Rych McCain Hollyhood Notes

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Leroya Sanford - Ad

(C) 2014 by Rych McCain, All Rights Reserved. No part of this column may be reprinted, re-posted or duplicated without written permission from Rych McCain Media/Syndication. Violation is subject to applicable laws.

ATTN: Promoters & Bookers

For

Festivals, Fairs, Concerts, Corporate Events, Venues and Clubs!

(Serious Professional Inquiries Only)

Leroya Sanford

(The Crown Princes of Comedy TM)

Is available for booking performances!

Leroya & Whoopie Goldberg on set at The View

Young stand-up comedienne Leroya Sanford (The Crown Princess Of Comedy TM) for your booking consideration. Leroya is one of the fastest rising stand-ups on the LA comedy circuit as well as performing in New York, Las Vegas and Chicago. She is proudly endorsed by Whoopi Goldberg.

Leroya has appeared on ABC-TV's "The View" and is the youngest comic ever (age 10), to headline "The Comedy Store" in Hollywood. She has performed at "The Laugh Factory" Los Angeles; "The Laugh Factory" Chicago; "The House of Blues" Chicago; "The Improv" Los Angeles; "The Improv at Harrah's" Las Vegas; "The Comic Strip" New York;" "The Ice House" Pasadena: "The Ha Ha Cafe" North Hollywood; "Mavericks Flat" Los Angeles: "Morris Garrett's (formerly of SNL) Comedy Club" Los Angeles; KJLH-FM and The Wave -FM's Annual "Taste of Soul Festival" headliner; Los Angeles; "Inside Jokes Club" Hollywood and a slew of other appearances.

Video references:

To see Leroya's performance at the Beverly Hills Country Club click on:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=abb1bBcaDvg

or go to youtube and type in "Leroya Poetry & Comedy at the Beverly Hills Country Club."

To see her on ABC-TV's "The View" Click www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf7y9joqIJI

Contact: Rych McCain, rychmccain@sbcglobal.net, 213-387-3493
Serious inquiry only please!

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Nate Parker - Film

By Rych McCain International/Nationally Syndicated Entertainment Columnist

By Rych McCain, www.Twitter/rychmccain and Facebook (Like Me)

Nate Parker

Full of Surprises In Non-Stop!

Photo Courtesy of Universal Pictures

Nate Parker as Zack White

He has captured our attention with convincing performances as Henry Lowe in “The Great Debaters” or “Blood Done Signed My Name” as the real life Ben Chavis and Marty “Easy” Julian in the George Lucas classic WWII Epic “Red Tails” and now he will surprise you with yet another brilliant portrayal as computer expert Zack White in Universal Pictures’ smash hit “Non-Stop” starring Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore and Lupita Nyongo. Norfolk, Virginia native Nate Parker has been gaining serious ground as an actor in Hollywood and this may be one of his best roles yet. “Non-Stop” thundered in at #1 for its opening weekend with a 30 million box office gross. It is without question that this film’s gate receipts will soar through the roof in the coming weeks because the plot and action is just that good.

This movie might add more fear of flying than entertainment for some viewers as 90% of the movie takes place on the plane while it is in flight over the mid-Atlantic. The action is close quarters to add to the uneasiness. Parker is a former high school All-American wrestler where he won the Virginia 135lb State Championship and continued his All-America status throughout his college career at Penn State then transferring to Oklahoma where he graduated with a degree in computer science.

Oscar winner Lupita Nyongo as Flight Attendant Gwen

   Did he have to train for the fight scenes? He laughs, “Yeah, I did train a little bit. Liam was a boxer when he was a little younger and I was an athlete in college, I wrestled so we traded a lot of stories and we had a guy come in and bring us through the fight scenes so it was good. It was a lot of fun to play a character who was a computer programmer which is what I studied in college really. So sitting there and talking about it he (Jaume the director) let me have a little bit control of the dialogue and how I would say things and he was very open to the ideas I was bringing to the table. So it was a lot of work to do but it was fun doing the action stuff.”

Liam Neeson as air marshal Bill Marks

How would Parker summarize his role as a terrorist which he has never played before? He comes back with an interesting analogy, “I believe that there are no villains, everyone has their reasons. I think that when you approach material from the standpoint of bad guy, you start to play more of a character than what that person really is. Everyone has ideas, passions and desires and these are two vets (guys in the movie) who felt like they got a raw deal when they came back to the states. All of the things that they sacrificed, the death that they saw, these things made them feel like they needed to do something to hold America accountable. So I think in his mind, everything was justified. So I had to attack it from that standpoint.”

Parker and the film's director Jaume Collet-Serra

Parker adds, “There are all kinds of roles that I want to play. One of my biggest passions is that I want to portray Nat Turner. A lot of people thought he was a bad guy. It’s your perspective. I don’t think he was a bad guy at all. We all have ideas of what we want and why we want it and what we’ll do to achieve these things and these are two men (getting back to the film’s high jackers) who are willing to die for what they believe.”

(You DID Hear It From Me!)

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Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Mike Epps - Film

By Rych McCain International/Nationally Syndicated Entertainment Columnist

Rych McCain, www.twtter.com/rychmccain and Facebook (Like Me)

Mike Epps

Dazzles In Repentance!

Photo by Lionsgate/Codeblack Films

Mike Epps as Ben Carter

He has been a funny man comic for a minute and you might expect to hear humorous lines from him on the big and little screens when he is acting but for his last several movies, Mike Epps has been showing us that his range is way grater than just comedy. In the re-make of the movie “Sparkle,” Epps shocked everybody with his portrayal of “Satin” who was the ruthless, thug, pimp comic and abusive boyfriend to “Sister” whom many saw as a sell-out to Blacks with his anti black jokes he told to his white audiences. As if that wasn’t off kilter enough, Epps’ character Willie Earl ended up being the voice of reason in “Jumping The Broom.” Now in his latest offering as Ben Carter in “Repentance,” Epps surprises us again with a solid performance as an ex-con, jilted brother who has always played second fiddle to his educated, successful book writer, therapist/spiritual advisor brother Tommy Carter who even took his girlfriend and married her.

Because this role and the movie were pretty serious and scary, how long did that role hang with Epps mentally? He laughs, “I have to go get a hair cut, take a couple of baths; you know the thing about doing these types of roles is that because I’m comedian, it’s a real challenge for me. When I stepped on the set and I saw Forest Whitaker I was like damn, I’m really in it. I’m real shocked they used me in it too.” When asked why? Epps says, “In Hollywood people have to believe in you to take a chance on you. They had to see something in me to say, you know what, he can do that. And not very many people are able to have an eye for it. I’ve done a couple of movies and stuff like that but I really, really feel like I have some layers to myself so it takes a very special person to be able to see something in a person.”

As far as praises for this cast, Epps couldn’t express himself enough saying, “It’s amazing. I’m really thankful that I got such an opportunity to work with such great actors in Forest Whitaker, Anthony Mackie and Sanaa Lathan. I’m just really thrilled that I’m getting these opportunities because I do comedy all the time. I’ve done a lot of comedy movies with Ice Cube and stuff but to be able to break out of a mode and get a chance to challenge yourself and be versatile: it means a lot. It’s kind of like money vs. respect. I’ve been making a lot of money but I’ve been getting opportunities to do some stuff that could possibly keep me around for a long time.”

This movie has the type of psycho violence that we don’t usually see from Black people. What is Epps’ take on that? He laughs again, “The thing about this movie is that it was a European movie “The Guru & The Gypsy” written by Philippe Caland which was shot previous to us doing it. I think when you get great actors together like Forest, Anthony and Sanaa, the color just disappears. You don’t look at it as an African-American film anymore, you look at it as a great film. I think the violence of it is what the film is and it keeps everybody on their toes walking around on egg shells.

(You DID Hear It From Me!)

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Garcelle Beauvais - Film

By Rych McCain International/Nationally Syndicated Entertainment Columnist

www.twitter.com/rychmccain and Facebook (Like Me)

Garcelle Beauvais

Rides Love Merry-Go-Round!

Garcelle Beauvais

The subject of the hurt and pain that love can produce is grist for the mill in many romance books, TV shows and movies. Ghanaian film maker Leila Djansi who brought us “Ties That Bind,” starring Kimberly Elise has a new movie “And Then There Was You” coming out this week on RLJ and One Village DVD starring Haitian born beauty Garcelle Beauvais who is no stranger to TV and Movie fans who know her work as Fancy Monroe on WB Network’s “The Jamie Foxx Show;” Assistant DA Valerie Heywood on ABC-TV’s “NYPD,” the movie “White House Down” and many others to numerous to name. Beauvais plays Natalie Gilbert who becomes jilted by her husband who secretly has another family that she eventually finds out about. She then jumps into another situation which is just as bad. Will her luck on love ever turn for the better? The story has some interesting twists and turns and you’ll need to see it to find out how it all turns out.

Beauvais character Natalie went through a lot of heavy emotions in this film. How did Beauvais envision an interpretation to do this role? She smiles, “She did go through a lot and it was a lot of work. When I read the script, what I loved about it was that I thought everybody could relate to it. The fact that this woman is putting her life back together; opening her heart, but what I really loved at the end is that not only did she forgive but she took responsibility of her part in the relationship. Which I think so many times you want to blame but we don’t see that we had a part in it. So that’s what I loved about it.” Beauvais does a lot of crying in this film and the tears were real. How much of a physical toll did that take? She breaks out laughing, “It was exhausting at the end of the day but as an actor, that’s what you have to do. You have to use something that you have, something that you can think of. You just have to conjure that emotion and bring it to life.”

Leon (hubby who walks out)

This role allowed Beauvais the opportunity to work with several children and she bonded with them well. A gleam sparks in her eyes and she says, “I have three kids of my own so I love kids. So that was great, I had no problem with that. That was easy.” This film was an Indy so what was the shooting process like? Beauvais laments, “We shot for 17 days and the hours were grueling but we got it. It was a labor of love.”

L-R: Beauvais, Greg Vaughan, Leila Djans Film's Director

In adding to what Beauvais said, the film’s director, writer and co-producer Leila Djansi explains how she came up with the concept for this movie. Djansi says of the script, “It was not personal. My mom is a doctor so growing up in West Africa (Ghana); I’ve always been like a third eye when she’s with her patients because sometimes I would help her out. And a lot of the patients are women and interestingly, most of the problems that they come with are child or marriage driven. And so I’ve always wanted to tell different kinds of stories about women. So I told this story about a woman who could not have a child and what that means to a woman. Because for a woman, most of the time your validation is in being married and having a child. Hopefully in 2014 it’s no longer like that but that is what it used to be. So what does it mean for a woman who can not validate herself?” She also says the desires and wants of women in the U.S. are basically similar to the women in Africa because a woman is a woman first regardless of what part of the world she lives.

(You DID Hear It From Me!)

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