James O'Brien (filmmaker)

James O'Brien on the set of Western Religion

James Edward O’Brien (born December 6, 1969) is an American independent film director, screenwriter and producer.

Early Life and Education

Raised in Bergen County, New Jersey, O’Brien attended Bergen Catholic High School, and was a captain of the cross country and track teams. He went to Providence College, competing in his early collegiate years for Ray Treacy’s Providence Friars.

Midway through college, O'Brien shifted gears from athletics to English and Drama, directing a number of university screened short films and documentaries and acting in the Blackfriars Theatre productions.

After backpacking around Europe, and inspired by the DIY cinema of Jim Jarmusch, Spike Lee and Richard Linklater, O’Brien moved to Los Angeles, California to make independent films.[1]

Career

The first film he made after moving to LA was Bastard, a B&W short about a schizophrenic hit man. It was selected by the American Cinematheque to open for Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu the Vampyre at a 1993 Directors Guild of America retrospective.

Venice Bound

O'Brien's gritty debut feature Venice Bound follows the lives of three off-beat twenty-somethings who meet by chance on Venice Beach and agree to pull a robbery.[2] The film debuted at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles before making its international premiere at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival.

Venice Bound was championed at the Cannes festival by Mark Cousins, film critic and curator of the Edinburgh Film Festival. Cousins selected it for the Rosebud category of his ’95 festival and opened the door to an extensive European festival run.

Variety called O’Brien a “talent in the raw” and said the film "keeps you glued to the screen.”[3]

Robert Osborne of The Hollywood Reporter did a story on the making of the film for his Rambling Reporter, comparing the film to Robert Rodriguez's El Mariachi.[4]

Venice Bound was released theatrically in 1996–97, playing an extended run at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, as well as the Laemmle Sunset 5 (now Sundance Sunset Cinemas). It also played on the east coast at the Cable Car Cinema in Providence, Rhode Island.

In the intervening years, O’Brien worked virtually every job on set from in various film and music video productions.

In the early 2000s, O’Brien took the post of managing editor of Comic News, a Vermont-based political satire magazine. He doubled as a concert promoter, staging a 12 bands in 12 hours mini-Woodstock music festival to launch the publication.

O'Brien returned to Venice in 2004, to ply his trade in the location business, doing work for a wide range of television shows, commercials, and studio features. He re-emerged in indie film several years later, with two features made and released in tandem.

Wish You Were Here and Hyperfutura

Wish You Were Here was shot on a 19 day tear across the country from the Santa Monica Pier to Coney Island, with the cast and crew all apparently living in a single RV. Starring Louie Sabatasso, Gary Douglas Kohn and Arroyn Ambrose, the road adventure film touches on the affects of addiction and the bond of family and friends.

Jonathan Freeman-Anderson of LA Film and Music Magazine called the film “an entertaining and soul searching ride of comical and sobering proportions." [5] Nelson Madison Films released the movie in 2013 .

On the other end of the spectrum, O’Brien delved into extreme experimental cult film with the mashup Hyperfutura. Created with Eric Kopatz, producer and star of Bastard, the sci-fi Hyperfutura is an oddity in his canon, involving genetic engineering, mind control and time travel. It has polarized audiences since its 2013 worldwide digital release by PanGlobal Entertainment.[6]

Western Religion

O’Brien most recent work is the indie wild west movie Western Religion. It features performances by Claude Duhamel (Supernatural), Peter Shinkoda of Spielberg's Falling Skies and Marvel's Daredevil and Australia's Miles Santos of The Elephant Princess among many others in a large international cast.

The outrageous 'making of' story of the production was first picked up by Variety in 2013 as the filmmakers looked to overcome the government shutdown of all national parks just weeks before their scheduled shoot at Paramount Ranch.[7]

To remedy the situation, O’Brien and his producing partner Louie Sabatasso of 3rd Partner Productions enlisted the aid of Peter Sherayko, known for providing the historical detail in the film Tombstone. Together they built their own wild west tent city from scratch in the mountains of Agua Dulce, California. Sherayko, who played Texas Jack Vermillion in Tombstone, is also featured in the film as Southern Bill. Sabatasso plays a lead as the eccentric and deadly dandy Salt Peter.

Western historian Henry Parke made a visit to the set and did an article on the making of Western Religion.[8]

The ambitious indie film was brought in on schedule and budget despite the coordination of a massive international cast in the remote territory of Agua Dulce.[9]

O’Brien brought in London-based composer Ram Khatabakhsh (Capsule) to do the original score.[10]

'Western Religion' is slated to make its world premiere at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. [11]

O’Brien has announced that his next film, Warrior, Mage, Thief, will be in the fantasy film genre, for the emerging Virtual Reality technology.

Selected Filmography

Venice Bound (1995) Hyperfutura (2013) Wish You Were Here (2103) Western Religion (2015)

External links

References

  1. ↑ http://www.veniceboundmovie.com/the_artists_coalition/james_obrien/
  2. ↑ Brennan, Sandra. New York Times (1996) http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/135042/Venice-Bound/overview
  3. ↑ Klady, Leonard. Variety Magazine (1995) http://variety.com/1995/film/reviews/venice-bound-1200443033/
  4. ↑ Osborne, Robert. The Hollywood Reporter (1994) http://www.veniceboundmovie.com/press/articles/
  5. ↑ Freeman-Anderson, Jonathon. LAFM Magazine (2013) http://www.lafm.com/sonic-thoughts/wish-you-were-here-film-reviewed-by/
  6. ↑ Chatelin, Bruno. Cannes Dailies (2013) http://www.filmfestivals.com/blog/editor/james_obrien_s_hyperfutura_the_controversial_cult_sci_fi_feature_film_with_eric_kopatz_gets_cable_vod_premiere/
  7. ↑ Johnson, Ted. Variety Magazine (2013) http://variety.com/2013/biz/news/government-shutdown-derails-film-shoots-at-paramount-ranch-1200689657/
  8. ↑ Parke, Henry. Henry's Western World. http://henryswesternroundup.blogspot.com/2013/11/on-set-of-western-religion-plus-help.html Henry's Western World/
  9. ↑ Rodriguez, Liz. New York Life Magazine (2015) http://newyork.lifediverse.com/wild-west-movie-western-religion-poster-hd-trailer-unveiled/
  10. ↑ Kilday, Gregg. The Hollywood Reporter (2014) http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ram-khatabakhsh-score-hotel-33-711148/
  11. ↑ Parke, Henry. Henry's Western World (2015) http://www.henryswesternroundup.blogspot.com/2015/03/western-religion-goes-to-cannes-plus.html/