Film: Chasing Eden

James Kellogg as "Robert Galliluin" and real-life punk Michael Lopez as "Slick".

SCENES FROM THE FILM:

Robert confronts Slick in prison for raping his sister.


An angry Robert confronts Slick -
"What did you do to my sister?"


Robert vents his fury.


Robert vows his justice.


The band reunites - Robert, his sister Padme (Melissa McGinnis), and Jules (Faraon).


Jules and Robert remember the good times with their band.

Justice is finally served to Slick.

BACKGROUND STORY:

July 20, 2006 - Just found out I was cast in another Mike Czerniewski film as punk rocker Robert Galliluin! Hmm...this should be fun! We shoot some of my scenes this July 29. Mike kept on sending me e-mails that I kept on ignoring, assuming I was just on his distribution list for potential crew volunteers. Then one day I opened up his email to view pics from his shoot, and thought I recognized one of the actors and asked him about it. Mike responded in the affirmative and then then mentioned that my scenes were coming up, and I asked him 'what do you mean - "my" scenes?' Ha ha - I got drafted! Wow, that Mike, he sure knows how to pull a fast one.



July 22, 2006 - Punk Makeover - Let me be honest. I absolutely know nothing about punk. So I decided to go on a field trip to research my new role. I went to a tattoo place to find out where I could find punk clothes and they referred to me to a thrift shop called the Arizona Trading Company in Westport. I went up to the clerk and said "I want you to punk me." She responded in shock, "Excuse me????". And I replied, "I want you to punk me..you know...make me look like a punk rocker." She retorted with disdain, "I'm not your personal shopper . . . go to the back where the men's clothes are and find some clothes yourself." Surprised by her rudeness, I proceeded to the back and found nothing except some black and silver studded belts that were too small.


In dismay, I called up a friend and asked what I should do no next. While I was on the phone, I saw a car drive up and out popped four punks...one girl with purple hair (Mary), a guy with shaved head and purple pants (Matthew, affectionately referrred to as "Fathead"), and two mo-hawkers (Shep and Alyssa). With a big smile on my face, I run up to the group, and explain to them that I'm an actor researching a role and asked if they knew where I could buy punk clothes. Michael replied "You can't buy clothes like what we are wearing, man...they are really hard to find." In desparation, I asked "Your shirt...would you sell your shirt. I will buy it." "Hey dude, this German punk shirt I have is like really rare but hey, if you have $10, I will sell it to you.. I just washed it." "Deal," I replied. I then told them I wanted the punk experience...were they aware of any concerts,etc? Surprisingly friendly, they invited me to join them at the restaurant and then we planned out a punk adventure for me. They were going to hear a band whose name I can't mention here, but it had to do with an affectionate play on words on Dick Cheney and one of his body parts. The gang thought it was really cool that I wanted to check out their "scene" and told me they were going to adopt me like a little puppy.


It started at one of their houses, where they introduced me to their other punk friends including Michael, who struck me as being more of a heavy metal guy who just liked hanging out with punks. They educated me more about their sub-culture. Punk is not necessarily a certain style of music, but an attitude to protect one's individuality in a system that is built for conformity. To earn some money, some punks make patches which have some really profound slogans, that they would then sew into their clothes with dental floss. Intertubes and tires are sometimes used to make belts. Some punks like the dirty look, so they taught me how to roll in the dirt and encouraged me to not wash my clothes for days to get that nice soiled look.

One punk had this fashion accessory he kept on his built made of a railroad spike and rope (see picture of me holding it).
After hanging out with their friends they then proceeded to the Kansas City Westbottoms area (warehouse district) to go an underground punk concert and hang out with punks, including an introduction by Michael to one of the musicians from "Monsters in the Basement", a Lawrence group. Held in a warehouse art studio, about 20-30 music fans stood motionless listening to the deafening screaching sounds of electric synthesizer followed by bursts of tranquil music.


Then at one of the band changes, the fans got a little more animated, and I got thrown into a punk slam dance (they now call it "moshing") with some other punks and by imitation, later incorporated some more animated head banging and drumming antics into my moves. That was surprisingly a lot of fun. Found out that the Rigged crew was also in the neigborhood and walked over there and participated in another shoot of a drag racing scene in my new guise. The night ended with a nice little street fight with a drunk, where I honed my punk fighting skills. What a swell evening!

CHASING EDEN
Writer: MIKE CZERNIEWSKI
Director: MIKE CZERNIEWSKI
Assistant Directors: NICK HIDAKA, DARION FRANKLIN
PRINCIPAL CAST
Holden Murdoch: ANDREW EBERT
Padmé Galliulin: MELISSA McGINNIS
Gene "Gob" Broflovski: MIKE CZERNIEWSKI
Marshall Dickerson: DARION FRANKLIN
Tyler Murdoch: STEVE WILLIAMS
Jules Swann: FARAON BUSH

Helena Waterfield: TBA
Robert Galliulin: JAMES KELLOGG
"Slick" Han Miyalufa: MICHAEL LOPEZ
Serenity Houseworth: JEANETTE GONZALEZ
Gladys Murdock: STEPHANIE REED
O'Shea Slater: MIKE WILLIAMS
Kelly Stanford: ZACH HAHNE