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Post by Nove on Oct 8, 2007 22:41:30 GMT -5
Actor Michael Madsen’s 3,424-square-foot oceanfront house in Malibu, Calif. has been foreclosed, and his lender is selling it for $7,800,000, which is more than $2 million less than the 49-year-old actor was asking for it back in May, when he made a last-ditch effort to sell the house. The sad story involves Madsen’s former five-bedroom house at 31504 Victoria Point Road in Malibu, which he purchased in 1999 from actor Ted Danson’s “Edward Bridge Danson III Family Trust.” Danson even was the lender for Madsen’s original loan/mortgage on the property. Back on May 17, we wrote about Madsen’s urgent, $9,950,000 listing for the house, which is on a gated street at Trancas Point. At the time, Madsen’s listing information initially had used the phrase “expedient sale necessary,” and said that it needed to close escrow by May 16 or possibly May 30, 2007 with a “fully executed purchase contract in hand and ALL contingencies removed.” After May 16, the listing information dropped specific dates and merely referred to the requirement of an “expedient sale.”
Despite a steady stream of acting credits, Madsen must be having some serious financial problems (perhaps financial mismanagement? Bad investments? An incompetent money manager?). Last year, he quit-claimed the house to a company that he owns called LA Speciality (sic) Properties, LLC, presumably to escape personal liability for not being able to make mortgage payments. That action occurred just before a scheduled foreclosure sale for the house on Feb. 24, 2006. Unfortunately, Madsen was not able to stave off foreclosure this time around.
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Post by Nove on Oct 11, 2007 23:24:31 GMT -5
On Wednesday, Michael Madsen, who had his breakout role on "Reservoir Dogs," filed a $10 million lawsuit against Innovative Artists claiming that the agency is trying to collect on commissions for work procured and negotiated after he severed ties with the firm four years ago.
The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, also names Innovative owner Scott Harris and alleges that Madsen's contract with Innovative was changed from a one-year term to a three-year term without his knowledge.
Calls to Innovative for comment were not returned.
Madsen signed with Innovative in April 2002 and terminated his contract in January 2003, claiming the agency failed to obtain bona fide employment offers in eight consecutive months. Pursuant to his contract, Madsen was allowed to get out of the agreement, according to the lawsuit.
Two years later, Innovative filed a petition with the California Labor Commissioner claiming that the actor owed it commissions. The complaint was sent to arbitration, though Madsen claims his former attorney in the case did not get his OK to do so.
Madsen's lawsuit asks the court to halt that arbitration and to find that he owes no commissions to Innovative. He seeks $5 million in general damages and another $5 million in punitive damages.
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Post by Nove on Oct 11, 2007 23:46:35 GMT -5
Actor MICHAEL MADSEN has filed a $10 million (GBP5 million) lawsuit against his former agency - accusing them of seeking money he does not owe. The Sin City tough guy claims Innovative Artists has tried to collect commission for work he made after he quit the firm four years ago (03). Madsen filed the lawsuit on Wednesday (10Oct07) in Los Angeles Superior Court. In 2005 Innovative filed a petition against the actor, claiming they were owed commissions by Madsen. But in Madsen's lawsuit, he asks the court to halt the arbitration and to find he owes no commissions to the agency.
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Post by Nove on Oct 12, 2007 8:46:39 GMT -5
Actor MICHAEL MADSEN has been sued by his ex-wife for buying a top-class horse instead of paying child support, according to reports. The Sin City star allegedly bought the thoroughbred animal despite being three months behind in child support payments. Now his former wife, Jeannine Bisignano, is preparing legal action - insisting he owes around $38,000 (GBP19,000) in support for his sons Christian, 17, and Max, 13. Madsen, 49 - who also has three sons by his current wife, De Anna Morgan - allegedly bought the race horse for Morgan while in Ireland, and had it shipped to their Malibu home. But a source tells the New York Daily News, "You don't buy a horse if you're broke." Madsen's manager refused to comment.
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Post by Madsengirl on Oct 12, 2007 16:13:26 GMT -5
I was just gonna post those two articles. Lots of law suits going on lately...
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Post by Nove on Oct 12, 2007 23:37:30 GMT -5
What is happening to Michael? I was stunned about the horse when Michael is strapped for money and lost his house,you would think buying a horse would be the last thing to buy if one has no money. I was also amazed his ex wife wants child support. I thought the boys were still living with Michael. Mind you I think I read somewhere the boys were back with there mother after Luke was born.
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Post by josephanthony on Oct 22, 2007 8:53:38 GMT -5
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Post by Nove on Oct 23, 2007 1:27:19 GMT -5
Wow!!Loved the photos. I've seen the trailer it's wonderful. Thanks for posting the photos. I tried to make comments on the photos but my email was turned down all the time,so I gave up. How great to have had part in the movie.
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Post by Nove on Oct 23, 2007 23:08:37 GMT -5
'Strength and Honour' recently won Best Picture at the Boston Film Festival, with star Madsen also honoured with the Best Actor award.
It was the first time in the festival's history that a single film received the Best Picture and Best Actor awards; previous winners of Best Picture at the festival include 'American Beauty' and 'Good Will Hunting'.
'Strength and Honour', which was shot in Cork over seven weeks last autumn, will be released in Irish cinemas on 30 November.
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Post by Nove on Nov 21, 2007 23:16:44 GMT -5
« ACTORS Michael Madsen and Vinnie Jones savoured the red carpet treatment in Cork last night for the glittering world premiere of the new Irish film, ‘Strength and Honour’.
ACTORS Michael Madsen and Vinnie Jones savoured the red carpet treatment in Cork last night for the glittering world premiere of the new Irish film, ‘Strength and Honour’.
The Opera House premiere proved to be a who’s who of Irish society with politicians, businessmen and arts officials rubbing shoulders for the debut film of Irish scriptwriter, Mark Mahon.
Both Madsen and Jones — accompanied by his wife, Tanya — greeted hundreds of fans at Emmet Place outside the Opera House for the sell-out premiere.
The film also included a number of Irish actors including Patrick Bergin, and musician Finbarr Furey.
All the cash raised by the premiere will go to a hospice charity.
The premiere followed a lavish champagne reception earlier in the Crawford Art Gallery — and stars and guests alike then attended a post-show party in the Imperial Hotel.
Hollywood star Michael Madsen admitted he was delighted to be back in Ireland. “This is as good as it gets,” he said.
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Post by Nove on Dec 1, 2007 23:09:06 GMT -5
Strength and Honour
15A, general release
*
One has to admire the sheer chutzpah of Corkonian writer/director Mark Mahon. This is his first ever feature, yet somehow, on a shoestring budget, he has managed to rope the likes of Michael Madsen, Vinnie Jones, Richard Chamberlain and Patrick Bergin into his heroic tale of love, loss and boxing. He's even wangled a state-wide US release, all of which one applauds heartily. The film itself, however, is rather harder to admire.
Madsen is ex-boxer Sean Kelleher, so he is, but forget about the luck of the Irish because this fellow has so much misfortune heaped on him that he makes Job look like a jammy bastard.
First, he accidentally kills his brother-in-law during a sparring match. Then, doesn't the wife up and die from a congenital heart defect, leaving him and his little son to fend for themselves. But that's not all, because then isn't the little fellow diagnosed with the same defect, and only an extremely expensive operation in Americay will save him.
Only trouble is Sean is stony broke, so much so that he loses his house and has to move to a caravan in a Traveller camp. But a glimmer of hope beckons in the shape of the Travellers' 'King Puck' bare-knuckle boxing competition, which has a €50,000 prize. To win it, however, he'll have to take on all comers, and ultimately the psychotic reigning puck king Smasher O'Donnell (Vinnie Jones). Will Sean do it? Take a wild guess.
One expects this kind of Darby O'Gill paddywhackery from foreigners, who at least have the excuse of knowing no better, but Mahon is presumably well aware that The Quiet Man is not a particularly accurate depiction of his native land. Perhaps he has deliberately tailored his film for the Irish-Amercan market, but even they may struggle with it, so littered is it with stage Irishness and cliche.
Madsen mutters his way through the film, head bowed to no great purpose, and Vinnie Jones' 'Smasher' defies description.
And who the hell ever heard of anyone called Smasher anyway?
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Post by Nove on Dec 21, 2007 22:29:01 GMT -5
Just read this. I was stunned!
Fight the urge to see this one
December 20, 2007 Mike's Flick Pick/Michael Drakulich If a film is going to use at least a half-dozen cinematic formulas in its story, at the very least it should be inoffensive if not tired and boring.
"Strength and Honor" borrows heavily from convention.
But its miscalculations don't put audiences to sleep. The film achieves the dubious feat of insulting the audiences' intelligence as well.
I didn't know whether to laugh, groan or get angry at it.
First we have our sympathies mercilessly preyed upon in the first 10 minutes.
A former Irish boxing champ Sean Kelleher (Michael Madsen) manages to lose his wife to a heart ailment, accidentally kills her brother in the ring, then has his son diagnosed with a life-threatening heart condition similar to his wife's.
The boy needs surgery in the United States to survive.
As if that weren't enough, the tension is heightened when Kelleher's wife's life insurance policy won't be paid because she had a pre-existing condition.
Kelleher is forced to sell his house and moves in to a mobile home to live among the local gypsies called the Travelers.
It seems as though the Travelers have the answer to Kelleher's prayers: a bare knuckle brawler's tournament a la "Fight Club." The title winner gets a purse of $250,000, which will just about cover the cost of his son's surgery.
This tournament has no rules other than no kicking and no hitting below the waist. It's not sanctioned by any official sporting body that we can tell. All the fights are in alleyways, dingy abandoned warehouses or in open fields.
Now I'm not sure, but I thought a good question to ask is how a bunch of poor gypsies living in run-down mobile homes could afford to put together a $250,000 purse each year.
And why does the crazed title holder Smasher O'Driscoll (Vinnie Jones) still live in his dilapidated mobile heap?
I suppose he wanted to maintain his Traveler status, which would be negated by living in a home with a secure foundation. But I'm sure he could at least afford a double-wide.
The film's other major mistake is casting Madsen in the lead role. First, he can't hold an Irish brogue for sentences longer than six or seven words.
Second, he's so unathletic that I doubt anyone would confuse him with a boxing champion.
The scenes of him training in his old gym were painful to watch, even after he went through the typical transformation of out-of-shape schlub to championship contender.
I swear I saw him telling himself which hand to use for punching. Say what you want about Sylvester Stallone in the "Rocky" films, but at least he could hit a speed bag as if he was an actual boxer.
On top of that, the fight choreography was just as bad. The punches are so telegraphed and slow that a blind man could see them coming.
Regardless of how poorly the fight scenes are staged or how ill conceived the circumstances are, I'm not exactly sure what's supposed to be so wonderfully inspiring about a man who fights for a title in a sport where the losers are maimed or killed.
Any way you look at this one, it was a disaster. Writing, casting, direction - there isn't much here that's redeemable.
I'm not sure how "Strength and Honor" got the green light for production. And you should stop any inclination to see it.
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Post by Nove on Jan 1, 2008 21:15:48 GMT -5
I found this interesting. Here’s Michael Madsen creating his voice over for Yakuza. He has a terrific character voice — lot’s of grit and presence. Nikki Saco Voice Production - nikkisaco.com
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Post by Nove on Jan 1, 2008 22:05:28 GMT -5
Found this interview that I hadn't read before.
To commemorate the release of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's highly anticipated "Grind House" production, Lyrical Knockout Entertainment is proud to present excerpts of Deejay Ra's literacy themed radio interview with "Kill Bill" and "Sin City" actor Michael Madsen about the release of his "Complete Works of Michael Madsen" poetry book.
Madsen's former co-stars in over 100 productions since 1982 have included Al Pacino, Ben Kingsley, Uma Thurman, Mario Van Peebles, Kristanna Loken, and most memorably Harvey Keitel in Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs", who presented Madsen with an 'Equinoxe Rebel' Award at the 2005 RebelFest Toronto Film Festival.
Burn Hollywood Burn
"First of all I never planned on being a writer. I didn't write this book because I had the intention of writing them. I wrote because I needed to get something out of my head. For whatever reason I saved everything I wrote and eventually I had a big box of pages. And at one point in time I was actually going to set them ablaze, I was living in Santa Fe New Mexico and I was going to burn them up because I couldn't start a fire in the fireplace. I was convinced by someone to not do that, and instead I sent it out to a publisher and that was my first book. I'm always surprised to hear from people that they've read the book and actually have a favorite poem."
"Apparently I have a poetry voice that I'm not aware of that's sort of different from the acting thing. I thought poetry was an interesting way to express myself that had nothing to do with acting and in fact over time it became a little more interesting to me. But the content isn't for everyone, in fact I must say I certainly don't want any ten year old kids reading this damn book. I'd say at least over seventeen for my kind of stuff because it's pretty raw."
Read Bill
"Kids should be reading something. They should be reading Shakespeare because everything that ever meant anything was already figured out by Shakespeare. Even though sometimes it's kind of confusing to listen to, if you read it slowly you realize that he really had everything figured out as far as social ideas are concerned. And even though it's dated there's a lot of good lessons in there, a lot of interesting ideas that are communicated by him."
"Besides Shakespeare films there were also a lot of literary breakthroughs that were made in the era of Bogart and Cagney, film noirs that were based on novels. White Heat, Maltese Falcon, and Casablanca were all based on some sort of novel."
Please Listen To My Demo
"I've never done an audiobook, but actually always wanted to record 'Catcher In The Rye'. But then I found out that Matt Dillon had already done it so he beat me to that one. There's a lot of books I'd like to do on tape but it takes a long time and it has to be the right book. There's a fine line where you have to find the right thing that you want to do because you should do it, and you need to do it for people who want to hear it. Actors should stay away from doing that sort of thing just for the money."
"I think one of the interesting things that could be done with my poetry is it could be used as lyrics, like for a heavy metal band. I don't think they would work for a hip-hop artist but I think they could be used for some of these rock kids that are coming up who got a really strong stage presence, but their lyrics are a bit simplistic. I'd really like to sit back ten or fifteen years from now and hear a band using my lyrics. I might even do something with a jazz band where they would play behind my readings too."
Mr. Blonde and Mr. Dylan
"I've actually written a screenplay about Pretty Boy Floyd, the background is from the 1930's. And I just finished reading Bob Dylan's biography which is called The Chronicles, and Mr. Dylan speaks a lot about Pretty Boy Floyd, ironically. So what I did was I got in touch with Mr. Dylan and said I wrote this script about Pretty Boy Floyd, he was a bank robber in the 1930's and I might do this movie. But I gotta do it soon because in the next five years I'll be too old to play Pretty Boy Floyd because he was blasted when he was only 38, so I can't get away with it much longer!"
"So I said to My. Dylan would you be interested in writing the soundtrack of music considering you also have a great interest in Pretty Boy Floyd. And in fact I got a very positive response from Mr. Dylan, saying that in fact he had already recorded one song about Pretty Boy Floyd, and that he wanted to read my script. And at that point in time he'd decide whether or not he was interested in writing the score and soundtrack for my film, so let's see what happens."
Gangster Actor Meets Gangsta Rapper
"All I can say is that a lot of hip-hop is very interesting and I know that it comes directly from a place in the artists' lives. In fact I recently made a film with DMX, we had a good time together making a picture in China. And that guy is the real deal, DMX comes from what he claims to have come from. And so he definitely has a legitimate opinion on what his life was and what the streets are about. And that's cool with me, because there's nothing that I hate more than phony tough guys."
"Actually I've heard myself referenced in a lot of songs. There's even a rap group that used actual quotes from me as Mr. Blonde, so I know that I'm personally responsible for representing a certain amount of violence. But then again everyone tells me they know when I do it on screen, it's all in good fun."
School Or The Streets?
"I have kids, and I sometimes think it might be good to expose them to the fact that the world is full of violence and hatred, because it makes them stronger and tougher and more aware of what they're up against as they're growing up. But I'm the kind of guy where the other side of me is saying there's an innocence and a goodness in children that's ripped out of them by early exposure to certain things that are so heavy and violent."
"All I'm trying to say is I'm lost myself in the middle of wondering whether or not it's a good thing to expose kids to violence so that they can straighten up and get smart, or if we should be protective and keep them in a world where they can mature and move down their own road. But I think we're increasingly moving into a world where kids can't be protected even if they should."
Where Is The Love?
"I'm not gonna pontificate about music but I'm just gonna say I think a lot of hardcore music is legitimate and a lot of it isn't. But if you go back to Nat King Cole or Ray Charles, that music has a wonderful kind of warmth, melody and nostalgia. I wish there was more of that to kind of balance the hardcore stuff out."
"I mean my goodness isn't it nice once in a while to just sing a lullaby and get back to some gentler stuff. There's still a lot of love left in the world and I just wish sometimes that would come out in popular music."
Attached support photography courtesy of A Band Apart Productions.
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Post by Nove on Jan 14, 2008 22:26:10 GMT -5
RESERVOIR DOGS star MICHAEL MADSEN has confessed to a crush on Italian siren ASIA ARGENTO after she beat him up on the set of their new erotic thriller BOARDING GATE. The movie tough guy admits he knew he was dealing with a different female co-star to the ones he has been used to when XXX star Argento showed up on set the first day drinking a can of beer through a straw. He recalls, "That's a strong statement. It says, 'Don't f**k with me.'" But Madsen really took a liking to the sexy Italian in the middle of a bruising fight scene. He adds, "I told her, 'Let's not act - I really want you to try and get past me.' "She tried just about everything: she whacked me with her purse, tried to tackle me, punched me. I picked her up off the ground." So now, Madsen has a new European sweetheart: "I used to have a thing for Juliette Binoche, I thought she was the most interesting European actress. But I gotta give it to Asia now."
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