12 Days of Christmas and Art the Jogger – Days Eight & Nine!

Clearly taking my sweet time with this – but it’s not lazyness at all! No! I’m just extending the Christmas spirit all year! And speaking of spirit…

FILM EIGHT: SPIRITS

Our first film, but far from last, with cinematographer Derek Van Gorder (AKA: DVG), we started to get a little more creative than simple costume references and at ATJ appears as subway graffiti at :26 seconds.

Don’t tell the MTA!

FILM NINE: MOVING PICTURES

And in Caitlin McEwan’s directorial debut, we commissioned a painting from James Fauvell’s insanely talented painter sister, Kate Fauvell. (You should buy a billion of her paintings before she gets to famous to even look at you.) Shot again by DVG, you can get a glimpse of ATJ as re-imagined by Kate at 5:37, sharing the screen with the stunning Caitlin Fitzgerald.

Bam:

Matching bottoms!

-ML

12 Days of Christmas and Art the Jogger – Day Seven!

FILM SEVEN: THE PROPOSAL

(the one without Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock…)

One of the most ambitious shoots of the 12in12 extravaganza, The Proposal was shot in one day, with 14 actors, and craziest of all, director Keith Boynton decided to shoot all the rooftop footage in the three hours before sunset and, as it turned out, the 40 minutes after sunset.

Hustling between handheld shots and tripod shots, actors transitioning from comedy to tragedy and DODGING A ROCK THROWN FROM THE STREET, the remainder of the film was shot in a manic, beautiful frenzy. If filmmaking makes you feel alive, this is the kind of filmmaking that makes you feel like you’ll never die.

And of course, we got in the immortal Art the Jogger – several times!

First, at 3:32, ATJ appears as a picture scrawled on the back of a script held by Jamaal Sedayao, aka: “Infidelity Mike.”

Later, starting at 5:19, Sumi Lee appears in the legendary ATJ costume.

Listen, she volunteered – it wasn’t an Asian thing.

I swear.

-ML

12 Days of Christmas and Art the Jogger – Day Six!

FILM SIX: SCRIPT 2

During the filming of Rick Lattimer’s Script 2, it really made no sense to throw in an ATJ reference… fortunately Script 2 was such a manic, madcap fabrication, that we asked, why not just splice in a few stills from an Art the Jogger photoshoot from the week before?

And it turned out there was no reason why not! So we did!

Art majestically leaps, leaps and stands at 2:55, 2:56 & 2:57 – can YOU spot them all??

YOU CAN’T STOP IT!

-ML

12 Days of Christmas and Art the Jogger – Day Five!

FILM FIVE: CAPTIVATED

Since the script was improvised, it makes sense that Art the Jogger’s cameo would also be improvised. As we were losing daylight and the shooting day drew to a close, director Keith Boynton realized we had not included an ATJ reference. So as I ran down the street, he yelled “Cut,” stopped the car and said, “OK, Mike. Strip.”

Now this is not the first time Keith has told me to strip in front of a video camera, but it was the first time when we weren’t alone and outside of a basement. As usual, I followed his directions and the result was me having a spontaneous costume change into the Art the Jogger uniform. It is a cinematic twist that makes little (read: no) sense outside the 12in12 universe, but we couldn’t stand to break break the thread.

08:25…

-ML

12 Days of Christmas and Art the Jogger – Day Four!

FILM FOUR: AFTER PERFECT

The first film completed after Arthur left town, we knew we had big shoes to fill – let alone his patented blue shirt and red shorts. Which is when we realized, no one could or would fill them – so director James Creque appropriately decided to just let them fall to the floor.

5:01: The Art the Jogger costume sits on the floor as a reminder that he is always with us. Or maybe Arthur was just with that girl last night… We’ll never know cause he’ll never tell.

-ML

12 Days of Christmas and Art the Jogger – Day Three!

FILM THREE: SUBLET

A.C. reprises his role as “the jogger” in this ’09 rom-com classic. A debonair James Fauvell, a smoldering Dylan Bandy and the late Richard Isaacs round out the cast.

00:08 – 00:11: Once again, Art jogs; setting the scene with his trademark calm, stoic, measured strides. Where is he jogging to? And why? Will we ever know???

Stay tuned…

Jogging man.

-ML

12 Days of Christmas and Art the Jogger – Day Two!

FILM TWO: A SUMMER’S DAY

Arthur Chan reprises his role as “the Jogger” in this 2009 summer blockbuster. Helping the film gross more than 800 views on Vimeo, ATJ ran his way into the hearts of hundreds of men and women (mostly women) across the world.

00:18 – 00:23: In just five seconds Art co-stars with THREE 12in12 collaborators – Brian Testa (top, throwing frisbee), Sumi Lee (middle, receiving frisbee) and John Podgursky (bottom, on blanket). I don’t know if this John Podgursky actually wrote The One Percenters, but how many John Podgurskys can there be??? (apparently, there are two).

Happy Second Day of Christmas!

-ML

12 Days of Christmas and Art the Jogger – Day One!

I meant to do this last year but I totally spaced, so I’m doing it THIS year! Better late than never, right? You be the judge.

Last summer Keith Boynton and I made 12 short films in 12 weeks. As we started the project, we had the help of our good friend and roomie, Arthur Chan. In fact, he appeared as “Art the Jogger” in the first three films. After filming the third he had to leave NYC for grad school, but we felt that he was such a good luck charm, that we decided to throw an Art the Jogger reference into ALL FILMS THAT SUMMER! Don’t believe me? Well, today and the following 11 days will prove your disbelieving ass wrong.

FILM ONE: OLD LOVE

9:12-9:13. Credited as “the jogger,” Art runs by the young woman, who thinks his mounting footsteps are those of her true love – running after her to save her from a passionless life. It is a moment only Arthur Chan and his trademark red shorts could pull off successfully.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

-ML