Interview

CHICAGO – Sam Pollard has been a behind-the-scenes film editor/producer for most of his career, best known for his work with Spike Lee. But recently, after sporadic director assignments over the years, he has broken out with two major profile documentaries, one on Sammy Davis Jr. in 2017, and his most recent “MLK/FBI.”

CHICAGO – Misty Rowe is a Country Music cultural icon, through her many years with TV’s “Hee Haw,” but she also portrayed Marilyn Monroe in “Goodbye, Norma Jean” (1976). She remembers it all in her new memoir, “Misty Memories.”

CHICAGO – What is one of the greatest survival instincts of the pandemic? Creativity. The Zoom web series “What Did Clyde Hide?” is the result of a creative effort from Executive Producer/Show Runner Ruth Kaufman, Producer Sandy Gulliver and Director Sean Patrick Leonard. Kaufman and Leonard talk about the series, naturally, via Zoom.

CHICAGO – Misty Rowe is a Country Music cultural icon, through her many years with TV’s “Hee Haw,” but she also portrayed Marilyn Monroe in “Goodbye, Norma Jean” (1976). She remembers it all in her new memoir, “Misty Memories.”

TORONTO – The Canadian metal band “Living Dead Girl” has a style that is a unique combination of Marilyn Manson meets (fellow Canadian front woman) Avril Lavigne, with an amalgam of genres including goth, rock, metal, industrial, pop and punk rock. The band will present a Virtual Christmas Show on December 12th, 2020.

CHICAGO – Dennis Dugan, in directing Adam Sandler (“Happy Gilmore”), Chris Farley (“Beverly Hills Ninja”) and John Ritter (“Problem Child”), can rightly be considered a comedy director icon. He also for his latest film, “Love, Weddings & Other Disasters,” developed the story and wrote the screenplay for the first time.

CHICAGO – When we last talked to Melinda Hill, it was for her stand-up comedy special “Inappropriate.” It also turns out that she acts in a new film, the ensemble comedy “Love, Weddings & Other Disasters,” directed by Dennis Dugan and featuring Diane Keaton, Jeremy Irons, and Maggie Grace, among others.

CHICAGO – On November 18th, 2020, the streaming service HBO Max premiered “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Reunion.” 30 years after the popular sitcom debuted, the primary cast got together to talk about the joys and foibles of developing family ties while creating and performing their characters in the show.

CHICAGO – The culmination of years in sweat and other equity on an independent feature film – slyly entitled “The Misadventures of Mistress Maneater” – has paid off for writer and lead actor Lorrisa Julianus and her husband/director Craig “C.J.” Julianus.

MARIN COUNTY, CALIF. – James “Jamie” Redford was on a righteous mission. The activist filmmaker created documentaries that spoke of the ills society is facing, including “Toxic Hot Seat” (chemicals in households), “Paper Tigers” (childhood psychology), “Resilence” (a deeper dive into Adverse Childhood Experience) and his recent “Happening: A Clean Energy Revolution.” Jamie Redford died of bile duct cancer on October 16th, 2020, at his home in Marin County, California. He was 58.