Disney/Marvel will be casting for principal roles and extras to appear in new Thor feature film when it begins filming in Santa Fe, New Mexico this March.

Open Casting Call Details:
Ages 18 and over may attend. You are welcome to bring non-returnable photos of kids interested in being extras in the film. Please bring a pen. Photos will be taken at no charge.

Where:
224 E. Palace Avenue
Marion Hall 1st Floor
Santa Fe, NM 87501

When:
Friday, February 19 2010
2:00pm – 7:00pm

Saturday, February 20, 2010
9:00 – 4:00pm

You may be able to submit your information to:
Thor Casting
1698 Galisteo Street
Santa Fe, NM 87505

For more information click here:

I was very fortunate to be able to attend the “MOVIES, GAMES, AND COMICS PANEL” this weekend at the Albuquerque Film Festival 2009. The speakers on the panel were T.Q. Jefferson: the Marvel Comics Director of Games, the Eisner-nominated Pander Brothers: Jacob and Arnold Pander, and a writer/director from Rogue Taurus Productions. It was a great relaxed panel where they told us about how they work with the story, licensing and marketing of their projects.

T.Q. Jefferson from Marvel Comics showed us a trailer to the new Iron Man 2 video game, which by the way rocked! He also showed some awesome character design concept art for Iron Man and Crimson Dynamo. He explained how the video game and the movie are both coming from the same place, but can still stand equally on their own. The story in the game is not a retelling of the new movie, but just a new adventure with the same characters and spirit from the movie. The game has been in development for over a year now, so the creators know the general idea of new movie but not the whole story. He hinted that the games for both the Thor and Captain America movies are already in development too.

I had missed seeing the the Pander Brothers last year when they came to the Santa Fe Film Festival with their award-winning identity theft thriller SELFLESS, so it was a nice surprise to see them on this panel. Jacob and Arnold Pander are both well established comic book writers and artists. They have worked for both Marvel and  DC, in film, video, animation design and illustration. Arnold Pander talked to us about his newest project Tasty Bullet, a graphic novel he’s working on with Jonathan Vankin. We got to see a really cool trailer for the graphic novel too. He also explained what type of promotions they have planned to bring readers to the book, including an ARG (Alternate reality game) and the creation of vintage commercials for the tasty drink. The graphic novel will be published by Image Comics.

Rogue Taurus Productions is an independent film company based in Albuquerque, NM. They have created several movies which were filmed in New Mexico. It was interesting to hear the writer/director from Rogue Taurus assessment that comics, video games and movies all come from the same place. The desire to tell a compelling and interesting story. He commented on how the beginning process are similar to each other, but they create completely different story telling mediums.

This was a great panel and I really had a fun time listening to what they had to say. I learned some new information regarding the creative writing process when it comes to licensing of properties. Thanks to the Production Central ABQ for hosting this panel through the Albuquerque Film Festival 2009.

This last weekend I took a trip down to my home town of Las Cruces, New Mexico to watch the premiere of my friend Carlos Parra’s zombie film  “Dark New World” which he wrote and directed. It was filmed in 16 days with a budget of $3,000 dollars. Watching the movie though, you wouldn’t know that it was done for so little. The quality of the acting and the story telling was top notch.  Although the premiere was actually at Allen Theaters on Friday the 13th (which by the way had 2 sold out screenings) I went to the premiere on  Saturday March 14th at the Fountain Theater (which also had a  sold out screening). I chose to go to the screening at the Fountain Theater because there was a Q & A with Carlos and several actors from the movie.

“Bio-terrorists unleash a devastating plague across America and the chemicals from the bomb kill millions.  Days after the attacks, the recently dead begin to rise and devour human flesh. Sam and Kat seek refuge outside of the city in an abandoned house with eight others. Rations are running low and people are dying. Sam and Kat are in over their heads.
Do they fight to survive out in the world against zombies or stay and fight the monsters within?”

I really enjoyed this movie. I’ve been a fan of zombie movies for over 20 years now. I still remember the first one I watched as a kid “Return of the Living Dead”, and of course I’m a fan of all George A. Romero’s films. This film like all good zombie films doesn’t focus on the zombies but the survivors of this Dark New World. We see how people cope with the horrors of these monsters, but more importantly we see how people’s true nature starts to surface.  Who leads, who follows, who takes advantage of others, and who protects the weak? Carlos brings great camera shots and amazing character development though out the film. I thought some camera shots would look  great in a graphic novel.

Dark New World dvd cover

What’s really cool for me is the part about how I helped contribute to it. Although I wasn’t involved in the writing or the filming of this awesome movie, I did kinda help with the idea. A few years back I use to own and run a comic book store called Modern Age Comics. I remember myself and a few of my customers were talking about zombie movies and how we should make one. Carlos was the perfect candidate for filmmaking, he had previously filmed a short for the Governor’s Cup film competition called “Why Can’t it be Tuesday” the day in the life of a graphic designer.  Some of which was a actually filmed in the comic shop. Carlos took the zombie project by the horns and wrote a great script. Unfortunately I was in no financial means to go any further with the project. I was in the process of closing my store down. But Carlos was energized by the zombie film and took upon himself to see it through. I’m proud to say that I was able to assist with his casting call for the film. Carlos held the initial casting call at my store location on the last weekend I still held the lease. The turn out was great with about 150 people showing up for the audition that day.

Q&A with writer/director and cast of Dark New World

It was fun to watch people I actually knew personally on the big screen. The character of Frost was played by one of my old customers Tony Baker and the role of Jinx was played by Johnny Tabor who I worked with at the Las Cruces Sun News. Both these guys are great actors and brought the level of the movie to greater heights. I still remember playings Heroclixs with Tony in the comic shop. He’s now living in California doing stand up comedy and has been in a few movies. Right on dude! The funnest part in the move was when Carlos himself made a cameo as “George”, a zombie movie buff quoting “Night of the Living Dead“. Like writer/director M. Night Shyamalan and Quentin Tarantino, Carlos casts himself as an unforgettable extra in his own film.

There was a lot of buzz for this movie too. Carlos did a great job of marketing his film with a website, a myspace profile, and flyers. He received a good amount of press too. With articles written about the movie and it’s premiere in Yahoo movies, the Las Cruces Sun News, and an on-line interview he gave with KRWG public radio. It’s also very cool that the movie is listed in IMDb (The internet movie database).

Dark New World can be purchased on dvd at the films website:  http://www.darknewworld.com. Every sale will help finance Carlos in taking the film on the road to film festivals. The movie will be showing at this years Eerie Horror Film Festival. Right on dude!