PELHAM, NY — On Friday, June 8th at 7:30 p.m. The Picture House Regional Film Center (TPH) will host an advance screening of the political docu-drama Shock and Awe followed by a Q&A with the legendary, Academy Award nominated actor and filmmaker Rob Reiner. The film is set to have its theatrical debut on July 13th.
Written by Reiner’s LBJ screenwriter Joey Hartstone, Shock and Awe tells the politically charged story about real-life Knight-Ridder journalists Jonathan Landay (Woody Harrelson), Warren Strobel (James Marsden), John Walcott (Reiner), and Joseph Galloway (Tommy Lee Jones), who first looked into the Bush Administration’s attempts to tie Saddam Hussein to the 9/11 terror attacks despite a lack of true evidence to support the claim (i.e., weapons of mass destruction). The film follows the team’s efforts to defend their journalistic integrity against a raft of misleading stories from the White House.
After the film, TPH critic-in-residence Marshall Fine will moderate a discussion and Q&A with Rob Reiner. Reiner has directed some of the most popular and influential motion pictures of the past two decades, deftly moving among many styles. The versatile filmmaker has been immersed in the entertainment business for much of his life, succeeding first as an actor, then as a director and producer. Prior to his directorial debut, Reiner acted in many television and feature productions. It was, however, his Emmy Award-winning work as the son-in-law of ‘Archie Bunker’ in the hit series All in the Family that made him a household name.
Reiner’s credits as a director of feature films include, among others, the now-legendary This is Spinal Tap, Stand By Me, for which he received Best Director nominations from the Directors Guild of America and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association; the much loved fantasy The Princess Bride. Reiner was a co-founder of Castle Rock Entertainment, and under that banner produced and directed When Harry Met Sally… (Directors Guild nomination), Misery, A Few Good Men (Directors Guild nomination and Academy Award nomination for Best Picture), The American President, and Ghosts of Mississippi. His recent films include The Story of Us, Alex & Emma, Rumor Has It…, The Bucket List, and Flipped.
An avid activist, Reiner and his wife founded the I Am Your Child Foundation, now Parents’ Action for Children, a national non-profit promoting early childhood development and providing parents with quality educational materials. In 1998, Reiner chaired the campaign to pass Prop 10, the California Children and Families Initiative, which created First 5 California, an integrated program of early childhood development services. He served as chairman of First 5 California from 1999 to 2006. Reiner is also a committed environmentalist who has championed open space preservation in the Los Angeles region. He supports the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a national non-profit organization that works to preserve and protect the public health, ensure the conservation and wise management of land and natural resources, and reverse the effects of global warming.
Tickets to the advance screening and discussion are $15/general admission, $12/students, seniors, and members and are available at www.thepicturehouse.org or at the box office, 175 Wolfs Lane, Pelham, NY 10803.