iffb 9 : COMIC AVENGERS (w Michael Cera!)

"That's what I love about high school girls... I get older, they stay the saaame age..."

(Heh, no no, no McConagoo or DAZED at the IFFB, but the way the pic turned out just asked for the line, donchathink?)

Michael Cera, aka George Michael Bluth, was at this screening! He participated in the post-films Q&A along w the directors of DARLING, DARLING and ME, MY BAG, AND MY BALL. He's quick on his feet and very funny on his own, scattin' and ziggin and zaggin along w the directors while delivering some creative, perhaps peyote-enhanced, replies to questions about the films.

In the Q&A, I only got in a dumb question about "the guy who throws himself through the door at the end," but it won a very entertaining story-reply about how originally there was supposed to be a scary pack of wild dogs busting in on the scene, but the dogs that were rounded up were all on the domestic and friendly side, and couldn't be riled. In the end, their sound guy was wardrobed for "wild and crazy," baited with pizza on his back, to entice the dogs to follow and pounce, and sent through the door.

Another notable story-reply involved the burning down of the first chosen location for the film by territorial anti-Hollywood sellout hobos, apparently.

Damn hobos!

When the crowd was sorta "dismissed" I went up to the director of ME, MY BAG, AND MY BALL, Diego Ongaro, to ask about his film and working the festivals. Turns out he went to school for finance and hated every minute of it. Started to work when he got out, couldn't stand it, and started at the bottom helping out with film and television production. He's completed several shorts, but this is the first that he's taken on the festival circuit. He's seen a few films multiple times but doesn't consistently remember the other filmmakers from city to city. Matthew Lessner, director of DARLING DARLING, however, he couldn't forget, heh.

Maybe it was the French accent, heh, but the way he talked about getting to make films, pursuing it after making this attempt at what he was "supposed" to do (finance), was pretty inspirational.

It brought to mind a warning to architecture students I remember from college... If you can do ANYTHING else, do it.

His film was funny, with some wonderful absurd moments, sweet, even. He created this character who is never without his duffel bag, full of whatever he may need at any given moment, and his soccer ball, which is always in motion when he's on his feet. I can imagine a series of shorts where this guy appears and reappears, maybe as a central figure, maybe as a decent fellow in the background. The film is narrated by Mr. Bag and Ball and he tells us about his eccentric family, given to sunbathing in the backyard (Pa) and dressing and behaving as a feral squirrel (?) (little sib) and cooking pig's head stew (Ma). When a strange problem interrupts their beloved routines, will he be able to find a solution in his bag?

On the way out of the screening room, I caught M. Cera at the bottom of the stairs between two rooms that were emptying out. I told myself (and then him, out loud) I'd just ask one thing. I had two ARRESTED questions I sorta conjured up during the Q&A to try and get in afterwards, mentally flipped a coin when I actually had him for a minute, and went with - How tough was it - how many takes did you hafta do - to get that sad George Michael walk in front of all the Charlie Brown characters? (My other question was - What was it like punching Will Arnett in the final episode? =). We were sorta blocking traffic at the bottom of the stairs, so we bobbed and weaved a bit in place as he explained that it did take a lot of tries, all because of the "Snoopy" they had. He didn't want to sit still on that dog house, and apparently his handler/owner had to get a bit rough with him to get him to behave. I laughed a bit, commented about his having to work with animals in ARRESTED and now in DARLING (well, animal PARTS, at least - you'll hafta see the fried and funny short to understand =). And, before we got completely yanked apart by people traffic while sorta sideways climing the stairs, told him I love his work on the show, miss it already, and hope to see more of him on screen soon.

Keep on keepin on~