Blue Like Jazz: Blog
Visit the Official Blue Like Jazz Movie Site

• 2012-05-04

  FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT DANNY SEIM

  - Danny is a founding member of my favorite band, Menomena

  - Danny beats his drums to a pulp

  - Danny played Menomena’s debut Nashville show sporting a diaper and a pacifier (it was Halloween)

  - Danny has indie cred to burn

  - Danny is taller than you

• 2012-04-27

  FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT MATT STERLING

  - Matt used to do stand up comedy

  - Matt was my (Steve Taylor’s) first intern at Squint Entertainment

  - Matt talks faster than you

  - Matt created our awesome trailer after a high end professional trailer house failed three times

  - Matt is the finest editor of his generation. Of this I am certain.

• 2012-04-24

  An Unexpected Phone Call

  by Steve Taylor

   

  I got a most unexpected call Saturday night. It was from Alex Kendrick, director of a string of hit movies from Sherwood Pictures. He was warm, humble and generous on the call, and we spoke for over twenty minutes.
   
  He explained how he and his brother/filmmaking partner Stephen had no prior knowledge that their church’s Executive Pastor (who is also an Executive Producer on their movies) had issued the edict last year that I described in a previous blog, wherein he let it be known that anybody who worked on Blue Like Jazz would not be working on future Sherwood Baptist movies. Alex told me that, while he and his brother are members of the church and have worked closely with this pastor in the past, they disagreed with his decision, and he further confirmed that none of them, including the pastor, have seen Blue Like Jazz. 
   
  I was grateful for both the call from Alex and the spirit behind it. Without putting words in his mouth, I got the sense that he was as surprised by their pastor’s edict as I was. I think it was a difficult phone call for Alex to make—he wanted to distance himself from the edict without distancing himself from the man—so I didn’t press Alex for more details beyond the fact that it happened and the Kendrick Brothers weren’t involved.
   
  As I’ve stated before, I have great respect for what Alex and his brother have accomplished as filmmakers. Making movies is hard. They’ve had extraordinary success using very limited resources, and each time they do it they get better. We’ve had a number of their fans tell us how much they liked Blue Like Jazz, and Alex and I agreed that there are a variety of ways for Christians to approach storytelling. We’re humbled and grateful that he reached out to us in such a direct and personal way.
   
  Near the end of our conversation, I asked Alex if he wanted me to do a follow-up blog relating our discussion, and he said he’d leave that to my discretion. So since my assumptions about them proved wrong, I want to relay the gracious spirit behind the phone call of a Christian brother who wanted to make things right.

• 2012-04-18

  FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT JUSTIN WELBORN

  - After seeing over 150 auditions, Justin was the only actor who could have played The Pope

  - Justin created much of his own papal wardrobe 

  - Justin is equally adept at playing zombies and Shakespeare

  - Justin is featured in my favorite shot of the entire movie. (Hint: It’s during Renn Fayre. And it’s big. Very big.) 

  - If you ever get the chance, watch Justin’s performance with the sound off. It’s a different kind of magic.

• 2012-04-13

  A letter from Donald Miller

  After six years, Blue Like Jazz the movie will hit theaters on Friday, April 13th. That fact alone is nothing short of a miracle. By now, you’ve heard the story of how this movie almost didn’t happen. Thousands of people have joined together to get us here, so it’s time to finish strong.

  HERE’S WHAT’S HAPPENING OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS:

  • Our initial theater offering is great for an independent film. We’ll open Blue Like Jazz in about 150 theaters - from NY to LA and dozens of cities in between. But we hope to grow this base to cover the entire country in the weeks that follow.

  • To open on more screens in more markets we must be successful on opening weekend. If Blue Like Jazz doesn’t have a strong showing on opening weekend, it will be pulled from theaters. 

  • Since theaters will only expand the movie if we have a strong weekend. We need about 1,000 people to buy tickets on opening weekend in all 150 theaters. That’s obviously a lot of tickets but it’s doable with some help from you.

  • If we are successful in achieving this goal, the phones of our distributor (Roadside Attractions) will be ringing off the hook with theater chains wanting to show Blue Like Jazz in new markets. 

  SO HERE’S HOW WE CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN:

  All our marketing efforts are now about SELLING TICKETS ONLINE. It’s time to step up and ask people to see this movie.

  1.  Rally the troops: We need every Kickstarter backer, every Civil Disobedience (street team) member and every one of the thousands of influencers who have already screened and loved the film to start encouraging friends to buy tickets.

  2. Ask people to buy tickets: We’ve made it easy. If you go to www.bluelikejazztickets.com your friends and followers can find the theater in their area and buy tickets now. 

  • Tell people we will try to call them if they post a review: We are now 48 hours without sleep, and we will not be sleeping much this weekend. And in our tired state Steve Taylor and I are going to attempt to call everybody who posts a short review on Facebook or Twitter opening night. We love social media, but we have gotten hooked on making thousands of calls and talking to people one on one. No kidding. It may take us all night, but we are going to try our best to reach out to you and your friends personally. If you see the movie and like it, post a review!  

  • Spread the word: Share a link to www.bluelikejazztickets.com on Facebook today. Put it on your blog, spray paint it on the neighbor’s cat. Tweet it, sing it, spell it out by making yellow snow. Just tell everybody you know that they can buy tickets to the movie now.

  Please forgive our enthusiasm. We have made this movie with you and for you, and we’re so pleased with how it’s turned out.

  We believe this movie is important because it’s one of the few bridges in popular culture between the church and the world, between faith and doubt, and between authenticity and fear. We think this movie matters and we think it tells the truth and we, with you, believe that the truth will set people free.

  So let’s continue the story:

  1.     See the film Friday night, April 13^th.

  2.     Take as many people as possible with you.

  3.     Tell everybody you know about this movie.

  4.     Share how you felt about the film after you see it.

  5.     Change culture forever.

  We are so grateful for you. We were lost but you found us. Our “thank you” is a good movie. We hope you like it.

   Sincerely,

  Donald Miller

• 2012-04-10

  Make It True

  
  In the Final Scene of Blue Like Jazz, the Actors Aren’t Acting
  
  The final scene in Blue Like Jazz is bold. Very bold. What filmmaker is willing to close a movie with eight minutes of dialogue that takes place in a single location? But that’s exactly what Steve Taylor did in Blue Like Jazz. And somehow audiences are stone silent and engaged. Why?
  
  Well, much of it has to do with the behind-the-scenes story. Just two weeks ago I was in LA screening the film and Justin Welborne, who plays the Pope, said off-handedly that there was no acting in that scene. I asked what he meant by that and he said, a bit choked up (he’d just seen it for the first time) that that was exactly how he felt and who he was. I knew Marshall Allman well enough to know the scene was also true to him. 
  
  That’s one more reason I think that scene is so beautiful. I can’t wait for the world to see it. I hope you agree. What’s the key to making eight minutes of dialogue work? Make it true.

• 2012-04-05

  FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT TANIA RAYMONDE

  - Tania’s audition got her the Lauryn role five seconds in

  - Tania can riff on virtually any subject

  - Tania’s “one take” scene in Blue Like Jazz required only one take

  - Tania can hang with the guys

  - Tania is fearless

• 2012-03-30

  FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT CLAIRE HOLT

  - Claire is Australian

  - Claire can do accents with Meryl Streep-like precision (her Yorkshire accent is a personal favorite)

  - Claire has played a good mermaid (H2O), a bad vampire (The Vampire Diaries), and a complicated Penny (Blue Like Jazz)

  - Claire is adored by all who work with her

  - Claire caught pneumonia while filming the “Blue Bridge In The Rain” scene. But you could never tell by looking at the poster.

• 2012-03-29

  Here’s to writing our own story…

  After six years, a financial meltdown, and 4500 amazing people who saved us (i.e. you), our little-movie-that-could is now coming out in theaters across the country!  To mark this momentous occasion, we want to make a documentary immortalizing the story behind the story.

  BUT… here’s the catch: we want you to supply all the footage.

  Yep, that’s right — you.

  We want to make a documentary from the perspective of the people who are making this story so very special.  Now that you’ve made history by making Blue Like Jazz possible, we want you to be a part of that story in the flesh, by making a film of your own. Similar to Youtube’s collaborative effort “Life in a Day,” we want to capture your experience being an integral part of our story.

  Overwhelmed with the possibilities?

  Here are some suggestions of what to film:

  1) OUR STORY: Film yourself reciting this copy of our story of how our movie got saved (irony intended).  **NOTE: Don’t film yourself looking down and just reading. Look into the camera. Your eyes are the most compelling part of the image. And we don’t need you to recite the whole “script” from memory — select passages will be fine, then we’ll edit it all into a beautiful montage.

  2) YOUR STORY: Tell us why you responded to the call to “Save Blue Like Jazz.”  Not a Backer? Tell us what this film means to you and/or interview someone you know. 

  3) DISOBEY: Make your civil disobedience for credit. Document your participation in our awesome street team. Film your own robot invasion of the box office, make a flash mob, pull a Blue Like Jazz-inspired prank. But whatever you do, film it for our documentary. 

  4) IMPROVISE: Write your own dang story. Find something compelling and shoot away. Don’t let us limit your creativity.

  Here are the rules:

  1) Footage must be limited to 1 minute for reciting “OUR STORY” and 3 minutes of any additional footage. So film all you want and cut it down to the most compelling, interesting and beautiful parts (good sound is always a plus!).

  2) You have until May 1st to post your footage. Please include all necessary credits in the info of the video (including those who make visual appearance and everyone behind the scenes). 

  3) Post to YouTUBE with “Blue Like Jazz: My Story” in the title in reply to my video HERE **Make sure to upload at the highest quality possible and make it available for download! (Otherwise I can’t get it.)

  BOOM! You’re done.

  Then once all the footage is collected… I, Marshall Allman (the actor who plays Don Miller), will edit it all together.  Once finished, I will most likely host a live premiere online for everyone to watch prior to the DVD release. This will also be among the extras on the DVD itself! If your footage makes the final cut, you will receive credit! And even if your footage doesn’t make it, you will still receive credit just for submitting!

  Keep in mind that it is VERY difficult to inform millions of people about a movie. Hunger Games spent $45 million on marketing. Act of Valor spent $30 million.

  We don’t have tens of millions of dollars. We have 4500 people. And counting…

  So take this opportunity to not only spread the word about Blue Like Jazz, but also have a one-of-a-kind documentary to show for it. 

  Here’s to writing our own story…

  Marshall Allman (and the entire Blue Like Jazz Team) 

• 2012-03-28

  FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT MARSHALL ALLMAN

  - Marshall was the first person cast for Blue Like Jazz.

  - Marshall just finished a movie with Robert Duvall, Billy Bob Thornton, Kevin Bacon and John Hurt (Jayne Mansfield’s Car).

  - Marshall takes the craft of acting very seriously.

  - Marshall is married to the lovely and talented Jamie Anne Allman (The Notebook, AMC’s The Killing).

  - Marshall is a force of nature. Blue Like Jazz wouldn’t exist without him.