Adam Reid, creative director of content creation/production company Bodega with offices in N.Y. and San Francisco, has seen his feature film debut, Hello Lonesome, garner a 2012 Film Independent Spirit Award nomination for the John Cassavetes Award. The Cassavetes honor is given to the director, writer and producer of the best feature film made for less than $500,000.
Reid produced, wrote and directed Hello Lonesome, in association with Bodega’s partner postproduction boutique Northern Lights, which is headed by the film’s executive producers David Gioiella and Mark Littman. Postproduction on the movie was done by Northern Lights while opening titles were designed by VFX/design sister shop Mr. Wonderful.
Reid cites the strength of both his behind-the-scenes partners and on-set collaborators as a key factor in the film’s breakthrough success. “It really takes a village to make a film like Hello Lonesome–and, in this case, it was a very talented and generous village.”
Hello Lonesome stars James Urbaniak, Lynn Cohen, Sabrina Lloyd, Harry Chase, and Nate Smith. With an enchanting mixture of laughter and longing, Hello Lonesome weaves together the worlds of six flawed yet endearing individuals as they explore those age-old human desires: to love and be loved.
Single urbanite Gordon (Smith) meets Debby (Lloyd) online and finds their new relationship put to the ultimate test. Sassy suburban widow (Cohen) gets much more than she was looking for when she leans on her vaguely peculiar but quite witty next-door neighbor (Urbaniak) for support. And in the country, successful voiceover artist Bill Soap (Chase), who lives and works in his underwear, starts to make amends for being a lousy father.
Other nominees for the John Cassavetes Award are Bellflower (writer/director Evan Glodell), Circumstance (writer/director Maryam Keshavarz), Pariah (writer/director Dee Rees) and The Dynamiter (director Matthew Gordon, writer Brad Inglesby).
“It hardly seems possible that a film as truly tiny as Hello Lonesome would be chosen to share the spotlight with so many amazing films,” said Reid.
The winner will be announced at the Film Independent Spirit Awards, slated for Saturday, February 25, 2012, in Santa Monica.
Here’s the trailer for Hello Lonesome:
“Dog Man” Still Has Bite, Tops Weekend Box Office For 2nd Straight Week
On a quiet winter weekend at the box office, DreamWorks Animation's "Dog Man" chased its own tail, repeating as the top movie in theaters.
The animated Universal Pictures release, adapted from Dav Pilkey's popular graphic novel series, collected $13.7 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. Both new releases – the Ke Huy Quan action movie "Love Hurts" and the Valentine's Day-themed slasher "Heart Eyes" – were left nipping at the heels of "Dog Man."
Hollywood often largely punts Super Bowl weekend to the small screen. Last year, Apple's much-derided "Argylle" debuted on the same weekend. Instead, the movie industry spends more energy pitching its blockbusters in trailers for the huge football audience on TV.
It wasn't a banner weekend for "Dog Man." It fell steeply, dropping 62% in it second weekend. But with a production budget of $40 million, "Dog Man" has already tallied $54.1 million domestically in two weeks.
Coming in second was Spyglass Media Group's "Heart Eyes," released by Sony. The horror-rom-com mashup earned $8.5 million from 3,102 locations. Reviews have been good for the film, directed by Josh Ruben and starring Oliva Holt and Mason Gooding, though audiences were less impressed. Moviegoers gave it a "B-" CinemaScore. Spyglass made "Heart Eyes" for $18 million.
"Love Hurts," the action comedy from 87North Productions ("John Wick," "The Fall Guy"), debuted with a paltry $5.8 million in 3,055 theaters. In his first big movie role since his Oscar-winning comeback in "Everything All at Once," Ke Huy Quan stars as a mild-mannered realtor with a hitman past. Ariana DeBose co-stars. It, too, was modestly budgeted at $18 million. Audiences, however, mostly rejected the movie, giving "Love Hurts" a... Read More