UNGER, NESBITT JOIN ESTEVEZ'S 'WAY'

By Emiliano de Pablos                                   October 1st, 2009

MADRID -- Canadian thesp Deborah Kara Unger ("88 Minutes," "Crash") and the U.K.'s James Nesbitt ("Bloody Sunday," "Match Point") have joined Martin Sheen to star in the Emilio Estevez-directed family drama "The Way."
The $5 million pic, which is produced by Spain's Filmax Ent., is set along the thousand-year-old Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route.

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SPIRITUAL 'WAY' IS A FAMILY AFFAIR

By Martin Dale                                   September 18th, 2009

"The Way," Emilio Estevez's fourth feature as a writer-director, begins at the Camino de Santiago's start, in St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port, below the often-snowbound Route de Napoleon over the Pyrenees. Starring Martin Sheen, Estevez's father, it takes in Galicia's improbable-looking Santiago de Compostela, a huge piece of medieval real estate topped by a jaw-dropping cathedral. "The Way" ends near the Camino's end, at Muxia, on the Atlantic seaboard near Finisterre, which the Romans thought was the end of the world.

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'LONG WAY DOWN'

By Brian Lowry                                         July 31st, 2008

Ewan McGregor and fellow actor/pal Charley Boorman like hanging out together on motorcycles, an itch they previously scratched in "Long Way Round," a book and series chronicling their round-the-world trip from London to New York.
This time, their sojourn will take them the length of Africa, and based on the nuts-and-bolts premiere, it promises to be a worthwhile ride -- part travelogue, part manly bonding, part "The Amazing Race" minus the staged competition. With another book-TV pairing tied to this adventure, the pair slickly underwrite a personal passion by transforming it into a mini-franchise.

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'LONG WAY DOWN', A RIDE FULL OF HIGHS

By Tom Shales                                         July 30th, 2008

Since the trip starts in Scotland, one might expect to hear the strains of "you take the high road and I'll take the low road," though in this case the song might continue, "and I'll be in Kenya before ye." But then this journey is too hip for old folk songs; it's a journey taken by decidedly young folk, two adventurous actors who care enough about the world to see as much of it as possible, and generously invite armchair tourists and rolling couch potatoes to come along with them.

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NEW ADVENTURES IN BIG-SCREEN ENTERTAINMENT

By S. James Snyder                                         July 28th, 2008

Looking ahead in the next month, one can appreciate the range and variety of Fathom's programs. On Thursday, the company will target the motorcycling and adventure-racing communities with "Long Way Down," a documentary following the actor Ewan McGregor as he bikes 15,000 miles from Scotland to South Africa. The project originally made its debut as a televised miniseries in Britain, and will screen in American theaters (including two in Manhattan) on Thursday as a condensed director's cut.

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'TOM GREEN WORKS AT HOME (YOU CAN WATCH)'

By Joe Rhodes                                         August 19, 2007

It was 8p.m., time for Tom Green's live Internet talk show, the one he's been doing from his living room five nights a week, more or less, for the last year, and as seems to happen more often than not, things were going horribly wrong.

The servers had been wonky all day, most likely the result of a late attempt to install high-definition video players onto his Web site, tomgreen.com. Rex Murphy, Mr. Green's bright red and usually low-key parrot, was agitated and screeching in a corner. The audio feeds weren't working, and the Video Toaster system, the heart of Mr. Green's online operation, was down.

Worst of all, the guest hadn't turned up. Norm MacDonald, the former "Saturday Night Live" Weekend Update anchor and an old buddy of Mr. Green's from his hometown, Ottawa, was scheduled to appear, but no one had heard from him all day.

"I'm starting to think he's not coming," Mr. Green said at 8:15, clearly flustered. "I can guarantee you that this is probably my fault somehow."

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'DRIVE, HE SAID'

By John Clarke, Jr.                                         March 2007

Filmmaker David Alexanian likes things moving fast. And with Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman along for the ride, Africa's just around the bend.

"My mother was terrified of motorcycles," recounts moviemaker David Alexanian, who, as a boy growing up in Pennsylvania, snuck out to ride dirt bikes against her stern warnings. His disobedience paid off: Today, as head of Elixir Films (along with his sister Alexis), he has injected that childhood passion into a series of motorcycle films.

His first biking expedition, the Bravo networkÕs critically acclaimed documentary series Long Way Round (co-produced and directed with friend Russ Malkin in 2004) found actors Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman (son of Deliverence director John Boorman) putting pedal to metal on a 20,000-mile motorcycle odyssey around the globe.

Now Alexanian is revving up to do another documentary, Long Way Down, with the same crew throttling through the heart of Africa.

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'LONG WAY ROUND' ARTICLE ON DVDFILE.COM

By Jim Howard, Jr.                                         December, 2005

"Friends and professional actors, Ewan McGregor  (Star Wars, Trainspotting, Moulin Rouge) and Charley Boorman (Emerald Forest, The Serpent’s Kiss) love motorcycles, and decide to take a 20,000 mile trip around the world from London to New York City circa spring of 2004. They decide to film this journey with a small production crew intent on keeping a safe distance from the two motorcyclists. All are warned of rough roads that dissolve in parts of Russia and Mongolia and the possibility of running into Mafia during their trip. This docudrama is simultaneously breezy, harrowing, hilarious, and unpredictable. McGregor and Boorman wing much of their trip and have to conjure up enormous fortitude to complete their unforgettable yet staggering journey."
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FOX REALITY BUYS LONG WAY ROUND

December, 2005

'Fledgling 24/7 cable net Fox Reality has bought rerun rights from the Bravo channel to the unscripted miniseries "Long Way Round," which follows Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman on a 20,000-mile motorcycle trip. The original run on Bravo earlier this year consisted of six hourlong episodes. That will expand to seven hours on Fox Reality with the addition of what it calls "never-before-seen footage."
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TOM GREEN PREPARES FOR 'IMPACT'

By MARK DANIELL, for JAM! Music                December, 2005

TORONTO -- By the time Tom Green throws down the gauntlet and declares, "I'm No Comedian," you'll know that the film and television funnyman's forthcoming CD, "Prepare For Impact," isn't a bunch of stand-up.
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LONG WAY ROUND IN VITALS MAGAZINE

November, 2005

Long Way Round
October 28, 2004 by Michael R. Farkash (Bravo)
 

A delightful sense of humor and wonder maintained by actors Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman make this long, long motorcycle journey a captivating, entertaining experience, at least for the first two hour long episodes available for review.
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ELIXIR FILMS AND IMAGE WIZARD TV
ANNOUNCE ‘LONG WAY ‘ROUND’ STARRING EWAN MCGREGOR AND CHARLEY BOORMAN
 

August 10, 2004
 

Motorcycle Round-the-World Series to Begin Lensing in January 2004

In the spirit of “Easy Rider,” David Alexanian, co-founder of Elixir Films and Russ Malkin, president of Image Wizard TV, today announced that the company will begin filming an around-the-world television series, “Long Way ‘Round,” which features film star Ewan McGregor and his best friend, actor Charley Boorman, traversing the globe on motorcycles.
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Alexanian Wins Cassavetes Award
 
By DANA HARRIS

March 22, 2003
 

"Far From Heaven" was blessed at the Independent Feature Project's 18th annual Independent Spirit awards Saturday afternoon in Santa Monica, winning in all five of its nominated categories.
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10 PRODUCERS TO WATCH

ALEXIS ALEXANIAN
 
Charles Lyons

May 13, 2002
 

Alexis Alexanian sits at a restaurant on 17th Street and 7th Avenue in Manhattan. She has 20 things to do this morning but now she's looking earnestly at a reporter trying to answer the questions put before her, just like she might be attempting to solve a production problem. Continue >>

The Good Thief

An Elixir presentation of a play in one act by Conor McPherson.
 
By JOEL HIRSCHHORN

February 5, 2003
 

Brian d'Arcy James is offering an exciting reprise of his 2001 Obie award-winning performance in the Los Angeles premiere of "The Good Thief."
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The Good Thief
 
By Lovell Estell III

Top Pick - January 31, 2003
 

This hourlong piece is deeply satisfying and moving. Brian D’Arcy James performs Conor McPherson’s 1994 solo drama in a stirring portrayal of a nameless Dublin thug employed by a ruthless tavern owner.
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'GOOD THIEF' A SOLO OF MANY VIRTUES
 
By Philip Brandes

January 31, 2003
 

The budget-friendly solo performance has become such a ubiquitous staple of contemporary theater that it's spawned three distinct sub-genres -- the more familiar being the portrait of a historical celebrity and the author-performer's autobiographical journey of self-discovery.
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SOLOING, BUT NOT IN SONG
Brian d'Arcy James counts on his turn as an Irish thug in Conor McPherson's 'The Good Thief' to change his Mr. Musical image.
 
By Don Shirley

January 21, 2003
 

After one particularly arduous but rewarding rehearsal for last year's new Broadway musical "Sweet Smell of Success," the show's second-billed actor, Brian d'Arcy James, remarked to a small group of his colleagues: "Revivals are for cowards."
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TO CATCH A THIEF

Brian d'Arcy James brings Conor McPherson's The Good Thief to L.A.
 
By: Michael Portantiere

January 6, 2003
 

Brian d'Arcy James seems to have earned a reputation as the fellow to call when you require an actor who can make a creepy character palatable to an audience.
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