Posts tagged holden automotive

Larry Holden 1961-2011

                             

It was 10 years ago that I met Larry Holden…

When I moved to California in 2000, I didn’t know very many people. I worked on a lot of projects for free. Uneventful pilots, so called television shows, and a few really poorly done films. Whatever. Everybody at the time was saying they were a “producer” on their way up and I was too new and broke to realize they were just giving that job title out at the airport. 

Then some mutual friends wanted me to help Larry edit his first feature film, “My Father’s House”.  I was mostly fed up at this point. I said, is it good? They said he had Cameron Diaz and Josh Charles in it. I’m sure I rolled my eyes. Right… but is it good?

They eventually convinced me the project was worthy and the filmmaker was a good honest guy. I agreed to meet him. 

The next day, in walked Larry Holden. He seemed so spent at that point. He had poured his heart into his movie and everyone seemed to just be taking advantage of him because he didn’t know a lot about the mechanics or necessary evils of finishing movies. 

As I write this having known Larry for years, I can’t honestly believe that he let me watch his film in a rough version at this point. He never let anyone see anything unfinished. Ever! - But on this day, at this time, he gave me a take home VHS cassette to watch. 

I spent 2 hours early the next morning watching it. 6 minutes into it, I’ll admit, it was a challenge. I said, what are you doing here? Are you going to take me somewhere? Do you know what you’re doing?

But…

 …I still kept on watching all the way through the credits to the very last one - which was like a well placed period at the end of a poetic sentence. From beginning to end he was working off a solid, complete thought. 

And since it wasn’t even finished yet, it was interesting that Larry had included an entire credit sequence on the rough cut of a film.  They unfortunately hadn’t mastered a rolling credit technique yet so each credit was a single name static card sequence that ran for a total of 17 minutes.  Today we graze through film credits basically ignoring them. I remember sitting in our local small town theater watching Empire Strikes Back and me and my friends would watch all the credits as they rolled by as almost a salute to all the filmmakers.  As I watched Larry’s credits, I again sat through, reading each and every one… down to the the very last, most special final card. Larry told me later he almost wanted to remove that card and I begged of him not to. 


                                          

Although I never made or expected a nickel from that movie, Larry did his best to pay it back. He got me into meetings. He took me to all the festivals the film got into. He was also my friend. Perhaps the only one I would truly call a friend that I had met in this brand new place.  Although our interests and tastes were at times vastly different we met up in our talks about being human and creating art. 

And it wasn’t just me. Larry was important to many people. That guy could make people think. He’d walk into a room and no one would ever forget his name. He was someone people admired and could look up to - and someone who would politely argue with you for thinking that way. 

Much like John Cassevettes, Larry chose to work as actor as a means to make his own films/art… which is something I need to learn about editing. One’s outlet for artistic expression shouldn’t be your actual paying job…  

In life, Larry has been a friend and a brother for 10 years.



On February 13th, my friend and a friend to many suddenly passed away from cancer.  



This Sunday…May 15th 2011 would have been Larry’s birthday.



Yesterday, I pulled a book out that Larry had given me the week we met. He had written a message to me inside and at that time I’d never seen that done before then. 

        

Everyday there are little heroes that change peoples lives and in the grand scheme of things, they are unknown. I and many others had Larry in our lives through an oddity of circumstances and I’m sure he’ll never completely leave. Fragments and fingerprints of him will filter down through us for years to come.  


                                         

                                                 You are missed, Larry… 


If you’re interested knowing more about Larry… he would probably say… watch my films…

Larry Holden’s films are available from his website at http://www.holdenautomotive.com

http://www.holdenautomotive.com/store.html

http://www.holdenautomotive.com/review_mfh.html



Here are some Larry interviews from the internet.

http://www.batman-on-film.com/interview_larryholden.html

http://www.christophernolan.net/interviews_holden.php

http://www.roguecinema.com/article-788—0-0.html



A review of his first film, My Father’s House:

“What a gift! What a joy! Just when the cinematic landscape feels like a vast, boring desert of sameness, along comes a triumph of low budget brilliance like Larry Holden’s My Father’s House — a beautiful, delicate study of men’s lives and relationships. The film was so good I could hardly believe it. I held my breath as I watched it, waiting for a false note, a weak line delivery, or a sentimental moment. But there was none. Holden probes his central characters’ emotions without a single misstep. Watch carefully because this film is as subtle as our most interesting interactions in life. Holden understands that with men in particular, everything or almost everything emotional is hidden under the surface, between the lines, in the depths — and the miracle (and this film is miraculous) is that he finds a way to take us down there into the emotional depths of his characters’ lives to help us to see what is going on inside them. The succession of scenes may at first seem random or haphazard, but shot by shot Holden wonderfully weaves the strands together to tell the story of a life. One of the truest, subtlest, best films I’ve seen in years.”

— Ray Carney
Author of Cassavetes on Cassavetes
Quoted from a review published at www.cassavetes.com



Here is a scene of Larry in a movie called DOWNTIME by Rob Tiffin.  He’s so interesting in this scene…

                  

A SCENE FROM DOWNTIME from rob tiffin on Vimeo.