Wayne Darwen
Wayne Darwen | |
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Born | |
Occupation(s) | Journalist, television producer, filmmaker |
Wayne Darwen is an Australian journalist, television producer and filmmaker best known as an innovator in the tabloid television genre[1] and as director and star of the 2015 film, High There.[2]
His early television exploits were featured in the 1999 book Tabloid Baby,[3] written by his colleague Burt Kearns.
Began career as a 17-year-old reporter for a newspaper in Sydney, Australia. Traveled the world as a reporter for the likes of the Sydney Daily Mirror, Star magazine and the New York Post, before moving to American television as a producer on influential tabloid newsmagazine shows like A Current Affair, Hard Copy, Geraldo Rivera’s Now It Can be Told,[4] Strange Universe and Inside Edition.[5]
Gained international attention for his 1993 series of televised interviews with Son of Sam killer David Berkowitz,[6] in which Berkowitz claimed the murders were the work of a Satanic cult.[7]
Appeared as reporter in 2012 documentary film, Dark Mirror of Magick: The Vassago Millennium Prophecy.[8]
Natural Born Killers
Inspired the character of newsman Wayne Gale, portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. in Oliver Stone’s film, Natural Born Killers.[9][10][11]
In May 2015, Darwen made international news when he responded to Downey Jr.'s attack on journalists[12] and independent films,[13] telling the New York Post's Page Six: "Junior was a lot more interesting when he was a substance-abusing, suffering artist — brave and silly enough to push the envelope."[11]
High There
In 2014, Darwen wrote, directed with Henry Goren), produced and took on the guise of Dave High[14] in the documentary film High There.[15] High There is a nonfiction comedy about the efforts of Darwen and Henry Goren to film the pilot for a marijuana travelogue series on the island of Hawaii. They wind up in various misadventures, while uncovering a Drug Enforcement Administration campaign to control the marijuana trade and to persecute marijuana activist Roger Christie.[16]
It is the first leg of a filmic journey that picks up where Darwen's late colleague and inspiration Hunter S. Thompson left off.[17]
High There was a Sam Peters International Productions Unlimited and Good Story Productions presentation of a Rat Lung picture. It premiered 25 August 2014 at the Action on Film International Film Festival in Monrovia, California. Darwen was on location in Adelaide at the time, so he appeared at the premiere as a life-size cardboard cut-out.[18] The film won the Viewers' Choice Award at the first annual Cannabis Film Festival in Humboldt County, California on May 3, 2015.[19] On the heels of several rave reviews,[2] it was released on VOD and Limited Edition DVD[20] by BrinkVision[21] on June 23, 2015.[22][23][24]
References
- ^ Tabloid Baby
- ^ a b Anchorage Press
- ^ Salon.com
- ^ Hollywood.com
- ^ New York Observer
- ^ New York Magazine
- ^ Google News
- ^ YouTube
- ^ YouTube
- ^ Amazon.com
- ^ a b Pagesix.com
- ^ The Huffington Post
- ^ The Guardian
- ^ Mysteries From Beyond
- ^ Pagesix.com
- ^ Hawaiinewsnow.com
- ^ LA Weekly
- ^ High the Movie
- ^ 420magazine.com
- ^ Amazon.com
- ^ Brinkvision.com
- ^ Highthemovie.com
- ^ The Australian
- ^ Abucketofcorn.com
External links
- Wayne Darwen at IMDb
- New York Post article on Darwen's career and film
- Video: Darwen interviewed on RT America's Watching The Hawks program
- Video: Darwen interview on TheLipTV's Buzzsaw program
- Documentary Dude: An interview with Wayne Darwen, Writer/Director of High There
- The Australian: Wayne Darwen's stoner film High There is a labour of love
- Video: High There Directors Tell All
- NY Observer article points out Darwen's tabloid television relevance
- Tabloid Tale
- Wayne Darwen's Merle's 'Merica project with Merle Haggard
- Philly.com: Producer Wayne Darwen has four hours of Son of Sam outtakes
- Wayne Darwen in acknowledgments of Maury Terry's book, The Ultimate Evil
- Darwen acknowledged in Christopher Anderson's book, Mick: The Wild Life and Mad Genius of Jagger
- Video: Robert Downey Jr.'s inspiration for Natural Born Killers, Wayne Darwen
- PageSix.com: Tommy Chong passes the cannabis comedy torch to High There’s Wayne Darwen