Saturday, August 23, 2008

Darren and Danny get Nervous

In December of 2002, Darren and I started writing "Humboldt County." Today, it premieres in Humboldt County. We're incredibly excited and nervous. Up until a few weeks ago, it was just excitement. But Mary Cruse, the head of the WildRivers101 Film Festival (and, by the way, the Craft Service Extraordinaire from our shoot), keeps making jokes about how we'll need protection.

Regardless, we head out tomorrow to Humboldt so excited to show the people of the region what came of our inspiration almost six years ago.

Still, the Internet has begun its chatter. So today, on the eve of our Humboldt premiere, we've got a guest blogger. A lady named Kelly M. Phillips, who apparently lives in Humboldt. We were alerted to her blog by our Internet spies (read: Danny and Darren) and thought it only fair to give space on our blog to those that aren't so sure it was a good idea for us to make the movie at all. So below, we've cut and pasted a recent blog entry from her blog. See, we're like Fox News! Fair and balanced!

Oh, one more thing. We've made an exclusive deal with Apple. For the next week, our absolutely NEW trailer, in all its high definition glory will be available on the Apple Trailers website: HERE.

Okay, without further delay, please welcome, our guest blogger, Kelly Phillips:

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Humboldt County: The Movie

Yes, that's right, we've been trapped in celluloid.

Director's Darren Grodsky and Danny Jacobs have made a film about a young man from L.A. who has a wild fling with some mysterious slut and wakes up to find himself in the middle of the Redwoods at the home of some folksy, kind-hearted pot growers.

Ah yes, the often maligned, friendly drug trafficker who in no way contributes to the habits of the filthy, transient lowlifes who hang out downtown and are constantly asking me if I can spare some change.

I'm so glad somebody with a fair and balanced mind has brought them into the light!

They just want to look after mother earth and help people with legitimate medical needs for their product (about 2% of their actual clientele). The good souls are in no way capitalists who benefit from an unregulated market and a tax-free cash cow. Nooooooo.

In an interview that ran in The North Coast Journal, Robyn Hillman Harrigan wrote, "The filmmakers themselves noted that they were not out to stereotype the region, but that they were drawn to the storytelling benefits of one of its subcultures."

Let's see; the protagonists are a family of pot growers and a jaded city boy who comes to admire them and look on them as a family. The poster has a picture of said city boy perched on a giant joint with redwoods in the background.

Nope, no stereotyping there.

Subculture? Bitch please. I've never seen anything so mainstream. Let's call a spade a spade shall we?

I can't wait until the film comes out locally.

I'll be one of the first to see it, if only to prove my initial, nauseated gut reaction right.

4 comments:

Josh Katz said...

Forget fair and balanced. That would involve the opinion of someone who's actually seen the movie, not just guessing about it.

CaliCheese said...

Saw the movie tonight. Great work.

Unknown said...

My fiancee and partner of 6 years is a Humboldt County local. I came here in 2001 to attend HSU and have been lucky enough to be co-opted into this amazing community.

Although it has it's drawbacks, I so did appreciate the way in which our home was portrayed in the film. We had an amazing time at the premiere and the Eureka Theater and cannot wait to get the DVD. We're doing our best to spread the owrk, not only locally - but to our friends across the West Coast and the country.

Thank you for doing our home justice and not glorifying it into something it's not or doesn't need to be. We loved the story and the setting was, (as biased as we are) PERFECT!

Phil said...

God, I really look like an asshole here.

I meant to write "before" and "after" posts about the film but as of yet, I STILL haven't seen it.

Mr. Katz is right, I should actually go and see the thing before passing judgement.

I was under the impression that there were only two other people besides myself that actually read my blog; my mother and a paranoid ex boyfriend who wanted to make sure I wasn't writing nasty things about him.

I now know that I was wrong. I stand humbled, etc.

Anyway, I can see that you guys put a lot of time and effort into making and promoting this thing.

Even if I don't like the film after I actually DO see it, I admire your dedication in getting it done and I wish you both all the best with your future projects.

Kelly M Phillips

P.S. Really, that whole post just smacks of wicked PMS.