OT: The Secret Handshake Movie

[brake man]

About three years ago, a friend asked several of his friends to write something for his son who was turning the momentous age of 13 years old. William wanted to give his son, Will, a book of letters of advice and counsel from men who knew Will and who had an impact in Will's life. I was fortunate to have had the honor to write to Will and take part in this great endeavor. Another friend and fellow neighbor, Howie Klausner, was also asked to write to Will and graciously agreed to do so. Howie is a great guy who has a beautiful wife and three wonderful daughters. Howie is also an accomplished writer, director, and producer who is insanely talented in so many ways and and marvelously creative with the written word. Soon after writing to Will in his blog (https://howieklausner.wordpress.com/2012/05/27/a-letter-to-a-boy-turning-thirteen/), Howie realized he would never have the opportunity to raise a son and, being the creative writer/director/thinker he is, decided to write and direct a movie about "raising a man" as he would not have the opportunity to do so himself. The request for William's friends to write something for his son, Will, is what spawned an entire movie that will be hitting theaters (not sure where all it will be) at the end of May. The movie is "The Secret Handshake" and should be a great movie that all of us Dad's probably would like to and maybe need to see.

Here's the link to the website:

http://www.thesecrethandshakemovie.com/

Here's the link to the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FWxvE- ... FWxvE-MRC4

A little more about Howie and the movie:

Howie has written, directed, and produced various movies over the years. How many remember "Space Cowboys" with Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, and James Garner? He wrote that one, as well as a documentary on Clint Eastwood. He also wrote "Soul Surfer" and wrote and directed "The Grace Card" that came out a few years ago. "The Identical" was one of his movies that was recently in theaters. I only wish I had the energy and creativity of my friend as he truly loves "all things movies." His daughters are also the three daughters in this movie, with his elder daughter being one of the stars of the movie.

This movie also has special significance as it was filmed in our neighborhood and in locations throughout our town of Franklin, TN. Lots of us had the opportunity to take part as extras and in other ways so this was just a lot of fun over the weeks the movie was filmed.

My son may be in one of the scenes where the streaker runs through the band. A few hundred of us and most of the high school band showed up for several hours one evening to film this series of scenes. He is hoping he makes it past the cutting room floor.

In the trailer, you will see a scene of men around a campfire and the craziness involved with the gathering. In that scene filmed down at the neighborhood fire pit adjacent to the river, I am with about 35 other guys, many of them my friends and neighbors, who are dressed up with body and face paint and wielding hammers and rubber chickens around the campfire. (Can't wait to see how all this ties into the movie.) After being in the 40-ish degree temps for 4-5 hours with the last hour and a half with no shirts on and having consumed many cases of beer during this time, many of the lads were having quite a good time during the filming. Poor professionals working the set about wanted to kill many of us as, by the time they finally made it to the point of filming our scenes around 9:30 PM, many were just having a grand old time. :nutz I was stone-cold sober and had a blast during the filming, which was even more enjoyable as I watched the antics of a bunch of guys acting like adolescent teens. Probably one of the most memorable and enjoyable experiences of my life.

I encourage you to go see this movie if it makes to a theater in your area.

[SB]

Please keep us posted. Sounds like something I would like!