Michael McGruther began his filmmaking career with the original screenplay “Tigerland” (2000), directed by Joel Schumacher and co-written with Ross Klavan. The critically acclaimed screenplay was nominated by IFP/West for Best First Screenplay and by the Political Film Society for the PFS Award in 2001. It is widely known as Colin Farrell's breakthrough film, garnering Farrell the Boston Society of Film Critics Best Actor Award and the London Critics Circle Film Award for British Newcomer of the year.
Invigorated by the filmmaking process while on the set of "Tigerland," McGruther established Buffalonickel Films. He then teamed up with Jersey Films and Universal Studios on two features: his original science fiction adventure “Lightspeed” (with “Superman Returns” director Bryan Singer attached to direct), and a coming-of-age drama “Sentenced To Nature,” based on a New York Times article by author Charles Siebert.
“Blood Son” (2006) marked McGruther's directorial debut and he is currently in pre-production on the movie “Ghost Town.”
McGruther has also appeared in front of the camera, seen in several commercials and movies in the early 90s, including “Clockers,” “In & Out,” and a cameo in "Tigerland."
Michael McGruther
True Colors: A Race Discussion With Isaiah Washington
by Michael McGrutherWhat is going on in America? How is that we have elected our first half black, half white president and race relations seem to be getting worse? Could it be that no matter what we do the color of one’s skin will always be a factor in the way someone judges us? I was recently judged on Facebook not only by the color of my skin but by the fact that my name has an “Mc” in it by none other than Isaiah Washington. (Yes the same Isaiah Washington that was let go from “Grey’s Anatomy” after making a gay slur on set and offending his cast members. Click the link in case you forgot about this. Isaiah Washington apologizes.
First of all, a little history. I’m a Facebook friend of Isaiah Washington’s and added him because we were in the film “Clockers” together. I had a very small part but seeing him work I knew how dedicated and talented he was and wanted to keep up with his career. I think he has quite a few fan/friends like myself. But I’m also deeply concerned about the direction race relations are going in our country and when he posted this article on on his page I clicked through and read it with great interest.
After reading Mr. Washington’s link I posted a reply link to Bill Whittle’s PJTV segment “The Great Liberal Narrative. The Truth about the Tyranny of Political Correctness,” and then added this note for Mr. Washington: (more…)
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Drink My Red Blood!
by Michael McGrutherHollywood is at it again, pulling out all the stops on a genre and twisting it to promote their backwards value system of unbridled debauchery while at the same time taking a swipe at conservatives and more importantly, people of faith.
In this NY Times article titled “Necks Overflowing With Rivers of Metaphor,” the argument is gleefully made that the vampire genre is the perfect platform to expose the idiocy of the right and our strange repulsion against poor vampires who merely want to fuck all night and sleep all day.
You want to see an accurate portrayal of the modern day leftist liberal, using the vampire genre correctly? Watch my very first short film that I wrote, produced, directed and edited back in 2005 on pocket change, in 5 days in rural New Jersey using a digital camera and all unknown actors.
It is based on a short story by Richard Matheson titled “Drink My Red Blood” and what compelled me to make it was one scene in particular where the lead character, Jules, shares his composition in school called “My Ambition.” The movie is 15 minutes long. I broke it into two parts and uploaded it to YouTube for you to watch (NSFW). (more…)
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Bob Dylan is the Anti-Gates: What CNN Doesn’t Want You to Know
by Michael McGruther
On a rainy day last week in Long Branch, NJ, Bob Dylan, wearing a hood, was peering into a for-sale home when a neighbor called the police fearing he might be a burglar. Two young officers arrived on the scene and neither of them knew who Bob Dylan was. They asked for I.D. – he had none but explained he was a musician on tour with John Mellencamp and they were set to play at a nearby stadium in Lakewood. Without fuss or anger, Mr. Dylan was escorted back to his tour bus where he produced I.D.
That was that. End of incident. (more…)
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Story of Two Filmmakers: Empathy (Hollywood Style)
by Michael McGrutherThe far left values you see hammered into your children’s heads in film and TV, the constant “stupid American” portrayal of people like you and your neighbors in popular entertainment, the overly-sexual teen shows you find on afternoon programming, the awful role models young stars and starlets make by having their debauchery seem invitingly glamorous, and the endless supply of celebrities willing to mock “flyover country” and proclaim them all mental — all these cultural dividends, and more, can be tied back to one extremely powerful and focused force working within show business that seems absolutely unstoppable for now — empathy (Hollywood style.)
Let me explain. Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Most of us experience it every day through our basic interactions as we go about our business, and it causes us to act or react a certain way with other individuals. I see a pregnant woman who needs a seat on the subway. I get up and offer mine, first out of empathy, followed by kindness. Empathy informs the kindness on the most basic human level.
But that’s not how empathy works in modern day, leftist dominated Hollywood. (more…)
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We’ve All Felt a Little ‘Profiled’
by Michael McGruther
“This isn’t about me; this is about the vulnerability of black men in America,” Henry Louis Gates Jr. said. He said the incident made him realize how vulnerable poor people and minorities are “to capricious forces like a rogue policeman, and this man clearly was a rogue policeman.”
It’s thinking like this that makes me sort of happy I chose to skip college after high school and instead jumped right into pursuing my dream. I started with nothing and worked my way up and because I’ve always lived and worked in the real world I know better than to accept this line of thinking and I’m certain a majority of Americans do too. (more…)
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Time for the Amero?
by Michael McGrutherThe post-George W. Bush world is a geopolitical power vacuum where, for a short period of time, America has a Macy’s perfume model as President going around with sweet little spritzes of kindness in hopes of closing the deal towards eternal world peace and prosperity. It’s not going to work. And this kind of diplomacy stinks because savvy world leaders know it’s entirely disingenuous. Change you can deceive in is all that’s going on here.
Let’s talk about real change, dramatic, game-changing change on a level no one understands, including me: The establishment of a North American Union, a super-nation comprised of Canada, the U.S.A. and Mexico all acting with one international interest and one unified currency: The Amero.
For as long as I can remember the dollar’s either been in trouble or strong. While I was bartending at one of New York’s most famous Italian restaurants during the 90’s, I could tell whose money was strong at the moment based on my customers. It’s as if everyone in Japan would visit at the same time, spending freely and having a blast. Then they would disappear and the English would suddenly be in town. (more…)
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Moral Relativism; The Liberal Lynchpin
by Michael McGrutherThe vast majority of adults in this world know that moral perfection is absolutely impossible, so I get upset when self proclaimed Hollywood/MSM liberals ruthlessly attack any conservative that cannot do the impossible; avoid succumbing to temptation for their entire life. Hollywood/MSM liberals always use this angle to attack conservatives nationwide because by strongly believing in nothing specific they’ve set themselves up to perpetually come out on top of any moral argument, guilt, worry and public-scorn free.
In today’s Hollywood a famous liberal filmmaker could hire a hooker while shooting a $100,000,000 studio feature film, secretly charge it to the budget, snort coke in his trailer between shots and drop E at night without any real concern for condemnation or job loss if he’s caught, because, well, he never proclaimed to be on the side of good in the first place. Whereas a famous conservative Christian filmmaker (pretend with me here) caught doing the same thing would be ridiculed and kicked out of town for the hypocrisy of it all since, by being Christian, he openly admitted that kind of behavior is not the most desirable for himself and doesn’t set a very good example for the fans. (more…)
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‘Meet John Doe’ and the Old Fakearoo
by Michael McGrutherDear Reader,
Do you have a little time to sit back and examine a classic movie that will absolutely shock you when seen through the prism of now? This is not my typical short article or essay. This is my own argument that what occurs in the 1941 picture “Meet John Doe” is exactly what has come to pass in America today with the Democratic Congress and their Presidential puppet. All the players and plays are clearly represented here and I was lucky enough to find the entire movie available on YouTube in small 7-10 minute scenes. I have selected only the scenes that I feel you must watch. But please, by all means, Netflix this movie before someone bans it.
“Meet John Doe” was released in 1941, written by Robert Riskin and based upon a treatment titled “The Life and Death of John Doe,” written by Richard Connell and Robert Presnell. The film was directed by Frank Capra. The plot of the movie clearly shows how a media conspiracy could get a President elected and use him to “turn out the lights on freedom.” The similarity between the movie’s plot and today’s political situation is surreal. Add in the fact that Gary Cooper’s “John Doe” is modeled after Jesus Christ and you’ll be even more chilled at how a power hungry, ruthless political party figures out how to use a fake version of Him for their own gain. The claim by liberals that this is the practice of the religious right will be shattered once you’ve watched all the clips posted here. (more…)
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Huffington Mad!
by Michael McGrutherSean Penn used to settle his differences with a solid right hook, but now, because he’s so deep in the abyss of Statist nothingness, all he can muster in his latest Huffington Post blog is fool’s pride for a sinister smile. It’s sinister because it’s disengenuous and it’s fool’s pride because Sean Penn is literally a fool.
I guess liberals (in the Hollywood sense, not the true meaning of the word) have gotten so carried away with their own assault on the meaning of words they no longer realize their favorite place to post these silly, meaningless rants is actually mocking them.
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We Must Protect the ‘Shining City’
by Michael McGruther
With Washington and Hollywood acting with one unified radically liberal voice for the first time in American history, it’s become crystal clear that what the Democrats really want is simply to rule the world.
It was reported recently that box office receipts rose to a record $28.1 billion with 65% of that take coming from foreign countries. Bottom line, Hollywood is all about money and no one denies that. But now that the good old U.S.A. represents the smaller market share it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the studios couldn’t care less what kind of anti-American low-brow product the town’s liberal elite continue to produce and promote. (more…)
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JFK Understood: ‘Free and Independent’
by Michael McGrutherWhenever I stumble upon any media about JFK I’m always struck by how conservative he really was. By today’s standards, this speech would put President Kennedy squarely on the side of the Republican/Libertarian movement politically and on the receiving end of liberal media attacks worldwide. In an alternate reality I can imagine a young JFK giving this speech at CPAC as he preps for a White House run. Listen to this chilling warning about what we all know has already come to pass in Europe and is quickly creeping its way into mainstream American life unless we citizens act now to stop this train and derail it back into the ash heap of history.
President Bush’s 8 years in office was like someone taking a stick to a hornets nest that nobody knew still existed. He whacked it good and then paid the price with poisonous stings all over everything he tried to do. But the rest of us out there saw how the press and mainstream media reacted to him and that is how we came to clearly see what we’re really up against in the battle for America’s future. (more…)
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The Faithful Go To Church, The Rest Go To Therapy
by Michael McGrutherAt the very heart of the Christian way of life is the belief that we individual Christians, no matter what our faith, can best effect society with gentle nudges towards God by living a Christ-like life the best we possibly can, while recognizing at the same time that there has in fact only ever been one real Christian to walk the Earth – Jesus. We’re not capable of that kind of perfection. We know this. We are merely asked to try.
Secularists don’t know that simple fact about faith and feel threatened by their own ignorance, which quickly spirals into enmity as a defense against what they deeply fear is the truth. After all, Pride is what made the Devil. And the Devil’s main goal is your total separation from any kind of relationship with God, which can easily be described as anxiety, loneliness, fear, panic attacks, suicide…anything to get you away from sincerely trying to follow God. In other words, people of faith go to church while secularists go to therapy. (more…)
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The Obama Presidency: Another Lousy Remake
by Michael McGrutherMr. President, the fact that you and your party spent the better part of 8 years systematically and falsely tearing down the presidency of George W. Bush to seize this moment of power is reflective of the fact that your party is corrupt beyond belief. Only a corrupt organization can behave with one singular, mean-spirited and patently false message like that for eight long years. You’re not a real leader, but instead you’re a brilliant MIS-leader.
I’ve intentionally held back from being too critical long enough to give the President and his staff time to really show their hand to the American people but enough is enough. This is a disaster that is going to last 4 slow, long years and will likely end with legions of young Democrats, completely disenfranchised, running to our party because we’re the only ones who actually read and understand the fine print. Consider a vote for a Republican in 2010 and 2012 to be like that extended warranty you can purchase with expensive electronics. You know, the one that provides added protection against defects? If what’s broke cannot be fixed then it’s replaced free of charge with something new and better — and Congress has been making some strange sucking sounds lately… (more…)
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The State of the State Knowing Best
by Michael McGruther
Like I always do, no matter who’s in office, I tuned to the President’s State of the Union address last night. I love the event and look forward to it. The SOTU is one of the President’s most important speeches, and I listen carefully to what he says because his words aren’t chosen lightly. The speech is written, re-written, scrutinized and re-written again until it has the right effect — and when President Obama told the story of Florida businessman Leonard Abess who retired after making millions and then proceeded to hand out most of a $60 million bonus to co-workers, even those long since retired — I knew this was unlike any SOTU that had come before and that President Obama and his team are likely to be looking for work in 4 years. (more…)
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Cuba
by Michael McGrutherThere is a very good chance he is high as a kite.
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The new slogan
by Michael McGrutherHollywood doesn’t just corrupt your kids and push a radical liberal agenda on America that the majority of it’s citizens disapprove of — they also “Make Movies”
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The 2008 Movie Yearbook
by Michael McGrutheris just a long commercial for the sagging DVD market.
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Oldie Gawn
by Michael McGrutherShe’s what I call a “Juicy Grandma” because with that trout pout you know she’s trolling the Grove with “Juicy” sweat pants on…I hate juicy sweat pants on old people. It’s gross really.
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What are you wearing?
by Michael McGrutherThat is the question you hear on the red carpet asked to all the guests so how about you Big Hollywood bloggers? What are you wearing?
Me? Bananna Republic jeans and black New Amsterdam Cafe hoodie. Socks by NIKE. Hair by Molton Brown.
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Rourke Ram Jammed Barbara Walters!
by Michael McGrutherShe didn’t get him to cry but then he got all deep and stuff.
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DVD Review: Amexicano
by Michael McGruther
Just when you thought American independent cinema was dead and gobbled up by the majors, here comes two strong, new voices straight outta Brooklyn (and Queens), Matthew Bonifacio and Carmine Famiglhetti, the director and writer/star of “Amexicano,” a low budget indie feature (and I mean truly indie) that has the power to make you feel compassion where you thought you had none, and will likely make you and whomever you’re watching it with, argue about the very topic that is so central to its plot but not really what the movie is about — illegal immigration. (more…)
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Will the Conservative Money Men Please Stand Up
by Michael McGrutherOn the eve of the 2004 election, I had a business lunch in Manhattan with the author of a book I had optioned for the big screen. Up until then, I had no idea how liberal he was. As a matter of fact, this was when I was just starting to understand the differences between myself and many of the people in my life. I’d just flown in from L.A., so despite the highly politicized climate left behind in Hollywood, in good old New York the election was a non-topic … until his cell phone rang.
This is what I overheard him say: “He’s going to back us? Yes! That’s F@$%^ great! We’re going show these Republicans how we play. They’re not even going to know what hit them. We will do some serious damage because this is war now — we’re playing for keeps!” (more…)
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George Bailey Wasn’t Born Here
by Michael McGrutherSimple beginnings
We all get into show business for the right reasons — because we love entertainment and want to have a hand in creating that special magic. I don’t think anyone begins down the road to Hollywood because they feel the urgent need to inject politics into their work in order to change the world. I certainly didn’t. And I bet George Clooney wasn’t thinking that way when he was on the set of “Facts of Life” for the first time at the start of his career.
I started young, first as an actor, and now a writer. This is the only thing I have ever pursued and I have been at it since the day I left my small town in the summer of 1991. The Reagan/Bush era was coming to a close and I voted for Bill Clinton in 92 because as a reasonable person who watched the six o’clock news I could tell we needed something fresh. It was the first year I was old enough to vote and I was very excited to do it. However, in all those years that I was booking commercials or bit parts in movies and TV, no one ever made a peep about politics. To me politics was something separate and pretty boring compared to the dream I was after. If you asked me back then which political party my friends belonged to, I couldn’t tell you who was a Republican or who was a Democrat because it just wasn’t an issue.
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The Upside Of Socialism
by Michael McGrutherSocialism – ”An economic system in which the production and distribution of goods are controlled substantially by the government rather than by private enterprise, and in which cooperation rather than competition guides economic activity. There are many varieties of socialism. Some socialists tolerate capitalism, as long as the government maintains the dominant influence over the economy; others insist on an abolition of private enterprise. All communists are socialists, but not all socialists are communists.”
I’m blogging from East London to share with you my observations about the upside of Socialism. Firstly, much stronger beer. It’s the only real proof that the Government still has a bit of a heart because if you paid outrageous taxes and saw immigrants getting the mother lode of state support over and above your English arse, you too would want to get absolutely blasted every day.
You get to walk around full of pride that everyone is taken care of — except you always end up right back in the pub because you cannot really take care of yourself. Everywhere you go people have jobs that they will never ever lose. And they never ever work too hard, either. And no one TIPS. And why should you when it’s your only drinking money and therefore only escape.
I was down in Kent (a mere hour from London) and stayed at a nice hotel. When I sat at the bar I talked to the young bartender about his country and his future, thinking that like in America, young people have dreams of being something and will pursue them like I did. But not this chap. His reply was simply ,”It’s too expensive to go to London.” and I replied, “Yeah it’s one of the world’s most expensive cities but what about just going for it!” “No, it’s too expensive to just get there.”
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I Hate The Phrase ‘Generation X’
by Michael McGruther
I hate the phrase “Generation X,” and I mean hate in the dictionary sense (feel intense or passionate dislike for) because if there is one trick that the left leaning media likes to use against the young in furthering their social political agenda, it’s the mass marketing (see browbeating) of an idea that is packaged and sold as a vague and cool sounding compliment but in reality is a cultural tranquilizer meant to stifle, divide and prevent any chance of unity among an entire generation. Hey “Baby Boomers” what if “The Greatest Generation” before you had decided to brand you “Generation C”, reasoning that you’re to inherit a new civilization, but then secretly went about setting up all the fail safe systems necessary to keep you from getting too close to real political power? That’s the way it feels to us “Gen-Xers” who woke up one day at the start of our young adult lives to a new identity courtesy of the media, and some silly book by that title. Thanks, but no thanks. How do you even describe yourself as an X anyway? It’s so vague and meaningless that it’s offensive. (more…)
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