Author Topic: Ang Ang Ang  (Read 74656 times)

Offline Ellemeno

  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • ********
  • Posts: 15,367
Ang Ang Ang
« on: May 15, 2008, 04:35:59 am »
Ang Lee, the Academy Award-winning director of the landmark film Brokeback Mountain, is set to boost gay visibility yet again with the biopic Taking Woodstock. It's based on the memoir by Elliot Tiber, who was instrumental in bringing the famed music festival to a farm in upstate New York. From Tiber's website:

In the summer of 1969, Elliot Tiber's life changed in a way he never could have foreseen. Greenwich Village had become the mecca for gays in America. There, Elliot had socialized with the likes of Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, Andy Warhol, and a talented young photographer named Robert Mapplethorpe, and yet had managed to keep his gay life a secret from his family. Then on Friday, June 27, Elliot walked into the Stonewall Inn and witnessed the riot that would galvanize the gay movement in the United States. And on July 17, when Elliot read that the Woodstock Concert promoters had lost their license to stage the show in Wallkill, he called to offer his help in finding a new venue. In the days that followed, Elliot found himself swept up in a vortex that would change his life forever.
 
Should be a fascinating movie, and with Ang at the helm, will definitely be visually splendid (this is, after all, the man who made Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), and be gay positive (in addition to Brokeback, he also made the 1993 gay comedy The Wedding Banquet).

With this film, and the upcoming Milk , it's heartening to see great filmmakers looking into our past, and telling the truth about our history.
« Last Edit: November 30, 2009, 12:04:50 pm by Meryl »

Offline Ellemeno

  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • ********
  • Posts: 15,367
Taking Woodstock, Ang Lee's new film, needs 6000 hippies!
« Reply #1 on: June 26, 2008, 04:56:12 am »
http://www.cbs6albany.com/news/ang_1255847___article.html/lee_extra.html


Ang Lee film casting locals

June 25, 2008 - 2:32PM
CBS 6 News

Extra, extra! Looking for your fifteen minutes of fame?

Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee ("Brokeback Mountain," "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") is coming to the area to film his latest movie, and the production company is looking for locals to cast.

"Taking Woodstock," being produced by Focus Films and Tuxedo Terrace, is set in 1969 and follows the story of a man -- an upstate local -- who played an unexpected but pivotal role in the 1969 Woodstock Music and Arts Festival.

Filming is scheduled to begin in mid-August and continue into mid-October in Columbia County.

The production company says it's looking for extras of all types -- college kids, hippies, townspeople, police, etc. Long hair is a plus.

Schedule of open casting calls:

Saturday, June 28th
10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Montgomery C. Smith Middle School
215 Harry Howard Ave.
Hudson, NY 12534

Sunday, June 29th
10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
College of St. Rose Event and Athletics Center
420 Western Ave.
Albany, NY 12203

Monday, June 30th and Tuesday, July 1st
10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Church of the Immaculate Conception
732 US Route 20
New Lebanon, NY 12125

Candidates must be legal U.S. residents and are asked to bring a recent non-returnable photograph.

Extras will be paid.

The company is also looking for cars made in 1969 and earlier. Anyone interested is asked to bring a picture of the car with a brief description of make, model and current condition.
« Last Edit: July 28, 2008, 06:22:09 pm by Elle »

Offline Ellemeno

  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • ********
  • Posts: 15,367
Taking Woodstock, Ang Lee's new film, needs 6000 hippies!
« Reply #2 on: June 26, 2008, 05:52:18 am »
http://blogs.timesunion.com/movies/?p=207


Wanted: Fabulous, furry freaks
June 25, 2008 at 10:50 am by Casey Seiler, Entertainment Editor

Do you have long hair? Do you own your own love beads? Do you look generally countercultural? If you can answer yes to any of those questions, Ang Lee's upcoming film "Taking Woodstock" needs you.
   
The behind-the-scenes drama about the tumultuous runup to the 1969 rock fest will hold open auditions for extras throughout the Capital Region this weekend. An ad in today's paper says the production partners, Focus Films and Tuxedo Terrace, are seeking "all types (college kids, hippies, townspeople, police, etc)" for various filming dates beginning in mid-August and running through mid-October in Columbia County.

The casting calls take place from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday in Hudson at the Smith Middle School, 215 Harry Howard Ave.; 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday in Albany at the College of Saint Rose Event & Athletic Center, 420 Western Ave.; and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday in New Lebanon at the Church of the Immaculate Conception at 732 Route 20.

Applicants should bring a non-returnable photo and must be a legal U.S. resident.

The production is also looking for vintage vehicles from the era; if you have one, bring a non-returnable photo and a description of its make, model and condition.

Ang Lee is the Oscar-winning director of "Brokeback Mountain" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." His longtime collaborator James Schamus -- producer, screenwriter and head of Focus Features -- lives in Chatham, and is a regular participant in the FilmColumbia festival.

Billed as a comedy, "Taking Woodstock" is based on a memoir by Elliot Tiber, a small-town official who found himself at the crossroads of the generation-defining event.
« Last Edit: July 28, 2008, 06:22:19 pm by Elle »

Offline Ellemeno

  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • ********
  • Posts: 15,367
Taking Woodstock, Ang Lee's new film, needs 6000 hippies!
« Reply #3 on: July 26, 2008, 01:45:59 am »
An excerpt from an article on publishing houses:

"An example of being blessed by fortune was a chance meeting 3,000 miles from the Island that resulted in a windfall for Square One.

The break happened after the company published its first memoir, “Taking Woodstock,” by Elliot Tiber.

Tiber, a friend of Shur’s, kept pestering the publisher about a manuscript he was working on relating his experiences at the Woodstock festival in 1969. “Every once in awhile, something happens and you either see it or you don’t,” Shur said. “After Elliot called me five times I saw it.”

About 3,000 hardcover copies were published last summer and Square One’s luck held thanks to a book tour organized by Anthony Pomes, marketing and publicity director at the house. Waiting to be interviewed at a local San Francisco TV station about his memoir, Tiber found himself sharing a green room with Ang Lee, the Oscar- winning director of “Brokeback Mountain.”

Tiber told the director about his book and Lee expressed interest. Soon the film rights, which Shur had kept, were sold to Focus Features. Lee will begin filming in the fall. Next summer, the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, Square One will publish a trade paperback of the memoir, feeding off the film and the anniversary. Shur said anywhere from 50,000 to 250,000 copies could be sold."

http://www.libn.com/article.htm?articleID=43035
« Last Edit: July 28, 2008, 06:22:35 pm by Elle »

Offline Ellemeno

  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • ********
  • Posts: 15,367
Taking Woodstock, Ang Lee's new film, needs 6000 hippies!
« Reply #4 on: July 27, 2008, 11:58:32 am »
Here's a mention in a blog of one person's experience auditioning for the film.  Note she says they are looking for 6,000 people to be extras in the film!  Come on, y'all, isn't there anyone here who wants to return to their hippy look and be in an Ang film? 

http://donnaleedm.blogspot.com/2008/07/cant-believe-i-auditioned-for-ang-lee.html
« Last Edit: July 28, 2008, 06:22:45 pm by Elle »

Offline Ellemeno

  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • ********
  • Posts: 15,367
Taking Woodstock, Ang Lee's new film, needs 6000 hippies!
« Reply #5 on: July 28, 2008, 11:12:06 am »
From the Rutland (Vermont) Herald

Party like it's 1969

July 28, 2008
By Brent Curtis Herald Staff

 
BENNINGTON — The Elks Lodge on Washington Street was a hip place to be on Sunday.

Tie-dyed T-shirts, moon beads and hair — long, flowing, untamed-freak-flag manes of hair — filled the otherwise square and well-kempt dining hall at the lodge where the casting call for Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee's new movie, "Taking Woodstock," was held.

Hippies and those willing to play the part stood in line, posed for Polaroid shots and interviewed with casting directors, who asked them questions about their availability during the August shoot in New Lebanon, N.Y., queried them about their musical and acting talents and inquired about their willingness to participate in nude scenes written into the film. A casting call took place in Brattleboro Saturday.

Nude or not, the dozens of people who came to audition were ready to get their groove on.

"It's all about the outfits," 50-year-old Valerie Toenes said, in her colored skirts and a hair wrap that complemented her daughter's peace sign and guitar nicely. "We figured if we got in, great. If not we at least had fun finding the outfits."

Toenes, who hinted at hippie-style leanings in her past and her 14-year-old daughter Jillon McGreal, who said she went through a hippie phase way back in middle school, drove up from Chatham, N.Y., to try their luck.

None of the participants learned on Sunday whether they were in or out, but Toenes and McGreal said the directors seemed interested in the mother's free-flowing hair and tarot card reading and the daughter's guitar playing.

Toenes, who most days inhabits a professional office suite where she works as an architect, said she expected those talents to attract interest.

What they didn't expect was the directors' interest in the family dog.

"They said they might be interested in recruiting our dog," Toenes said of the family's black Labrador-Rottweiler. "That was a surprise."

Toenes and McGreal said they planned to shop for a tie-dyed dog collar or a neckerchief to get their pooch ready for the part.

Mother and daughter were like many people at the audition in one key respect — they weren't real hippies.

Stephanie Hedges of Lenox, Mass., for example, never experimented with the counterculture lifestyle. But as an actress with a resume ranging from locally produced plays to extra roles in movies such as "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" and television shows such as "Walker, Texas Ranger," Hedges said she's up to taking on an unfamiliar role.

Unfortunately, her wardrobe wasn't.

But after digging through her closet, the 39-year-old said she hit upon a transparent paisley blouse — actually two large bandanas sewn together — which had a quasi-hippie appeal to it.

As a payday, the extra role would pay Hedges and the other extras $100 to $130 a day with some meals thrown in.

But Hedges said auditioning for extra roles can be worth the trip because non-speaking roles can transform into speaking roles if directors see talent.

"Ideally, a speaking role is what I'm hoping for," she said.

Nine-year-old Skylar Burditt of Rutland looked like a hippie with his face half-hidden behind long blonde locks of hair.

But Burditt said he doesn't know what a hippie is and he certainly isn't into the music of the '60s — he likes his hair long, according to his dad, so he can head-bang to the English heavy-metal band Iron Maiden.

"I know it was a concert with about 5,000 people," Burditt said when asked what he knew about Woodstock.

What Burditt does know is he wants to be an actor some day and a small role in a movie is just the stepping stone that the Rutland youngster, who has acted in two plays, said he is looking for.

Ironically, longtime hippies Janet Gordon and David Cook have something in common with the 9-year-old — their experience with Woodstock is limited to what they've heard.

Both Gordon, 62, and Cook, 58, were immersed in the counterculture when the iconic music and arts festival rolled onto Max Yasgur's 600-acre farm for three days of love and music.

But Gordon, who was living in a commune, was pregnant at the time and Cook, who was living in Massachusetts, said he couldn't hitch a ride.

Now Gordon, who works as a nurse, and Cook, who live together in Pownal, have a chance to relive history.

And Gordon, who said she was inspired to audition in part because of her successful bout with breast cancer last year, said she has every intention of playing the extra role like it's 1969 again.

"They asked me if I would do a nude shot and I said, 'Oh yeah,'" she said.

Contact Brent Curtis at [email protected].

http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080728/NEWS04/807280358/1003/NEWS02
« Last Edit: July 28, 2008, 06:22:55 pm by Elle »

Offline Ellemeno

  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • ********
  • Posts: 15,367
Taking Woodstock, Ang Lee's new film, needs 6000 hippies!
« Reply #6 on: July 28, 2008, 06:01:38 pm »
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

6,000 hippies needed!  Isn't there one BetterMostian who wants to be in Ang's new film?

Offline Lynne

  • BetterMost Supporter
  • BetterMost Moderator
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 9,291
  • "The world's always ending." --Ianto Jones
    • Elizabeth Warren for Massachusetts
Re: Taking Woodstock, Ang Lee's new film needs 6000 hippies!
« Reply #7 on: July 28, 2008, 06:04:49 pm »
 :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

(rummaging for my old going-to-Phish-shows clothes!)
"Laß sein. Laß sein."

Offline cmr107

  • BetterMost 1000+ Posts Club
  • ******
  • Posts: 1,460
  • Call me Courtney
Re: Taking Woodstock, Ang Lee's new film, needs 6000 hippies!
« Reply #8 on: July 28, 2008, 08:27:07 pm »
Aww, if I lived anywhere near New York I would go. I have long hair. And I've seen Hair:) I could totally look like a hippie!

Offline Brown Eyes

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • BetterMost Moderator
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 10,377
Re: Taking Woodstock, Ang Lee's new film, needs 6000 hippies!
« Reply #9 on: July 28, 2008, 08:38:45 pm »
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

6,000 hippies needed!  Isn't there one BetterMostian who wants to be in Ang's new film?

I think we should turn this into an official Brokie event.  A big group of us could go!  And, it could be a subtle nod to the deleted hippie scene in BBM. 8)  Maybe this film is Ang's way of working through that deleted scene on a really large scale.
 :laugh:

Maybe I'll feature this in the next Round Up as a potential Brokie event.  :laugh:

Seriously though, when I was in high school I went through a fairly long phase when I was totally enamored of 60s counterculture including lots of elements of hippie culture.







the world was asleep to our latent fuss - bowie