Academy Award nominee Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right) will play the starring role of Joe Albany in the upcoming feature film Low Down, which he will also executive produce. Low Down will be directed by Jeff Preiss, known for his work in commercials. Preiss is a partner in Epoch Films, a multimedia production company active in such disciplines as spots, music videos, web content and features.
Producers Albert Berger & Ron Yerxa (Election, Little Children, Little Miss Sunshine) of Bona Fide Productions will team up with Epoch Films’ founder and managing partner Mindy Goldberg (Junebug, Gigantic) to produce the film. Amy Albany and Carlo Martinelli will co-produce.
Set in the colorful Los Angeles jazz scene of the late 1960s and early ’70s, Low Down explores the father-daughter relationship between legendary jazz pianist Joe Albany (who played with Charlie Parker and Charles Mingus) and his 11-year -old daughter Amy. Told from Amy’s point of view, the story poetically captures her unconventional childhood growing up with her immensely talented and charismatic but strung-out father and other eccentric characters in cocktail bars and transient hotels set amidst the faded grandeur of Hollywood.
The screenplay was written by Topper Lilien and Amy Albany, based on her memoir of the same name. Filming is scheduled to begin at the end of the year.
Ruffalo will soon begin production on Marvel’s The Avengers, in which he plays scientist Bruce Banner (a.k.a. The Hulk). Ruffalo produced Sympathy for Delicious, which won the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010. The independent film, which also marked Ruffalo’s directorial debut, stars Orlando Bloom, Laura Linney, Juliette Lewis and Ruffalo in a story about a Los Angeles DJ who finds that he has the power to heal. The film will be released by Maya Entertainment on April 29.
This year Ruffalo has earned supporting male actor nominations for an Academy Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, BAFTA Award and Independent Spirit Award for his performance in The Kids Are All Right.
Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey Launch Production House 34North
Executive producers Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey have teamed to launch 34North. The shop opens with a roster which includes accomplished directors Jan Wentz, Ben Nakamura Whitehouse, David Edwards and Mario Feil, as well as such up-and-coming filmmakers as Glenn Stewart and Chris Fowles. Nakamura Whitehouse, Edwards, Feil and Fowles come over from CoMPANY Films, the production company for which Cicero served as an EP for the past nearly five years. Director Wentz had most recently been with production house Skunk while Stewart now gains his first U.S. representation. EP Clancey was freelance producing prior to the formation of 34North. He and Cicero have known each other for some 25 years, recently reconnecting on a job directed by Fowles. Cicero said that he and Clancey “want to keep a highly focused roster where talent management can be one on one--where we all share in the directors’ success together.” Clancey also brings an agency pedigree to the new venture. “I started at Campbell Ewald in accounts, no less,” said Clancey. “I saw firsthand how much work agencies put in before we even see a script. You have to respect that investment. These agency experiences really shaped my approach to production--it’s about empathy, listening between the lines, and ultimately making the process seamless.” 34North represents a meeting point--both literally and creatively. Named after the latitude of Malibu, Calif., where the idea for the company was born, it also embraces the power of storytelling. “34North118West was the first GPS-enabled narrative,” Cicero explained. “That blend of art and technology, to captivate an audience, mirrors what we do here--create compelling work, with talented people, harnessing state-of-the-art... Read More