Filmaker George Hickenlooper, cousin of Denver"s mayor found

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Filmaker George Hickenlooper, cousin of Denver"s mayor found

Postby chump » Sun Oct 31, 2010 5:45 pm

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_16480853
Filmaker George Hickenlooper, cousin of Denver"s mayor found dead

Award-winning director George Hickenlooper, cousin of Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, was found dead Saturday morning in an Uptown Denver apartment where he was staying.

The Los Angeles-based filmmaker was in Denver for the screening of his latest film, scheduled to be shown Thursday at the Starz Denver Film Festival.

Residents of the apartment on East 22nd Avenue tried to wake George Hickenlooper about 8 a.m. but could not, Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said.

He was 47 and appeared to have died from natural causes. The body was taken to the coroner and police were investigating the death, Jackson said.

"We don't see anything indicating that foul play was involved. This is a standard death investigation," he said.

George Hickenlooper's latest film "Casino Jack" stars Kevin Spacey.
In an online statement on deadline.com, Spacey said he was shocked by Hickenlooper's death.

"I can't believe he's gone because George was so alive, bubbling with energy, drive, commitment, an open heart and a brilliant sense of humor," Spacey said. "He was one of a kind."

Mayor Hickenlooper issued a statement about 3 p.m. Saturday.

"Shock and sadness do not begin to describe our emotions. We are devastated," he said. "George had immense creative talents and cinematic gifts, but he was so much more than that to us and all his family.

"His passion for life, zeal for people and unquenchable curiosity enriched everyone who had the fortune to know him. We will miss his sense of humor, his warm character and the avid encouragement he gave anyone around him. Our hearts go out to his wife, Suzanne, and his son, Charles."

The Democratic candidate for governor attended two scheduled campaign events Saturday morning before handing off to running mate Joe Garcia.

Garcia will take over "while John takes time to mourn with his family," campaign spokesman George Merritt said.

George Hickenlooper was born on May 25, 1963, in St. Louis. He graduated from Yale University in 1986. He won an Emmy in 1992 for his documentary "Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse." His other films include "The Mayor of Sunset Strip" in 2003.

When Denver hosted the Democratic National Convention in 2008, the cousins united, with George Hickenlooper following his cousin John around Denver to produce the documentary "Hick Town."

George Hickenlooper is survived by his wife, Suzanne; son, Charles; a younger brother and his parents.


http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_16480506?source=pkg
Astute, hard-working director had close ties to Denver film festival

In the cracking political drama "Casino Jack," director George Hickenlooper cast his first cousin John in a brief role as a senator.

Thanks to a bit of motion-picture hocus-pocus, John Hickenlooper sits next to John McCain as the senator from Arizona grills Washington, D.C., lobbyist Jack Abramoff, played by Kevin Spacey.

At age 27, George Hickenlooper made a heady debut at the Cannes Film Festival with the documentary "Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse," co-directed with Fax Bahr. Using footage shot by Francis Ford Coppola's wife, Eleanor, the film recounts Coppola's Herculean struggle to make "Apocalypse Now." It remains among the best works on the madness of moviemaking.

Versatile, hard-working, astute, he was better known for his documentaries. But "Casino Jack," due in theaters in December, shows cheeky narrative and a particular gift with performers.

"Casino Jack" is one of two films set to christen the Denver Film Society's new theaters Thursday for the Starz Denver Film Festival.

Whether that red-carpet event at the newly minted Denver FilmCenter/Colfax will go on is not certain, said festival director Britta Erickson Saturday afternoon. What is certain, she said, "is that we will find a way to honor George, who was a friend and colleague of the festival."

The festival began its association with George Hickenlooper, who died Saturday at age 47, when it showed "Hearts of Darkness" and "Picture This: The Times of Peter Bogdanovich in Archer City, Texas" in 1991.

Hickenlooper was drawn to bold, complex personalities. His 2003 documentary, "Mayor of the Sunset Strip," told the story of Rodney Bingenheimer, a rock-music impresario in 1970s Los Angeles. "Factory Girl" (2006) features an intriguing turn by Sienna Miller as Andy Warhol muse Edie Sedgwick.

During the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Hickenlooper trained the camera on his mayoral cousin for the multi-part documentary, "Hick Town."

He hoped the reality-TV style work about a city mayor would earn a cable TV slot.

It didn't, which is too bad. The film is a revelatory look — in serious and humorous ways — at a mayor and his staff as they face the logistical and political challenges of the convention.

"Without knowing what was going to happen, I knew he would never put Denver in a negative light," Mayor Hickenlooper told The Denver Post last fall when "Hick Town" was screened at the Starz Denver Film Festival. "I knew there would be large parts I find excruciating, but as a whole I knew it would be grounded," the mayor said.

"He's family and I trust him."
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Re: Filmaker George Hickenlooper, cousin of Denver"s mayor f

Postby 82_28 » Mon Nov 01, 2010 11:31 am

Cryptogon also seems to think this to be a story of interest:

http://cryptogon.com/?p=18560

Clips of "Casino Jack" at link.

(make note, I was about to throw together a post about Colorado, Casinos, freemasonry, mining, the geographical shape of CO etc just a couple weeks ago. I never got around to it, because I needed to think about it some more.)
There is no me. There is no you. There is all. There is no you. There is no me. And that is all. A profound acceptance of an enormous pageantry. A haunting certainty that the unifying principle of this universe is love. -- Propagandhi
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Re: Filmaker George Hickenlooper, cousin of Denver"s mayor f

Postby anothershamus » Mon Nov 01, 2010 12:08 pm

82_28 wrote:Cryptogon also seems to think this to be a story of interest:

http://cryptogon.com/?p=18560

Clips of "Casino Jack" at link.

(make note, I was about to throw together a post about Colorado, Casinos, freemasonry, mining, the geographical shape of CO etc just a couple weeks ago. I never got around to it, because I needed to think about it some more.)


Again it goes to show: If you piss off the wrong people you get whacked with a big stick!
)'(
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Re: Filmaker George Hickenlooper, cousin of Denver"s mayor f

Postby 82_28 » Mon Nov 01, 2010 12:29 pm

For those who don't know, it bears your attention that Hickenlooper is polling just a few points ahead of fascist, lunatic, racist, corporatist Tom Tancredo. If Colorado falls to Tancredo -- oh man. I believe he is on the "tea party" ticket. He used to be "constitution" party and republican and such. Tancredo is a racist, totalitarian mad man.

Colorado will definitely be a state to watch tomorrow.

Image

First "news" hit for him:

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/11/01/tan ... omb-mecca/

Three years ago, Tom Tancredo — who, at the time, was a Republican congressman from Colorado and is now the American Constitution Party’s nominee for governor of that state — made the shocking claim that he would like to bomb the Muslim holy sites in Mecca and Medina. “If it is up to me, we are going to explain that an attack on this homeland of that nature would be followed by an attack on the holy sites in Mecca and Medina,” Tancredo told an Iowa conservative group. “Because that is the only thing I can think of that might deter somebody from doing what they would otherwise do.”

Tancredo’s comments were roundly denounced, even by members of his own party. “Historically, we’ve tried to avoid doing what the Nazis did, and that’s bombing every kind of possible target. … There are some things that are off limits,” Mike Huckabee said at the time. The State Department also slammed Tancredo, saying his comments were “reprehensible” and “absolutely crazy.”

At one point, Tancredo tried to pretend he never suggested bombing Mecca and Medina, telling CNN that it was “absolutely untrue” that he ever said such a thing. Now, however, Tancredo admits he said it, and that he still believes it. During an interview with a local radio station Thursday, when asked if he still believed in bombing Mecca, Tancredo said he did and that it was “quite defensible”:

HOST: If you say, you get involved with talking about bombing Mecca and Medina, is it possible that there would be a fatwa on Colorado?”

TANCREDO: You guys, remember, the statement that I made, in the context in which it was made, I think is quite defensible. I still do, and I still would say it. It is just that I would have absolutely no reason to say it as the governor of the state of Colorado. There are a lot of other issues of which I would become involved. So it is kind of goofy to say, ‘What if he said something like that again?’ Well, you know, the fact is that there is a lot of people who, just as you say, are worried about these issues. But if they are not relevant to the state of Colorado, I am probably not going to be talking about it.

Listen here:

When Tancredo began his third-party run for governor, Colorado GOP chairman Dick Wadhams wondered whether Tancredo would run on a platform of “impeach Obama and bomb Mecca.” Tancredo has already written an op-ed calling for the president’s impeachment, and now the second half of Wadham’s hypothetical has come true.
There is no me. There is no you. There is all. There is no you. There is no me. And that is all. A profound acceptance of an enormous pageantry. A haunting certainty that the unifying principle of this universe is love. -- Propagandhi
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Re: Filmaker George Hickenlooper, cousin of Denver"s mayor f

Postby Nordic » Mon Nov 01, 2010 12:47 pm

Can't help but wonder if it has anything to do with this:

http://www.ketknbc.com/news/tom-delay-t ... -in-prison

Tom DeLay trial continues; Faces up to life in prison

Imagine you're on the jury of this trial, and someone you love gets a photo of the dead Hickenlooper in the mail one day.
"He who wounds the ecosphere literally wounds God" -- Philip K. Dick
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Re: Filmaker George Hickenlooper, cousin of Denver"s mayor f

Postby chump » Mon Nov 01, 2010 5:53 pm

RIP George Hickenlooper

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononho ... ead_at_47/

Filmmaker George Hickenlooper dead at 47

Saturday the Denver Post confirmed that film director George Hickenlooper was dead. The 47-year-old filmmaker was in Denver promoting his new movie Casino Jack, produced by and starring Kevin Spacey as controversial Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, which was showing at the Starz Denver Film Festival. The cause of death is being investigated. He is survived by wife Suzanne and son Charles. It is always disturbing when folks in their prime leave us too soon.

Here’s The Playlist. And the LAT’s Steven Zeitchik spoke to Hickenlooper recently, as he was rooting for his cousin John, mayor of Denver, to win election as Colorado’s governor on Tuesday:

“There’s something unique about the United States, a sense of individual rights and freedoms, and a sense of social and civic responsibility that we contributed to so much of the world,” he said. “We lost that mission in the 1980s and 1990s, when we entered a gilded age, and the culture of individualism became a culture of avarice. It’s seen in every aspect of our culture. Everything is totally commodified, even in box office. Do you care how many Big Macs McDonald’s sold last week? How is that relevant? And that kind of feasting and ravenous thinking has seeped into the pores of our culture such that we’ve lost a sense of ourselves.”

The last time I communicated with Hickenlooper, he and New York documentary director Alex Gibney were facing off in the comments section of a November 2009 TOH blog post over who had the right to use the title “Casino Jack.” Hickenlooper had gone fictional with his film, Casino Jack (which played Toronto and other fests; I see it on Monday) while Gibney had stuck to the doc approach with Casino Jack and the United States of Money, which earned $177,000 at the U.S. box office for Magnolia Pictures.

Hickenlooper made his name by directing the must-see 1991 documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, an exhaustive portrait of filmmaker Francis Coppola during the filming of Apocalypse Now!. Hickenlooper’s last three films were indie projects that did not connect with wide audiences: the Edie Sedgwick biopic Factory Girl, starring Sienna Miller (TWC, 2006), the documentary Mayor of the Sunset Strip (2003), and The Man From Elysian Fields (2001).

Hickenlooper was preparing to shoot in November the drama How to Make Love Like an Englishman starring Pierce Brosnan as a professor. Alas, that will now not happen.


http://www.firstshowing.net/2010/11/01/ ... ead-at-47/

'Casino Jack' Director George Hickenlooper Found Dead at 47
November 1, 2010
Source: The New York Times, The Wrap
by Ethan Anderton

Over the past couple months the festival circuit has been graced by the presence of director George Hickenlooper, the man behind such films as the Apocalypse Now behind-the-scenes documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse, Factory Girl and, most recently, Casino Jack starring Kevin Spacey as hated lobbyist Jack Abramoff. However, whilst in Denver, Colorado visiting his cousin, mayor John Hickenlooper, and attending yet another film festival, The New York Times reports that the filmmaker was found dead over the weekend. At 47 years-old, Hickenlooper has apparently died of natural causes and no foul play is expected. Read on!
As far as his friends and family are aware, Hickenlooper had not been experience any health problems and the director had been quite energetically, and excitedly promoting Casino Jack at various film festivals in Toronto, Austin and other U.S. locales. Documentarian Mogran Spurlock even chronicled some of his festival activities in the AMC documentary Committed, an hour-long chronicle of four different filmmakers as they find themselves caught up in the hustle and bustle of the Toronto International Film Festival. From that documentary alone, you could really get a sense of Hickenlooper's warmth, passion and humble demeanor.

From The Wrap, Roger Ebert remorsed, "The is hearbtreaking," while Casino Jack star Kevin Spacey recently made a statement about the tragic death of the filmmaker:

"I can’t believe he's gone because George was so alive, bubbling with energy, drive, commitment, an open heart and a brilliant sense of humor. He was one of a kind. My experience working with him was nothing short of fantastic: from our prison visit with Jack Abramoff, to script meetings, pre-production discussions and finally our first day of shooting. From that day until our last event premiering Casino Jack in Toronto last month, he was a joy to be around. His sensibility and outlook served his everyday. All of us who knew him – who had the chance to collaborate with him – who saw the child in him that he never lost - always looking at life with wonder and curiosity – will miss him with enormous admiration and affection. Tonight I raise a glass in his honor. Rest in peace, my friend."

I think we can all join Mr. Spacey in raising our glasses to George Hickenlooper, a man who dabbled in documentaries and fact-based dramas, and a loved filmmaker and friend to many in his field. In addition to his aforementioned work, the director was also responsible for directing the short film Some Call It a Sling Blade which Billy Bob Thornton wrote and directed before it was adapted into the feature length film Sling Blade. The industry has lost a truly gifted talent behind the camera and our thoughts go out to his friends and family.


Image

Hickenlooper, Tancredo (Constitution Party), Maes (Tea Party) for gov... I might have to vote dem!? Damn!
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Re: Filmaker George Hickenlooper, cousin of Denver"s mayor f

Postby 82_28 » Mon Nov 01, 2010 7:13 pm

Hickenlooper, Tancredo (Constitution Party), Maes (Tea Party) for gov... I might have to vote dem!? Damn!


Oh god yeah you better be voting Democrat! I remember that fuck 15 years ago when he would fill in for Mike Rosen on KOA. I don't remember much or any content, but remember becoming so livid at the guy.

And yes, RIP George.
There is no me. There is no you. There is all. There is no you. There is no me. And that is all. A profound acceptance of an enormous pageantry. A haunting certainty that the unifying principle of this universe is love. -- Propagandhi
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Re: Filmaker George Hickenlooper, cousin of Denver"s mayor f

Postby 82_28 » Mon Nov 01, 2010 11:28 pm

I just spoke to my dad in Denver and he's really worried about the gov's race. He said just about everybody out by him has Tancredo signs in their lawn and shit. He lives in the south suburbs.

C'mon Denver, come through! This is one guy who cannot win!
There is no me. There is no you. There is all. There is no you. There is no me. And that is all. A profound acceptance of an enormous pageantry. A haunting certainty that the unifying principle of this universe is love. -- Propagandhi
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Re: Filmaker George Hickenlooper, cousin of Denver"s mayor f

Postby Wombaticus Rex » Tue Nov 02, 2010 1:30 am

82_28 wrote:(make note, I was about to throw together a post about Colorado, Casinos, freemasonry, mining, the geographical shape of CO etc just a couple weeks ago. I never got around to it, because I needed to think about it some more.)


Too weird. I was talking about this for the past several days and sketching out a brainsturbator post. Very similar lines, Coors-based, NORAD infused and built around this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Life_C ... ,_Colorado)#Campus_and_facilities

Casinos and Colorado, I know nothing about. I, too, was originally inspired by a friend remarking on how weird Colorado is, in terms of being the only perfectly geometric state on the map.
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Re: Filmaker George Hickenlooper, cousin of Denver"s mayor f

Postby 82_28 » Tue Nov 02, 2010 1:56 am

Yeah, I need to get Ubuntu up and running on this new laptop of mine. I've been running the Win7 that came with it because Ubuntu 10.10 64 bit doesn't recognize the touchpad on this VAIO. I already have some sort of virus or some shit. Anyhow, this is a long way of saying that I lost all of my links that I had collected to go into it what I mentioned. That is definitely weird though, wombat.
There is no me. There is no you. There is all. There is no you. There is no me. And that is all. A profound acceptance of an enormous pageantry. A haunting certainty that the unifying principle of this universe is love. -- Propagandhi
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Re: Filmaker George Hickenlooper, cousin of Denver"s mayor f

Postby 82_28 » Tue Nov 02, 2010 2:15 am

If you feel like fucking around with searches though.

Search for the history of Central City/Black Hawk

FOUR corners

four 90 degree angles in the shape of the state

The fact that Mormonism was essentially created out of Masonry or at least by freemasons.

The mining

The gold

A 33 storey tower that was built in the valley of a mountain on Richman street -- the tallest building between Denver and SLC.

The 33 Chilean miners

There's a masonic cemetery in Central City

God I wish I had those links again. I had a whole bunch of connections I was working on before I crashed.

Here's one I remember which set the whole thing off:

http://www.westword.com/2010-10-14/news ... tral-city/

I'll see if I can't work on it again. Fuck windows. But it's gonna be tough. The inspiration I had has worn off a bit.

The OP certainly helps to get me going again.
There is no me. There is no you. There is all. There is no you. There is no me. And that is all. A profound acceptance of an enormous pageantry. A haunting certainty that the unifying principle of this universe is love. -- Propagandhi
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Re: Filmaker George Hickenlooper, cousin of Denver"s mayor f

Postby Wombaticus Rex » Tue Nov 02, 2010 2:01 pm

I didn't realize Mormons had much of a presence in Colorado, but that's me, always finding new ways to be naive and think conventionally.

I didn't even know Colorado had casinos until yesterday...thanks for this WestWord link, it's very tasty so far.

Found this in my pile of printed articles I keep by the bathroom this morning: http://www.rickross.com/reference/funda ... nd196.html

It's a Jeff Sharlet article you've probably read already about the Dominionist nexus in Colorado Springs.
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Re: Filmaker George Hickenlooper, cousin of Denver"s mayor f

Postby Nordic » Tue Nov 02, 2010 10:03 pm

Don't forget about Rocky Flats.

FWIW:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Flats_Plant



BTW a friend of mine who knew Hickenlooper a bit said he was extremely fat. Maybe not the healthiest guy in the world.
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Re: Filmaker George Hickenlooper, cousin of Denver"s mayor f

Postby 82_28 » Tue Nov 02, 2010 11:20 pm

Thank god. Hickenlooper in basically a landslide. What good are these polls then? They were saying they were just mere points away from one another.
There is no me. There is no you. There is all. There is no you. There is no me. And that is all. A profound acceptance of an enormous pageantry. A haunting certainty that the unifying principle of this universe is love. -- Propagandhi
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Re: Filmaker George Hickenlooper, cousin of Denver"s mayor f

Postby munkiex » Wed Nov 03, 2010 11:48 am

82_28 wrote:What good are these polls then? They were saying they were just mere points away from one another.


social engineering
My favorite newspaper story ever -- it made me feel that maybe all that stuff I spouted wasn't complete BS
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