Hometown Pride

Dallas independent film receives big-screen treatment in limited run

A film hitting theaters on December 2 has deep Dallas ties. Called Three Days in August, it was written, directed, produced, and edited by locals, and it has a special limited run at Studio Movie Grill for one week only.

From many of the minds that created Occupy, Texas, Three Days in August is inspired by the life of Texas painter Shannon Kincaid. It tells the story of an adopted Irish American artist who has always wanted to paint a family portrait of her birth mother (Meg Foster), stepfather (Edward James Hyland), and adoptive parents (Mariette Hartley and Barry Bostwick). Shannon (Mollie Milligan) secretly invites her biological and adoptive family to a weekend retreat at a ranch in Mineral Wells, and chaos ensues.

“She’s painting this family portrait as a metaphor for putting all the pieces of her life together,” says Ubiquimedia’s Johnathan Brownlee, who director, produced, and co-wrote the film. His other producer credits include Decoding Annie Parker, starring Helen Hunt and Samantha Morgan.

Along with a slew of Texas actors, producers, and writers, the film was edited at Lucky Post in Oak Lawn. It also includes many Dallas and Texas culture references; try to spot all the Four Corners Brewing Co. beers when you watch. But it isn’t just the Texas roots that make the movie special.

When Kincaid first came to Brownlee with the idea for the film (the two met when Brownlee shot Occupy, Texas at Kincaid’s house in Dallas), Brownlee suggested they turn the idea into a part creative, part business venture. So they created the Sionna Project — along with David Kiger, who would go on to co-produce the film — a contest package in which a winning script would get resources, funds, and connections to produce a full-length film in less than a year.

Dallas natives Chad Berry and David Langlinais won the script-writing contest and hit the ground running with producers Brownlee, Kiger, Kincaid, Allen Stringer, Adam Donaghey, James Tumminia, and Jeff Berlin. By the time the film premiered at the Dallas International Film Festival in April 2016, a theatrical release with Studio Movie Grill and deals with iTunes, VOD, and Netflix were already in the works.

“We couldn’t have done this film in any other city but Dallas,” Brownlee says. “All of these different aspects of the film just came together, and it’s been a labor of love.”

Three Days in August runs through December 8 at 18 Studio Movie Grills nationwide — including the locations on Northwest Highway and Spring Valley and in Lewisville, The Colony, and Plano. Tickets can be purchased on the movie theater’s website.

If you miss it in theaters, the film releases on iTunes on December 20.

Dallasite Johnathan Brownlee co-wrote, produced, and directed the film.

Three Days in August - Johnathan Brownlee

Photo courtesy of Jeff Berlin

Dallasite Johnathan Brownlee co-wrote, produced, and directed the film.

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Movie Review

Long-awaited Wicked movie adaptation lives up to the hype

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande-Butera in Wicked

Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande-Butera in Wicked.

The musical Wicked is indisputably the biggest Broadway smash of the 21st century, having grossed more $1.6 billion in New York alone and achieving the rare feat of running for over 20 years. All of which is to say that the long-awaited movie adaptation of The Wizard of Oz prequel will most likely be a massive success whether it lives up to what longtime fans envisioned or not.

Part one — yes, this 2 hour and 40 minute film is merely the first act of the musical; part two arrives a year from now — introduces Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), the green-skinned witch who goes on to become Dorothy’s nemesis, and G(a)linda (Ariana Grande-Butera), the pink-garbed “good” witch, as they meet at Shiz University in Oz. Glinda is the ultra-popular one with sycophantic hangers-on, while Elphaba is shunned by almost everyone, sometimes including her disabled sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode), who’s desperate to make her own space away from Elphaba.

Her mistreatment by others leads Elphaba to get angry, which manifests itself in uncontrollable magic. Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) notices this and takes a personal interest in her, giving her one-on-one instruction in hopes of harnessing her power. In the meantime, Elphaba and Glinda attempt to go from forced roommates to actual friends, although Glinda’s entitled personality is more of an obstacle than anything else they encounter.

Directed by Jon M. Chu and written by original book writer Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox, the film does a great job of distinguishing itself from the stage version while still remaining true to what made it so beloved. As Chu showed in his last film, In the Heights, he has an innate feel for how to tap into the essence of the source material while expanding it into something befitting the scope of a blockbuster movie.

In this case, he finds a way to give even greater emphasis to the bigotry that Elphaba faces simply because of her green skin; the fact that she is being played by a Black woman drives home the point even more. The story remains light and fluffy for the most part, but the ostracization/otherness that Elphaba feels is delivered in a powerful way, as is her empathy for talking animals like Dr. Dillamond (voiced by Peter Dinklage), who are facing their own persecution.

Of course, the highlight of the film is Stephen Schwartz’s music, and while not all of the songs are equal in impact, they still make for a cohesive whole. The number of songs and order they appear in the first act is identical to the stage musical, with the standouts remaining “The Wizard and I,” “Popular,” and “Defying Gravity.” While there is some superfluous action and cutaways added to certain numbers, it’s not enough to distract from what makes the songs effective.

Oddly, the progression of the friendship between Elphaba and Glinda works better on stage when the timeline is accelerated, but Erivo and Grande-Butera make up for this slight lack with their fantastic performances. The emotion each brings to their characters fits them almost perfectly, and there’s simply no denying the strength of each of their voices. Bode, Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, Ethan Slater as Boq, and more make for a solid supporting cast.

The well-known ending of the first act of Wicked is a huge high point that is so good that it almost makes up for the fact that audiences won’t see the second film for a long time. But if part one is any indication, part two should turn out to be another great musical theater adaptation in a decade that has already seen its fair share.

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Wicked opens in theaters on November 22.

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