Jon Alston

Jon Alston
Diogo Morgado, Christine Evangelista, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, and director Jon Alston on the red carpet at the SLIFF premiere of Red Butterfly
Born	Jonhenri Alston II (1983-06-04) 4 June 1983 Monroe, Louisiana
Occupation	Film director, screenwriter, film producer
Years active	2011–present

Jon Alston (born June 4, 1983) is an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer. His first feature-length film, Red Butterfly, debuted on November 15, 2014 at the 23rd Annual St. Louis International Film Festival. Prior to filmmaking, Alston spent five seasons in the NFL as an American football linebacker in the National Football League. He was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the third round of the 2006 NFL Draft. He played college football at Stanford.

Alston has also played for the Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers; retired in 2011.

Filmmaking

Red Butterfly

Alston describes Red Butterfly as an independently produced commercially styled feature with subject matter not typical of independent film - it is meant for what Alston calls "regular folk who like heavy entertainment." A project derived from symbolism and the works of Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell, Red Butterfly explores the consequences of an unchecked human ego. It plays with the tag line "Vice is Tragedy" - something that Alston claims to have had significance to him upon personal reflection and his time in the NFL. A project sans traditional genre, Alston calls Red Butterfly a postmodern romantic tragedy in the style of Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet and Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream.

Style

Alston is an autodidactic photographer and filmmaker. Alston's primary work: Red Butterfly is regarded as a postmodern romantic tragedy. Alston claims that he intends for his work to speak to as many people as he can, stating that "Storytelling is most noble of pursuits... Stories are how we first learn to connect with and understand the world around us." A cinephile, Alston is influenced by filmmakers such a Georges Méliès, Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan, Michael Bay, Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, J.J. Abrams, Roman Polanksi, Darren Aronofsky, David Lynch, Brian DePalma and Stanley Kubrick. Alston's trademark relates to the intense performances he is capable of evoking from his actors and unique visual aesthetic that he calls "colorful noir."

Early years

Alston grew up in Bastrop, Louisiana, but moved to Shreveport, Louisiana shortly before high school. He got his first taste of organized football in his freshman year of high school at Loyola College Prep. Jon excelled in football, earning All-District honors in his sophomore, junior year, and All-State his senior year. As a linebacker, Alston registered 134 tackles and 21 stops for losses in his senior season. He played free safety, middle linebacker and tight end as a sophomore and started at running back as a freshman^[1]

Football Career

College career

Alston went on to play college football for the Stanford Cardinal. In 43 games with the Cardinal, Alston started 27 times. He finished his career with 164 tackles (94 solos), 21 sacks and 29.5 stops for losses. He caused eight fumbles and recovered two others. Alston also had two interceptions, a pass breakup and a blocked kick for a touchdown.

Alston redshirted in 2001 at Stanford, performing on the scout team as a middle linebacker. He began the 2002 season as a reserve outside linebacker, but ended up starting five finishing with 30 tackles (14 solos) and two sacks. In 2003 he totaled 21 tackles (12 solos) with three sacks and a forced fumble. In 2004, he produced 61 tackles (37 solos) from the strongside linebacker position, he also had 10.0 sacks forced three fumbles and 14.5 tackles for loss. Alston finished 2nd Team All PAC-10 in 2004 and Third String All-American that year. He was honorable mention All-Pac-10 in 2005, as he registered 52 tackles (31 solos) with 6.5 sacks and 9.5 stops behind the line of scrimmage. He also caused three fumbles, intercepted a pass and blocked a kick. Alston finished his Stanford career in the top 10 in career sacks (21.5) and single season sacks (10).

Professional career

Pre-draft

One of the most athletic linebackers in all of football, posting a 4.40 40-yd dash and 40" vertical leap at the 2006 NFL Combine. He also had a 10'04" broad jump. and bench-pressed 225 pounds 30 times. At the Stanford pro day, Alston ran a 4.40 40-yard dash.

St. Louis Rams

Alston was drafted in the third round (77th overall) of the 2006 NFL Draft by the St. Louis Rams. In 2006 he made 2 special teams tackles for the Rams. On September 1, 2007, he was released by the Rams.

Oakland Raiders

On September 3, 2007, Alston was signed to the Oakland Raiders' practice squad. He was then promoted to the active roster after Travis Taylor was released. He played in 13 games in the 2007 season for the Raiders, recording 8 tackles and 1 forced fumble.^[3]

On March 27, 2008, Alston was re-signed as an exclusive rights free agent by the Raiders for the 2008 season.^[4][5] After linebacker Robert Thomas was waived/injured on September 2, Alston switched from No. 94 to Thomas' No. 55. Thomas was then re-signed by the Raiders weeks later. On October 19, 2008, in a game against the New York Jets, the Raiders were forced to punt on a 3 and out. However, longsnapper Jon Condo directly snapped the ball to Alston, who ran it for 22 yards on a fake punt play. In 2008, Alston led the Raiders in special teams tackles with 20 despite missing two games and starting 4 games at OLB. He ended the season with 34 total tackles and 1 pass defensed. Against the Chargers, Alston garnered a career high of 11 total tackles including 9 on defense and 2 on special teams.

Alston suffered a concussion and was placed on Injured Reserve on November 25, 2009.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

On March 12, 2010, Alston signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Alston retired in 2011.

External links

• Red Butterfly Movie
• Oakland Raiders bio
• Stanford Cardinal bio

References