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PINEWOOD ALUM CHARLES OLIVER HITS THE SILVER SCREEN
On April 27, 2007, Pinewood alum Charles Oliver's brainchild "Take"
will premier at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. Written and directed by Charles, “Take” stars Minnie Driver
(“Goodwill Hunting”), Jeremy Renner (“S.W.A.T.”), Bobby Coleman (“Must Love
Dogs”), Adam Rodriguez (“CSI Miami”), and David Denman (“The Office”). The movie was funded by a consortium of
private investors put together by Charles’ brother (and Pinewood alumnus) Ryan
Oliver and will initially be shown at film festivals around the country. Charles,
who graduated from Pinewood in 1987, says he first "fell in love with
film as a young boy. I spent a summer tagging along with my father who
was helping a friend make a documentary. I knew then that someday I
wanted to give [film] a try." He caught the creative writing bug in
Jeff Cunnan's college writing class while building on the fundamentals
taught by Isobel Pulley and Laurie Eickmeier. Dina Ferentinos used her "contagious energy" to coax him into theatrical performances, and
Connie Hornbeck trained him in art history. In writing and directing
films, Charles says, he has been able to put his reservoir of scholarly
principles "to work in a creative setting."
After studying
Humanities at Brigham Young University and returning to Pinewood to
teach Film Studies, Writing, and World Cultures, Oliver founded a
production company where he "focused on writing and directing national
and regional commercial campaigns" for clients such as Novell and
Adobe. Ten years later, he realized he had other goals, and he moved
his family to Bainbridge Island, Washington to write a screenplay (his
fourth) that he could direct himself. "Take" is the result.
Transpiring
over two days – one in the present and one in the past – “Take” is a drama
“about strangers, the uncertainty of life, and the power of redemption.” Charles says every day of shooting the film
was an adventure: “We shot twelve-hour days, six-day weeks, for five weeks …
the most exciting day of production for me was the scene outside a grocery
store … the entire crew of about 50 was standing behind the video monitor
wondering how this little nine-year-old boy was going to pull off the most
dramatically challenging scene of the film … when the time came, we were
captivated. It was absolutely chilling
to watch.”
Charles
is married to the former Elisa Bentley, and together they have four
children. He says that being away from them while the film was shot in
the Los Angeles area was the hardest part of production.
Pinewood congratulates Charles on bringing "Take" to the screen and wishes him and the film well!
For more information on "Take" please visit www.telosfilms.com/take .
Posted: January 2007
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