LIVE FREE, DIE HARD, GODBYE FRANKIE AND HELLO MONTE CARLO

Last week Amanda Conner and I were in Monte Carlo for the 47th annual television festival, guests of the fine people of Starz media: http://www.tvfestival.com/. Got a lot to talk about there but going to go backwards a bit to last night and back track a few events in my life.Amanda & Kristiana on Boat

Jimmy, Kristianna and Amanda in Monte Carlo.
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We went to the premiere of Live Free or Die Hard at radio city music hall in new York city last night. It was the red carpet premiere and all the actors and the director were on hand to introduce the film. I am a big fan of the action film genre, especially where Die Hard is concerned, so I was really looking forward to this. After a few hours of getting everyone packed into this gigantic theatre, the cast came out, said hello and then the lights went down. Man, not a person in the house was disappointed. The film delivers as the best action film of the summer and I think, after the first Die Hard, Its as good as the second film and much better than the third. It was a non stop adrenaline ride all the way that didn't let up to the final credits.

Amanda and I were lucky enough to get invited to the after party [ thanks to the beautiful Kim lane at Nike] where we ran into an old friend Kevin Smith and his wife and his usual crew of buddies. Kevin and I go way back to when Joe Quesada and I used to help him with his Indy films supplying artwork and even setting up our old comic booth to help him shoot scenes from Chasing Amy. Kevin and I talked about his role in the film and caught up on a few things. We also ran into another fellow comic creator frank miller. We talked about his latest film he is working on called The Spirit and mostly how the weather is in Vancouver. Frank is shooting his film there…which is where Painkiller Jane is shot , if you didn't know. The after party was first class all the way filled with cast, crew and local nyc celebrities…and us for some unknown reason. Lol.

Frankie as a kitten.
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Earlier that week I had the unfortunate task of putting my cat Frankie to sleep. It was heartbreaking. This cat was at least 15 years old and a great little gal that Amanda and I taken care of for a long time. I got the kittens as a pair, two sisters, and bought them for an old live in girlfriend for Christmas. the girl split and the cats remained in my care, which at first sucked, but then was ok, since I loved these little characters. Her sister Johnny died like 5 years ago, but Frankie hung in there, diabetic and all , till this week. The cat had been having episodes where she would literally zombie out and walk around the room, her eyes dilated, and try to climb the walls. This would last for like 15 minutes and stop and only happened a few times a year. Well, this week, she appeared sick and tired and started to convulse and we brought her to the doctors and they said she was ok. Later that night, she got really bad and we found a 24 hour vet and brought her there. Long story short, she didn't get any better and we had to put her to sleep. The poor thing was in pain and out of her head. A bad day in a good life of 15 years. Not the worst way to go, but heart breaking none the less. We will miss you good friend. you were one of a kitty kind.

Frankie and her sister Johnny.
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Frankie in a bag.
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A few days before I was guest at the wizard world Pittsburg con. It was a weekend long event but I could only make it for a day. Did a big signing at the DC comics booth, was one of 6 guests on a DC panel talking about my books and then did a Wizard school panel where I spoke for an hour about how to break into the business, create your own character and the perils of dealing with Hollywood taking the character and doing it " their way". was fun and as always, and I actually learn a lot from the questions thrown at me by the participants in the room.

Ok, now we worked our way to the 47th Monte Carlo TV festival. Amanda and I were there for almost a week and let me tell you…we were both treated like rock stars all the way. so…from the beginning.

I had received an invite from Tom Southwick at Starz to the festival in Monte Carlo, be a guest of the festival and do press with Amanda and kristanna. Duh…like I would say no? well, after the quickest e- mail reply in the history of man, we got a list of the events and places we would need to be and with the list what we would be expected to wear. For me, I needed two suits and a tux. I figured it was time to grow up, get off my ass and buy some suits. In the past, I have had a few which only came out for weddings and funerals…being an artist, no one ever expects us to dress up. Hell, I would attend meetings in los Angeles wearing sneakers and shorts and t -shirts and it never seemed to be a problem. Well, I think its time I grew up a bit and dressed with a little bit more respect and represented myself better and this week overseas was the perfect excuse to be fitted and look like a million bucks. Longer story short, I spent a shit-load of money, got the suits and a tux and off we went to Monte Carlo

HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES

Ok, first thing about this trip that stood out? our seats were in business class. I wish I could tell you this happens all the time, but truth is, it never happens. We comic book people don't understand what real special treatment is. There is a con that as we sit at the tables drawing, a guy comes by and throws us cheeseburgers from McDonalds and guess what? we are grateful for it! This first class treatment was alien to us and a welcome other world experience. We were on the second floor of the plane [ yes, I always wanted to know what was up there as well] and had our own little booth like seats that could lay flat down and you could actually sleep. I could go on and on about this but lets just say I never want to fly coach again for as long as I live. Damn you Starz media, you have ruined me!

After missing our connecting flight we finally arrived with another Starz person in tow , Neil Braun. [ great guy : they lost his suitcase for a day and he went to buy pants and the cheapest he could find were $800 bucks. I asked him if a hooker and a dry cleaning franchise came with it ] we got a very scenic ride from nice to Monte Carlo by a beautiful chauffeur named Eileen. How James bond.

The Festival in Monte Carlo.
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Arriving in this city was , I guess, how Dorothy felt when viewing emerald city for the first time. It was surreally clean and beautiful…and it's the place that is a hub for all the beautiful and rich people in the world. The hotel we stayed at was The Hermitage, an extravagant classically royal looking place. When we checked in Bo Derek was checking in next to us . [ yes, I would still go all Dudley Moore on that in a heart beat…she looked fantastic!] Once settled into our beautiful room we dressed for the first event, the opening of the ceremony.

Amanda and Jimmy in Monte Carlo.
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Once there, we walked the red carpet and settled into a corner of the bar and watched the celeb's . we saw Roger Moore, actors from Lost , Heroes and 24 and a ton of people I knew by face, but not by name. again, I turned to Amanda and asked her why in hell are we here. This was one of like 40 times I did this during our time there. After our cocktail time we went to a huge auditorium and watched the opening ceremony and got to see the head of Starz, John Hyde , walk on stage. This is the big man, the guy that treated Amanda and I to this once in a life time trip and a really cool dude to boot. Check out his credits here, its insane: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0404992/

After all this , Amanda and went for a walk to the big casino in town and had a bit to eat. While seated outside, we saw a fuss going on a few tables away and realized it was Hugh Hefner and his girls next door eating a meal and getting themselves filmed for the show. I don't watch the show at all because I really have no interest in these plastic fame obsessed women or Hugh Hefner. I guess he has to pay for that mansion some way, but it would seem to me when you are that age, you might be a little done with the whole " I need attention " thing. who knows.

Amanda at the Casino.
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Over the coarse of the week we attended many events and our big day was Tuesday when kristanna , Amanda and I had a day of reporters, a on stage interview and a screening of two shortened episodes of Painkiller Jane. The purpose of this trip was to get the show sold in overseas markets and we were there to push the publicity machine and represent the company as well. Well, for me, it was a day where I would finally earn all the special treatment thrown my way and the three of us went to town answering every question thrown at us. They were the usual boatload of " how did you come up with the character:" and " what do you think of kristanna" and such…and the funniest one I got was from a French reporter asking me if I hated the show heroes as much as he did. Lol…hate is a big word for me…I hate stupid people and I hate traffic, but to hate a show…man, I wish I had that kind of passion. For the record, I don't hate Heroes…or any TV show that pushes the idea and genre of comics. Personally Just wish the creator would give more props to the origins of the material is all…but it's a fun show…and yes, Painkiller Jane could kick that little cheerleaders ass any day of the week. Would love to see that by the way…I think kristanna would pick her up by her arms and legs and just rip her in half. Wonder if she could heal from that? lol.

Amanda at the Festival.
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Kristianna at the Festival.
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We met two wonderful people that were also guests of Starz. Gary Leva and Lulu Leva own leva film works http://levafilmworks.com/ and are the sweetest couple we ever met. Gary directed a fantastic documentary called fog city mavericks. Its all about the history of the san Francisco film makers and interviews Francis ford Coppola and George Lucas and a number of others and give us insight into the day to day dealings with major studios and how these artists had to re- invent the wheel at times to get their creations seen the way they envisioned them. Not only is it fun, it is insightful and brilliantly directed and put together. Anyway, a great film by wonderful fun people that I insist you track down and watch. we like them, the film and their attitude. Real solid people with a vision. How rare.

There were so many other things going on but I'm just going to focus on two that stood out the most. First, the day we went to the palace. Amanda , kristanna, fashion designer and assistant to kristanna, ken Shapkin and I went to the palace and met Prince Albert for cocktails with about 100 other celebrities in town for the ceremony. There I got to talk to Dick Wolf, Dennis haysbert, bonded with Kathryn Morris, Eric Dane and his wife Rebecca Gayheart [ we spoke about the first Painkiller Jane TV movie that he was in] and a number of other celebrities as well as have a few words with the Prince. Look, this was the most surreal night of my life and I got to talk about it. A dope like me, from Brooklyn , meeting royalty in Monaco…what's the chance of that ever happening? The best part of life is when you can take a step back and realize, in the moment, that you are in another world and should absorb it as best you can. I really tried to take my own advice and do that.

Jimmy, Kristianna and Amanda out on the boat.
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The second event was not a planned one and I'm going to rant a bit about the star of Painkiller Jane a bit here, so please excuse me if I gush. This woman deserves every inch of it. We had a day off and Kristanna and Ken invited Amanda and I to her friends yacht which was docked a half hour away in Nice. We couldn't say no and off we went that morning to spend the day together. For me, it was a great opportunity to bond with Kristanna since we have only been on set together . we got to the boat and it was insane. It had a captain and a cook and a bunch of Kristanna's friends were onboard and they mad us feel like family. We took off, opened a bottle of champagne and headed to Saint Tropez for lunch. A few hours later we hit the shore and docked a quarter mile out from the beach which couldn't have been more stunning and a guy from the restaurant came out and met us on a small boat and took us to shore for lunch. We laughed, drank, told jokes, bonded and really…we were in such brilliant company with people from all over the world. Great stories, good laughs and good times had to come to an end and we had to leave to make the closing ceremony of the festival. Ken had made arrangements to get us back in time…by renting a private helicopter. We drove to a field and there it was, waiting for us. By now, you would have already guessed that I felt a bit like James bond. There I was with my beautiful lady Amanda, and on the other side of me by my beautiful leading lady kristanna and we were landing by private helicopter in Monte Carlo to attend a black tie ceremony. I do have to mention that ken was with us the whole time, but for the 007 thing to work, I imagined him as our bodyguard. Lol. I know, I need help.

Jimmy being very happy.
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Anyway, it was a spectacular trip that I know is going to be something to remember for the rest of my life. I just want to thank the crew from Starz for this and especially Ken Shapkin, John and Kate Hyde, Tom Southwick, and Neil Braun for making this happen for us. I especially want to thank Kristanna Loken. I cannot rave about this woman enough to you people out there. Not only is she an amazing actress and producer, but she has a friend for life in me. Compassionate, selfless, warm and intelligent are just a few words to describe her and really, just being in her presence you get the feeling of being someplace special. I love her to death and to me, the best part of this whole Painkiller Jane show was getting to become her friend.

That all said, please watch the show and turn your friends on to it. We are almost at the halfway point and we need to gain a bigger audience each week. And just a heads up…painkiller jane #2 will be out in 2 weeks and on Friday, July 13th, my episode called THE LEAGUE will air. Thanks again for your time .

JIMMY

Painkiller Jane: Creator Jimmy Palmiotti's blog on SCIFI.COM

June 24, 2007

HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES