“Power”‘s Ari Gold: “I wanted to make a movie…without having to throw the things I cared about”
by indieWIRE (October 13, 2009)
A scene from Ari Gold's "Adventures of Power." [Image courtesy of Variance Films]
Director Ari Gold’s comedy “Adventures of Power” revolves around a small copper town that has hit hard times. Mineworker, Power, only wishes one thing - that he’d learned to play drums. But his father could never afford to buy him a set, so Power has embraced the next best thing - air drumming. Tired of the constant ridicule from his father and the other mine workers and with nothing but a few dollars, some cereal, and the support of his Aunt Joanie, Power sets off across the country to the “paradise” of Newark, where an underground air drumming crew has invited him to join their team. But as the big air drumming competition looms, so does a rival - multi-millionaire drummer Dallas H., who thinks air drumming in a abomination and seeks to destroy Power and his crew. “Adventures of Power” stars Gold as well as Michael McKean (“This is Spinal Tap”), Chiu Chi Ling (“Kung Fu Hustle”), Soshannah Stern (“Jericho”) and Adrian Grenier (“Entourage”). The film opened via Variance Films October 9 in New York and will next open in L.A. October 16, with a national roll out to follow.
AG: I wrote a short novel called “The Giant Snail from Brazil” when I was ten. I was in the middle of the last chapter, about the hero leading the monstrous snail into a salt mine, when a friend told me that a girl named Emily, whom I adored, finally wanted to go steady with me. The chapter blew away in a gust of classroom wind, and I’ve been looking for it ever since. Then I spent my teenage years trying to be a writer, never dreaming I could ever make movies, even though I wanted to. I had a friend with a super-8 camera that I was able to use twice because his mom paid for the film processing. But it wasn’t until the end of college when I realize I really wanted to make movies instead of being alone with my stories. Plus, stories have no soundtrack. iW: How did the idea for “Adventures Of Power” came about? AG: After my mom died, I ended up living in my aunt’s basement in a copper-mining town in the Southwest. I loved this town, though I was in bad shape while living there. One of the ideas I took notes about was a character who loved air-drumming - based on some version of myself as an adult, and at age 10. I forgot about this character until my brother Ethan and his friend Dan Crane invited me to an air-guitar competition in Los Angeles. I went as Power the air-drummer, won over the crowd, confused the judges, and re-ignited my interest in this lost soul from the copper-mining town. After shooting some test videos in New Jersey, I got more excited, and then, thinking maybe the story could be launched by a labor battle in the town, I went back to the Southwest. The day I arrived, the real-life miners went on strike, and I knew that this story was going to consume my life until it became a movie.
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AFI Fest
AFI Fest '09
Chipotle Mexican Grill to Award a Filmmaker $2000, April 4, 2010 during the ECOtainment Awards at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills.
THAT FILMMAKER COULD BE YOU! GOING GREEN FILM FESTIVAL'S motto: REthink. REplenish. REcommit. This is the only festival of its kind to focus exclusively on green filmmaking, from production to content! ALL GENRES ARE WELCOME! Prizes include: $2000 from Chipotle, Hybrid Bikes, Tree Planted in Your Name, Fuji Film, Movie Magic Suite Software, Showbiz Software, Super 8 Production Facilities and much more! Hurry and beat the NOVEMBER 30th deadline! www.GoingGreenFilmFestival.com |
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