Choose Connor (a.k.a. The Politician)

domesticelefant · 05 Feb 07 :: 22:15

LOL That speaks for the magic of the shirt, huh?

TheCentralScrutinizer · 05 Feb 07 :: 23:17

And I'm wearing mine!

Deb

TeeJay · 11 Mar 07 :: 22:19

Guys, we have a trailer! Chris is only in it for, like, two seconds. He doesn't speak and it looks like he's crying (and his hair is ultra-short). I don't get it. But you can see it here:

http://www.blackbayentertainment.com/Si … ONNOR.html

Here's the two blink-and-you-miss-him Chris shots:

You can also see Michael Welch in one shot.

This is the text that they put up on the website along with the trailer:

Fifteen-year-old Owen Norris is at the top of his graduating middle-school class, and wants to know how the world works. He has no friends, spends almost of his time studying, and has an almost nonexistent relationship with his white-collar parents, whom he sees for ten minutes a day. But his boring suburban life changes when, he meets Congressman Lawrence Connor and his young nephew Caleb. Connor is immediately taken with Owen's intelligence and wit, and Caleb is immediately taken with Owen. As Caleb and Owen become close friends, Connor offers Owen a chance to learn how the world of politics really works by acting as his "youth campaign spokesman" for the upcoming Senate primaries. What starts as a fun way to make some extra summer cash takes a dark turn as Owen learns the frightening truth about the deranged secret world of politics in which he is now involved in.

Chris might be playing one of those victims of the "deranged secret world of politics". Can anyone say Mark Foley?

-TeeJay

domesticelefant · 12 Mar 07 :: 00:23

Woohoo, a trailer!
What is that with me being online for five hours in a row and nothing happends and when my dad demands the computer there is new stuff like five minutes later after I am gone. Grrr.
I'd like to know why he's crying here. But I guess it will be a looooong wait until I get to seee this movie. Or probablyI can be happy if I'm ever going to see the movie at all ...

TheCentralScrutinizer · 12 Mar 07 :: 00:55

Just click the name Mark Foley in TeeJay's post and read the first few sentences, you'll get it. This looks like an intense little movie. And I can certainly see why they picked Chris for the job. Just hope we get to see more of him than some snippet of videotape. Hopefully, Caleb and Owen will get his help exposing these guys. I'm really looking forward to this now. Looks like Michael's part is going to be rather shocking. Did he ever blog about working on this movie?

Deb

TheCentralScrutinizer · 12 Mar 07 :: 01:07

This is about one of the producers of Choose Connor. Looks who's still part of this gang of friends and artists:

Karuna Eberl is co-founder of Black Bay Entertainment. Prior to founding the company with her producing partner James McLean, she worked as an independent producer for feature films and documentaries. In 2006 she produced the feature Choose Connor, a political drama starring Steven Weber, Alex Linz, Erick Avari and Christopher Marquette. That year she also produced Mr. Blue Sky, a drama about a woman with Down syndrome starring Chaney Kley, Richard Karn and Mary Kate Shellhardt. Karuna made her producing debut with the feature documentary The Guerrero Project, a story about expeditions competing to find a sunken slave ship and the implications such history has on our society today, narrated by James Avery. In 2005 the film won the Key West IndieFest, and was an official selection at five other festivals that year. Since its completion, Karuna has gone on to produce three other feature documentaries.

Karuna also regularly produces commercials and music videos, including those for the Latin stars Los Tigres Del Norte, Los Rielereos Del Norte and Yolanda, as well as worked in key production positions for the feature narratives Wrestle Maniac, starring Lucha Libra wrestling star Rey Mysterio Sr.; and Simon Says starring Crispin Glover, Margo Harshman and Blake Lively.

Prior to her career as a filmmaker, Karuna used her journalism degree from the University of Montana toward a number of accomplishments as a journalist, screenwriter, novelist, editor and photographer. She is also the Los Angeles liaison for the Documentary Cinema Institute, an organization devoted to teaching filmmaking practices and ethics to up-and-coming Documentarians.

TeeJay · 12 Mar 07 :: 09:39

Is she Luke's mom or sister or something? He calls himself Luke Eberl in some things, doesn't he? Wasn't that his real name and he decided to go with Lucas Elliot later?

Curious that Margo is listed. Guess she's in the circle of friends. She was in Choose Connor too, wasn't she? Or was that Fellowship?

Anne, Mark Foley is a US Republican Congressman who had a "fondness" for teenage boys. This all came out while I was in the US in September last year, so I heard a fair bit about it on the news with Deb. This guy sent sexually explicit stuff to teenage boys that worked for him as pages. Sound familiar? Take it a step further, and you're where what Choose Connor is about.

I don't recall Michael ever blogging about Choose Connor, but then I haven't read all of his blog entries. Maybe I'll check back and see if he ever said anything about it.

-TeeJay

domesticelefant · 12 Mar 07 :: 11:13

Margo was in that Fellowship thing, not Choose Connor.

I skimmed over that wikipedia article about that Mark Foley guy. Uh oh. Nasty. But that should indeed be an interesting movie. Hope to see it sometime.

I read Michael's blog every now and then, but I never read anything about Choose Connor, I think. Last thing I read was something about filming in Bulgaria or something.

OhGnarly · 14 Mar 07 :: 01:51

Grrr, the trailer isn't working for me. I'm out of town (again), so I'm not about to mess with the settings while I'm on someone else's computer. I guess I'll have to wait until I get home. I'm excited that we've got a trailer, but it's too bad he's in it for all of two seconds.

TeeJay · 14 Mar 07 :: 09:41

Would it help if I sent you the file as a WMV, Brenna? I can convert it when I get home tonight.

-TeeJay

OhGnarly · 14 Mar 07 :: 17:34

TeeJay, that would be awesome! Thanks so much!

TeeJay · 14 Mar 07 :: 17:53

Hey, no problem. If I forget, please nag. I've got tons of stuff going on right now and I'm prone to forget these things. I also haven't sent Irina her DVD yet. Shame on me.

-TeeJay

domesticelefant · 14 Mar 07 :: 18:53

Can you send the trailer to me too please, maybe with the next package?

TeeJay · 14 Mar 07 :: 20:46

Brenna, you can download the WMV trailer here:

trailer removed from server by now--sorry!

Please let me know when you've downloaded it, I'll probably take it off the server again.

-TeeJay

OhGnarly · 15 Mar 07 :: 17:49

Downloaded! Thanks again TeeJay!

TeeJay · 15 Mar 07 :: 18:11

No prob! Hope it works for you now.

-TeeJay

TheCentralScrutinizer · 31 Mar 07 :: 02:53

Hey guys, the Choose Connor website is finally live!

http://www.chooseconnorfilm.com/

There's not much to it yet. No Chris, except for a mention in the Lucas Elliott bio. But it's just a newborn site. I hope they'll add more to it as we go along.

I emailed Karuna Eberl to let her know about us and tell her we'll help promote the movie anyway we can.

Deb

TeeJay · 31 Mar 07 :: 09:16

Oh wow, I love the design. I also saw the e-mail you sent to Karuna, great idea. Thanks! Nice to see some movement where this movie is concerned. Boy, there's suddenly life being breathed into all of Chris's shelved movies this year. Awesome!

-TeeJay

domesticelefant · 31 Mar 07 :: 12:45

Great website. I think it was about time to bring all these movies to life.

TeeJay · 02 Apr 07 :: 23:10

Found a link to this on the bluecactus.com website:

"Choose Connor"

This coming of age drama by 20-year-old writer-director Lucas Elliott follows a young boy who becomes the poster child for a Congressman's run for Senate and learns what really goes on behind closed doors in the political world.

Having always been interested in politics, Elliott penned the script three years ago and says the research he put into the project is what makes it stand out. "I found some incredible stuff and I was like 'wow,' this is what the story needs to be about," referring to the two years he spent doing what he calls "undercover investigative research" in the political arena. But that's the most he'll say. "I shouldn't talk about it or I'll get some people pretty angry."

The film follows 15-year-old Owen (Alex D. Linz) who meets Congressman Lawrence Connor (Steven Weber) at a school event and after dazzling the Congressman with his political knowledge is asked to come aboard his campaign as his youth spokesman. As Owen is put on TV commercials, radio ads and posters, his innocence is tested by the cut-throat political machine he's now a part of.

Elliott admits his age and those of producers Karuna Eberl, Andrew McFarlane and Aaron Himelstein (all in their early 20s), did have drawbacks, but their vision for the film was impressive. There was also another advantage. "When trying to get stuff together a lot of your work is done over the phone and over email so people didn't know how old I was," Elliott says. Along with Linz ("Max Keeble's Big Move") and Weber, they also attached character actors like Diane Delano, Erick Avari and Don McManus.

Shot on Super 16mm by Jim Timperman around Los Angles in June, Elliott is currently editing back home in Boulder, Colorado. The film is produced through Blue Cactus Pictures. Executive Producer is Chris Lux.

source: http://www.indiewire.com/movies/2006/08 … po_10.html It somehow sounds familiar, maybe it's been posted before.

They also have a MySpace page (with a sucky design):
http://www.myspace.com/bluecactuspictures
But there's a Choose Connor photo slideshow on it. Haven't spotted Chris yet, but I'll let you know if I do.

Okay, so either they only shot photos when Chris wasn't on set or he has an ultra-small role in the movie. There's 84 photos from Choose Connor on that MySpace page, and Chris is in none of them. I spotted Luke, Aaron and Michael, but not Chris. Hm... Is this gonna be another five-minutes-screentime thing?

-TeeJay

OhGnarly · 02 Apr 07 :: 23:32

TeeJay wrote:

Hm... Is this gonna be another five-minutes-scerentime thing?

Oh man, I hope not I can't believe they didn't have any Chris pictures up there though. Doesn't look promising

TheCentralScrutinizer · 03 Apr 07 :: 01:12

It probably is a very small part. TeeJay, remember when we asked him about it in October and instead of talking about his part in the movie, he talked about being friends with all the people involved in making it? Leads me to believe there wasn't much to talk about and that this was just a favor for Luke so we shouldn't get all that excited about it. Still, from the looks of the movie and the clip of him crying, I bet his very small role is pretty stunning. And definitely a character we haven't seen him play before.

Deb

domesticelefant · 03 Apr 07 :: 20:05

TeeJay wrote:

Hm... Is this gonna be another five-minutes-scerentime thing?

Dude, that would suck. Then again, if it's a stunning role, I don't really care how big it is. I wanna see him act in the first place. I mean, I'm a Dorquette, right?
I didn't look at the links yet, because I am in a hurry right now but I'll look at them later.

TheCentralScrutinizer · 16 Apr 07 :: 01:47

OK, I have no idea how he's going to pull this off with his upcoming project, but Chris says:

That's cool you talked to Chris Lux. he's a friend of mine. My part in Choose Connor is very small. It's an important role in the movie but I'm only in one scene. It's going to premiere at "CineVegas". A film festival in Las Vegas this summer. I'm going to be there with a bunch of my friends who produced, wrote, and directed the movie. It should be fun.

Cool!

CineVegas runs from June 6-16, 2007

http://www.cinevegas.com/about/

Deb

TeeJay · 16 Apr 07 :: 09:05

Wait a minute... How's he gonna be in two places at the same time? Guess he's not going to be where we thought he'd be in June.

-TeeJay

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