Richard Grieco Artist Profile

Richard talks about his artwork in this short video filmed in his studio. It's a little more in-depth and personal than the responses we usually see when Richard is asked about his art on camera, and includes a pretty decent impression of Dennis Hopper.


Artist Profiles featuring Hollywood Actor and Painter Richard Grieco - Los Angeles, CA - 2015 Artist Roster from Amanda Brown on Vimeo.

Minutes to Midnight Wraps

On April 9, Minutes to Midnight screenwriter Christopher Don reached out to let me know that filming had wrapped on the film. I know I've been remiss in getting this news out to you, but I have a very good excuse--that very same day, my little town was hit by a tornado.

Having missed the "big reveal" moment, I thought today would be a good day to share the news, since it's Don's birthday. (I won't tell you how old he is because I don't want you to feel as old as I do.)

There have been some changes since I first talked to Don about Minutes to Midnight in 2013. But, we'll get to the details a little later. I know what you really want to hear about is Richard's role, and I think you're going to love what you hear.

Richard Grieco in Minutes to Midnight

Don told me that he was pretty confident this would be Richard's best role in 20 years. If that sounds ambitious coming from a guy who is just seeing his first feature film come to life, consider the history. First, as you may recall, Don is something of a Richard Grieco fan. In fact, I've heard a rumor (okay, I heard it from him) that in those pre-show-biz days when Don was parking cars on the graveyard shift, he'd watch 21 Jump Street on his laptop and think about working with Grieco one day.

M2M Screenwriter Christopher Don with Richard Grieco

He's also called Richard "the ultimate bad-ass" for his ability to both be tough and show an emotional side; in other words, he has a solid understanding of and appreciation for Richard's strengths as an actor. And, the role was beefed up and adapted to take advantage of those strengths after Richard came on board. I'm very interested to see where that takes us.

But, Richard isn't the only reason to watch out for this movie.

Other Reasons You May Want to See Minutes to Midnight

1. The production brings Richard back together with director Christopher Olen Ray, producer Gerald Webb and writer Victoria Dadi, who previously collaborated on A House is Not a Home--"Best Horror Feature" winner at the 2014 Burbank International Film Festival.

2. William Baldwin has joined the cast. The Baldwin boys have never been my type, but they can act. And, as an added bonus (in case you're one of the many who has trouble keeping them straight), this is the one I've recently heard referred to as "the Baldwin who's still pretty." He's the one who played Serena's dad on Gossip Girl.

3. John Hennigan is still in the cast. Okay, that's not new information, but have you seen this guy? If you're not a WWE fan, take a moment to Google him. I promise you're going to like it.

There's more, of course, but Minutes to Midnight is just days into post-production at this point and we'll have plenty of time to talk about it between now and the day we get to see the finished film. Stay tuned!

The Green Fairy Update

The Green Fairy is rolling right along, and you'll be able to see the trailer on February 1.  The film's official Facebook page suggests that we're going to love it (though they may not be entirely objective).

It certainly promises to be unique: docu-fantasy isn't a genre I've encountered before. The difficulty in classifying the film may be the reason that it's getting attention from sites like Horror Society, even though it isn't a horror film. Or, maybe it's just that intriguing.

(Okay, it may also be because Linda Blair is in the movie.)

Director Dan Frank originally said that he hoped to have the movie ready to go by Mardi Gras 2016, but it's currently showing a 2015 release date, so it may start making the rounds even sooner.

More to come as new information becomes available.

A Vow to Kill

A couple of years ago, when I was too sick to work and spending a lot of late night hours watching old Richard Grieco television shows and movies, A Vow to Kill was one of the films I went looking for. As you probably know, Richard has been in a lot of sci-fi/quasi-horror films, and that's not really my thing. He was even in a movie about giant spiders, which is definitely more than I could cope with.

But, he was also in a handful of television movies in which he played a very bad husband: one abusive, one rapist, one who pretended to kidnap his wife in order to extract ransom from her wealthy father.

A Vow to Kill is the ransom movie, but I couldn't find it. That wasn't a big surprise, given that it was a television movie from 1995. It was more of a surprise when I ran across it on Amazon recently. Clearly, it didn't just become available--especially since it only exists on VHS.

I liked it.

That's not much of a review, I know, but that's the upshot. If you were watching made for television movies in the mid-90s, you pretty much know what to expect. In terms of plot line and acting, it's just okay and fairly predictable--just like nearly all of the prime time movies from the 80s and 90s.

It's easy to see how Grieco's character is able to con, seduce and marry the rich man's daughter--these were his prime romantic lead days and this movie was a great vehicle for the soft voice and soulful looks that make a woman say, "Ah, what's a little ransom demand?"

If you're a Richard Grieco fan and haven't seen this movie (and you own a VHS player), it's worth adding to your collection--especially if you're the kind of fan who appreciates his eye and his smile at least as much as his acting. The main Amazon listing has a pretty discouraging price ($45), but look a little further--there are several used copies available for less than $10.

Kissing Richard Grieco

I know some of you (yes, you...you know I'm looking at you) are going to enjoy living vicariously through Trisha Paytas as she describes (in a bit of flustered detail) what it was like to kiss Richard during the filming of Viral Video.


 

Mobsters on Blu-Ray

Just in case you don't feel like you're seeing Richard Grieco's youthful glory in crisp enough detail on DVD, or you don't have a machine on which to play that well-worn old VHS tape, you'll be able to buy Mobsters on Blu-Ray this spring.

"He has two girlfriends?"
Love this scene.

You can pre-order here, but don't expect the movie to arrive until early March.

If you want to get in the spirit while you wait, take 97 seconds to check out this clip of Richard, Christian Slater, Patrick Demsey and Costas Mandylor presenting at the 1991 Oscars in their full Mobsters regalia. (For those of you who haven't seen the movie, that means hand-made tuxes. Feel free to watch as often as you like.)

Richard Grieco and Trisha Paytas in Viral Video

I nearly titled this post "A random Richard Grieco thing you will probably want to see." I'd never heard of Trisha Paytas and at just short of 14 minutes this video seemed too short even to be a short. Fortunately, I took a moment to look Trisha up, and it turns out that she's pretty well known if you're a part of the YouTube generation.

If you enjoy watching Richard do crazy--and we both know you do--this is definitely worth 15 minutes of your time.