“Well I just got into town about an hour ago.  Took a look around, see which way the wind blow.  Where the little girls in their Hollywood bungalows?”

And it seemed like an hour was all we were there.  A flock of Maconites flew out to L.A. for the Hollywood premiere of the film “STUCK!”

This was the shortest trip I’ve ever taken to California (like 29 hours)…but it was packed with good times.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Walking down the tourist trap that is Hollywood Blvd on the Hollywood Walk of Fame & finding the star of Melvyn Douglas.  Douglas is the only academy award winning actor to hale from Macon, GA.  He will be honored at the 2010 Macon Film Festival with the newly named Melyvn Douglas Best in Show Award.

We stayed at the historical Roosevelt Hotel, home of the 1st Academy Awards presentation in 1929 & lists Marilyn Monroe as one of it’s former residents.  It’s rumored that the ghosts Marilyn Monroe & Montgomery Clift STILL live there. Well, cocktails cancel out ghosts.  I enjoyed a little pre-premiere reunion with a few ghosts of my past- old friends Kathleen Morgan & Phillip Wilcox @ the Roosevelt’s  pool bar.  Let me say, Time Has Been Kind indeed.

Moving on to pre-premiere cocktails @ the Pig & Whistle with a group of friends from Macon & L.A. A little trivia: Pig & Whistle hosted the 1st Academy Awards after party!

Obviously seeing STUCK! on the big screen was amazing. It was filmed in Macon following the 2009 Macon Film Festival.  Catch its Georgia premiere @ the 2010 Macon Film Festival on Friday, Feb. 19th @ the Cox Capitol Theatre.

The film was fab – as was the after party at the old Hollywood haunt MUSSO & FRANK’s.  I can now say that I closed down the place…a few friends & I were the last to leave, but really, that should come as no surprise to anyone that knows me.

The brightest star on the Blvd is Library Bar’s King of the Cocktail: Matt Biancaniello.  Library Bar located in the lobby of the Roosevelt Hotel is the perfect Late Night nightcap. Matt’s gourmet cocktails are made with fresh ingredients from the LA Farmer’s Market. This is where the evening ended – with a few old friends and a few new ones we picked up at Musso & Frank’s.

On the 29th hour … I was on a plane: Macon-bound.

“Well, I just go into town about an hour ago. Took a look around, see which way the wind blow. Where the little girls in their Hollywood bungalows. Are you a lucky little lady in the City of Lights. Or just another lost angel … City of Night, City of Night, City of Night, City of Night”  – LA Woman, The Doors

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“Stuck!” Co-Producer Nominated for TWO Oscars

Macon, GA — Paul N.J. Ottosson, co-producer of the Macon-made movie “Stuck!” starring Karen Black and Mink Stole, was nominated for two Academy Awards last week for the work he did on the Best-Picture nominated film “The Hurt Locker.”

Last week “Stuck!” was honored in Hollywood, California, by the celebrated American Cinematheque with a premiere at Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre.  The nearly sold-out crowd was joined by Macon’s very own Terrell Sandefur, who has a cameo in the film, photographer Maryann Bates, actress Kimbrough Dunwody Donner, and “Stuck!” co-producer Tony Long, Jr.

The film, a black and white film noir prison drama, was directed by Steve Balderson and shot in Macon during April and May of 2009.  “Stuck!” is the centerpiece of the 5th Macon Film Festival and will also screen at the Cox Capitol Theatre on Friday, February 19.

Along with Black and Stole, “Stuck!” co-stars Susan Traylor (“A River Runs Through It”), Jane Wiedlin (of the Go-Go’s), and dozens of Macon actors including September Carter, Tom Morris, Virgil Adams, Judge Bill Self, and Mary Wilder.

“Stuck!” had its World Premiere at the prestigious Raindance Film Festival in London, England, in October, 2009 and made the list on Icon Magazine’s TOP 10 Films of the year.

Critic MJ Simpson, in the UK, writes, “‘Stuck!’ [is] an unexpectedly powerful, skillfully managed slice of women-in-prison drama that never teeters into camp.”

High-resolution Stills may be reprinted with Photo credit: Maryann Bates
1) http://www.dikenga.com/films/stuck/PressKit/images/Maryann-star2.jpg
2) http://www.dikenga.com/films/stuck/PressKit/images/Maryann-karen2.jpg
3) http://www.dikenga.com/films/stuck/PressKit/images/Maryann-stacyplezmink.jpg
For more information visit www.STUCKnoir.com