The Art of Travel produced by and starring Christopher Masterson, had it’s North American première in January at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in Palm Springs, California. The film had two screenings on January 9 and 10, 2008. See our previous post for more details.
Synopsis: Conner Layne graduated at the top of his high school class, found a wife-to-be and was ready for Berkeley when life threw a wrench in his plans. Though he may have intended on running away, Conner leaps ahead onto a better path.
Though it begins lightly with the valedictorian (”Malcolm in the Middle’s” capable Christopher Masterson) about to wed his young bride, circumstances find the traveler alone in a foreign country unable to speak the tongue, robbed of both money and naïveté. What could continue as a hostel-hopping romp instead leads to a test of motivation.
Just as Conner prepares to return home, he meets a couple who have planned an expedition to cross the Darién Gap dividing Central and South America between Panama and Columbia. Impassable by foot, impossible by car, the area represents the only hole in the Pan American Highway. The crew of seven push and drag a jeep of supplies through water, in mud and over rocks to reach the other side. Why? The question becomes why not.
Review: Emerging director Thomas Whelan created with Brian LaBelle the sort of story anyone hopes to tell his grandchildren and the kind of movie through “The Art of Travel” that tempts viewers to head to the airport with no planned destination.
Chris and Darlene Loren act as parental guides to the young wisecrackers, and time is passed by all with jokes and sympathetic muscle aching. During the year it takes to cross the passage, they are introduced to hostile guerillas and friendly natives, but the story never hovers in distracting action or ethnocentric melodramas. Rather, the film focuses on the need for a connection with other cultures and a better understanding of our own ethnic backgrounds.
The film is a love letter to wanderlust. It is for anyone who has considered trading in their return ticket home for a one-way ticket to someplace far outside of the usual comfort zone and anyone who has groaned over the standard two-week American vacation limit. No one in the film is snapping photos or writing postcards; everyone is absorbing an experience that will better shape them as living beings.
Whelan’s film may not be perfectly polished, but he holds promise for a smooth future. The central character evolves with the film, which only gets better as the minutes pass. The film is not merely a travelogue, but rather motivation to check the expiration on your passport.
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After spending seven weeks together cast and crew becomes family. Through all the adventure we covered and the highs and lows, it’s always hard to say goodbye. We all experienced something special while making this movie. There were no Hollywood Studios to answer to or agents that ever fought what we were trying to do. Everyone was on the same page - make a fun movie that leaves you feeling good. Our hopes are that we have achieved that.
And now our adventure becomes your adventure. One thing is certain about making a movie - there is never any such words as THE END…
Originally titled Intellectual Property, Dark Mindstarring Christopher Masterson is now available on DVD released December 4, 2007.
Paul, an optimistic inventor, turns into a recluse after facing a brutal betrayal. Convinced that Russians are spying on him, he struggles to protect his greatest invention: The Cube. When an accident thrusts him into the spotlight, his sense of reality is threatened and his world becomes twisted beyond recognition.
At the beginning of last month Christopher Masterson was envolved in a small street fight behind club LAX. According to the video he got punched but its not very clear. All at MITMVC hope he was OK!
Wednesday Nov. 7th the World Cage fighting Organization put on an exciting mixed martial arts event at Circus Disco in Hollywood California. This event brought out many Hollywood celebrities including Christopher Masterson.
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What is the Darien Gap? Where is it? Why is it one of the most dangerous jungles in the world? In The Art of Travel, Conner Layne meets Christopher Loren and his wife Darlene. Both are leading a jeep expedition across this jungle - a trip that will last over 370 days!
There are no roads… They will need to make roads by hacking with machetes. When Conner decides to become the seventh member of the expedition, he has no idea how many friendships he will form and how he experience will change his life. To learn about the Darien Gap and the expedition, and how the film crew challenged the rain and
bugs.
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Imagine spending 370 days hacking through a jungle to make a road for a jeep, forging ahead with 6 other travelers to break a world record.
Half of The Art of Travel revolves around this kind of adventure and how Conner becomes part of it, and what he takes from it to go further on his journey to Peru and Bolivia. They fight days of pounding rain, swollen rivers, a 7 mile switch back in the mud, and more! Although it only took nearly three weeks to shoot this entire section, it was enough time for the cast and crew to realize that such a feet would be hell! The Darien Gap has been traveled by people who sought to break records in the past, but only a couple of expeditions ever pulled it off with a vehicle in tow! This section of the film is inspired by these accounts of the Darien.
Christopher Masterson is currently shooting a new film set for release in 2008. It is entitled, Made for Each Other. It’s a comedy which centers around Dan (Masterson), a newlywed who cheats on his wife, Marcy (Bijou Phillips), and decides the only way to redeem himself is for her to cheat back — so he sets off to find the right man for the job.
The film also stars Christopher’s brother, Danny Masterson (That 70’s Show), Samm Levine, (Freaks and Geeks), Patrick Warburton (Seinfeld), Lauren German (Hostel: Part II) and George Segal (Just Shoot Me).
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For seven weeks cast and crew of The Art of Travel filmed the adventure of a lifetime, hoping that audiences would enjoy taking a journey with a character like Conner, a high school graduate who finds himself, through his own doing, on a year long trip through Central and South America. Conner Layne makes his first destination Nicaragua, and much like Conner’s first days in the city of Managua, the cast and crew encountered culture shock.Anyone who travels knows the drill - anything can happen anywhere. You can get robbed in Atlanta almost easier then getting robbed in Managua, Nicaragua. But it is those first few days in a new place - whether it’s New York or Bogota - that you feel vulnerable.
Webisode 3, “Ladrones”, is a cool look into the first few days of shooting inside an amazing country where extreme beauty and poverty somehow coexist.
“That ’70s Show” cutie Laura Prepon was said to have split from “Malcolm in the Middle” actor boyfriend Chris Masterson at the end of May. But the pair were spotted holding hands and sharing a soda in the front row of Stay Free’s Girls in the Director’s Chair premiere. Prepon acted in one of two films created by teams of teenage girls chosen from around the United States.
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