Chris Marquette Message Board

I thought we might want to start a thread about Alpha Dog over here too. Here's some stuff we already discussed on Melissa's message board:

From Deb:

Went to the site (the old New Line one), looked at the clips. The movie seems like it might be pretty good. Much better than I dared hope. I think I might be able to get past the hair, if the character is interesting.

The clips were pretty intense. The movie reminds me a little of the vibe of "Mean Creek" or "The United States Of Lelend", both of which I liked very much. Especially "Mean Creek".

And I didn't notice before now that Anton Yelchin is in it. Love him! So not only has Chris now worked with Jason Ritter and Emile Hirsch twice, he has worked with Anton twice. I am SO looking forward to Chris's upcoming appearances in "Huff", Anton's Showtime series.

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From TeeJay:

I don't think I've ever seen Anton Yelchin. If you think the clips are intense, you should look at that trailer that we talked about, Deb. (I still haven't checked if I have enough space on my server to upload it for you.) That's even more intense. I also like the movie more and more, the more I hear about/see of it. I really wish I will get the chance to watch it in English, because I sure won't watch it dubbed, Chris on the big screen or no. Any chance it'll be in the cinemas at the end of May?

Anne, I just found this online: Timberlake spielt bereits eine Hauptrolle in Nick Cassavetes' "Alpha Dog", der noch in diesem Jahr in die deutschen Kinos kommen soll. (It says: Timberlake already plays the lead role in Nick Cassvetes' "Alpha Dog", which is supposed to hit the German cinemas this year.) So, this year, huh? I read somewhere that it will come to US cinemas in April. Is there hope for me that it will still be on in May when I'm in Atlanta??? Oh, how I would LOVE to see Chris on the big screen speaking in his original voice! Even *if* he looks like crap.

On amtam.com I said that he's a real chameleon. Soft-spoken Adam, quirky Eli, tortured Travis and now the evil stoner kid from Alpha Dog... And I mean it. (That's supposed to be a huge compliment for an actor.)

-TeeJay

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From TeeJay:

I just found a few articles about the movie online. The reviwers all don't share much love for the movie. Don't think it'll be a hit in the cinemas. I'm still interested in watching it, but I don't expect a masterpiece. I'm guessing the style will be something similar to "8 Mile", or at least that's what I'm expecting. I've seen the unofficial trailer and the clips, I think I have a pretty good grasp of what the movie's gonna be like.

http://www.cinematical.com/2006/01/27/s … alpha-dog/

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout … 1117929381

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/aw … 1001843059

Anne told me someone on imdb.com (who was at the Sundance Festival) posted on the message board that the release date is gonna be March 17th. Of course this is unofficial. If that's right, then I'm not getting my hopes up of being able to catch it in the cinemas at the end of May. Ah well, I'll get to see the movie *somehow*, I'm sure of that.

What about "American Gun", though? Would be nice if they'd show that one in May! I mean.... this is my big chance to see Chris on the big screen with his original voice. Come on, folks, do me a favor and release your Chris movies so I can watch them undubbed! Please?

-TeeJay

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From Deb:

OK, maybe it's just me but those reviews seem awfully overanalytical. That happens a lot with reviews of films at Sundance. These writers seem to be trying a little too hard to sound brilliant. Whatever. I'll make up my own mind about the film when I see it, thank you very much.

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From Deb:

Alpha Dog - "You don't watch this film, you endure it."

Gee, that sounds like fun. NOT...

Timberlake, Cassavetes And 'Alpha Dog' Crew Close Out Sundance In Style

Hard-edged gangster flick is hottest ticket in town during the film festival's final weekend.

by Larry Carroll, with additional reporting by SuChin Pak

PARK CITY, Utah — The 2006 Sundance Film Festival was packed with memorable moments and happenings, including a slew of overachieving underdog films, the crush of hard-partying Hollywood stars and the emergence of new names and faces who might just shape the movie business for years to come.       

But during the festival's final weekend, everything began and ended with "Alpha Dog."

"That's pretty good," Justin Timberlake said, moments before the film's world premiere, when a reporter suggested that he'd walk into the theater a singer and would walk out an actor. Grinning, he added: "I've been acting like I could sing for years."

The media avidly pursued Timberlake around Park City for days as he kicked off his acting career in style — and he obliged, doing interviews, attending screenings, dancing at the film's afterparty and taking some time to hit the couldn't-be-fresher powder on the local slopes. "I went snowboarding," he said, assuring his fans that he can handle himself. "I'm good."

During his introductory remarks at the "Alpha Dog" screening, director Nick Cassavetes ("The Notebook") pulled no punches as he prepared the audience for a hard-drinking, bong-toting, trigger-happy Timberlake unlike anything they'd come to expect from the 'NSYNC star.

"You don't watch this film," Cassavetes said, half-jokingly. "You endure it."

Earlier, Timberlake had joined his "Alpha" co-stars to discuss the brutal, emotionally powerful film based on the true story of a drug-dealing thug (played by Emile Hirsch, "Lords of Dogtown") and a group of young wannabe gangsters in way over their heads.

"I met the guy that my character is based on, and it was a trippy experience," Timberlake revealed. "I spent about three hours in an upstate California prison, and I took a lot away from it."

"It's inspired by true events, by the Jesse James Hollywood case," said Hirsch, whose character in the film is named Johnny Truelove. "It's about this teenaged drug kingpin in the valley, and all of his friends, and how one of the conflicts [he's involved with] gets him and all of his friends in trouble.

"Queenpin," corrected Timberlake, busting his friend's chops in a manner reminiscent of how the characters in the film treat each other. After the gang cracked up, they all insisted that such brotherly humor was the result of unusual Cassavetes acting and directing techniques that had them simultaneously pumping iron and dissing each other.

"We were working out in the valley, outside, in August," remembered Ben Foster ("Hostage"). "So we've got the heat, and we're lifting hot heavy things for hours and hours. And the genius of Nick Cassavetes' direction is creating an environment that allows us to explore our own relationships."

"I'm a sponge," joked Timberlake, looking at his co-stars. "I was a clown in the movie, actually."

The actors then started clamoring over one another to build on the joke, before Timberlake self-deprecatingly repeated the assertion: "I'm, literally, a clown in the movie."

"He's got a lot of makeup on, and the nose," added Foster. "It squeaks when you squeeze it."

"Justin was just downplaying it about being lighthearted," Foster continued, settling down from the roughhousing. "Justin also has an amazing emotional depth and availability, which is unusual. He's one of those rare talents who can access depth and a sense of charisma, and the idea that you can be his friend. It's not a presentation; it's who you are."

Blushing, Timberlake deflected the compliment by screaming, "So hire me!" at any Hollywood execs who might be within earshot.

Growing serious for a moment, the "Alpha Dog" stars insisted that there are some thought-provoking messages behind all the teasing.

"There's sort of this anarchist theme throughout the film," Timberlake observed. "In our culture today — I mean, God knows, they tried to blame Columbine on Marilyn Manson. They tried so hard. And it turns out the kids were just crazy."

"Or just damaged people who didn't have a way to communicate with either their parents or their friends," Foster added. "It's about being isolated, and I think this film also expresses that — although we have a group of friends and people hanging out, there isn't a whole lot of true communication between each other."

"It's fun and games; it's how kids are to kids," Timberlake observed. "When you're young and you're figuring out who you are in the world, you're very insecure and very ignorant. I remember the one day that I had when I was a young teenager, and I was like, 'Oh wait, I'm not gonna live forever,' [just realizing] that life is precious. And you watch these young people throughout this movie and that thought never crosses their minds until they're in [a serious] predicament."

Instead, the characters waste their days hanging around and knocking each other down, both verbally and physically. "That's why the film is called 'Alpha Dog,' " Timberlake said, referring to the term used to describe the strongest animal in a pack. "You could watch it on the Discovery Channel; you see two male animals in the same vicinity and they just fight [to see] who's bigger, better, faster, cooler."

This past weekend, there was little doubt that Timberlake, Foster, Hirsch and their fellow collaborators were the alpha dogs at Sundance. As the closing film of the festival, "Alpha" occupied a position of honor that was not lost on the stars.

"It's great," beamed Anton Yelchin, who plays an impressionable, kidnapped youngster in the flick. "It's very prestigious. I guess it's an important enough film to close off this festival, and people have [been waiting], I've heard, to see it. It's packed inside the theater, which is great. It makes me feel good."

"Alpha Dog" did, indeed, fill Park City theaters all weekend, through the premiere and into several secondary screenings, and the buzz only grew stronger as scores of moviegoers were turned away for lack of space. Now, the stars are looking forward to the film's April release.

"I don't think that we've actually seen the range and depth yet of Justin's musical style, or Justin's acting abilities," said Foster. "He brings in an amazing performance in 'Alpha Dog.' He is a movie star. I'm a huge fan now. I was not expecting a pop star to come in and give such a heartfelt performance. Justin is going to be around for a very long time, and I look forward to seeing his movies."

This report is from MTV News.

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From TeeJay:

The official trailer looks very interesting to me. I'd sure love to see the movie. I think I'd be interested in it even if Chris weren't in it. And I also don't like the poster. I already saw it a couple of days ago and thought: What a cheap joke!

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From Deb:

Last night, the news magazine show, Dateline devoted an entire hour to the story of Jesse James Hollywood. He's the drug dealer at the center of the gang depicted in Alpha Dog. In the movie, all the names have been changed, but according to this report the movie is very close to what happened in the real life case.

So close in fact, that the upcoming trial of JJH may be compromised by it. Apparently, the prosecutor in the case cooperated with the filmmakers, gave them details that might cause problems at trial. This prosecutor has been asked to recuse himself. The family of the boy the gang killed is asking that he be removed if he refuses to step down on his own.

The trial starts "next month" and that's when they say the movie opens too. That means May, TeeJay. They said that the first question every potential juror will be asked is if they have seen the movie. And they will be excused if they have.

Weird, huh?

During the report, they showed clips from the film and interviewed Sharon Stone. In the clips, I caught two fleeting glimpses of Chris, but one of them was from the back.

And as for our earlier speculation as to why Chris looks stoned in all the clips and pics we've seen, well all of these boys were pot dealers and heavy users. Some of them smoked up so much of their product that they became indentured servants to JJH. To work off their drug debts, he forced them to wash his cars and clean up after his dogs, any kind of humiliating tasks he could think of. The fact that Ben Markowitz owed him so much money he'd never be able to repay it that way was what started the whole kidnapping plot that ended in the death of Markowitz' 15-year-old brother.

This is another very, very sad story, folks.

Read more about it here:

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12207033/#060412a

Deb

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From Deb:

I finally watched the trailer and clips on the official site today, too. Couldn't get them to play on my computer before it was fixed. I think it looks absolutely great!

Let me put it this way, production value-wise, it looks very high-quality. Wait till you see American Gun, you'll know exactly what I mean.

Nick Cassavetes has been around a very long time, both as an actor and a director. He's got major chops. He's the son of the late, great director, John Cassavetes and the briliant actress, Gena Rowlands. He's got movies in his blood and you can see it on the screen in the Alpha Dog clips. The movie has a really cool "look" to it. Very sun-drenched, and colorful and decadent.

Honestly, I'm getting more excited about it every day.

Judging by the treatment Dateline gave it last night, it's not going to just slink into a few theatres and then disappear onto the shevles of the video store. It looks like it's going to be a major release with a lot of buzz.

I'm not saying it'll open on 3 screens in every multiplex, but it does look like New Line Cinema (my favorite film studio on the planet) has the marketing savvy to release it to all the major markets to coincide with the start of the Jesse Jame Hollywood trial. What better way to bring people into the theatre than to have a movie out at the same time the big player in the story is front page news?

Hold on to your hats, ladies, I think the saga of Alpha Dog is about to get a lot more interesting...

Deb

PS: I noticed in that clip with JT and Chris --- the one where he looks so magnificently stoned --- our boy is holding onto a quarter bag of weed like it's a precious jewel. And his rings are on the wrong hands. Man, I watch these things too closely! LOL!

So, does he seem reluctant to participate in what they're doing with the kid because he has a conscience, or because he's too stoned or lazy? Then, notice in the trailer, that when the girl says the kid has been kidnapped, Chris yells, "No, he hasn't!" Is he in denial about what's going on? He's there when they kill the kid, but he looks like he's going to cry. What's going on with this guy?

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From Deb:

Really Good Review That Finally Mentions Chris  Has praise for Emile and Anton, too:

SCREENED AT THE 2006 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL: "Alpha Dog" is in some ways a revelatory film. It was written and directed by Nick Cassavetes, whose previous output ("John Q" and "The Notebook," particularly) has been proficient but strictly by-the-numbers. Furthermore, it features Justin Timberlake in a leading dramatic role. This thing has "mediocrity" written all over it.

Yet here it is, a gritty urban crime drama involving teenagers, guns, drugs and sex, all sharply acted, well-directed and astutely put together, with Timberlake's performance as one of its greatest attributes. What happened to Cassavetes and Timberlake to make them go this direction, I don't know, but I'm glad they did. (All due respect to fans of "The Notebook.")

The film is a fictionalized account of a true story, set in Claremont, Calif., in 1999. The characters are kids with no ethics, no roots and no direction. To the extent that they have parents, the parents are ineffectual. And so their leader is another kid, a teenage drug lord -- he can't be more than 17 -- named Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch). Johnny has a "Scarface" poster on his wall, and he emulates that character in his business decisions.

His fellow teens, meanwhile, emulate the gangsters they see in rap videos. They're abusive, sexist kids who cruise from one drug-fueled party to another, always ready to follow orders from Johnny. One boy (Shawn Hatosy) is cleaning Johnny's garage just because he was told to.

Meanwhile, we meet Jake Mazursky (Ben Foster), a profoundly unstable meth-head who owes Johnny a chunk of cash that he can't seem to come up with at the moment. His father (David Thornton) and spiteful stepmother (Sharon Stone) won't give it to him, and his 15-year-old half-brother Zack (Anton Yelchin) -- who looks up to Jake like a demigod -- doesn't have it. This debt infuriates Johnny, and a feud ensues. Unable to find Jake, Johnny's guys, led by a thug named Frankie (Timberlake), do the next best thing: They snatch young Zack up off the street and more or less hold him prisoner.

It's an odd sort of kidnapping, though. They have no reason to hurt him, just hang onto him until Jake comes through with the money. Problem is, Jake is MIA, leaving Frankie with this hostage he doesn't really want. Johnny doesn't want him either, so Frankie is stuck with him.

Zack, for his part, a naive and inexperienced lad, is having a great time going from party to party, being hit on by girls and offered drinks. He becomes friends with Frankie and with Frankie's associate Keith (Chris Marquette). Frankie takes care of him, brings him along to his dad's house in Palm Springs, where there's a swimming pool and a place to sleep. There's a certain tenderness in the almost brotherly bond that develops between them. But Zack eventually becomes a liability rather than an asset as the spur-of-the-moment kidnapping drags on for days with no resolution in sight.

Timberlake's performance as Frankie is a standout, emotionally complex and believably street-tough. Anton Yelchin, who starred in David Duchovny's little-seen "House of D," is given plenty to chew on as Zack, too, and his laudable performance suggests he may be one to watch.

It's good to see two other interesting young actors here, too: Emile Hirsch and Ben Foster as the feuding juvenile delinquents. Hirsch ("The Girl Next Door," "Lords of Dogtown"), whose baby face suggests vulnerability even when Johnny claims to be capable of handling every situation, is the opposite of Foster (TV's "Six Feet Under"), who plays Jake as a larger-than-life lunatic. When Jake takes a dump on Johnny's living room carpet as an act of defiance, I have no problem believing it's something he would do.

Southern California is depicted not as a glamorous wonderland but as a barren wasteland, a desert of stucco-coated houses and ugly chain-link fences. (That's more or less accurate, by the way.) Cassavetes shoots most of it with hand-held cameras in a documentary style, even framing the story with realistic-looking interviews with some of the figures (including Bruce Willis as Johnny's uncooperative father). It's a nightmare of a place, this SoCal, populated by vulgar kids who have seen plenty of crimes committed in movies but have no idea how to perpetrate one themselves.

To some extent, that may be true of Cassavetes, too. His depiction of all this squalor and depravity is vivid, but it doesn't offer much insight into WHY the kids do what they do, and he drags the resolution out way too long. Still, the fact that the director of "The Notebook" had something this jarringly stone-faced and unflinching inside of him is intriguing. It's a solid, tragic film about a group of kids whose fate was sealed long before we ever met them.

Source: efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=13572

Ain't It Cool News has come barely literate fanboy's review of Alpha Dog here:

www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=22487

It's kind of interesting.

Deb

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From TeeJay:

What the hell is up with New Line? They took the official Alpha Dog site off the 'net. Now we are directed to New Line's official site (which says Release Date: Spring 2006--ha ha!). Why??? Are they chickening out? Good thing I already downloaded the trailer and the Chris clip...

-TeeJay

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From Deb:

OK, they've completely caved to the pressure, it seems. I'll check tonight and see if any of the movie buffs on the AD board at IMDb know what's going on. I'll also check the 'net for any news on the Jesse James Hollywood trial and see if I can find any clues as to exactly what's going on. This is just infuriating!

Deb

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From Deb:

This was posted by Larry on the IMDb AD board. He seems like an insider. He deifintely has knowledge of how Hollywood works...

"New Line has nothing to do with the film anymore. It has been picked up by Universal Pictures, who plan to release it in the first quarter of 2007 with a possible limited release in December to qualify for Oscar contention."

Ok, so now I guess we can start calling Universal a bunch of pussies. But at least this explains why New Line took down the official site. Universal will probably put up a brand new one once we get closer to release.

Deb

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From Deb:

Filmmakers See Jesse James Hollwood Files
Friday July 14 10:43 AM ET

Defense lawyers for a man accused of murder argued the Santa Barbara County district attorney's office should be removed from the case after a prosecutor shared confidential files with the producers of an upcoming movie.

The unusual hearing Thursday before the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Ventura was unanimously ordered by the state Supreme Court in April.

The central issue was the decision of Santa Barbara County Deputy District Attorney Ron Zonen to turn over probation reports, police files and other materials to the producers of "Alpha Dog," a film based on the notorious kidnapping and slaying of a 15-year-old San Fernando Valley, California, boy.

Zonen said in court documents he thought the movie might help him find Jesse James Hollywood, the alleged mastermind behind a plot to kidnap Nicholas Markowitz, who was shot and buried in a remote Santa Barbara County, California, camping area in 2000.

Four men have been convicted in the slaying, but Hollywood fled after being charged with murder in 2003. He was arrested in Brazil last year.

On Thursday, Deputy Attorney General David Glassman defended Zonen before the three-judge panel, contending cooperation was "an innocent effort to increase publicity in order to affect the apprehension of a fugitive who had been at large for years."

Whether the appellate justices will order Zonen and perhaps the entire district attorney's office off the case will not be known until they issue their opinion in a few months.

Still, justices signaled displeasure with Zonen's actions.

Framing a hypothetical question, Justice Arthur Gilbert asked: "If his motive is 'I want to be a star,' then it's bad, but if it's 'I want to do justice,' then it's OK?"

Zonen accepted no payment for acting as a consultant to producer Nick Cassavetes, Glassman said. He acknowledged the prosecutor had contemplated one day writing a book about the case but said that did not affect his ability to be fair in his job.

No matter how benign Zonen's motivation may have been, his decision to share ordinarily closed files was grounds for recusal, said Armand Arabian, a former state Supreme Court justice who is representing Hollywood in the matter.

"Justice stands here insulted, her blindfold askew, her scales unbalanced," he told the appeals court.

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Deb just e-mailed me this:

From the Alpha Dog IMDb message board:

The entire young cast except titty-twister Justin had to do full frontal nudity. Also the movie has pervasive drug use and coarse language throughout its 117-minute running length. In its current form, it is what we in the industry call a "hard R" rating. The movie is definitely not for children under 17-years of age. National theater chains will be strictly enforcing admittance on this "R" rated feature! That means, if you are under 17-years old, your mommy will have to go with you to the movie.

FULL FRONTAL NUDITY???? Wow...... Not sure what think about that, except: Interesting!     LOL

-TeeJay

We need a post for this. A "Chrissue" is a Chris-issue, for those who don't know that word yet.

What's my Chrissue of the Day?

That I have too little time next to work and my private life outside of the internet (that I do have--against common belief) to work on this webpage and the fan fiction stuff. I'd like to have two weeks off work right now to take care of the site and set everything up properly, but as things are, I have to do everything after work and on the weekends (which are often busy with other stuff). But we'll get there. This is a start and I don't think it's gonna be that long before we can launch the site officially.

-TeeJay

Okay, so we're using the punBB forum right now. Everyone like it? Should we keep it? Is there anything about it that you absolutely don't like? Maybe I could find a hack or a plugin for it. There's a punBB support message board where you ask/look for that kind of stuff.

-TeeJay