Insights from the Cinematic World: filmmaker

Hector and the Search for Happiness

Hector’s (Simon Pegg) life seems perfect, but it’s not; he’s stuck. He’s a busy psychiatrist with a thriving practice, living with his ‘perfect’ girlfriend, Clara (Rosamund Pike,) in a ‘perfect’ London flat. One day, it hits him that he’s losing patience with his patients, who aren’t getting any happier. He wonders… what is happiness?

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Divergent

Filmed on location in Chicago, the futuristic action adventure Divergent is directed by Neil Burger, from a screenplay by Evan Daugherty and Vanessa Taylor, based on the novel by Veronica Roth.

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Charlie Countryman

The story really kicks off in Bucharest Romania, where Charlie (Shia LeBeouf) meets Gabi (Evan Rachel Wood), who is also struck by the recent loss of her father. However, it’s love at first sight for Charlie, who is in a wild, unknown world, more foreign than he ever could have imagined.

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Franco has been published several times in magazines and through his own books and is currently teaching college courses at UCLA, USC and CAL ARTS and acting classes at STUDIO 4.

James Franco

James Franco was born in Palo Alto, California. His mother, Betsy Lou (née Verne), is a writer and actress, and his father, Douglas Eugene “Doug” Franco (d. 2011), ran a Silicon Valley business. The two met as students at Stanford University. James Franco’s father was of Portuguese (Madeiran) and Swedish descent. Franco’s mother is Jewish, a descendant of immigrants from Russia.

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