Amanda Ash

My Hollywood North column, published in the Vancouver Sun September 11.

BY AMANDA ASH, SPECIAL TO THE SUN

A week after Hollywood’s golden girl Reese Witherspoon starts shooting her romantic comedy This Means War (alongside Star Trek actor Chris Pine and Inception’s Tom Hardy), actress Jessica Biel will return to B.C. to star in The Tall Man.

Biel, who was in Vancouver last fall filming the action flick The A-Team, has been cast as the lead role in the psychological thriller that will shoot mainly in and around Nelson.

According to Cold Rock Productions, the film is still in the process of finalizing details. The movie does not pop up on IMDB yet, leaving the plot synopsis and supporting cast details a mystery.

However, a few blogs and websites say the film has a $15-million budget and is about a mother (played by Biel) who tracks a mysterious figure known as “The Tall Man” who has kidnapped her child.

The film’s production office did confirm that the movie will mark French director Pascal Laugier’s English-language debut. They also said the film will involve a lot of night shooting. Biel is involved with on-again-off-again boyfriend Justin Timberlake, so keep your eyes peeled for a visit from the pop singer.

The Tall Man is scheduled to film from Sept. 20 until Nov. 19.

Read more at www.vancouversun.com.

Story published in the Vancouver Sun on September 4, 2010.

BY AMANDA ASH, SPECIAL TO THE SUN

It’s been a year and a half since Steven Page left the popular Canadian band the Barenaked Ladies, but like any long-term relationship breakup, Page is still adjusting to the single life.

Sept. 28 marks the release of the former frontman’s debut solo album Page One, a clever and potent title that suggests a new beginning for the musician who used to sing about Chinese chicken and winning a million dollars.

“Going through the whole process of writing and recording and coming up with artwork, and not having four other guys to argue or collaborate with, is a totally fresh and different thing for me,” Page says over the phone from Syracuse, N.Y. “All those fantasies I may have had over the 20 years previous about doing this on my own, now it is up to me and some of that is totally exciting and gratifying but some of it is like, ‘What if I f— it up?’”

Technically, Page One isn’t his first kick at the solo can. In 2005, Page pursued a side project called The Vanity Project with Duran Duran founding member Stephen Duffy.

Read more at www.vancouversun.com.

Story published in the Vancouver Sun on August 24, 2010.

BY AMANDA ASH, VANCOUVER SUN

Joan Jett may be in her fifties, but that doesn’t mean she’s traded in her leather bustiers for cotton floral-print pantsuits.

Her voice says it all: Over the phone, calling from her home in New York, the infamous tomboy from ’70s all-girl punk rock band the Runaways growls with a sense of authority. She speaks and you can’t help but nod in agreement. Like the 15-year-old bruiser that first clawed her way into the world of rock ‘n’ roll, Jett still has a clear sense of who she is and what she’s fighting for.

Which is why calling the 51-year-old a role model might be a bad idea.

“I could never say that about myself. To me that sounds conceited,” Jett says in her raspy, East Coast voice. “It’s like, ‘Oh, I’m great I affected all these people, look what I did.’ It’s not for me to say, as far as I’m concerned, because any artist can think they change the world. I just want people to get something from [my music].”

Jett’s world-changing status can be argued, though, if you’ve got the guts.

With the release of the biopic The Runaways (based on band mate and lead singer Cherie Currie’s memoir Neon Angel), Jett’s life and story has been splashed across the big screen, reaching a whole new generation of teenagers with the help of Twilight stars Kristen Stewart (as Jett) and Dakota Fanning (as Currie).

Read more at www.vancouversun.com.

Review published in the Vancouver Sun on August 6, 2010.

BY AMANDA ASH, VANCOUVER SUN

The Backstreet Boys still got it goin’ on.

The boy band—all grown up but still baby-faced—danced, sweated and crooned their way straight into fans’ hearts Friday night at a packed Rogers Arena. The quartet (fifth member Kevin Richardson left the group in 2006 to start a family), proved that they’ve still got the sex appeal that revved up every teenager’s hormones back in 1996 when they released their self-titled debut.

It’s quite amazing, really: fourteen years later, and all of those pre-teen and teenaged girls that pinned up Tiger Beat posters of Nick Carter, Brian Littrell, A.J. McLean and Howie Dorough (can’t forget Richardson) on their walls have stayed true to the Boys.

Read more at www.vancouversun.com.