cocktail dress by Jenny Packham, jewelry by Neil Lane

Amanda Righetti joins us this month as our Friday the 13^th inspired fashion spread; Crystal Lake Couture.  I’ve personally been a fan since her reoccurring role as Hailey Nichol on The O.C.  We’ve been anxiously awaiting her portrayal of Whitney Miller on Friday the 13^th, coming out, of course, this Friday (and counting down) the 13^th. This latest installment, directed by Marcus Nispel, whose terrifically terrifying 2003 Texas Chainsaw Massacre kick-started the current glut of horror remakes, classically follows a group of teens and twenty-something’s at the now abandoned Camp Crystal Lake (the site from the original 1980 phenomenon), including Amanda, Jared Padalecki, Aaron Yoo, Willa Ford, and Jonathan Sadowski, (among others) as they stumble across the path of the murderous, disfigured Jason Voorhees (Derek Mears). In addition to abandoning the trips to hell, outer space, or Manhattan that later installments took in lieu of the series’ original summer-camp locale, the new film offers plenty of what made the series so satisfying during its heyday, including nudity, and you guessed it, exactly 13 murders – although we can’t say whether one of them is the inexhaustible Voorhees. Does Amanda’s character make it out of Camp Crystal Lake alive? Well, we won’t spill, but we do know she came to life here in our fashion spread evoking some of the bloody fun, thrills, and chills that is F13.  [[Show as slideshow]]

art direction by Laura Ann

styled by Jenny Ricker

makeup by Jake B

hair by Campbell McAualey

1.  gown by Jenny Packham, jewelry by Neil Lan

Every year, real-deal “event movies” come and go, and most of them amount to little more than the cumulative total of a studio’s marketing budget. But in rare cases, a film possesses enough of an existing history that provokes a certain kind of intrigue. Most importantly it offers a unique promise of greatness with its impending release that folks just cannot refuse. And while the franchise’s inconsistent pedigree might leave skeptics doubting whether or not a good film could ever be made from its ramshackle and oft-recycled parts, the upcoming Friday the 13th remake contains all of the qualities (and plenty more) that demand it be seen by longtime fans and newcomers alike. 

Directed by Marcus Nispel, whose terrifically terrifying 2003 Texas Chainsaw Massacre kick-started the current glut of horror remakes, Friday the 13th classically follows a group of teens and twenty-somethings (including Jared Padalecki, Amanda Righetti, Aaron Yoo, Willa Ford, and Jonathan Sadowski, among others) as they stumble across the path of the murderous, disfigured Jason Voorhees (Derek Mears). In addition to abandoning the trips to hell, outer space, or Manhattan that later installments took in lieu of the series’ original summer-camp locale, the new film offers plenty of what made the series so satisfying during its heyday, including nudity, and you guessed it, exactly 13 murders – although we can’t say whether one of them is the inexhaustible Voorhees. 

I was lucky enough to be on the set of the film last year towards the end of shooting – on Friday, June 13, no less – and offered to go undercover as Jason himself if necessary in order to get the inside scoop on this highly-anticipated remake. Before I could find a properly-fitting jumpsuit and hockey mask, however, actor Aaron Yoo reached out to h Magazine and offered to interview his co-star Jonathan Sadowski. Meanwhile, we also recruited actress Amanda Righetti for our fashion story. While personally I happen to think I look better wielding a rusty machete than she does, Yoo and Sadowski gamely provided plenty of behind-the-scenes secrets about Friday the 13th and offered a rare, inside perspective on playing Jason’s potential victims. 

Jonathan Sadowski: Gentleman/Scholar

Aaron Yoo:  In F13 you play the character Wade. What would Wade put in the “about me” blurb of his online social networking profile?

Jonathan Sadowski: How does that compare to how I might describe him if I met him on the street, or in his basement lair? About me:  Live long and prosper.  Use the force. And always wear sunscreen.  If you met Wade on the street, he’d probably be able to tell you your exact location because he’d probably be holding a handheld GPS…and he might be wearing a cape. 

Aaron: There are seven pints of blood in the human body. How much did they use for your “grand mort” scene? Was that your first on-screen death? And was it everything you’d hoped it would be? 

Jonathan:  I’m not exactly sure how much blood they used on me, but hot damn it was a lot.  In one of the death scenes, they used FOUR GALLONS of fake blood!  I mean, I was dripping.  When I stood up, my clothes were completely stuck to my body.  It wasn’t my first onscreen death, but it was by far the goriest. 

Aaron: This is my description of the plot of F13: Boy meets girl. Girl gets hacked to itty bitty pieces. Boy gets impaled. Give me your description of F13…

Jonathan: Jack and Jill go to the woods to fetch a pail of water. Neither one comes back. And I think there’s a hockey mask somewhere in there, too.  And maybe a machete. 

Aaron: What was your favorite thing about shooting Friday the 13th other than getting to do a movie with me? 

Jonathan: Let’s see….what was my favorite thing other than getting to work with the most influential Asian actor of our time….hmmm…I’m gonna have to say that being killed by Jason Vorhees was surreal. 

Aaron: I think we were all surprised to discover that you and Michael Bay are two peas in a pod. So now that you and Michael are like BFF, what other horror franchise (not Nightmare on Elmstreet which Platinum Dunes has already targeted) would you pitch to Michael to remake? Who would you play? Give me the pitch, 25 words or less.   

Jonathan: Well, I think all the franchises are already being remade. I wouldn’t mind seeing Bay remake The Lost Boys. That’d be pretty sick. 

Aaron: You just got back from Sundance where your film Spring Breakdown premiered. It was your first time having a film at the festival. Tell me one thing you wish somebody had told you before you’d gone?the movie played…I think that helped take the edge off for everybody…probably because it was an open bar…but I digress…Everyone in the cast was very pleased with the outcome, and our director (Ryan Shiraki) couldn’t have been happier.  We’re all keeping our fingers crossed for a theatrical release.

Aaron: Okay, so how were the parties? 

Jonathan: Oh. My. God. They. Were. Nutty.  It was weird, man.  You would find yourself at an open bar (yes, I like saying “open bar”) at like 11AM.  Rocking out in the ROCKBAND SUITE by lunchtime.  Seeing a movie.  Grabbing a drink or four at the movie reception…and so on and so forth until you look at your watch and you realize it’s 3AM and you’re drinking Absinthe at TAO.  There was one night me and my roommate Ricky (who I promised I’d give a shout out to) were at TAO and I look to the left and Woody Harrelson is shaking his caboose like its nobody’s business.  Another night, 50 Cent was singing happy birthday to Jim Carrey as Jim was throwing it down.  T.I., Robin Thicke, and Ryan Cabrera all performed at Sundance, along with DJ’s like Paul Oakenfold.  So, yeah — The. Parties. Were. Crazy.

Aaron: Other than myself and Ben Feldman, who gets you into the most trouble in your life? 

Jonathan: Hahaha!  Wow. You guys are in a league of your own. No doubt about that.  I’m twitching just thinking
about it.  

Aaron: If you weren’t an actor, what other line of work could you see yourself in? I could see you on a cruise ship. 

Jonathan: I actually thought about being a janitor on a cruise ship.  It makes for a great screenplay.  A young man’s only wish was to be a cruise ship entertainer, so he gets hired as the custodian to bring him closer to the action.  Very RUDY.  I see shots of him singing into his mop handle while swabbing the deck….Ah, well…a man can dream can’t he?  I always loved the idea of being a doctor.  I think those guys are incredible.  Or maybe a rock star!

Aaron: You’re an accomplished pianist, you’re a pretty mean magician, you’ve got a Chicago boy’s rolodex of dirty jokes…what is one talent that most people would be surprised to know you have? (besides literacy) 

Jonathan: Beesides litterasy, I wood say that yoo named it.  Most people don’t know that I studied magic as a kid.  I started when I was in second grade, and I’ve been making brain cells disappear ever since.

Aaron:  WHAT is the deal with your foot thing? Were you traumatized by a sock in elementary school?

Jonathan: Pretty close.  There are two reasons why I am so protective of my tootsies: One, my older brothers used to hold me down and tickle my feet. It was torture. Literally. It was like Guantanamo. Two, when I was a little kid (around 2 or 3 years old) my dad traveled for work a lot, and my brothers were in school. So, I was at home with my mom all day.  She said I wore her out.  She would try to lie down for a minute, and she’d put my on the bed and say, “Don’t leave this bed because there’s monsters underneath it.  If your feet go off the side, the monsters will eat your toes.”  True story.  That’s one way to fuck a kid’s head up for the rest of his life.  To this day, I can’t sleep without my feet covered up.  

Aaron: Jason Statham, Steven Segal, or Jean-Claude Van Damme? 

Jonathan: JCVD…one word: BLOODSPORT

Aaron: Alessandra Ambrosia, Carrie Underwood or Halle Berry? 

Jonathan: Double A…

Aaron: James Bond, Jason Bourne or Ethan Hunt? 

Jonathan: (In his best Sean Connery) Well, Mish Moneypenny, thish ish eashy…BOND. JAMES BOND.

Aaron: You recently played Jeremy Piven’s son in the upcoming film, Don Ready. Would you want him as a father for real? Why or why not? 

Jonathan: Jeremy is a really cool guy, but I gotta say I’m pretty happy with Airbob (that’s my dad’s nickname).  I’m not gonna trade him in.

Aaron: Have you ever taken a girl to a horror film as a date? Did that work out for ya?

Jonathan: I did actually!  In high school I took this girl to see Scream.  We were already dating, but yes…it did work out… wink, wink…

Aaron: Whose biopic would you like to do? 

Jonathan: HERE’S TO YOO:  THE AARON YOO STORY

Aaron: What actor from the past would you like to bring back to life or youth to play you in the biopic “Jonathan Sadowski’s A Series of Unfortunate Events?” 

Jonathan: Jack Lemmon.  That would be awesome.  Either him or Marlon Brando.  I think Brando is more of a “Jonathan Sadowski”, but I think Lemmon might have better comedic timing.

Aaron: Finish this hypothetical quote: “Hey do you remember my friend Sadowski? He’s…” 

Jonathan: “…the guy that got us arrested.” 

That’s all for now! 

There are a lot of great movies being released these days, but most of them are heading to your living room, not your nearby theater. The great and expansive history of cinema is not merely a stopgap in between blockbusters, but a reservoir of background, context, and even perspective for the films we look forward to on the silver screen. There are few if any “new” movies that weren’t preceded by some other film which paved the way for some filmmaker’s creative impulses, or even commercial instincts. And because that history is far better represented on home video than at your local googolplex, it seems only fitting that this massive, growing library of titles get some column space of its own. As such, welcome to the inaugural edition of h Magazine’s new DVD and Blu-ray column, where we take a look at several of the month’s new releases and see if they’re worth your time, attention, and of course, money. 

Released on Feb. 3, Hal Ashby’s

Being There (Warner Brothers, $28.99) is a remarkable final achievement for director Ashby and one of the crowning ones of star Peter Sellers’ career. Adapted by Jerzy Kosinski from his novel of the same name, the film follows a solitary, TV-obsessed gardener named Chance (Sellers) who becomes the confidante of a dying power broker named Benjamin Rand (Melvyn Douglas) when Rand’s wife Eve (Shirley MacLaine) hits him with her car. A gloriously deadpan performance from Sellers anchors the film in hilariously poignant reality, as Benjamin, Eve, and everyone who meets Chance become enchanted by his simple demeanor and homespun garden-themed wisdom, literal though he means it. 

The Blu-ray edition is the preferable version of this film to buy, thanks to an amazing transfer (newly remastered from original elements), as well as a collection of fascinating bonus materials not included on the standard-definition DVD that includes an alternate ending, two recently discovered scenes, and a gag reel. If you’re curious where Wes Anderson got his dollhouse-movie sensibility or merely want to watch Sellers outside of his standard-bearer performances in The Pink Panther or Dr. Strangelove, check out Being There; you’ll be surprised how sophisticated simplicity can be. Buy It. 

Charles Stone III’s Drumline (Fox, $29.99) was released on Blu-ray January 27, and the film is long overdue for a real and sincere critical revisiting since its release during the 2002 holiday season. Not just another tale of an inner-city kid succeeding through the healing power of the arts, the film is an engaging and even transcendent story about a musical prodigy named Devon Miles (Nick Cannon, in his best role to date) who discovers that discipline and maturity are at least as important as raw talent. In addition to its captivating story, the film features several remarkable marching band performances, all of which are captured beautifully in high-definition. 

Additionally, the single-disc Blu-ray features a collection of featurettes that explore the world of college marching bands, and provide some real-world background on the movie universe Devon inhabits. At the same time, however, I can’t tell exactly what “added footage” has been included on this disc and what’s merely from the theatrical cut (despite having seen the film several times). But in any version, Drumline is a relentless crowd-pleaser that’s also subtle, thoughtful, and funny.
Rent It. 

With the new remake/update of Friday the 13th arriving in theaters this month, it seems only appropriate to look back at its predecessors in the franchise. Thankfully, the first three chapters are being given the deluxe treatment in both standard and high-def editions, although in some cases these new transfers, featurettes, and bonus materials point out more than a few of the films’ flaws. By all accounts (including director-producer Sean Cunningham’s), the original Friday the 13th (Paramount, $29.99) was intended to be a shameless, one-time moneymaker, but like so many simple Hollywood ventures it became much, much more. It should come as no surprise to even casual followers of the franchise that Jason is scarcely in this chapter, but the film nevertheless sets up the dogged, indefatigable storytelling pattern that provides the framework for every subsequent installment: hapless, often scantily-clad teenagers run afoul of a killer in the woods, and the body count quickly starts piling up. 

Interestingly, Part 2 (Paramount, $16.99) is actually far superior to the original film, and probably qualifies as the best of the entire series because it features kids who are thoughtful, or at least not completely unlikeable, not to mention it’s probably the most technically competent. Meanwhile, Part 3 3-D (Paramount, $16.99) is as bad as its predecessor is good, thanks to a spectacularly worthless heroine, vertigo-inducing old school 3-D and a plot that literally revolves around the cast going into a barn so that Jason can kill them. Only the first two films feature extensive extra content, including interviews, commentaries, featurettes and more, but die-hard fans can at long last celebrate the arrival of Part 3 in 3-D, even if it loses much of its appeal on a smaller screen. But as the three films from which the producers reportedly took most of their inspiration for the upcoming remake, these Friday the 13th installments are essential viewing for horror fans and a fun look back at the golden age of the slasher film. Friday the 13th: Rent It Part 2 – Buy It  – Part 3 3-D: Skip It 

Packaged in a two-disc set designed to look like an urgent letter to the editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, David Fincher’s Zodiac (Paramount, $36.99) only seems unassuming. Fincher, the visionary director who gave serial killer stories their own genre with Seven, returns for a true-life chronicle of San Francisco’s Zodiac killer. His pursuit sadly never produced exciting car chases, shootouts, or even a definitive culprit, although its long and winding history does provide a crystal-clear portrait of law enforcement exasperation, and especially, self-destructive obsession. 

Fincher, always on the cutting edge of cinema’s technological advancements, shot the film on uncompressed digital video, which is why it remains an essential purchase on Blu-ray, preserving the gloriously clean and clear images that he created with cinematographer Harris Savides. Meanwhile, the two-disc set also features two commentaries – one by Fincher, and one by members of the cast and crew – a self-described “exhaustive” documentary on the making of the film, a visual effects featurette, another feature-length documentary on the history of the Zodiac killer, and a profile of Arthur Leigh Allen who is regarded as the primary suspect in the still-unsolved case. There certainly may be more exciting movies than this one that are released, but their impact won’t last; Zodiac is a film that continues to linger and leave an impression long after you’ve watched it. Buy It 

Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor (Criterion, $39.95) has gone through several iterations over the years, thanks mostly to a “director’s cut” released several years ago that was only produced for Italian television. But at any length, the film is one of magisterial beauty, and one of the great, sweeping epics of cinema history. The film follows the life of Chinese Emperor Pu Yi (John Lone), who took the throne at age 3-years-old and grew up witnessing decades of political upheaval from behind the walls of the Forbidden City. Bertolucci, the first director to secure permission from China to film within the Forbidden City, recreates the Ching dynasty time period in astonishing detail, but manages to preserve the enormous historical and ultimately emotional context of the story with equal precision. 

Criterion issued a four-disc standard definition set in 2008, but the new Blu-ray demonstrates the vast possibilities that filmmakers have to add bonus content to their home video releases: even at one disc, the Blu-ray contains all of the same materials as the earlier DVDs. Among these extras are short films about the making of the movie, documentaries, interviews with key cast and crew members, and a commentary featuring Bertolucci himself. At the same time, the transfer is good, but does not look significantly superior to the standard-definition release, so if you already have the previous release, you may want to hold off, unless you’ve already gone totally Blu. A glorious addition to any Blu-ray or DVD collection, however, The Last Emperor is a beautiful, haunting masterpiece that only ages better with time thanks to this amazing set. Buy It