…an open letter from Michael C. Williams.

Mike came up with a brilliant idea.  Ever since Newsweek published an article in early 2004 revisiting Blair Witch, he’s had this idea he’s kicked around the kitchen for some time.

The inspiration came from a specific paragraph within the article that reads -

“…It was a couple of years ago, and Daniel Myrick, codirector of “The Blair Witch Project,” was visiting the set of “Minority Report.”  Myrick was thrilled to see the master at work.   Meeting (Steven) Spielberg?   “That was huge!” Myrick says. “He asked me how we shot ‘Blair,’ and said he was really inspired by it. My jaw was dropping.” Spielberg even singled out a member of the cast, Michael C. Williams, who’d played one of the three film students who disappeared in the Maryland woods. “I really liked that Michael guy,” he said. “Whatever happened to him?”

Mike’s wanted to respond to that question for a long time now.   However, Steven Spielberg isn’t the easiest fella to get in touch with.  And just because you were on the cover of Newsweek during the Blair madness does not mean you suddenly have his address and phone number.

To contact Spielberg’s office or management office might prove in vain …and far less creative.  Steven Spielberg made his inquiry about Mike in public, thus Mike decided to respond… in public.

And in this way, he might actually get Spielberg’s attention easier than any traditional way.  Thus, when Mike called and asked, “Hey man, can we do this? Can you put something together?” I responded, “If Washington Irving can do it and get Commodore Vanderbilt’s attention, back in a day when media was shall we say – a wee limited, I should think so, fire off the letter and let’s put it online mang!”

The result has become www.dearmrspielberg.com

Now online – The Objective.  This is Dan’s latest feature length motion picture which will be screened at the Tribeca Film Festival April 24th through the 30th.

Afghanistan, November 2001.  Two months after the attacks on the  World Trade Center, a highly trained Special Forces team is sent into  the Afghanistan desert to make contact with a man known as “Mohammed Aban.”  Instead they find something else…something that even their elite training hasn’t prepared them for.From the acclaimed director of The Blair Witch Project, The Objective follows Ben Keynes (Jonas Ball), a CIA operative allegedly  sent to “pave the way” for success in the war in Afghanistan.  Part covert military operation, part personal journey,  Ben leads his  assigned team into one of the most uninhabitable and isolated regions  on the planet.As the situation rapidly begins to disintegrate, each member of the  team finds themselves asking the same question: who is the real enemy?

 www.objectivemovie.com

Present Day, Autumn. Northwest rural New Jersey.

Ed Collins, a private pilot, takes his wife Karen on a typical Sunday joyride in their single engine Cessna 172 Skyhawk.

That day it’s the “pie-run.”  Every Sunday they fly from their local FBO – Princeton Airport, to Sky Manor Airport in Alexandria, New Jersey, where it is said the best apple pie can be had at any airport diner or elsewhere for that matter.

Enroute, both Karen and Ed came upon something rather unexpected, and what would change their lives forever.

They also never have pie that day.

The Joyride

Now online – The Air I Breathe, featuring an all-star cast with Kevin Bacon, Forest Whitaker, Brendan Fraser, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Andy Garcia and Julie Delpy.

Written by Bob DeRosa and Jieho Lee, and directed by Jieho, The Air I Breathe made its premiere last night in LA and will be released in selected theaters January 25th in both LA and New York City and nationally on February 8th.

Forever linked together by ruthless crime boss Fingers (Andy Garcia) and a series of unpredictable twists of fate, the characters weave together in an existential study in luck, both good and bad.  This vast tale divides into four distinct threads: a timid businessman (Forest Whitaker) bets his life on a horse race after he discovers the fix is in; a fragile pop star (Sarah Michelle Gellar) finds her management contract unexpectedly in jeopardy; a gangster (Brendan Fraser) who sees the future must decide whether to follow his visions; and a doctor (Kevin Bacon) tries to save the love of his life (Julie Delpy) from a deadly injury.

As the world keeps spinning and these individual tales give way to hidden connections and underlying similarities, The Air I Breathe uses this unlikely mix of drama and characters to dramatize an ancient Chinese proverb that evokes life’s four emotional cornerstones: happiness, pleasure, sorrow and love.

It’s when these four overlapping stories come to a head, however, and these emotions unexpectedly surface, collide and explode, that the movie suggests our destiny—whether it is steeped in sweet sorrow or tragic happiness—may ultimately be something we bring on ourselves.

I first met writer Bob DeRosa when working The Strand with Dan Myrick  (there’s an interesting story attached to that which I’ve shared on the filmsite’s blog).  That was in 2004, Bob had already written The Air I Breathe by then and was ready to tackle it head on.  This no doubt Bob did successfully when he and Jieho teamed up to make this extraordinary picture.  It was only a matter of time before the filmsite would take life in the wake of the production.

And now, with the LA premiere, television spots and more, the site’s now online.

Now in development – from the folks who brought you Unrest, now comes (soon) – Everybody Wants to be Italian.  

Two others in development as Ed wraps principle photography on Seventh Moon and eagerly awaits a return flight from Hong Kong to the US and as Myrick puts finishing touches to The Objective’s final edits.

Both Seventh Moon’s and Objective’s filmsites will be totally rehauled  long before the film’s releases.

Join us this Sunday, October 21st for a midnight chat!

This month, more specifically the weekend of October 21st, marks the 10th anniversary in shooting The Blair Witch Project.  Not the 10th anniversary of the film’s release of course, which comes in 2009.  Rather – the anniversary of when Mike, Josh and Heather began their historic sojourn into the woods with crew managing and directing only yards away, unseen and unheard (mind for the occasional boom box and other assorted oddities).

That said, to celebrate such a milestone of an aged pile of filmmakers and actors, many of whom are now married with a plentiful giggle of children, we are inviting you to join us that weekend to meet and chat with the gang. Ed, Dan, Mike, Gregg, Rob, Matt, Michael, Joshua, Tony, Julia, Stef and a few others to be thrown in for good measure, maybe even the Duke, Binks, Tucker, Mia and Amelia will have a few words.

…or crayons.

The chat will be located at the Haxan compound.

Now in production – Seventh Moon.  Old school Blair Witch crew are now back in the woods, though this time shooting in Hong Kong.

A newlywed couple experience a night of terror, while on their honeymoon in rural China.  That’s it.  Nothing more can be said at this time while filming. ‘Can’t risk any spoilers yet.  Seventh Moon is written and directed by Ed Sanchez and is produced by Gregg Hale, Matt Compton, Rob Cowie, Bob Eick and Ann Lu.

A production site is now online at www.seventhmoon.com

From Lion’s Gate Films, After Dark Films and Asgaard Entertainment comes the first film to use real dead bodies.

 www.unrestfulmovie.com

Medical school.  First year.  First day…

…Gross Anatomy class, where Alison Blanchard begins her journey to become a physician.

A jaded professor, Dr. Blackwell, ushers thirty anxious medical students into the lab to confront rows of cadavers and their own fears of mortality.  Here, Alison meets three fellow students.

Brian, a young man who wears his emotions on his sleeve.  Rick, a jock who treats everything and everyone with an arrogant charm and sarcastic wit.  And Carlos, whose childhood instilled in him a deep respect for the dead.

When they draw back a sheet covering their cadaver, Alison’s vision blurs.  She stumbles back and passes out.

When she comes to, Alison finds herself in Dr. Blackwell’s office, where she confides that she felt a strange presence in the lab.  Dr. Blackwell passes her feelings off as “first year jitters.”

But Alison grows increasingly convinced something is wrong.  A suspicion underscored when a friend is found dead in a basement corridor.  While the authorities claim the death was from natural causes, Alison sets out to investigate the mystery.  What she discovers will lead her into the darkness that lues beyond this world.

As events unfold, Alison seeks to unearth the truth behind her cadaver before its angered spirit can wreak further vengeance on those who dare to disturb the body.  For as she learns, “The spirit remains in a state of unrest until the body is properly buried.”

Alison must confront the haunting spirit and her own inner demons if she is to prevent any further killings and lay the body to rest.

“Capture,” the latest from Ian Truitner, writer and director of The Cutting Room…

Sarah, a young photographer, moves into her recently purchased property – a large, rundown house in a remote area. Her dream is to fix it up and turn it into her home studio.

During a large house-warming party at her place – strange, unexplainable, things start to occur.  In the photos and videos Sarah takes of her friends: an old, decrepit woman’s image appears in the background. One-by-one Sarah’s friends begin to act strangely, and then vanish, only to later stalk her from afar like deranged predators.

Sarah finds herself alone, with a malevolent spirit of some kind roaming inside her house. Seeing her former friends in the shadows watching her, Sarah must do everything to keep her sanity and protect herself from a grisly fate.

Now in production and online at www.capturemovie.com

Screening to 500+ folks, Believers won two awards at the Solstice Film Festival in St. Paul. One for best Narrative and one for Best Actor (Johnny Messner). The DVD is slated to launch on October 16th.