CONWAY, Ark. (March 14, 2018)
– Filmmaker and Little Rock native Justin Warren ’09 returns to Hendrix College
on Saturday, March 31, to present Then
There was Joe, a full-length comedy feature film written, produced,
directed, edited by and starring Warren, based on his own family history. Two
screenings of Then There Was Joe will
take place March 31, at 1 p.m. and at 6:30 p.m., in Lecture Hall A of the Mills
Center for Social Sciences on the Hendrix campus. A question-and-answer panel
following each showing will include Warren and other guests associated with the
film.
Warren plays one of two
major characters alongside the film’s co-lead, Ray Grady. Grady, a Chicago
comedian and actor, is a veteran of various comedy shows including The Next Level, Season One, Martin Lawrence
Presents: First Amendment Stand-Up and Comic
View. Also appearing in the film are James “Butch” Warren (White Lightning, CNN Presents Black in America: The Black Man), T. Dion Burns (Drumline, Jeremy Brooks), and veteran actress and Hendrix alumna Natalie
Canerday ’85 (Biloxi Blues, One False Move, Sling Blade, October Sky,
Walk the Line). Butch Warren and Dr.
William L. “Billy” Rutledge are executive producers of the film.
Then
There Was Joe is a tale
of brotherly love with a twist: An upstanding young man needs to study for the
bar exam, but must babysit his wayward, legally homebound older brother
instead. Will he be able to keep his sanity and keep his brother out of
trouble?
Warren portrays harried law
student Ben Hazelstein, who is shopping for an engagement ring for his
girlfriend when he’s rudely interrupted by a breaking TV-news story: his brother
Joe (Grady) being arrested for robbing a bowling alley full of
birthday-partying third-graders. When Joe goes from jail to house arrest, the
young men’s father, widowed Judge Roy Hazelstein (Warren’s real-life father,
James “Butch” Warren), orders Ben to keep an eye on his brother as he awaits
his court date. The brothers’ tangled relationship is a challenge in more ways
than one.
A graduate of Hendrix
College and the University of Southern California (USC) School of Cinematic
Arts, Justin Warren wrote Then There Was
Joe a year out of film school. Two producers for a major film mogul offered
to option the script, but wanted to make too many changes. Warren ultimately
decided to do the film himself with the goal of making a high-quality product
with a low budget, a goal that, viewers will see, was fully realized.
A reception for ticket-holders
will begin at 10 p.m., after the second viewing. Copies of Then There Was Joe will be available for purchase in the Mills
Lobby after the show.
Student admission is free
with a Hendrix ID Card, compliments of Warren and the Student Outreach
Alternative Resources (SOAR) Team. General admission is $10. Both types of
admission include the reception at 10 p.m. Tickets are limited to 250 attendees
per viewing, and are available through buytickets.at/hendrixcollegestudentoutreachservicessos.
Inquiries may be made through the Hendrix College Student Outreach Services
office at 501-450-1330 or by email at sos@hendrix.edu.
Paypal, Mastercard, Visa, check cards and debit cards are accepted. No cash,
please.
About
Then There Was Joe
‒ Length: 1 hour, 42 minutes
‒ Rated R for language, adult situations
‒ Producers: Justin Warren, Heather Warren,
Bethany Sias
‒ Executive producers: James M. “Butch”
Warren, Dr. William L. “Billy” Rutledge
‒ Music: Jongnic Bontemps
‒ Cinematography: Charles Leisenring
‒ Selected as the first installment in the
Arkansas Cinema Society’s Homegrown Film Series; screened Feb. 3 at the Central
Arkansas Library System’s Ron Robinson Theater.
For more information and
videos about the making of the movie, visit www.thentherewasjoe.com.
About
Hendrix College
A private liberal arts
college in Conway, Arkansas, Hendrix College consistently earns recognition as
one of the country’s leading liberal arts institutions, and is featured in Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That
Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges. Its academic quality and
rigor, innovation, and value have established Hendrix as a fixture in numerous
college guides, lists, and rankings. Founded in 1876, Hendrix has been
affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. To learn more, visit www.hendrix.edu.