JOSIE HO "DREAM HOME" INTERVIEW: PSYCHO KILLING PARTY!

"Dream Home": Beneath the soft, romantic title (1) lurks what might possibly be the craziest, bloodiest slasher film ever made in Hong Kong!

Produced, directed and written by the rebellious and prolific Pang Ho-cheung ("You Shoot I Shoot", "Men Suddenly In Black"), who doesn’t give a damn that its sexual and violent content guarantees it won’t be shown in Mainland China, "Dream Home" had an unparalleled $4 million production budget (amazing, considering the current Hong Kong cinema crisis) and is also the first movie produced and financed by 852 Films, a company co-founded by "Dream Home" lead actress Josie Ho.

While involved in her role as a young, hard working woman willing to do anything to have her own apartment, Josie Ho revealed to Action Queens some exclusive information and gruesome anecdotes about her work on the movie, both in front of and behind the camera. Let the massacre begin!...

Frederic Ambroisine: Tell me about the company that you founded, 852 Films.

Josie Ho: 852 Films is a film company I recently formed with my husband, Conroy Chan, and my manager in the States, Andrew Ooi. Our goal is to produce commercial films in Hong Kong that are more youthful, and edgier. We feel that Hong Kong produces a lot of films but it lacks edgy films, so we would really like to show people what we can do. We’d like to push our culture forward and be able to open up everyone’s view.

FA: When did you first hear about Pang Ho-cheung’s project, “Dream Home”?

JH: When I first heard about Pang Ho-cheung’s script I was really thrilled. It’s really unusual for somebody to write such a crazy, insane story about Hong Kong. I think what attracted me to the script is the general topic, which is a concern for every single Hong Kong citizen. Also, with the economic crisis happening all over the world right now, this topic concerns everybody. The script happens to be a psycho story about a very relevant topic.

Josie Ho & Pang Ho-cheung on the set of "Dream Home"

FA: Since you are a producer and actress for “Dream Home”, what has been your role during pre-production and while shooting?

JH: Conroy and I are based in Hong Kong, so we both went to every pre-production meeting with the director. Because we are new, we listened to the director regarding who he wanted to hire for each production department. We had some preferences, but we tried to work together to find the best people for each department. We were very much involved with the creative process of the film. The colors. I was really involved with the wardrobe and I was concerned with the visuals and the sound, basically the more creative and artistic parts of the film. Whereas money… we left that to my partner Andrew Ooi, who is based in Vancouver. He is a very well known manager to a lot of Asian artists in the States. He is my manager, and he is in charge of funding and sales. Conroy is also in charge of sales. He and Andrew work really well together; they make a really good pair and do really good Public Relations. They can talk to people and make people happy. I’m more of an introverted person, so I think I am better off as an actress and doing the creative aspects of the job.

Norman Chu & Josie Ho in "Dream Home" (2010)

FA: Can you describe your character in “Dream Home”?

JH: Her name is Cheng Lai-sheung. She is very stubborn. She comes from a very traditional Hong Kong Chinese background, where the family favors boys and not girls. She is a person who always felt that she could take on the responsibility of caring for her family, but her family doesn’t want her to do that because she’s a girl. They expect her to do what a girl should do. So she was born into this kind of family background, yet all her life she had only this one desire. She decided this when she was very young. She grew up in a tiny, packed, old beat up building in Hong Kong, and she has only a one inch view of the sea between buildings. She has dreamed since childhood of buying a big house with a sea view, like her classmates have. Sheung is a girl who sacrificed a lot for this. She received so much rejection from the system, the establishment, that she finally just flipped. I’m not going to tell you what happens in the end. She just goes insane and does something crazy in order to get an apartment.

Cheng Lai-sheung (Josie Ho) reaching the snapping point

FA: You’re playing a different kind of killer in “Dream Home” compared to your first movie “Purple Storm”.

JH: (laughs) Yeah.

FA: How do you work yourself into a state of insanity? What is your inspiration?

JH: I’m so introverted that I like to distance myself from people. That’s my comfort zone and it’s how I deal with friends. So I think the way I have to approach the role is to break the ice. I figured it out by myself while I was preparing for it: I have to break that ice. I have to get close to people; I have to be able to touch them and not be afraid to grab them and kick them and slap them. I’m very distant from people all the time, so I have to break that part of myself in order to become this girl. Because she is really not afraid to do that. I basically go through the whole script in my mind, the whole process of the whole incident. I also look at my own childhood. How would she play the role? Somehow I feel that it doesn’t matter how much homework I have prepared for the role; the most important thing is how well me as a child and me as an adult, in the role, match up. I think the most important thing is to work together with other people. I would walk onto the set every day and try, especially when it’s my “home”, to sit there and feel it. I would try to create memories that I would have from this house, this environment and atmosphere.. I go home and prepare, and then I would come to the set and try to improvise I work with my feelings. Like, I walk onto a set and pick up one or two of the props and try to build a relationship with them. I would build myself upon that, and somehow I would have to achieve a very different angle every time.

"What the hell..."

FA: You have worked with many different directors. What kind of director is Pang Ho-cheung compared to others? What does he have that is unique?

JH: Pang Ho-cheung is an excellent scriptwriter. He is a lot more daring and has a lot of fresh ideas. I like the way he shoots, although he is really tough to work with because he is very precise and he wants everybody to be as precise as he is. For example, because he is a script writer and a novelist, he is really precise with words. He would tell me exactly how many seconds he wanted to pause between each comma, each phrase. This is really hard for me, but as soon as my body started to kick in, I felt it was really fundamental to do it his way because it actually looks a lot better than just us actors going in there and trying to jam. Also, at times he is really, really hardcore (laughs). He wanted a lot of blood. He is hardcore in the way he wanted to torture people. He does not consider your feelings at all (laughs). A few characters died during the shooting (laughs), and I feel really bad about that, but they did an excellent job. I just hope they were (laughs) were glad that their unfortunate torture made them look better in the film. This includes myself. He shoots in a really special style.

Josie Ho & Pang Ho-cheung in the make-up room (Clearwater Bay studios)

FA: You think the movie will shock or affect people?

JH: I think this film will for sure shock all of Hong Kong. I’m not sure if we can shock everyone in the world, or even Asia, because Japan, Korea and Thailand produce a lot of really psychotic films. Hong Kong is just catching up. I think somebody has to take this step, and we’re trying. I hope we shock a lot of people. At the same time, our film is artistically wonderful to watch because we have the most amazing crew here. We have the best lighting in Hong Kong for our film: [Ringo] Wong Chi Ming. He is really hard to get because he’s very artistic and money doesn’t drive him. The quality of the project is what gives him the drive to work with you. He usually works on a lot of Wong Kar-wai films. It just so happened that this project interested him so much that he agreed to come and work for us, so I’m really, really glad. And it’s our honor to have another director, [Nelson] Yu Lik-wai, who is a really good New Wave director from Hong Kong. He is also a brilliant director of photography. He is on our crew, and that is amazing. And we have Hong Kong’s best computer graphics company, Fat Face [Production Ltd.], run by Ko Fai, who happens to be a childhood friend of mine. We also have Andrew Lin (2). He’s been known as an actor for so long in Hong Kong that nobody really knows he actually studied special effects makeup in Hollywood. He’s worked on films like "Alien" [3] He grabbed his friend Q from Thailand [founder of the company QFX] to come work on the special effects makeup team. Although it might not sound new to people abroad, because you guys have been making films like that for a long long time, this is all really new for Hong Kong. We are just starting to make films with CG and special effects. Now, using that in a psychotic thriller is really altogether new. I hope it will turn out well.

Teaser poster of "Dream Home" designed by Josie Ho herself

FA: In addition to Andrew Lin, several other cast and crew members, like Derek Tsang, Phat Chan, Conroy Chan and yourself, are members of AliveNotDead.com. Tell me about the website.

JH: AliveNotDead.com is one of the most innovative websites, and is basically the best platform for creative artists from everywhere in the world. It is the place to get to know different creative artists, to connect and to show everyone what we’ve got. It was originally made for a [fake] boy band called Alive formed by four guys: my husband Conroy Chan, Daniel Wu, Terence Yin, and Andrew Lin. They turned that into a mockumentary movie, “The Heavenly Kings”, and now AliveNotDead.com has evolved into a community artists website. I think it’s the most creative idea to have ever happened in Hong Kong.

Andrew Lin on the set of "Dream Home" (Clearwater Bay studios)

It’s a really good thing for all creative artists to get to know each other’s work through the site. We can comment on other people’s work. I think the most important thing is that it hooks up East and West so that people can work together. I think this website really works this way: to hook people up from different places so that they can work together. Without this website, it is really hard to gather people together and get to know them. Before, it was through a film festival. You would have to buy a plane ticket and fly somewhere to meet people. This website is an all-in-one, one-stop shop. I think the creative industry should grow this way. We can become more international. Different cultures can meet, mix and blend together.

Phat Chan on the set of "Dream Home" (Clearwater Bay studios)

FA: The special effects seem very well done. While filming on the set, when you see the blood and guts, does it look real? Or do you think it is fake and have to try to make yourself feel like it is really happening?

JH: No, when I am in a scene I never let myself feel that it’s a prop. I always feel that this is alive. I think everyone on the set has this feeling. There is a sense of violence in every single human being, and that’s a scary thing. That’s what we’re trying to talk about in this movie. The funny thing is, every time we bring out a prop out that we need to smash to death, everyone on the set is so excited because they all want to do it themselves. And we have to say, “Oh I’m sorry, the actor gets to do it,” or “The stuntman gets to touch it, you don’t get to touch it.” But everybody is so excited about it. That’s the scary thing: why is everybody so excited about violence? I think it’s a taboo; violence is wrong. It’s not right, but it’s such a taboo in the world: it shouldn’t happen to anyone so everyone is very curious about it.

Josie Ho on the set of "Dream Home" (Clearwater Bay studios)

FA: I heard that one of the actresses [Song Juan] couldn’t take the violence on the set of “Dream Home”. What happened?

JH: She cried when she saw me smash her own prop. She ran out crying and she actually vomited. I ran after her and said, “I’m so sorry. Why are you crying?” And she said, “It’s like that prop has been sitting in the makeup room every day, and now I kind of said goodbye to her.” You know, we have lunch and dinner with her in the same space and we wave goodbye to her every night when we go home. So she sort of had a relationship with her. Also, the prop looked exactly like her: the features, her pores, everything. So she just felt really sad when somebody did that to her prop. But the funny thing is, she didn’t cry when she did her own stunts. The prop was only there in between shots, like when we had to smash her head against the toilet bowl so hard her forehead actually breaks open. And her head is so hard, it breaks the toilet bowl as well. She did her own stunts, so the first few times I smashed her it was really her. Then we would insert a shot where her prop was smashed. Especially when her forehead gets broken. She didn’t cry when she was doing it herself, but she cried when she had to look at herself from the third person point of view. That was funny. To me. (laughs).

Josie Ho facing Felix Lok & Juno Mak in "Dream Home" (2010)

FA: Are you a big fan of horror movies?

JH: I do like horror movies. I’m not a huge fan but I do admire some of them. I think I’m more into admiring different personalities, like "American Psycho" . I won’t say I admire. That’s morally wrong because he is a very, very bad person. But I am almost fascinated with his characteristics: why would humanity turn out this way, what’s wrong with the world, what kind of pressure is put on us, why would this happen to that person? There are all these motives that drive him to do all these bad things to other people. I’m more interested in things like that.

Pang Ho-cheung & Josie Ho on the set of "Dream Home"

FA: How do you split your time between being a producer, actress, singer?

JH: It’s not easy. I have to put singing aside when I’m doing acting. I wish they didn’t cross, but sometimes if I have a busy schedule I have to do both. This time I managed to separate the two, and I’m really happy about that. I can concentrate on producing and acting. While I’m on the set, I’m an actress, not much of a producer. I think during the first few days I was a little nervous about the schedule being delayed, or not being able to finish what we needed to do, or that we might run over our budget. I knew we wouldn’t run over the budget in the first few days, but I was worried about a lot of different things. I got to the set really early and got dressed, got all made up. I would run onto the set and check out the lighting and the camera crew, and where my marks were. I just wanted to pressure everyone and make sure they were working. I think I only maintained that for a couple of days. Iin the end I was too tired. I just felt I had to leave that to Conroy because it just wasn’t working with my acting.

FA: When you finish shooting, will you be back as a producer?

JH: I will be back looking after the post production. We’re already having meetings on marketing and promotion. I like doing things like that. It’s fun, and we’re using new angles and exciting topics in the media, and we’re spinning stuff to scare people. That’s all fun to do, but it’s not fun when you’re an actress too. And I felt that. The funny thing is that in the meetings I felt I was kind of conflicted. I needed to get in to my character in about four hours, yet I was still sitting in that meeting. I was already getting into character and running out of ideas in the meeting. I felt bad about it.

FA: What is your hope for the future of “Dream Home”?

JH: I hope that a lot of people will like this movie, and I hope that this movie will shock the hell out of Hong Kong. I hope that everybody will go crazy; will go mad.

FA: And laugh too, because it’s funny!

JH: Yeah. (laughs) I think a lot of female office workers will like the movie because Sheung is a sort of an anti-hero. And, the topic touches everybody’s heart in Hong Kong. I think it’s gonna be crazy (3).

Interview conducted by Frédéric Ambroisine on the set of "Dream Home" (Clearwater Bay Studios – Hong Kong) in April 2009. Edited by Sylvia Rorem for ActionQueens.com. Thanks to Making Film (Subi Liang, Pang Ho-cheung & Quin Lau) & 852 Films (Josie Ho & Conroy Chan). Photos courtesy from 852 Films ("Dream Home" stills and behind the scenes - "Dream Home" posters designed by Josie Ho) and Fred Ambroisine (on the set of "Dream Home").

(1) The alternative English title of "Dream Home" is "Victoria Bay".
(2) Check out Andrew Lin video interview about the special make-up effects of "Dream Home".
(3) Originally planned for Halloween 2009, the Hong Kong release date of "Dream Home" had been postponed to May 13, 2010. The movie will also be released in France through Wild Side Films. Also, the worldwide rights of "Dream Home" had been picked up by Fortissimo Films.

THE ABSURD FESTIVAL: WARRIORS, CANNIBALS, GANGSTERS, ALIENS, PSYCHOS & ACTION QUEENS!!

Action Queens.com is proud to announce its first official partnership with Absurde Séance!

Premieres, unreleased films, rare jewels, curiosities, extreme flicks and improbable z-movies: all of this in a festive atmosphere for an audience who wants a taste of something different…

The Nantes organization Absurde Séance has screened more than 350 movies in the last decade. To celebrate its 10-year Anniversary, Absurde Séance presents the 4-day Absurd Film Festival September 23rd-26th, 2009! Marc Caro (“Dante 101”), Titof (the pornstar!) and Olivier Bach (DVD distributor and producer of Greg Morin’s French zombie short “Paris by Night of the Living Dead”) will be attending!!

If you love Really Good Bad-Ass movies or movies So Bad They’re Good, The Absurd Festival guarantees a Really Good Time!!


Among the 14 movies to be shown, three are 70’s & 80’s classics: Don Coscarelli’s sword-and-sorcery fantasy “The Beastmaster” (1982) starring Marc Singer (“V”) and Tanya Roberts (“Sheena”); the 1979 Japanese space-travel sci-fi action film “G.I. Samurai” (granddaddy of the 2005 remake “Samurai Commando Mission 1549”) starring Sonny Shiba (“Streetfighter”); and the rare Italian nunsploitation flick directed by Gianfranco Mingozzi, “Flavia The Heretic” (1974).

Gianfranco Mingozzi's “Flavia The Heretic” (1974)

2008-09 movies will include the French premiere of Tom Shankland’s “The Children” - Possessed children turn against their parents on Christmas vacation! (French release: Oct. 21st, 2009).

Tom Shankland’s “The Children” (2008)

September 23, Opening day: The Absurd Festival will screen Chris Stapp’s “The Devil Dared Me To”, a film about a New Zealander trying to become the greatest living stuntman; and Martin Weisz’s “Grimm Love”, the story of a student obsessed with cannibalism.

Chris Stapp’s “The Devil Dared Me To” (2007) & Martin Weisz’s “Grimm Love” (2006)

These two films will be followed by Fantastic Night, a four-film all-night show starting at 10.30 pm!!

The Fantastic Night film line up:

John Harris’s claustrophobic monster horror film “The Descent 2” - see "The Descent 2" : Blood and (Monsters) Shit.

John Harris's “The Descent 2” (2009)

Paul Solet’s “Grace”: After a terrible accident, a woman decices to give birth to her supposedly dead baby!

Paul Solet’s “Grace” (2009)

Brett Leonard’s “Feed”, a 2005 thriller about a psycho who feeds fat women to death. Censorship was heavy on this movie in the U.S.; don’t miss this rare opportunity to see the uncut Australian version!!

Brett Leonard’s “Feed” (2005)

Jake West’s “Evil Aliens”, a UK sci-fi horror comedy à la “Bad Taste” and “Evil Dead”.

Jake West’s “Evil Aliens” (2005)

Also showing:

Released in August 2008, Jean-Marc Vincent’s “Lady Blood”, starring Emmanuelle Escourrou, is the surprising sequel to Alain Robak’s 1993 “Baby Blood” (a.k.a. “The Evil Within”). Released in France this August, Yukihiko Tsutsumi’s “20th Century Boys - Chapter 2”, adapted from Naoki Urasawa sci-fi mystery manga, is back! The movie takes place 15 years after Chapter One although both movies were made at the same time. The third part of this ambitious trilogy will be released in Japan at the end of 2009.

And finally, two great movies screened at the 15th L’Etrange Festival in Paris will premiere in Nantes at L’Absurde Festival: “Breathless” (Fantasia 2009 Best Picture and Best Actor). This brutal Korean drama marks the directorial debut of Yang Ik-June, who also happens to be screenwriter, producer, and star of the movie! Last but not least, the fantastic animation drama “Mary & Max” (featuring the voices of Toni Colette, Eric Bana and Philip Seymour Hoffman) is one of the most moving films ever made about friendship.

Yang Ik-June's “Breathless” (2009) and Adam Elliot's “Mary & Max” (2009)

FESTIVAL ABSURDE SÉANCE NANTES 2009 (Sept. 23th – 26th, 2009)
More information about the festival here: www.absurdeseance.fr (French only).
Venue : Cinéma le Katorza, 3, rue Corneille, 44000 Nantes.

Youtube trailers: "The Beastmaster" (2:12) - "G.I. Samurai" (3:20) - "Breathless" (2:01) - "Mary & Max" (2:05) - "Lady Blood" (1:33) - "20th Century Boys Chapter 2" (2:13) - "Evil Aliens" (2:00) - "Feed" (1:19) - "Grace" (2:24) - "The Descent 2" (2:43) - "The Devil Dard Me To" (1:37) - "Grimm Love" (2:11) - "Flavia The Heretic" (1:32) - "The Children" (1:28)

Tom Shankland’s “The Children” (2008)

NB: Weekly Screenings at the Nouveau Latina in Paris start on September 19th, 2009. On the evening of the 19th at exactly midnight, director Tom Shankland will personally introduce his movie “The Children”!! (see L'Absurde Séance on MySpace)

“MARTYRS” JAPANESE THEATRICAL RELEASE: SOLD OUT IN TOKYO!

Released in France in September 2008, Pascal Laugier's disturbing second feature “Martyrs” (the story of a young woman who wants to take revenge against the people who kidnapped and tortured her as a child) just officially hit the screens in Japan through the distribution company King Records.

Five months after its screening at Toho Cinemas Roppongi Hills, during the French Film Festival in Japan last March, “Martyrs” was showed again in Tokyo on August 29, 2009 at the Theater N Shibuya (THE cinema venue specializing in genre movies) and packed a full house. The last three spectators had to watch the movie standing!

According to King Records, the audience that night was a bit different from the usual horror film viewers: There were more women and the audience was more the "cinephile" type. After Tokyo, the movie will also be screened in other Japanese cities.

Mylène Jampanoï in Pascal Laugier's "Martyrs" (2008)

The “Martyrs” Japanese press-kit is online at the distributor’s website. Click on the picture below to see it (warning! Not for the faint-at-heart).

Front cover of the Japanese press-kit of "Martyrs"

“Martyrs” is also available in France on DVD/Blu-ray through Wild Side video since March 3rd, 2009, and in the U.S. through The Weinstein Company since April 28th, 2009. It has been out in UK through Optimum Home Entertainment since May 25th, 2009.

"Martyrs" UK poster

You can also watch the unreleased short documentary “Martyrs vs Censorship” featuring Pascal Laugier and the lead actress Morjana El Alaoui online by clicking on the picture below.

KATE FREUND INTERVIEW PART 2: COMEDY CENTERED

In the second and last part of her interview, D.I.Y. writer-director-actress Kate Freund talks about some of her great Channel 101 (unhopefully) rejected shows, the TV series “The Sarah Silverman Program”, Steve Agee, animation, music, and her new projects. Enjoy...

Frédéric Ambroisine: Five of the eleven shows that you did for Channel 101 have been successfully screened (“Pussy Talk”, “Mega Bitch Meltdown”, “The Day My Boyfriend Became”, “Turdy Longbows” and “The Vacationaires”). What are the titles of the unselected six others shows, and where can they be seen?

Kate Freund: Oh the list of rejected shows. I made “Astral Girl”, “Cast or Kill”, “Anna Manesia”, “Enders of Love”, “Death's Best Friend” and “Sushi Rocka”. Some of them I put up on my youtube channel, some of them lives on tape never to see the light of day.

Kate Freund in "Anna Manesia" (2007)

FA: “Anna Manesia” aired on VH1 in a TV program called Acceptable TV. Can you tell me more about it ?

KF: Acceptable TV was a sketch series that ran on VH1 for one season. Each week an internet audience would pick a user generated short that they wanted to see on TV. “Anna Manesia” was selected to play in the first episode. The plot for “Anna Manesia” revolves around a girl (played by Amy Roiland) who gets hit by a car and looses her memory. Instead of taking her to the hospital my character tells her she is a robot and forces her into slavery.

Amy Roiland as Anna in "Anna Manesia" (2007)

FA: How many “Anna Manesia” episodes did you make?

KF: I only made two episodes of “Anna”. The second Episode I think I shot in a day on a whim.

FA: Episode 2 can be seen on Rob Schrab's Youtube channel, but what happened to episode 1?

KF: For some reason, the first episode of “Anna Manesia” was yanked down from Youtube. I need to re upload that, thanks for reminding me.

FA: In “Death’s Best Friend”, you play... Death! Where did the idea come from?

I was at the gym and I was thinking about what if you were like the angel of death and didn't know it and slowly all of your friends started dying off. The I thought, maybe it would be more interesting if it was this kinda nerdy, sweet girl who's best friend was actually death. I just loved the concept of someone saying they're death's best friend and then having it be literal. It is unfortunate that this show got rejected because I really liked Kelsy Abbott and JD Ryznar in it.

“Death’s Best Friend” artwork by Hedzo (2007)

FA: All the work you've directed are obviously personnal, but what is your most personnal work so far among all your shorts so far?

KF: I think, “The Day My Boyfriend Became”. I was the most nervous about that project because I was the only girl on set. I was working with so many talented comedians and I was worried that they wouldn't think it was funny. I really tried to be as over prepared as possible and make the shoot go by quick. It's difficult when you are working with so many people, trying to direct and then act in scenes. I just wanted everyone to have a good time. I think that is the trick with actors. If they have fun the first time they work with you they will come back again.

Kate Freund in “The Day My Boyfriend Became” (2009)

FA: How did you get involved in the “The Sarah Silverman Program”?

KF: I have the lovely, Sarah Silverman to thank for casting me in her show. I just was in the right place at the right time and she thought of me.

FA: Did you know her previous work like the movie “Jesus is Magic”?

KF: I saw “Jesus is Magic” in the theater and thought it was hysterical. I also remember her from “There's Something About Mary” and thought wow, this woman is funny. I’m really fortunate to get to be around her when she performs. Sarah is so fearless on stage. She’s really an inspiration because she’s a writer, a singer and can play the guitar. She’s a true entertainer in addition to being a pretty face.

Sarah Silverman and Kate Freund in “The Sarah Silverman Program”

(Season 1 , Episode 3: Positively Negative)

FA: Do you think “nasty humour” (“Borat”, “Sarah Silverman”...) is better accepted nowadays?

KF: I think people just want to laugh. “The Sarah Silverman Program” can be nasty or raunchy but it usually is juxtaposed with something sweet or tragic. I don’t know, the second you start analyzing why something is funny, it sorta looses its humor. For me, comedy is like a reflex test. When something is so funny, your body just reacts to it.

FA: You played one character in Season 1 of “The Sarah Silverman Program” and another one in Season 2. How did that happen?

KF: Second season, I did the Margaret character at the table read. I was just subbing in, because they hadn't cast that character yet. When they cast Carrie Aizley, they thought it would be funny if I was her minion because we had a similar haircut and coloring. I just got really lucky.

Kate Freund and Carrie Aizley on the set of “The Sarah Silverman Program”

(Season 2, Episode 1: "Bored of the Rings") - Photo by Steve Agee

FA:Can you describe both of the characters that you played? (Photo below from Season 1 , Episode 3)

KF: First season, I played Whitney. She works for Sarah as an AIDS awareness volunteer. During a meeting, I say something that makes Sarah feel like I am challenging her authority and she fires me. I get her back in the end when I throw a tomato at her during a rally for AIDS.

Second season, I was cast as Margaret. She’s an uptight, Christian conservative with an extremist agenda. Sarah mistakes my character as an angry lesbian and doesn’t realize that I am helping Carrie’s character plan to blow up an abortion clinic. It was fun, I got to wear an ugly pair of ridiculously high-waisted pants and have a gun.

FA: Did you follow the script 100%? Or did you add some personnal elements or improvise?

KF: The scripts are so funny that you don’t want to go off page. However it is a pretty loose set and they give you the opportunity to make the character your own.

FA: Did you also work on the third season of “The Sarah Silverman Program”? (Photo below by Kate Freund - 2009)

Yes, I cameo as a waitress who gives Sarah a dirty look when she finds out Sarah is a bed wetter. I also did the voice of Stu the crab. They are still shooting the third season. But so far, I have been a drug induced partier and a few weeks ago, I helped choreograph a dance piece between Steve Agee and Brian Posehn. Those two guys are so, so funny. I also contributed some T-shirt designs for Sarah to wear this season.

FA: Steve Agee is best known now for his work on “The Sarah Silverman Program”, but you also collaborated with him before that on one of his 101 Channel shorts, “Just The Three Of Us”. Can you tell me more about him?

KF: Steve Agee is an American comedian. He's hilarious and just an all around great guy. I've worked with a lot. He is the voice of Treenie from “Enders of Love”, he was in the VH1 version of “Anna Manesia”, and he did me a huge favor and actually is the tall monster in “Mega Bitch Meltdown”. He's a great guy to have on set because he's funny and takes awesome pictures. This last year, I animated a teaser for his project he is doing with Matt Berry. Berry is an English comedian and the two of them write insulting songs about each other. It's pretty funny and the songs are really good.

Steve Agee and Kate Freund - Photo by Kate Freund

FA: You edit your own movies. Do you do this because you have no choice or because you like it?

KF: When it comes to editing, it’s too easy to pass it off to someone else. I have worked with director’s who have absolutely no vision or concept of what they are doing and the shoot is terrible but then they hand it off to an editor and they make it into something incredible. It’s really unfair, I feel like so many times, directors get the credit when the editor is responsible for making the film watchable. That being said, I never want to be at the mercy of an editor. When I was 22, I was producing an entertainment tonight like show called “Rough Cut LA”...

Kate Freund in “Rough Cut LA” (2005)

...I was working with my editor and I wanted a series of fast, quick cuts that would flip back and forth between the inside of the club and the outside signage. The editor looked at me like I was an idiot. He said, “Um do you know how long and how many cuts you would need for it to flicker back and forth like that? I don’t have time to do that and besides it looks good already. I mean, I guess I could do it if you want but it will be a waste of time.” I felt stupid, so I said it was fine and we called it a night. I went home and was all bummed out. I told Rob what happened and he said, “It’s called a blink filter. You just slap it on the clip.” I was stunned. The editor just wanted to go home early. I never want to be in that position where I have to compromise what I am doing because I don’t know the software. From that day forward, I learned how to edit.

Kate Freund in a Channy Special for the 2008 Channel 101 Awards

FA: You direct both animation and live-action films. Which one is more difficult to do?

KF: With animation, you have full control. If you forget to get a shot, you can just draw it up real quickly. I get more frustrated when I shoot live action. I work with a very small crew but even still the idea of a re-shoot because we forgot something always makes my stomach drop. Also with animation, you don't have to worry about locations, getting all your actors there at the same time, losing your daylight or weather conditions.

Kate Freund's “Enders of Love”

FA: Doing Animation requires time and patience. So you must actually be a very calm person, not at all like the characters that you’re usually playing?

KF: I drink a lot of caffeine when I'm animating. That helps me focus. My favorite tea is Yerba Matte when I'm animating. It's super strong but it doesn't make me feel like I'm having a heart attack. It's hard to be tethered to a computer for more then a few hours without getting distracted and start looking up crap online. Doing animation by yourself can be very lonely.

FA: Are you working on Mac or PC? (Photo below by Matt Freund)

KF: I'm a Mac girl. I use the MacBook Pro for editing and animation. The software I prefer is final cut and after effects. I'd love to learn Maya but I don't know when I would find the time. I have a habit of picking up too many hobbies.

FA: When did you start to get involved in animation and special effects?

KF: Sevan Najarian mentored me with animation. I always enjoyed drawing little cartoons. My first cartoon was a music video for Rob’s birthday. It featured all of my friends dancing on a green screen to the song Pretty in Pink. I animated the singer. It’s so wonky but I still like that video. I followed that up with another animated music video for The Magnetic Fields. I just did it for fun, because I loved the song so much and was bummed there was no music video. I thought if I animate one, it would be a great opportunity for me to practice using after effects. Little did I realize, it's more difficult to sync up the mouths when there is music embedded in the vocal track. I couldn't scrub through the audio so I had to listen to the song over and over and over again just to get the mouth movements correct. It's really a testament to how great The Magnetic Fields are. I listened to that song probably close to a thousand times and still love it. It’s been pretty well received on youtube and has over 80,000 hits. The band even contacted me and thanked me for the video so that was beyond cool.

Kate Freund's music video for “I Don't Want To Get Over You” (The Magnetic Fields)

FA: By the way, why did you choose to learn the banjo?

KF: I always wanted to play an instrument. I played drums very briefly in a band in college but then got kicked out. I was over at my friend Kevin's house and he had so many instruments on his walls. I saw the banjo hanging there and he let me borrow it. I think this was around 2004. My brother is super cool and for my birthday got me my banjo. Actually we just wrote a new song together titled, “Damn You Woman”. It's up on Rob Schrab's youtube page.

Kate Freund in “Mega Bitch Meltdown” (2007)

FA: Who are your favorite music artists /bands?

KF: The Magnetic Fields obviously. I like The Mountain Goats, Tegan and Sarah, Bright Eyes, ELO, John Lennon, Elliot Smith, Buddy Holly, Coconut Records and I just started to listen to Chad VanGaalen. He is an animator and musician. I'm obsessed with his song "Molten Light".

FA: How do you split your time between your personal projects and your paid jobs? (Photo below by Sammy Primero - 2009)

KF: I don't have weekends. My creative projects are how I socialize. I usually hang out with the people who I like working with and we spend our time being creative instead of going to the beach or shopping.

FA: Because you’re creating puppets and doing animation, do you ever think about making a puppet animation movie?

KF: I'd love to do that some day.

FA: You just did a short horror? Can you tell me more about it?

KF: “Debbie” is an experimental Horror Film. It's about a creature being held against her will and forced to listen to this agonizing voice that represents the disconnected upper class. It's a surreal torture film. What was interesting for me as a participant in the project was I was the body of the creature and also the voice of the tormentor. To be honest, I love playing monsters or creatures. I spent 6 hours completely blind for the “Debbie” shoot but loved every minute of it. “Debbie” is directed by Jonathon Sims. I met him about 5 years ago when I cast a horror project. He just called me out of the blue and said:"Do you want to dress up in a Quinceniera dress and play a tortured blind creature? ". The short should be up online in September 2009.

Kate Freund on the set of “Debbie” (2009) - Photos by Robin Von Swank

FA: What are your new projects? Your next projects?

KF: Right now I'm working on a new cartoon, a pilot and a baby blanket for my sister.

Interview done in July/August 2009. Thanks to Kate Freund, Matt Freund, Sammy Primero, Robin Von Swank, Hedzo, Channel 101 & Comedy Central. Check out the first part by clicking on the picture below.

Kate Freund: The 101 Connection

Some Kate Freund's streaming videos:

"Anna Manesia": Episode 1 - Episode 2 - "Mega Bitch Meltdown": Trailer - Episode 1 - "The Day My Boyfriend Became": Episode 1 - "Turdy Longbows": Episode 1 - "The Vacationaires": Episode 1 - Episode 2 - "Pussy Talk": Episode 1 - "Water and Power: Miami": Episode 1 - Episode 2 - "Just the Three of Us": Episode 1 - "The Pop": Episode 1 - Episode 2 - Episode 3 - Kate Freund's Converse Ad - Magnetic Fields: I Don't Want To Get Over You - "Sushi Rocka" (Short) - "The Lonely Sink" (Short) - Holiday Song (Animation / Music Video)

"THE DESCENT 2" : BLOOD AND (MONSTERS) SHIT

Today was held the very first French press screening of “The Descent: Part 2”, the efficient sequel of Neil Marshall 2005 spelunking claustrophobic horror monster movie. This sequel marks the directorial debut of Jon Harris, who worked for the last 15 years as an editor (He did in particular, Guy Ritchie’s “Snatch”, Matthew Vaughn’s “Layer Cake”, James Watkins’s “Eden Lake” and the first part of “The Descent”).

If you watched the director’s cut of “The Descent”, you probably know that there’s no way to make a sequel to it, at least with the same characters of the first film, because they all died or were about to die, lost in an underground labyrinth of tunnels and caves, populated with blind angry/hungry devil-esque creatures.

But it was finally decided that “The Descent: Part 2” would be a direct follow-up to the North American version of the original film, where the character of Sarah Carter (played by Shauna Macdonald) succeeds to escape from the monstered caves.

Sometimes you have to let go.

Still, why would she go back in hell instead of staying safely at home? Well, the scripwriters had the practical idea to make her amnesiac. So basically, after her escape, heavily traumatized and covered in (others’s people) blood, Sarah is questionned by two cops, and is obviously suspected by one of them, the veteran Vaines (Gavan O’Herlihy). The other one, Elen Rios (Krysten Cummings) who’s also a mother, feels empathy for Sarah (who has lost a child in an accident one year earlier) and think she has nothing to do with the missing of her friends.

Sarah is going back to hell.

When a good cop dog find the entrance to an old well at the place of an old farmer (Michael J. Reynolds), Vaines decides to go underground and look for the missing girls, with Elen, Sarah and also a rescue team, composed by the experimented Dan Sheperd (Douglas Hodge) and two younger volunteers, Cath (Anna Skellern) and Greg (Joshua Dallas).

Deep underground floor please.

Then, you probably guess how things will go. By the time Sarah will start to recover her memory, very uncool things will happen, and mostly to human beings. In the dark and oppressive depths of the unknown cave system, people will be lost, stuck, chased, scratched, dismembered, shitted on (litterally), bitten, and eventually eaten, unless they fight back...savagely.

Will they make it?

“The Descent: Part 2” will be released in the French theaters on October 14th, 2009

KATE FREUND INTERVIEW PART 1: THE 101 CONNECTION

If you know the great Comedy Central TV show “The Sarah Silverman Program”, you surely have seen Kate Freund in a couple of episodes from seasons 1 (Positively Negative) & 2 (Bored of the Rings).

But if you’re familiar to the short film festival Channel 101 and its website (created by Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab – who also co-created “The Sarah Silverman Program”), you probably have seen her a lot more, since she directed and/or played in numerous hilarious short movies since 2005, including her action horror “Mega Bitch Meltdown” (Super Chicks vs. Zombies), the Swedished “Turdy Longbows” (the “Pippi Longstocking” of the new millennium) and the totally insane “The Vacationaires” (the part 2 was just put online).

Here is the first half of the two-part interview of this multitalented artist who likes to make movies in the living room (Kate's pink hair photo by Sammy Primero).

Frédéric Ambroisine: Is your name Freund German?

Kate Freund: My last name is German for “friend”. I'm German, Italian but I was raised in Los Angeles my entire life.

FA: You are an actress, director, writer, editor, music composer, banjo performer, producer, animator, make-up and digital effect artist, costume designer, casting director and illustrator. Did I forget something?

KF: I also make little stuffed animals and puppets. I sell the stuffed animals through www.katerdoll.etsy.com Also, if you watch “The Sarah Silverman Program”, there is a puppet named Ookie that I made.

Rob Schrab, Ookie, Kurt Scholler, Chris Romano - "The Sarah Silverman Program"

FA: Among all those activities, what was the first one who attracted you? The one that gave you the desire to work in the entertainment business?

KF: When I was little, I hated school. I didn’t see the point in going. It felt like I was doing a bunch of work and not getting paid for it. When I was six, some kids from a higher grade came into our classroom and said, “who is trying out for the talent show?” Several kids raised their hands and got to leave class. Obviously, I wanted to get out of class and I raised my hand. Sure enough I was dismissed. I couldn’t believe it. They just let me leave because I said I had a talent. Something sorta clicked in my head, if you had talent you could get out of doing normal work.

They lead me into the auditorium and put me on stage. Then said, “what’s your talent?” Honestly, I didn’t have one so I faked it. I started singing and acting out the song, My Boyfriend’s Back. Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember the song lyrics so I just made up my own hoping no one would notice. I thought for sure that they would be mad at me for acting like I had a talent but everyone thought it was funny. They actually thought it was all part of my routine and put me in the show. From then on, I said I wanted to be an entertainer.

Kate Freund by Matt Freund (the previous and next one too)

FA: Did you study acting or filmmaking?

KF: From around 9-15, I performed regularly at The Santa Monica Playhouse. Then for some reason, I lost all interest in theater and starting studying film acting from David Wells and Sally Piper and did workshop classes with my then manager Hines and Hunt. I almost didn’t go to college because I was cast in a pilot that was a “sure” go. Like every “sure” go, the show didn’t get picked up and it really bummed me out. I felt like I had put so much time and energy into acting that it was time for a break and enrolled in the University of California, Irvine as a Biology Major. I had always been interested in science and for some reason that seemed logical. However, for Christmas that year, my dad got me a video camera and I started making little movies with my dorm mates. I lasted one more quarter at UCI and then transferred to USC to study creative writing and screenwriting. At USC, I collaborated on over 30 student films. It was a great environment but honestly, I think the best film school out there is Channel 101 and it is free.

FA: On your “official” – but incomplete - filmography (IMDB), you started to work as an actress, and then a casting director? How did that happened?

KF: When I was 17, I was cast in “Once & Again” as an out of control party girl. It was a bit part but I really enjoyed working and getting out of school. The director was a family friend and knew I was interested in the entertainment industry. I asked if I could get an internship in editing and he said, “no but we have something in the casting department.” I had already met all the casting women because they used me on their show, so I thought great I know I’ll get this internship. I interned and then was an assistant for Amy Lippens Casting for about two years. When I was at USC, I wanted to work on as many projects as possible but unless you were in the directing/production program everyone was kinda snooty. I didn’t want to P.A and had all this casting experience so I just became the go to girl for casting at that film school. I got to meet all the budding directors and didn’t have to lug around a bunch of heavy gear.

FA: What do you have to do as a casting director?

KF: Basically what a casting director does is a lot of work that most people take for granted. You’re sent hundreds of actor submissions and from those you pick people to come in and read for the part. It was really interesting for me to see the other side of the audition process. At then end of the day, it gets really stressful because you just want to find that perfect person that the director, producers and network all like.

FA: How did you met Rob Schrab? Did you know about his work before knowing him personally?

KF: I met Rob in 2005. I was working as a producer for “Rough Cut LA”, it was an entertainment news show minus the gossip. We’d constantly pitch stories that were about talented filmmakers or film festivals and then send a camera crew and a host to interview. My friend had just shown me Channel101.com. They were a huge fan of Justin Roiland’s “House of Cosby’s.” I looked at the site and couldn’t believe how funny the videos were and that people were making these out of their living rooms with out a big budget. It was the complete opposite of USC, you could make something for dirt cheap and still entertain people.

I suggested that we do a piece on Channel 101 and the Executive Producer signed off on it and then told me I should host it. I went down there with a camera crew and interviewed everyone. Rob was the last person we interviewed. I had seen his show Twigger’s Holiday and thought he was brilliant. After the interview we became email friends and then he asked me out. We celebrated our 4 year anniversary in April.

Kate Freund and Rob Schrab on the set of "The Sarah Silverman Program" (Season 3)

FA: Was he (Is he) a kind of mentor for you?

KF: Rob is a genius. His attention to detail and his comedic timing would inspire anyone. I’m very fortunate to be around someone who is so talented because it makes me try harder as a creative because I know he is going to see it. Rob’s my biggest fan but also my hardest critic.

FA: When did you hear about Channel 101?

KF: A friend of mine showed me the Channel 101 website in 2005.

FA: Can you explain a little bit the concept of the 101 Channel. The (failed) pilots and episodes etc.?

KF: Channel 101 is like a mini TV network. There are five shows in Primetime. These shows are the top voted shows from the screening. And each month, 4-6 new shows are screened alongside the Primetime shows. The audience can only vote for 5 shows. The shows that are the most popular become Primetime shows and they get to make another episode. The shows with the least amount of votes are “failed” pilots because they only get to make the one episode. During any screening a Primetime show can get canceled if a new show gets more votes. Does that make sense?

FA: You started as an actress in some 101 Channel shorts in 2005 and then you started to direct your own shorts. Did you have any directing experience before that?

KF: I directed some artsy student films at UCI and USC before delving into 101. The thing is, 101 is one of the best training grounds for honing your craft. It teaches you discipline. You have one month to make something and then it gets rejected or it gets screened in front of a live audience and you instantly know if you are good or not. If the room goes quiet or worse people talk over your show, you know that you have to do better next time. Usually when you submit to a festival you can’t see the initial reaction from the audience until months later. There is a certain immediacy to 101, which is great because you can be timely with your comedy. I helped Rob with “Thriller, Chiller Theater” and then I was a fairy in “Yacht Rock” but I kinda felt like a hypocrite for praising 101 so much and then never making my own show. I wanted to prove that I could make something and contribute too. I’ve made 11 shows for Channel 101 but only 5 have been screened. You never know what the panel is going to react to. Last June I finally got a show into Primetime with co-creators Kelsy Abbott and Kyle Reiter. It’s called "The Vacationaires", watch it!

Kyle Reiter, Kate Freund and Kelsy Abbot in "The Vacationaires" (2009)

FA: Where did the idea of “Mega Bitch Meltdown” come from?

KF: I wanted to do a show that had a mix of female and male talent. At the time, most of the 101 shows were all staring dudes. I had just watched “Switchblade Sisters” and “Naked Killer” and wanted to do a kick ass girls with guns show with a twist.

Kate Freund's "Mega Bitch Meltdown" (2007)

FA: How much did it cost?

KF: Around 80 bucks. I bought a few rubber masks, the glowing hand communicators and some tape stock. I had lights, and my brother Matt Freund, shot it with his camera. We borrowed guns from fellow 101er David Hartman.

FA: How long was the shooting and the editing?

KF: We shot in Topanga Canyon in January and it was around 30 degrees and it started raining so we had to go up the next weekend to get Myke dancing in his underwear. I was so worried he was going to get sick. I think it took around 3 half days of shooting. The editing took about a week and a half. Rob really helped me with the first action scene.

FA: Did you also cut the trailer for the SXSW Grindhouse Contest Video in 2007?

KF: I saw the SXSW Grindhouse trailer late in the game and was so bummed out because I really wanted to make one. I knew I didn't have time to shoot something new so I just cut up Mega Bitch and wrote a voice over track. I think I did that trailer in one night and fed exed it out in the morning. It was on aintitcool's pick for grindhouse trailers.

Kate Freund's "Mega Bitch Meltdown" (2007)

FA: Why did you choose comedy as your main genre?

KF: I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about it before. I just do projects that I want to do and ultimately, they fall in the comedy genre. I think it goes back to wanting to be an entertainer and some choice words Rob shared with me, “Don’t bore your audience.”

FA: There are different levels of craziness in comedy, and it seems that you’re trying to exeed the limits of madness a little bit more one short after another?

KF: When I make something all I am consciously trying to do is finish it. That being said, I think with each project I am trying to top myself. I mean, who wants to go backward?

Kate Freund's "Pussy Talk" (2006)

FA: To know if your work will be efficient, do you have to laugh at your own jokes or make your friends laugh?

KF: I live with Rob Schrab. I like to edit in the living room. Rob will pass by and if what I’m working on catches his eye and he stops what he is doing to laugh. I know I am in good shape.

FA: In your shorts, you’re directing and acting at the same time. How do you manage to focus on your work behind and in front of the camera?

KF: Sometimes I watch stuff and it doesn't work. I go eck, why did I do that? If I was behind the monitor I would have changed that but oh well. I just try and make it work in the edit. There's a lot of great actors and there's a lot of great actors out there with baggage. I use myself because I don't want to deal with another person. It just makes things easier. The bigger the cast, the harder the shoot becomes to coordinate. I mean if I had a line producer and a budget then yeah I would work with more people. But we tend to shoot guerilla style. I have a five seater car. If you can all pile in one car it makes life so much easier. That way people are not running late or looking for parking.

Kate Freund's "The Day My Boyfriend Became" (2009)

FA: In the 101 Channels shorts that you played in and didn’t direct, which one are your favorites?

KF: Working with Sevan Narjarian on “The Pop” was a great experience. I was cast as Olive Oyl and it was so special because that's a role that my dad always wanted to see me play. As a kid he'd joke with me and tell me I looked just like Olive Oyl because I was so skinny. But back to working with Sevan. It's such a treat. He is so good with effects and direction. I know that whenever he asks me to do something, I want to do it because it is going to look kickass. I also really liked working with Danny Jelinek on “Arrow”.

Kyle Kinane and Kate Freund in Abed Gheith & Sevan Najarian's "The Pop" (2008)

FA: Concerning “Turdy Longbows”, which (kind of) movies inspired you? Did you use some footage from old movie(s) or is it 100% your creation?

KF: I was totally inspired by “Pippi Longstocking”. My brother, Matt was the DP on this shoot and he made it look very cinematic. I don't think we used any footage from other movies. I just had to re watch it to make sure. Rob helped color correct the footage to give it a washed out, old VHS tape look. Rob also made the opening logo for 1000 milleniums.

Kate Freund in "Turdy Longbows" (2009)

FA: How was the post-production of “Turdy Longbows”? The color work and (voluntarily) bad post-synchro are weirdly awesome...

KF: I had a script for the show but I wanted it to have that "Pippi Longstocking" bad dubbed feel. I wanted to push that to an extreme. I really wanted to make it feel old and familiar. There are so many weird shows I watched as a kid, that I never thought were that bizarre but when I go to rewatch them, I'm like why is this edited like this??? Why did they have that character do that? None of this show makes any sense but as a kid I loved it. My favorite shots we did were in front of the abandoned house where I am coming down the hill. To me that totally looks like the original show.

Kate Freund and Armen Weitzman in "Turdy Longbows" (2009)

FA: Since it’s a pure nonsense comedy, how did you explain to the actors what’s it’s about?

KF: I gave them a script and sent them links to “Pippi Longstocking” clips. I've worked with Todd Bishop before. He was in Astral girl and “The Day My Boyfriend Became”. He's creative and just gets it. I'll tell him to come dressed as a cowboy and he won't show up dressed as a clown. He understands exactly what I'm going for. Deanna Rooney who plays Leena is also extremely awesome. I had worked with her briefly on a channy video and she just brought so much to the table. I had been wanting to work with her for a while. She also does cartoons. Look her up, her art is rad. I know Armen (Weitzman) , through the “Sarah Silverman Program”. He plays the fantasimart clerk and has appeared in several episodes. He was game to do anything.

FA: “The Vacationaires” contains probably the worst green screen effects that I’ve ever seen. You did it on purpose, right?

KF: Ha ha ha. I love “The Vacationaires”. That’s a show I co created with Kelsy Abbott and Kyle Reiter. Originally we were planning on doing a completely different show. We knew that we wanted to work together and that we wanted to be extremely tan to the point of looking filthy. The day of shooting we swapped out our original idea and came up with a show about a family who loves to go on vacations. It was not going to be a green screen show. I think we hung up the blue sheet so it would look like the ocean in the background but that didn’t read at all. When we shot it, the blue screen blanket was stained and wrinkled and not well lit. When I went to key it out it looked terrible. We all started laughing and the gag became about how bad it looked. That show is so ridiculous but I really had a ton of fun working on it for two months. Sad to see that it got cancelled.

Kate Freund in "The Vacationaires" (2009)

FA: Do you think about making one of your shorts into a feature film?

KF: I'd like to do a feature version of “Anna Manesia” or “Mega Bitch Meltdown”. I'd do “Anna” because of the premise and “Mega” for the characters and action. We'll see maybe one day.

End of part 1. Coming soon on part 2: Kate Freund about “The Sarah Silverman Program”, animation and special effects, editing, music videos, Sarah Silverman, Steve Agee, and her new projects.

Thanks to: Kate Freund, Rob Schrab, Steve Agee, Matt Freund and Sammy Primero.

You can watch a lot of Kate Freund short movies on Channel 101 (download) or Youtube (streaming). Check out the links below.

• Channel 101 (official) - Channel 101 (Youtube channel)
• Kate Freund (official) - Kate Freund (Youtube channel)
• Rob Schrab (official) - Rob Schrab (Youtube channel)

"SAW VI" & THE MASKED NEEDLED NURSE

Since the first "Saw", back in 2004, independant film studio Lionsgate had promoted every movie of the franchise with a Halloween "Give ‘Til It Hurts" blood drive that benefits the The American Red Cross. Each time, the posters feature one or three sexy nurses who ask for blood.

Shot by photographer Tim Palen (Co-President of Theatrical Marketing at Lionsgate) the two blood drive posters for "Saw VI" released a week ago, show a mysterious masked nurse dressed with a corset of needles (Her original uniform was designed by The Blonds), who looks like a doll or an android more than a flesh and blood lady.

Check out those new posters below plus the previous ones from the blood drive series.

"Saw VI" will be released in the US theaters on October 23rd, 2009 and in France one month later.

MEGAN FOX SAYS "FUCK’ EM"

Second movie written by Academy Award winner Diablo Cody (“Juno”), “Jennifer’s Body” is a horror comedy directed by Karyn Kusama (“Girlfight”, “Aeon Flux”) where sexy Megan Fox (“Transformers 1 & 2”) plays a cheerleader possessed by a demon, who litterally devellop her appetite...for high school boys.

After a couple of trailers released last July (including a red band one that you can see on the official website), here comes a darkly funny Public Service Announcement by the lead actress, where she’s encouraging everyone to be themselves, no matter what it takes.

“Jennifer’s Body” will open in September the Midnight Madness program of the The Toronto International Film Festival (September 10-19, 2009). Distributed by 20th Century Fox, the movie will be released in the US on September 18th, 2009 and in France on October 21st, 2009.

Links: Jennifer's Body (Official) - Jennifer's Body exclusive photos (Fangoria)