Aaron D. Spears - Movie

Aaron D. Spears

By Rych McCain International/Nationally Syndicated Entertainment Columnist

Photos Courtesy CBS-TV & Southern Peach Entertainment

Aaron D. Spears

Takes Us Down Memory Lane!

Aaron D. Spears

     All of us have a story of both good and bad memories from our awkward teen years. High school especially played a major role in shaping the personalities we have today. In those days the values of being popular, well liked, part of the happening crowd, dressing nice and scoring with the opposite sex were the main priorities for most as superficial as they would become later in life.  

  “Back Then” is a movie that focuses on the life of Gavin Miller as an adult doing big things while becoming “Man Of The Year” on the cover of a major magazine. But this is a far cry from the nerd on the “never mind” list he was on in high school. Gavin’s life turns upside down when Rochelle pops back into his life unannounced. 

(Young High School Version) L-R: Chyna Layne (Rochelle), Oren Williams (Gavin) and Sabrina Revelle (Andrea "Dre").

High School Rochelle (Chyna Layne)

      In high school, Rochelle was one of the prettiest, sexiest and most popular girls on campus. Nerdy Gavin relentlessly pursued Rochelle but she always kept him at arm’s length in favor of the more popular thugs and athletes. 

High School "Dre" (Sabrina Revelle)

    On the other hand Gavin’s best friend since grade school, Andrea “Dre” Devine was always there for him but he never committed to her as a boyfriend. So Rochelle and Dre became Gavin’s love triangle. The movie goes back and forth with scenes from the past and the present. 



                                                                                                                                   

High School Gavin (Oren Williams)

    Oren Williams plays the Young Gavin, Sabrina Revelle is the young Dre and Chyna Layne is the young Rochelle. The older Rochelle is played by Tae Heckard and the older Dre is played by Malinda Williams.

    The older Gavin in the film is played Washington, D.C. native Aaron D. Spears who may be best known as Justin Barber on the CBS Daytime Soap “The Bold and The Beautiful” for the last three seasons and is a co-star with Gabrielle Union and Richard Roundtree on the new BET Show “Single Black Female.”  Since Spears had to play the older version of Oren, and Oren was the younger version of him, how did the actors coordinate that? Spears explains, “They shot the younger stuff first. So I saw what he did, how he was, his mannerisms, the nuances of maybe how he walks and how he carries himself so I can try to carry some of that maybe corkyness or what they call herbness over to being the adult version of that.”

Adult Rochelle (Tae Heckard)

       Spears and Williams had the blessed opportunity to play opposite some of the finest actresses in Hollywood for this project. Spears ran down how the movie was shot saying, “We shot all the stuff with Tae Heckard kind of like one day or a series of maybe two or three days at the most. 

Adult "Dre" (Malinda Williams)

   Then I did the stuff with Malinda. Because as you know, a lot of time in film this stuff is shot out of sequence. So what they do, they fly that person in, considering that Malinda lives in New York, we do all of our scenes then I move on and we do other parts of the movie.”

          Because some film budgets are slim and time is of the essence meaning they can’t do as many takes as they may want, actors often have to switch emotional gears sometimes literally between takes of one scene to the next and be believable every time. How does Spears psychologically handle those types of mental demands from the set? 

Gavin's mom (Debra Wilson) Gavin (Spears)

      He laughs, “Sometimes you just have to let it stay on the set. There are actors who stay in character all of the time until they get home. When they are on the set or in their trailer they are in character. I haven’t done that yet. I don’t know if I want to or not. I’ll make sure I have to see how it feels to see the difference in maybe my performance. But as of now if I had to do something like crazy - sane – crazy- sane, you’re just kind of like a baby. A baby can be smiling one minute but when you pinch them they cry and if you do something to distract them from crying, they’re going to start smiling again. So you try to live in that moment as if it’s just happening. If you can do that, you usually can pull off a solid performance.”   

***Good! (Ride In The Middle)!

© 2012 Rych McCain Media/Syndication tm 
(You DID Hear It From Me!) 
Twitter@rychmccain

Adrianne Palicki & Josh Peck - Movie

Adrianne Palicki & Josh Peck - Movie

By Rych McCain International/Nationally Syndicated Entertainment Columnist

Photos Via FilmDistrict

Adrianne Palicki 

and Josh Peck

Action Team Mates With Purpose!

The Wolverines Red Dawn

     Doing a remake of a classic cult movie can be risky business especially if it is made during the lifetime of the original fans. The original RED DAWN movie was released in 1984 starring Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, Lea Thompson, Jennifer Grey, C. Thomas Howell, Darren Dalton, Brad Savage and Powers Booth. It was a box office smash and now in 2012 comes the re-make starring Chris Hemsworth, Josh Peck, Josh Hutcherson, Adrianne Palicki, Isabel Lucas, Connor Cruise and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. This time around instead of the Russians coming, the North Koreans invade. As the soldiers are dropping out of the sky and pulling up in the tanks, a small group of students from the same high school evades capture and hold up in the woods where they form an insurgent fighting group which they named “The Wolverines” taken from their high school mascot.

Tonie (Adriane Palicki)

     Two of the Wolverines are Toni, played by Adrianne Palicki 

  
and Matt Eckert played by Josh Peck. 

Matt Eckert (Josh Peck)

 Palicki may best be known as town sex vixen Tyra Collette on the top rated NBC drama “Friday Night Lights.”  

Adrianne Palicki
 

 Palicki will also star as “Lady Jaye’ in the much anticipated “G.I. Joe Retaliation” with Channing Tatum, Bruce Willis and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson which will be released in 2013. 

Josh Peck

   Peck has made 
a seamless transition from his child star acting days from Nickelodeon’s  
    “Drake & Josh” 
 to adult leading man with roles in films like “The Wackness,” “Mean Creak,” the voice over character of Sparks in “Ice Age” and others.

Adreanne & Josh

     When we got the two together to talk about the re-make Of “Red Dawn,” the excitement in the air was titillating. For Palicki, how was the transition from being the sexually loose town vixen to becoming an ass kicking soldier?She laughs, “Its fun. I’m an actor. To be know as a hooker by night and bad ass by day, its pretty cool.” The cast had to endure a real military style boot camp to prepare for this film. What was Palicki’s experience like? Her eyes light up, “A lot of us didn’t know each other before this and we all kind of show up at 6 o’clock in the morning in the middle of nowhere in the valley at this boot camp not knowing what to expect. And we all had the exact same experience. We all had to start from scratch and we pretty much became the Wolverines because the tactical training is how we became friends.” 

Wolvs hook up with real U.S. soldiers

     Did she get hit with the pellets from the guns? Palicki takes a breath, “Oh yeah! I have scars still on my hands. Poor Julian, his entire back was bleeding through his shirt. It really did put the fear of God in you. They weren’t real bullets thank God but it gave you some since of that fear if someone was actually shooting at you.”

L-R; Peck, Josh Hutcherson, Chris Hemsworth

     The original “Red Dawn” still has lots of devoted followers. Did this translate to any pressure on the new film? Peck reminisces, “Fans and viewers of “Red Dawn” are weirdly protective of this film. As soon as it came up in any sort of conversation they would be like ‘chill out on my movie bro.’ Careful, this movie means a lot to me friend. So I knew immediately that this was not to be taken lightly. But knowing the components of the people involved between the cast and our director Dan, I knew that it was all people that would pay proper homage to the original. And we cared about not only contributing to the original but also utilized certain new opportunities that were afforded with twenty-five years plus of new technologies  and new techniques in capturing action and what not. So I felt like we were a cause for good.”

L-R; Hemsworth, Peck, Hutcherson, & Cruise

    As far as a young actor fulfilling his ambition, especially in action films what is Peck's take on the experience? He’s all smiles, “It’s pretty great. I mean just being able to do what I love everyday and be part of a small percentage of actors. Adrianne and I who actually live out here and get to do this job, it’s a great gift. And in respect for something as cool as this which is total wish fulfillment, boyhood fantasy come true, its pretty awesome. I’m just glad that no one’s pulled the plug on me yet.”

****Excellent! (Ride In The Front 1st Class)! 

Josh & Adrianne

 

   .© 2012 Rych McCain Media/Syndication tm 

(You DID Hear It From Me!) 

Twitter@rychmccain

The NAACP Theatre Awards - Awards

The NAACP Theatre Awards

By Rych McCain International/Nationally Syndicated Entertainment columnist

The 2012 NAACP Theatre Awards

Dazzles Again!

Photos Per NAACPTA

     The 2012 NAACP Theatre Awards was recently held at the Directors Guild of America in Hollywood. The pre-ceremony buffet was mouth watering scrumptious as it is every year and the red carpet 

Stelita Ebanks

 entries featured the glitz, sexiness and fashion that give award shows the anticipated attention of fans as well as the fashion police. The NAACP Theatre Awards annually honors stage actors, producers, directors, playwrights, lighting directors, set designers, musical directors, sound, Choreography and costume design for Thespians of color from both the local LA Theatre scene and major Equity stage productions.

     Ronald E. Hasson is the President of the Beverly Hills/Hollywood NAACP as well as being a National Board Member. The show is executively and creatively produced by Tia Boyd. Oscar Hernandez served as the show’s director and producer. Laura Wright is the talent executive.

Eva Marcille

 The show was co-hosted by gorgeous and sexy actress/model Eva Marcille 

George Wallace

and Mr. Las Vegas himself, the ever funny, superstar comic George Wallace. 

      The night’s performances included Singer/actress Shoshana Bean who performed the lead role of Elphaba on Broadway in the smash it play “Wicked,” singing “Defying Gravity,” Singer/actress Tichina Arnold star of TV and performing the lead role of Eviline on the Broadway stage version of “The Wiz,” who sung “No Bad News,” singers Eloise Laws and Leela James. Sakinah LeStage choreographed a dance troop number titled “A Salute To Dance.”

  The presenters included a slew of celebs too numerous to mention while the “big four” major prizes went to 

actor James Pickens, Jr. (Lifetime Achievement Award); 

 actress Nicole Ari Parker (The Spirit Award);  

producers and Front Row Production partners Alia M. Jones

 and Stephen P. Byrd who shared (The Trailblazer Award). 

Our congrats go out to all of the winners listed below.

Best Choreography – Equity

Fela! – Bill T. Jones

Best Choreography – Local

Chicago – Krystal Combs

Best Costumes – Equity

Blues for An Alabama Sky – Karen Perry

Best Costumes – Local

Rockin’ With The Ages 3 – Liz Perralta

Best Director – Equity

Blues for An Alabama Sky – Sheldon Epps

Best Director – Local

12’ X 9’ – Fred Thomas, Jr.

Best Director of a Musical – Equity

Twist – Debbie Allen

Best Director of a Musical – Local

Chicago – Anne Gesling

Best Ensemble Cast – Equity

Blues for An Alabama Sky

Best Ensemble Cast – Local

All My Sons

Best Lead Female - Equity

Twist – Tamyra Gray

Best Lead Female  – Local

Sunday Mourning – Kinnik Sky

Best Lead Male – Equity

Superior Donuts – Edi Gathegi

Best Lead Male – Local

The Motor Trade – Alex Morris

Best Lighting – Equity

Superior Donuts – Daniel Ionazzi

Best Lighting - Local

Hattie…What I need You To Know! – Sammie Wayne

Best Music Director – Equity

Fela! – Aaron Johnson

 

Best Music Director – Local

Chicago – Anne Gesling

Best One Person Show - Equity

The Night Watcher – Charlayne Woodard

Best One Person Show - Local

Oh, Yes She Did – Sandy Brown

Best Playwright – Equity

Superior Donuts – Tracy Letts

Best Playwright – Local

12’ X 9’ – Fred Thomas, Jr.

Best Producer – Equity

A Raisin In the Sun – Wren T. Brown

Best Producer – Local

12’ X 9’ – Fred Thomas, Jr. and Don B. Welch

Best Set Design – Equity

Blues For An Alabama Sky – John LaCorelli

Best Set Design – Local

Pity The Proud Ones – Miguel Montalvo

Best Sound – Equity

Bring It On – Brian Ronan

Best Sound – Local

Pity the Proud Ones – Kimberly M. Wilson

Best Supporting Female – Equity

The Old Settler – Tarina Pouncy

Best Supporting Female – Local

Sunday Mourning – Kaira Akita

Best Supporting Male – Equity (Tie)

Twist – Cleavant Derricks

A Raisin In the Sun – Brandon David Brown

Best Supporting Male – Local

Sunday Mourning – Juhahn Jones

© 2012 Rych McCain Media/Syndication tm 

(You DID Hear It From Me!)  

Twitter@rychmccain