Here's "Brazzaville Teen-Ager," a brand new short film starring, directed, and co-written by Michael Cera and based on the story of the same name by Bruce Jay Friedman. YouTube channel JASH released the short yesterday, which follows a young man trying to save his father (Charles Grodin) from death by getting his grumpy boss (Jack O'Connell) to sing back-up vocals on a Kelis song. Michael Cera's directorial career starts here.
Imagine you’re Roman Polanski. (Stay with me, this isn’t going where you think.) It’s 1968, and you’re working on Rosemary’s Baby, a thriller that will go on to earn six Golden Globe and two Academy Award nominations. Everything’s going great until a bit player delays a day of shooting to debate your carefully scripted delivery. “To me, that’s not being a troublemaker — that’s just being alive,” actor Charles Grodin recalls the incident, more Zen than mortified, in a 1997 interview with Charlie Rose. The memory, and the glib explanation of it, exemplify performer-turned-pundit Grodin’s infamous churlishness, part of a personality introduced over dozens of wonderfully awkward late [...]
The new YouTube channel JASH, which features content from Sarah Silverman, Tim & Eric, and Reggie Watts, announced via a teaser trailer today that Michael Cera has made a short film, Brazzaville Teenager, that will premiere exclusively on the channel later this month. Billed as "a short movie on the theme of desperation," the 15-minute short stars Cera, comedy legend Charles Grodin, and character actor Jack O'Connell. This is a rare acting role for Grodin, who hasn't starred in a movie since 2006's The Ex and 1994's It Runs in the Family before that. Brazzaville Teenager is based on the Bruce Jay Friedman short story of the same [...]
Talk show guest Hall of Famer Charles Grodin made his debut on Jimmy Fallon last night, which was also his first late night appearance in four years. He kicks things off by forcing the audience to give him a standing ovation, leading into exactly the kind of awkward, hostile, hilarious late night interview he's been specializing in for decades now.
