JC: You have a few key cast members from Corman's original "Fantastic Four" (Joseph Culp and Alex Hyde-White) in your cast ;) Hyde-White's Bill O'Reilly-esque host was chillingly accurate.
JK: I met Joseph Culp about three years ago through an actor friend. Joe is an accomplished drama teacher, in addition to his other skills. I took his Walking Theatre Workshop for several years. About a year into my acting training with Joe, I began working on the “Reflecting Pool” script. We ended up workshopping the material in the theatre on weekly basis. In fact, the script really took shape thanks to the acting workshop with Joe.
Now, through Joe and his workshop we had access to some amazing actors. In the early nineties, Joe had been cast in the Roger Corman original “The Fantastic Four” movie as Dr. Doom. He befriended Mr. Fantastic, the outstanding Alex Hyde-White, and during “The Reflecting Pool” casting process, he immediately thought of Alex for the part of our TV host, who is clearly modeled after Bill O’Reilly. The only directorial suggestion I made to Alex Hyde-White in preparation for his role was not to think of it as parody. He really played it straight. When you know what O’Reilly is capable of on the air, you can almost say Alex is underplaying a bit. But in all honesty, the character of Mahoney, the TV show host, in “The Reflecting Pool” is a sad commentary on reality, not on O’Reilly specifically. You have these so-called “news shows” on any network, and they are cast, scripted, and directed as pure entertainment. There is no real news on television, period. Unless you’re into traffic reports and weather.
JC: One thing that jumped out when I saw the film was that I wish there was one brave editor somewhere who'd take on this story, as happened in the film. And yet even Rolling Stone, American Prospect, Mother Jones and The Nation are inexplicably silent on the issue. What do you think is going on?
JK: Vanity Fair did a fairly decent piece on 9/11 and "Loose Change" in 2006. But even they had to beat around the bush, if you excuse the pun. On a good day, I believe they are not educated enough on the facts of 9/11 and still consider it another “nutty conspiracy” case. On a bad day, I think the pressure from the top, meaning the ownership, is just too dangerous to risk a 9/11 expose for the major publications. It’s a make-or-break issue, and most likely they would be broken. Look what happened to Dan Rather with his "60 Minutes" report on Bush’s National Guard service. Look at how (“The View”) dealt with Rosie O’Donnell after the Building Seven episode. This is the message they are sending to other prominent figures – you risk having your career shattered. The issue of spin and damage-control by corporate media features prominently in “The Reflecting Pool.”
JC: What sort of reaction is the film getting? I would imagine there's praise and also some hostility.
JK: I would have to honestly say that most people who have seen “The Reflecting Pool” so far are firm believers in the government complicity in 9/11. So, by default, they nearly uniformly praise the film. We are getting applause at every show and the Q&As. Personally, I’m very flattered by that. But the real trick is to find a larger, skeptical audience. We have gotten a terrific support from various political groups in spreading the word about the movie. What we need is a fund-raiser to place a full-page color ad in LA Times and book a nice theatre for a week-long run. Then, the papers would have to review the movie, and people not involved in politics would see the ad and hopefully come to the screenings. We have to cross-over to the mainstream if this message is going to be heard loud and clear. That takes the kind of money we simply don’t have. What we do have, however, is grass-roots support, which is a beautiful beginning of a long journey. I’m sure we will encounter real hostility if we show the movie to a larger audience. We are prepared and ready to face it.
JC: What's next for you?
JK: In terms of a next film project, I would like to continue making small-scale independent films for the rest of my life. I made three so far. Realistically, the next project will need outside financing – I’m tapped out. I have about five projects of varying budgets lined up. What I do next depends on how much money I can get. I’m not a player in the film industry, so my prospects are grim. For now, I’m fully committed to take “The Reflecting Pool” as far as we can take it, domestically and internationally.
JC: Tell us where can folks see “The Reflecting Pool”?
JK: "The Reflecting Pool" screens EVERY Saturday and Sunday at 11AM at the Laemmele Monica 4-plex in Los Angeles. Followed by Filmmakers Q & A after each show. 1332 2nd Street, Santa Monica, CA
Neoconvict is a Southern California-based activist who has written for Brad Blog and Justice through Music. he is currently working on the Clint Curtis for Congress campaign in FL-24.
New feature film “The Reflecting Pool” may just be the “All the President’s Men” of our time. No, it doesn’t have Hoffman and Redford. But it is a chilling and important fact-based investigative drama.
If it is based on typical truther misrepresentations, fantasies and out and out lies, it is anything but a fact based drama.
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Roark Howard (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 294 comments)
on Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at 1:02:25 PM
to make 3 or 4 trillion? Thats not counting the million slaughtered in the ME.
Genocide is profitable for some. Now what I cannot understand is why someone that has not made a dime from the hoax or the war would want to defend the hoax as fact. If you saw it on TV it must be true right ? Some struggle to hold on to the myth of the US moral high ground. To question the validity of our governments actions brings about the possibility that we have been fooled not only now but for many decades. Even the thought that our way of life is based on lies and injustice is a subject to be avoided by those who have embraced the status quo for years. It is difficult and painful to admit that you have been fooled and used by a cruel system of mind control mass subversion. Some have even given their childrens lives gladly and with pride to further the scheme of globalist capitalism.
I will think for myself. The less I watch TV the less I believe the globalists lies. Take a good look at the police-state growing around you, is the the nation you want for your children?
There were no planes, there were no boogey men, there is only greed and lies and sheep willingly led to the slaughter.
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john riggs (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 301 comments)
on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 at 7:19:21 AM
