His name is Romany Malco – the American-born Trinidadian, once a member of hip-hop group, College Boyz, whose big break came when he starred as MC Hammer in a VH1 telepic about the entertainer, in 2001.

But the role that really introduced him to the rest of the world, and that many will likely remember him for thus far, was as the trash-talking womanizer, Jay, in Judd Apatow’s 2005 box office hit, The 40 Year Old Virgin (although Think Like A Man opens in a week).

He also had roles in Blades Of Glory, Baby Mama, The Love Guru, and a recurring role in Weeds, the Showtime cable TV series.

But before all of the above, in early 2001, he co-starred in a low-budget, indie comedy flick, alongside Paul Rudd, called The Chateau, about 2 American brothers Graham and Allen Granville (Rudd Malco, who’s character is adopted), who learn that they have inherited a chateau in France (which comes with its own staff), courtesy of their great uncle who recently died.

They travel to France to claim their inheritance, but, of course, very little goes as planned, as they are ill-equipped to communicate with the chateau’s staff – a property that’s burdened with debt, forcing the brothers to find a buyer for it, leaving a bewildered staff resorting to desperate measures to prevent them from selling the place.

Naturally, hilarity and hijinks ensue.

It’s actually a decent indie comedy; My understanding is that there really was no script, meaning much of it was improvised, and it was shot relatively cheaply and quickly, with a handheld digital camcorder, evident in the films really “noisy” images, making it seem almost documentary-like.

For his part, Romany’s Allen Granville is the bad cop to Paul Rudd’s good cop. He’s kind of an arrogant, self-centered prick actually; But it’s a role that isn’t all that different from past roles he’s played – see Jay, the trash-talking womanizer in The 40 year Old Virgin for instance.

The film is wisely short, clocking at at about 90 minutes (with credits), and, overall, nothing ground-breaking, but I really appreciated the no-budget/lo-budget aesthetics, since that’s the milieu within which I usually play. And it’s funny enough, thankfully, and kind of irreverent; it’s a comedy after all

It’s like something they made on the fly, just for kicks, between *bigger* projects, and had a lot of fun doing.

The film grossed over $200,000 at the box office that year. Not bad considering the kind of film that it is.

Romany continues to work however, in mostly  supporting roles in comedies… but he stays busy enough! Check his IMDB resume.

Any fans of Malco out there? He’s one of those guys who’ll likely always be around for while, popping in and out in movies and TV shows here and there, even though his name may not be on everyone’s lips.

Here’s a trailer for The Chateau, which is available on DVD, though I couldn’t find it streaming anywhere: 

Trailer provided by Video Detective

Article source: http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/just-dont-call-him-the-black-guy-from-the-40-year-old-virgin

His name is Romany Malco – the American-born Trinidadian, once a member of hip-hop group, College Boyz, whose big break came when he starred as MC Hammer in a VH1 telepic about the entertainer, in 2001.

But the role that really introduced him to the rest of the world, and that many will likely remember him for thus far, was as the trash-talking womanizer, Jay, in Judd Apatow’s 2005 box office hit, The 40 Year Old Virgin (although Think Like A Man opens in a week).

He also had roles in Blades Of Glory, Baby Mama, The Love Guru, and a recurring role in Weeds, the Showtime cable TV series.

But before all of the above, in early 2001, he co-starred in a low-budget, indie comedy flick, alongside Paul Rudd, called The Chateau, about 2 American brothers Graham and Allen Granville (Rudd Malco, who’s character is adopted), who learn that they have inherited a chateau in France (which comes with its own staff), courtesy of their great uncle who recently died.

They travel to France to claim their inheritance, but, of course, very little goes as planned, as they are ill-equipped to communicate with the chateau’s staff – a property that’s burdened with debt, forcing the brothers to find a buyer for it, leaving a bewildered staff resorting to desperate measures to prevent them from selling the place.

Naturally, hilarity and hijinks ensue.

It’s actually a decent indie comedy; My understanding is that there really was no script, meaning much of it was improvised, and it was shot relatively cheaply and quickly, with a handheld digital camcorder, evident in the films really “noisy” images, making it seem almost documentary-like.

For his part, Romany’s Allen Granville is the bad cop to Paul Rudd’s good cop. He’s kind of an arrogant, self-centered prick actually; But it’s a role that isn’t all that different from past roles he’s played – see Jay, the trash-talking womanizer in The 40 year Old Virgin for instance.

The film is wisely short, clocking at at about 90 minutes (with credits), and, overall, nothing ground-breaking, but I really appreciated the no-budget/lo-budget aesthetics, since that’s the milieu within which I usually play. And it’s funny enough, thankfully, and kind of irreverent; it’s a comedy after all

It’s like something they made on the fly, just for kicks, between *bigger* projects, and had a lot of fun doing.

The film grossed over $200,000 at the box office that year. Not bad considering the kind of film that it is.

Romany continues to work however, in mostly  supporting roles in comedies… but he stays busy enough! Check his IMDB resume.

Any fans of Malco out there? He’s one of those guys who’ll likely always be around for while, popping in and out in movies and TV shows here and there, even though his name may not be on everyone’s lips.

Here’s a trailer for The Chateau, which is available on DVD, though I couldn’t find it streaming anywhere: 

Trailer provided by Video Detective

Article source: http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/just-dont-call-him-the-black-guy-from-the-40-year-old-virgin

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. It ain’t easy to start a televison network. It’s painful, difficult, expensive and very bloody. The survival rate is thin and there are a lot of bodies left in its wake after all is said and done.

So with that OWN has announced that it will be laying up 1/5th of its total staff, up to 30 people, and restructuring its operations in New York and L.A.

In an official statement Oprah Winfrey said that the decision to let the employees go was a “tough” one, but that the “economics of starting up a cable netwrok did not fit OWN’s cost structure”.

She further said that: “as CEO I have a responsibility to chart the course for the long-term success for the network. To wholly achieve that long term success, this was the neccessary next step.”

What positions were cut were not announced, but that the responsibilities of the laid off workers would be distibuted among the employees who will remain at OWN.

Article source: http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/own-to-layoff-1-5th-of-its-staff

I say screw the abundance of fictional hospital-set medical dramas and see this documentary feature instead which has all the drama served up non-scripted style. 

It’s called The Waiting Room, an ITVS-funded, character-driven, cinema verité doc that, thanks to unprecendented access, takes the viewer inside the doors of an ER at an American public hospital struggling to care for a community of largely uninsured patients. 

It promises a raw, intimate, and uplifting look at how patients, caregivers and hospital staff deal with each other, illness, bureaucracy and hard choices.

Further…

The ER waiting room serves as the grounding point for the film, capturing in vivid detail what it means for millions of Americans to live without health insurance. Young victims of gun violence take their turn alongside artists and small business owners who lack insurance. Steel workers, taxi cab drivers and international asylum seekers crowd the halls. The film weaves the stories of several patients – as well as the hospital staff charged with caring for them – as they cope with the complexity of the nation’s public health care system, while weathering the storm of a national recession. The Waiting Room lays bare the struggle and determination of both a community and an institution coping with limited resources and no road map for navigating a health care landscape marked by historic economic and political dysfunction. It is a film about one hospital, its multifaceted community, and how our common vulnerability to illness binds us together as humans. 

As someone who’s previously been one of those many uninsured (and currently know many who are in that predicament), only visiting hospital emergency rooms when in dire need of care, I definitely want to see this.

Directed by Emmy-award winning documentarian Peter Nicks, the film will make its debut in competition at the 55th annual San Francisco International Film Festival, which runs from April 19–May 3.

Watch a preview of it below:

Article source: http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/siff-2012-preview-the-waiting-room-real-life-trials-of-one-hospital-emergency-room

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