Thursday 21 March 2013

Wednesday 20 March 2013

Kate del Castillo's interview with Latin Music Culture



Decked out in makeshift hoochie apparel and chola makeup, Mexican actress Kate del Castillo gets down in her latest movie role for “K-11”, where she portrays Mousey; a fierce, transgender convict who’s “the queen” of L.A. county’s K-11 jail unit that separates gay and transgender inmates from the rest.

And while the role of Mousey is a far cry from Kate del Castillo’s “Muchachitas” telenovela days where she debuted to Mexican audiences in 1991 as the beautiful Leticia – a character every girl watching could envision herself as – the complex role of Mousey brings to light the fact that Latina actresses working in the U.S. are slowly ditching the usual typecasts as maids, sex objects, and comedic housewives, for more dimensional and daring characters like Mousey.

“She’s like, freaky”, joked Kate during an interview at the San Diego Latino Film Festival’s screening of “K-11,” which also happens to be the opera prima of Kristen Stewart’s mother, Jules Stewart.

“I feel so much pride when I see myself in that makeup, and to see how much I changed physically,” she professed.

“Everything about Mousey was a challenge, if it weren’t, I wouldn’t have done it… I always choose roles that scare me,” revealed the 40 year-old actress while referring to some of the darker scenes in the film, which undoubtedly took courage on her part to play out.

For Kate del Castillo, Mousey is the latest from a list of alternative characters she’s undertaken ever since beginning to work as an actress on this side of the border, like her leading roles as a mafia boss in “La Reina del Sur” and the also gender bending role of Cleotilde in “Without Men”.

Yet, Kate says she isn’t trying to prove anything, but that as an actress, she simply gravitates toward “different” projects.

“Latina actresses are not the ones who are boxed in, it’s the producers who are boxed in because they still don’t view us in a different manner,” she responded in answer to whether or not she felt Latina actresses in the U.S. still suffered from being typecast.

“It’s changing, but very slowly. At least in this pilot season, I’ve read many scripts, and in many of them there are important characters for Latinos…There’s still a lot of work to be done, pero ahí vamos.”

“K-11” Screenings:

Los Angeles: Laemmle’s NoHo Theater, March 15 -22

New York: Cinema Village, March 15 – 22

San Diego: Digital Gym (Grand Opening), March 29 – April 5

San Francisco: Roxie Theater, March 22 – 29

Columbus: Gateway Film Center, March 15 – 22

Denver: Starz Film Center, March 22 – 29

Tempe: Harkins Valley Art, March 15 – 22

Daytona: Cinematique of Daytona, March 23 (Special engagement)

Source Remezcla

Thanks to @LibertineFilms 

New movie still of Portia Doubleday as 'Butterfly'


Thanks to Libertine Films



Kate del Castillo's 'Mousey': This Month’s Craziest B**ch on Screen (Out Magazine)




Why you need to watch K-11 and what Kate del Castillo has to do with K-Stew:

Kristen Stewart’s mom, Jules, directed. Her brother pops up with a mohawk. Even the Twilight ingénue herself has a vocal cameo. But the reason to watch the cracked new drama K-11 has nothing to do with pouty old Bella Swan.

Set in a section of an L.A. slammer reserved for LGBT prisoners (bear with us), the movie follows Raymond (Goran Visnjic), a music exec who winds up in the tank and quickly learns that the only person with any muscle is Mousey, a Divine-esque MTF gangbanger (Kate del Castillo, pictured) who, when not pounding other inmates’ faces into bedframes, is forcing them to werrrk it in a jailhouse fashion show.

Yep, absurd and offensive. But she’s a hell of a lot cooler than some vampire who glitters in the sunlight.

But as del Castillo recently explained: "In a way, because I’m a romantic and I will always be, to me, I think it’s also a love story. It is. So that’s the way I see the movie. I think it’s amazing. I think Jules [Stewart] did an amazing job with her opera prima."

K-11 is in select theaters or On Demand. 

Source Out Magazine

Thanks to @K11OfficialFilm

Tuesday 19 March 2013

Kate del Castillo's interview with NBC Latino


The scene takes place in bleak jail barrack bathroom, lit by bare light bulbs. In character as “Mouse,” a Chicano transsexual convict, Kate del Castillo soaps herself up from head to toe – and if there’s one thing the audiences will notice right away, it’s the fact that del Castillo is sporting thong underwear with a very noticeable bulge.

“It’s very challenging to take on this kind of role,” explains del Castillo of her tattooed character in the prison thriller “K-11,” now playing in select theaters nationwide and available on VOD. “But to play a man, in a role that could have been played by a man? It’s really rare to have an opportunity like that and I went into it with everything I had.”

And did she ever, rocking numerous fake tattoos (“I forgot to take them off and had them on when I went to the supermarket once – bad idea!” says del Castillo) and strapping on cojones to get into character.

“I loved wearing them and it was essential for me to embrace it,” Castillo, laughing at the memory of wearing the prosthetic during five-week shoot in Los Angeles, California. “I needed to feel the masculinity that comes with walking differently.”

While Castillo has become a high-profile celebrity in her native Mexico for taking on roles of strong, female characters in novelas, taking on the role of a transsexual felon in “K-11” – directed by actress Kristen Stewart’s mother, Jules – was a decision, the actress admits, that threatened to jeopardize her hard-earned reputation.

“This was a risky role to take, but that’s what I loved. I know immediately that if I’m afraid, I have to move forward and take that chance,” says del Castillo, whose character is the self-described “queen” of her penitentiary unit. “The risk and the fun is why I’m an actress and have been since I was nine years old. I’m not afraid of being seen as anti-feminine.”

Castillo says that she found herself surprised at the sympathy she began to feel for her character, who uses her gangbanger tendencies to rule the group of male convicts, with criminal charges range from rape to murder.

“You can feel sorry for her and you can hate her because she’s that b*tch,” says del Castillo, who spent up to five hours each day in the makeup chair as she was transformed into a drag queen. “I learned a lot of about the transgender community during my research for my role and I learned how much they’ve been misunderstood and mistreated. We don’t give transgendered people the seriousness they deserve and learning about that world helped me understand where my character was coming from.”

With that in mind, del Castillo says that playing “Mouse” was easily one of the highlights of her very successful career to date.

“This was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had,” says del Castillo, whose next English-language project is the thriller “No Good Deed” co-starring Idris Elba and Taraji P. Henson.  With roles like “Mouse” behind her, del Castillo says she’s more determined than ever to show the world what Latinas are capable of.

“It’s about portraying how powerful women can be,” remarks the 40-year-old, speaking from the Miami set of her new webnovela “Arranque de Pasión, La Historia de Ela.”

“We have everything now. We can tend to the home and be a good wife, but there’s an added plus: we can be superwomen.”


Source NBCLatino


Kate del Castillo's interview with 'The Advocate'


Mexican actress Kate del Castillo shines in K-11, the new prison thriller from director Jules Stewart (the mother of Twilight darling Kristen Stewart and her brother Cameron, who both have cameos in the film). Del Castillo plays a transgender woman named Mousey, who rules her dormitory with an iron, manicured fist. After a successful run on the festival circuit, K-11 is now screening in theaters and available On Demand.

Based on the real-life ward in the Los Angeles County Men’s Central Jail, the film examines relationships between the gay men and trans women incarcerated for various crimes, then housed in a distinct ward to protect them from violence that might be committed against them in the general population. Del Castillo’s Mousey is captivating and nuanced, by turns sweet and vicious, one moment the villain, the next the victim.

Del Castillo left a prolific television career in her native Mexico to pursue the silver screen in the United States. She’s established herself as a crossover success with leading roles in the Fox Searchlight/Weinstein film Under the Same Moon (La Misma Luna), to date the highest-grossing Spanish language theatrical release in the United States. She solidified her status with another starring role, in Telemundo’s Queen of the South (La Reina del Sur), a short-form, prime-time telenovela that attracted more than 8.1 million viewers in its first week on the air in 2011, making it the most successful telenovela premiere in the Web’s history, according to the Internet Movie Database.

But Del Castillo’s turn as Mousey in K-11 is arguably her most nuanced English-speaking performance to date. The Advocate spoke with del Castillo about being a nontrans actress playing a transgender character, her international appeal, and what she learned about the LGBT community while in this role.

The Advocate: You were tremendous in the film. What drew you to the role in the first place?

Kate del Castillo: Well, I was thrilled because… when I first read the script, I thought, OK, would I fit here? So I just love the fact that the director, Jules, thought outside the box and asked me, being a woman, to play the role. So that was a first. I was like, Oh, my God, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. So I was thrilled. And I talked to Jules a lot, trying to find that masculinity, but there is much more of a femininity that I have to be in touch with. So we worked on that, and I think that was the challenge for me as well as the risk. Because there was this very fine line to cross and not be a cartoon, with a role like that. So I had a lot of fun, and I absolutely adored working with Jules, and a role like this.

And how’s the reaction been when the film screened at festivals? 

It’s a hard movie. It’s a harsh movie. It’s not an easy movie. I think it’s doing very well in the festivals, and people are responding very well. There’s people that will like it and people that won’t like it — it’s just for a certain kind of people, maybe. In a way, because I’m a romantic and I will always be, to me, I think it’s also a love story. It is. So that’s the way I see the movie. I think it’s amazing. I think Jules did an amazing job with her opera prima.

You’ve made the jump from Spanish-speaking television to American film, but do you have any concern about playing a trans character, and how that might be received by some of your Latino fans?

I always like to do different things. As an actor, you’re always just wishing and dreaming about playing different characters. And that’s the way I’ve been doing things since I got here. And I left the soap opera — not only soap opera — but those TV things, in Mexico, and I came here. I was working already, but in different roles, and very different from what I was used to. So I think they love it. And they want to see me in different characters, and change my physicality, and not [be] watching the same Kate as always. I think that’s very nice for my fans.

Were you nervous at all to take on this role? 

Absolutely. But not because of that. We always, as actors, we are very insecure human beings. And of course, I was like, Oh, my God, am I going to be able to deliver it the way it should? Because, again, it’s a very fine line, and I don’t want to insult anybody, you know? It’s very delicate. So of course I was very nervous. And it was a big, big challenge. And I hate to talk good about me, but… You need to be very brave to play a role like that, because it’s a lot of risk.

Did you ever get a chance to visit the actual K-11 ward in L.A.?

I couldn’t because there were a lot of issues. They didn’t want us to go there. It was very hard for us to get there, so I couldn’t. But you know what, we shot the whole film inside a jail that was a real jail [that] they wanted to tear down.  And so the whole place was just scary as hell.

I believe that. When I spoke with director Stewart, she actually said that this was a “feel-good movie.” I was kind of surprised by that, because when I saw the film, I felt more like you — that it was a harsh film. It’s well-done, it’s a powerful film, and it affected me, but I wouldn’t say that it’s a feel-good movie, despite the resolution at the end. But what would you say to encourage folks to watch the film, or what would you like to tell folks before they see the film?

It’s very hard to label the movie with one word. It is a feel-good movie at the end. You know, you have revenge. But it’s also a harsh movie. I don’t know exactly, how can I label it? You just said it. It’s a very powerful film, with very colorful characters. Because it is about the characters in this small world inside a jail, and that we really cannot know about. So I think we learn a lot from the movie, about this place, and transgender human beings that we, unfortunately, don’t know a lot about. It’s there, but we really don’t know anything about them. So answering your question, I don’t know. I would say a very powerful movie in many ways.

Do you have any connections to the LGBT community personally, in your life?

No. Well, now I have a lot of friends [who are] transgender. But I’ve done things, and been a grand marshal at the Los Angeles Grand Bicentennial Parade and Festival [celebrating Mexico’s day of independence, in 2009]. I think they like me, and I love them, even before the movie. I am very happy because I learned a lot.

Mousey is such a fierce character, and I think the way you can flip on a switch between being very sweet and kind of coy to just being brutal, I think that was really impressive and believable for your character. 

Thank you so much, and I appreciate you saying that. Because it was a lot of risk and a big, big challenge for me. So I’m glad that you liked it. And yes, I think that she has those things. You feel sorry for her, and on the other hand, she’s a bitch. She is! So yes, she has that duality, which I love.

Did you do any research on transgender identities before you started filming? 

Yes, I did. I did as much as I could, on the Internet, and now you can do so much. And I remembered that amazing movie, Transamerica. So I tried to contact Felicity Huffman’s vocal coach there [Calpernia Addams and Andrea James] and I did, so she helped me a lot.

Watch Del Castillo interact with costars Goran Visnjic (ER), Jason Mewes (the Jay and Silent Bob series), and D.B. Sweeney in the film’s official trailer, below.



Source Advocate

Monday 18 March 2013

K-11 to be released on DVD in the US on April 23



The 'K-11' DVD will be out on April 23!

You can pre-order it now from Amazon.

Click here to pre-order your copy now! DVD and Blu-Ray





Fan Reviews and Reactions *Spoiler Free*



My thoughts on K-11. A very raw,sometimes visceral film,but all in all,a really good film. Ms.Mann-Stewart's freshman foray into the directorial realm is very,very admirable. The camera angles,the continuity,and the way the script handled the no doubt very harsh subject matter is to be commended. There are moments in which you will cringe,and other's which will reduce you to tears,tears of happiness,but also tears of sadness and shock.While there are some very harsh,and in some cases very violent scenes in this film, the one thing that stuck with me most of all was how Ms.Mann-Stewart brought out the humanity and frailty of many of the characters. The longing to change their lives,and also the longing to be accepted. The film is,in a sense, a cross between Kafka and Alice in Wonderland. Kate Del Castillo,Portia Doubleday,and Goran Visjnic delivered incredibly stellar performances. If you get a chance,or wish to do so,please see this film. See it with an unclouded and objective pair of eyes. It really is a good,good film.










Thank you to all for watching K-11 and letting us know your thoughts. Keep them coming and we'll post them. :)

Jules Stewart's interview with Cinema Assassin


There are a few things to know about Jules, first yes she is the mother of Kristen Stewart now that that’s out of the way. Jules just Directed her first feature film K-11, a gritty tale set inside L.A’s LGBT prison ward K-11, which is an actual place. She co wrote it, she directed it and its set for release this Friday. She has a full sleeve of tattoos, She rescues wolves and is Awesome. Check out what she had to say about her debut and the cast for this long in the making project.

CA: How did you go from being a script supervisor to Directing?

JS: Well it wasn’t so easy and it wasn’t something that I planned out, my writing partner and I reached out to a few directors and that fell through. So I decided to do it myself, I stepped up to be the director because quite frankly, In standing next to directors for so many years I felt like I had really good teachers, All of a sudden I had money standing behind me and honestly when your doing a low budget film and you only have 22 days to shoot, you take what you can get and they got me. I mean honestly I dont know how else to say it, its like I didn’t plan on doing it until the very end and I am really happy I did , It was a really enjoyable experience. You realize what you know what you learned from all the years of watching.

CA: How did the story come about?

JS: A young man named Jared Kurt came to me and said I want to write a script about K-11 and I had no idea what it was. He gave me 10-15 pages of a couple of scenes and I thought wow this is pretty crazy. I did some research and found this place is real and I thought why not, this is cool, this is different, I love this. It took us about a year to write the script.

CA: That was one of the things I liked, it wasn’t a traditional story, there was some uniqueness to say the least.

JS: Yeah it’s interesting to me, because K-11 is real, its a real place and because it’s real it has a real timeline, it has structure, it has history. and what we did is we took all of those elements and made up characters and put them in there. Had a record producer, a guy thats rich, a fish out of water, a guy who absolutely does not belong in there. And took the plug out of the tub and watched the water role down the rabbit hole.

CA: Did you actually go and visit the real facility?

JS: Oh yeah on a number of occasions,

CA: How true to life is it? Obviously for dramatic purposes you’re going to have to punch up a few things

JS: Let me just say we shot this at Sybil Brand which is the woman’s jail which is closed down, but the floor plan actually mirrors Men’s County jail. So the dorm itself looks like the dorm. The only difference is the tower where the guards watch the inmates, in the real K-11 its raised up about 5 feet, our tower was on the floor., Aside from that it looks just the same and we copied the colors, the uniforms, everything, from a visual standpoint it looks like K-11, from a story standpoint we made up the story the corruption the guards. Even the color and the lighting is true, pretty accurate.

CA: For a low budget film you put in a lot of detail

JS: sometimes the truth is better than what you can make up, it has that old age, dirty grungy sound, no windows, no soft surfaces, there is an echo in there. it has such a dynamic that is unique. Plus all the lighting is overhead so you have those down angle shadows on people’s faces that are really unattractive, I thought it was great. I am a painter so it’s all about color and lighting, you want it interesting and different

CA: You hit the nail on the head with interesting and different

JS: Thanks I think?

CA: In terms of casting how did that come about? It took me a while to realize that was DB Sweeney in there.

JS: That is Awesome, I have known him quite a while, I never thought of him for this film. for me he is the classic boy next door handsome guy, and that’s not the character. He wanted this role which was great for me since casting is so important. It makes the film. But if you have actors who are just there for a paycheck especially on a small film it really shows, He brought it he stepped outside of his comfort zone in a big way and we designed his character after Hitler, it was a subtle change for him and it made a huge impact.

CA: Kate Del Castillo is big in Mexico, I wasn’t familiar with her and I wasn’t sure if she was a guy or a girl

JS: Awesome

CA: Anybody you wanted that fell through?

JS: Yes and No, Kate was the first person we cast, honestly when I met her I thought this woman is talented and so powerful, She was just the sweetest girl she was so driven, she wanted this role. You have to cast for a film like this people that embrace the characters and bring more, if they’re afraid or intimidated by the character you lost them. Originally my daughter (Kristen Stewart) attached herself to play the role of Butterfly and I thought that would have been amazing but as the years went by and you have got to remember this is six years in the making, Six years ago when my daughter was 16, 17 years old she wanted to play Butterfly really bad. We kind of altered the character to suit her. As time went buy she got really popular she was doing much bigger films. We thought it would be much better for everybody if she went and did Snow White.

CA: Was that a hard conversation?

JS: No not at all, it was better for K-11 at that point, she was too big for K-11, It wouldn’t have been a Kristen Stewart movie, It’s still a Goran Visnjic Film, You know what I mean. She would have been number four on the call sheet. When we found Portia DoubleDay it was sort of kismet. Portia came to the table with all this enthusiasm, She cut off her hair, she had this long blond hair and she cut it off for us and tied it up kind of crazy and stepped into that role so easily, she did an amazing job and she was really fun to work with. I sometimes wonder how it would have been working with Kristen in that role, It’s such a sensitive role, mother daughter it would have been a strange dynamic, As much as I would love to work with my daughter one day I think we all made the right decision.

CA: Yeah that might be tough; filming a rape scene with your daughter and Tiny might not be the easiest thing.

JS: no but it’s funny Portia and Tiny became really good friends and because of their relationship they would laugh between takes they weren’t intimidated they were able to take it to a much darker place, its sometimes difficult to do those kind of scenes but when the actors are not afraid of the material and they are friends of one another. it makes everyone much more at ease. It wasn’t even a closed set. It was ok now we are going to do this, No worries it’s just another scene and then you take it out and edit the movie and you say wow that was really intense. It didn’t feel like it on the set.

CA: It had a nice airy feeling on the set?

JS: We knew it was working but because of the laughter between takes it really wasn’t a big deal. we were working so quickly. You shoot a movie in 22 days you have a lot on your plate. So you don’t have a lot of time to sit around and labor how it feels. We had 46 people in one room and we had to choreograph these scenes so that one blended into the next and they didn’t look like scenes, but like a big ballet that was choreographed.

CA: It’s one thing dealing with an entire prison

JS: Exactly you have no walls so where do you go? One thing that helped was we shot in Continuity. The hair, the makeup the wardrobe didn’t change. You were able to shoot in order to give the actors a foundation to stand on.

CA: How did Jason Mewes come to the project?

JS: Jason is a really good friend of mine and I wanted to use him, I wanted to work with him. The goal was to show everyone that he is not just a goofy comedian that he is a very good actor, a dramatic actor. Unfortunately some of his stuff got cut because of time. I do think that Jason really pulled it off it was a really good character for him.

CA: It seemed like a lot of the characters not only played against type but they pulled it off.

JS: Jason’s a really good friend of mine we have been friends for a long time and I thought how great to work with your friends and for me it’s a big movie this little move for  me is a big movie and it had a lot of challenges a lot of hardships that went along with it. I feel like the casting director Pam Dixon helped me make a lot of good choices, it’s all about casting.

CA: How did it turn out compared to how you anticipated it turning out?

JS: Well, it’s interesting we had a whole opening we shot that shows Raymond how he got into trouble and all that stuff, we decided to throw it away because I didn’t think we needed it. Very much like Cuckoo’s Nest when Jack Nicholson arrives they take the handcuffs off of him and you don’t know why he is there and you don’t need to know. So on that line we decided to start him in the jail, it’s about K-11 it’s not about Raymond Saxx then you find out about the character when he finds out.

CA: Is it true that you have wolves as pets?

JS: HAHA yes its true, I rescue them.

CA: Where do you rescue a wolf from?

JS: From people that can’t handle them, why do you want one?

CA: No I thought it was the coolest thing. When I was young I wanted a monkey and a wolf, Are they domesticated?

JS: They are socialized, I am a tamer, I love them, they come in and out of a doggie door and they live on my property and in my house. It’s very cool.

CA: What’s your next project?

JS: I like edgy films, and have a couple in development, one is a supernatural thriller that starts out in Ancient China, Its about a temple that gets unearthed. It gets deconstructed then reconstructed in the United States along with its residents from 2010 B.C that’s kind of cool, There is another one I want to do with gangs and drugs that takes place in the 70’s in New York, Italians vs the Irish and its all kids. I am kind of excited. Right now you right the scripts and you throw it out to the universe and see what sticks. It takes a long time K-11 is 6 years now, it takes a long time for independent film makers to rev up and get funding. Were hoping to close that gap with a modicum of success from K-11

CA: Was getting distribution hard?

JS: No it actually wasn’t, were with Breaking Glass for domestic distribution and now we are opening up March 15th in 15 cities.

CA: Is it going to be on VOD as well?

JS: Absolutely!







K-11 featured in 'On the Red Carpet'




Kristen Stewart's mother, Jules Stewart, has made her directorial debut with the independent prison film "K-11," which was supposed to feature the 'Twilight' actress as a transgender inmate, suspected prostitute and rape victim.

The movie stars "ER" alum Goran Visnjic as a businessman who ends up in a GBT unit of a Los Angeles prison without any memory of how he got there. Inside, he deals with a transsexual "ruler" named Mousey as well as many insane cellmates and corrupt guards.

Kristen was supposed to play the supporting character Butterfly, an transgender inmate who was sent to jail for suspected prostitution and later raped by a fellow prisoner. The role went to Portia Doubleday (check out more info about "K-11" on its official website). Kristen ended up having a small part as a secretary, according to Us Weekly, which quoted Jules as saying that that she cast her daughter in the larger role six years ago, when she was shooting the first "Twilight" film, and that she would have done it justice.

"Kristen has a dark side," Jules told the magazine. "Kristen has the edge -- thank God, right?"

"She got really big and we were still really small and I was like, 'Go! Go do 'Snow White,' please, go make those big films honey, that's wonderful!'" Jules told Us Weekly."

Kristen's "Twilight" co-star, Nikki Reed, was also supposed to star in "K-11." She told MTV News in 2009 that she was originally cast as transsexual prostitute Mousy, a role Kate del Castillo ended up playing.

"It's a great project, and obviously I have a lot of faith in Kristen and her mom, Jules Stewart, who wrote the script and is directing it," Reed told the outlet at the time. "Kristen is playing a boy, and I am playing a man who is quite a few years older than she is."

"K-11" opens in select theaters on March 15. Jules talked to the Los Angeles Times about the difficulty in getting the movie made.

"You would think [it] would be really easy to get financiers if [Kristen] was attached, but it wasn't," Jules told the newspaper. "You can't take ['Twilight's'] Bella Swan and put her in jail with a bunch of transvestites and expect people to go, 'Oh yeah, no problem.'"

For the last 25 years, Kristen's mother, a native of Australia, worked as a script supervisor on movies such as "Little Giants," "Mortal Kombat," "Phantom," "Flubber" and "Jingle All The Way" as well as TV shows such as "Picket Fences," "The Practice" and "The Sarah Silverman Program."

Jason Mewes, who plays stoner Jay in many of friend Kevin Smith's comedy films, also appears in "K-11" as an inmate charged with possesion of an illegal substance with intent to deliver. Kristen's brother Cameron, 27, "K-11," also has a part in the movie, which marks his on-screen debut. He plays a prisoner named Sledgehammer.





Review: Jules Stewart’s debut delivers the 'most eclectic mix of prison characters since HBO’s OZ' (Cinema Assassin)



A record producer is wrongfully put into LA counties LGBT unit know as K-11,rampant with  corruption with a dorm run by the transsexual mousey

Raymond Saxx (Goren Visnjic) has woken up in jail semi coherent still under the effects of drugs and alcohol and  rather than being in general population he finds himself in K-11.  Ray tries  to figure out what has happened to him while simultaneously trying to survive in the dorm which is ruled by Mousey (Kate del Castillo) a transsexual who is in a relationship with Sgt. Johnson (DB Sweeney)  the corrupt guard who thinks he runs the whole show.

First time Director Jules Stewart(yes she is Kristen’s mother) brings together the most eclectic mix of characters in a prison drama since HBO’s OZ. The lines of gay and straight get blurred, with menace always in the air. Slowly unfolding the details as to why Raymond is in jail in the first place, as well as a multitude of subplots regarding the inmates. Jules has virtually the entire cast playing against type yet pulling it of. While not being familiar with Kate del Castillo’ work her turn as Mousey was successfully convincing, the spit fire Latina is first introduced with a five o clock shadow and a don’t challenge me attitude she runs k-11 and the dorm knows it. Her turn as a chick with a dick is so convincing It wasn’t till after the film that I found out her actual gender. Jason Mewes shows he is more than just smokin weed and saying snoogins in Kevin Smith films,  he has some dramatic acting chops as Mousey’s bitch running the drug operation. It’s nice to know there is more than just comedy in his repertoire. The standout of the film is easily DB Sweeney  as Sgt Johnson Sweeney   completely transformed himself and became the character, if you long for the guy from “the cutting edge” you have come to the wrong place. This guy is just such a, disgusting and morally bankrupt person that you can’t help but be impressed, I never realized he had it in him.

The dorm is depressing, the place is corrupt and we have a successful guy thrown into the deep waters while  we watch him assimilate into the most foreign of territories. Drugs, Rape, Gender Identity, homosexuality, are all a backdrop for Ray’s story. Jules makes a successful debut delivering an intriguing story with a sly twist at the end that ties things up better than duct tape at a tranny convention.

Grade – 83


Sunday 17 March 2013

"K-11" on theater signs across the US

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Tempe, AZ -  Harkins Theatres
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NYC - Village Cinemas (Photo credit: @poptrashmoviee)

It's so exciting seeing K-11 up on theater signs we just had to post these pics forwarded by fans.

Let us know if see more. :)




Kate del Castillo talks to South Florida Gay News about K-11




The prison drama K-11 is set in the LGBT unit of the Los Angeles county jail. The cell is “run” by the self-appointed Queen Bee, Mousey (Kate del Castillo), a transgender prisoner. She warns the new inmate, Raymond Saxx, Jr. (Goran Visnjic), not to mess with her and is in cahoots with Sgt. Johnson (D.B. Sweeney), a corrupt, drug-fueled guard who is in love with her. Del Castillo steals the film, sinking her teeth into a juicy role.

On the phone from Los Angeles, the Mexican actress, who was recently in Miami filming a short for Univision, spoke about making K-11 and playing Mousey.

How did you prepare for this outrageous role?

Jules [Stewart, the director] could have cast a male actor—that’s an easy way to go. For me, this is was the opportunity of a lifetime. I learned so much about the transgender world, and what trans means. I felt sorry for how ignorant I was about what they go through.

From her makeup to her fabulous shoes—Mousey was very distinctive. How did you create her “look”?

Love the shoes! This is a transwoman who’s a junkie. We didn’t want to do her makeup like a cartoon—there’s a very fine line. We tried to find something that would make people at her stare at her. She’s attractive, but a little creepy.

Mousey is heavily tattooed. Are you heavily tattooed?

I am!  I have one on my foot–an arrow that means freedom. And a Pi on my left shoulder. I wanted to put an infinity sign, but it didn’t look right. Under my belly button, I have a design I like. And then I have two on my fingers—one says “love” and one says “live,” and I have “inner strength” on my wrist and “here now” below it. When my father saw my first tattoo, he said “Your body is sacred, when I brought you into this world, you were intact. What did you do?” I have seven now, so he’s like, “Ok, whatever!”

Your tough! How was it to play a Queen Bee?  When you assert, “I am that Bitch!” I got goosebumps!

[LAUGHS]. It’s funny you say that, because for me, it’s difficult to find the feminine side. The masculine part I have; the feminine side, I had to work on. That’s weird, but it’s true. When I wore the makeup and shoes, I just owned it. You have to go deep and not let it affect you. She’s a badass character. She has a duality—you feel sorry for her, and you hate her. It becomes “How far can you go?” and “How far will the director let you go to get this emotion out of you?” We understood what the world means to Mousey—she feels secure inside the prison. The streets are dirty. In K-11, it’s “I am someone. I rule. I am that Bitch.” Outside, she’s just another junkie working her ass off.

Your co-star D.B. Sweeney told me that he was Prince Charming to Mousey’s Snow White. How did you see the characters and their relationship?

[LAUGHS]. It’s funny he said that. He’s right in a way. He is really in love—or obsessed—with her. She’s just using him to get the drugs. He knows she has sexual power over him, and she uses it. Why not?

Do you have any experience in or with prison?

[LAUGHS] No! Never!

Do you have a favorite prison movie?

Oh! AH! That’s interesting… The one with Sean Penn. Dead Man Walking. And I love Bad Boys and The Shawshank Redemption, too.


Video: Jules Stewart's interview with Marc Malkin on E! News (LQ)



Jules' interview starts at 0.48mins.


To watch the HD version of this interview and another part, click on the above screen-cap of Jules. (Video interview can't be embedded)


Kristen Stewart may have dropped out of her mom Jules Stewart's directorial debut, K-11, but that doesn't mean she isn't in the film.

Kristen makes a vocal cameo in the film about a businessman, Raymond Saxx (played by Goran Visnjic), who finds himself thrown into the gay and transsexual unit of a Los Angeles jail after he's arrested for drug use.

"We had one role that we couldn't find the right voice for and it's Raymond's secretary," Jules told me at her Libertine Films production offices in L.A. "As he's on the telephone frantically trying to call outside, trying to get information, his secretary answers the phone and talks to him, and that, in fact, is Kristen. It was perfect, because she came in at the very last second and banged it out. It was perfect."

The movie star’s mother manages to find a spot for Kristen Stewart in her directorial debut. Hear about the cool Easter egg..

Kristen had originally signed on to play Butterfly, a young transsexual woman who's in jail for murder.

"The timing was just bad and it also wasn't going to be a Kristen Stewart movie," Jules said. "She would be No. 4 on the list and she was willing to do it, but we acknowledged that the public wasn't willing to let her do that. She would be No. 4 [but] she would always be No. 1. That's really not fair for the other actors that really did drive the story it was better for everybody that she wasn't involved."

In K-11, Katie del Castillo costars as Mousy, an inmate who rules the unit with sex, drugs and violence. Stewart, who also cowrote the screenplay, tried to cast a male actor or a transgendered actress, but couldn't find the right fit. "It was easier to take a woman and ask her to play a man transitioning into a woman than it was to take a man and have him transition into a woman," she said. "I felt that the characters were much more believable and fierce with that feminine side."

Jules' son Cameron has a small role of a jailhouse baddie in the movie.

Nope, he doesn't want the kind of fame his sister has. "He's done a few things and he's willing to do things if it's the right project," Jules explained. "But he's not out there beating the sidewalk trying to get an acting job. He's a grip in the movie industry and he's quite happy doing that and he's quite successful."

She does hope to direct Kristen some day. "I don't think anybody in the hot seat, in the director's chair would turn down the opportunity to work with somebody who is really talented," Jules said.

For now, she's trying to get to the attention she's receiving for K-11 as well as the publicity she has to do for the flick. She's learned what to do—and not to do—when dealing with the press by watching her daughter.

Like?

"Well, not to touch my hair [during interviews], try not to be nervous," Jules said, adding, "I've learned a lot from my daughter. She's really smart and she's really funny and she's got a real solid handle on her position in life, and I really respect her for that. She's solid. She's rooted, really solid. She's an old soul. We love her for that."

Article Source E!Online

Thanks to Twilighters y V for the Youtube.