L.A. Film Fest taps Common as artist in residence

Chicago-bred rapper Common will serve as the artist in residence at this year's Los Angeles Film Festival, which begins June 19 in Westwood and runs through June 29.

The artist, who has a new album due this summer, will speak in an event at the Majestic Crest Theatre on June 16 at 7:30 p.m. Common also has a burgeoning actor career and appears in the fest's opening night film, Universal's "Wanted," starring Angelina Jolie.

As part of his artist in residence duties, Common will act as a curator of sorts. The artist was allowed to program a pair of films that apparently influence Common's work -- Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" and Michel Gondry's "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."

The June 16 event at the Crest, billed as a "pre-festival conversation," is free and open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis. It's the second year running that a member of the hip-hop community has served as artist in residence, as last year the honors were bestowed on N.E.R.D. member-producer Pharrell Williams.

Action revenge flick "Wanted," from director Timur Bekmambetov, stars Angelina Jolie, James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, Terence Stamp and Thomas Kretschmann, and is inspired by the Mark Miller comic series of the same name. "Wanted" is slated to open June 27.

Also this summer, Common will release a new album, "Invincible Summer," but an official release date has not been set. The album is tipped to be released in late July.

"Wanted" is the second film Common has appeared in this year, with "Street Kings" having been released back in April. The rapper next has a part in "Terminator 4."

-- Todd Martens

Photo: Los Angeles Film Fest

Scene Stealer: 'The Foot Fist Way's' taekwondo chop

Director and former taekwondo student Jody Hill made "The Foot Fist Way" on a shoestring budget, so he didn't have money to hire professional stuntmen. Turns out taekwondo instructor Sean Baxter, whose school in Concord, N.C., served as the film's primary location, stepped in at the last minute, saving the production not only cash but potential grief as well. During the climactic face-off between Fred Simmons (Danny McBride) and Chuck "The Truck" (Ben Best), the two were required to break multiple wood boards in rapid sequence. With no stuntmen, the plan called for McBride and Best to hide lead pipes in their hands and break the boards using the little taekwondo training they had. "The physics behind that don't work real well," Baxter said. Rather than wind up with two actors with broken hands, the boards were pre-cut and glued together. For close-ups, Baxter stood in for McBride and Hill for Best, and they broke the boards for real. Careful observation shows the actors breaking the boards with wrapped hands, while the real martial artists go bare-knuckled.

-- Patrick Kevin Day