Agoura Hills natives shoot movie here
By Michael Picarella pic@theacorn.com

Agoura Hills natives Michael Breines and Corey Wish just wrapped shooting on a short film, “Matters of Life and Death,” which they filmed in Agoura Hills with “Jurassic Park” actor Joseph Mazzello.

Breines and Wish produced “Matters of Life and Death,” and Mazzello, who played the young boy in the first two “Jurassic Park” movies, wrote, directed and starred in the film.

The movie also stars Rachael Leigh Cook (“Jossie and the Pussycats”), Daniel Gillies (“Spider-Man 2”), Mazzello and David Strathairn (nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in “Good Night, and Good Luck”).

Breines, Wish and Mazzello are recent film school graduates—Breines and Mazzello from USC, and Wish from UCLA.

Breines and Wish produced a feature movie in Agoura Hills before starting college in 2001. The movie, “Chasing September,” was self-funded and featured friends and family in the roles, many of whom also helped make the movie.

The moviemakers screened “Chasing September” at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza to a crowd of more than 400 people. The movie was well received.

“Matters of Life and Death” is about a young boy whose parents died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York, and how he and his siblings deal with their loss.

“This film is not about 9/11 any more than ‘From Here to Eternity’ is about Pearl Harbor,” Mazzello said. “As a native New Yorker, I’ve seen a lot of coverage of that tragic event—the global ramifications, the economic consequences, the war in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq. But rarely, if ever, do I see stories about how that day affected the lives of those who experienced the greatest loss.”

Mazzello hails from Poughkeepsie, New York and he said several residents of his hometown were killed in the 9/ 11 terrorist attacks.

“I want to explore the feeling of that commute (after 9/11), what people go through at work, at the grocery store, at school, or at a baseball game,” he said.

Breines met Mazzello in a class at USC and they became friends. In March, Mazzello approached Breines to produce “Matters of Life and Death.” Mazzello knew Breines had a lot of film experience, which he wanted for his project, according to Wish.

As soon as Breines was on board he immediately called on Wish to assist in producing the project.

Mazzello put up his own money for the film in addition to the contributions he received from family, friends and other donors.

The filmmakers shot the movie between Jan. 14 and 22 in the West Valley and Agoura Hills.

“It was cool for me because I was able to bring the film back to Agoura,” Breines said. “It was kind of something full circle from ‘Chasing September,’ which was such a trip back in high school where we put together a feature film when we were 16 and 17.”

Breines said “Matters of Life and Death” contains a baseball scene similar to the one in “Chasing September,” which was shot in the same location, the varsity field at Agoura High School.

According to Breines, “Matters of Life and Death” is set in New York. “We had to cut off a lot of the tops of mountains— no palm trees and no oak trees.”

Breines, who directed “Chasing September,” was the assistant director (AD) on “Matters of Life and Death.” The AD schedules the shoot, arranges logistics, maintains order on the set and performs other duties, depending on the shoot. He’s also been the AD on several music videos, another feature film and other short films and

“As soon as we finish, we want to take it to film festivals,” Wish said. “We have an amazing cast. The story is great and the acting is great . . . I think it looks good and we’re really happy with it.”

For more information about “Matters of Life and Death,” go to www.matteroflifeanddeath.com.