film in Lionsgate’s  The Hunger Games saga. “Can’t Catch Me Now,” available for pre-order HERE, will serve as the opener to the 17-song soundtrack due out November 17th via Geffen Records (the same day as the movie’s release). Go HERE to pre-save/pre-add The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (Music From & Inspired By) now.   In addition to “Can’t Catch Me Now,” The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (Music From & Inspired By) includes a number of songs performed in the film by The Hunger Games star Rachel Zegler, as well as new music from some of folk/Americana’s most exciting and acclaimed young artists. Featured in the latest trailer for THE HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES, “Can’t Catch Me Now” follows the arrival of Rodrigo’s phenomenally successful sophomore album GUTS (a critically acclaimed LP that debuted at No. 1 on Billboard 200 chart upon its release in September).   Executive-produced by nine-time GRAMMY®-winning producer Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, Sturgill Simpson), The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (Music From & Inspired By) also includes many of roots music’s most dynamic artists who contributed new songs inspired by the film. Along with Flatland Cavalry (a widely beloved Texas-bred sextet), those artists include Molly Tuttle (winner of the Best Bluegrass Album prize at the 2023 GRAMMY® Awards), Billy Strings (named Artist Of The Year at the 2022 Americana Music Awards), genre-bending luminary Sierra Ferrell, and fast-rising country/folk singer/songwriters Bella White and Charles Wesley Godwin. See below for the full tracklist.   The first song released from the soundtrack, “The Hanging Tree,” premiered on October 20th. In the upcoming film (a prequel to the original Hunger Games trilogy), audiences will witness the origin of the storied song when Lucy Gray Baird (Zegler) sings it for the very first time. Also heard in the second official trailer for THE HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES, “The Hanging Tree” has been passed down through generations and was previously performed by Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1. View a featurette HERE to go behind-the-scenes with THE HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES director Francis Lawrence, producer Nina Jacobson, and Cobb as they discuss the creative process for the film’s original songs. This exclusive new look at the music of the film shows how the filmmakers, composer James Newton Howard, and Zegler bring the songs from Suzanne Collins’ bestselling novel to life, with previously unseen footage. The latest release in the blockbuster franchise, THE HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES takes place 64 years before Katniss Everdeen volunteered as tribute, and decades before Coriolanus Snow became the tyrannical president of Panem. The new film stars Zegler alongside Tom Blyth, Peter Dinklage, Hunter Schafer, Josh Andrés Rivera, Jason Schwartzman, and Viola Davis.   THE HUNGER GAMES: THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES follows a young Coriolanus (Blyth) who is the last hope for his failing lineage, the once-proud Snow family that has fallen from grace in a post-war Capitol. With his livelihood threatened, Snow is reluctantly assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird, a tribute from the impoverished District 12. But after Lucy Gray’s charm captivates the audience of Panem, Snow sees an opportunity to shift their fates. With everything he has worked for hanging in the balance, Snow unites with Lucy Gray to turn the odds in their favor. Battling his instincts… https://chorus.fm/news/olivia-rodrigo-announces-next-single/

[screenandcinema]

Coming Attractions November 2023

As usual, we present monthly previews of new movies being released. These are the movies that will be hitting your local cinemas (and streaming services) this month:

November 5th

The Marsh King's Daughter - Based on a novel of the same name comes this psychological thriller starring Daisy Ridley, Ben Mendelsohn, and Garrett Hedlund.

Priscilla - Sophia Coppola's biopic based on Priscilla Presley's 1985 memoir expands into wide release this week.

Quiz Lady - Awkwafina and Dandra Oh lead this comedy film coming to Hulu this month. Jason Schwartzman, Tony Hale, and Will Ferrell round out the cast.

What Happens Later - Meg Ryan directs and stars in (and co-wrote the screenplay) this romantic comedy alongside David Duchovny.

November 10th

The Marvels - Marvel Studios is back with this sequel to 2019's Captain Marvel (and 2021's WandaVision and 2022's Ms. Marvel) which features the team-up of Carol Danvers, Monica Rambeau, and Kamala Khan.

November 17th

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes - Return to Panem with this prequel to the Hunger Games trilogy (yes, I know there are four movies).

Trolls Band Together - Hey look! The Trolls are back. Again.

Next Goal Wins - Taika Waititi directs this sports comedy-drama based on a documentary of the same name about the American Samoa national football (soccer) team.

Thanksgiving - After being teased (mockingly) in a faux-trailer during 2007's Grindhouse, Eli Roth's Thanksgiving slasher film is finally a reality.

Saltburn - From writer/director Emerald Fennell comes this psychological drama starring Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, and Richard E. Grant. The film expands to wide release on November 22nd.

May December - Coming to Netflix is Todd Haynes' new black comedy-drama starring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore.

November 22nd

Wish - Disney's newest animated film features the voices of Ariana DeBose, Chris Pine, and Alan Tudyk. Wish is being positioned as the crown jewel of Disney's 100th anniversary.

Napoleon - Ridley Scott directs Joaquin Phoenix as the titular leader in this historical epic.

Good Burger 2 - Dexter and Ed are back in this sequel coming only to Paramount+. Yes, I am excited.

Now for a quick look ahead to December my top picks for next month are Wonka, Ferrari, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.

-MB-

[solvaaya]

Myths of the Disappearance by Monica Ferrell. Text ID under cut.

[Text ID: In a mirror I shot all my hateful selves, the yesterdays.]

[sleepingpoetry]

The evening I left, I went for a wash In the neighborhood hammam. Lifted my dress. Entered the water, which moved in rings From me as though from a stranger, took a stick To strip a layer of my old back. In my bag lay a box of Turkish Delight Meant for my parents, a book of notes, a passport But I was holding nothing now as I floated In pools upon pools of ancient tiled rooms. There was a pigeon in an alcove making song, Women in the shadows clucking disapprovingly At me, unmarried and brazen And free, in the windows a kind of violet smoke I understood as twilight taking over the sky. However hard I tried to erase the blot My body kept bobbing back up. I thought that’s what time was, you couldn’t lose it Like a stone in water, that having been Myself so long it would be forever. And now Safranbolu doesn’t exist anymore, At least not the one where my father Still has years on the clock, Where my mother’s unreason hasn’t begun, The babies not sprung yet from their wherever, City rich off spice, flame-colored threads of the crocus That flowers on the hills around like blue light, Whose gates I will pass through only in the mind: When I slipped on my dress and reopened the door Night had closed over the world that I knew.

– Monica Ferrell, In Safranbolu

[jshoulson]

Today’s Poem

Rime Riche --Monica Ferrell

You need me like ice needs the mountain On which it breeds. Like print needs the page. You move in me like the tongue in a mouth, Like wind in the leaves of summer trees, Gust-fists, hollow except for movement and desire Which is movement. You taste me the way the claws Of a pigeon taste that window-ledge on which it sits, The way water tastes rust in the pipes it shuttles through Beneath a city, unfolding and luminous with industry. Before you were born, the table of elements Was lacking, and I as a noble gas floated Free of attachment. Before you were born, The sun and the moon were paper-thin plates Some machinist at his desk merely clicked into place.

[lifeinpoetry]

Somewhere in this world I will understand my life.

Monica Ferrell, from “The Blue Grotto,” Beasts for the Chase

[morningray]

Ferrell, Monica “Rime Riche”

[kitchen-light]

The essence of my dolor has become rarefied, Holy; like a fragrance, bodiless, without referent.

Monica Ferrell, from her poem “Myths of the Disappearance” (published by the Poetry Foundation)

[cutiewithawakenedheart]

“The ruby red heart

Of fire is tiny and we all become

Her someday.”

               ----Monica Ferrell

[themovieblogonline]

Will & Harper Review: A Heartfelt Journey at Nashville Film Fest

sThe Josh Greenbaum documentary Will & Harper is showing at select theaters now. The film will stream on Netflix beginning  September 27th. Will & Harper screened at the 2024 Nashville Film Festival. The movie originally premiered at the 40th Sundance Film Festival in January 2024.  The 114-minute documentary depicts Will Ferrell’s 17-day cross-country trip with his close friend of 30 years, Harper Steele. Harper has just come out as a transgender female. Over 250 hours of film was shot! And then cut to a  2-hour look at being transgender in America in 2024. Harper was born Andrew Steele in Iowa City, Iowa, one of five children of University of Iowa professors. Harper was the head writer at “Saturday Night Live” and started the same week that Ferrell in 1995. THE GOOD The best thing about the unscripted 17-day trip from New York to Santa Monica, California was how authentic and genuine the emotional relationship between Ferrell and Steele appears to be. Both are reduced to tears, at times, and you will be, too. Nashville Film Festival viewers come away with the feeling that Will Ferrel in real life is very much like his character in “Elf” as one of the nicest guys you could know. As a stranger in an Oklahoma City bar tells him, “I like your support for your friends.  There’s not a lot of it out there now.”  Many have commented on how brave Harper is to have come out. There should also be praise for Will Ferrell (and friends) for being so supportive of Harper in MAGA America. The trailer for the film shows Ferrell reading from the e-mail he received from Steele. He learns that his old buddy will be undergoing transgender surgery and will now go by the name Harper. Ferrell realizing, somewhat belatedly, that he doesn't really know enough about the transgender community. He proposed a 17-day cross-country road trip in Steele’s vintage Jeep Wagoneer to re-acquaint the new old friends. The camera crew follows them discreetly during the trip. We learn the purpose of the documentary with the question “What are the new ground rules? How much has changed? How much is the same?” Steele has a reputation as someone who loves to take cross-country trips. Harper loves to stop at dive bars, diners, and other such places—all of which sound dicey for a transgender woman traveling solo in the United States in 2024.  Will would be able to run interference for his longtime friend as they criss-crossed America. The music (Nathan Halpern) is very good, including the idea of having Kirsten Wiig write a “theme song” for their trip (She sings it at film’s end), a recurring joke. The cinematography—including a stop at the Grand Canyon—is also wonderful.  Harper” is simply a real-life, honest serio-comic gem amidst a sea of boring drek. THE STOPS The pair set out from New York and made stops in Washington, D.C., Indianapolis, Iowa City, Oklahoma City, Amarillo, Las Vegas and various other cities, most of them in “red” states. They were received well everywhere but Texas, where rude tweets follow the duo’s appearance at a steakhouse (Ferrell dressed as Sherlock Holmes and attempting to eat a 72-ounce steak). One Texas tweet that commented on the stop the pair had just made at Harper’s sister Eleanor’s house in Iowa City, called  Ferrell “a Satanic illuminati pedophile in Iowa.” But the general reception was the opposite, although one critic has asked the obvious question: is that  because a celebrity was running interference for Harper? (Others wondered about product placement, since Pringles and Duncan Donuts get a lot of conversational time,) IOWA CITY & SORROW Harper’s sister, Eleanor, when she received the same e-mail that Ferrell got, responded to him quickly, “Oh, good! I’ve always wanted a sister.” However, when the pair actually stops for the night at her home in my old college town, Ferrell asks her what her reaction was upon receiving the news. She admits that “I was totally surprised." The emotion she felt was “sorrow.” I felt that sorrow, too, when Harper shared journal snippets of the pain experienced for decades: “It wasn’t about body parts.  It was about how I am in my head. Fix me or kill me,” is one entry. “A lot of transitioning is learning to accept yourself” is another truth reveal. We learn this in Peoria, Illinois, in a meeting with a 65-year-old transgender woman on the road. “I dream of a world where I can lay my vulnerabilities out there for anyone…I knew something was weird in me growing up in Iowa, but it was impossible to think of doing anything about it.” In a world where gay men are being executed in some countries, you just want to repeat Rodney King’s mantra. May 1, 1992, King called a press conference in hopes of stopping the death and destruction after the L.A. riots. “I just want to say, you know, can we all get along?” CONCLUSION This is a gem of a documentary, which contains so much pain and yet provokes so much laughter.  One can’t help but smile when Ferrell, asked about his share of piloting the vintage automobile cross country responds, “I’m a narcoleptic and I’m not a good driver.” As the theme song for the documentary goes, “a friend is a friend is a friend till the end.” Catch this one when it streams on Netflix beginning September 27th.   Read the full article