Join me on March 10, 2012 at Make it Right Foundations benefit. The evening of March 10 Brad Pitt and Ellen DeGeneres are hosting "A Night to Make It Right" at the Hyatt Regency, featuring a celebrity guest list.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Brad Pitt's Make it Right Foundation will benefit from perhaps the biggest single-night fundraiser in New Orleans history.
The $1,000-a-seat fundraiser will feature Randy Jackson, Josh Brolin,Djimon Hounsou, Spike Lee, Blake Lively, Bennett Miller, Chris Paul, Sean Penn, Wendell Pierce and Kevin Spacey.
Performers for the night will include Rihanna, Sheryl Crow, Seal, the Neville Brothers, and Dr. John and friends.
The event, presented by the Hyatt Regency New Orleans with sponsor Google+, is the biggest single-night fundraiser in New Orleans history.
The charity gala will raise more money for Pitt's Make It Right Foundation, which so far has completed 75 ultra-modern homes in the Lower 9th Ward to replace those wiped away by the levee failures following Hurricane Katrina. The foundation since has expanded to Newark, N.J., and Kansas City, Mo., to provide sustainable housing for disabled veterans and disadvantaged communities.
The New Orleans event will feature a four-course dinner coordinated by chef John Besh and prepared by chefs Giada DeLaurentiis and Emeril Lagasse.
An afterparty will be hosted by comedian Aziz Ansari. Tickets for that event only are $150. The $1,000 ticket includes entrance to the afterparty. Individual VIP tickets are $2,500 and include admission to a VIP reception and the afterparty.
Please Note: "The House on Black Lake" has been adapted to screenplay. Go to Home Page to view romantic/suspenseful trailer.
I am presently in discussions for marketing the screenplay of my novel. As the visual representation of my story becomes eminent I have begun to consider what I find appealing in films that feature romance.
My definition of " romantic" is : a passionate longing. As with reality, the more thwarted the physical longing, dangerous, and evocative the setting, the more intense the romantic experience. With this in mind, I hope to create a visually lush, sensuous, and dangerous romantic love story.
My favorites are in no particular order, although Casablanca, Gone with the Wind and Dr. Zhivago are universally accepted as the top romantic films of all time. I have tried to pick films of different times and genres to give a broad overview.
Please Note: "The House on Black Lake" trailer, filmed by award winning cinematographer Frazer Bradshaw, may be viewed on home page.
A producer recently asked me for my shortlist of actors to play the alpha male characters in my novel. As I pondered this "difficult" task I began to look over the males in film that made an impact with their masculinity and were also able to be vulnerable in expressing romance and passion. I came up with a very short list, then wrote down my choices of the top contemporary and classic actors that have filled this daunting task.
Ramey Sandeley is the hero of The House on Black Lake. He enters the book/film smelling of burnt flesh, fresh from branding animals with his own custom tools. He can ride a horse like a native, has been taught to hunt wild game in the Serengetti, is the heir to a fortune in land and real estate in Montreal, is highly educated, and a successful entrepreneur in his own right. To add to this cache are extraordinary good looks, a strong, athletic frame, straight white teeth, and lustrous gold flecked dark hair. He is married to stunning red head, Ruth Sandeley, and the father of five children. I did not entirely make up this man, he does exist, although I did combine a few men I've met to make him just right. Ramey is in his forties, and like Dorian Gray has not yet begun to show his age.
I believe the right actor to play Ramey has likely not yet been discovered, but if I had to choose then these men could likely fill his custom shoes:
1. Clive Owen
2. Eric Bana
3. Dylan McDermott
Rock god Georgie La Pointe is Ramey's cousin and has also inherited wealth, power, and influence. However, he is a a supreme narcissist who never dates a woman more than once, and grooms his hair by peering into the eyes of his admirers. Most notably he makes love to recordings of his own bellowing baritone. My first choice of actors are:
1. Johnny Depp
2. Chris Hemsworth
3. Daniel Craig
4. Tom Hardy
Many alpha male roles are filled by males who are only playing a part. They are poseurs, pretty boys, muscle bound oafs, or Peter Pan types. A true alpha spirit cannot be recreated, the drive lies in the soul of the actor. The top 25 sexiest, most romantic (true) alpha male film actors (in random order):
Contemporary Film:
1. Mel Gibson - If you look back at his body of work (especially early in his career) he is a master of sexy maculinity mixed with aching vulnerability
2. Laim Neeson - same with Mel, but bigger than life
3. Russell Crowe - hit or miss, but he does deliver when required, i.e. "Gladiator"
4. Heath Ledger - his best was yet to come
5. Clive Owen - "Camelot" brought it all together
6. Gerard Butler - "The Phantom of the Opera" and "300" were enough for a lifetime
7. Eric Bana - "Troy" was the beginning, but his potential has only been touched
8. Daniel Craig - A dark and brooding blonde is beautiful to behold. He can nail a seductive look like no other
9. Richard Gere - Sexiest kisser of all time
10. Ian McShane - Now nearly into his seventies and still killer sexy and romantic in a cruel sort of way
11. Tatum Channing - the most alpha/romantic of younger actors
12. Robert Redford - "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", "Three Days of the Condor", and "The Way We Were" make him an icon of the sexy alpha romantic and he still delivers, now into his 70's.
13. Dominic West - "The Wire" established him as the quntissential "bad boy", "300" placed him on throne of sexiest villain in film.
14. Brad Pitt - More pretty boy than true alpha, but he is cast in the role more than any other actor
15. Denzel Washington - The perfect combination of vulnerability and tough male sex appeal.
Top Ten Classic Film Actors:
1. Cary Grant - Smooth, sexy, romantic, but still strong and alpha in a classy way
2. Steve Mcqueen - Daniel Craig takes on the legacy of this golden man
3. Clint Eastwood - Gorgeous in his younger days and that steel gling melted to raw passion with the right woman
4. John Wayne - "The Duke" is an iconic legend of powerful masculinity mixed with integrity
5. Gary Cooper - Both laconic and boldly masculine
6. Robert Mitchum - They don't make men like him anymore
7. Clark Gable - He was the original "man's man and ladie's man"
8. Spencer Tracy - Both romantic and domineering
9. Gregory Peck - He owned his masculity completely, with no need to give more than he desired or was required
10. Marlon Brando - a beautiful specimen, boldy sexual and animalistic with a dark river of vulnerability and a sadness about him that made him riveting as an actor
The world has gone mad for Christian Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey. But he is preceded by a long line of dark lovers in film and literature.
Wade Gotwals and Anastasia Blackwell in Scene HOBL trailer
ATTENTION READERS: New Romantic Fantasy, The Chamber of Curiosities is NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER. The e-book will be delivered to your Kindle on Sunday, May 14, 2017. Be the first to read, review, and start discussions on forums. The epic story, set in a carnival in an ancient land, features an obsessive, possessive romance hero and heroine, as well as supporting characters with intense love obsessions.
Nothing is more rewarding than delving into the psyche of an obsessive, possessive, romance hero. A sexy, powerful man possessed with love has undeniable allure.
Ramey Sandeley from The House on Black Lake is an obsessive, possessive male who has never heard the word "no". Ramey first appears in the novel sweaty and burnt, fresh from branding animals with his custom tools. He believes his preternatural good looks, charm, wealth, and power afford him the right to own whatever and whomever he desires. But he meets his match with Alexandra Brighton, who, after having been possessed by her previous husband, and having made a vow at a shrine to be true to her manifest destiny, will no longer allow herself to be owned or controlled by anyone.
The night Alexandra arrives at Black Lake with her young son she is world weary from a brutal divorce, and in a highly vulnerable state. Soon after she is rowed out by Ramey and his wife to stay in a deserted Victorian in an island, with no way out. That night she dreams she is tied to a four poster, waiting for a burning brand to seal her wedding vows. Their battle of wills will lead them both to the brink of self destruction, and threaten the lives of those caught in their orbit.
To be adored to the point of obsession is truly a rare and beautiful thing. Possessed film heroes can be found in - Twilight, Legends of the Fall, The Phantom of the Opera, Cruel Intentions, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Meet Joe Black, Possession, King Arthur, The Last of the Mohicans, Ladyhawke, Tristan and Isolde, The Thorn Birds, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Man Who Cried features Johnny Depp as a gypsy who rides a beautiful white horse, and Original Sin offers some of the sexiest scenes on film as Antonio Banderas outplays Angelina Jolie at her own dangerous game, with her possessive brother played to perfection by Thomas Jane (of Hung). There are also notable darkly seductive tortured souls in literature, and many of the aforementioned tales began as novels.
Following are a few novels that feature such brooding males:
The Carpathian Series by Christine Freehan
An Independant Wife by Linda Howard
Immortals After Dark Series by Cresley Cole
The Madness of Lord Ian McKenzie, by Jennifer Ashley
The Misted Cliffs,by Catherine Asaro
The Silver Devil and The Flesh and the Devil, by Teres Denys - Note: These are cult classics and can be expensive
The Wolf and the Dove, by Cathleen Woodiwess
To Love an Earl, by Elizabeth Thornton.
The Devil's Embrace Catherine Coulter's first novel. Some have called it creepy, cruel, and disgusting, but everyone has their own tastes.
The Ground She Walks Upon, by Meagan McKinney
The House of Rohan- Ruthless, Breathless,Reckless, by Ann Stuart
Shadow Heart, by Laura Kinsdale
Uncommon Vows, by Mary Joe Putney
Double Standards by Judith McNaught
Gold Ring of Betrayal, by Michelle Reed
Murder Game, Ghostwalkers series 7, by Michelle Freehan
Into the Dark Lands, by Michelle Sagora
The Dark Jewels Trilogy, by Anne Bishop
Prince of Dreams, by Lisa Kleypas
The Twilight Saga, Stehanie Meyers.
Julie Garwood, J.R. Ward , Fallen Angel and Black Dagger Brotherhood SeriesGena Showalter- are other notable authors who specialize in the genre.
Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
Wuthering Heights, offers the supremely perfect, dark, brooding hero, Heathcliff, Emily Bronte's masterpiece.
Gone with the Wind. gives us Rhett Butler, who is in a class of his own.
For those who desire a darker, more erotic experience the following are well written in this genre:
The Man in the Black Leather Mask follows a female attorney's transformation from powerful woman to submissive beneath the hands of a ten years younger dominent colleague
Kidnapped for Christmas by Evangeline Anderson - Average, overweight woman's skinny sister plans her own kidnapping as a sexual lark, but man takes wrong woman and the more conservative sister finds herself a submissive to a very sexy man
Surrender To Me, by Shayla Black - a woman's secret desire is met by her boyfriend in a Las Vegas trick where he consents to menage with friend, who also happens to be Navy Seal. An obsession is sparked between the woman and her new friend and nothing is the same for the two.
Master of the Mountain by Cherise Sinclair - an less than figure perfect ad agency artist complies with boyfriend's request to visit remote swinger's cabin. During her stay she sees boyfriend with other woman and realizes her relationship is over. However, she meets a man that is emotionally scarred and afraid of commitment who takes her on a journey into the underworld of dominence and submission.
Submissive Desires by Carolyn Faulker. Very severe story of a woman's five year journey to complete submission in the hands of a fiercely powerful and possessive ex Navy Seal.
What will it take to relieve him of his torture?
Obsessive, possessive, brooding romance hero
I was recently interviewed about obsessive possessive love and the character of Ramey Sandeley. Here are my thoughts:
