On the surface, Los Angeles is bright, breezy and filled with glamorous locales. But that’s not the world writer-director Isaac Eaton explores in his new film “Shadow Hours,” starring Peter Weller and Balthazar Getty. He plumbs the city’s nightlife and the shocking demimonde of erotic clubs, exotic nightspots and bizarre performance artists. And it’s not make-believe.
“We tried to go to real places in Los Angeles,” Eaton said. “But it is not just Los Angeles. I wanted to represent any urban city in the world.”
“Shadow Hours,” which is being distributed by CanWest Entertainment, opens July 14 at Laemmle Regent Showcase in Hollywood. Getty, who is the son of J. Paul Getty III, co-produced the film. It is the story of a struggling gas station attendant who is seduced into the underbelly of Los Angeles by a stranger.
The low-budget film was a hot commodity in the distribution marketplace, in part because of its erotic themes. Even so, the film is rated R.
A veteran of the independent film movement, Eaton said the world of the true independent filmmaker is getting rougher and rougher as global entertainment companies like Disney and Time Warner gobble up boutique moviemakers like Miramax Films and New Line Cinema.
“It is extremely tough and it is a miracle to get a distributor,” he said. “At Sundance, they have more than 800 films submitted but only 16 get shown. You are lucky to get into a theater.”
The Spin Is In
Dr. Laura Schlessinger, whose upcoming syndicated TV talk show for Paramount has been the target of gay activists because of her perceived anti-homosexual remarks, is fighting back. She gave Time magazine an exclusive interview for its July 3 edition, in which she tries to explain her remarks about gays and lesbians being “deviants” and “biological errors.”
In the article, Schlessinger says that the controversy, which cost her show the support of Procter & Gamble, has sent her grabbing for tissues to wipe away the tears.
“It’s astonishing to have your name smeared with such vitriol,” she said.
The interview has drawn no sympathy from the anti-Schlessinger Web site, www.stopdrlaura, which continues its attack on the talk show diva. One twist comes from a Schlessinger disclosure about how she plans to end each one of her shows. “We will tell people what they can do, what senator to write, how they can make changes,” Schlessinger told Time.
“If Paramount is spending millions on a show that will involve lobbying Congress, are they complying with federal lobbying disclosures?” Stopdrlaura asks.
To date, Schlessinger’s TV talk show, which is slated to debut in September, will be available in more than 90 percent of the country, and Paramount has no plans on pulling the show despite the protests.
