John Shea (1/06 The Insurgents)
Excerpt from Networked Artists Tribe 1/29/06: John Shea | The Insurgents
Casting News Hot Off The Wire!
topic posted Sun, January 29, 2006 - 7:12 PM by The Actor's Checklist
THE INSURGENTS (FEATURE FILM) FROM ANGEL BABY ENTERTAINMENT
Union. Director: Scott Dacko. Casting for two parts in political thriller, The Insurgents (starring John Shea, Henry Simmons, Mary Stuart Masterson and Michael Mosely). Sag Ultra Low Budget.
© Networked Tribes
Excerpt from Indie Wire 2/1/06: John Shea
Production Report: "The Desealer", "Dirty Hands", "Have You Seen Andy?", "The Insurgents", "Sanctified"
By Jason Guerrasio | February 1, 2006 at 6:16AM
"The Insurgents"
In the film, four Americans come together to build a truck bomb and plan to detonate it on a target in the U.S.
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He quickly found interest in production companies Full Glass Films ("My Suicidal Sweetheart") and Angel Baby Entertainment and has recently begun the 15-day shoot in Long Island City, New York.
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The cast includes Mary Stuart Masterson, Michael Mosley, Henry Simmons, Juliette Marquis and John Shea.
© Indiewire
Excerpt from PC Magazine 5/3/06: John Shea
Making an Indie Film: Cinema in the Digital Age
By Cade Metz 05.03.06
This winter, Web designer/writer-director Scott Dacko proved it with The Insurgents, a political thriller starring Mary Stuart Masterson (of Fried Green Tomatoes fame), NYPD Blue's Henry Simmons, indie up-and-comer Juliette Marquis, and veteran character actor John Shea.
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Masterson and Shea are veterans of Oscar-nominated projects.
© PC Magazine
Excerpt from Don't Tell Me How It Ends 9/06: John Shea
Insurgents Takes Audience Award at Oldenburg Film Festival
Sunday, September 10, 2006
At its first festival and international premiere, The Insurgents has captured the Audience Award at the Oldenburg Film Festival. The Insurgents stars Mike Mosley, Johnny Shea, Henry Simmons, Juliette Marquis and Mary Stuart Masterson.
© Don't Tell Me How It Ends
The Insurgents 3/07: John Shea part 1 and 2
The Insurgents: John Shea Promotional Interview
Interviewer: So tell us what attracted you to this project, The Insurgents.
John: I read the script and I liked the script. I thought it was different. I read an awful lot of scripts. It's sort of what I do for a living, I think, is I read, and I feel like a 49er kind of panning for gold. And I'm always look for things that are well-written, different, that can kind of provide a challenge. Something different from the last kind of thing that I did. The last film that I did was a romantic comedy. The one that I did before that was a film noir, set in London. And then suddenly this film comes along called The Insurgents, which is, you know, a political thriller, intelligently written, set in a really unnamed American city, and it has a lot of things in it that are controversial, provokative. And I think to myself, "This is a good writer, and this is an interesting script." And so I call my agents and I say, "I wanna meet this guy." And they say, "Well, I'm sorry, he's in New York, and I think the thing is already cast." And I say, "Well, no. This is too important to even just think, I want you to find out." And so I say, "Because I'm going to New York next week, and if it's not cast, I wanna go meet the director." So they call and they do some research for me, and they say, "Okay, yeah, you're right. It's not cast yet, and he'd like to meet you in New York next week." And I said, "Great." So I go to New York, and I'm coming to New York to go -- this is just before Christmas -- to be with my family and so forth. I set up this meeting. And I meet Scott Dacko, and we meet at The Player's Club downtown by Gramercy Park. I happen to be there for another meeting for another film, and I say, "Hey Scott!" Turns out that he lives a block away. So he meets me over there, and we start talking about the script. So it's then this intense, you know, discussion of ideas. And he said, "Well, what do you think?" And I said, "Well, this is what I think." And I give him my ideas. And I've already been re-writing things and making millions of notes in the margins; I've flown across the country with the script in my lap, and I'm constantly jotting down line things. So I say, "This is what I think." And he says, "Okay, well, this is what I think." And we sort of had this discussion. And I said, "Look, I would love to do your film. If it works out, you know, it'd be great, you know, let me know." And I go away. And a couple of days later, I think, maybe the next day, he called me and said, "Okay, I want you to do the film." And I said, "Okay."
Interviewer: For a first time director, a lot of first time directors are hiding behind the camera. They're engaged in the technology. Whereas with you and Scott, it's all about ideas. It's all about the character. It's all about the backstory, and it's great to see that.
John: Yeah. I've worked with directors who don't even come to the set. You know, they're either in a box somewhere or they're in a trailer. They're watching the whole thing by remote control. Scott is an engage director, you know? If there's a disengage politically and engage, he's engaged. And he's there. He's on the front lines with you. And he puts his mouth where his money is and now he's gonna be in the film. He put his ass on the line and showed up today and they're shooting the scene where he's actually going to be in the film. And this is really involved, and it's kind of passionate filmmaking, which is important. The thing about Scott, about this play too, is that while it's got this really clever twisting plot to it, it is a play of ideas that you don't often see. And that's a refreshing thing because it reminds me of like back to some of my favorite playwrights, like George Bernard Shaw or Bertolt Brecht. These people who had kind of a political passion for life, and yet they were able to write three dimensional characters and bring these ideas to life so that you're not just talking about stick figures. You're talking about people.
© The Insurgents
Excerpt from Palm Beach International Film Festival 4/07: John Shea
2007 Winners
The Award for Best Screenplay went to Scott Dacko for his film "The Insurgents" which stars Henry Simmons, John Shea and Mary Stuart Masterson.
© Palm Beach International Film Festival
App Scout 4/9/07: John Shea
Now Playing: "The Insurgents"
Monday April 9, 2007 Post by Cade Metz
More news on "The Insurgents," the full-length digital flick I covered in the May 23rd issue of PC Magazine. In September, the film made its world premiere at the 13th annual Internationales Filmfest Oldenburg ("The Sundance of Germany" --Variety), where it was chosen by audiences as the festival's best feature, and now it's slated to make its stateside premiere at the Palm Beach International Film Festival in Boca Raton, Florida. If you're south for spring break, the topsy-turvy political thriller is showing at the Mizner Park Sunrise Cinemas (301 Plaza Real, Boca Raton, FL) on Sunday, April 22, at 1 PM and on Monday the 23rd at 5:30 PM. Later that same week, the film is also being screened as part of the Atlanta Film Festival. Catch it at the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema (931 Monroe Drive N.E., Atlanta, GA) on Thursday, April 26 at 9:30 PM or on Friday, April 27 at 4:30 PM. Written and directed by first-time filmmaker Scott Dacko (pictured), "The Insurgents" stars John Shea ("Missing," "Lois and Clark"), Mary Stuart Masterson ("Fried Green Tomatoes," "Benny and Joon"), Henry Simmons ("NYPD Blue," "Lackawanna Blues"), Juliette Marquis ("This Girl's Life"), and Michael Mosley ("Bella," "Kidnapped").
© App Scout
Excerpt from Hollywood Reporter 4/27/07: John Shea
'Tied Hands' wins best pic at Palm Beach fest
April 27, 2007 Dan Wolman's "Tied Hands," the account of a mother and her son who is dying of AIDS, was named best feature film at the 12th annual Palm Beach International Film Festival, which wrapped Thursday. Nicole van Kilsdonk was hailed as best feature film director for the comedy Johan, while the award for best screenplay went to Scott Dacko for The Insurgents, starring Henry Simmons, John Shea and Mary Stuart Masterson. "
© The Hollywood Reporter
Excerpt from Backstage 5/7/07: John Shea
Back Stage Presents Three Free Screenings
By | Posted May 7, 2007, midnight
Back Stage and the Fine Arts Theatre are pleased to present three free screenings in Los Angeles. The first screening will feature director Scott Dacko's The Insurgents, a dramatic thriller about living in post-9/11 America, in which four citizens come together to build a truck bomb and plan to detonate it on a target in the U.S. A question-and-answer session with Dacko and cast members John Shea, Henry Simmons, Juliette Marquie, Michael Mosley, and Mary Stuart Masterson (subject to availability), will follow the screening
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The Insurgents will be screened: May 17 7:30 p.m.
8556 Wilshire Blvd. Beverly Hills
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Admission is free by RSVP to rsvp@studioscreenings.com; note number of guests in your party and your Back Stage affiliation. Validated parking is available for $2 at 8484 Wilshire, southeast corner of Wilshire and La Cienega.
© Backstage
Excerpt from Variety 7/9/07: John Shea
Review: ‘The Insurgents’
July 9, 2007 | 07:20PM PT Lisa Nesselson
A brain-teaser that tosses ideologies in a narrative blender alternately set to “certainty” and “ambiguity,” “The Insurgents” makes the most of its compact cast of attractive thesps and low budget to examine the inner workings of a domestic terror cell.
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Two years before meeting suave but impotent ex-Marine and Iraq vet, Marcus (Henry Simmons), Hana was befriended by polemical author Robert (John Shea) who holds cozy salons for folks unsatisfied with the status quo.
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Reviewed at Avignon Film Festival -- competing, June 23, 2007. Running time: 83 MIN.
© Variety
Excerpt from Edmonton Journal 10/3/07: John Shea
The Insurgents raises timely post-9/11 questions
Mari Sasano, Freelance Published: Wednesday, October 03 2007
THE INSURGENTS
Rating 3 1/2
Director: Scott Dacko
Starring: Michael Mosley, John Shea, Juliette Marquis, Henry Simmons
When and where: Tonight at 9:15 at the Princess Theatre
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A young man, James (Michael Mosley), becomes involved with a beautiful stranger, Hana (Juliette Marquis), and finds himself amid a small cell of activists led by a paranoid but charismatic author, Robert(John Shea).
© The Edmonton Journal
Excerpt from DVD Talk Radio 11/07: John Shea
DVD Talk Interview: Scott Dacko - The Insurgents
DVD Talk Radio has an interview with Scott Dacko director of the indie thriller - The Insurgents. Winning raves at a number of film fests including a best of show nod at the Oldenburg Film Festival, The Insurgents is an explosive thriller that asks the question, "What if the terror thread came from within?".
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DVD Talk Editor Geoff Kleinman interviews Scott Dacko about The Insurgents including a discussion of: the strangest conspiracy theories he found researching the film, how Scott persuaded John Shea and Mary Stuart Masterson to be in his first movie, and how he's using a Apple TV to show his film in High-Def in theaters.
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(The Insurgents plays in NY on 11/9 and is on DVD 11/20)
© DVD Talk Radio
Excerpt from Brooklyn Daily Eagle 11/9/07: John Shea
Brooklyn Today: ‘THE INSURGENTS’ INVADE Cobble Hill.
Friday, November 9, 2007 by Raanan Geberer
A new film from writer-director Scott Dacko, “The Insurgents,” will kick off a limited theatrical release at the Cobble Hill Theater in Brooklyn
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The film stars John Shea, Henry Simmons, Michael Mosley, Juliette Marquis and Mary Stuart Masterson. The opening night red-carpet gala will take place tonight at 10 p.m. at the cinema.
© Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Excerpt from The Indypendent 11/15/07: John Shea
Revolution as Soap Opera
By Charlie Bass From the November 16, 2007 issue
The Insurgents
Directed by Scott Danko
Angel Baby Entertainment, 2007
Sadly, there’s no evidence of anything funny, or even recognizably human, on display here - just soap opera pretty actors spouting the kinds of political arguments that wouldn’t even be convincing coming from fully realized characters. Ostensibly about a would-be domestic terrorist cell led by John Shea as CIA agentturned-Chomsky-lite academic who plans to detonate a bomb stateside, the film places its supposed discourse on repressive post-9/11 U.S. politics within an unconvincing espionage framework, complete with hidden motives, double-crosses and secret affairs. The end result is like watching an episode of Hart to Hart guest starring the Weathermen. Besides Shea’s disillusioned leader, there’s an impotent Iraq War vet, the savvy seductress who’s either an ex-prostitute or just easy (the film is unclear on this), the patsy who naturally isn’t one, and the CIA honcho (Mary Stuart Masterson, absurdly miscast) trying to stop them.
© The Indypendent
Excerpt from New York Press 11/21/07: John Shea
Indie Insurgency
Written by Benjamin Sutton on November 21, 2007.
The plot’s mastermind is Robert (John Shea), a charismatic leftist author and ex-CIA agent whose charm and intelligence bring his three co-conspirators onboard. In the most disquieting moments of writer-director Scott Dacko’s film, Robert’s eloquent diatribes tap into viewers’ cynicism and discontent, nearly eliciting our support for his scheme. As double-crossings and covert agendas emerge, however, The Insurgents starts to focus less on terrorism and more on acting. The talented cast members strive to decipher each others’ performances, all the while trying to maintain their own multiple roles.
© New York Press