Jason Behr - Jason in a new movie! "The Tattooist" ~ Sneak Peek Clip Added 7/14! - Page 20

**Crystaline** · 08-13-2007, 04:48 AM

Thanks for the article! It's nice to know they did the culture justice and didn't exploit it. I'm most excited about this film. I'm sure Jason is amazing in it.

LongTimeFan · 08-15-2007, 09:36 PM

Nice ARTICLE!

Quote:

By TONY WHITT, Contributing Editor
Published 8/15/2007

LOCATION: Coming to a theater near you, over and over again!

THE SKINNY: In a recent interview for the site Whedonopolis, SKINWALKER star Jason Behr revealed that the recent werewolf movie won’t be the last time you’ll be seeing him on the big screen this year. THE TATTOOIST, a movie filmed in New Zealand which will be released on August 30, sees Behr playing an artist who manages to release a deadly spirit while trying to learn the Samoan art of tattooing. Like you do. And D-WAR, a movie about an old Korean legend where creatures return to Earth to destroy the planet, will feature Behr as a reporter investigating the matter and will be released September 14.

After that, we’ll see Behr in SENSELESS, based on the novel by Stona Fitch, in which he’ll play a businessman who is kidnapped and tortured so that his ordeals can be shown online as a reality show. (Isn’t there a show like that on Fox this season already?) And finally, he’ll appear in FROST, a movie about a 30-something man who suffers an existential crisis. So, if you don’t like SKINWALKERS and you want to see Jason Behr in something you like, just give it time…it’ll happen.

The full interview with Behr is available on the Whedonopolis site.

Whedonopolis Interview!

Quote:

An Afternoon With the People Behind SKINWALKERS, Part I- Jason Behr Interview
Written by Maria G
Friday, 10 August 2007

Skinwalkers is a new movie from Lionsgate Films that opens today, starring Jason Behr (Ford on Buffy’s “Lie to Me”), Natassia Malthe (Gadreel on Fallen), Shawn Roberts and Rhona Mitra. It tells the story of two packs of Skinwalkers, creatures who, based on Navajo mythology, possess the power to change from human to werewolf, move and kill at lightning speed. The packs are divided between those who found a way to resist the searing urge to hunt and others who have embraced their bloodlust. The packs clash, as Varek (Behr’s character) seeks to annihilate Timothy (Matthew Knight), a boy in the other pack that will assume the unique power to end the werewolf curse once the red moon is full. Timothy’s family will do everything in their power to protect him.

We caught up with Jason Behr, Natassia Malthe, Shawn Roberts and creature effects genius Stan Winston (who also designed the Tooth Fairy for Darkness Falls) last week in L.A. during their press day to talk about the movie. Today we bring you our interview with Jason. Part 2 will be coming up over the next few days.

Jason Behr - The man behind "Varek"

Jason Behr: How’re you guys doing today? It’s a little hot…

Not as hot as it was in the movie, shot in the Summer, with all the leather…

JB: That’s the rumor, yes. Don’t tell anybody!

What attracted you to this movie?

JB: Basically the fact that I am playing a bad guy. That was such a departure for me! And I’m doing all these things that I’ve always wanted to do, I think, as a kid and then as an actor. I got a chance to shoot guns and ride motorcycles and do insane wire-work and stunts and just be a big, bad-ass wolf!

Can you describe your character, in your own words?

JB: Varek is the very Alpha leader of this group of Naturalists or Purists. The movie is about two very different types of Skinwalkers. Varek’s group is the Purist; they have embraced that power, that freedom and bloodlust; they’re almost addicted to it, and they believe that power to be a gift. The others, the Wintry Wolves (laughs), they have suppressed that primal instinct for centuries, and so I get to play the big, bad-ass, Alpha werewolf which was just cool for me.

Skinwalkers seems like a coming of age story for the boy at its center…

JB: Yeah!

…Could you talk a little more about that? Also, there seems to be a heavy drug use metaphor.

JB: I think Matthew Knight (who plays Timothy) is a really talented kid, and it’s a lot of pressure on somebody to really carry that discovery and the moral compass of the piece. There’s a coming of age story about him sort of finding within himself to really embrace his own power and to really believe in himself. As far as the drug use metaphor, absolutely! Blood lust has that addictive quality, and that was something we all talked about and discussed even before we started shooting.

We were told that you studied wolves…JB: I did!

For what purpose? Did it help with your movement, or…?

JB: You know, I wanted to be as truthful as I possibly could to the material, and to Stan Winston, and everything he’s done for the project. We started off watching this documentary about the Sawtooth Mountain wolves, and it’s incredible footage of these very free, very beautiful wolf packs, and then, beyond that, I wanted to see what it was like at the zoo in Toronto, and it really did sort of polarize-- It was real reflection and representation of these two tribal packs. You have one that’s very free, and then the one at the zoo that I felt really bad for, cos, you know, I’m sure they’re well taken care of, but they were confined, they were suppressed, they were reduced to this small place. They weren’t really truly free, and so it actually gave me an insight to have empathy for them, but it also gave me a real glimpse of what these other guys were supposed to be.

So how’s the werewolf sex?

JB: The werewolf sex?! (laughs all around) Fantastic, just fantastic! (more laughs) What a question! You really want me to answer that? (more laughs) Pretty amazing! You know, it was—we had our teeth in, we had our eyes in, we’re in the middle of nowhere, literally naked… It was interesting, I’ll say that. You have to be really careful with the teeth, because you could really take some flesh off with that! (more laughs)

To what extent did Stan Winston’s makeup help you get into character, and was it a pretty long, arduous process for you?

JB: It was a pretty long process, but it did help get into that mode, I mean, Stan’s a legend; he’s been doing this for a long time. If you’re gonna do a werewolf movie, you might as well do it with Stan, because he’s the best at what he does. Pure genius! He’s been wanting to do a werewolf movie for—since he was a teenager. He has a story about how, on Halloween, he’d go out dressed as a werewolf, because he loves werewolves, and it’s the reason why he got into this business in the first place, and he’s never done a werewolf movie before, so I felt like I was in extraordinary hands with him. His creation, his wolf suit, allowed us the freedom and gave us permission to play full out. When you put on the suit, and the teeth, and the eyes, and you stand up, you feel like you’ve become something else! It gave you complete freedom.

When you’re in that makeup, do you feel a little immobilized? Because we hear, sometimes, when they put in the contacts, you can’t really see…

JB: I’d say the vision was a little tough to get used to; you’re talking about contacts that cover up the entire eyeball, and you don’t have a lot of peripheral vision, it’s pretty small, but you get used to it; you have to. The suits themselves allowed for a lot of freedom and movement, cos Stan knew that we had to do all these stunts, and I did as many stunts as I possibly could. We had Steve Lucescu, who’s one of the world’s best stuntmen, and he’d show me something to do, and I’d come back the next day and say, ‘Give me more, give me more, give me more!’ I felt like a big, giant kid playing every day.

They allowed you to do that?

JB: Yeah, absolutely!

No stunt double?

JB: No, there were some things that they had (to use a stunt double) that was only because of time issues, but for the most part it’s all me, it’s all wolf, it’s all fun!

Did you have to do a lot of training beforehand, specific training to do this?

JB: I’d done some stage combat before, so I’m familiar with that. As far as training—they really didn’t give us a lot of time to fully prepare for it. They gave us a really condensed gun training; we needed to be safe, but as far as getting familiar with the gun, if you’ve seen the movie, I have some pretty heavy guns! (laughs) So, they didn’t really give us a whole lot of time to adjust to that, so we were sort of—It was fast, it was furious and it was sort of left to instinct, which, I guess, is what it’s all about.

Had you done wirework before?

JB: Never! Like I said, Steve Lucescu, the stunt guy, our stunt guru, really wanted to make this fun and new, and do things that had never been done before in the stunt world, and I really took it upon myself to do as much as I possibly could to allow that to happen, but I’d never done wirework before, never shot that kind of gun before, never put on a werewolf outfit before, so… (laughs all around) It was just a lot of fun; I had the time of my life.

How hard is stunt wirework to learn? Is it something you can pick up easily?

JB: I was the only person who really did it; I mean, me and Kim Coates (who plays Zo, my right-hand man in the piece)—he did a few things here and there, but I think they saved most of the wirework for Varek, because he’s supposed to be the biggest bad-ass in the world.

For what I’ve seen—you were in Roswell, then in The Grudge, now in this, next in Dragon Wars —Is it a personal preference to lean towards sci-fi and fantasy and horror, or is it the project that attracts you to it?

JB: It’s usually based on a project-by-project basis. I’ve tried to balance it out with a lot of independent, character-driven pieces as well, which I’ve been lucky enough and fortunate enough to do, but to me it always has been, first and foremost, the character and the character within the piece and the story, so, if anything, I’m drawn to good storytelling.

What does it for you about scripts? Something that just jumps out of the page?

JB: There is never a specific thing; like I said, it’s always about the character and what that character’s journey is. Sometimes you’ll find a very interesting, very captivating character within a mediocre story, but you don’t really want to be part of a mediocre story, so you wonder if there’s any way you could make that better. But, there’s never really one specific thing, but I love challenges and I love to mix it up a bit and have variety, so I’m constantly trying to challenge myself as an actor, and also allow myself to explore things that I’ve never explored before.

Can you talk about what’s coming up for you?

JB: I did a movie, D-War, that’s coming out in September; and then after that I have The Tattooist that I did in New Zealand. It’s about this tattoo artist who finds himself immersed in the Samoan culture and tradition of tattoos and all the beliefs that go with it. After that, I have a movie called Senseless coming up, based on the Stona Fitch novel, and I just finished a movie in New York called Frost, another independent, character-driven piece like Senseless—a coming of age story about a man in his 30's who has an existential crisis.

Sounds like a busy schedule!

JB: Thank goodness! Thank goodness! I love it.

You ever think about going back to TV?

JB: Yeah, I think there are great stories being told on TV right now; the lines between TV and film are becoming very blurry. Again, it’s on a project-by-project basis.

Thank you for talking to us.
Last Updated ( Friday, 10 August 2007 )

**Dreamer 4 Ever** · 08-15-2007, 10:40 PM

Thanks for that Liz

**Crystaline** · 08-16-2007, 02:45 AM

Jason has kept busy indeed! And I'm sure we'll hear of another project soon. That man has a vigorous work ethic.

MyrnaLynne · 08-16-2007, 04:28 AM

Oh thank you for the beautiful new photos of Jason poolside in the shades, and I'm really glad to hear that the talk about Tattooist is good, and that they were culturally sensitive to Samoan culture and didn't want to give offense/walk roughshod over people's culture or beliefs. But I would expect no less from a Jason project!

LOL about the articles saying KaDee found the tattoos hot - yes, please please please Jason - NO More TAttoos!! This is a man way too beautiful to need any further decoration!

LongTimeFan · 08-17-2007, 09:21 PM

I decided to dig around for more Tattooist information - here's what I found tonight - so far...

Here's a pretty scathing review of the movie - and Jason.

It's full of spoilers so be warned!

ARTICLE
He gives it two out of 5 stars...
Reviewed by Andrew Hedley

Spoiler:

An original concept gets a bland delivery in the latest New Zealand horror film to hit the multiplexes. The Tattooist suffers from playing it safe, relagating a uniquely Pacific concept to the confines of an uninspiring screenplay.

The film begins muddled, and spends the rest of its running time trying to straighten itself out. Tim Balme cameos as a crazy religious father who gives his son a psychological problem after cutting a tattoo out of his arm. Plot point one: tick! Flash forward to the son all grown up, keeping it cool in exotic Singapore (Asian investors are happy!) He finds himself at a Tattoo expo, where he discovers a stall that offers the ancient Samoan art of Tatau. He steals a little tattooing tool and spends the rest of the film regretting that decision: for it has an evil curse!

Roswell actor Jason Behr, no doubt the greenlighting drawcard for the film’s investors, is an emotional black hole. He sucks the life out of every scene. His monotonous voice serves as an anesthetic. If he hasn’t bored you by the end of the film, he’ll have put you to sleep. Mia Blake, on the other hand, is much more perky and likeable. And there’s decent supporting work from Michael Hurst (whose character vanishes mysteriously from the storyline), Robbie Magasiva and David Fane.

I was interested to learn that everyone in Otara lives next to a power pylon. Surely they’re more at risk dying from cancer than from an evil spirit? The broad cultural generalizations don’t end there, because the musical soundtrack is also a bit naff. It’s an insipid playlist, with dreary offerings of rock and hip hop. The love scene is pure gorgonzola: a Don McGlashan tune strums gently as Sina traces the art across Jake’s back. Add in some pelvic thrusting, some candles, and some fade transitions and you’ve got yourself a good laugh.

Is it scary? The evil spirit that we occasionally get a glimpse of looks a bit creepy, but generally no, it’s not a frightening film. The make-up effects are wonderful, especially the spurts of black ink that replace the victims’ blood. And there’s a particularly gory scene in a hospital which will please the splatter fans. But as far as horror films go, it’s a paint-by-numbers exercise. Sudden loud noises and flash frame abound.

Story-wise, it doesn’t make sense. Why is that spirit going around killing everyone? What a bitch! What did they do to him? The climax of the film feels tacked on. It’s a cheat ending that appears out of nowhere (I’m not ruining anything by revealing that Jake finds the answer in his dreams… yes, really) and ends on a note that is both respectful to Samoan culture and at the same time horribly insensitive.

On a brighter note - how do we get an issue of this magazine? Any Oz JBfans around to help us?

Spasifik Magazine
The site says if you email them with your location, they'll tell you a retailer near you who sells the magazine - hopefully someone can find it and scan the article for us!

And I also found this ARTICLE. It's from May of this year, around the same time the promo photos surfaced. I don't recall ever seeing it before...

And it looks like the film is

RESTRICTED 13

And look - you can win tickets to see The Tattooist!
Click here if you're interested.

CONTEST The contest link is at the bottom of the photos.

And I also found THIS review - much more favorable! More spoilers here but I highlighted some things that won't spoil and will probably help make you want to see it.

And, though it'll spoil you some, it's worth reading the last line, seriously!!

Quote:

The Tattooist

Jake Sawyer (Jason Behr; Roswell, The Grudge) has gotten himself into a spot of bother. The American tattooist travels the world,

Spoiler:

touting ‘Tattoos that heal’, and exploiting ethnic themes to do so.

During a tattoo expo in Singapore he comes across a group of Samoans giving a traditional tatau, and wonders if he can use their ancient art to his advantage. In his selfishness he unintentionally releases a powerful and angry spirit – one that begins to kill all he touches.To put an end to the deaths, recover his soul and save his new love Sina (Mia Blake, No 2), Jake must travel to Auckland, delve into Pacific mysticism and learn the customs of the Samoan culture.

I really enjoyed the way that the movie built to a climax – this drew out the tension and truly cemented the suspense.

Spoiler:

It was the ‘70’s way of making a thriller – the longer you don’t see the evil protagonist, the better it is. This is something the films of the ‘90s in particular never understood; after the first few minutes of Scream or Saving Private Ryan, could the movie ever draw you in to the same degree?

The Tattooist was shot in New Zealand around September last year – Jason Behr was in town for filming but maintaining a low profile, only seen out on the town once at the Kate Sylvester After Party at ANZFW06. It stars a host of established Kiwi actors (Michael Hurst, Tim Balme), alongside some familiar faces and newcomer Caroline Cheong, a Singaporean actress in her first feature film. It has some horror elements but nothing too nasty.

Overall I found this New Zealand film suspenseful and well written – but I admit that the highlight of the film for me was seeing Jason Behr

Spoiler:

walking around a Singapore hotel room in the nude. Am I shallow? Perhaps.

And this about the screenwriter for TT - he's samoan, I didn't realize that, though it makes sense.

Quote:

Vela Manusaute (Writer/Director/Producer)
An award winning comedian with 'The Brownies', their first show was performed in 1997. Has moved into production area where he became a writer, director and a producer. He was nominated for the Chapman Theatre Aware as 'Best Writer' for "Taro King", which toured in Wellington in 2004. He also directed "Semi's Plight", "Love Handle" and "Playaz Night". He wrote the original idea for the movie "The Tattooist" coming out this year with 'Eyeworks Touchdown', starring Jason Behr.

**Crystaline** · 08-17-2007, 09:47 PM

Spoiler:

Another nude scene?!

Oh, Jason, bless you!

Er, as for that first review...monotonous voice? Boring? Get the frak outta here.

LongTimeFan · 08-18-2007, 07:19 AM

I know, Crystal -

- and I'm pretty sure that's a photo we've never seen before too.

And...I found this "Exclusive Clip" today!

I don't recall seeing it on this thread before.

**Crystaline** · 08-18-2007, 10:39 AM

Yeah, that was clip was posted before. I think it's even in the opening thread as well. It's a great little scene too. Left me wanting to see more.

**Dreamer 4 Ever** · 08-18-2007, 12:16 PM

I know right, I can't wait for this one

And that review

Makes me even more anxious

-res cogitans- · 08-23-2007, 08:46 PM

I keep seeing ads for it on tv...even though i freakin hate our nz films i will have to see it for him

LongTimeFan · 08-23-2007, 08:56 PM

Hey Insanitic, is it possible for you to get a copy of the latest issue of Spasifik Magazine with the Tattooist feature? Maybe at the local library or something - maybe you can scan it there. I'm so curious about what they have to say and what photos they've got from their set visit.

If you can't, I understand. It's just something I found online.

Thanks!

By the way - there are two new clips on the Tattooist website!

I also found this!!

TATTOOIST PREMIERE

Quote:

The Tattooist to premiere August 29
Peter Burger’s debut feature film The Tattooist has its New Zealand premiere on Wednesday August 29th at the Queen Street SkyCity cinemas.

The star of the film, Jason Behr, will attend the premiere, as will co-stars Mia Blake, Caroline Cheong, Robbie Magasiva, David Fane, the director, Peter Burger, and producer Robin Scholes. The organizers are expecting many Asian film industry representatives to attend, because of the opening of the Waitakere Studios on the same day.

The film will open on Thursday August 30th, the day after the premiere in New Zealand cinemas.

-res cogitans- · 08-23-2007, 10:31 PM

^OMG hes gonna be there!!!

i saw that mag it in the shops recently...i might go buy it..though i dont have a scanner but i could type it out

**Dreamer 4 Ever** · 08-23-2007, 10:36 PM

OMG OMG OMG !!!!!! Ok, all NZ Obsessies must attend

Insanitic I hope you get to go and also to see Jason and you must report back with details

Thanks for all the great news Liz

New Thread!