Dan Castle: his thoughts about his movie The Visitor

 

 

Copyright 2013 RG Los Angeles Stories

Dan Castle Interview Part III of III

 

Dan's book about a compilation of his paintings

 

Dan and his "Money Book"

 

FAUVE's Album "Blizzard"

 

Dan mentioned by FAUVE in their acknowldegements. Dan is currently pursuing a project with FAUVE.

 

Another of Dan's painting hanging in his kitcken.

 



 

 

 

Dan Castle's film "Newcastle"

 

 

 

DAN CASTLE Part III of III

Writer/Director, Musician, Painter, Photographer

www.dancastle.com

I have no idea how Dan can keep up with all his inspirations. I have a difficult time writing about it because it appears like he is doing so much in a given time. I don’t know how to put his stories in one smooth flowing narrative. I am actually making it sound like his works, in film and painting, overwhelming which is not the case, they are all there to enrich the soul not suffocate it—His paintings are excellent examples of it.

He has a book out, aptly entitled “Sunflower Days”, a collection of his Impressionistic oil paintings, and is available on Itunes. While I’m no art connoisseur and could not give you an authoritative opinion of it, I can confidently tell you that his artwork, to me, evokes serenity and quiet joy. His paintings appear to personify his inner self, since his persona looks hard-as-nails rock star yet his paintings are as sunny and uplifting as a sunflower (Dan please don’t kill me for describing you as “Sunny”). On his website he cited Vincent van Gogh as one of his favorite painters. I read Van Gogh was also bad-ass, apparently he lost his ear in a knife-fight, look up one of his self-portraits and you would understand what I’m talking about.

Working on your art doesn’t necessarily mean creating it. There are a lot of actions to take to get to the end product. Fundraising campaigns, going to school, going places…those are small steps but one had just to move towards the creation process. That I think is what Dan meant about placing importance on the “process”. “A man gets to be immortal with his work and like other artists I just want to leave something behind long after I am gone…I just want to create beauty…so all the steps I took (learning book keeping, fund raising campaigns, going to school, travelling) are all the process to materialize my work”.

And so he does, create beauty and leave it for us to marvel with—like his paintings and drawings, photographs, films and music in the soundtracks in his film—to inspire us. That’s really the legacy he is after—since he himself was inspired by others before him—such as Pro Hart. Actually he and his partner Corey Page are co-producing a biographical film, with lead producer Philippa Pomeranz and scriptwriter Richard Burman called “Chasing Dragonflies”, about this visionary Australian artist (Dan is currently working on the theme song for the film and that they had just finished a fundraising campaign this June. Check it out on www.facebook.com/ProHart‎ ).

Speaking of inspiring, while Dan was in Paris studying art, he met the band members of “Fauve” in a pub called Frog and Rosbif. They must’ve had one invigorating and interesting discussion since Fauve wrote a song stemming from that chat. The song’s title is “Cock Music Smart Music”. The band is very big in France, they are an eclectic group who plays electronica and punk/rock/rap music; and even though I can’t understand their lyrics, I can understand why they are big. I’m listening to it, for the fifth time, as I work on this piece and I can’t stop bobbing my head to it.

Right now Dan is focused on his music and he can be usually seen in Canter’s Deli Kibitz Room where he sometimes performs during Open Mic night. The Kibitz Room is a Rock and Roll mecca here in Los Angeles where band members of the Doors, Guns N’ Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, just to name a few, used to hang out before they no longer able do so upon reaching their rock-stardom status and fear of being mobbed by hysterical fans (I am making sure to stay in contact with Dan since I want to see his performance again, and so that I can brag that I get to chat with him in the legendary bar).

Henri Matisse, the great expressionist artist (or impressionist, depends on who you talk to), once said “Creativity Takes Courage”. I see a lot of courage in Dan. His short film “The Visitor” is a gay-themed film created in the time when there wasn’t so many films created in that genre.

His latest endeavor with his friends, a biographical film about Pro Hart, the father of Australian Outback painting, sure won’t be hitting the summer box office bonanza here in the US—but he does it. It appears that he doesn’t care if he is directly responsible for bringing beauty or helping bringing the beauty as long as it’s materialized for all of us to enjoy and find ourselves in.

Over and over again Dan says to me “materialize it…create it…take the step…do the process…” now I understand that what he is saying is Take Courage, Create Beauty.

 

End of Part III

 

Note: there are so many things that Dan and I talked about and I have particular quotes from him that I find enriching but unable to coalesce into the articles. One of these days I will post them.

 

All photos and article are copyrighted.

Copyright 2013 RG Los Angeles Stories



 

 

 

Dan Castle's Movie Newcastle

Trailer of Dan Castle's Movie Newcastle I am currently working on the final piece on Dan Castle. Please check out this trailer.

Dan Castle Interview part II of III

 

Dan's painting of St. Tropez

 

 

Dan's "Money Book"

 

Dan's Photos of Newcastle

 

Dan's Oil Painting

 

 

DAN CASTLE  (part II of III)

Writer/Director, Musician, Painter, Photographer

www.dancastle.com

 

“As I was floating around on my surfboard waiting for the waves…alone…I thought how risky this is, that at any given moment an accident can occur. It’s so easy a surfboard hitting you on the head leaving you messed up…then the story just came to me” He says recalling on how the script of the short film “The Visitor” came about.

The concept was simple, a surfer in a wipe out, waking up all confused, entering a home that he thought is his…the problem is that the house already has a lonely man, a writer, living in it. The presence of the surfer forces the writer to confront his emotions that he is trying to bury. Again I’ve only seen the trailers (Netflix is such a let-down) and also since I am not a movie critic, I am not the best person to give any review about it. But what I have seen in those several minutes is a work of a confident director. Barry Otto’s performance was brilliant and Dan catches the raw emotions splendidly. There is a reason why this short film has been critically acclaimed, and there are better persons out there who can give you an insight about it, but what I can tell you is that the scenes in and out of the water are breathtakingly beautiful.

I am very impressed on how Dan shot some of the scenes. It’s terribly difficult to create scenes that are sensual yet so beautiful and poetic. I am doubly impressed by how he got the venerable Australian actor Barry Otto to play a leading role in it. Barry Otto is the father of Miranda Otto, yes that Miranda Otto from the “The Lord of the Rings” (I bit my lip and didn’t tell Dan how much I fancy Miranda). Mr. Barry Otto appeared in the films “Rogue” 2007, “Australia” 2008, “The Great Gatsby” 2013, just to name a few.

I actually had the nerve to ask Dan how he felt in directing Barry Otto as if I am eager to find out if Dan gets nervous (haven’t I mentioned already how supremely cool Dan looks). Dan said that he and Barry just got along so quickly and he was amazed how he found it too easy to work with an actor of that caliber.

“The Visitor” was shot in Tamarama Beach, two hours north of Sydney, Australia. Dan went to see the Sydney Film Festival in 2001, and with the script already written, decided to film it in Tamarama Beach after seeing the place. At that time funding the film wasn’t too big of a problem, since his collaboration with Mike Thomas on Jour de Fete Films has been paying off, and that his friends from Australia did not hesitate to produce.

This is the point of Dan’s story that I really found out how passionate he is with his art. See, any other man would probably just secure his monetary gain and hand it to Morgan Stanley and let them handle his wealth. Not Dan. He wanted to make his scripts a reality and so he did (he co-produced in “Newcastle”). I know to what purpose short films serve (well I presume to know)…they collect accolades and build portfolios for directors (and actors, editors, etc.)…that’s it. It’s not going to be grabbed by the bigwigs in Hollywood and make tons of cash. This was all about great art—creating the shots and capturing incredible acting. No matter the purpose, it is still an expensive undertaking.

From there several years later, Dan worked on the film “Newcastle”, after seeing the place. “I get my inspiration from the places I see…I take photos, paint and write the script…then the music follows...all of those things feed on each other and my inspirations just grow…I just let it, I don’t sulk when I don’t get to write for a week, nor paint, I just have a lot of outlet for my inspirations” Dan said humbly.

If it’s another artist I would think it arrogant for a man to claim that he has such talent it just oozes out of him. But Dan is not that way because what he wants is for people to understand the courage that it takes to create from your inspiration and not focus on the end product of an artwork. “You need to create…work on it…it’s the process that is important” he says wisely.

Let me talk a bit about Dan’s photography, since it plays a big part on his creative process and research. His photographs of “Newcastle”, prior film production, are so surreal—imagine a perfect beach community, laidback, beautiful sand and ocean, a peaceful place yet with tons of young people, he somehow manage to capture all those—and he have it all catalogued in his notebook (he calls it money book as he uses it as a visual aid when he approach investors to fund his film). Abercrombie and Fitch once had a syndicated magazine catalogue and for a second I thought I was looking at photos from those. One has to have an eye and quick wits about him to capture great stills and Dan has it. In Newcastle he saw a cloud that is illuminating in different wonderful colors, he photographed it, then drew a pastel of it. What purpose did the pastel drawing serve the film, I don’t know, but Dan likes beauty and he likes the process of creating and materializing. He calls his art “expressionistic” by producing the mood and feeling as opposed to objective reality.

I agree with Dan. One has to get out of the house go to places, take photos, paint or write (if one can), and just work on your creativity. Don’t worry if it’s good enough since Dan himself has pointed out it’s the process that counts (practice makes perfect right?). Act on your inspiration, express your feelings, don’t let it go to waste.

Dan himself has said over and over again during the interview that “Not all of us are Mozarts, most of us has to work on our talent”. He went to Paris for Art School and he traveled a lot collecting inspiration. He has a painting of St. Tropez hanging in his bedroom and he admitted that a script was already inspired by that trip (his painting of the St. Tropez skyline is one of my favorites).

End of Part II

 

 

 

All Photos and article are copyrighted.

COPYRIGHT 2013 RG Los Angeles Stories

 

 

Dan Castle Interview Part I of III

 

Dan Performing at 7020 Melrose

DAN CASTLE  (part I of III)
Writer/Director, Musician, Painter, Photographer
www.dancastle.com

I’m grounded enough to admit that my writing has a lot of room to grow. My aim in life is actually to get better at it and be able to write an eloquent literary fiction. In times such as this I wish I already am a talented writer.

I’m anxious to write about Dan Castle, he is after all a modern day Renaissance Man, Writer/Director, Musician, Painter, Photographer, he accomplished so much I’m afraid that I cannot give justice to his achievements with my writing.

I met him performing in 7020 Melrose and I was intimidated to approach him because my first impression of him was that he is a serious and aloof musician. May be its because he is so good at playing his ballad, singing in pained and longing voice, I actually thought him a detached and lonesome man who would pounce at anyone who attempts to give him company in his isolation (also he kind of look badass and with a name like Dan Castle—forget about it!) But when I introduced myself I was immediately struck by his open-minded personality, humble demeanor, and down to earth tone of voice. Don’t judge a book by its cover.

We talk a little bit and I mentioned to him my Blog and the kind of stories I’m collecting. I thought he was just humoring me, like how one usually does in a social gathering when one deigns interest, but he gave me his business card after our brief conversation and told me that he’d be okay for an interview. I immediately look him up in the internet and visited his website (www.dancastle.com), and after several exchanges of email, he agreed to show me his projects. What an awesome guy!

I visited his house, several days later, and I immediately noticed his works, tools and toys—the paintings, guitars, easel, surfboards—it seems like everything is ready to burst out and spill their stories. To be honest with you that two hour interview wasn’t enough, there was just too many stories behind all his artworks occupying his home. At this point my perception of the aloof and mysterious musician is completely gone. It must be the coziest house I ever visited, if he has Ikea or Pier One furnishings there I hardly noticed them at all, because his paintings are the ones standing out. They are so appealing, so peaceful yet invigorating it just summons you (I’ll get back to you on his paintings in a bit). So there I was sitting comfortably in his seating room surrounded by his paintings and the stories began to emerge. I tried to keep up (Dan can attest to this, I actually broke a pen trying to write as fast as I can) and mostly I did just because of the short window of time that we have—he was forced to curtail most of his anecdotes.

Dan, despite his creativity and accomplishments, is a humble man, he is proud of his work but more like how a father is to his child rather than an artist to his masterpiece. I can feel the sincerity of wanting to share the experiences he had. In fact, he did say that some artists are afraid to share their work as if they would lose it. “To me, art is like a candlelight in a dark room, you have to share the light to make the space brighter…do not be afraid because sharing the light won’t extinguish it” he says eloquently.

To give you an idea how talented and dynamic this guy is let me throw in some of his accolades. His films, “The Visitor” won the Best Screenplay and Best Fiction Short at the St. Kilda Film Festival and Best Short in Seattle Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, Honolulu Gay and Lesbian Film Festival and North Carolina Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. His other one, “Newcastle”, got good reviews from LA Weekly, Sydney Morning Herald, Herald Sun, Inside Film, ABC Radio, just to name a few.

I personally haven’t seen the whole movie at the time of this writing but I’ve seen the trailers of “Newcastle” (for some reason I can’t find it in Netflix in my internet even though it’s supposed to be available; and even though Dan sent me a link). It’s a coming of age film about teenage surfers set in the hypnotically beautiful New South Wales beach town community—Newcastle. “The cinematography from Novocastrian Richard Michalak brings the salty sting and sun-kissed grit of Newcastle right off the screen, but he also captures the emotional swell of the ocean” the ABC Radio raves in its review.

As a side story, I was immensely embarrassed thinking that Dan was born in Newcastle (I questioned him about his lack of Australian accent). Well he was born in Newcastle, but it is in Newcastle Delaware not the one in Australia.

The cinematography and editing of “Newcastle” appears to have been handled by a master. Film productions, any film good or bad, are notoriously difficult and expensive endeavors. I participated with a production back in college and it was top-to-bottom an amateur work filmed with handheld video cameras—it was something I probably would not be too eager to do again. If I had nightmares with that college experience, I can’t even imagine what kind of hellish experience awaits someone who undertakes a full length movie production.

We will get back to the movie Newcastle later on. I would like to take us a little bit back in the past. Dan went to NYU for music and business and his initial passion in film is not directing but in sound design. I can see the allure of sound design to a musician, putting music into a movie is like breathing life into it.

He said that he didn’t really have the talent to play the guitar when he was young, and that he was no prodigy, but he worked hard on it, practicing daily. Dan is humble almost to a fault, learning to play the guitar is one thing but learning to arrange musical score is another. He may not be a musical prodigy when he was a child but I think he has a dormant prodigious aptitude to music that emerged later on. I will abruptly cut short the story of his talents in music here (I know I’m leaving behind too many unfinished stories but it will all come together near the end).

He interned in an independent film distribution company called “Strand”, here in LA, where he met Mike Thomas. Mike ventured on to establish his own boutique film distribution company called “Jour de Fete Films”. Dan worked with Mike in a supporting role—mostly handling the book keeping side of it—or producing in some of the films (Sometimes it’s hard to keep in mind that the Indie film industry is first and foremost a business enterprise). They produced or distributed films such as, Todd Phillip’s “Bittersweet Motel”—yes, that Todd Phillips who directed the “Hang Over”— a documentary about the rock band Phish, “Relax, It’s Just Sex” starring Jennifer Tilly, “Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont” directed by Dan Ireland and others.

At some point while in the process of finding himself and getting busy with so many film projects, he learned to surf. What can I say about surfing? Nothing really since I am no surfer. But I see surfing as a life drama—a man trying to conquer, or temporarily tame the waves—both athletic performance and artistic expression; a theatrical production by the ocean unfolding in a grand scale. I don’t know how Dan saw the waves, and the surfers courting it, but it is no doubt that he was inspired by it.

 

End of Part I


Copyright 2013 RG Los Angeles Stories

 

Dan Castle performing at 7020 Melrose

 The first time I met Dan Castle

Marina Fini Interview

 

Marina Fini

Photographer, Film Maker,
Jewelry and Costume Designer
www.MarinaFini.com 

I was flummoxed on how to write about Marina, just because it was difficult for me to pick which one of her works I should begin with first. I think I should start on how I met her. She was showcasing her innovative jewelry in the Yeah Gurl Show in 7020 Melrose. Her website describes her work as an expression of “surrealism and optical illusions in her films, photography and costume design. Her jewelry line is an extension of the visual realities she creates in her work”. She uses brass, 24k gold plated and sterling silver plated materials and enhances it with the use of rainbow, angel aura and cobalt quartz. I’m no jewelry expert but to me it appears that some of her works are inspired from Ancient Roman pieces especially her bracelets. Her works on different colors of plexiglass are very eye-catching with her use of inventive forms such as the pentagram and “@” symbol and the natural shapes of cactus trees and flowers. If you like to go on rave parties—these are the accessories you need to wear! I can imagine lights bouncing-off of it while the wearer dances. Her designs are pretty much the reflection of herself—psychedelic, futuristic and vibrant.

The show room was full of vendors and short on buyers. I suspected that the heat wave LA has been experiencing the past couple of days contributed to the tiny turn-out. The organizers braved on with the continuous beats by the guest DJ and steady flow of alcohol and soft drinks. There was a strong party mood and the showroom is full of ultra- trendy people (I was the exception). The A/C was running in full capacity but we were all still sweating and through it all Marina sits in the corner of the shop meticulously crafting her jewelries.

Marina was a very amicable and open person and there’s a certain glow about her that almost makes her surreal—if I was stuck in the desert and she happens to help me I would’ve probably thought I’m hallucinating. That it is why I’m not really too surprised to see samples of her works in photography and costume designs reflecting that dreamlike aura. I saw photos of her costume designs and the Egyptian deity Horus bears to mind upon seeing a photo of one production, although I think the dancers in the theatre were actually half-man/half-crow humanoids.

Most of her costume designs are posted in her website, www.marinafini.com, visit it and see for yourself since it is terribly hard for me to describe it into words. Since I lack any experience or knowledge, whatsoever, when it comes to costume design, I cannot give you a comparative review. What I can definitely tell you is that Marina puts attention to details. One costume, what to me looked like a swanky 60’s inspired mini-dress made up of connected circular plexiglasses, took her twenty hours to make! I asked her how she comes up with the ideas— she said that she doesn’t really know. She is certain however that she is interested in unconventional materials such as latex, rawhide, plastics and that she plays with it until a concept seizes her. She said that if she has a good idea she goes for it “People give up too easily…I don’t care if it takes me a year to finish with what I’m doing…the important thing is to keep at it”. I ask her about critics and she simply said not to worry about them. “Me? I’m happy if I have only two people I can count on…never mind the rest”.

Marina Fini is a native Californian from Sherman Oaks. She went to UC Santa Cruz for Film Production and Costume Design. She is an up-and-coming, costume designer, an artist. I am in fact groveling, not in a patronizing way but with sincerity, so that she would grant me more audience while she creates her latest project. I wanted to see her short film and her other photos. She is also currently writing a script for a feature-length film that she intends on directing. As soon as she grants me more interviews with her, I promise you there is more to come.

 

 

 

 

All photos and article are copyrighted.

COPYRIGHT 2013 RG Los Angeles Stories

Dear L.A. Artists, Creative Minds and Dreamers,

I see us human beings as perpetual learners. For me, I want to learn how to improve my writing and learn how to tell people’s stories better.

No matter how mediocre I see my writing I still consider myself an artist (no matter how self-serving it sounds to me when I call myself that) and I would like to meet other artists such as myself in this great city of ours—L.A. Dreams sometimes are hard to realize and I am very interested in interviewing artists who had achieved theirs and others who are in the process of accomplishing it.

 My aim is to get inspiration from people who persevere through their personal obstacles and I would like to pass on what I have learned to my readers. It would be a great pleasure, and honor, if you would let me share your story.

I thank you in advance and I wish you all the best in your future endeavors!

Sincerely,

Raymond Gilbert “RG” Gallardo