Sedona!

One of the coolest things about making a movie is getting to travel. Because of THE AIR I BREATHE and my friendship with Jieho, I spent six weeks in Mexico City for production, a week in Seoul for Jieho's wedding, and several days in New York City for the Tribeca Film Festival last year. Now, I've spent a couple days in Sedona, Arizona. Check out the pic above and I'm sure you'll agree...it's beautiful.

The Sedona International Film Festival sponsors monthly screenings and this month, it was the Arizona premiere of AIR. Pat, the head of the fest, was kind enough to fly Jieho and I in to appear at the screenings. We started in Scottsdale, with a Q&A for a packed house. The film played great and the audience was wonderful. We got to meet a couple of fans from imdb.com and Myspace. The pic is below. Thanks for coming out, you guys!



Then, Jieho and I drove a couple hours into Sedona, which is famous for being near a "vortex". I don't really know what that means, but the place does have a quirky, relaxed vibe. It's also famous for Pink Jeep Tours, which the festival was kind enough to arrange for us. What is a Pink Jeep Tour? Basically, they put you in a back of a Pink Jeep, take you into a mountainous region near Sedona, and drive you up a very rocky terrain...so rocky that they drive you UP the rocks. It's a little crazy. The pic at the very top is Jieho and I, right before we escaped from the Pink Jeep before anything REALLY dangerous happened.

That night, there were two screenings in Sedona, both completely sold out! We surprised the audience with Walt Lloyd, the film's director of photography, who drove up from L.A. on a whim. The Q&A's were great, filled with fun questions from a very appreciative audience. Below is a pic of Jieho, Walt, Pat (the fest's director), me, John (one of the fest's founders), and Kung Fu Panda, who was nice enough to pose with us. In other news, I guess I'm not getting any taller. Damn.



It was a quick trip, but a great one. We got to show the film to three audiences who loved it. Thanks to everyone who came out.

And coming up? Plenty of great stuff. The trailer should be in Los Angeles and New York area theaters starting this Friday with an online debut to follow. Next week, there WILL be a premiere, here in Los Angeles. I plan on looking spiffy.

Til then, keep spreading the word...

Rainy L.A.

It's a rainy day here in Los Angeles. Feels very Northwest. My heat's out and my apartment gets cold so I bought a little space heater which makes it pretty comfy in my little pad. Funny how I've lived here for over four years now. Moved in pretty much right around the time Jieho, Christopher, and I first partnered up with producers Paul Schiff and Tai Duncan and decided to have a go at making THE AIR I BREATHE. Left the place empty for six weeks when I headed off to Mexico City for the shooting of the movie. While I was gone, my neighbor and one of my best pals, Josh Flaum, picked up my mail, left it in my place. Josh was a part of AIR, too, shooting a couple days as Julie Delpy's assistant. A couple months ago, he moved out of the building and got a room in a larger place with some good friends of ours. Things change fast, don't they?

Tomorrow, I'm getting on a plane with Jieho, heading out to Arizona. There's an AIR screening in Scottsdale tomorrow night, then another two the following day in Sedona. We'll be appearing with the film, doing a Q&A afterwards. If you're in the area, come say Hi.

Rumor has it we may have a special guest joining us in Sedona. None of the cast, unfortunately (they're are all pretty busy at the moment) but someone else close to the film who's never seen it with a crowd before. I hope he makes it...

Every day, I'm getting cc'd on the emails between the producers and THINKFilm. It's a tremendous amount of effort to open a movie. Marketing plans need to be executed, theaters booked, promotions scheduled. The final trailer should be out any day now. The Myspace page is up and running. If you haven't already, stop by and join.

The website is about to be fully revamped. Reviews will start appearing soon. Theaters are booked in NY and LA, and it looks like the second wave of cities will be Austin, Portland, Seattle, San Diego, San Francisco, and Chicago. Funny how I have at least one friend in every one of those places. They better see the movie and bring a few hundred friends.

Just found out that AIR is showing at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, which is not too far from here. Not sure if we'll be making it over for that, but if you're in the area, I hear it's a great festival.

I guess I'm being a little link crazy today. It's just that the machine is rolling now. The release is coming and all I can do is keep blogging, keep working the Myspace page, just keep getting the word out. This is our baby. It's taken six years to make this happen. Six years...for something that you can enjoy in 97 minutes. I hope with all my heart that those 97 minutes are spent in a movie theater, enjoying our work on the big screen where it belongs.

Dreams come true every day. On January 25th...it's our turn.