You can get busy living, or get busy dying. Or you could get busy and head to the 25th anniversary celebration of The Shawshank Redemption, a celebration of one of the most popular films of all-time being held in Ohio Aug. 16-18.
The 1994 film was shot in and around Mansfield, Ohio, and that location will be filled with fans and some cast members, touring the spots captured in the film. For those who haven’t had access to television or a theater in the last several decades, The Shawshank Redemption tells the story of banker Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), sentenced to life in Shawshank State Penitentiary for the murder of his wife and her lover, despite claiming innocence. He befriends a fellow prisoner, Ellis “Red” Redding (Morgan Freeman). Dufresne becomes involved in a money-laundering scheme run by the warden, but manages to turn the tables with a few twists and manages to escape the prison.
The 1994 film was shot in and around Mansfield, Ohio, and that location will be filled with fans and some cast members, touring the spots captured in the film. For those who haven’t had access to television or a theater in the last several decades, The Shawshank Redemption tells the story of banker Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), sentenced to life in Shawshank State Penitentiary for the murder of his wife and her lover, despite claiming innocence. He befriends a fellow prisoner, Ellis “Red” Redding (Morgan Freeman). Dufresne becomes involved in a money-laundering scheme run by the warden, but manages to turn the tables with a few twists and manages to escape the prison.
- 8/10/2019
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Kenneth Kokin’s brilliant directorial debut ‘Blood Moon’ is an engaging and gripping tragedy that’s worthy of being seen. Written by Oscar Nominated Nicholas Kazan, ‘Blood Moon’ stars his daughter, Maya Kazan (‘The Knick’), Frank Medrano (‘The Shawshank Redemption’) and James Callis (‘Battle Star Galactica’, ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’).
Kokin also produced and directed second unit on several award-winning films that include the ‘The Usual Suspects’, ‘Captain Abu Raed’,’The Way of the Gun’ and ‘Mortdecai’.
Haunting, yet stylistically beautiful, the story follows a young woman who is raped and how she executes retribution on her attacker. It explores the transition from of a perky, pretty teen-ager to someone who is forever warped from abuse and degradation. ‘
‘Blood Moon’ is a culturally relevant story and a reminder that the issue of rape is too often ignored, especially in a country where abortion sharply divides its people and where women have to pay for their own rape kits to gather legal evidence – the equivalent of having to pay the police to dust for prints in a robbery.
Kokin first learned of ‘Blood Moon’ in Larry Moss’s Master acting class. It was written and produced in the 1980’s as an off-Broadway play and starred a teenage Dana DeLaney.
Kokin reflects on the story and working with Kazan:
Moss’s comments on the piece were so provocative, that I was compelled to run out and read it the next day. Even now, the ending continues to haunt me. I knew if I could get this play made into a film, it would be impactful for viewers…
It was an honor to work with Kazan, because I have so much respect for him as a filmmaker. His support was a blessing, and his material gave me tremendous confidence, because I knew it could hold itself up.
I felt like we were on the same creative plane. We went through the screenplay word-by-word, and always agreed on the nuances that we found interesting and humorous.
Writer of ‘Blood Moon’ Nicholas Kazan shares the history of ‘Blood Moon’ and its adaptation to film:
I couldn’t make a living writing for the theatre, so I moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles. I started to write for film, and eventually was fortunate enough to get some films made. Over the past 15 years, I’ve mostly been writing my own scripts and selling them when I can. That’s how I enjoy my life.
The play on which this film is based was done in New York in 1983. First I wrote plays in Berkeley, for the Magic Theater; subsequently most of my plays have been done in New York and Los Angeles. This play has been produced in New York, Washington DC, California, and many other places. It will have have a run again in New York in the spring.
One of the difficult things about a play is that you can’t edit it. In film, you can edit it and pick the best given take of any moment. You put all the best takes together and, you hope, end up with something fairly reasonable.
Why did you write ‘Blood Moon’?
I was told this story in college about a girl who was raped, which is essentially the first act of the play. I didn’t even know if it was a true story, but it stuck in my imagination. And then the second act of the play, the woman’s revenge, was my dramatic conceit.
How has the audience responded over the years?
Some people receive it as a piece of theater - especially when it’s well done – and the response has been very good. Occasionally, there have been a few people who are horrified by the second act. In the theatre, what the protagonist Mayna does is justified. It has its roots in Greek myth. There’s an ‘eye for an eye’ quality to it.
Was it challenging to change ‘Blood Moon’ into a screenplay?
There are some things that work better in theater than they do on film. In the film, we had to intercut between the two acts, which you obviously don’t do on stage.
There’s a tradition of tragedy on stage, where you watch in horror as you realize what’s going to happen. That’s the definition of tragedy – you’re horrified, and then you watch it happen. That’s the first act of the play, then in the second act, you don’t know what’s going to happen, but you know she’s going to do something. You don’t know what it is until the very end.
In the film, we had to intercut between the two acts because the first act, the tragedy gradually unfolding, just didn’t work as well on film. In the theatre, you’re having a communal experience where you’re witnessing this awful thing. On film, you’re not a witness. By intercutting, we brought an element of tension to the whole that made it work.
What has been the overall response to ‘Blood Moon’?
Sometimes there were nights when people didn’t understand what was happening until the play clearly revealed it. There were other nights when people got a sense of it earlier. You would know it because someone in the audience would go ‘oh my God!’ with a gasp. It was really similar to the way that laughter is contagious in an audience. One person would gasp, and then you’d feel other people wondering what they were gasping about. And then they’d go ‘Oh My God’ and get what was happening on stage. The play worked either way: it’s a communal experience, so it didn’t really matter when the audience “saw” what was really going on.
Kokin also produced and directed second unit on several award-winning films that include the ‘The Usual Suspects’, ‘Captain Abu Raed’,’The Way of the Gun’ and ‘Mortdecai’.
Haunting, yet stylistically beautiful, the story follows a young woman who is raped and how she executes retribution on her attacker. It explores the transition from of a perky, pretty teen-ager to someone who is forever warped from abuse and degradation. ‘
‘Blood Moon’ is a culturally relevant story and a reminder that the issue of rape is too often ignored, especially in a country where abortion sharply divides its people and where women have to pay for their own rape kits to gather legal evidence – the equivalent of having to pay the police to dust for prints in a robbery.
Kokin first learned of ‘Blood Moon’ in Larry Moss’s Master acting class. It was written and produced in the 1980’s as an off-Broadway play and starred a teenage Dana DeLaney.
Kokin reflects on the story and working with Kazan:
Moss’s comments on the piece were so provocative, that I was compelled to run out and read it the next day. Even now, the ending continues to haunt me. I knew if I could get this play made into a film, it would be impactful for viewers…
It was an honor to work with Kazan, because I have so much respect for him as a filmmaker. His support was a blessing, and his material gave me tremendous confidence, because I knew it could hold itself up.
I felt like we were on the same creative plane. We went through the screenplay word-by-word, and always agreed on the nuances that we found interesting and humorous.
Writer of ‘Blood Moon’ Nicholas Kazan shares the history of ‘Blood Moon’ and its adaptation to film:
I couldn’t make a living writing for the theatre, so I moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles. I started to write for film, and eventually was fortunate enough to get some films made. Over the past 15 years, I’ve mostly been writing my own scripts and selling them when I can. That’s how I enjoy my life.
The play on which this film is based was done in New York in 1983. First I wrote plays in Berkeley, for the Magic Theater; subsequently most of my plays have been done in New York and Los Angeles. This play has been produced in New York, Washington DC, California, and many other places. It will have have a run again in New York in the spring.
One of the difficult things about a play is that you can’t edit it. In film, you can edit it and pick the best given take of any moment. You put all the best takes together and, you hope, end up with something fairly reasonable.
Why did you write ‘Blood Moon’?
I was told this story in college about a girl who was raped, which is essentially the first act of the play. I didn’t even know if it was a true story, but it stuck in my imagination. And then the second act of the play, the woman’s revenge, was my dramatic conceit.
How has the audience responded over the years?
Some people receive it as a piece of theater - especially when it’s well done – and the response has been very good. Occasionally, there have been a few people who are horrified by the second act. In the theatre, what the protagonist Mayna does is justified. It has its roots in Greek myth. There’s an ‘eye for an eye’ quality to it.
Was it challenging to change ‘Blood Moon’ into a screenplay?
There are some things that work better in theater than they do on film. In the film, we had to intercut between the two acts, which you obviously don’t do on stage.
There’s a tradition of tragedy on stage, where you watch in horror as you realize what’s going to happen. That’s the definition of tragedy – you’re horrified, and then you watch it happen. That’s the first act of the play, then in the second act, you don’t know what’s going to happen, but you know she’s going to do something. You don’t know what it is until the very end.
In the film, we had to intercut between the two acts because the first act, the tragedy gradually unfolding, just didn’t work as well on film. In the theatre, you’re having a communal experience where you’re witnessing this awful thing. On film, you’re not a witness. By intercutting, we brought an element of tension to the whole that made it work.
What has been the overall response to ‘Blood Moon’?
Sometimes there were nights when people didn’t understand what was happening until the play clearly revealed it. There were other nights when people got a sense of it earlier. You would know it because someone in the audience would go ‘oh my God!’ with a gasp. It was really similar to the way that laughter is contagious in an audience. One person would gasp, and then you’d feel other people wondering what they were gasping about. And then they’d go ‘Oh My God’ and get what was happening on stage. The play worked either way: it’s a communal experience, so it didn’t really matter when the audience “saw” what was really going on.
- 2/18/2015
- by Erin Grover
- Sydney's Buzz
Washington, April 1: An 8-year-old boy from Ireland, dubbed Mini-Hercules, has become an online sensation, thanks to his rippling six-pack abs.
Brandon Blake received thousands of likes, comments and shares over social media after renowned fitness guru Frank Medrano shared a picture his picture on Facebook, Metro.co.uk reported.
Blake's dad Mark said that his son who has never lifted weights in his life and his shape has developed over the past year.
He has a healthy diet consisting of cereal for breakfast, fruits throughout the day and meat and greenies for dinner, he added.
The youngster built his impressive.
Brandon Blake received thousands of likes, comments and shares over social media after renowned fitness guru Frank Medrano shared a picture his picture on Facebook, Metro.co.uk reported.
Blake's dad Mark said that his son who has never lifted weights in his life and his shape has developed over the past year.
He has a healthy diet consisting of cereal for breakfast, fruits throughout the day and meat and greenies for dinner, he added.
The youngster built his impressive.
- 4/1/2014
- by Rahul Kapoor
- RealBollywood.com
Shawshank Redemption actor Frank Medrano has had his car impounded by U.S. police after he was caught driving on a suspended licence.
The 56 year old's 2007 Cadillac was pulled over by cops on Saturday night after he was spotted making an unsafe lane change.
But when officers ran a background check on Medrano, they discovered he had already been banned from getting behind the wheel of a car for a previous incident and had his vehicle towed away.
Medrano will be able to reclaim his Cadillac after 30 days, reports TMZ.com.
The 56 year old's 2007 Cadillac was pulled over by cops on Saturday night after he was spotted making an unsafe lane change.
But when officers ran a background check on Medrano, they discovered he had already been banned from getting behind the wheel of a car for a previous incident and had his vehicle towed away.
Medrano will be able to reclaim his Cadillac after 30 days, reports TMZ.com.
- 11/29/2010
- WENN
Frank Medrano is best known for playing a guy named Fat Ass in " Shawshank Redemption " -- and one named Fat Mancho in "Sleepers" -- so maybe it's a good thing the cops impounded his car Saturday night ... walking is good for you. Law enforcement sources tell TMZ Medrano was pulled over for making an unsafe lane change. We're told when cops ran his license, they discovered it was suspended ... so they impounded his 2007 Cadillac for 30 days.
- 11/29/2010
- by TMZ Staff
- TMZ
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