From Amanda Seyfried's sky-rocketing career to Dwayne Johnson's high-octane comeback, area-affiliated actors continued to leave their mark in Hollywood.
A handful of behind-the-scenes movers-and-shakers also scored big this year, including Bethlehem's Gary Jones, Macungie's Heather Parry and a trio of animation whizzes who helped create two of the year's biggest hits — "Kung Fu Panda 2" and "Puss In Boots."
If that wasn't enough attention for the Valley, there were three indie flicks shot in the area, and Allentown gets a mention in "The Hangover: Part II."
Here's a look at 10 big and small screen success stories in 2011 involving local people or groups:
1. Amanda Seyfried stretches: In 2010, the Allentown native enjoyed massive hits with "Dear John" and "Letters To Juliet." Suddenly, she was the Queen of Romance. This year, blonde-haired, doe-eyed actress ventured outside her comfort zone for the fairy-tale update "Red Riding Hood" and the sci-fi thriller "In Time." Neither film set the box-office on fire but Seyfried expanded her range while working alongside two of her teenage crushes. Leonardo DiCaprio produced "Red Riding Hood" and Justin Timberlake co-starred in "In Time."
2. The Rock rolls back on top: What a difference a year makes. Freedom High School grad Dwayne Johnson hit the mat in 2010 with the flops "The Tooth Fairy" and "Faster." But as Deadline Hollywood observed, in 2011 "Johnson has had quite a rebound year." Not only did he return to wrestling but he also popped up in "Fast Five" alongside Vin Diesel and Paul Walker. The action film netted a remarkable $626 million at the box office.
3. Macungie hitmaker: Heather Parry, an Emmaus High School grad, is one of Hollywood's most successful producers. As a staffer at Happy Madison, Adam Sandler's production company, she oversaw 2008's "The House Bunny" with Anna Faris. This year, she produced "Just Go For It," the $105 million-grossing comedy starring Sandler, Jennifer Aniston and Nicole Kidman.
4. Sewing up the hits: Costume designers Ann Roth and Gary Jones continue to go behind-the-seams on an astonishing number of high-profile films, TV projects and stage shows. Jones, who lives in Bethlehem, began the year with the Kate Hudson/Ginnifer Goodwin wedding comedy "Something Borrowed." He continued with the Colin Firth/Ellen Burstyn drama "Main Street" before outfitting a gaggle of stars (Sarah Jessica Parker, Robert DeNiro, Lea Michele, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ashton Kutcher) for "New Year's Day," his second holiday-themed collaboration with Garry Marshall following "Valentine's Day." Roth, a Bangor resident, earned a Tony nomination for dressing up the Broadway smash "Book of Mormon" and an Emmy nod for "Mildred Pierce," the HBO mini-series starring Kate Winslet, Guy Pearce and Montgomery County's Morgan Turner. On the big screen, she put Jim Carrey in dark suits and bright parkas for "Mr. Popper's Penguins" and re-teamed with "Reader" filmmaker Stephen Daldry for "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," a much-anticipated Tom Hanks/Sandra Bullock drama opening on Jan. 20.
5. Animation hot shots: A trio of former Valley residents — Allentown's Kevin Coyle, Emmaus' Matthew Beightol and Phillipsburg's Amy Taylor — brought their expertise to a number of DreamWorks hits, including "Puss In Boots" and "Kung Fu Panda 2." Taylor is a character-effects artist in the studio's Glendale facility while Coyle and Beightol toil in Redwood City as digital paint fix artists, making sure not a hair — or whisker — is out of place.
6. Behind the scenes: A remarkable number of area-affiliated artists lent their talents to big screen films this year. Bethlehem's Dan Kuchar worked as an assistant art director on "Mr. Popper's Penguins;" Nazareth's David Schoneveld contributed special effects shots to "Real Steel;" Easton's Christopher Lennertz composed the scores for both "Hop" and "Horrible Bosses;" Palmerton's Noah Berlow edited "Video Girl;" and Bethlehem's Edwardo Mendez was a visual effects supervisor on "I Am Number Four."
7. Small screen success: At least eight former Valleyites can be seen every week on TV where they're regulars or re-occurring characters on some very different, and popular, series. The Liberty High School grad Alexandra Chando plays a pair of twins on ABC Family's hit "The Lying Game;" Bethlehem Catholic High School grad Daniel Roebuck is the father of class bully Karofsky on "Glee;" Madeline Zima, who was raised in Easton, plays the provocative Mia on "Californication;" and Allentown native Michaela Conlin is a feisty crime-solver on "Bones."
And there's more: Bethlehem's Anthony Azizi appeared in seven episodes of "90210;" Holland Taylor, who was raised in Allentown, plays Jon Cryer's mother on "Two and a Half Men;" Nazareth's Kate Micucci is goofy day-care operator Shelley on "Raising Hope;" Easton's Jack Coleman portrays State Sen. Rob Lipton on the Scranton-set "Office;" and Bethlehem's Daniel Dae Kim brings police officer Chin Ho Kelly to life on "Hawaii Five-O."
Zima, Conlin and Kim also had substantial roles in big-screen projects. Zima was part of a large ensemble cast (Hope Davis, Dermot Mulroney, Selma Blair) in "Family Tree;" Conlin co-starred opposite Matthew McConaughey in "The Lincoln Lawyer," and Dae Kim appeared in "Arena," a straight-to-DVD prison movie co-starring Samuel Jackson and "Twilight's" Kellan Lutz.
Finally, there's screenwriter David Benioff, one of the creative forces behind the hit HBO series "Game of Thrones." Growing up, Benioff spent summers in Allentown hanging out with his grandparents — and Benioff Furs' owners — Shim and Florence Benioff.
8. The Horror, The Horror: A trio of Eastern Pennsylvania-shot productions were released in 2011 and all three were scary movies. Stevan Mena's serial-killer thriller "Bereavement," which starred Michael Biehn, John Savage and Alexandra Daddario, was filmed in an abandoned slaughterhouse in Ironton as well as at Shankweiller's Drive-In, Parkland High School, Schnecksville Elementary School, and the Charcoal Drive-In in Wescosville.
Douglasville native Jim Mickle set up his cameras in Pottstown for "Stake Land," a post-apocalyptic vampire shocker starring, among others, former Berks County resident Kelly McGillis and Michael Cerveris, a frequent visitor to Bethlehem where his sister Marissa lives.
Finally, Kunkletown's Harrison Smith and Bangor's Faust Checo brought Cloris Leachman and Tara Reid to Monroe County for "The Fields," a suspense film shot at Robert Fields' Dairy Farm in Stroudsburg, the now-closed Bushkill Amusement Park in Easton, Linda's Country Gap Inn in Palmerton and Amy's Country Store in Kunkletown.
And there's more area-affiliated spookiness to come. Smith filmed his follow-up chiller "Six Degrees of Hell," starring Corey Feldman, in Palmerton, Stroudsburg and Kunkletown, while Mena promises to return to Allentown for his next picture — a creepfest called "Sorrow."
9. Double The fun: The 19th Street Theatre in Allentown has been screening adventurous indies and foreign films for decades. This year, the Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas in the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks in south Bethlehem opened and began programming off-Hollywood fare like "Margin Call," "Take Shelter," "Melancholia" and "Martha Marcy May Marlene." Between them, the two organizations devote four screens to films that are almost always worth seeing.
10. Allentown gets namechecked: During one its funniest scenes, the $250-million-grossing "The Hangover: Part II" referenced the Queen City. Set in Thailand, the film boasts a sequence in which an exasperated Stu (Ed Helms) sings a couple of choruses of Billy Joel's "Allentown" with his own raucous lyrics. Stu directs the song to his buddy Alan (Zach Galifianakis) who, once again, is responsible for helping to ruin a Wolf Pack wedding party.
Source TheMorningCall
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