Sunday, August 14, 2011

Auteur Watch - Alek and Aleen Keshishian

It's a sad, sad story, oft repeated in Hollywood. One sibling leads the way, only to be superseded by the one not currently in the biz... I can't think of any good examples right now that fit that mold. For some reason, Glen and Darin Morgan come to mind. Glen was the alpha brother for a while, working on The X Files, but brother Darin came in and wrote some crackerjack scripts. And I tells ya, when Darin's name came up in the credits, one just KNEW they were in for a good episode. As for the Keshishians, well, they're currently the toast of the Ehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif! reality show set... damn! I mean, the Kardashians. Well, that certainly doesn't help things if your name is that similar to someone bigger and more famous in your industry, but let's try to focus here.
The Keshishians are the biggest thing to come out of Beirut since... since the attack on the U.S. base? Since Keanu Reeves? Yeah, that's more positive. Since Keanu Reeves. And Dom Joly, Austin Powers cinematographer Peter Deming and Terminator producer Mario Kassar. But Alek was a kid with a dream and a brother, and he soon found himself rising to the top of his craft, directing such classic music videos as "My Prerogative"... the Bobby Brown original, not the Britney Spears cover. At which point, Madonna thought he would be the perfect director she could really push around for her documentary debut, Truth or Dare... oh! There's two directors! Well, a subject as big as Madonna certainly merits at least two directors, I'll give you that.  With Madonna directing herself as well, no doubt.  After that, it was time for the cookie cutter flic With Honors. Patrick Dempsey had yet to start the second act of his career, and people wanted to see Joe Pesci just go f-ing nuts again... like he did in JFK! They'd have to wait for Casino for that to happen, I guess. Anyway, Alek must've gotten fed up with the biz at this point, because it's 12 years to his next pic! Unfortunately, he's not exactly Terrence Malick, and his comeback feature wasn't exactly The Tree of Life.
Oh, did I mention that Aleen is a chick? Oh well, who cares. Too late to go back and change it now. As it turns out, Ben Geisler from Barton Fink washttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif right. "Writers come and go... we can always use a few Indians!" As it turns out, directors come and go, but casting agents are forever. According to her IMDb entry, Aleen's clients are Jennifer Aniston and... whoa! Stop right there. I dare not list any more clients in the same sentence with Jen-An! Am I right? And yet, for Aleen, that 10% of that green, green Jennifer Aniston money just isn't enough. I know I wouldn't be able to pull that one off, that's for sure. As you can further see from Aleen's IMDb entry, she clawed her way up through the ranks through the 90s, the 00s and is clearly at the top of her craft now, right alongside Lynn Stalmaster, Ellen Chenoweth, Mali Finn and... some others, I'm sure. I know! How about Martin Bregman? He gets credit for all those Al Pacino pics, anyway, lucky guy. But I tell you what: any time I see Keshishian's name, which is not that often, I still can't help but think of that guy that got screwed over by Madonna. And apparently it's all going to happen all over again to poor Alek. I guess W.E.'ll just have to wait 'n see!
...oh, I think I see why this is getting a bunch of hits.  It must be confusing the Google spiders.  They look at it and go "Oh!  Kim Kardashian!  I hope it's a picture of her ass!"

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