10
Arts & Entertainment
The Minaret | September 5, 2008
Professor Produces Movies and A Premiere Film Dept. Tom Garrett’s connections and experiences bring Hollywood to UT
By Mel Steiner Arts & Entertainment Editor
“It’s Mr. Holland’s Opus meets Jim Carrey on acid!” Spoken by the true, visionary, and down-toearth film producer, Professor Tom Garret. For over 25 years Tom Garrett has risen to the ranks of stardom from the classrooms at UT to the sets of major film projects. As a professor in the communication department, he specializes in Film and Media arts. To no surprise of his fellow co-workers and students, he is on a tenure-track. “I love the students. I love the campus. I love coming here everyday. Everyone is always moving forward,” Garrett exclaimed. Garrett is a founder of Circa Films, a production, sales, and distribution company for independent films. He and his wife own Best West Productions. This production service company has brought films such as, The Great Expectations and Palmetto, to the west coast. So, how does a famous producer and well-respected professor rise to this status? Easy answer: education and connections. Garrett graduated from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Film program in 1985,
closely following in the footsteps of some of the most famous names in filming history. Spike Lee, Oliver Jones, Jim Jarmusch, Martin Scorsese, Martha Coolidge, and Toss Solondz are just a few on Garrett’s buddy list. Following his experiences in New York, he worked with various directors. One of these happened to be Academy Award winner Jean Charles Tachella. Together they worked on a project titled Cousin Cousine in Sarasota, Florida. Fifteen years later, Garrett still resides in Sarasota and has fallen in love with the Florida scene. Throughout those years, he has worked on films such as Great Expectations, Howling with the Angels, Le sens de affaires, Death Mask, Loser, Undercurrent, Caribbean Kill, and many, many more. He is also in current production of a few more projects. In 1983, his professor at NYU took him to the Cannes Film Festival in Southern France. Last October, he took a handful of UT students on the 17day experience. This year, the trip will be credited and include six to eight students. Their trip was mind-blowing and a life-changing experience. The students walked the Red Carpet, partied VIP-style, and even
got to screen some of their films at the Festival! From Advertising/PR majors to Business/Marketing to Film and Media Arts, the trip has every interest in mind. With a wife, a teaching profession, a movie career, and a hectic travel schedule – how does Tom Garrett do it? “Maybe it’s an OCD thing that comes with people who love what they do, but I’m excited to figure out how to get from Point A to Point B, whether it’s thinking about the money, the staff, the crew, anything…I get to teach, write, and talk about what I love to do. And it gives me a reason to wake up in the morning and feel great,” Garrett said. “More will be revealed.” It’s a quote that leaves the lips of Tom Garrett frequently. It’s a phrase that probably captures his personality and visions perfectly. Always having the mindset of moving forward, change is this professor’s goal. His office, located in the Cass Annex, is almost always open. He teaches a couple days out of the week, but still comes in nearly everyday. In his mind, he gets to play executive producer on student films. A role he hopes to continue to take on for many years to come.
Tom Garrett walking the Red Carpet
By Micaela Lydon Staff Writer
Photos courtesy of Tom Garrett
Exploring the city (Top), UT students with Garrett pose for the papparazzi (Bottom)
“Babylon A.D.”, latest from the permanently buff Vin Diesel, is yet another in a long line of action movies that tried desperately to delve deep and emerge as a prophetic social commentary. Needless to say, the movie falls short of the director’s lofty goal and lands somewhere in between completely disappointing and laughably corny. Set in a militant, end-of the-world style Russia, Diesel’s character, Toorop, starts out as a cold-blooded mercenary who lives only for himself. He accepts the job of transporting a young woman from Asia to New York, but what seems like just another mission soon becomes a battle wrought with explosions, combat and plenty of ammo as the woman is revealed to be more important than any of them realize. The storyline had infinite potential but fizzled towards the end as a result of a long, suspenseful buildup and the rushed explanations that lacked the shock factor I am sure they were going for. To the movie’s credit, the special effects and imagery were amazing. The effects sucessfully took on and met the challenge of depicting the world as a vision of the future. As for the acting, not even the convincing performances of the
main females could redeem this movie as being a legitimate hit. The movie’s conclusion was possibly the corniest part, but as I am not one for spoiling an ending, I will only reveal that my reaction was a literal “lol.” I’ll be the first to admit it- a female reviewing the newest Vin Diesel action movie seems pretty biased from the start. But I assure you that this movie left girls and guys alike feeling regret for having shelled out almost ten bucks to see it.
Director: Mathieu Kassovitz Running time: 90 minutes (US) Rating: PG-13