''Blue Like Jazz'' is a 2012 American

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film directed by

Steve Taylor Roland Stephen Taylor (born December 9, 1957) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, music executive, film maker, assistant professor, and actor. A figure in what has come to be known as Christian alternative rock, Taylor enjoyed ...

and starring

Marshall Allman Marshall Scot Allman (born April 5, 1984) is an American actor. He is known to television audiences for his role as L. J. Burrows on the Fox television series '' Prison Break''. He is also known for playing Tommy Mickens on ''True Blood''. Earl ...

Claire Holt Claire Rhiannon Holt (born 11 June 1988) is an Australian actress. She is known for her roles as Emma Gilbert in '' H2O: Just Add Water'', Samara Cook in ''Pretty Little Liars'', Chastity Meyer in ''Mean Girls 2'', Rebekah Mikaelson in ''The ...

, and

Tania Raymonde Tania Raymonde Helen Katz, is an American actress and artist. Her career first caught traction when she played the recurring character of Cynthia Sanders on the Fox sitcom '' Malcolm in the Middle'' between 2000 and 2002, followed by the role o ...

. It is based on Donald Miller's semi-autobiographical book of the same name. Miller, Taylor, and Ben Pearson co-wrote the screenplay.

Cast

as Donald "Don" Miller *

as Penny *

Jason Marsden Jason Christopher Marsden (born January 3, 1975) is an American actor, director, producer and YouTuber, who has done numerous voice roles in animated films, as well as various television series and video games. He has been the official voice of ...

as Kenny *

as Lauryn *

Eric Lange Eric Lange (born February 19, 1973) is an American actor. He is known for his work on television, where he has appeared in a wide variety of both Character role, supporting and leading roles. Lange played the recurring roles of Stuart Radzinsky ...

as The Hobo *

Justin Welborn Justin Welborn is a character actor and singer known for his roles in the films '' The Signal'', '' Dance of the Dead'', and ''The Final Destination''. He was a recurring character on the FX Network hit show '' Justified'', with his last appearanc ...

as The Pope *

Natalia Dyer Natalia Danielle Dyer (born January 13, 1995) is an American actress. She is known for starring as Nancy Wheeler in the Netflix science fiction horror series ''Stranger Things'' (2016–present), in addition to her starring role in the comedy-dr ...

as Grace

Production

pitched the film to investors for four years until two investors, one from Seattle and one from Los Angeles, agreed to sign on for $250,000 each. The day before pre-production, the Los Angeles investor backed out and the film was scratched. When Donald Miller posted on his personal blog that the film was to be cancelled, however, two readers from Tennessee announced that they would raise the remaining required funds by way of the Kickstarter website. According to Yancey Strickler, one of the founders of Kickstarter, only six films have ever raised more than $100,000 through the website as of May 2011. Taylor didn't believe that this fundraising effort would work, so he agreed to personally call and thank every donator of more than $10 if they met the target goal of $125,000. By October 2010, $345,992 had been donated through the website towards the film. Considering so much money had been raised through Kickstarter, the backer from Seattle matched that amount and contributed even more. Taylor was able to shoot the film for $750,000 and have an extra $500,000 left for post-production. By May 2011, Taylor had personally called and thanked half of the 3,300 people who donated more than $10 through Kickstarter. He had called the remainder by April 2012. ''Blue Like Jazz: The Movie'' was the second most successful Kickstarter fundraiser in 2010. Miller's 2009 book ''

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years ''A Million Miles in a Thousand Years'', subtitled "What I Learned While Editing My Life", is the sixth book by Donald Miller. The book came about through the circumstances following the publication of the author's earlier successful book ''Blu ...

'' is based on his experience of revising his memoir into the screenplay for this film. Filming took place in Nashville, Tennessee and Portland, Oregon.

Release

The film had its

world premiere A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its f ...

as an official selection of the

South by Southwest Film Festival South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, T ...

on March 13, 2012. It was released in theaters on April 13, 2012 through

Roadside Attractions Roadside Attractions is an American production company and film distributor based in Los Angeles, California, founded on July 27, 2000, by Howard Cohen and Eric d’Arbeloff, specializing largely in independent films. Lionsgate Lions Gate ...

. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 7, 2012 in the United States and Canada.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blue Like Jazz 2012 films 2012 comedy-drama films American biographical films American comedy-drama films Films about Christianity Films about writers Films based on biographies Films set in Portland, Oregon Films shot in Portland, Oregon Films set in the 1990s Films shot in Tennessee American independent films Kickstarter-funded films Roadside Attractions films 2012 comedy films 2012 independent films 2010s English-language films Films directed by Steve Taylor 2010s American films