He stars alongside Jarred Harris in the film, directed by Damian Harris.
Nicholas Hamilton whose credits include It and Captain Fantastic, has joined the previously announced Jared Harris in the cast of Gfm Films’ UK drama Brave The Dark.
Damian Harris (brother of Jared), whose credits include Gardens Of The Night, is directing the film, which is written by Lynn Robertson Hay & Dale G Bradley, from an original screenplay by John P Spencer.
The film is based on a true story of a wayward student and the teacher who tries to help him.
It will shoot in Lancaster County, USA,...
Nicholas Hamilton whose credits include It and Captain Fantastic, has joined the previously announced Jared Harris in the cast of Gfm Films’ UK drama Brave The Dark.
Damian Harris (brother of Jared), whose credits include Gardens Of The Night, is directing the film, which is written by Lynn Robertson Hay & Dale G Bradley, from an original screenplay by John P Spencer.
The film is based on a true story of a wayward student and the teacher who tries to help him.
It will shoot in Lancaster County, USA,...
- 9/18/2019
- by Orlando Parfitt
- ScreenDaily
Harris’ brother Damian Harris is directing the feature.
Jared Harris will star in UK drama Brave The Dark, which London-based Gfm Films is launching sales on here in Cannes.
Damian Harris (Gardens Of The Night) is directing the project, which will see his brother Jared play Stan Deen, a popular drama teacher who tries to help one of his wayward students, whilst dealing with his own issues.
Producers on the project are Grant Bradley, Dale Bradley and Paul Griffin for Inspiring Films. Lynn Robertson Hay and Dale G. Bradley have written the script based on an original screenplay by John P. Spencer.
Jared Harris will star in UK drama Brave The Dark, which London-based Gfm Films is launching sales on here in Cannes.
Damian Harris (Gardens Of The Night) is directing the project, which will see his brother Jared play Stan Deen, a popular drama teacher who tries to help one of his wayward students, whilst dealing with his own issues.
Producers on the project are Grant Bradley, Dale Bradley and Paul Griffin for Inspiring Films. Lynn Robertson Hay and Dale G. Bradley have written the script based on an original screenplay by John P. Spencer.
- 5/16/2019
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
Gillian Jacobs is an American actress who was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on October 19, 1982, and was raised by her mother in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania. She became an actress in 2005 and has gone on to establish a successful career in both television and film. She is best-known for playing Britta Perry in ‘Community’, an NBC/ Yahoo! Screen comedy series, and for her role as Mickey Dobbs in ‘Love, a Netflix series. Some of the many films in which she has appeared include ‘Brother Nature’, ‘Gardens of the Night’, ‘Don’t Think Twice’, ‘The Lookalike’, ‘Hot Tub Time Machine 2’,
Five Things You Didn’t Know About Gillian Jacobs...
Five Things You Didn’t Know About Gillian Jacobs...
- 3/13/2018
- by Nat Berman
- TVovermind.com
Vertical Entertainment has picked up North American rights to Wilde Wedding, a comedy from Gardens of the Night director Damian Harris starring Glenn Close, Patrick Stewart and John Malkovich.
Close plays Eve Wilde, a now-retired film star who is getting ready to marry husband number four, the acclaimed English writer Harold Alcott (Stewart), after a whirlwind courtship. But on the long summer weekend before the nuptials, the couple is confronted with their romantic pasts in the form of Wilde's first husband, played by Malkovich, and their collective families. Minnie Driver, Jack Davenport, Yael Stone, Peter Facinelli, Noah Emmerich and Grace Van...
Close plays Eve Wilde, a now-retired film star who is getting ready to marry husband number four, the acclaimed English writer Harold Alcott (Stewart), after a whirlwind courtship. But on the long summer weekend before the nuptials, the couple is confronted with their romantic pasts in the form of Wilde's first husband, played by Malkovich, and their collective families. Minnie Driver, Jack Davenport, Yael Stone, Peter Facinelli, Noah Emmerich and Grace Van...
- 5/19/2017
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Filmmaker Marcus Dunstan has indicated he's heavily pursuing "Community" actress Gillian Jacobs for the lead role in "Halloween Returns," the upcoming continuation of the "Halloween" franchise at Dimension Films.
Halloween Daily News spoke with Dunstan who says: "I really like this actress Gillian Jacobs. She's known for all this comedy on 'Community,' and yet I didn't know her from 'Community' first, I knew her from a movie called 'Gardens of the Night,' which is one of the most wrenching dramas, and she's excellent. I thought, 'I wonder if this great performer would do that again, would like to go there,' and I think so."
"Halloween Returns" is expected to be a direct sequel to 1981's "Halloween II" and will ignore all subsequent sequels and remakes. The main lead will be that of Gary Hunt, the deputy who accompanied Dr. Loomis to the school...
Halloween Daily News spoke with Dunstan who says: "I really like this actress Gillian Jacobs. She's known for all this comedy on 'Community,' and yet I didn't know her from 'Community' first, I knew her from a movie called 'Gardens of the Night,' which is one of the most wrenching dramas, and she's excellent. I thought, 'I wonder if this great performer would do that again, would like to go there,' and I think so."
"Halloween Returns" is expected to be a direct sequel to 1981's "Halloween II" and will ignore all subsequent sequels and remakes. The main lead will be that of Gary Hunt, the deputy who accompanied Dr. Loomis to the school...
- 9/9/2015
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
"Halloween" has long been my favorite horror film, and it's become clear over numerous awful sequels and Rob Zombie's abysmal 2007 remake that it's probably best to leave well enough alone. Not that they're going to! But it would be nice. Now Marcus Dunstan ("Saw 3D," "The Collector") is on board to helm a reboot entitled "Halloween Returns," and in a new interview with "Halloween" superfan Darnell Weeks, he spilled a few details on the forthcoming project (full interview embedded at the bottom of the page): On getting inspiration from John Carpenter's original movie: "[Co-writer Patrick Melton and I] went back to the original screenplay too and just read it, John Carpenter's draft, and timed it with watching the movie, and line for line it keeps the same clock as watching the movie, so if you're reading the pages, it's almost like a shot list." On the project's progress: "The coolest thing...
- 9/8/2015
- by Chris Eggertsen
- Hitfix
On ABC's Wednesday sitcom "Suburgatory," which launched a new season in January, Jeremy Sisto plays George Altman, an architect and single father of a teen daughter (Jane Levy) who moves to the suburbs to give her a better life. He discovers life there is different, but whether it's better is a work in progress.
In real life, Sisto is a 39-year-old father of two: daughter Charlie and baby son Bastian. He got married to wife Addie a few months after his daughter was born, but Sisto has no regrets about taking the plunge.
"I love my family," he tells Zap2it. "I have a great wife. It took me a while to figure that out and commit, but now I'm really happy I did. She's a human being, and we're committed to each other. It's a nice thing. The kids are just amazing. It's a different level."
As to whether...
In real life, Sisto is a 39-year-old father of two: daughter Charlie and baby son Bastian. He got married to wife Addie a few months after his daughter was born, but Sisto has no regrets about taking the plunge.
"I love my family," he tells Zap2it. "I have a great wife. It took me a while to figure that out and commit, but now I'm really happy I did. She's a human being, and we're committed to each other. It's a nice thing. The kids are just amazing. It's a different level."
As to whether...
- 2/19/2014
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
Garden Snakes: Griffiths’ Latest a Harrowing Tale with Compelling Lead
Director Megan Griffith’s follows up her well acted yet downtroddingly paced sophomore effort The Off Hours with an unnerving reenactment of sex trafficking from the mid 90s in Eden. While avoiding being exploitative in its depiction of cruelty and victimization, Griffith’s film is nonetheless a powerful tale of survival under degrading and harrowing circumstances. Certainly proving Griffiths’ growing talents as a director interested in compelling and often off-putting material, this latest work, which won the Audience Award at SXSW 2012, should definitely lead not only its director to wider acclaim, but also its lead actress, whose performance is the heart and soul of this somber tale.
In 1994 New Mexico, Korean-American teenager Hyuan Jae (Jamie Chung) lives an unromantic existence with her parents, who immigrated to the Us and now own a small convenience store. After sneaking into a bar...
Director Megan Griffith’s follows up her well acted yet downtroddingly paced sophomore effort The Off Hours with an unnerving reenactment of sex trafficking from the mid 90s in Eden. While avoiding being exploitative in its depiction of cruelty and victimization, Griffith’s film is nonetheless a powerful tale of survival under degrading and harrowing circumstances. Certainly proving Griffiths’ growing talents as a director interested in compelling and often off-putting material, this latest work, which won the Audience Award at SXSW 2012, should definitely lead not only its director to wider acclaim, but also its lead actress, whose performance is the heart and soul of this somber tale.
In 1994 New Mexico, Korean-American teenager Hyuan Jae (Jamie Chung) lives an unromantic existence with her parents, who immigrated to the Us and now own a small convenience store. After sneaking into a bar...
- 3/18/2013
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
With cinematic releases at the moment mostly involving the not-particularly inspiring likes of "That's My Boy" and "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," it's hard not to look to television for a little nourishment. The trouble is that the TV season has wrapped up for the year. While a few shows (namely "Girls") are still wrapping up, and others get underway shortly ("The Newsroom," "Breaking Bad," "Louie"), it's pretty quiet on the box, with cast and creatives focusing on making a hiatus movie, campaigning for Emmy, or just getting some sleep for once.
Still, with the 2011/2012 TV season done, we thought we'd shine a light on the small screen this week. Tomorrow, we're going to run down our ten favorite TV series of the last 12 months, but today, we wanted to pick a few stars of these shows that we think are set to break out as movie stars before too long,...
Still, with the 2011/2012 TV season done, we thought we'd shine a light on the small screen this week. Tomorrow, we're going to run down our ten favorite TV series of the last 12 months, but today, we wanted to pick a few stars of these shows that we think are set to break out as movie stars before too long,...
- 6/12/2012
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
It's hard to fault filmmaker Aimee Lagos for wanting to follow spiritually in Paul Haggis's footsteps. Aside from our snooty disdain, the man's had a pretty fucking great career. With her feature film debut 96 Minutes, she decided to go with a social commentary mashup of four different cliches weaved together on a carjacking gone wrong. The frustrating part is that the acting and characters are pretty solid, if not molded out of cliches. If it wasn't mired in such a stupid goddamn trite plot, it could be probably be a solid movie. She gets more mileage out of her non-linear storytelling than she should be able, and she might have packed a little too many storylines which she abandons later into the story, but what's there is a fucking condescending and stereotypical mess. The buzzword for the weaker films of the festival this year seem to be stereotypical --...
- 3/13/2011
- by Brian Prisco
Evan Ross is on the road to becoming a quietly explosive actor. Given the right material, Ross could have a shot at an Oscar or Emmy, although a Spirit award is more likely in the near future. I enjoyed him as a stuttering swimmer in Pride, an aspiring chef in According to Greta and a runaway teen in Gardens of the Night. In Mooz-lum, Ross plays a Muslim-American college freshman who faces adversity from his peers and family. I haven't seen it yet but the story looks enticing.
Now playing in select theaters.
Official Site: www.moozlumthemovie.com...
Now playing in select theaters.
Official Site: www.moozlumthemovie.com...
- 2/11/2011
- by karen@reelartsy.com (Karen)
- Reelartsy
Shiloh Fernandez has been cast as the leading man to star alongside Mamma Mia!'s Amanda Seyfried in Girl With The Red Riding Hood. Although having small roles in films such as Cadillac Records and Gardens of the Night, the young actor is better known overseas for his range in TV roles. Playing the role of Peter – an orphaned woodcutter who Seyfried’s character falls in love with – the role is a chance for the film’s director Catherine Hardwicke to give Fernandez the big break he was hoping for when he...
.
.
- 4/20/2010
- by Total Film
- TotalFilm
Shoreline Entertainment is producing the suspense thriller Vanished. Right now, the film is in production, under the direction of Michael Adante (The Line). The film will star Peta Wilson (Gardens of the Night), Jane Badler (Under a Red Moon), and David Barry (Shadows of the Past). In 2008 locations were scouted and now a synopsis is available. Described, by the production company, as a "gripping psychological thriller...[of] revenge," fans will have to sit tight until the film is completed and a release date is confirmed (Shore'). A short clip of Adante scouting locations for Vanished is below.
A synopsis for Vanished here:
"A child is kidnapped and when the kidnapper contacts the distraught parents, they’re shocked to learn the abductor is not looking for money; they want retribution" (Shoreline)!
Release Date/Completion Date: Unknown.
Director: Michael Adante.
A three minute clip of Adante scouting locations in what appears to be...
A synopsis for Vanished here:
"A child is kidnapped and when the kidnapper contacts the distraught parents, they’re shocked to learn the abductor is not looking for money; they want retribution" (Shoreline)!
Release Date/Completion Date: Unknown.
Director: Michael Adante.
A three minute clip of Adante scouting locations in what appears to be...
- 2/7/2010
- by Michael Ross Allen
- 28 Days Later Analysis
Evan Ross And Gillian Jacobs In Director Damian Harris' Gardens Of The Night. Courtesy City Lights Pictures. Coming from a family of actors, Damian Harris went against the grain when he chose to become a writer-director. Harris is the son of Richard Harris, the legendary British screen thespian, as well as the stepson of Rex Harrison and the brother of Jamie and Jared Harris, who are also actors. He got his first taste of the movie game when, at the age of 10, he acted alongside Tom Courtenay and Romy Schneider in the comedy Otley (1968). That experience, however, made him realize that his expertise was not in front of the camera, and prompted him to study film at the London International Film School and then screenwriting at Nyu. He...
- 11/19/2008
- by Nick Dawson
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Damian Harris spent the better part of two decades researching child abductions for Gardens of the Night, a fictional saga about one young girl's ordeal after being snatched away from her parents at the tender age of 8. That dedication to getting the details right, however, doesn't save his film from missteps typical to stories about such topics, as the tendency to exploit lurid material for dramatic purposes is something he can't avoid. Still, as a serious-minded attempt to trace both the literal and psychological means by which abductors carry out their plots, Harris' tale is not wholly without merit and, with regards to its portrait of kid-snatcher Alex (Tom Arnold), occasionally flirts with complexity. Generally refusing to simplify characters or scenarios, his film strives to burrow into the mind of captured 8-year-old Leslie (Ryan Simpkins), who - in an extended flashback instigated by 17-year-old Leslie's (Gillian Jacobs) lies about her...
- 11/8/2008
- by Nick Schager
- Cinematical
Actor Tom Arnold is drawing on his own painful experience of sexual abuse as a child and turning it to his advantage for a role in new movie Gardens Of The Night.
The comic plays Alex, a paedophile in the harrowing drama, about a young girl who endures years of abuse at the hands of captors after being kidnapped from her family.
Arnold was just four years old when his 19-year-old male babysitter started molesting him, and he suffered for three years before the horror finally stopped.
He has since made peace with his past and now admits that his own experiences have helped him to fully develop the character.
But it wasn't an easy decision to take on the project.
Arnold, 49, says, "It was a tough choice. I was a smart kid, and (my molester) still got to me. So I wanted to portray a paedophile in a way no one has seen before in order to explain how these things can happen. I even wore the same clothes as him in the movie. Showing this guy meant so much to me."...
The comic plays Alex, a paedophile in the harrowing drama, about a young girl who endures years of abuse at the hands of captors after being kidnapped from her family.
Arnold was just four years old when his 19-year-old male babysitter started molesting him, and he suffered for three years before the horror finally stopped.
He has since made peace with his past and now admits that his own experiences have helped him to fully develop the character.
But it wasn't an easy decision to take on the project.
Arnold, 49, says, "It was a tough choice. I was a smart kid, and (my molester) still got to me. So I wanted to portray a paedophile in a way no one has seen before in order to explain how these things can happen. I even wore the same clothes as him in the movie. Showing this guy meant so much to me."...
- 11/6/2008
- WENN
By Neil Pedley
Those nursing a Halloween hangover can enjoy a little hair of the dog with some amusing takes on terror, a double bill featuring the greatly missed Bernie Mac and a trio of Fantastic Fest titles coming their way.
"The Alphabet Killer"
Eliza Dushku reunites with "Wrong Turn" director Rob Schmidt for this supernatural riff on the infamous Alphabet murders that took place in Rochester, NY in the early '70s. Dushku stars as the lead investigator in a series of brutal child killings who's struck down by a severe mental breakdown. Two years later, her career as a detective is ostensibly over, yet when the killings inexplicably start up again, so do her crippling hallucinations and she must find a way to track down the serial killer with or without the help of her former colleagues at the police department. Timothy Hutton, Cary Elwes and Michael Ironside...
Those nursing a Halloween hangover can enjoy a little hair of the dog with some amusing takes on terror, a double bill featuring the greatly missed Bernie Mac and a trio of Fantastic Fest titles coming their way.
"The Alphabet Killer"
Eliza Dushku reunites with "Wrong Turn" director Rob Schmidt for this supernatural riff on the infamous Alphabet murders that took place in Rochester, NY in the early '70s. Dushku stars as the lead investigator in a series of brutal child killings who's struck down by a severe mental breakdown. Two years later, her career as a detective is ostensibly over, yet when the killings inexplicably start up again, so do her crippling hallucinations and she must find a way to track down the serial killer with or without the help of her former colleagues at the police department. Timothy Hutton, Cary Elwes and Michael Ironside...
- 11/3/2008
- by Neil Pedley
- ifc.com
MPAA ratings: Oct. 22, 2008 The following feature-length motion pictures have been reviewed and rated by the Classification and Rating Administration pursuant to the Motion Picture Classification and Rating program. Each of the designated ratings is defined as follows under the Motion Picture Classification and Rating program.
G -- General Audiences. All ages admitted.
PG -- Parental Guidance Suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.
PG -13 --Parents Strongly Cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
R -- Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
Nc-17 -- No One 17 And Under Admitted
Film Distributor ReasonRating Adam Resurrected
Adam Productions
Rated R for some disturbing behavior, sexuality, nudity and some language.
R Alone In The Dark 2
Vivendi Entertainment
Rated PG-13 for violence, disturbing images and brief drug content.
PG-13 The Box
Warner Bros. Pictures
Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, some violence and disturbing images.
PG-13
Conjurer
Monarch Home...
G -- General Audiences. All ages admitted.
PG -- Parental Guidance Suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.
PG -13 --Parents Strongly Cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
R -- Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
Nc-17 -- No One 17 And Under Admitted
Film Distributor ReasonRating Adam Resurrected
Adam Productions
Rated R for some disturbing behavior, sexuality, nudity and some language.
R Alone In The Dark 2
Vivendi Entertainment
Rated PG-13 for violence, disturbing images and brief drug content.
PG-13 The Box
Warner Bros. Pictures
Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, some violence and disturbing images.
PG-13
Conjurer
Monarch Home...
- 10/29/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
We are pleased to host the official trailer for City Lights Entertainment's drama "Garden of the Night" with a strong cast consisting of Gillian Jacobs, John Malkovich, Ryan Simpkins, Tom Arnold, Kevin Zegers, Harold Perineau and Jeremy Sisto. The drama opens November 7, 2008 in limited areas and is directed and written by actress Emilia Fox's ("Flashbacks of a Fool") brother-in-law Damian Harris ("Mercy," "The Rachel Papers," "Bad Company"). Star Gillian Jacobs was recently seen in the Sam Rockwell starrer "Choke."...
- 10/22/2008
- Upcoming-Movies.com
We are pleased to host the official trailer for City Lights Entertainment's drama "Garden of the Night" with a strong cast consisting of Gillian Jacobs, John Malkovich, Ryan Simpkins, Tom Arnold, Kevin Zegers, Harold Perineau and Jeremy Sisto. The drama opens November 7, 2008 in limited areas and is directed and written by actress Emilia Fox's ("Flashbacks of a Fool") brother-in-law Damian Harris ("Mercy," "The Rachel Papers," "Bad Company"). Star Gillian Jacobs was recently seen in the Sam Rockwell starrer "Choke."...
- 10/22/2008
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Get the embedded code! We are pleased to host the official trailer for City Lights Entertainment's drama "Garden of the Night" with a strong cast consisting of Gillian Jacobs, John Malkovich, Ryan Simpkins, Tom Arnold, Kevin Zegers, Harold Perineau and Jeremy Sisto. The drama opens November 7, 2008 in limited areas and is directed and written by actress Emilia Fox's ("Flashbacks of a Fool") brother-in-law Damian Harris ("Mercy," "The Rachel Papers," "Bad Company"). Star Gillian Jacobs was recently seen in the Sam Rockwell starrer "Choke." What's this about? Leslie (Gillian Jacobs), struggles with a hand to mouth existence on the streets of San Diego with only her childhood friend Donnie (Evan Ross) to look after her, both of them trying to cope with the trauma of having been abducted and held captive by two men nine years earlier. As an eight-year-old girl, Leslie (Ryan Simpkins) was abducted through trickery by an...
- 10/22/2008
- Upcoming-Movies.com
We are pleased to host the official trailer for City Lights Entertainment's drama "Garden of the Night" with a strong cast consisting of Gillian Jacobs, John Malkovich, Ryan Simpkins, Tom Arnold, Kevin Zegers, Harold Perineau and Jeremy Sisto. The drama opens November 7, 2008 in limited areas and is directed and written by actress Emilia Fox's ("Flashbacks of a Fool") brother-in-law Damian Harris ("Mercy," "The Rachel Papers," "Bad Company"). Star Gillian Jacobs was recently seen in the Sam Rockwell starrer "Choke."...
- 10/22/2008
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Immigration drama The Visitor has been named the top film at this year's Deauville American Film Festival in France.
The arthouse movie, starring Richard Jenkins as a downtrodden widower who befriends an illegal immigrant couple in New York, claimed the event's Best Film award on Sunday.
The runner-up Jury Prize went to Lance Hammer's drama Ballast, while pedophile drama Gardens of The Night won the International Critics Award.
The arthouse movie, starring Richard Jenkins as a downtrodden widower who befriends an illegal immigrant couple in New York, claimed the event's Best Film award on Sunday.
The runner-up Jury Prize went to Lance Hammer's drama Ballast, while pedophile drama Gardens of The Night won the International Critics Award.
- 9/16/2008
- WENN
Competition
BERLIN -- Films about social issues usually exude the deadly aura of good intention and earnest edification, but Damian Harris zones in on his characters in Gardens of the Night. The film gives vivid reality to those photos of disappeared children on milk cartons by letting us peek into the lives of two abducted children subjected to sexual abuse and then prostitution.
The writer-director shuns sensationalism but does sentimentalize the friendship between the two youngsters, seen as children and then as thoroughly messed-up teens. The strength of the film lies in acting performances that make everyone human, even the monsters.
More festival exposure is assured, but only a brave distributor will take on such a tricky subject. The film might be better suited to home entertainment markets.
Reportedly, Harris spent years researching and writing his script, and it shows. The small details feel right, leaving us to accept the utter horror of the larger details. In quiet, subtle ways, his story shows how such things happen and why children gradually lose the will and ability to call out for help. While a screaming child and Movie of the Week fiends might have made a slicker, safer product, Harris takes pains to keep it real. The truly sick thing here is how nice the villain is to the children.
Alex (Tom Arnold in a performance of considerable nuance) and his much rougher partner Frank (Kevin Zegers) clearly spent time laying a trap for their young victim. Leslie Ryan Simpkins), a lovely, blond 8-year-old, is too bright to simply get into a stranger's car. A level of trust and seeming familiarity are carefully built before the two kidnappers can spirit her away from her East Coast home.
Leslie finds herself sharing space with a black youth her age, Donnie Jermaine Scooter Smith), who believes his institutionalized mother sold him to Alex. Leslie, who can read while Donnie can't, uses children's storybooks and her own imagination to create a fairy-tale world into which the two youngsters can retreat, a "jungle" where they feel safe from an adult world that has grown frightening.
The two cling to each other, forging an indissoluble bond. This has become their greatest resource when the film leaps ahead nearly a decade to San Diego, Calif. Now veteran street hustlers, the two live on the streets while selling their bodies or scamming potential clients.
Leslie (Gillian Jacobs) is the rock of Donnie's (Evan Ross) shattered existence, the one sustaining force in his life and only source of affection. Those who would further exploit the two see a need to drive a wedge between them: Leslie, now a beautiful young woman who can project a tarnished innocence, is a valuable commodity. She also could help recruit younger girls to the trade, putting her in the exact same position as Uncle Alex. Donnie, meanwhile, is viewed as a "loser."
By the time Leslie comes to her senses, Donnie has vanished. Then a wise counselor (John Malkovich in an unflashy cameo) at a shelter for runaways and homeless kids goes to the trouble to investigate Leslie's story. She honestly believes her parents are dead, but he locates them.
Can Leslie really go home again? And how many abducted kids ever get that chance? Harris raises such questions within this tragedy without ever mounting a pulpit. He lets connections get made and themes to emerge through the interaction of the two youngsters and how they perceive a hostile world. The only thing he slightly sugarcoats is that interaction, but his actors give level-headed, sincere portraits of youngsters whose value systems have been turned on their head: Vice is virtue and love perverse. They are still, in some ways, children, susceptible to the blandishments of adults and gullible about the facts of their lives. Even if they do survive, how will they ever free themselves from these distortions?
GARDENS OF THE NIGHT
Sobini Films and La Nuit Americaine present a Fastback Pictures Films, Station 3 and Shoot Prods. production
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Damian Harris
Producers: Pascal Franchot, R.D. Robb
Executive producers: Mark Amin, Todd Olsson
Director of photography: Paula Huidobro
Production designer: Bradd Fillman
Music: Craig Richey
Costume designer: Rhona Meyers
Editor: Michael Shemesh
Cast:
Leslie: Gillian Jacobs
Donnie: Evan Ross
Alex: Tom Arnold
Michael: John Malkovich
Young Leslie: Ryan Simpkins
Young Donnie: Jermaine Scooter Smith
Frank: Kevin Zegers
Running time -- 107 minutes
No MPAA rating...
BERLIN -- Films about social issues usually exude the deadly aura of good intention and earnest edification, but Damian Harris zones in on his characters in Gardens of the Night. The film gives vivid reality to those photos of disappeared children on milk cartons by letting us peek into the lives of two abducted children subjected to sexual abuse and then prostitution.
The writer-director shuns sensationalism but does sentimentalize the friendship between the two youngsters, seen as children and then as thoroughly messed-up teens. The strength of the film lies in acting performances that make everyone human, even the monsters.
More festival exposure is assured, but only a brave distributor will take on such a tricky subject. The film might be better suited to home entertainment markets.
Reportedly, Harris spent years researching and writing his script, and it shows. The small details feel right, leaving us to accept the utter horror of the larger details. In quiet, subtle ways, his story shows how such things happen and why children gradually lose the will and ability to call out for help. While a screaming child and Movie of the Week fiends might have made a slicker, safer product, Harris takes pains to keep it real. The truly sick thing here is how nice the villain is to the children.
Alex (Tom Arnold in a performance of considerable nuance) and his much rougher partner Frank (Kevin Zegers) clearly spent time laying a trap for their young victim. Leslie Ryan Simpkins), a lovely, blond 8-year-old, is too bright to simply get into a stranger's car. A level of trust and seeming familiarity are carefully built before the two kidnappers can spirit her away from her East Coast home.
Leslie finds herself sharing space with a black youth her age, Donnie Jermaine Scooter Smith), who believes his institutionalized mother sold him to Alex. Leslie, who can read while Donnie can't, uses children's storybooks and her own imagination to create a fairy-tale world into which the two youngsters can retreat, a "jungle" where they feel safe from an adult world that has grown frightening.
The two cling to each other, forging an indissoluble bond. This has become their greatest resource when the film leaps ahead nearly a decade to San Diego, Calif. Now veteran street hustlers, the two live on the streets while selling their bodies or scamming potential clients.
Leslie (Gillian Jacobs) is the rock of Donnie's (Evan Ross) shattered existence, the one sustaining force in his life and only source of affection. Those who would further exploit the two see a need to drive a wedge between them: Leslie, now a beautiful young woman who can project a tarnished innocence, is a valuable commodity. She also could help recruit younger girls to the trade, putting her in the exact same position as Uncle Alex. Donnie, meanwhile, is viewed as a "loser."
By the time Leslie comes to her senses, Donnie has vanished. Then a wise counselor (John Malkovich in an unflashy cameo) at a shelter for runaways and homeless kids goes to the trouble to investigate Leslie's story. She honestly believes her parents are dead, but he locates them.
Can Leslie really go home again? And how many abducted kids ever get that chance? Harris raises such questions within this tragedy without ever mounting a pulpit. He lets connections get made and themes to emerge through the interaction of the two youngsters and how they perceive a hostile world. The only thing he slightly sugarcoats is that interaction, but his actors give level-headed, sincere portraits of youngsters whose value systems have been turned on their head: Vice is virtue and love perverse. They are still, in some ways, children, susceptible to the blandishments of adults and gullible about the facts of their lives. Even if they do survive, how will they ever free themselves from these distortions?
GARDENS OF THE NIGHT
Sobini Films and La Nuit Americaine present a Fastback Pictures Films, Station 3 and Shoot Prods. production
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Damian Harris
Producers: Pascal Franchot, R.D. Robb
Executive producers: Mark Amin, Todd Olsson
Director of photography: Paula Huidobro
Production designer: Bradd Fillman
Music: Craig Richey
Costume designer: Rhona Meyers
Editor: Michael Shemesh
Cast:
Leslie: Gillian Jacobs
Donnie: Evan Ross
Alex: Tom Arnold
Michael: John Malkovich
Young Leslie: Ryan Simpkins
Young Donnie: Jermaine Scooter Smith
Frank: Kevin Zegers
Running time -- 107 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 2/11/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
COLOGNE, Germany -- The 58th annual Berlin International Film Festival, bookended by Martin Scorsese's Rolling Stones docu Shine a Light and the Michel Gondry comedy Be Kind Rewind, offers a competition selection that leans heavily on U.S. productions.
Fully a third of this year's lineup hails from the U.S., including the world premieres of Lance Hammer's feature debut Ballast, Justin Chadwick's period piece The Other Boleyn Girl, featuring Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson, Dennis Lee's Julia Roberts starrer Fireflies in the Garden (both screening out of competition) and Damian Harris' Gardens of the Night.
Other U.S. productions in Berlin include Elegy, an adaptation of Phillip Roth's novel The Dying Animal by Spanish director Isabel Coixet; and "S.O.P. -- Standard Operating Procedure," a documentary on Iraq's infamous Abu Ghraib by Oscar-winner Errol Morris. Morris' film will mark the first time a docu will compete for Berlin's Golden Bear award.
Perhaps the most highly anticipated U.S. film heading to Berlin is Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood, which will have its international premiere at the Berlinale.
Fully a third of this year's lineup hails from the U.S., including the world premieres of Lance Hammer's feature debut Ballast, Justin Chadwick's period piece The Other Boleyn Girl, featuring Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson, Dennis Lee's Julia Roberts starrer Fireflies in the Garden (both screening out of competition) and Damian Harris' Gardens of the Night.
Other U.S. productions in Berlin include Elegy, an adaptation of Phillip Roth's novel The Dying Animal by Spanish director Isabel Coixet; and "S.O.P. -- Standard Operating Procedure," a documentary on Iraq's infamous Abu Ghraib by Oscar-winner Errol Morris. Morris' film will mark the first time a docu will compete for Berlin's Golden Bear award.
Perhaps the most highly anticipated U.S. film heading to Berlin is Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood, which will have its international premiere at the Berlinale.
- 1/22/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
NEW YORK -- Evan Ross, Michael Rapaport, Kerry Washington and Victor Rasuk are attached to star in Buddy Giovinazzo's drug-fueled indie urban drama Life Is Hot in Cracktown.
Ross also is starring in Jessy Terrero's Brooklyn to Manhattan, a thriller about four Manhattanites stalked by killers in Brooklyn subway tunnels after a failed drug deal.
Cracktown, based on Giovinazzo's eponymous 1993 collection of short stories, intertwines several unsettling tales of people in a neighborhood ravaged by crack cocaine.
Ross, the 18-year-old son of singer Diana Ross, recently stirred up controversy after the MPAA initially banned a poster for Lionsgate's upcoming Pride because of a revealing shot of him in a tight swimsuit. According to a story this week in the New York Daily News, Lionsgate was forced to prove that the photo wasn't altered, prompting a reversal of the decision. "Apparently the MPAA accused us of enlarging his bulge," a Lionsgate spokesperson said. "He's just naturally well-endowed. That's the long and short of it."
Ross' credits include the upcoming HBO Films drama Life Support with Queen Latifah and the indie drama Gardens of the Night with John Malkovich.
Ross also is starring in Jessy Terrero's Brooklyn to Manhattan, a thriller about four Manhattanites stalked by killers in Brooklyn subway tunnels after a failed drug deal.
Cracktown, based on Giovinazzo's eponymous 1993 collection of short stories, intertwines several unsettling tales of people in a neighborhood ravaged by crack cocaine.
Ross, the 18-year-old son of singer Diana Ross, recently stirred up controversy after the MPAA initially banned a poster for Lionsgate's upcoming Pride because of a revealing shot of him in a tight swimsuit. According to a story this week in the New York Daily News, Lionsgate was forced to prove that the photo wasn't altered, prompting a reversal of the decision. "Apparently the MPAA accused us of enlarging his bulge," a Lionsgate spokesperson said. "He's just naturally well-endowed. That's the long and short of it."
Ross' credits include the upcoming HBO Films drama Life Support with Queen Latifah and the indie drama Gardens of the Night with John Malkovich.
- 2/23/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Former Lost cast member Harold Perrineau has sailed to a co-starring role on CBS' drama pilot Demons.
The project, from CBS Paramount Network TV, centers on Gus, an ex-Jesuit priest-psychologist who performs exorcisms. Perrineau will play a priest who has known Gus since seminary and is his confessor, confidante and good friend.
For two seasons, Perrineau co-starred on Lost as single father Michael Dawson who sailed off with his son in the show's Season 2 finale.
There has been talk about Perrineau possibly returning to the Emmy-winning adventure series, but sources said the sides could not reach an agreement.
Perrineau will next be seen in the features 28 Weeks, Gardens of the Night and Your Name Here. He is repped by APA.
The project, from CBS Paramount Network TV, centers on Gus, an ex-Jesuit priest-psychologist who performs exorcisms. Perrineau will play a priest who has known Gus since seminary and is his confessor, confidante and good friend.
For two seasons, Perrineau co-starred on Lost as single father Michael Dawson who sailed off with his son in the show's Season 2 finale.
There has been talk about Perrineau possibly returning to the Emmy-winning adventure series, but sources said the sides could not reach an agreement.
Perrineau will next be seen in the features 28 Weeks, Gardens of the Night and Your Name Here. He is repped by APA.
Tom Arnold has been cast in Remarkable Power, an indie comedic thriller from screenwriter-director Brandon Beckner.
The story centers on an eclectic collection of Los Angeles locals whose lives are intertwined after a late-night talk-show host masterminds an elaborate stunt to save his canceled show, with murder and mayhem ensuing. Arnold will play a low-rent private investigator.
Also in the cast are Kip Pardue, Nora Zehetner, Dule Hill, Johnny Messner, Bob Sapp, Kevin Nealon and Christopher Titus.
Scot Sampila, who co-wrote the script with Beckner, is producing, and Arnold is exec producing.
Power is the latest indie Arnold has taken on as he sheds the broad comedy side of his persona. He recently had roles in Playtone's The Great Buck Howard and Gardens of the Night, a drama about teenage street kids. Arnold next appears in Pride, a sports drama starring Terrence Howard.
Arnold is repped by ICM and Brillstein-Grey.
The story centers on an eclectic collection of Los Angeles locals whose lives are intertwined after a late-night talk-show host masterminds an elaborate stunt to save his canceled show, with murder and mayhem ensuing. Arnold will play a low-rent private investigator.
Also in the cast are Kip Pardue, Nora Zehetner, Dule Hill, Johnny Messner, Bob Sapp, Kevin Nealon and Christopher Titus.
Scot Sampila, who co-wrote the script with Beckner, is producing, and Arnold is exec producing.
Power is the latest indie Arnold has taken on as he sheds the broad comedy side of his persona. He recently had roles in Playtone's The Great Buck Howard and Gardens of the Night, a drama about teenage street kids. Arnold next appears in Pride, a sports drama starring Terrence Howard.
Arnold is repped by ICM and Brillstein-Grey.
- 12/19/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
According to Production Weekly, John Malkovich will join Jeremy Sisto in the indie drama Gardens of the Night from Rachel Papers writer-director Damian Harris. The project centers on a pair of abducted siblings who are brainwashed into thinking their families did not want them. After years of isolation, the two are set free to face the world alone. Shooting is scheduled to commence next month in San Diego and Los Angeles. Malkovich is currently filming the sci-fi epic The Mutant Chronicles and was recently tapped to portray the titular magician in Tom Hanks' The Great Buck Howard.
- 7/21/2006
- IMDbPro News
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