Be Kind Rewind (2008)

Director:Michel Gondry
Writer:Michel Gondry

Release Date:25 January 2008 (USA) more
Genre:Comedy

Plot Outline:A man (Black) whose brain becomes magnetized unintentionally destroys every tape in his friend's video store. In order to satisfy the store's most loyal renter, an aging woman with signs of dementia, the two men set out to remake the lost films, which include Back to the Future, The Lion King, and Robocop. more


Jack Black ... Jerry
Danny Glover
Mos Def ... Mike
Mia Farrow ... Ms. Kimberley
Melonie Diaz
Matt Walsh ... Cop #2
Marcus Carl Franklin ... James
Paul Dinello ... Mr. Rooney
Arjay Smith ... Manny
P.J. Byrne ... Mr. Baker
Amir Ali Said
Dennis Albanese ... Store Owner
John Tormey ... David Harley
Blake Hightower ... Chris
Chandler Parker ... Craig
Quinton Aaron ... Q
Frank Girardeau ... Gary Cop #1
Karolina Wydra
Gio Perez ... Randy




http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0327273/ Michel Gondry on iMDb
http://www.michelgondry.com/ fan made Site
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Gondry Michel Gondry on Wiki
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=michel+gondry on YouTube
http://www.director-file.com/gondry/ on Director file


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Director Puts New Jersey Town on Film, and on the Map

By CARA BUCKLEY
Published: October 25, 2006


Robert Stolarik for The New York Times
Young residents of Passaic, N.J., seated on a curb earlier this week, watched the filming of Michel Gondry’s film “Be Kind Rewind.”

PASSAIC, N.J., Oct. 22 — Vincent Oliver stood firm on the gray slab of sidewalk where he has become a fixture much of the past two months. Peering through wire-frame glasses, he finally saw what he was waiting for, and broke into a gleeful metal-mouthed grin.


Robert Stolarik for The New York Times
Michel Gondry, right, on the set of his new movie, which used more than 300 residents.

“Look at Danny Glover, he’s right there — there,” Vincent, a 17-year-old high school junior, half shouted, braces glinting, as a crowd around him pressed in, necks craned. “The old guy. He’s like, ‘Lethal Weapon.’ ”

Across the street from Vincent, another world bloomed. A corner store was illuminated by klieg lights. Inside, Mr. Glover, decked in dowdy clothes and gray hair, was filming a scene. Other actors were with him. Mia Farrow. Jack Black. Mos Def. Real movie stars, the likes of which most people in Passaic have never seen.

Vincent shook his head, half in a swoon. Nothing like this had probably ever happened in Passaic, a struggling, multiethnic city about 12 miles west of Manhattan. Nothing like this might ever happen again.

The magical little world that Vincent and much of his hometown was so fixated on was created by the French director Michel Gondry, who directed “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and, more recently, “The Science of Sleep.” For reasons that still confound residents of Passaic, who have somewhat of an inferiority complex about where they live, Mr. Gondry not only chose their city as the location for his latest film but was also inspired enough by it to weave its townspeople into the plot.

More than 300 residents, an unusually high number, were used as extras in the film, called “Be Kind Rewind.” They appear in the foreground, the background. They dance. Dozens have speaking roles.

Samuel Rivera, Passaic’s colorful mayor and a former professional wrestler, has a small speaking part. Shydeshia Pickett, who is 10 and in the fifth grade, has a line, but she would not reveal it because it contains a bad word. Perrie Hogges, 81, appears not once but three times. Frank Heins, 41, who used to live in a trailer in the junkyard where he works, was able to join the Screen Actors Guild after landing a small role.

All of which has given the people of Passaic a tremendous lift — and set the town abuzz. Until now, said Ricardo Fernandez, a zoning officer, the most notable things shot here have been commercials, for Wendy’s, Budweiser and iPod, and a scene in a movie with Kathy Ireland about a decade ago.

“It’s a historic moment,” said Gregory Moore, 50, a traveling salesman who appears as an extra in the film.

“Can you believe somebody’s come to make a movie out of Passaic, and that they’re going to use the name?” asked Ann Longo, 70, who is in the movie with her husband, Mike, 73, along with the dry cleaning shop they have owned for 50 years.

“Passaic, pffff, it’s not really known for anything,” said Vincent, who is also an extra. He added that he is now contemplating acting. “I just really want to get out of Passaic,” he said.

The storyline of “Be Kind Rewind” follows the sort of surreal trajectory that has become the hallmark of Mr. Gondry’s films. It is about a hapless fellow, played by Jack Black, who lives in a junkyard next to a power plant, which in turn causes him to become magnetized. He inadvertently erases all the videotapes at a video store where his friend, played by Mos Def, works. They try to undo the damage by recreating, wholly haphazardly, movies like “Ghostbusters,” “RoboCop” and “Rush Hour 2.”

The film was inspired by a junkyard in Passaic, A+ Automotive, the one where Mr. Heins used to live. Its owner, Wayne McCall, strips down and creates custom-built cars with Irv Gooch, a tall, gangly frequent collaborator of Mr. Gondry, who had visited one day last year, caught sight of a power plant nearby and Mr. Heins’s trailer, and the story idea was born.

“It’s like we put Passaic on the map,” Mr. McCall, 46, said proudly.

Mr. Gondry said he resolved early on to use residents in the film.

“We wanted to reflect the multiethnicity that is Passaic, to be in harmony with the city,” Mr. Gondry said. “In New York, some people are fed up with shooting, and have attitude. Here, we got really great support.”

Nearly all of the film was shot in simple, nondescript locations in Passaic. In places like the Same Day Cleaners, owned by the Longos. In Betty Fashion on Passaic Street. In Sandman’s Real Deli and Restaurant, whose owner, Samuel Hogges, saved the paper menus that Jack Black and Mos Def ordered from, painstakingly writing what they had eaten. (The menus were later stolen.) Between takes, the actors signed autographs, posed for pictures and marveled at how nice the people of Passaic seemed.

“I love it; there’s a tremendous sense of community,” Ms. Farrow said recently on the set. “And we’ve been made to feel so welcome.”

Yet all good things must come to an end. Mr. Gondry may have loved Passaic, but he is also leaving Passaic: The film’s shooting is wrapping this week. Already, the director is feeling anxious. After giving so many people in Passaic what might, or might not, have been their big break, he said many had turned to him for career guidance, hoping, in a way, that he takes them with him when he goes.

“The idea is that they feel something is happening in their place, so that they feel good about it, because it’s a lovely place,” Mr. Gondry said. “But I’m not going to fix their life. And that’s something that makes me a little sad.”



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Mirrorball was a seven part series on shown on Channel 4 in 1999/2000. The program looked at the work of pop promo directors; Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, Jonathan Glazer, Chris Cunningham and Dawn Shadforth, Jonas Auckland & Roman Coppola With the exception of Dawn Shadforth, Jonas Åkerlund & Roman Coppola- all the featured material featured in the Mirrorball programs can be found on the Palm DVD releases "The work of director..."

This particular episode is about Michel Gondry's work and features music by Bjork, Massive Attack, Daft Punk, Lucas, Cibo Matto

From DIN1451 VHS video collection

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2znBssxrGG4part1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROBND8c2ZOIpart2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au2ngZJsBO8part3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RawJ8lHjCWopart4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qeHPDTRRvIpart5

from Youtube/ posted by DIN1451
visit DIN1451 's page for another directors' Mirrorrball series

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Beck - Cellphone's Dead (Directed by Michel Gondry)

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Lacquer - Behind (Directed by Olivier & Michel Gondry)