Sunday, June 27, 2010
Michael in talks to star in online sex predator thriller
Deirdre O'Hara, director of the first Popular film and several Lifetime movies, is directing a drama about a teenage girl who befriends an online stranger who turns out not to be who he claimed to be. Meyers is in negotiations to star as the mysterious online suitor. Rumor has it Meyers is planning to gain alot of weight and greatly alter his appearance for the role, since in the book the script is based on, his character is supposed to be extremely fat and much older. Sounds interesting...
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
BLOG ENTRY: tears of the sun firing and inception premiere
Hey fans! Mike here. Just wanted to clear up some things. As I'm sure you all heard, I was recently let go from my most recent movie I was shooting in Australia, Tears of the Sun. I just want to say that I have always prided myself in being one of the few (and sometimes it feels like the ONLY) celebrities who doesn't play the coy "I can't speak on that issue" game who allows rumors to run rampant leaving fans who pay their good hard earned money to see our films wondering where the truth lies. I have no problem admitting to my many faults and mistakes, but this is one of those times where I truly am NOT to blame, but actually the victim. Victim of what you may ask? Victim of a misunderstanding? Victim of my reputation (which is no one's fault but my own)? Victim of an oversensitive conclusion jumping feminist who doesn't trust or like men? Maybe. Who knows. Here's the truth....
....As you all know I am a director as well actor. I shot an 80 minute film during my time on The Best Tears starring a few of my co-stars from the show called The Pill and recently wrapped directing on my second film, a feature length indie film called Look At Me Now which will be in select theaters next Janaury 2011. While shooting Tears of the Sun two weeks ago I was done for the day and before leaving the set I stopped by Ellen Page's trailer and found her rehearsing lines. I asked her if she would like to appear in another film of mine that I was thinking of making one day and she said sure. I gave her a super rough cut of Look At Me Now to watch so she could see what kind of style I have. I called her a few days later to see what she thought of the footage (or if she even watched it yet) and got no answer so I left a voicemail. A few days later I go to the set and see her in the dressing room and ask her (and I quote) "What? You don't return messages?" She responds, stuttering and clearly lying, making it up as she goes: "Um, I dont, I dont have voicemail". I found this odd since HER VOICEMAIL PICKED UP AND I CLEARLY LEFT A MESSAGE. Anyway, one of the new female hair dressers interrupts me and feels the need to introduce herself and go on to explain to me her whole life story. I patiently listen and by the time she is done, next thing I know Ellen has disappeared. So I leave the dressing room looking for Ellen and I am confronted by the film's executive producer/location manager Nick (a super great nice guy from Albania who has been on set almost every day and makes sure everyone has what they need). He tells me Ellen doesn't want to speak to me, be around me or anything. She basically said that I am "harrassing her".
...OK, Ummm WHAT? I did nothing of the sort. I said ONE SENTENCE to her (and have a witness, the young hair dresser, to prove it). All I asked her was why she hadn't returned my phone message. Anyway, a big thing on set erupts as I am looking for her (she was hiding SOMEWHERE) to explain herself and on set extras, producers, crew members, and security are trying to escort me off the set as if I am some kind of threat. I am told by Nick (and our assistant director Amy, A BITCH who EVERYONE HATED) that I must leave the set since I am making Ellen feel unsafe, or I will be fired. I basically told them to kiss off and fire me, so they did. I honestly feel this is all so insane and immature and makes no sense. Clearly Ellen watched the footage I sent her (for those who don't know, Look At Me Now is partially about a girl who starts doing porn and cannot escape the industry and there's ALOT of graphic nudity, sex, drug use, and violence in the film) and maybe felt that I was some type of perv who wanted her to do something similar in a future film, which wasn't the case at all. I just wanted to show her "hey I've directed something before, take a look at it". Alot of actors (and others) CLAIM they direct but their only experience is recording a friend's birthday party on their iPhone. You may ask, 'Well why didn't I just show her footage from The Pill, which was far less graphic?' Well, first off, I thought Ellen was a grown up who could handle Look At Me Now, not a child. Secondly, the only copy I had left of The Pill was on an old laptop of mine I threw out a while ago since it crashed due to a virus that I couldn't have fixed. There WAS a video of the film on a website called IMEEM which no longer exists, so basically unless someone out there downloaded it, I have no copies of the film and it's gone forever. Look, I am VERY proud of Look At Me Now and thought a "serious" actress like her would enjoy it and maybe be impressed. Instead maybe it grossed her out. I honestly don't know if this is the reason why she is acting like this. I am just speculating. But she is handling this all wrong. She needs to grow up. Seriously.
...Anyways, I have had several conversations with the producers explaining to them my side of the matter, telling them exactly what I just told you. But to no avail. It's cool. I know the truth. I know I did nothing wrong. I hope one day Ellen will give (either to me or the press) an explanation for why she feels so "harrassed" or "threatened" by me. Until then I will move on. This whole situation has become comical to me, but it DOES anger me. But I will get over it. I have been through worse. I can care less about how some "midget sized Canadian actress with 3 semi-decent films to her resume who thinks she is WAY more talented than she actually is" feels about me. Despite all of this, I think the film will be great. The cast (Dennis Quaid, Josh Hartnett, Michelle Yeoh, Simon Pegg, Cliff Curtis) is superb and Terence Malick has done an INSANE job with the visuals. It will look like nothing we've ever seen before. The story is very spooky and I hope none of this drama ruins what I think will be a great film. So go see it next March when it comes out. I hope I will be allowed to promote it with my co-stars, but if I am not due to what happened, I understand and can live with that.
IN OTHER MORE POSITIVE NEWS: It looks like I will make it to the Inception premiere after all. Chris Nolan, who is directing Quantum of Solace, also wrote Inception and really wants me to be there with the rest of the cast. MGM (the studio that funds the Bond movies) is still having some issues that have pushed filming back by a few weeks but everything will go as scheduled for the most part when we start filming in mid September. I was to fly to London and begin fight training and gun training in early July but that got pushed back to late July and Chris wants me at the Inception premiere. I already have a date lined up. But there is the little issue of Miss Morley. As you all know from my Complex magazine interview things did NOT end well AT ALL between us on the set, which was the last time we saw each other. And when I say "did not end well", I mean "if I see that person again I will KILL THEM". It's mutual. But I don't want that tension to ruin what should be a great night and a great premiere. I have such respect for director David Fincer, writer Chris Nolan, my co-star/friend/fellow LA Laker fan (we won it again this year BITCHES! lol) Leo, co-star Rachel, and everyone else involved who will be there, and I don't want a special night which is meant to be a celebration of the release of this amazing amazing mindblowing blockbuster to turn into some drama filled high school thing of "oohh Mike just showed up, where's Mel? will they argue? etc. etc." So I contacted our Best Tears co-star Sarah Jean Russell (who is still extremely close to Mel) and although her first reaction to my first text was not as kind as I'd hoped ("Fuck off" I recall being repeated constantly) we hashed it out and got around to thinking of ways to make it so things are at the LEAST cordial between Mel and I at the premiere, and at best, friendly. If we could achieve that, well, then maybe world peace IS possible haha....
P.S. My best friend James Franco just wrote an excellent article about the craft of acting that I think everyone should read. He's been working really hard lately doing multiple films, soap opera acting (which is one of the most demanding schedules an actor can endure), Saturday Night Live skits, and on top of all that going to NYU to get his master's degree in screenwriting as well as studying drama. I don't know how he finds the time lol. He even mentions me in the article saying "There are certain actors who possess such integrity, creative powers, and unbridled poetic passion that when they act they are doing more than just reading the lines. They are truly...feeling them. Guys like Marlon Brando, James Dean, Denzel Washington, Daniel Day-Lewis, Sean Penn, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ed Norton, Benicio Del Toro, Jack Nicholson, and in my opinion, even my good friend Michael Reese Meyers, when they perform, they channel something, they access something deep inside themselves that transcends the words on the page. They paint with their emotions using the screen as their canvas and only accept roles that they know will change them as a person, forever. Michael always told me, 'I won't take a role unless I feel I won't be the same person afterwards, a role that will teach me something about myself '. I am no where near these guys but I plan to be, one day"....(thanks bro)
You can read the whole thing here: www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/roundtable/james-franco-on-the-limits-of-control.php
Until next time guys;
-the chameleon =)
....As you all know I am a director as well actor. I shot an 80 minute film during my time on The Best Tears starring a few of my co-stars from the show called The Pill and recently wrapped directing on my second film, a feature length indie film called Look At Me Now which will be in select theaters next Janaury 2011. While shooting Tears of the Sun two weeks ago I was done for the day and before leaving the set I stopped by Ellen Page's trailer and found her rehearsing lines. I asked her if she would like to appear in another film of mine that I was thinking of making one day and she said sure. I gave her a super rough cut of Look At Me Now to watch so she could see what kind of style I have. I called her a few days later to see what she thought of the footage (or if she even watched it yet) and got no answer so I left a voicemail. A few days later I go to the set and see her in the dressing room and ask her (and I quote) "What? You don't return messages?" She responds, stuttering and clearly lying, making it up as she goes: "Um, I dont, I dont have voicemail". I found this odd since HER VOICEMAIL PICKED UP AND I CLEARLY LEFT A MESSAGE. Anyway, one of the new female hair dressers interrupts me and feels the need to introduce herself and go on to explain to me her whole life story. I patiently listen and by the time she is done, next thing I know Ellen has disappeared. So I leave the dressing room looking for Ellen and I am confronted by the film's executive producer/location manager Nick (a super great nice guy from Albania who has been on set almost every day and makes sure everyone has what they need). He tells me Ellen doesn't want to speak to me, be around me or anything. She basically said that I am "harrassing her".
...OK, Ummm WHAT? I did nothing of the sort. I said ONE SENTENCE to her (and have a witness, the young hair dresser, to prove it). All I asked her was why she hadn't returned my phone message. Anyway, a big thing on set erupts as I am looking for her (she was hiding SOMEWHERE) to explain herself and on set extras, producers, crew members, and security are trying to escort me off the set as if I am some kind of threat. I am told by Nick (and our assistant director Amy, A BITCH who EVERYONE HATED) that I must leave the set since I am making Ellen feel unsafe, or I will be fired. I basically told them to kiss off and fire me, so they did. I honestly feel this is all so insane and immature and makes no sense. Clearly Ellen watched the footage I sent her (for those who don't know, Look At Me Now is partially about a girl who starts doing porn and cannot escape the industry and there's ALOT of graphic nudity, sex, drug use, and violence in the film) and maybe felt that I was some type of perv who wanted her to do something similar in a future film, which wasn't the case at all. I just wanted to show her "hey I've directed something before, take a look at it". Alot of actors (and others) CLAIM they direct but their only experience is recording a friend's birthday party on their iPhone. You may ask, 'Well why didn't I just show her footage from The Pill, which was far less graphic?' Well, first off, I thought Ellen was a grown up who could handle Look At Me Now, not a child. Secondly, the only copy I had left of The Pill was on an old laptop of mine I threw out a while ago since it crashed due to a virus that I couldn't have fixed. There WAS a video of the film on a website called IMEEM which no longer exists, so basically unless someone out there downloaded it, I have no copies of the film and it's gone forever. Look, I am VERY proud of Look At Me Now and thought a "serious" actress like her would enjoy it and maybe be impressed. Instead maybe it grossed her out. I honestly don't know if this is the reason why she is acting like this. I am just speculating. But she is handling this all wrong. She needs to grow up. Seriously.
...Anyways, I have had several conversations with the producers explaining to them my side of the matter, telling them exactly what I just told you. But to no avail. It's cool. I know the truth. I know I did nothing wrong. I hope one day Ellen will give (either to me or the press) an explanation for why she feels so "harrassed" or "threatened" by me. Until then I will move on. This whole situation has become comical to me, but it DOES anger me. But I will get over it. I have been through worse. I can care less about how some "midget sized Canadian actress with 3 semi-decent films to her resume who thinks she is WAY more talented than she actually is" feels about me. Despite all of this, I think the film will be great. The cast (Dennis Quaid, Josh Hartnett, Michelle Yeoh, Simon Pegg, Cliff Curtis) is superb and Terence Malick has done an INSANE job with the visuals. It will look like nothing we've ever seen before. The story is very spooky and I hope none of this drama ruins what I think will be a great film. So go see it next March when it comes out. I hope I will be allowed to promote it with my co-stars, but if I am not due to what happened, I understand and can live with that.
IN OTHER MORE POSITIVE NEWS: It looks like I will make it to the Inception premiere after all. Chris Nolan, who is directing Quantum of Solace, also wrote Inception and really wants me to be there with the rest of the cast. MGM (the studio that funds the Bond movies) is still having some issues that have pushed filming back by a few weeks but everything will go as scheduled for the most part when we start filming in mid September. I was to fly to London and begin fight training and gun training in early July but that got pushed back to late July and Chris wants me at the Inception premiere. I already have a date lined up. But there is the little issue of Miss Morley. As you all know from my Complex magazine interview things did NOT end well AT ALL between us on the set, which was the last time we saw each other. And when I say "did not end well", I mean "if I see that person again I will KILL THEM". It's mutual. But I don't want that tension to ruin what should be a great night and a great premiere. I have such respect for director David Fincer, writer Chris Nolan, my co-star/friend/fellow LA Laker fan (we won it again this year BITCHES! lol) Leo, co-star Rachel, and everyone else involved who will be there, and I don't want a special night which is meant to be a celebration of the release of this amazing amazing mindblowing blockbuster to turn into some drama filled high school thing of "oohh Mike just showed up, where's Mel? will they argue? etc. etc." So I contacted our Best Tears co-star Sarah Jean Russell (who is still extremely close to Mel) and although her first reaction to my first text was not as kind as I'd hoped ("Fuck off" I recall being repeated constantly) we hashed it out and got around to thinking of ways to make it so things are at the LEAST cordial between Mel and I at the premiere, and at best, friendly. If we could achieve that, well, then maybe world peace IS possible haha....
P.S. My best friend James Franco just wrote an excellent article about the craft of acting that I think everyone should read. He's been working really hard lately doing multiple films, soap opera acting (which is one of the most demanding schedules an actor can endure), Saturday Night Live skits, and on top of all that going to NYU to get his master's degree in screenwriting as well as studying drama. I don't know how he finds the time lol. He even mentions me in the article saying "There are certain actors who possess such integrity, creative powers, and unbridled poetic passion that when they act they are doing more than just reading the lines. They are truly...feeling them. Guys like Marlon Brando, James Dean, Denzel Washington, Daniel Day-Lewis, Sean Penn, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ed Norton, Benicio Del Toro, Jack Nicholson, and in my opinion, even my good friend Michael Reese Meyers, when they perform, they channel something, they access something deep inside themselves that transcends the words on the page. They paint with their emotions using the screen as their canvas and only accept roles that they know will change them as a person, forever. Michael always told me, 'I won't take a role unless I feel I won't be the same person afterwards, a role that will teach me something about myself '. I am no where near these guys but I plan to be, one day"....(thanks bro)
You can read the whole thing here: www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/roundtable/james-franco-on-the-limits-of-control.php
Until next time guys;
-the chameleon =)
Monday, June 21, 2010
Michael spotted grocery shopping at the Grove with Naomi
Naomi as Unique in 2009's The Believers
A day after it was reported that he was fired from his latest film for a dispute with a co-star Michael was seen in Los Angeles shopping at The Grove with his neighbor/ex-girlfriend/friend/ex co-star Naomi De La Fuente. I am no longer curious as to if they are an item or not. It seems pretty certain now, especially from his June 2010 Complex interview remarks about her, that they are simply good friends now. Still waiting for a response from him regarding his Tears of the Sun firing though, sources say we should get one anyday now...
P.S. How many of us still go do laundry or grocery shopping with our exes? You KNOW these two are still boning! haha =)
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Michael FIRED from "Tears of the Sun"
Actress Ellen PageHows this for news? DailyBuzz.net and the AP are reporting Michael was fired today from his sci-fi space film Tears of the Sun. According to sources it was due to a "dispute between Meyers and co-star Ellen Page". Nothing else was mentioned other than the fact that the majority of his footage was shot already and that his character will still be in the film. He only had one week left to shoot but the scenes he had left were not integral to the plot. Hmm, I wonder what this little "dispute" was. I won't speculate since I am sure others will do that for me so I will wait until we hear something official from Michael or Ellen themselves (unless they aren't allowed to speak about it due to some contract issue or something, which would SUCK). If you aren't familair with Ellen Page she starred in 2005's controversial pedophile horror thriller Hard Candy (which strangely enough is the all time favorite film of a one miss Mel Morley), 2006's X-Men 3: The Last Stand as Kitty Pride, and in 2007's Oscar winning teen pregnancy drama/comedy Juno. She is also known to be quite the little (and I stress LITTLE, girl is TINY) feminist, so I am not shocked her and Michael didn't get along. This is the first time Michael has ever been fired from a film and only the second time he's ever been fired from ANY project he's been in (there was this little cable TV show called The Best Tears a few years back, you may have heard about it). I wonder if he just has back luck with projects that have the word "Tears" in the title? Anyways, stay tuned....this could get interesting...
Tidbit: So I guess we aren't getting that set visit with Michael that I was hoping for huh?
Saturday, June 5, 2010
New Inception Featurette
Over on FincherFanatics.com, the official website for director David Fincher, we found this awesome new behind the scenes look at Inception. It features some new footage as well as interviews from Fincher, writer Chris Nolan, and cast members Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Reese Meyers, Mel Morley, and Rachel McAdams. Everyone seems pretty excited for the project, as are we! One interesting thing I noticed was how everyone from DiCaprio to Fincher to Nolan to Rachel and Mel were all doing some formal sit down with an Inception poster in the background while Meyers' segment was extremely brief and he was on some red carpet of some sort. Apparently this is a sign of things to come since Meyers will be busy preparing for James Bond this summer and as he stated in his recent Complex magazine interview, most likely will NOT be promoting Inception due to his 007 duties as well as his need to avoid a certain Miss Morley. Another interesting note is how Morley describes the similarities between Trace and Adrienne's characters. It's almost as if she could have been speaking about herself and Meyers as well. I stand by my prediction that this will be the highest grossing and most entertaining film of the year! CAN'T WAIT!
Here's the video (in HD):
Here's the video (in HD):
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Michael to portray King of Pop Michael Jackson?
Wow this is a crazy story. Apparently director Spike Lee is working on a film called "The Man Who Walked on The Moon" which spans 30 years (from 1979 to 2009) in Brooklyn and shows the impact Jackson's music and legacy had on several generations of Brooklyn citizens. The film is bookended by Brooklyn's reaction to the death of the icon on June 25, 2009. According to Bossip, a black gossip site, Spike is looking at Meyers to play the King of Pop. According to the film's producer Jon Kulik, "Spike got a call from Michael about playing Jackson in the same vein that Val Kilmer portrayed Elvis in True Romance, where you only see or glance him here and there in certain shots and archival footage. Spike was kind of blindsided because he never thought of using an actor to play him but he is very intrigued by Meyers' passion and ideas". Sound VERY interesting. Will he be playing the black version? White version? Both? Robert Downey Jr. went blackface in Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards and got an Academy nomination. We'll see. Meyers got his first movie role at 18 years old as an extra in Spike Lee's 2002 film 25th Hour where he played a young Wall Street stock trader. 6 years later he starred in another Spike Lee joint as a soldier in the 2008 World War II epic Miracle At St. Anna. This would be his third time working with Spike. The film is scheduled to come out sometime in 2012.Tidbit: His character Jayden had a scene towards the end of the first season of The Best Tears with co-star Kayla Ochoa's Phoenix Van Pyrus character where he told her his two dream roles; a wheelchair bound person and Michael Jackson. Perhaps Meyers was speaking his own mind with those lines and this is his chance to live out that fantasy...
Daniel Day Lewis in talks to join Meyers in The Boy Who Got Away
Hows this for a scoop???? According to HollywoodHype.com, Daniel Day Lewis, one of the greatest actors of all time, is "in talks" with Neil Blomkamp to star alongside Michael Reese Meyers' in The Boy Who Got Away. If you don't already know, we updated that Michael signed on to this project a few months ago. It takes place in Sweden, will be filmed in Swedish with English subtitles, and is about a wealthy politician (Lewis) whose political aspirations are put in danger when his competitor brings up old wounds about Lewis' teenage son who was murdered several years earlier in which it went unsolved. He hires the police to help solve the mystery and Meyers plays a young female (yes, FEMALE) hacker with a criminal past who agrees to help the police with their investigation in exchange for a clean record. The film is scheduled to come out on December 21, 2011, just in time for the inevitable awards it will no doubt garner. I can totally see Michael getting a Best Actor nod and Daniel a Best Supporting Actor nod as well. Can't wait for this. Stay tuned since nothing is final yet...
Tidbit: According to my sources, movie website Dark Horizons.com is going to have a set visit for Tears of the Sun at the end of the month so hopefully we will get some pics/footage/interview quotes or something with Michael from the set as he plays one of his most chameleon roles yet, a 55 year old astronaut.
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