“I did a snake scene at a personal appearance in Hartford, Conn., and had trouble getting a girl to help. I mean, I didn’t want to get my mother for it… My mother wants me to be a priest.”
– From My New York by Mel Heimer, Simpson’s Leader-Times, January 18, 1958
Timothy and his mother, Ida Agoglia Carey, from the work-in-progress documentary available at Absolute Films
Remember this post from last summer?
Breaking news from Absolute Films!
Promo clip pitching the notorious action comedy-mind blower, circa 1969 film from legendary film genius, Timothy Carey.
The idea of adapting TWEET’S LADIES OF PASADENA as an animated series is brilliant… one can only imagine the back-story?
We are currently looking for animators who are interested in helping to create the animation pilot to pitch to Netflix.
Contact: tweetsladies@absolutefilms.net
Well, I’ve just heard from Romeo Carey that an animator has been found for this project! An Emmy-winning animator. That’s all I know at this point. More as it becomes available! Is this exciting or what?
Breaking news from Absolute Films!
Promo clip pitching the notorious action comedy-mind blower, circa 1969 film from legendary film genius, Timothy Carey.
The idea of adapting TWEET’S LADIES OF PASADENA as an animated series is brilliant… one can only imagine the back-story?
We are currently looking for animators who are interested in helping to create the animation pilot to pitch to Netflix.
Contact: tweetsladies@absolutefilms.net
We begin the last week in November with another look at Professor Petro, the bizarre lecturer from Romeo Carey‘s short film The Devil’s Gas (1990). His talk on “Dali and the Power of the Fart” sends the film’s sleepy protagonist into a surreal, nightmarish landscape.
Timothy’s final film performance can be yours! Visit Absolute Films and snag your copy today (it says VHS, but no worries, Romeo will send you a DVD).
Our pic today takes another look at Professor Petro, who confounds his students with a lecture on “Dali and the Power of the Fart” in The Devil’s Gas (1990), the short film directed by Timothy’s son Romeo. It was Tim’s last film performance.
When I visited Tim’s studio last summer, Romeo showed me the boots Tim wore in this film – or more accurately, the boot. He only wore one because by this time he had had his first stroke, and his feet tended to swell up a bit. He was only able to get one boot on, so he wore a tennis shoe on the other foot. What looked like another of Tim’s eccentricities had its roots in practicality. Get yourself a copy of The Devil’s Gas at Absolute Films today!
I apologize for missing yesterday! A very busy weekend left me completely exhausted. But today we’re back with a pic from Cinema Justice, the six minute outtake from Steve De Jarnatt‘s as-yet-unreleased short homage to private dick flicks of the 1940s, Tarzana (1978). It’s developed somewhat of a cult following on its own, owing to its being frequently paired with The World’s Greatest Sinner (1962) at screenings around the world.
Before rehearsing the scene, neophyte director De Jarnatt made the unfortunate mistake of telling Timothy he could do “whatever he wanted” with the scene. Feeling unmoored, Tim went completely off-script and off the rails. Co-star Michael C. Gwynne made a valiant attempt to save the scene, which finally ended when the cameraman announced that they had run out of film. Gwynne later likened the experience to “visiting Niagara Falls”. Tarzana is now the property of Absolute Films, which is planning a release very soon. Watch this space!
“I did a snake scene at a personal appearance in Hartford, Conn., and had trouble getting a girl to help. I mean, I didn’t want to get my mother for it… My mother wants me to be a priest.“
– From My New York by Mel Heimer, Simpson’s Leader-Times, January 18, 1958
Timothy and his mother, Ida Agoglia Carey, from the work-in-progress documentary available at Absolute Films
A little late but no less heart-felt – Happy Mother’s Day, everyone! (I think I’m going to make this the default Mother’s Day post)
Our video this week is a small glimpse into Timothy’s play The Insect Trainer, which he had originally conceived as a novel. He was working on bringing it to the stage at the time of his death in 1994. As usual, it just leaves you wanting more.
You can purchase The Insect Trainer DVD over at Absolute Films. It features Tim with the cast in rehearsal, and scenes from the actual production that was staged after his death, with his son Romeo in the lead role. So what’s the choice, my friends: fart in a crowd, or die alone in a corner? Live long, live healthy, and let thy arse make wind!
Carey’s final project as a film director is Godfarter III (1989), an audition piece for Coppola, who was looking to cast the role of an elderly Mafia don for The Godfather: Part III (1990). Coppola considered Carey too young for the part (and may also have been put off by Carey’s earlier eccentricities on The Godfather). Carey tried to convince the director that he could tackle the role of Don Altobello, but it wasn’t meant to be, and Eli Wallach was eventually cast in the part.
Godfarter III consists mostly of scenes taken directly from the original script by Coppola and Mario Puzo. Romeo Carey recalls, “It was basically a screen test, but you also get to see behind-the-scenes of the making of the screen test and how my father worked with actors. I shot the screen test. I got a call from my father. He said, ‘Bring your camera tomorrow morning, I am going to shoot a screen test for Francis.’ I showed up at his studio the next day with my camera and lights. In a single day, he put the project together, complete with the use of the Hilton Hotel, a limo, props, ten bodyguards in suits for his entrance, and his acting friend Robert Miano. My dad’s intention was to prove to Francis that he could play an 80-year-old Don. (Carey was then 60.) We powdered his face white and sprayed his hair white. In the end, my dad was happy with the screen test and felt satisfied. I shot what he told me to shoot and then I edited the footage for him, and he sent it to Francis. Francis liked it a lot and was interested in my father for the part, but Dad suffered another massive stroke a few days after the shoot.”
– Harvey F. Chartrand, “Timothy Carey: The World’s Greatest Director!”, FilmFax Plus, April/June 2004, No. 102
Godfarter III is available for purchase from Absolute Films
We continue our theme of Timothy looking scary for Halloween Week with this chiller from The Devil’s Gas (1990), the surreal short directed by his son Romeo. Professor Petro’s student is having a very strange hallucinatory dream… Or is he???
Tim looks like a Dia de los Muertos skeleton here! Get ahold of Romeo at Absolute Films and order yourself a copy of this gem today!
The Timothy Carey Experience 