New York talent returns to roots
BROCKLEY from page 9
utes to make someone laugh, and it
might take 70 minutes to do it,” he
said.
Brockley’s film is an offshoot of
a trailer he did in the fall of 1998. It
was intended to be a sljop-around
the-movie-industry demo tape for a
potential full-length feature called
“Stuck Truck.”
The plot revolved around a cyni
cal man who builds houses illegally.
Upon review, the trailer seemed
well-done, quirky and resoundingly
interesting.
The same goes for his new film,
which trades in illegal construction
for the black market cash one can
make in carp farming.
Brockley said his movie will be
shot on 16mm film this April or
May.
The movie is based on a frustrat
ed character that he pulled out of
“Stuck Truck,” he said.
“He’s got financial problems and
this big fear of the millennium,” he
said. “He’s just freaking out and
can’t really relate to anybody.”
So the still-unnamed Nebraska
character goes into the carp farming
business, which is illegal in this
state.
✓ /_
“I might end up tak
ing the lead, because I
can’t find someone dif
ferent that I’d want,” he
said. “But that’d mean I
wouldn’t direct, because
it’s silly when people do
both.”
Even though “Stuck
Truck” is currently
floating about the indus
try and could still get
Brockley good produc
tion money, he doesn’t
«
Hes a really messed-up
Midwestern guy trying to
t work with these Chinese
speaking guys
Ross Brockley
writer/director
believe the plot is strong
enough for his attention right now.
“It just fell apart,” he said. “And
I’m a lot more excited about this new
direction that I’m taking.”
A star of the trailer, Jim Krell
thought “Stuck Truck” had a lot of
potential, but it doesn’t surprise him
that Brockley dropped the film idea
for something better.
“That’s just Ross, brother,” Krell
said. “He’s always out there trying to
prove his metal.”
Indeed, as Brockley continues to
work through his movie he is still
taking side projects to keep himself
busy.
Two weeks ago, Brockley was in
Los Angeles shooting a new Holiday
Inn advertisement. He plays a selfish
character in his mid-30s
Telly Savalas-bald, plans on appear
ing in the HBO mob-drama series
“The Sopranos” next month.
Talkative in a choice New York
accent, Krell said Brockley was the
“naked boy of the 1980s, because he
liked to lose his clothes - you swore
all he had in his wardrobe was a
handkerchief.
“He was well-known around
New York for that and doing things
like sleeping all twisted up next to
Dumpsters. He was also known for
his comedy act that wasn’t comedy,
it was a character he invented that
would just come off the street and
make these interesting observations.
It was provocative and people started
to notice him. But then he got bored
with that and now he’s going to do
(It)will be a kick, Babe.”
Jim Krell
friend of Brockley
who still lives at his par
ent’s home.
Brockley’s commer
cial career was jump
started five years ago
when he moved to New
York and found work as
a performer-comedian.
Before long, he earned a
Brockley got the idea from read
ing about Chinese fish farmers.
Even though the script is still in
development, the exotic atmosphere
of Chinese agriculture, oddly
enough, sounds like proper juxtapo
sition.
“He’s a really messed-up
Midwestern guy trying to work with
these Chinese-speaking guys,” he
said. “Things will probably get
stranger for him as the film goes
along.”
Who will play the lead role?
spot as a regular at the Lunar Lounge
- a hot venue for up-and-coming
downtown NYC comics where he
met such respected comedians as
Janeane Garofalo.
The decision to leave the poten
tial prosperity of New York and the
type of life he lived there, may say
the most about him.
If one is to believe the accounts
of Krell, Brockley is a kind of per
former-adventurer in the tradition of
Jim Carrey or Andy Kaufman.
Krell, 47, who is heavyset and
movies.
Sounds like Brockley does have
a clue after all when it comes to
entertaining people.
“Ross is able to evoke lots of
things in people,” Krell said. “He’s
got this gift where (he’s) able to push
lots of different sets of buttons.”
He promised Brockley’s new yet
to-be-named film “will be a kick,
Babe.”
Brockley, who does stand-up on
Monday nights at Duffy’s Tavern,
said so far he plans on finding all the
money he needs for the film, which
he said will cost more than $50,000.
He said he would accept money
from interested individuals or foun
dations, but sounded a little doubt
ful.
“I hope they move forward when
they hear about the beauty of carp
and algae,” he joked.
1999
SUE TIDBALL
AWARD FOR !
CREATIVE HUMANITY
w
HONORS:
Marion Ellis
Christy Hargesheimer
Ardis Holland
Jean Klasna
Dustin Manhart
John Matthews
Patrick McCoy
Suzette Meyers
Claudia Price-Decker
Harry James Tilley \
Jocelyn Walsh
Judy Wendorff
AWARD CELEBRATION &
RECEPTION
SUNDAY. MARCH 7
7:00 PM
St. Mark's Episcopal Church
1309 R Street
Celebrative Music &
Entertainment
PUBLIC INVITED
Join us for live music,
bible teaching, and food!
starts @ 8:00 p.m*
425 University Terrace (behind
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o££ice: 436-7202
www.ihoc.org/coUege.htm
‘City of Angels’ wins
Tony; loses Ryan, Cage
By Diane Broderick
Staff writer
“City of Angels” is a musical, but it
doesn’t feature any Alanis Morissette
chart-toppers.
Years before an angelic Nicolas
Cage wooed Meg Ryan.in the 1998
film, “City of Angels” was a popular
Broadway show that won six Tony
awards. But don’t be mistaken. The
movie, which won absolutely nothing,
is not based on the hit musical.
Now, the Lincoln Community
Playhouse is presenting its own version
of “City of Angels,” a ’40s-style musi
cal comedy.
It opened with a sneak preview per
formance Thursday and continues
through March 21 at the Lincoln
Community Playhouse.
The musical contains a story within
a story, said Monte Michelsen, associ
ate director of the playhouse.
It functions on two levels - it is
about a novelist, Stine, who is adapting
his detective novel into a screenplay.
The screenplay deals with Stone, a
detective who faces trouble in love and
danger in work. He is put on the case of
a kidnapping, but it is anything but
straightforward. Twists end up turning
the tables on the fictionalized character,
and he finds himself framed.
Things don’t work out so well for
Stine in the real world, either. He’s hav
ing trouble with his screenplay, which
goes through constant revisions. He
faces hardships in his marriage, and he
takes comfort by having an affair.
The production delves into both of
those worlds, constantly flipping back
and forth. Several of the actors perform
two roles: one in the real world, and
Gallery Preview
The Facts
What: “Beauty At My Feet”
Where: Haydon Gallery, 335 N. Eighth St.
When: 7 to 9 p.m. Friday
Cost: Free
The Skinny: Painter uses nature to point
out abundance of overlooked beauty
another in Stine’s fictionalized screen
play.
Because “City of Angels” is set in
the ’40s, the movie scenes are per
formed completely in black-and-white
sets and clothes.
“We use shades of grays and blacks
and white in the costumes so there’s no
color whatsoever in the costumes,”
Michelsen said.
Even actors’ hair is kept monochro
matic, with either very dark or platinum
blonde colors.
When the production moves into
the non-movie portion, costume colors
are brighter than usual to exaggerate the
difference.
There are 24 people in the show, but
“City of Angels” doesn’t feature big
production numbers, Michelsen said.
“It’s not that kind of musical,”
Michelsen said. “It highlights the
soloists.”
In addition, a Manhattan Transfer
style quartet is woven throughout the
production and serves as a Greek cho
rus of sorts, which comments on the
unwinding plot line.
It is yet another literary dimension
to a story that flows freely between fic
tion and nonfiction.
_£_i____
Art Courtesy of Haydon Gallery
“WINTER GRASSES,” part of the “Beauty at my Feet” exhibition, was paint
ed with gouache and pastel on paper.
Spring \Beauty’ opens this
week at Haydon Gallery
RUSTAD from page 9
the essence of a flower at a specific
moment - during the solitude of win
ter, the first moment of spring and the
last moment of autumn.
Rustad uses color arbitrarily,
Pagel said. She’Sjiot interested in cap
turing the exact scientific shade of the
flower.
“She uses greens to communicate
freshness, dampness or heat,” Pagel
said.
Rustad paints with gouache, an
opaque water color that creates a flat
dense look. With the gouache, she
uses pastels to accentuate areas of the
painting.
These media communicate the
wonders of nature’s best, she said. In
her paintings, Rustad tries to reveal
the miracles of nature, which she
believes are the “revelation of God.”
Her love of nature goes further
than the boundaries of her canvas.
Rustad, an avid gardener, is an
active member of the Wachiska
Audobon Society, which promotes
conservation. She also takes a nature
hike atleaSf once a week to see differ
ent flowers break into bloom.
Rustad wasn’t always a painter of
wildflowers. In the past, her work was
intended as social commentary. When
her mother was put in a care home,
Rustad painted a series on nursing
home conditions. Later, she did a
series on the prevalence of commer
cialism in society.
“I do what I’m about,” Rustad
said. “I haven’t changed in style as
much as in what I’m trying to say.”
In this exhibit, Rustad said she’s
trying to convince people to focus on
the present.
“We should appreciate the things
that are right at our feet, the things we
can actually touch and experience,”
Rustad said.
If people look around, Rustad
said, they’re bound to find something
ofbeauty.
“Even in a ditch, there can be
beauty. Look at cattails,” she said.