Big Al's Place: BOARDWALK buzz

In A Nutshell

Years after his release from Alcatraz, bedeviled by hallucinations fueled by untreated, late-stage syphilis, Al Capone wanders the overgrown grounds of his Miami Beach estate, ruminating with ghosts. Tomorrow will bring his forty-eighth birthday and one week later he will be dead. Between then and now sprawls an epic life, from the wild streets of turn-of-the-century Brooklyn, to a bloody Saint Valentine’s Day that shocked the world; here is the glamorous ascent and shocking decline of America's true king of crime.

Some History

Jim VanBebber's 2004 feature, The Manson Family, was hailed as, "Crucial," by Peter Travers in Rolling Stone's four-star review. It inspired Roger Ebert to proclaim, "...it has an undeniable power and effect...it exists in a category of one film - this film." The film's successful theatrical release brought further critical acclaim and Manson then went on to thrive on home video, including as the centerpiece of Visions of Hell: The Films of Jim VanBebber, a mid-career retrospective DVD box set released in 2008.

Capone first met VanBebber at Wright State University when both men were enrolled in the Motion Pictures Production program headed up by Academy Award nominated documentary filmmakers Jim Klein and Julia Reichert. When, in junior year, the class was divided into small groups with the purpose of producing a short film, VanBebber, with partners Marcello Games and cinematographer Mike King, decided to shoot a full length feature. That film, 1988's Deadbeat at Dawn went on to earn true cult status, playing to crowds on 42nd Street and on many waning drive-in screens before landing on cable's The Movie Channel where it debuted on Joe Bob's Drive-In Theater, hosted by Joe Bob Briggs, who had singled out Deadbeat in his nationally syndicated four-star review.

With funds derived from the sale of Deadbeat, King, Games and VanBebber began their follow up production, The Manson Family, which brings us full circle

11/17/09

BOARDWALK buzz

Steve Buscemi as "Nucky Thompson"

The Management has been avidly following the development of the forthcoming HBO series Boardwalk Empire (Currently shooting in Capone's hometown, Brooklyn) and not just because it features our good buddy actor Vic Noto. This one is shaping up as a real killer!

Here's a bit from Cindy Adams column in today's New York Post:

" I already told you HBO's coming series "Boardwalk Empire" is about Atlantic City in the '20s. The set's in Brooklyn, the main character's politician-cum-gangster Nucky Thompson, producers are Martin Scorsese and Mark Wahlberg, and Steve Buscemi stars.

Says Steve:

"I could walk to work. I love it. It's a 10-minute car ride from my home. This came to me maybe through a combination of things. Having already worked with Scorsese plus HBO and set designer Terry Winter on 'The Sopranos,' possibly it was all those factors. We shot the pilot in June, although I'd known about this months before. Waiting for Marty to free up to direct was the longest wait of my life. I was ready to start the next day. "Nucky, a real character, rough as the day is long, a Lucky Luciano / Al Capone type who ran with the bootleggers, was the Republican machine's county treasurer. Everything went through him, though he wasn't too known on the outside. It was the prohibition era, people fighting to get the vote. I love movies of that time. "My character was best-dressed, so my suits are impeccable. He lived like a king in the Ritz Carlton, so in Greenpoint they re-created that plus they built a 1920s boardwalk complete with stores of that era."