Joe M. O'Connell

Monday, February 28, 2011

Why the 'True Grit' eye patch is on the other eye

Probably one of the most common searches that bring people to my blog is the question of why Jeff Bridges wore the eye patch on the right side in the Coen brothers film while John Wayne wore it on the left eye in the original True Grit.

Here's the answer. According to Walter Scott in Parade, Bridges says, "There was no specific reason. We tried it on both, and it just javascript:void(0)looked and felt better on the right eye."

Oh, and if you want to see tons of photos of the True Grit set, do a search above.

Photos from the set of 'When Angels Sing'

Thanks to the lucky person who made it onto the set of When Angels Sing in Bastrop this past week and granted me permission to post these photos. In the photos you can see Willie Nelson, Connie Britton, Turk Pipkin and--if you squint--director Tim McCanlies.

Connie Britton chats with tall guy Turk Pipkin, on whose story the film is based.

Willie talks to the crew.

Willie Nelson peeks out at the set.

Willie strides into the action.

That's Tim McCanlies in the blue shirt and khaki baseball hat in the middle facing the camera.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Alex Jones kills 'Two and a Half Men'?

First his tirade led to Machete being denied Texas film incentive bucks, now Austin access TV/internet radio kingpin/conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has apparently led to the end of the top-rated TV show Two and a Half Men after walking-disaster Charlie Sheen came on Jones' show and went off on Men creator, Chuck Lorre. The show is now shut down for the season. Somebody give Alex his own TV series. He'll have Oprah retiring before you know it. Wait a minute... Do I smell a conspiracy?

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Book review: 'Nights of the Red Moon'

My review of Milton Burton's latest mystery novel Nights of the Red Moon was in Sunday's Austin American-Statesman.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Teen w/ acne and braces? 'When Angels Sing' wants you now...

This just in (note the date; you have to respond TODAY only):

Third Coast Extras is seeking a teenage male with acne and braces for a featured extra role on When Angels Sing for Tuesday, February 22nd. Pay is $101.5/hr. We are casting for this role today. Please submit photos and contact numbers to thirdcoastextras@gmail.com.

The film has been actively shooting around Austin and Bastrop with Harry Connick Jr. and Connie Britton leading the cast.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

'Friday Night Lights' Palicki is new 'Wonder Woman'

Friday Night Lights and Lone Star star Adrianne Palicki is the new Wonder Woman in David E. Kelley's pilot for NBC. More here.

Uh, and that's not her in the photo...

Darko's Richard Kelly headed to 'Corpus Christi'

UPDATE: It's finally being made and shot in Austin and Corpus Christi. Read more recent news here.

Certainly the next big film to be made in Texas, Richard Kelly, the guy behind Donnie Darko, is writing and directing the thriller Corpus Christi, Variety reports. And, yes, the film is set in Corpus Christi, Texas.

The story is about: " a mentally unstable Iraq war veteran named Paciencia "Patience" De La Rosa, who forges a strange friendship with his boss Ralph Salverson, the wealthy and politically ambitious owner of a supermarket chain."

It's expected to shoot in Corpus in July, with casting happening right now.

Sounds like potentially the best art about Corpus since Bret Anthony Johnston's short stories.

What they're saying about EVACUATION PLAN

"Tales alternately gentle, dramatic, surrealistic, that collectively affirm the beauty of being alive, even as they acknowledge that all of us face the necessity of making our own 'evacuation plan.' "
-- Brad Buchholz, Austin American-Statesman

" The chapters about Matt and the short stories demonstrate O’Connell’s ability to develop sympathetic, true-to-life characters using intriguing details and compelling dialogue. The stories remind us of those times when a brief encounter with a stranger left us wondering about that person’s past. In Evacuation Plan, O’Connell satisfies that curiosity. "
-- The Texas Observer

"It was very hard for me to put this book down. It carries us through the deepest meaning in life and most painful, most hopeful memories for a wide range of fascinating characters. Based in a hospice, this book could have easily resorted to cheap sensationalism, or whacked us upside the head with stereotypic melodrama, but instead it was respectful, honest, and tender. The characters will stay with you - you may even recognize some of them within your own life. "
-- Award-winning author Carmen Tafolla

"An excellent, thought-provoking diversion from our own inevitable plummet toward the grave, and we highly recommend it to you, the living."
-- Wayne Alan Brenner, The Austin Chronicle

"O’Connell has drawn some colourful and believable characters. The material relating to the hospice and terminal care rings true, all the way to reconciliation and forgiving."
-- Dr. Roger Woodruff, International Association for Hospice & Palliative Care

"The tales are nicely written, and some are quite compelling; “The Male Nurse,” for one, is a dreamlike reverie."
-- Texas Monthly

“Evacuation Plan: A Novel From The Hospice by Joe M. O'Connell is nothing short of remarkable … a novel that walks hand-in-hand with death and yet, somehow, the reader finishes the book feeling inspired to live.”
– The Paisano

"A wonderful blend of lives ordinary but with sometimes extraordinary elements. We all share these stories of life in some way, despite moments of harshness or unforgiving pain. There is always a common thread of humanity and ultimately forgiveness to be found, even if it's in the last moment of life."
-- Elaine Williams, author of A Journey Well Taken

"Reading Evacuation Plan is akin to unwrapping a series of small perfectly-chosen presents. Both human and humane, The book resembles a modern Spoon River Anthology with its vivid, touching glimpses into the lives of those in and around a hospice."
-- Tim McCanlies, screenwriter The Iron Giant, writer/director Secondhand Lions

"In Evacuation Plan Joe O'Connell does for the process of dying what Sherwood Anderson did for middle America in Winesburg, Ohio--he shows us in brief flashes the aching beauty of the grotesque, and shows us how extraordinary small lives and quiet deaths can be."
--John Blair, Drue Heinz Literature Prize winning author of American Standard

"Here's a book so rich with stories of the living, so filled with people's bountiful problems, as well as incidents of wry forgiveness, one realizes over and over the circling forces of life's completeness. It's not a sad tale nor a needless feel-good account but a balanced, sometimes comic, affirmation of what is here and what we all know is waiting."
-- Carolyn Osborn, award-winning short story writer

"The broken, the hopeful, the frustrated, the clueless, and the forgiving touch one another with words, remembrances, and hands. Inevitably, readers will quietly wonder about their own evacuation plan."
-- Will's Texana Monthly

O'Connell's protagonist skillfully navigates under the guise of a writer seeking raw materials for his craft in the stories of the dying, but mines and refines instead the stuff we're all made of. In this finely crafted novel, we come away with much more than the astute observation that many of the best stories begin at the end. But, then again, that notion is also worth a lot.
--Jesse Sublett, cancer survivor, rocker and author of Never the Same Again

"Joe O'Connell's Evacuation Plan--this Decameron of the hospice--encompasses a paradox. Death comes for everyone, but death is the only human universal because everyone dies, and witnesses dying, with private, unspeakable shame. Yet there are a few minutes left to speak. As people die, they tell stories which spawn new stories, which remind us that death is agony, a violent struggle, but so is living."
-- Debra Monroe, Flannery O'Connor Award winning author of Newfangled and Shambles