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Playing an Irish terrorist on a quest to save his cat, Chris told “Extra” that this play is like “being a rock star. It’s two hours, it’s quick, it’s fast.”

Pine is best known for his role as Kirk in “Star Trek,” but the eligible bachelor doesn’t plan on jumping into another sci-fi superhero role anytime soon.

“I don’t think I’d look good in a spandex outfit, to be quite honest with you, so, um, I think Superman is definitely out,” he told “Extra’s” Lauren Sanchez.

Chris didn’t always have the desire to be an actor, and was more drawn to sports while growing up. “I played basketball and baseball. I was no good by any stretch.”

It wasn’t until college that Pine used theater as a way to make friends. “It satisfied everything I enjoyed about using your mind and being in front of people and the charge of that… it was just a good fit for me. Ironically enough, I had been around it all my life.”

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Gallery Links:
- Small Town Saturday Night (2009) > On Set Photography
- Small Town Saturday Night (2009) > Behind The Scenes Photography

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Wilson Milam directs the production, which stars Chris Pine, Ian Alda, Andrew Connolly, Coby Getzug, Seán G. Griffin, Kevin Kearns, Zoe Perry, and Brett Ryback.

Among the opening night guests were Courtney B. Vance, Shawn Christian, Johnny Galecki, Tate Donovan, Robert Pine, and Lorien Hawkins.

The show is set in 1993 on a rocky island in County Galway where Padraic (Pine), a hard-boiled terrorist is lured home by the news that his beloved cat, Wee Thomas, is doing poorly. When Padraic discovers the cat has been murdered, he initiates a cycle of revenge-killing that threatens everyone in his path.

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Thanks so much to JenLynn for the high qualities! <3

Finally, I asked him what projects are bubbling up to the surface and he said the next Jack Ryan movie, Moscow, that Chris Pine is attached to and The Associate – which is a John Grisham book that Shia Labeouf’s attached to. When I asked how the script was for the Jack Ryan movie, he said they had a great one and he is hoping to start shooting late winter/early spring.

Do you mind me asking what’s bubbling up what’s bubbling to the surface right now for you?

Lorenzo: Well, we’re hoping to get Jack Ryan off the ground with Chris Pine and that’s really exciting. And this movie called The Associate which is a John Grisham book that Shia Labeouf’s attached to. We’re hoping to get that off the ground shortly, too.

SW: I spoke to somebody about the Jack Ryan project and the last time I spoke it was I think I want to say it was somehow tied to Moscow? Am I wrong about that?

Lorenzo: It’s called Moscow.

That’s right. So I guess, do you guys have a script? Or just figuring out his….

Lorenzo: We have a very good script. I think it’s…I’m very happy with where we are today and we’re looking forward to…maybe with a little luck starting next late winter/early spring.

Oh this year or early next year?

Lorenzo: Of early next year, yeah.

In fact, “Star Trek’s” gung-ho starship commander would probably admire Pine’s “I’ll do it my way” approach to his career.

Pine, 29, is a serious theater actor, and unlike most stage-trained performers who find sudden Hollywood fame, he hasn’t abandoned live performance.

Playing Kirk in last year’s blockbuster movie “Star Trek” has put the handsome Los Angeles native on a career fast track, but he’s still a regular on L.A. stages, too. In 2007 he appeared in Neil LaBute’s “Fat Pig” at the Geffen Playhouse; last year he starred opposite Chris Noth in the tense political drama “Farragut North,” also at the Geffen.

Now Pine will tackle one of British theater’s hottest and most challenging playwrights, Martin McDonagh, in the blood-soaked, pitch-dark 2001 comedy, “The Lieutenant of Inishmore.” It opens July 11 at the Mark Taper Forum.

We talked to Pine recently about “Inishmore,” his love of theater, and his career.

The Orange County Register: Did you see this play before landing the role of Padraic, its dark-hearted leading man?

Christopher Pine: I did not. I was more familiar with McDonagh from his film work, the short he won the Oscar for and “In Bruges,” which I was a huge fan of. From there I discovered his theater work. In college I had done a scene from “The Cripple of Inishmaan.” And I had heard from a lot of my friends in New York about how much they’d enjoyed (“Inishmore”).

Register: How is the violence handled? Is it supposed to be funny and queasy at the same time?

Pine: This show won’t appeal to people who are sensitive to seeing graphic violence. But I would say that there is a reason for all of it. If there’s a theme, it is the inanity of violence. The violence in this case is grossly overdone for a reason. It begets nothing but chaos, death, destruction and depravity. The fact of the matter is that all of the violence in this household is the product of Padraic’s love for his cat. If that doesn’t make you giggle, then I suppose you shouldn’t see this show.

Register: Padraic reminds me of the characters in McDonagh’s film, “In Bruges.” They’re violent thugs, but they have their strict rules of engagement.

Pine: (Padraic) has a definite moral code, but I don’t think there is much logic to it. He believes in the purity of the cause, which is the unification of Ireland as an independent republic. In the beginning he’s torturing a guy because he’s been dealing drugs to kids. If they were Protestants, he’d have no problem with it. But Catholic children should have nothing on their minds except waging violence on the Unionists and Protestants. It’s ridiculous, but he does have a certain moral code, and his adherence to it gives him this crazy extremism

Register: Does Padraic have any saving graces as a character?

Pine: I think in Padraic’s mind there is nothing wrong with what he does. The great thing about this piece is there’s a clear objective from the actor’s point of view. He wants to see Ireland free of the jackbooted villains of England’s monarchy by any means necessary. There’s a certain amount of that enjoyment to the torture in that first scene, but the fact is Padraic believes it has to be done. Once you buy into that, it’s easy to judge him objectively.

Register: Does McDonagh give us any hints about why Padraic became so violent?

Pine: There’s no mention of a mother. He clearly was humiliated and powerless from a young age. His father is as sadistic as him. He’s a real hard, harsh, judgmental, mean old man, and highly super-manipulative. Early on there’s a mention of (Padraic) wearing girly scarves and being made fun of by his cousin. He then lashes out as his cousin, beats him and steals his wheelchair. The scarf could have been from his mom.

Register: How do you compare McDonagh to other playwrights? What are his strengths?

Pine: He’s very cynical, like (Joe) Orton. There’s spectacle and violence, for sure. It’s almost balletic at times, ridiculous in its extremity. I guess if you see it without thinking about it you can watch it and leave and have a really good time. Once you start looking at it, it reveals itself to be really deep; it says a lot about how we view violence. There’s a comment there, too, about the ballet of violence, how beautiful it is and how fun to watch. We’re all waiting for the next gunshot. Violence is a computer game.

Register: How did your life change after “Star Trek”?

Pine: I’ve been really blessed from “Star Trek” to get more opportunities than I had previously in my career. And I just wait for the good material. I’ve been lucky in that I’ve gotten to play on the really big stage with Denzel (Washington) and Tony Scott (Pine will star in the upcoming Scott film “Unstoppable” with Washington). Counter that with these theater productions, which are a whole different thing. I just try to follow what’s good and what interests me and challenges me and makes me think and engages a part of me. It’s so rare to get all of your muscles firing at once. That’s what I look for in any role.

source

Photos courtesy of Craig Schwartz / Center Theatre Group

Gallery Link:
- On Stage – Play Photos > The Lieutenant of Inishmore ( 2010 )

Enter to win tickets to The Lieutenant of Inishmore starring Chris Pine!

“If Monty Python has ever tackled the issue of Irish terrorism, they might have created something as wild, as brilliant and as weirdly exhilarating as The Lieutenant of Inishmore.” -NY Daily News

Olivier Award-winner Martin McDonagh (The Pillowman) makes comedy from carnage in this highly theatrical romp. Padraic (played by Chris Pine) is a handsome, dedicated terrorist deemed too mad for the IRA. He takes a break from torturing “valid targets” and blowing up fast food restaurants when he hears that his best friend in the world, a beloved cat, is doing poorly.

Critics raved and gasped over this 2006 Tony Award® Best Play nominee. You can decide for yourself when the original Broadway director stages this daring and disturbingly intoxicating dark comedy.

June 30 – Aug 8, 2010
Mark Taper Forum
at the Music Center
downtown Los Angeles

And if you are not the lucky winner Save up to 33% on The Lieutenant of Inishmore

Call 213-628-2772 and use code BLOOD or visit www.CenterTheatreGroup.org/BLOOD to save 33% today!

Offer Details: $30 (regularly $35-45) for Section A seats for performances June 30 – July 15 (excluding Sat eves and July 11th). Not valid on previously purchased tickets. Cannot be combined with other offers.

Once the winner is picked I will contact you for your information to pass along so you may retrieve your free tickets.

Vulture has learned that Sam Worthington has been offered a starring role in Fox’s action/romantic comedy This Means War, to be directed by McG; Worthington and Chris Pine (who is already signed on) would play best friends and veteran spies who wage black-ops warfare on each other when they both fall for the same girl (Reese Witherspoon, who’s also producing, along with Will Smith’s company, Overbrook Entertainment). Of course, if this movie’s eleven-year, musical-chair history is any indication, Worthington will sit on the project for awhile and eventually wander off so the mongering can be passed on to someone else.

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Gallery Link:
- Movies > Small Town Saturday Night (2009) > DVD Captures

**click banner to see full high resolution photo!**

Directed by Wilson Milam (Tony-nominated for directing the Broadway production of this play), the cast of “The Lieutenant of Inishmore” features (in alphabetical order) Ian Alda, Andrew Connolly, Coby Getzug, Seán G. Griffin, Kevin Kearns, Zoe Perry, Chris Pine and Brett Ryback. The scenic designer for “The Lieutenant of Inishmore” is Laura Fine Hawkes, the costume designer is Stephanie Kerley Schwartz, the lighting designer is Brian Gale and the sound designer is Cricket S. Myers. Casting is by Erika Sellin and the production stage manager is David S. Franklin.

“The Lieutenant of Inishmore,” by Academy Award-winning, Olivier Award-winning and Tony Award-nominated Martin McDonagh, is a blistering, graphic satire on violence set in 1993 on the rocky island of Inishmore. Padraic (Pine), a hard-boiled terrorist, has been away in Northern Ireland with his busy schedule of torture and assorted nationalist mayhem, but he is lured home to Inishmore by the news that his beloved cat, Wee Thomas, is doing poorly. When Padraic finds out Wee Thomas has been murdered, he initiates a cycle of revenge-killing that threatens everyone in his path, except perhaps the love-struck Mairead (Zoe Perry), a 16-year-old terrorist groupie with a BB gun.

When “The Lieutenant of Inishmore” was presented in 2006 at the Atlantic Theater Company in New York, Ben Brantley of The New York Times said that the play is “. . . brazenly and unapologetically a farce, but it is also a severely moral play, translating into dizzy absurdism the self-perpetuating spirals of political violence that now occur throughout the world . . . [it is] directed with a steady gaze and acute theatrical instinct by Wilson Milam.” Michael Billington of The Guardian remarked of the earlier London production, “. . . a boldly brilliant play about the way rigid adherence to a cause destroys a sense of proportion . . . Like all first-rate satire, the play attacks excess and endorses reason.”

Center Theatre Group, a non-profit organization, is one of the largest and most active theatre companies in the nation, programming seasons at the Mark Taper Forum and Ahmanson Theatre at the Music Center of Los Angeles, and the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. In addition to providing theatre of the highest caliber to the rich, diverse communities of Southern California, CTG supports a significant number of arts education and play development initiatives.
Tickets for “The Lieutenant of Inishmore” are available by calling CTG Audience Services at (213) 628-2772 or online at www.CenterTheatreGroup.org or in person at the CTG box office located at the Ahmanson Theatre at the Music Center.

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Gallery Link:
- Movies > Carriers (2009) > DVD Captures (1080i HD)

Here is an exclusive 1 minute clip of Chris singing “Someday Came To Day” from Small Town Saturday Night, which was released onto DVD today! Doesn’t Chris sound good?!

Also be sure to check out this exclusive clip from the movie here: blockbustercan.blogspot.com

EDIT: Here is the clip from the BlockBuster website

Also to those wondering if and when it will be released in your area, if you live outside of The United States and Canada than listen up! I’ve been told at the moment it does not have a distributor in The UK, which is the issue elsewhere too. For now the best solution is to buy the DVD online from websites like Amazon.com and make sure you have a DVD Player that can play Region 1 discs.

If there is anymore information about releases in other areas I will let you guys know.

Lastly, be sure to follow Maple Pictures on they’re official twitter page for all the latest on Small Town Saturday Night and all they’re other great films. Twitter.com/MaplePictures

Directed by Wilson Milam (Tony-nominated for directing the Broadway production of this play), the cast of “The Lieutenant of Inishmore” features (in alphabetical order) Ian Alda, Andrew Connolly, Coby Getzug, Seán G. Griffin, Kevin Kearns, Zoe Perry, Chris Pine and Brett Ryback. The scenic designer for “The Lieutenant of Inishmore” is Laura Fine Hawkes, the costume designer is Stephanie Kerley Schwartz, the lighting designer is Brian Gale and the sound designer is Cricket S. Myers. Casting is by Erika Sellin and the production stage manager is David S. Franklin.

“The Lieutenant of Inishmore,” by Academy Award-winning, Olivier Award-winning and Tony Award-nominated Martin McDonagh, is a blistering, graphic satire on violence set in 1993 on the rocky island of Inishmore. Padraic (Pine), a hard-boiled terrorist, has been away in Northern Ireland with his busy schedule of torture and assorted nationalist mayhem, but he is lured home to Inishmore by the news that his beloved cat, Wee Thomas, is doing poorly. When Padraic finds out Wee Thomas has been murdered, he initiates a cycle of revenge-killing that threatens everyone in his path, except perhaps the love-struck Mairead (Zoe Perry), a 16-year-old terrorist groupie with a BB gun.

When “The Lieutenant of Inishmore” was presented in 2006 at the Atlantic Theater Company in New York, Ben Brantley of The New York Times said that the play is “. . . brazenly and unapologetically a farce, but it is also a severely moral play, translating into dizzy absurdism the self-perpetuating spirals of political violence that now occur throughout the world . . . [it is] directed with a steady gaze and acute theatrical instinct by Wilson Milam.” Michael Billington of The Guardian remarked of the earlier London production, “. . . a boldly brilliant play about the way rigid adherence to a cause destroys a sense of proportion . . . Like all first-rate satire, the play attacks excess and endorses reason.”

Center Theatre Group, a non-profit organization, is one of the largest and most active theatre companies in the nation, programming seasons at the Mark Taper Forum and Ahmanson Theatre at the Music Center of Los Angeles, and the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. In addition to providing Theatre Of the highest caliber to the rich, diverse communities of Southern California, CTG supports a significant number of arts education and play development initiatives.
Tickets for “The Lieutenant of Inishmore” are available by calling CTG Audience Services at (213) 628-2772 or online at www.CenterTheatreGroup.org or in person at the CTG box office located at the Ahmanson Theatre at the Music Center.

source

Gallery Link:
- Photo Sessions > Session #028

The two men’s bond disintegrates and their ensuing battle escalates to mammoth proportions with New York City demolished in their wake. The site goes on to say that Rogen might take over a role in the film that was originally offered to James Franco. Aside from these rumblings, there really isn’t any solid casting news regarding the roles for this project. This Means War comes to theaters in 2011 and is being directed by McG.

source: fusedfilm.com

We haven’t heard much since, but a source for Pajiba has provided further details on Pine’s mission. Screenwriter Adam Cozad has stepped in to rewrite an original draft by Hossein Amini for a story that won’t be based on a Clancy novel.

The film, operating under the working title Moscow, will center on Ryan as a financial analyst to a billionaire employer in Moscow. It’s here he is framed to take the fall for a terrorist plot designed to collapse the U.S. economy. It essentially becomes a chase movie where Ryan must clear his name, prevent the terrorist attack, and save his captured wife before time runs out.

Dustin Rowles at Pajiba points out this sounds similar to Cozad’s geopolitical drama Dubai, his first script deal that sold to Lorenzo Di Bonaventura in 2007 with Star Trek villain Eric Bana attached as a producer. Other than the relocation, the two stories of a man trying to stop the collapse of the economy and prove his innocence sound extremely close.

While it’s unfortunate they aren’t returning to Clancy’s extensive library, it seems like Paramount is assembling a timely adventure for their young, rebooted franchise. Both the studio and Pine stand to reap the benefits if this becomes their second hit collaboration, so I’m curious to see who they’re lining up to direct. Sam Raimi was interested in the material before, but passed to focus on a now defunct Spider-Man 4. Maybe they can lure him back.

source: newsinfilm.com

Thanks so much! Can’t wait for the DVD!