Kaley Cuoco To Star In New Movie

[Superbowl]

It is good to see someone as talented as Kaley Cuoco is already finding new work. The article below tells about her new movie :

Movie stardom ahead for Placer High
By: Kate Carpenter, Journal Staff Writer
Toilet paper hung from tree branches this week at Placer High School. Broken eggs, paintball splatters and shaving cream covered the walls.

But the mess wasn't a senior prank. Instead, it was the opening scene in the independent film "Farewell Bender," and the would-be vandals were young movie stars. Except for a few blocked-off streets surrounding the school, few residents paid much attention to the low-profile production.

"Farewell Bender," directed and co-written by Sacramento-area native Matt Oates, is about friends in their early 20s who reunite at their high school when another friend, Bender, dies. Some still live in their hometown, while others have gone off to college or moved away. As they deal with the death of Bender, they also examine the direction of their own lives.

"It's not so much about a funeral as taking one last stab at youth," Oates said.

The film stars several young film and television actors, including Kip Pardue ("Remember the Titans," "Driven"), Eddie Kaye Thomas ("American Pie"), Josh Cooke (NBC's "Committed"), Marisa Coughlan ("Teaching Mrs. Tingle") and Kaley Cuoco ("Eight Simple Rules").

The crew of the film spent four days filming scenes at Placer High School. The school was transformed into the fictional St. Michael's Catholic School, with crosses added to the walls and a fountain in the school courtyard.

Placer High School was an ideal setting for some of the scenes, Oates said, since it had its own history and an architectural style that lent itself well to a Catholic school. "It's very cinematic," Oates said.

The aging of the school provided a unique advantage. Officials planned to repaint the buildings this summer anyway, making the vandalism scene possible.

Production has gone smoothly and city and Placer High School officials, including Principal Dave Horsey, have been accommodating, producers said. Local residents have also been easy to work with, they said, from a woman who brought the crew Taco Bell after Thomas signed autographs for her sons to the extras who have been patient through long days of filming. "Those little details really do make the movie," said producer Emily Barclay. The Placer-Lake Tahoe Film Office was instrumental in encouraging Oates to film in Auburn as well. The exposure is important to increase the appeal of the area, which has already provided the setting for scenes in "Phenomenon" and "XXX," said Beverly Lewis, film office director.

"It makes a higher profile for Placer County in Hollywood," she said. The work at Placer High School wrapped Saturday night, but filming has also taken place in Rocklin and the Sacramento area and will continue next week in Woodland.

The film is somewhat biographical for Oates, who started writing the script with Jeremiah Lowder in college. It began as a character study, but after Oates went to the funeral of a high school friend, he incorporated that experience into the story. Some of the characters were so much like his friends that he asked for their permission before making the film. The actors have brought those personalities to life, he said.

"Hopefully they'll be rich in both back-story and character as well as performance," Oates said. The actors are excited to be working on the project, which is a stretch for some of them. Cuoco, who is used to playing light comedies, said the quirky, drug-using character of Katie is something different for her, right down to a new hair color.

Cast members are also pleased with the script, which they said manages to be both funny and introspective. "It's very much about taking stock of your life and that period of change," Cooke said. "Farewell Bender" brought some unexpected challenges to the cast. The film opens with the high school friends toilet-papering the school. Having grown up in New York, though, the actors needed a few pointers from Oates about proper vandalism technique - and local students walking by seemed to get a kick out of the sight.

"I think it was a little fantasy fulfilled to get to go trash a high school," Barclay said. The producers aren't sure yet whether the film will premiere in theaters or festivals, but they're hoping for a release this winter or next spring.

http://auburnjournal.com/articles/20...es/04movie.prt

[Cactus Jack]

Awesome! Eddie Kaye Thomas is awesome too

[David]

Yaaay Kaley is awesome.