White Irish Drinkers

White Irish Drinkers is a film that is slowly finding its following. This little film that could, can and will, is worth tracking down in a nearby town and taking the time to enjoy. This film that was written and directed by John Gray, the creator of the television show, "Ghost Whisperer" was a labor of love and obviously very close to Mr Gray's heart. The importance of this project to Mr Gray and everyone involved in the production is evident in every frame of the movie.

The movie takes place in early autumn of 1975 in Brooklyn where two brothers Bryan Leary (Nick Thurston) and his older brother Danny (Geoff Wigdor) spend their days killing time and pulling off small time crimes. It is obvious from the beginning of the movie that Bryan wants nothing to do with the criminal side of life, even though its a fate the Leary brothers seem to be destined for. Trapped within the walls of Brooklyn and the home of an abusive, alcoholic father Paddy (Stephen Lang) and their tired, weary mother  (Karen Allen), the brothers can't imagine that there's a life outside of the one they're stuck in. Bryan knows that he isn't interested in the normal 9 to 5 Civil Service jobs that his group of friends are all dying to get. His friends have some hilarious exchanges about dying to get "benes" (benefits) and vacation time, retirement and a steady gig serving their community. The only thing Bryan can seem to find solace in is art. He is a secretly, talented painter. He spends his nights in the basement storage room of the deli below their apartment with his headphones on to drown out the beating his abusive father is giving his dutiful mother right upstairs as he draws.

Bryan doesn't share his artistic talents with anyone. His mother doesn't even know that he has them. Danny does, but he looks at it as a pansy way to pass the time. One night, while out at the bar, Bryan runs into Shauna Friel (Leslie Murphy) an old high school crush. In order to one up his college buddy, Todd (Zachary Booth) who swoops in to put the moves on Shauna, he comes up with a creative way to get Shauna's attention. Which I won't ruin for you, because its a lovely scene and sets in motion a wonderful little dance of romance between Bryan and Shauna. I will say that I was impressed with the way that Bryan left the scene, as it was quite unexpected, but definitely peaked all of the ladies in the theatres interest as well as Shauna's. You'll understand what I mean when you see it.

It's Bryan's relationship with Shauna that ignites his dreams and inspires him to think beyond the walls of Brooklyn. But it will be his relationship with his brother that tests his loyalty to his family and how far he is willing to go to rescue Danny. The brothers have spent their whole lives taking care of one another and looking out for each other, even if it does explode into fist fights every now and then. They are still brothers and there's nothing they won't do for one another.  I won't tell you anymore of the plot, wanting you to be able to go on the ride that I and every person in the theatre seemed to go on!

It's the kind of story that you feel and know will touch a lot of people. It's a movie reminiscent of "The Town" and while Boston has become the typical back drop for these movies, Brooklyn steps forward as its equally interesting cousin. The city is the perfect setting to tell this story. The cinematography of Seamus Tierney is stunning and so perfectly executed. The script is clever and witty at times, full of hope and love at other times and full of emotion and heartbreaking circumstance at others. The story is a familiar one, but still managed to surprise me and catch me off guard!

The acting is impeccable, a tour de force of artists, that as a fellow actor, I will one day be honored if I can come even remotely close to the commitment and layered performances that every single one of them turned in. Russell Boast, the casting director clearly took his time to find not only talented, real, actors, but ones who would gel together and could realistically be friends, family and lovers in real life.  Stephen Lang's performance of the father is terrifying and heartbreaking as you realize that this is a man who desperately loves his family, but who is just trapped within alcoholism and repeating the patterns of his upbringing. Karen Allen turns in one of the best performances of her life. As the mother, Margaret she fully inhabits this woman with every breath and movement, struggling to keep her sons safe, yet remaining unflinchingly devoted to her husband.

Nick Thurston as Bryan Leary is flawless, a newcomer to Hollywood, he will have a long career if he continues to turn in simple, connected, yet vulnerable performances like this one. His scenes with Leslie Murphy, who is flawless as well as love interest Shauna, are some of the best of the movie. The two share a chemistry on screen that in my personal opinion rivals that of Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling in The Notebook, which I regard as some of the best on screen chemistry that I've ever seen. You desperately want Shauna and Bryan to save one another, fall in love and escape this dreary dark life. Turning in a layered performance, Leslie, lets Bryan and the audience into her heart and she wins him and the entire theatre over by her second or third scene in the movie. Her character easily could have been a "pollyanna" of sorts, but John Gray shines again, having written a script that has multi-layered characters throughout the whole thing, not just within the main characters, but down to the smaller roles. My favorite example of this is the revelation that Shauna shares about herself with Bryan at the end of the movie, where you finally understand her.  Miss Murphy can look forward to a shining career in the acting world!

Geoff Wigdor as older brother Danny turns in an equally solid performance full of emotion, strength and vulnerability. He kept reminding me of a young Ben Affleck, even looking and sounding like him at times, though he turns in a full, well rounded performance that we didn't see out of Mr Affleck until he matured into his career a bit. Geoff brought life to Danny and you understood every decision he made even as your heart was screaming for him to make a different choice.

Zachary Booth, Robbie Collier Sublett and Michael Drayer round out the casting as Bryan's group of friends. They are all incredibly enjoyable and I especially enjoyed the rhythm they all found as friends and the rapid fire dialogues they shared that only true friends would be able to exchange.

The direction was wonderful and again, the script was well rounded, fun, raw, tough, emotional, and even contained a few fun "sign of the times" jokes like, "What kind of career are you going to have in computers?" Ha.

Producers Paul Bernard and James Scura, your investment in this movie is also evident in every part of it, and after meeting you Paul, I know that had you not been involved that this would be an entirely different movie. I can only imagine that your producing partner would be cut from the same cloth.

Please, do yourself and everyone involved with this project a favor and go see, "WHITE IRISH DRINKERS" when it comes to a theatre near you. Help this little movie that could, can and probably will reach the highest level of success that it can. I would even go so far as to say that this film and the actors involved could easily win some awards in this coming awards season! I desperately hope it hangs on for that long and that word of mouth makes this movie a blockbuster success!

Movies like this are the reason I became an actor. They are the reason that I want to make films. When the lights came up after the movie and we all wiped away our tears, I left the theatre thinking "This is the kind of movie I want to make."

This is a project of heart, soul, blood, sweat and tears . . . but you can tell it was worth every moment.

www.whiteirishdrinkersthemovie.com

Can Hollywood Shatter its "Blockbuster" Image and help Heal and Change the world?

I am an actor.

I am a writer.

I am a producer.

I Long to use my talents to help heal and change the world. To better our lives and the humanity that resides in each of us, whether it be through broad, healing strokes or minute, specific pin pricks that resonate with one person.

As some of you know, I've been doing a little online dating, why not?! Everyone else seems to be doing it. Recently I came across the profile of a very attractive man, one who seems to have it all together. He teaches highschool and coaches the football team, his ultimate goal is to open a clinic to treat disadvantaged children, Additionally, he teaches female recruits for the LAPD in self defense and fighting tactics. He does volunteer work mentoring kids at risk. He also is in shape, likes to work out, can have more fun at Disneyland than a kid does, is generous to a fault and not to mention is 6'3" and gorgeous. He's got it all, looks, smarts, sense of adventure, I would be a FOOL not to pursue this guy.

Anywho, I contacted Mr Perfect and we struck up a little back and forth. On first mention that I was an <gasp> actor, he was done. Said no thank you. . . etc. Of course, I should have said, Great. Not the guy for me. . . I should have. . . I pressed on, insisting that being an actor does not DEFINE everything about me and that just because he had a stereotypical view of all actors that I don't necessarily fit into that mold. I shared with him my dreams and desires to change and better the world through film, acting and writing. He has very strong opinions about Hollywood and insists that they do no good. Maybe it's the title,  "Hollywood". I don't necessarily view Hollywood as only the decision makers, and the major studios, etc. But perhaps he is?

Recently, he asked me this.

"In your opinion is there a specific movie made over the past five years that has truly had a positive affect on society? If so give me some examples of how it made a difference."


I started thinking and even asked some of my friends what they thought.

~ BROAD STROKES of Change ~

One of the first movies that comes to mind is, "The Blindside", last years film that won Sandra Bullock an Academy Award. In my opinion, that movie helped open people's minds in regards to race, differences in social and economic stature, being able to help someone who needs you and realizing that sometimes its not a WHOLE WORLD of people who need your help, but that in helping that ONE person, you can change their WHOLE WORLD for the better.

Movies like, "Milk" that are based on True Events can help bring awareness to a cause. This one being the gays and the struggles they have had to face in fighting for equality. Sure, they are still fighting for it, but who is to say that audiences who saw Milk didn't leave the theatre thinking, wow, I didn't realize that Gay people have had it so rough. You know, they should have the right to marry. It's an uphill battle of course, but in my opinion if a few people left that theatre thinking, wow, how terrible. Can you imagine if someone treated me in that way? Then that movie was a success.

~ MINUTE, SPECIFIC PIN PRICKS ~

As an actor, healing the world through my art has a much broader, yet simpler meaning. Let me explain myself. If I am in a movie where I play a character that is a victim of abuse, and ONE person comes to the movie that has suffered from abuse, and they are somehow healed or moved through my performance, I have done my job. It may seem small and irrelevant to the WHOLE WORLD, but can make a difference in that victim's WHOLE WORLD, enabling them to release what has been holding them back. Perhaps it allows them to heal and speak out about what happened to them, therefore helping a handful of other people heal. Those people heal themselves and in turn reach out to other victims of abuse, allowing them to smile more, hold doors open for people, be kinder, gentler, more open in their humanity and THAT will always change the world. It's a delightful SNOWBALL of reaction from one seemingly silly part in a silly movie with that new actress Elizabeth Mihelich that no one really went and saw.

This is an art and a passion that I can get behind. I also see Hollywood as a driving force for change in the world because of the expanse of influence that it has, the money it is able to put behind the movies, and the celebrities, who can reach more people in a day,  just by living open, giving, and compassionate lives.

~ GRASSROOTS EFFORTS for CHANGE ~

I have an amazing friend, who is a documentary filmmaker. She set out on making a documentary about the children of Cambodia who live on the street, are orphans, and spend their days digging through the dumps in search of treasure. I KNOW that her efforts and her movie, Small Voices: The Stories of Cambodia's Children has made a difference in the world, because she is still in contact with all of the children. She has helped place them in schools so they are learning and becoming educated. She visits them multiple times a year and because of the amazing, Heather Connell, they have learned that there are people in the world they can trust and rely on to help them. I KNOW that the kids she has helped will one day reach out and help someone else, because they were helped one day. She changed their WHOLE WORLD and I know one day they will strive to better the WHOLE WORLD.  Not to mention the fact that while in Cambodia, she connected with a young handicapped boy, Sum Namg, at an orphanage, learned that there was really no place for him to learn or grow, because of his disability, and she sprang into action. She is currently building a school for handi-capped children in Cambodia called Safe Haven. You tell me that film does not make a difference in lives after that?

Of course, Hollywood isn't perfect. Of course there are bad people in it that only have money and greed in mind. Of course. There are people like that in every industry of the world. I refuse to believe that we have no influence over the world. Artists are catalysts for change. John Lennon continues to change the world everyday and he's been gone from this planet for a long time. Thankfully, his music and his messages of "All You Need is Love" survive. Lucille Ball still brightens the days of people who had a rotten day at the office, they come home, turn on the tv and get a good belly laugh, because re-runs of "I Love Lucy" are on. Laughter is one of the most healing properties we have to work with. Even silly little sitcoms and crazy over the top comedies like Airplane! heal the world every single day because they help us laugh, they lighten our load and they allow us to open our hearts.

Please feel free to comment on this blog with movies that have inspired you, changed the world or that have simply brought a smile to your face when you needed it the most.

I am most grateful to Mr Perfect for pushing me to define WHY I pursue this passion with such tenacity and drive everyday of my life.

I believe in Love.
I believe in Peace.
And I believe that within each and everyone of us lies the power to Change and Heal the World.

Please honor Heather and her efforts to better the world by checking out her movie, Small Voices: The Stories of Cambodia's Children by renting it on Netflix or going here http://store.cinemalibrestore.com/smallvoices.html to purchase the DVD.

"Like" Small Voice on FB here, http://www.facebook.com/#!/smallvoicesmovie !

Follow Safe Haven's progress on FaceBook also, here http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Safe-Haven-School/148444011848303?v=wall

Shatter away.

Elizabeth