Happy 102nd Birthday to Kirk Douglas

When Kirk Douglas, several years ago, happened to hear that we were putting together a documentary on the friendship between Ernest Hemingway and Gary Cooper, he got in touch and told us about a letter he had written to Gary Cooper.

Gracious and modest gentleman that he is, Mr. Douglas enquired if we had any interest in the letter. When we responded immediately in the affirmative, he then offered to read the letter on camera for the documentary.

What appears in The True Gen is an edited version. Here, in our tribute to Mr. Kirk Douglas on his 102nd birthday, is Mr. Douglas reading the letter in full, unedited.

From all of us at Transmultimedia, Happy Birthday, Kirk Douglas.

We shan't soon see your like again.

Cooper & Hemingway: The True Gen is Available on DVD and in a Collector's Edition Blu-Ray DVD Box Set! http://www.chiptaylor.com/cooper_hemi...

Cooper & Hemingway: The True Gen is written/directed by John Mulholland. Narrated by Sam Waterston with Len Cariou as the voice of Ernest Hemingway. Produced by Richard Zampella

Learn more at http://cooperhemingway.com

Blu-Ray Release of Cooper & Hemingway: The True Gen

Richard Zampella at Transmultimedia announces the Blue-Ray release of Cooper & Hemingway: The True Gen to coincide with the birthday of writer Ernest Hemingway. The two disc collectors set includes a unique 16 page fold-out Arts-in-Review booklet comprising articles, photographs and original newspaper reviews and advertisements of Ernest Hemingway’s novels and stories and Gary Cooper’s films. In addition, the box set includes a brand new audio commentary by director/writer John Mulholland and hours of never-before-seen interviews and footage.

The documentary is narrated by Sam Waterston with Len Cariou as the voice of Ernest Hemingway. It includes interviews with Kirk Douglas, Charlton Heston,  Patricia Neal, George Plimpton, Robert Stack, and dozens more.

About Cooper & Hemingway: The True Gen

In many ways it was the perfect match:  Ernest Hemingway, whose heroes on the page personified courage - "grace under pressure" - and Gary Cooper, the man who often portrayed those characters on screen. Yet, in other ways - politically, emotionally and personally - Hemingway and Cooper were a study in contradictions. The story of this extraordinary 20-year friendship is the focus of The True Gen.  Written/Directed by John Mulholland and Produced by Richard Zampella.

To order your limited edition 2 disc set visit: http://cooperhemingway.com/blu-ray/

Paramount Studios – Hollywood, California

Producer Richard Zampella on the Lot at Paramount Pictures 9.29.15

Of the Big Six Movie Studios, Paramount is the only one still based in Hollywood, and Paramount and Fox are the only ones still located within the Los Angeles city limits.

True to its dramatic origins, Paramount has been of the most storied companies in American film history with Adolph Zukor and his successors amassing a dazzling stable of talent that upheld the most robust rosters of celebrities which included their biggest star – Gary Cooper.

Cooper singlehandedly lifted Paramount’s sagging Depression-era fortunes, playing “everyman” heroes, perfectly capturing the era, such as Longfellow Deeds in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936); Long John Willoughby in Meet John Doe (1941) — both Frank Capra classics — and Alvin York in Sergeant York (1941). Cooper came to embody the essence of the American character, especially that unique combination of rugged individualism and magnanimous selflessness — in his case, nurtured by the West and his English immigrant parents, who inculcated in him the elegant manners of a “gentleman.”

Cooper played one of baseball's greats, Lou Gehrig, in The Pride of the Yankees (1942) and garnered another Best Actor Academy Award nomination. Appearing in a film adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, Cooper starred opposite Ingrid Bergman in a drama set during the Spanish Civil War. This role earned him a third Academy Award nomination.

Of the 100s of films that cooper starred in throughout his decades long career – Gary Cooper filmed the majority of those films on the lot at Paramount Studios.

About Richard Zampella:

Richard Zampella is the Producer of Cooper & Hemingway: The True Gen which is a documentary film about the 20-year friendship between writer Ernest Hemingway and film actor Gary Cooper. Written and directed by John Mulholland, it is narrated by actor Sam Waterston with actor Len Cariou as the voice of writer Ernest Hemingway. The film was reviewed by The New York Times film critic Andy Webster on October 11, 2013 and was named an NY Times Critics’ Pic by Manohla Dargis, A. O. Scott and Stephen Holden.

Film explores the lifelong friendship of Ernest Hemingway and Gary Cooper

BLACKSBURG, Va., Feb. 2, 2015 – Writer and director John Mulholland will be joined by producer Richard Zampella, for a free screening of their documentary "Cooper and Hemingway: The True Gen" on Wednesday, Feb. 11. 

The event, which is free and open to the public, begins at 7 p.m. at the Lyric Theatre, located at 135 College Avenue in downtown Blacksburg. A question and answer session will follow the screening. 

With never seen photos and footage from the Gary Cooper estate and John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston, "Cooper and Hemingway: The True Gen" looks back at the friendship of writer Ernest Hemingway and actor Gary Cooper. 

From 1940 when they met until their deaths just seven weeks apart in 1961, Cooper and Hemingway "connected, collided, clashed, and reconnected in Idaho, New York, Cuba, and Paris."

Read more...

Cooper & Hemingway: The True Gen – Video Librarian Review Feb 2015

VIDEO LIBRARIAN MAGAZINE REVIEW FEBRUARY 2015
Cooper & Hemingway: The True Gen • 3.5 Stars (Out of 4 Stars)
(2014) 138 min. DVD: Passion River, Closed Captioned - Produced by Richard Zampella

Written & Directed by John Muholland

Hollywood idol Gary Cooper was cast as the lead in a slightly bowdlerized 1932 Paramount adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Ams and wound up becoming a life long friend of the iconic author, despite their superficial differences in politics and temperaments.

According to writer-director John Mulholland the easygoing, quiet, well-llked, and modest Cooper and the tempestuous, fiercely competitive Hemingway (who had famous feuds with fellow writers but evidently considered the actor no personal threat) helped define American manhood in their era and brought out the best in each other. "Coop" was the one person who could drop in unannounced on the Hemingway homestead, or correct "Papa" on his boorish behavior. Weeks after Cooper's death from cancer in 1961, the ailing Hemingway shot himself.

Mulholland's meaty saga of the lives of these two icons-who had long planned a cinematic project together but never managed to bring one to the camera – nicely meshes film and literary criticism with gossip, and assumes viewer familiarity with, for instance, For Whom the Bell Tolls and High Noon. The documentary film is especially passionate about restoring both Hemingway and Cooper to the artists' pantheon from which detractors (mostly feminists in Hemingway's case, "method" actors in Cooper's) have often tried to demote them.

Narrated by Sam Waterston, the roll-call of on-camera interviewees who have since died Is an A-list itself: Charlton Heston, Elmore Leonard, Budd Schulberg, Patricia Neal, Robert Stack, George Plimpton, and producer David Brown. DVD extras include deleted scenes and text production notes. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)


Cooper & Hemingway: The True Gen
Written & Directed by John Mulholland
Produced by Richard Zampella
http://cooperhemingway.com

Cooper and Hemingway: The True Gen – Movie Trailer

Cooper and Hemingway: The True Gen is a 2013 documentary film about the 20-year friendship between writer Ernest Hemingway and film actor Gary Cooper. Written and directed by John Mulholland, it is narrated by actor Sam Waterston with actor Len Cariou as the voice of writer Ernest Hemingway. The film was reviewed by The New York Times film critic Andy Webster and received a Critics’ Pic by Manohla Dargis, A. O. Scott and Stephen Holden. Webster said the picture was proof that the work of these two men "endures and so does what they stood for". Produced by Richard Zampella.

Learn more at: http://cooperhemingway.com

Cooper & Hemingway: The True Gen Now on DVD

Passion River Films distributes Cooper and Hemingway: The True Gen on DVD for Universities and Libraries around the country. Produced by Richard Zampella

Richard Zampella Designs DVD Sleeve for Cooper & Hemingway: The True Gen

In advance of the Passion River Films DVD release of Cooper & Hemingway: The True Gen, Richard Zampella of Transmultimedia Entertainment releases artwork for Blue Ray and DVD for the documentary film narrated by Sam Waterston.

Richard Zampella Designs Sales Sheet for Cooper & Hemingway: The True Gen

Richard Zampella designs sales sheet for the DVD release of Cooper & Hemingway: The True Gen narrated by Sam Waterston. The documentary which received a Critics' Pic from The New York Times, will be available on DVD from Passion River Films in September 2014.

Transmultimedia Entertainment: Sedona Film Festival

Cooper & Hemingway: The True Gen was an Official Selection of the Sedona International Film Festival in February of 2014. The film was introduced by actress Mariel Hemingway and played at the Sedona Arts Center on Thursday, Feb 27th at 8pm. The feature length documentary is narrated by Sam Waterston with Len Cariou as the voice of Ernest Hemingway. The is film directed and written by John Mulholland and produced by Richard Zampella.

Richard Zampella Producer of Cooper & Hemingway The True Gen

Richard Zampella

By Richard Zampella Official NYC Movie Poster Cooper & Hemingway: The True Gen poster designed by Richard Zampella Date uploaded: Jan 28, 2014 © & ™ Richard Zampella, Transmultimedia Inc., All Rights Reserved