WHO can you TRUST?
As just plain effing pretentious as it sounds, the real reason for doing a "Karaoke Crime" story is that I wanted to do something that I was ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN would be like nothing else before it. This, as most writers know, is easy. Just sit down and write some "word salad"...THERE! Something unlike anything else!
My thoughts, my goals, aspirations, and vision were to not only do something "different", but to do something that, WHILE DIFFERENT may also have some WIDER APPEAL. Within that, I wanted to do something very personal at the same time.
One drunk night at The Carriage House, I pulled out that ever-present folded piece of notebook paper and began to scratch out notes just brainstorming the disparate elements I wanted to see come together in a way that would make them not seem disparate at all. KARAOKE NOIR was the answer...
Who do I think will like "The END of FUN"? People who like intense romantic dramas. Guys, take your girlfriends!
There is definitely some FATAL ATTRACTION in "The END of FUN!"
WHO do I think will like "The END of FUN"? People who like stories that pull the rug out from under you, with strange twists.
THIS movie and Alfred Hitchcock lit the fuse on life-long love of twist endings! PSYCHO still has one of the BEST TWISTS EVER!
WHO DO I think will like "The END of FUN"? People who like good music and like to "tap their toes" from the beginning of a movie until its end. Like MUSICALS?...well, you ALMOST get that!
ANOTHER of my all-time FAVORITE MOVIES! Thank God for seeing and falling in love with the Rocky Horror Picture Show at the age of about 10. When I saw this movie in my mid-30's, my love for it was IMMEDIATE! HEDWIG & THE ANGRY INCH is definitely a MUSICAL (much more so than our movie) but inspires what I wanted to do in "The END of FUN" greatly...
WHO DO I THINK will like "The END of FUN"? People who like DARK COMEDIES and are not afraid to go ahead and laugh...even when they KNOW THEY SHOULDN'T!
Be HONEST for a second with me, here. OK? Did you laugh when Steve Buscemi's character meets the wood-chipper in FARGO? Well, you might find yourself laughing during "The END of FUN"... and you may hate yourself for it later!
WHO DO I THINK WILL like "The END of FUN"? People who like movies by some of my favorite filmmakers and storytellers like David Lynch, Christopher Nolan, Tom Tykwer, David Fincher, Alfred Hitchcock, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Darren Aronofsky. People who like to dissect and talk shit about movies...even when THEY LOVE THEM!
I...LOVE...DAVID LYNCH... EVERYTHING DAVID LYNCH...ALWAYS... Whole post coming soon!
WHO DO I THINK WILL LOVE "The END of FUN"? People who like CRIME NOIR stories with very intense, bloody, over-the-top violence. Not quite KARAOKE GRINDHOUSE, but certainly KARAOKE NOIR!
KARAOKE NOIR really IS the answer. In the previous two posts about "Why Karaoke", I tried to be revealing and provide insight into the process that did lead from that one simple phrase "Karaoke Noir", but like it or not, fortunately or unfortunately, that's it...
After my epiphanies and conversion to full-fledged karaoke bar regular... After my discovery and frequenting of THE CARRIAGE HOUSE... After the many conversations I had had, and the many I had simply observed or overheard there...After my near-fatal ass-whipping on the way home on that fateful June night... On the night I sat down and really decided what I wanted to write a story about that phrase drove the entire process and almost immediately allowed my brain to spit out "Jade Silver", knowing far too much about her in a rather instantaneous fashion.
As soon as I conceptualized Jade, I knew that as a "femme fatale", I wanted her to be complex. Sexy, mysterious, smart, devious, cunning, manipulative, forceful. It immediately occurred to me that she was a stripper who, while born with a stripper's name actually used a rather mundane name while on stage. Additionally, she would not just be smart, but brilliant and fully educated to an MBA level from UCLA. I knew way too much too fast.
Jade helped me find the rest of the story. She was the "Femme Fatale" in what I felt sure would be watched, accepted and enjoyed as the world's first (maybe only?) "Karaoke Noir" movie.
After people watch this movie, I hope that instead of feeling like it was a jarring MISH-MASH of non-blending genres, that viewers walk out with pleased smiles on their faces. My goal is that combining karaoke romance and crime noir is the unexpected movie pleasure that the Reese's Cup is in the candy world.
Hey! You got your Karaoke Romance on my CRIME NOIR!
Oh Yeah?? You got your Crime Noir on my KAROKE ROMANCE!
HEY WAIT! YEAH! THESE ARE TWO GREAT TASTES THAT TASTE GREAT TOGETHER!
Your visit here is NOT REALLY COMPLETE until you enjoy this vintage candy commercial from REESES CUPS that inspired my madness directly above!
Reese's Cups-- got your peanut butter on my chocolate, etc... Only for KARAOKE NOIR, imagine combinations of stuff like the following!
SINGLES meets TRUE ROMANCE!
Seeing this movie in the theater with my at-that-time girlfriend impacted me deeply emotionally. Much deeper than it had her... I am fairly certain this particular female actually has no soul...but that is another story for another day! SINGLES IS AWESOME! Music and romance...just well done!
Wow, oh wow. A few actors give incredibly memorable performances in this, from Brad Pitt in a very early role to the main stars of CHRISTIAN SLATER and PATRICIA ARQUETTE. An AWESOME STORY that is a BLAST TO WATCH! (watch it just for Gary Oldman, if nothing else....)
DUETS meets BLUE VELVET!
I watched this movie on cable one day MANY YEARS ago... it is kind of AWFUL...but I AM SO GLAD I SAW IT!!!
Blue Velvet impacted me at the age of 17 in a way that no movie ever had. It has always been a goal to deliver my own story that could have such a visceral impact on an audience.
While I wanted "Karaoke Noir" to combine the genres of (Karaoke/Musical) Romance and Crime Noir, I also did not want anything to feel forced or obvious. I wanted to do it using the karaoke not just as background but as plot development. I wanted to use real life events. I want our viewers to laugh, get turned on, freak out with fear, cringe at violence and anger, and LOVE the HEROES!
I wanted people to experience something unexpected but still walk away satisfied in that way that only a Reese's Cup might encourage...ONLY YOU WILL MAY JUDGE how successful my team and I are at accomplishing these lofty, if not bizarre goals.
Please always feel free to talk to us in the comments area below! We are absolutely THRILLED AND HONORED that you are following, or have followed, us this far! Please keep checking back. Things are really getting exciting!
THANK YOU!
#TEOFInfluences #TRUTH #KaraokeNoir
No comments:
Post a Comment