Jim Fall: Holly's Holiday

Director & Writer Jim Fall is best known for his classic movie "Trick" and as the man who brought Lizzie McGuire to the big screen in, what else? "The Lizzie McGuire Movie".

Tis' the season and Jim's latest "Trick" is the Christmas movie "Holly's Holiday" set to air on Lifetime December 8th.

Jim popped by "Entertain Me" for a chat with yours truly, read on and see what he had to say...

MS: You know "Trick" is going to be the film you'll be remembered for don't you?

JF: I assume so, I'm happy that is the one. (laughs)

MS: Most people don't have a signature film, it's nice that you do.

JF: It is nice. That movie was such a labor of love, if someone had told me that twelve years later people would still  be thinking about it, enjoying and loving it, I wouldn't have believed them. I love it, it's amazing!

MS: The performance you got out of Tori Spelling was amazing!

JF: Everyone always asks me that. To be honest I gave her an opportunity and she took it. It was the right part at the right time and she was game. I mean of course I directed her, but the performance was all Tori.

Jim Fall

MS: Being a fan of horror and science fiction why is it you haven't directed a movie in either genre?

JF: Yeah, I'm kind of surprised that I didn't start out trying to direct those kind of things, but I just don't.

MS: Well you were a Production Assistant on the horror flick "Bad Dreams".

JF: That was my first Hollywood job, I got it because Andrew Fleming who directed it and I went to school at NYU (New York University) I stood around the Port-A-Potty with a walkie talkie (laughs) Being that it was my first Hollywood job I was thrilled to have it. Years later, I kind of owe my career to Andy, I was trying to find the money for "Trick". I was a little embarrassed to ask him, but I finally did tell him that I could not find the money to get it made and I would just die if I couldn't. So, I sent him the script and he gave it to his agent at UTA (United Talent Agency) who gave it to Howard Cohen gave it his partner Eric who ended up putting up the money, Howard became my agent, I got the movie made and it ended up going to Sundance, and I kind of owe that to the fact Andy helped me that it happened that way.

MS: It was funny to me how you like genre films and you have never done one yourself.

JF: Funny you should mention that, the company that made "Holly's Holiday" also makes other genre movies, I told them I want to make a disaster movie. I've always loved disaster movies, my favorite movies were "Earthquake" and "The Towering Inferno". I pitched them, here's hoping.

MS: So, "Holly's Holiday" is about a mannequin that comes to life, they have a habit of doing that this time of year it seems. (laughs)

JF: One of the main reasons I was excited to do "Holly's Holiday" was when I was young I made a short film about a woman who falls in love with mannequin. I had just broken up with my very first boyfriend, and I was bitter and angry. So, the mannequin really was him, because at the end of the movie the mannequin ends up being an asshole, and leaves her for someone that is more his type. Since I wasn't ballsy enough to make it my first gay film, although in my movie he is literally a mannequin the whole time and in this movie you're not sure whether it is just a dream that he comes to life or not. Lifetime is going to air it on Christmas Eve as well.

MS: Let's hear what your five favorite Holiday Movies, including New Year's as there is a certain New Year's Eve disaster movie that you love, are.

JF: One of the obvious ones is "A Christmas Story" I never get tired of watching that it's so fucking funny! It's just such a wonderful film.

MS: It is.

JF: "It's A Wonderful Life" makes me cry.

MS: Me as well and I'm a hard cry.

JF: Of course "The Poseidon Adventure" (laughs) The strokes in the movie are broad, but the tone is consistent and the characters are so lovable. You love these people and you care when shit happens to them.

MS: True.

JF: "Female Trouble" well it's not really a Christmas movie, but there's that wonderful scene where a Christmas tree falls on the mother. (laughs) There is a tree falling on someone in "Holly's Holiday" too, so maybe that's a homage to "Female Trouble".

MS: Give me one more pick.

JF: "Auntie Mame" that movie has a whole Christmas sequence in it. It's amazing.

MS: What was the shoot for "Holly's Holiday" like?

JF: We shot it in thirteen days, which is really short for a shoot.

MS: Yeah, that is.

JF: It comes out to nine scenes a day which is nuts. It looks really great though you would never know it was a low budget TV movie.

"Holly's Holiday" airs on Lifetime Saturday December 8th and encores on Christmas Eve.

World AIDS Day

"Science has brought the world to the point where the end of AIDS – though not necessarily HIV – is in sight" according to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

And, she added, "It is science that will allow us to finish this job."

The job, she has famously said, is to create an "AIDS-free generation" – something that once seemed like a pipe dream and now, after more than 30 years, seems increasingly possible.

This statement was made just yesterday by my President - Ms. Hilary Clinton, in honor of World AIDS Day December 1, 2012.

In honor of today I am posting an amazing video that was and still is way ahead of it's time and is inclusive of everyone AIDS has touched.

Neneh Cherry's brilliant cover of "I've Got You Under My Skin" by Cole Porter off of the first of it's kind CD to benefit AIDS "Red Hot + Blue" 

"No knowledge of the facts, kept in the dark, Scolds my soul and it hurts my heart, the young and elderly just running blind, Hurts so bad they denied their own kind, Papa turned around and said that ain't mine, It just made it hard for life on the line, and it's a shame to see a little child mature, Growing up knowing that there ain't no cure" Neneh Cherry "I've Got You Under My Skin" Red Hot + Blue

James Durbin: Santa Claus is Back in Town

Ho, ho, ho Durbinators & Merry Christmas!

While busy  in the studio recording his Spring of 2013 album follow-up to his hit "Memories of a Beautiful Disaster" JD was thinking of you...

Just in time for Christmas James has managed to give you guys a package to stuff your stockings, a cover of Elvis Presley's "Santa Claus is Back in Town", which happens to be the number one selling Christmas single of all time, thank you, Elvis has now left the building, bring on The Durbin!

"All the stockings were hung by the chimney's with care, in hopes that James Durbin soon would be there"...

Hey  Durbinators, have a rock-n-roll Holiday, here's Jame's package complete with a red bow on top and sealed with a kiss for all of you.

Wanna Rock This Christmas? www.durbinrock.com

Have A "Grindhouse" Thanksgiving...!

You may be scratching your head what does the brilliant Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino double bill "Planet Terror" with an on fire Rose McGowan and "Death Proof" with a disturbing Kurt Russell have to do with Turkey Day?

Well even though "Grindhouse" does not refer to what they do with turkeys to make them a leg or a thigh, although it certainly could, there is a cooler than cool horror trailer spoof  by renegade Director, Eli Roth that is shown during this awesome double feature and it is funny as Hell and sure to warm the cockles of your heart today titled appropriately enough "Thanksgiving". Pull it up on YouTube or watch it here and toast with a glass of wine.

Happy Thanksgiving! May you always suspect something is awry with your turkey and your relatives are twisted and insane "This year there will be no leftovers"...

The Perry Twins + Christina Aguilera = "Your Body"

Hey Mr. DJ's Put A Record On 

With her career ascension on "The Voice" Christina Aquilera is back with the song "Your Body". Well who better to re-mix Ms. Thang than DJ's Doug & Derek Perry, best known as The Perry Twins. 

Check out the interview I did with Doug for Chorus and Verse: 

http://www.chorusandverse.com/content.php?id=20110218A 

Anyway, to celebrate the release of their latest hot track The Twins are here with their Top 5 all time favorite re-mixes that they have done...."It's true what you heard, I'm a freak, I'm disturbed"

 1.Christina Aguilera - Your Body (Perry Twins Remix)

2. Amy Weber - Let It Rain (Perry Twins Remix)

3. Beyonce - Best Thing I Never Had (Perry Twins Remix)

4. Lolene - Rich (Fake It Til You Make It) (Perry Twins Remix)

5. Jennifer Lopez - Louboutins (Perry Twins Remix)

Give The Twins re-mix a listen

http://soundcloud.com/perrytwins/christina-aguilera-your-body

Perry Twin powers activate at: https://www.facebook.com/PerryTwins

T.G.I.F. - PTX "Carol of the Bells"

Well the PTX (Pentatonix) Christmas album "PTXmas" dropped this past Tuesday as seen here on the pages of "Entertain Me".

Of course the slick and talented PTX gang have also let loose the first video from their Holiday confection: "Carol of the Bells"

Get ready peeps, here comes Christmas...(yes, Thanksgiving is next week, but, ya know how things work)

Ring your bell at: http://www.ptxofficial.com/

She's "Just Frenchie"

Frenchie Davis, the name brings many things to mind, after stealing the national spotlight on the first season of NBC’s “The Voice” as a Top Four Finalist, as well as season two of “American Idol” her single “Love’s Got a Hold On Me” is currently a Billboard Dance Hit Smash.

She is currently working on her debut LP “Just Frenchie” a collection of original material written specifically for her. Having conquered Broadway as a cast member of “Rent” and the Grammy nominated revival of “Ain’t Misbehavin” Ms. Davis has it going on.

With a Christmas single due to drop and her recent “coming out” Frenchie is a force of nature, not to mention a vocal powerhouse to be reckoned with.

Frenchie truly desires only one thing: “I want to live my life to inspire people to be brave and courageous, to believe in themselves and never take no for an answer.”

MS: I was playing “Love's Got a Hold On Me” right before you called, when I was listening to it, not that you sound like her, but you remind me a lot of Donna Summer.

FD: Oh my gosh, that's a huge compliment, I love her!

MS: The reason for the comparison is Donna was the only Disco I could stand as vocals were the focus, not just the music and the beat.


FD: Exactly! That's what I've been wanting to do with my upcoming album and this single. Bring good strong vocals back to dance music. I grew up listening to dance music, people like Jocelyn Brown and Martha Wash, so the dance music I grew up with featured singers with big voices.

MS: Not to get too personal, but you sort of kind of, pseudo came out recently.


FD: It wasn't something that I planned on doing, because far as I was concerned everyone who needed to know, knew about my sexuality. My friends, my family, my loved ones, the person I am sleeping with. At the end of the day those are the only people whose business it is really. It's interesting when someone uses the phrase coming out when in actuality I had already been out. I do recognize the significant difference between being open and honest with your loved ones and allowing media scrutiny into your personal life. So, did I allow the media into my personal life? “Yes” I was doing a media interview and I answered a question honestly and that answer ended up being a headline: “Frenchie Davis Comes Out”.

MS: Yeah, I read about it on The Huffington Post just before you called, I think it being out there helps other people.


FD: It was important to just be honest and not give ambiguous answers in interviews to me. I like to tell it like it is.


MS: You still consider yourself bi-sexual and I know there is a lot of animosity towards that in the Gay Community.


FD: One of the things that made it so important to me to be who I am, is not only to combat Homophobia in the straight community, but to also help combat Bi phobia in the Gay Community. I have the same take on Homophobia in the Black Community that I do on Bi phobia in the Gay Community, I think it's apalling that a group of people that know what it's like to be discriminated against can justify bigotry towards another group of people. I get certain groups of people may not understand it, but unless you are screwing me, you don't need to fucking understand it.


MS: So, you really didn't come out, you got real.


FD: Exactly!


MS: Hows your album “Just Frenchie” coming along?

FD: Yes, I am “Just Frenchie” (laughs) I decided to name it that because I have been on all these reality shows and people are familiar with my voice, but they are hearing me sing other people's songs. This will be the first time I am singing songs that haven't been sung by anybody else, they are just me. It's going to be mostly dance music I definitely will throw on a few power ballads, but knowing me, there will probably be numerous dance mixes for those power ballads. It's exciting to be able to merge my love of soulful singing with my love of dance music.


MS: You are also releasing a Christmas single really soon.


FD: I want the single to be perfect, I meet people all the time that say” “My Mother loves you” we watched you on “The Voice”. So I am doing this for all the Mom's out there that love me.


She's “Just Fenchie” at: http://www.frenchiedavis.org/