Scans from the ‘LA Times’ and ‘Reading Eagle’ articles were added to the gallery:
The casting of “The O.C.’s” Ben McKenzie as a horrifically wounded World War I soldier in “Johnny Got His Gun” might be a nightmarish notion for fans of the TV show, but the presence of this all-American-looking teen idol in a skeletal, heartfelt antiwar drama lends a jarring, current resonance.
“It’s a very small, little passion project for a few people; I just hope it adds to the conversation a little bit,” said McKenzie on a Friday evening in a cafe on noisy Sunset Boulevard. “Some of the proceeds will go to the Fallen Patriot Fund, which helps out [Operation Iraqi Freedom] veterans. But I don’t have any grand illusions that this will spark some kind of national conversation over the Iraq war; we’ve been having that conversation for some time and this is not going to tip the balance. It’s just another little bit for people to think about.”
Read the full story
Some “Old-New” pictures were added to the gallery
Fox Broadcasting Company Upfront - May 18, 2006
Breakfast on KROQ - October 29, 2004
Esquire House Event to Benefit Young Storytellers Program - October 17, 2004
Ben films scenes for his new tv pilot ‘LAPD’. Monday, October 13th 2008 in Los Angeles, California.
“…We didn’t do anything right about making this,” says rookie director Rowan Joseph, who comes to film after a long theater career. “We didn’t play the festivals because we wanted this out before the election; it’s a one-man film. We had everything working against us (including the show’s tiny, just-over-$80,000 budget), yet here we are.”
Joseph overstates only slightly. True, an independent film getting picked up for distribution is essentially a one-in-a- million sort of long shot. But the effort is helped by the fact that the novel remains timely after 70 years, and, perhaps more importantly, that the one person in the cast is Ben McKenzie, who played Ryan Atwood in Fox’s “The O.C” and appeared in “Junebug,” another indie film.
“I couldn’t resist this,” says McKenzie, joining the trio in the booth by phone. “I hadn’t read the book, but once I knew the story, I knew it was a great role. And when I read the novel and the script (by Bradley Rand Smith), I realized just how strong the material was.”
Check out the rest of the article here
Or you can find a scan of the article along with a scan of the Variety review in the gallery.
Ben, dressed as an LAPD officer, filming his new TV series (tentatively named LAPD) in Los Angeles, California.
There’s a video of Ben shooting here. The actor that plays the man Ben is arresting is Taylor Handley (aka Oliver Trask on The OC.)