"The universe is made of stories, not of atoms."
—Muriel Rukeyser
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Showing posts with label The Book of Leah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Book of Leah. Show all posts

Deadline Hollywood: Charlie Matthau Readying ‘The Book Of Leah’ With Armand Assante



Filmmaker Charlie Matthau is close to finishing the independent feature The Book of Leah starring Armand Assante, which tells the story of a teenage rape victim who rebuilds herself as a karate fighter and seeks revenge on her attacker.

Brianna Joy Chomer plays Leah Gold, who after sneaking into a night
Getty Courtesy of Stan Rosenfield & Associates
club with her friends, is sexually assaulted in 1980s Chicago. The police do not take her case seriously, trying to blame Leah for being a minor, and the way she dressed. Her high-class family, embarrassed by the incident, sends Leah to a girls school, where she ultimately meets her uncle, played by four-time Golden Globe nominee Assante, who is a Holocaust survivor.

More than another female Karate Kid film, there are layers in The Book of Leah which echo a lot of what we’ve read lately about sexual assault; how alleged victims like Christine Blasey Ford and Patti Davis remained quiet about their incidents for several decades for many reasons. The Book of Leah puts a spotlight on the injustice that rape victim weather; the disbelief some face by those in authority after pointing a finger at their attackers.
In the film, Assante’s Adam Siegel forms a strong bond with Leah and builds her into a karate champ. Also starring in the pic is jazz singer and pianist Freddy Cole in his first feature role as a musical mentor to Leah, Kate Linder as Leah’s mother, Ty Olwin as the love interest, and Melanie Neilan as Leah’s friend.

Based on a true story, The Book of Leah was written by Leslie Neilan and Alan Roth. Neilan also produces with Kenneth Atchity. Matthau’s directorial credits include such pics as the 2012 feature take of Elmore Leonard’s Freaky Deaky starring Christian Slater, Billy Burke and Crispin Glover as well as 1995’s The Grass Harp based on the Truman Capote novel in which Matthau directed his Oscar-winning father Walter Matthau, Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie. The Grass Harp won best English Language Film at the 1996 Palm Springs Film Festival.


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It’s The Oscars on TALKish, The Halli Casser-Jayne Show. Join Halli and director Charles Matthau for an Oscar celebration, February 28th, 3 pm ET.


The Oscars! Hooray for Hollywood and hooray for the Oscars! This year’s 90th Academy Awards is the subject of The Halli Casser-Jayne Show, Wednesday, February 28, 3 pm ET. Joining Halli at her table is director, writer, producer, actor, and raconteur, Charles Matthau.

He attended The Oscars when he was but a boy. Director Charles Matthau was weaned on film. His father was Academy Award-winning actor and comedian, Walter Matthau, best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple. Charles began acting when he was a kid; as a child he appeared in such films as Charley Varrick, The Bad News Bears and House Calls before at the ripe young age of 24, he turned to directing with The Grass Harp, from a novella by Truman Capote, and the made-for-TV movie The Marriage Fool. A graduate of the film school at the University of Southern California, Matthau also has directed Doin’ Time on Planet Earth, Her Minor Thing, Baby-O, and Freaky Deaky starring Christian Slater based on Elmore Leonard’s book, which Matthau also wrote. His latest film is The Book of Leah, starring Armand Assante currently in post production.

Film, Academy Awards, movies, actors, directors…it’s The Oscars on TALKish, The Halli Casser-Jayne Show. Join Halli and director Charles Matthau for an Oscar celebration, February 28th, 3 pm ET. The party takes place at Halli Casser-Jayne dot com.

The Book of Leah

It's a wrap for young Leah, Lucy Kearney and young David, Nickolaus Schnetzky!