Page 31 - ATD19September2015
P. 31
PEOPLE & ARTS A31
Saturday 19 September
Wes Ball, Hollywood’s new blockbuster visionary
LINDSEY BAHR dues. Ball attended film
school at Florida State Uni-
AP Film Writer versity with dreams of di-
recting. He won a Student
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. (AP) Academy Award for an
animated short that helped
— Wes Ball didn’t mean him get a foot in the door
when he first moved to Los
to have a signature hat. Angeles. That translated to
jobs in VFX and post work,
He can’t even remember which paid the bills and
continued his technical
where he got the tattered, education while he devel-
oped projects on the side.
sweat-stained, beige base- Then one took off. “Ruin,”
an 8½-minute computer
ball cap with the white animated post-apocalyp-
tic adventure, went viral.
embroidered “Catskill Suddenly he was getting
calls from agents and tak-
Mountains” stitching. But ing meetings all over town.
During this time, someone
he knows one thing for sure at Fox gave him James
Dashner’s “The Maze Run-
— he’s not taking it off any- ner” to look at. He did,
developed a pitch, and
time soon, and definitely within a few days he had
sold “Ruin” and gotten the
not during production. “Maze Runner” job, both at
Fox. “It’s rare that you give
During one of the busiest somebody a shot based
on an animated short film
weeks near the end of film- to do a live action movie.
You could see in the short
ing “The Scorch Trials,” the that he had real cinematic
flair,” said Godfrey.
second movie in the “Maze Ball’s Universal City of-
fice, a multi-level loft that
Runner” trilogy, Ball thought he shares with filmmaker
friends, is a hub of creativity
he might try out a new hat, and a film geek’s paradise.
and everything went hay-
wire. Not only were they
shooting the most com- Director Wes Ball poses for a portrait in Los Angeles on Friday, September 11, 2015 in promotion of
his new film The Maze Runner.
plicated sequence in the
Associated Press
shortest amount of time,
it was also at night in the middle of a scene. der budget. Not bad for sort of reputation you need
And yes, he used the take a green director who was when you’re making your
New Mexico desert, where where he breaks his leg. plucked out of near obscu- name in Hollywood.
“The whole end scene he’s rity to set the tone for “The “He doesn’t waste money.
the temperature some- got a broken leg. You can Maze Runner” franchise, He knows where he wants
see him hobbling,” said Fox’s attempt at making a to spend. He knows what
times dropped to the single Ball on a recent afternoon “Hunger Games” of their he needs to build and then
at his office in the San Fer- own. With the first “Maze what he can add on to with
digits. Then the cast started nando Valley. “I was like, Runner,” which was made visual effects,” said veteran
‘I’m never taking off this hat for $34 million and earned producer Wyck Godfrey.
having medical issues. again.’” over $340 million worldwide “He has vision. That’s the
In the end, this perfect last year, Ball has proven long and the short of it... It
Ki Hong Lee got appendi- storm of chaos only added himself to be a pro who wasn’t just talk.”
two days to the schedule can deliver. Fox loves him. At 34, he’s not exactly a
citis. Kaya Scodelario had and they still came in un- His actors love him. It’s the wunderkind. He’s paid his
a kidney failure. Dexter
Darden was hospitalized
with sickle cell anemia.
Then Dylan O’Brien con-
tracted the flu, was out for
two days, and came back
only to break a leg in the
Jewel recounts family hardships
in new memoir, album
KRISTIN M. HALL lot. But I think people will gave me permission. ... My In this Sept. 10, 2015 photo, Jewel poses for a portrait to pro-
Associated Press be quite surprised by what dad grew up in an abusive mote her latest album, “Picking Up the Pieces,” at The Standard
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — is in the book. Honestly, I household. My dad be- in Nashville, Tenn.
Most people know Jew- think the biggest setbacks I came abusive. ... What are
el’s rags-to-riches story faced were after I became cycles of abuse and what Associated Press
— growing up on an Alas- famous.” kinds of conversations can
kan homestead, getting Difficult and sometimes we have in America about after setback after set- loving, more yielding, more
discovered as a homeless painful family relationships emotional patterns?” back,” Jewel said. “And it’s whole, instead of letting
teen in a California coffee led her to become mostly She also details how her been about learning how this damage me and make
shop, going platinum on independent as a teen- mother took control of her can I stand up and not just me more brittle and more
her debut album, “Pieces ager, crafting her skills in finances and subsequently survive, but how do I thrive? unable to experience love
of You,” a folksy anthem in bars and coffee shops. led her into debt despite How do I become more and trust.” q
the grunge era. She writes that her father selling millions of albums,
But as she reveals in her was physically and verbal- according to the book.
new memoir, “Never Bro- ly abusive to her and her The two stopped talking in
ken,” and a companion al- brothers, which she attri- 2003.
bum, “Picking Up the Piec- butes to his drinking and his The final chapters of the
es,” her story didn’t have a own personal trauma. They book describe her ro-
fairytale ending. have since reconciled. mance with champion
“I’ve always been very “I think that anybody that rodeo cowboy Ty Murray,
transparent as an artist,” reads the book won’t con- who she married in 2008
said the 41-year-old singer. sider this a salacious book, and had a son with, and
“I’ve been known through- but it is incredibly forth- their divorce last year.
out my career to share a right,” Jewel said. “My dad “My life has been setback
