March 19, 2004
Grand Theft Parsons
Posted by Larry Karnowski at March 19, 2004 2:49 PMSo my buddy Shane's been warning me for a while, but it finally happened -- they made a movie about Gram Parsons' life, or rather, death. It seems it's really a movie version of the book, Road Mangler Deluxe, about Phil Kaufman, Gram's road manager. It seems Phil stole and cremated Gram's body due to a pact they'd made a little before Gram died. The movie title is Grand Theft Parsons.
I think it'll be great to see. I just wish they'd gotten someone other than Johnny Knoxville to play the lead role. The critics at the Sundance Film Festival seem to think he did a good job though, and at least my prayers were answered and he didn't play Gram! (Which was what Shane had heard.)
I have no clue when this movie is coming out, but I'll keep a watch out. Let me know if you see it before I do!
they don't have a distribution deal for the US yet. They released in the UK 19MAR04. They were supposed to have the distro deal finished before the end of Sundance and to a point they did, at least half of it. However it is showing in LA and SD at a few indy houses. After all it did take place in the republic of Cali. It was also nothing short of a miracle with security measures now in place, to get the powers that be at LAX to allow filming. They also got in trouble for the coffin burning scene in Joshua Tree it was filmed right after the SoCal wildfires ravaged the area. They lost control of the burning scene and being arid desert the fire quickly spread fortunately there were no shortages of fire departments in the area. It did take 2 trucks to contain it and a forestry service fire control helo. Johnny also rode Kaufmans actual harley trike and wore his denim jacket for the shoot.
Posted by: urpster at March 19, 2004 8:23 PMYet another reason to live on the west coast.
Posted by: urpster at March 19, 2004 8:25 PM
