A young man rediscovers himself after splitting up with his wife in “The Divorce Party,” a sweet, diverting and well-performed rom-com that makes its cogent observations about life and love with simple finesse. Although it hardly reinvents the genre, the film, nicely directed by Hughes William Thompson, offers just enough smarts and charm to feel fresher than most in its class.

When after five safe, regimented years of marriage, Nate (Thomas Cocquerel) is told by Susan (Claire Holt) that she wants out, he unexpectedly finds himself on an all-new solo path. But who is he without Susan, with whom he became a bland, cardigan-wearing homebody — which he thought he liked?

An under-inspired architect with a decent boss (Tom Wright) and two cooler co-workers (writers Lane Garrison and Mark Famiglietti), the floundering Nate finds himself turning to adorable, recently divorced friend Katie (Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz) to help organize a “divorce party” to celebrate his new single status. Two guesses where this relationship is headed.

Despite the film’s baked-in predictability, Nate’s rocky journey of re-socialization and identity search — which includes awkwardly befriending a gay artist (Todd Lasance), learning to comfortably party (a fun drinking game is a highlight), getting an effective grooming-and-clothes makeover, and parrying with Susan and her new beau (Will Brittain) — proves funny, gently ironic and ultimately touching. Lovely use of Savannah, Ga., locales as well.

—Gary Goldstein

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-capsule-reviews-20190207-story.html

Start Date Set For ‘Divorce Party’ As Main Cast Added; ‘Rambo’ Reboot Planned

A start date for the Sprockerfeller Films and 2020 Productions comedy The Divorce Party has been set, with filming to begin in November in Savannah, Georgia. Thomas Cocquerel, Matilda Lutz, and Claire Holt will topline the Hughes William Thompson-directed film. Written by Lane Garrison and Mark Famiglietti, The Divorce Party story tracks a newly dumped divorcee (Cocquerel) who hires his former wedding planner (Lutz) to throw a “divorce party” celebrating his new singledom after being left by his wife (Holt). Sunil Perkash, Ryan Johnson, Martin Sprock and Paresh Ghelani are producing.

Cocquerel is repped by CAA, Management 360 and Shanahan Management in Australia; Lutz is repped by UTA and Silver Lining Entertainment; Holt is repped by WME, Management 360 and attorney Doug Stone. Garrison is a client Crimson Media, and attorney Mark Johnson. Famiglietti is repped by Silver Lining Entertainment and Bloom Hergott Diemer Rosenthal Laviolette Feldman Schenkman & Goodman. Thompson is repped by Gray Krauss Stratford Sandler Des Rochers.

Nu Image/Millennium Films is moving forward on Rambo: New Blood, a reboot of the John Rambo franchise to be written by Brooks McLaren and directed by Ariel Vromen. The original series that kicked off with 1982’s First Blood starred Sylvester Stallone and spawned three sequels, most recently 2008’s Rambo. The new version won’t feature Stallone but will instead star a younger actor in an approach said to be inspired by the James Bond series. The project is in the very early stages and no plot details have been revealed.

Nu Image/Millennium Films is moving forward on Rambo: New Blood, a reboot of the John Rambo franchise to be written by Brooks McLaren and directed by Ariel Vromen. The original series that kicked off with 1982’s First Blood starred Sylvester Stallone and spawned three sequels, most recently 2008’s Rambo. The new version won’t feature Stallone but will instead star a younger actor in an approach said to be inspired by the James Bond series. The project is in the very early stages and no plot details have been revealed.

Maybe it was boredom that began Mark Famiglietti’s writing career. Maybe it was the propulsive power of solitude.

It was Los Angeles, the late 1990s, and Famiglietti, then a fresh-faced, aspiring actor, had begun landing his first big-time gigs.

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First, it was a season of the NBC teen drama, “Hang Time,” then guest appearances on the WB comedy “Zoe, Duncan, Jack and Jane,” and eventually a role in the short-lived “Dawson’s Creek” spin-off, “Young Americans.”

It was a strong entry into Hollywood, especially for someone like Famiglietti, who had only begun acting a few years earlier. But Famiglietti, who moved to Fairfield in 2018 after 20 years in California, was spending much of his time out West alone.

“I didn’t know anybody. I couldn’t go out because I was under 21. So while I was sitting in my apartment in Studio City, I decided I needed to start writing things,” Famiglietti says.

It was a fateful decision for Famiglietti, now 39, and indicative of the kind of career he would soon carve out for himself, often writing his own roles and creating his own films. He describes his latest, “The Divorce Party,” — available in select theaters and to stream Feb. 14 on all major platforms — which he co-wrote and in which he acts, as a “labor of love.”

Famiglietti was born in Rhode Island, but grew up in Clinton, Conn. His career turned a corner soon after it started, in high school, when two local professional actors, Max Showalter and Peter Walker, saw the 16-year-old Famiglietti in a high school production.

The pair were impressed, and Showalter agreed to pay for Famiglietti’s first acting lesson.

“I started thinking maybe this could be a career,” Famiglietti says, though who knew in order to make it happen, he’d need to relocate either to New York or Los Angeles. After graduating high school — and after one too many treks from Southeastern Connecticut to New York City for auditions — Famiglietti briefly enrolled at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and studied for a semester at the Atlantic Theater Company. But Famiglietti was auditioning well and gaining momentum, so he rode it to Los Angeles after booking “Hang Time.”

“It was great on-the-job training,” Famiglietti says. “It allowed me to be out there and start making other contacts.”

His early roles led him to increasingly more work in television and film. He was featured in 2003’s “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,” alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Claire Danes. He also was appeared in episodes of shows like “Mad Men,” “Grimm,” “How to Get Away with Murder,” and “Castle.”

He was a successful working actor, and he was able to sell several of his first screenplays, beginning in the early 2000s. But the stories Famiglietti wrote weren’t being made.

Roughly five years ago, he and Lane Garrison, his writing partner on “The Divorce Party,” decided to go the independent route, secure their own funding and will their movie into existence.

“While we had had some success selling screenplays in the studio system, we recognized they were sitting there and not getting made,” Famiglietti says. “We decided we would raise money. We felt like studios weren’t making romantic comedies anymore, unless there were lots of stars involved. But through pounding the pavement, we found two investors willing to finance.”

The film, shot in 2016, follows a recent divorcee in his late 20s planning a large-scale “divorce party,” to help him adjust to his new phase of life.

Both writers are children of divorce, and Famiglietti saysd making the movie allowed him to explore the subtleties of a relationship that has reached its end in a way that is not only negative.

“The movie is more about finding who you are and moving forward in your life, rather than being against the person you were married to,” Famiglietti says.

Famiglietti, who is married and has a daughter, is also looking to push forward in his film career, despite his move away from Los Angeles. Twenty years after breaking into the industry, he maintains a chaotic schedule.

Last year, Famiglietti shot four Lifetime movies, starred in another yet to be released film, “Soulmate(s),” and is in the process of producing and co-writing, with Garrison, a biopic about underdog Super Bowl champion Gary Brackett.

Now back at home, Famiglietti’s hopes to create opportunities in film for himself in Connecticut.

“After being in L.A. so long,’ Famiglietti says, “being back gets my wheels turning about the sorts of stories I could tell here.”

https://www.ctpost.com/living/article/Hollywood-actor-comes-home-to-Conn-and-starts-a-13574265.php#photo-16849411

Reminiscing about the summer of Dawson’s Creek spin-off Young Americans

Ah, the summer of 2000: Scary Movie was riding high at the box office, Vertical Horizon’s Everything You Want topped the Hot 100, and Pacey Witter’s childhood friend got to experience eight weeks of love and angst with the rich kids of Rawley Academy.

Dubbed as the show that explored what happened “when blue-collar meets blue blood,” Young Americans, which debuted on the WB network in July 2000, was a summer spin-off of Dawson’s Creek starring Rodney Scott as Will Krudski and a supporting cast that looked straight out of an Abercrombie & Fitch catalogue.

For Creek fans, Will was first introduced in season 3 of Dawson’s Creek, tagging along with the gang to the house of Dawson’s Aunt Gwen (played by a pre-Modern Family Julie Bowen).

Will, our smart, blue-collar hero, cheats his way into a scholarship at the prestigious Rawley boarding school and rooms with the dashing blue-blood Scout Calhoun (Mark Famiglietti). Scout falls for local gas station girl Bella Banks (Kate Bosworth), but there might be some icky familial history between them. Meanwhile, Jacqueline Pratt (Katherine Moennig) decides to disguise herself as a boy named Jake, and she quickly finds herself drawn to the dean’s dreamy son, Hamilton Fleming (Ian Somerhalder), who questions his own sexuality as he’s attracted to Jake.

EW compiled key moments from the show as we revisit Dawson’s Creek over Creek Week.

Papa (and Mama) don’t preach

The angst-ridden Rawley teens were all dealing with disapproving parents, like Mr. Banks shutting down Bella dating the dreamy, blue-eyed Scout. But it turns out there might be a good reason, as Scout’s father has a secret daughter who … could be none other than Bella? Meanwhile, Will is constantly struggling with his negligent father, Bella’s mother throws a wrench into her plans, Jake literally dresses as a guy to get her mother’s attention, and Hamilton has to contend with the burden of being the dean’s son.

Hamilton’s torment

Long before a certain founding father’s struggles were elevated onto the Broadway stage, there was another Hamilton in our lives. Even though Jake turned out to be a girl, Hamilton’s inner turmoil over his attraction to Jake was another milestone moment for queer teens on TV, and came on the heels of Kerr Smith’s Jack coming out as gay in season 2 of Dawson’s Creek.

There’s always drama at the cotillion

Did you know that a cotillion is actually an 18th century French ball tradition where attendees danced in fours? But there’s certainly no French dancing (although there’s some French kissing) at the Rawley summer cotillion, where Will takes Bella but pines for Caroline, Scout takes Paige but pines for Bella, Bella just pines, and Jake and Hamilton’s plans to upend cotillion traditions are interrupted by Lena asking Hamilton as her date. Cue lots of long, charged stares.

A scene-stealing Charlie Hunnam

The future Sons of Anarchy star played Rawley’s resident British bad boy, Ryder. We’ll just leave this here.

Hallmark Channel’s ‘All for Love’ the perfect Memorial Day weekend flick

This Memorial Day weekend, Hallmark Channel is your go-to destination for a fun, family film via its new original flick ‘All for Love’.

What better way to celebrate Memorial Weekend than by watching two individuals from completely different worlds brought together through the power of love! Just in time for Memorial Day comes All for Love, a new Hallmark Channel original film about taking chances and finding love in the most unexpected of places.

Jo Parker (Sara Rue, Impastor) was once the top-selling romance novelist but in recent years she’s gradually lost her spark. Having sworn off romance in her own life, her novels are no longer selling as well as they once did and her most recent novel proved to be the biggest flop in her writing career – largely due to the factual errors critics and readers panned her for making.

Due to the failure of her last novel, her publisher is more critical than ever before and is none too pleased with the first draft of her next work “SEALed with a Kiss,” a romance novel featuring a charming Navy Seal hero at the heart of its story. The only issue, is that her publisher feels the book is missing that same level of factualness which leads Jo to throw herself into researching the life of a real-life Seal. Enter retired Seal turned military boot camp leader Colin Shaw (Steve Bacic, Garage Sale Mystery).

Soon both Jo and Colin are thrust into unfamiliar territory as the skeptical Colin looks to show Jo what it truly takes to be a Seal.

Along the way, both Jo and Colin end up learning more about themselves and one another as each discover capabilities they were unaware they possessed. While their relationship starts off on the front foot, friendship soon blossoms into something more leaving both Jo and Colin to question whether art really does imitate life.Don’t miss the Hallmark Channel world premiere of All for Love this Saturday, May 27 at 9/8c!

Thoughts on the latest Hallmark Channel original made-for-TV movie and its premise? Will you be tuning into All for Love this weekend? Keep the conversation going in the comments section below and don’t forget to set your DVRs!

‘Spy’ filmmakers give area high marks

GLENS FALLS — Los Angeles filmmaker Drew Mylrea just left Glens Falls on Tuesday and by Wednesday he said he was already missing Spektor Coffee.

“I loved Glens Falls,” he said by phone on Wednesday afternoon. “And I am missing those bagels.”

Mylrea, the director of a new film, “Spy Intervention,” shot in Glens Falls and Lake George over the past two-and-a-half months, said that he’d be happy to come back to the area.

“I’d make another movie here in a heartbeat,” he said. “It’s lovely and Andrew’s (Andrew Meader) working very hard at bringing films to the area.”

Meader, the president of the Adirondack Theatre Festival board, has been volunteering his time for the past year to make this region a draw for filmmakers.

“We are trying to start a film commission and we are hoping that the legal paperwork comes out in the next couple weeks,” Meader said on Wednesday. “The idea is that we create a film commission that is an independent nonprofit entity when it all comes together. It is all about attracting and supporting films in the area.”

Meader added that local moviemaking has a big economic impact and it showcases the area.

“Most of the cast and crew were from out of the area,” Meader said about the nearly 75 people who stayed in area hotels for nearly three months. “The whole point is to attract films here, they use local catering, they are out eating and drinking and spending 10s of thousands of dollars.”

“Spy Intervention” producer Sunil Perkash, of “Salt” and “Enchanted,” contacted Mylrea about six months ago about directing the film.

“He approached me with the script and things moved very quickly,” Mylrea said. “Being the director, they set-up without me. I got a ticket, I showed up and didn’t leave for two-and-a-half months.”

The story is about a U.S. spy who ends up in a small town.

“This is a comedy. A James Bond-like character is on a mission in a small town. He falls in love with a small town girl and settles down,” Mylrea said. “But he wonders if he made the right decision.”

Still, he said “Spy Intervention” is not a romantic comedy.

“No, this isn’t a rom-com,” he said. “It’s a quirky independent comedy.”

Although the budget was not revealed, Meader said that the film was in the $1 million to $3 million range and is perhaps one of the biggest budget films shot in the area to date.

“I know they spent several hundred thousand while here,” he said.

A big part of getting things right is having the right locations, which was a job left up to Meader as location manager.

“Typically, the crew was on set for 12 hours and there are a couple hours of set-up and tear down,” said Meader, who was on set every day. “The location manager is the first one in and the last one out.”

To make sure they took care of all the locations, the crew would put cardboard on the rugs and walls. While filming at The Inn at Erlowest in Lake George, they had to be very careful of all the woodwork.

“We can’t replace 200-year-old woodwork,” he said.

They made sure they put everything back exactly the way they found it.

The film needed a local home where the spy and his wife lived, and Meader said that after showing them 100 photos of homes, they picked Queensbury Hotel manager Zack Moore’s home for the film.

“They chose Zack’s house. He moved his family to The Queensbury for a week-and-a-half,” Meader said. “One day we moved all the furniture into the driveway for a drone shot that made it look like we were still inside.”

Meader explained that they actually moved the set outside to look like the actors were still in the home so they could shoot an aerial view of the scene.

Meader said he learned so much about filmmaking with this film and that logistics require lots of attention. Details about where 70 people will park, eat three meals a day and wait while certain scenes are being shot all have to be planned.

“We used neighbors’ garages to cater,” he said, adding that the 190 Grille & Cinema did all the catering for cast and crew.

Mylrea and a line producer rented two apartments at 14 Hudson, the Bonacio building, while cast and crew were spread out among three different locations: The Courtyard Marriott in Lake George, Clarion Inn & Suites in Queensbury and The Queensbury Hotel in Glens Falls.

The film is now in post-production, a time when things like editing, music and color are fine-tuned or added.

“That should take about six to eight months,” Mylrea said, adding that he’d love to have the film shown next year at the Adirondack Film Festival.

According to Meader, they are in talks with other film companies about future films coming to Glens Falls.

“We have had a lot of interest from a lot of different films. We are looking at locations. We could have a film here as early as January or February,” he said. “I learned a ton and I tried to anticipate their needs. Next time around I will anticipate more.”

Meader continued.

“What I loved is how much they loved the area,” he said. “They talked about coming back because they felt so welcomed.”

Elizabeth Bogush To Star In ‘Last Night’; Chris Caldovino Joins Indie ‘Made In Chinatown’

Elizabeth Bogush is set as the lead in Last Night, a MarVista Entertainment indie feature from director Chris Sivertson. The plot follows a successful family woman who wakes up next to the dead body of her former lover with no memory of what happened last night. She must race to uncover the identity of the killer before she’s arrested for the crime or becomes the next victim herself. Brad Schmidt, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Mark Famiglietti, Sarah Lind, Victoria Barbaras and Stephanie Bast round out the cast. Michael Moran and John Hermann are the producers. Bogush, who has recurred on CBS’s NCIS: LA and Showtime’s Masters of Sex, is repped by Innovative, Margie Weiner Management, and Meyer & Downs.

Chris Caldovino has been added to the cast of Art Camacho and Robert Samuels’ mob comedy indie Made in Chinatown. Written by Mark V Wiley, the pic centers on “Vinny” Chow who rejects his Chinese culture to become an Italian Wiseguy like the heroes from his favorite movies. With the help of his Kung Fu master, the Chinese girl next door, and a pair of New York fortune tellers, Vinny finds Chinese culture at the center of who he truly is. Caldovino, whose credits include The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire, will play Paulie, the underboss of one of the powerful New York crime families. Wiley is producing the film. Caldovino is repped by Momentum Talent and manager Bob McGowan.

Lifetime Movies’ “Left For Dead”: Cast & Plot Synopsis

If you follow the ritual of watching Lifetime Movies on the weekend, then get ready for a thrill fest on Friday, October 19, 2018! Lifetime Movies’ Left for Dead is a classic memory-loss suspense thriller, and it’s bound to kick-start your weekend like no other! But before you get set for the movie, read all about the cast and plot right here.

“Left for Dead” Plot

Left for Dead follows a woman named Lauren, who has an accident and wakes up knowing nothing. From her name to where she lives, the amnesia has wiped out all her memories.

As in many good thrillers, a man walks in with a suspicious look on his face. He comes to comfort her, claiming to be her husband.

Flashes of memories haunt Lauren while she tries to recover, and in those memories is a little girl screaming for help in a car accident. She realizes that the girl was her daughter, and soon things come undone when she begins suspecting her so-called husband!

Is her daughter alive? Will Lauren get her memories back? The two-hour movie is bound to keep you on the edge of your seat!

“Left for Dead” Cast

Chelsea Hobbs

Character: Lauren Carlton

Hobbs is a Canadian actress best known for her lead role in Make It or Break It. She comes from Swedish, Irish, and Scottish backgrounds, and has been into acting and dancing since she was 3-years-old.

She is also famous for her role as Gerda in the TV movie Snow Queen, which aired back in 2002. Hobbs is 33 and comes from Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada.

You may have also seen her in Confessions of a Go-Go Girl, and some other Lifetime Movies like Killer Ending.

William McNamara

Character: The Husband

McNamara is born to a pro race car driver and hails from Dallas, Texas. He is a graduate of the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York, and attended Columbia University.

William McNamara is best known for his suave role in the 1988 movie Stealing Home opposite Jodie Foster, and for Surviving The Game (1994). He is not new to the chiller and thriller genre; one of his best movies has been Copycat in 1995.

Mark Famiglietti

Famiglietti was born in Rhode Island, but was raised in Connecticut. He developed a keen interest in acting and the movies in his teen years. The 39-year-old actor also a wrote a movie for MGM, but the movie was never made after Sony took over the movie giant.

You may know Mark Famiglietti from We Were The Mulvaneys, Young Americans, and also Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

Is ‘Her Boyfriend’s Secret’ Based On A True Story? This Love Story Is Hardly A Fairytale

Have you ever felt like you’ve met the perfect guy and it almost seems too good to be true? Well, when it comes to the new Lifetime original movie Her Boyfriend’s Secret, just take that notion, multiply it by a thousand, and throw in as many shocking twists as possible. Full of lies, deceit, and more secrets than you can count, this film has all the Lifetime ingredients that’ll make you start questioning everything you know about your significant other. But is Her Boyfriend’s Secret based on a a true story? This fairytale nightmare is enough to leave any couple paranoid.

The story centers around a woman named Melissa, who develops a relationship with a man named John, who seems like a total stand-up guy. In fact, he’s so great it makes you wonder how he’s still single in the first place. As their relationship progresses, Melissa couldn’t be happier and is clearly falling head over heels in love with him. However, when John’s ex-girlfriend shows up with a warning about him, everything starts to change. And while you may be tempted to think that it’s all just some jealous ploy in order to get John back, it soon becomes clear that there’s some truth to his ex’s story. John is not who he appears to be, and the more Melissa finds out about him, the more danger she appears to be in.

The official Lifetime synopsis of the movie reads as follows:

“When home renovator Melissa Davis strikes up a new relationship with her client, John Anderson, she believes she’s found the guy of her dreams. However, when John’s ex, Carrie, appears with a grave warning, Melissa learns that her dream man has a dark secret that he’ll kill to protect.”

Based on the trailer, it seems as though John’s real name is actually Dr. Christian Wellsley, a neuroscientist with a secret family. So why exactly is he pretending to be someone he’s not, and perhaps more importantly, what’s he going to do when Melissa finds out his big secret? Viewers will have to tune in when Her Boyfriend’s Secret airs on Lifetime this Saturday, Sept. 8 at 8 p.m. ET in order to see how it all plays out.

So considering the chilling premise of the story, is any part of it based on real life or is this entirely a work of fiction? Luckily, as is the case with many Lifetime movies, the plot appears to be completely made up and created by writers in order to entice viewers to watch. (Mission accomplished, BTW!) Of course, it’s possible that there’s someone out there who’s currently living a double life. (Heck, maybe he even goes by the name John.) But when it comes to this Lifetime movie, the characters aren’t based on any specific person.

In any case, you can take comfort in knowing that, while the idea may be entertaining to watch, it most likely won’t happen in real life. That being said, it wouldn’t hurt to keep an extra close eye on your partner over the next few weeks. You know, just in case.

‘American Made’ Backer Argent & ‘Amateur’ Producer Mandalay Line Up Female Buddy Comedy ‘Soulmates’

EXCLUSIVE: American Made and Hacksaw Ridge backer Argent Pictures, whose partners include sports stars Drew Brees and Tony Parker, and Amateur producer Mandalay Pictures begin shooting next week in Vermont on the female buddy comedy Soulmates.

Pic focuses on two friends who are trying to maintain the balance of their friendship just as their community rallies against the corporate takeover of the local maple sugar industry. Stephanie Lynn (Castle, How I Met Your Mother) and Alexandra Case (Fishes ‘n Loaves: Heaven Sent) wrote the script and will star alongside Mark Famiglietti (Aquarius). Tim Armstrong (Dakota’s Summer) is on board to direct.

Jill Ahrens, Ryan Ahrens and Ben Renzo of Argent, Caroline Connor, Patrick Raymond of Mandalay Pictures, and Alexandra Renzo are producing. Executive producers are Argent’s Brees, Parker, Michael Finley and Derrick Brooks, and Mandalay Pictures’ Jason Michael Berman. Lisa Nitti negotiated the deal on behalf of Argent Pictures and will serve as production counsel.

“As a native Vermonter, I am thrilled to be filming in my home state. Vermont is a very special place, a place that could never be replicated in a Hollywood studio,” said Case. “When our producers first visited VT, they thought the big city of Burlington was a small town… I know my parents are still laughing at that. Argent has built an incredible team, and I’m excited to share a story that is so close to my heart.”

“This is a film about friendship, love and Vermont.” said Lynn. “Alexandra and I are very excited to give the world a glimpse of the extraordinarily special state where we had the privilege of growing up. We could not be more thrilled to have found such an incredible team to bring our story to life; a team that even supported our vision to shoot the film entirely in Vermont. Maple syrup, cheese, cows and all.”

Argent’s credits include American Made, The Birth Of A Nation, Hacksaw Ridge, Chasing Coral and Netflix pic Amateur, on which it collaborated with Mandalay. Slate projects include Tayarisha Poe’s Selah And The Spades, Kung Fury 2 , The Good Time Girls and They Fight.