NEWS- Site Upgrades through May 30th - We will be upgrading our site's video database through the end of May. If you're looking for content that's now unavailable, check back as its only temporarily offline. Please remember that Dynamic Rain and Thunder makes movies about dinosaurs and sometimes that takes awhile.
Dynamic Rain and Thunder: Always Lookin' At The Bright Side.
The Dynamic Rain and Thunder Film Company
We're an independent film company founded in March 2000. Now in our 12th year, we're looking forward to producing our seventh full length feature comedy. At our heart, Dynamic Rain and Thunder is an organization of artists who love comedy, drama and the creative power of independent film. AS ALWAYS - WE'RE BRAVER THAN A BABY OCTOPUS!
Abby
|
Abby is the lead female and Lane's Colorado love interest, best friend and roomate in Temptations Revelations Karma. She's certainly an alcoholic who pushes away the man she loves. Abby gets a second chance by cleaning up her act and meeting Lane's jerk of an ex boss, Mr Kheil.
|
MoviesActorSherrie |
| Inspiration (AJ Gonzales): TRK needed three love interests for Lane and Abby served as both his starting point and the woman he felt he needed to get back to. For the story, that meant Abby had to have some faults to drive Lane away. I knew someone similar to Abby who had many of the same traits but nothing on the level that Sherrie brought to the character. Sherrie took the character from "ha ha who who we''ll have some drinks" to "yikes, she loves him but hates herself and she's destroying their relationship". I watched this happen while filming and it was heart wrenching. |
Ana Cazares
|
Ana Cazares is the woman who has $200,000 worth of gold in her head. Yes you read that right. Since all that gold is just waiting for someone to cut her head off, well Ugly Days in Idiotvylle began. At the start of Ugly Days Ana is dating the ever finacially struggling Govornor of Colorado, Clyde Ramirez. She convinces him to fire Pete Lemansky and hire her as the state's treasurer to get things turned around. The reason she chose Clyde for a mate though, was for protection from the many scumbags who would do her harm for the gold in her head. As Clyde faces an uphill re-election, he too turns against Ana.
|
MovieUgly Days in Idiotvylle ActorAngi |
|
Inspiration (AJ Gonzales): I get asked about Ana's gold more often than anything else. What does it mean? Where did the idea come from? I wanted Ugy Days to be as creatively unique as possible and having people chase a briefcase of cash around just didn't appeal to me back when we were jstarting out. Since Ugly Days was meant to be a surreal dark comedy, I thought what better place to put the gold, then in her head? Her life would be in constant danger and it's so out there we not really killing people. I have never liked the idea of killing people in movies. and the night we shot the scene of Ana's death, I said I would never do it again. I don't know if I will always keep that vow, but that's why Ana's "murder" is the only one in all these years. |
Annette
|
Annette is one of three "hostesses" working at Casa Roja in Mexico. She becomes Lane's love interest in the story once the plot has moved to Mexico. She's Felipe's favorite employee and works at Casa Roja at the suggestion of her husband Pa-ul.
|
MovieActorBig X |
|
Inspiration (AJ Gonzales) In 2004 I vacationed in Mexico and met many of the real life inspirations for the "Mexican" cast in TRK. There was a real Annette and she had a very similar life, though her husband wasn't the source for Pa-ul. When filming began for TRK, i was so thrilled about the cast and what they could do with their characters, I made up my mind to leave "who Lane ends up with" open and shoot several scenes with different variations. When we were shooting in Mexico, seeing Lane and Annette together just closed the book on the debate. One of the elements in TRK which is now seen in a very different light is the desire of Annette to leave Mexico for the USA. Illegal Immigration wasn't the flash point in 2005/2006 that it became just a few years later. |
Best Friend Gabe
|
Best Friend Gabe, is role Gabe is slated to play in "Beware of The Captain". Strangely enough, the character is the best friend to Jasmin Loya, one of the story's central characters. Gabe joins Jasmin, her older sister Gricel and Gricel's fiancee, Dewey Beers on their vacation to Mexico. Once Dewey has abandoned them and Gricel is led away by The Captain, Gabe follows Jasmin in her search for her sister. |
MovieBeware of The Captain ActorGabe |
| Inspiration (AJ Gonzales): The characters in Jasmin's storyline need to show a clear moral supiority to the rest of the self serving and what or better whom, could be more wholesome and true than Gabe? As a comedy, I also couldn't resist adding Gabe's Gabisms to the mix with Jasmin's airhead mistakes and Sebastian's acciedent prone situations. |
Big Bad Wolf
|
Serving as the official guard dog to The Union of Sleepy-Tyme Beddy-Bye Folks, the Big Bad Wolf constantly annoys Miller Rafferty while she's on the phone and is the first to chase down Sheila the Filthy Rat.
|
MovieThe Union of Sleepy-Tyme Beddy-Bye Folks!
ActorMike K |
| Inspiration (AJ Gonzales): The Big Bad Wolf was a fun background character that added just enough chaos to the story without changing its focus. Anytime Mike gets on the set, he's gonna bring out the laughs and he certainly did once again. |
Boogie Man
|
Boogie Man serves as the night-time kid-scarer in both Heya Boogie Man and The Union of Sleepy-Tyme Beddy-Bye Folks! A story-book character, Boogie has a wild side, is prone to getting himself in lots of trouble, but generally stays on the good side of things.
|
MovieThe Union of Sleepy-Tyme Beddy-Bye Folks!
ActorAndy M |
| Inspiration (AJ Gonzales): Boogie stayed very similar between HBM and The Union, essentially an out of control puppydog with a heart. The biggest difference in the two versions is that in HBM, Chester was his "straight man" and in The Union, Chester was even more out of control. The credit for most of Boogie's development really has to go to Andy M. |
Bordos Badger
|
The Union of Sleepy-Tyme Beddy-Bye Folks! begins with Bordos Badger being once again rejected as a children's story book writer. Since he hates kids and wants to rule the world, he decides to give up writing and apply at The Union to become the New Sandman. When Chester Machogany gets the job, Bordos and his sidekcik Sheila the Filthy Rat decide to destroy the Union of Sleep-Tyme Beddy-Bye Folks!
|
MovieThe Union of Sleepy-Tyme Beddy-Bye Folks!
ActorGreg |
| Inspiration (AJ Gonzales): If you have watched the Union and wonder if it was fun to make, I can tell you I still laugh just thinking of the scenes I directed with Greg as Bodos. He was the perfect foil for Darrell's Chester Machogany, knowing just how to layer the differences between the two way over the top characters. Bad without being evil so often comes out as just stupid, but Greg nailed it. |
Boxhead
|
Boxhead, a man who wears a box on his head, is Sheila's right hand man in "Beware of The Captain". Together they desert an abandoned mental health clinic and by luck end up on the trail of The Captain. Boxhead is seen as helpful, yet disturbed, Always loyal to Sheila, together they provide the clear comedy storyline to BTC. |
MovieBeware of The Captain ActorNot Cast |
| Inspiration (AJ Gonzales): For us to be able to use Sheila the Filthy Rat convincingly in a movie like Beware of The Captain, we needed to show that she has some difficulties with reality, and thus made her a mental health patient. By the time we see the clinic in BTC, its run down and empty, expect for Sheila and Boxhead. I thought if you're going to have a grown woman running around Mexico in a rat costume, why not give her a best friend who wears a box on his head? |
Brenda
|
Brenda is a documentary filmmaker, eternally past due on her editing studio's rent. She's making a documentary concerning Lane and Abby and what caused their relationship to end. Brenda connects with Abby, Jake, Rudy and her landlord, Stan.
|
MovieTemptations Revelations Karma ActorAngi |
| Inspiration (AJ Gonzales): If I were to analyze Brenda's character, I'd say she represents DRandT in TRK. The outsde filmmaker looking in, and of course we have to goof heavily on ourselves which is why Brenda's work and life is such a trainwreck. |
Carmen
|
Carmen is one of three "hostesses" working at Casa Roja in Mexico who become involved with Lane and his friends during their vacation. The wildest of the three, she sets the tone for the party atmosphere then shows regret about her life while drinking the "Rudy Special" with Gabe. Carmen has important scenes with Lane, Gabe, Rudy, Jake, Felipe and George.
|
MovieTemptations Revelations Karma ActorLaura |
| Inspiration (AJ Gonzales) There was a real Carmen and she was as every bit sexy and incredibly wild as Laura's portrayal. What Laura brought to the role was the courage to play it as written, and there' s no doubt in my mind had we cast an actress with less confidence, the Carmen character simply would not have worked. |
Chef Gabe
|
Chef Gabe serves as the Culinary Delivery Specialist for The Union. Loyal, friendly and always willing to help out, Chef Gabe is the real brains in the organization, though he never takes credit for the issues he solves. The Tooth Fairy is madly in love with him, causing Gabe alarm during the course of the movie, though he relents to her pursit at the end.
|
MovieThe Union of Sleepy-Tyme Beddy-Bye Folks!
ActorGabe |
|
Inspiration (AJ Gonzales): Keeping my trend of writing characters who have jobs they seemingly never do, or do well, Chef Gabe never actually cooks in The Union. The purpose he serves is to hold the characters together, interacting extensively with Chester, Toothy, Pete Lemanksy and Peter Pumkineater. Actor Comments (Gabe): Awesome movie to shoot. We shot most of it at Andrew's house and it was great to see him start to piece together scenes right after we finished them. I really like to fall down in different ways, and this role offered a lot of that. The hardest part was definitely pretending the Tooth Fairy was ugly. |
Chester Machogany
|
Chester Machogany is a tornado of energy that tears through everything and everyone he meets. Chosen by Santa as the New Sandman, (he beat out Bordos Badger for the job) Chester's just getting settled at The Union of Sleepy-Tyme Beddy-Bye Folks! when Bordos vows to destroy them.
|
MovieThe Union of Sleepy-Tyme Beddy-Bye Folks!
ActorDarrell |
| Inspiration (AJ Gonzales): I wanted the Union's hero to be just like a kid, a high energy kid that doesn't listen too well. I wanted the character to be so volitile he posed more of a threat to the bad guys than they posed to him. |
Chuck's Girlfriend
|
Chuck's Girlfriend appears in three key scens of TRK and adds the layers of social continuity needed to establish Lane's friends lives before Mexico. She's supportive of Chuck but not demanding that he quits drinking, which brings the ire of Chuck's Mom.
|
MoviesActorKristina
|
| Inspiration (AJ Gonzales): Kristina really took a small role and ran with it with this character. It would have been so easy to just play it as the "neglected mate to a an addict" and from watching her do it, I only ever get the sense she's in love with the guy and her own emotions about his lifetsyle take a backseat to his needs. Bravo once again to Kristina. |
Chuck's Mom
|
Chuck, the friend too sick to go to Mexico, dies during Lane's trip. Chuck's mom appears at the funeral. Her first appearence is in the beginning, when she analyzes Lane's partying lifestyle and his effect on Chuck.
|
MoviesActorDiane |
| Inspiration (AJ Gonzales): I don't see it happening in the near future, but I'd love to explore more of Lane's life with his friends before the events of TRK. In my pre script notes, Lane, Rudy, Chuck and Grover were lifelong friends with Chuck's Mom servcing as den mother to the group. . |
Clyde
|
Colorado Governor Clyde Ramirez is one of the main antagonists in Ugly Days in Idiotvylle. He's decided the only way to relieve the state's budget shortfalls is to kill his girlfirend Ana Cazares for the $200,000 worth of gold she has in her head.
|
MovieUgly Days in Idiotvylle ActorPhil |
| Inspiration (AJ Gonzales) Still the big one after all these years! Wow, watching Darrell play Clyde was a lesson in watching a professional go to work on his craft. Darrell's Clyde came out of nowhere, he took what I wrote and increased the insanity, the anger, the frustration but somehow made the guy understandable. I based having three antagonists in Ugly Days - Clyde, Gary and Selso off The Good The Bad and The Ugly's three leads, so I was prepared to let Darrell pull a Tuco and upstage the other characters, but it sertainly wasn't planned that way. |
Crazy Beaver
|
The Crazy Beaver appears during Chef Gabe's Sleepy-Tyme News segments to harrass and assault Chef Gabe in humorous ways.
|
MovieThe Union of Sleepy-Tyme Beddy-Bye Folks!
ActorMatt G |
| Inspiration (AJ Gonzales): One of my goals with the Union was to have our adult actors acting as if they were kids, so I didn't plan on using any children for the Union. The Crazy Beaver was just a fun character to giv Gabe's news segments that added kick for kids watching. |
Deputy Dad
|
Deputy Dad is a member of The Union of Sleepy Tyme Beddy Bye Folks and serves as a mature, parental force to the others. Deputy Dad is usually heading out the door to go fishing.
|
MovieThe Union of Sleepy-Tyme Beddy-Bye Folks!
ActorF. Robert Watson |
| Inspiration (AJ Gonzales): Deputy Dad was used as a background character for the Union, just a good natured guy who's purpose and reason for being in The Union was never fully explained. In my script notes, I had laid out several scenes which utilized Deputy Dad more, but I decided in the end to leave most of the character's details up to the viewer's imagination. |
Dewey Beers
|
Dewey Beers is the central character in Dynamic Rain and Thunder's unproduced project, "Beware of The Captain". An assassin, he takes a job to hunt down The Captain, an evil force killing women in Mexico. Dewey is engaged to Gricel, one of three Loya sisters who each hold their own storylines in the script. He's also having a passionate affair with Yaria, a fellow assassin with a dark past. Dewey takes Gricel, her sister Jasmin and Jasmin's best friend Gabe to Mexico and abruptly abandons them. In his pursuit of The Captain, Dewey more of less forces the mild mannered Tamaledo into being his best friend and right hand man, despite the fact they don't speak the same language.
As Dewey's lies unravel and his relationship with Yaria breaks, he cracks, finding himself lost without the love of his mistress. |
MovieBeware of The Captain ActorAndy M |
| Inspiration (AJ Gonzales): Dewey was created with Andy Moore in mind for the role. I wan to show Dewey as a stable professional guy in a loving relationship merely taking a vacation to Mexico, then uncover his true profession, uncover an affiar, have him completey subjugate a total stranger into being his sidekick, throw emotional distress at him and turn him into a drunken heartbroken idiot. |
Easter Bunny (HBM Version)
|
The Easter Bunny character in Heya Boogie Man is a wild, drunken loner who acts as a negative influence on Boogie Man, bringing out Boogie's rebellious side just as Boogie and Chester were growning closer as friends.
|
MovieHeya Boogie Man ActorBen |
| Inspiration (AJ Gonzales): HBM wasn't created with kids in mind, (see the remake "The Union"), we wanted a comedy for adults based on children's characters. Ben added more than just crazy drunk to the role, he took the character as a essentially a person who's been at his job far too long, well past the point of burn out and wants to get fired, but he can't, as he is the Easter Bunny. |
Esther Unger
|
Esther is the much younger wife to Tony Unger in Are Are Having A Good Day? By the time of the story, Esther has grown bitter and mean in her relationship with Tony. She confides in her sister Sue, yet is fully finished with her marriage before Good Day begins. As a last straw, she seduces Tony's brother Walter to drive Tony from the home.
|
MoviesAre You Having A Good Day? |
|
Inspiration (AJ Gonzales): I have to thank Angi for taking this role. Its not glamorous, Esther is no one's role model, but Angi played it so an audience could relate and decide if Esther's the cause of Tony's slump in life or a victim of it . Essentially Esther's looked to Tony as a father figure, a guy who at the time was fun, seemed rationale and very loving. They met at a bar shortly after Walter's accident, about ten years before the events in Good Day. As Tony's depression kicked in, Esther was soon forced to take on more responsibilities. As Tony tuned out and sought to just get by in life, Esther lost her respect for him. |
Evil Ray Montoya
|
Evil Ray Montoya is Colorado Governor Clyde Ramirez's right hand goon and all out dimwitted pyscho. Not bright but very deadly.
Evil Ray (R) Clyde (L) |
MoviesUgly Days in Idiotvylle ActorPam |
| Inspiration (AJ Gonzales): Evil Ray was written with someone much larger in mind, and a guy, but having Pam do the role made the character exactly the type of henchman Clyde would have in his frustrated world. |
Felipe
|
Felipe owns a popular strip joint/brother called Casa Roja in the unnamed Mexican resort town that Lane and his friends visit in TRK. Tough, protective and business minded, Felipe shows his fathely side when it comes to helping his girls find better lives.
|
MovieActorPhil |
| Inspiration (AJ Gonzales) There was a real Felipe who inspired this role and Phil's portrayal is so close to the real guy. Phil took it further though, creating a character who wore his emotions on his sleeve and adding the layers of sentimentality to the Mexico scenes the story really needed. |
Gary Two Trips
|
Gary Two Trips is one of the three main antagonists in "Ugly Days in Idiotvylle". The character also appears in "Beware of The Captain" and will be featured again in "Grab it N Growl". Gary's a scumbag, cheap con artists and a true villian. He often partners with Selso Martinez. Gary's younger brother Mickey is more successful in crime with a more polished image. Gary has a sister named Molly who's alluded to in Ugly Days, but she's never appeared as a character. Will Gary change? Gary's habit of smoking cocaine foilies was shown in Ugly Days and is written into the BTC script. There are no plans to continue this in Grab it N Growl.
Selso (L) Gary (R) |
MoviesUgly Days in Idiotvylle Beware of The Captain Grab it N Growl ActorKurt |
| Inspiration (AJ Gonzales): I was once in a conference room with four recent Korean immigrants, an heir to a major American company and a Mexican midget watching them smoke cocaine. That's where I picked up Gary's determination to just do whatever the hell he feels like. Just before the surreal meeting, I met a guy named Gary who I still think of when writing the character. This "real Gary" was in his 40's, working a total crap job he hated and waiting on life's next asskicking. When you listened to him though, you heard about a past life where he was in control. If Gary's anything to me, it's that, just a guy controlling the world around him. |
George
|
George is the American cab driver living a life on the low down in Mexico. He drives a cab all over the unnamed Mexican town in TRK, but picks up most of his work driving Americans to and from Felipe's Casa Roja brothel. George befriends Lane and his friends during their trip, hanging out and drinking and smoking pot with his fellow Americans.
|
MoviesActorGreg |
|
Inspiration (AJ Gonzales): George serves a vital link in TRK as he provides a plausible way for the three Casa Roja women to get between the club and the rental house. The real reason George is in the script is because I just wanted to work with Greg again, he adds so much to any role he has. The back story on George is that he lives in Mexico to avoid problems in the US. His problems aren't discussed in the final version and we plan to have George play a minor role in Grab It N Growl. |
Gricel Loya
|
The oldest Loya daughter, Gricel is engadged to Dewey Beers, and travels to Mexcio with Dewey, her younger sister Jasmin and Jasmin's best friend, Gabe. Gricel's dreams of a happy life with Dewey end when Dewey abandons the sisters and Gabe in Mexico. Dewey resumes a passionate affair he's been having with fellow female assassin Yaria. Heartbroken, and drinking heavily, Gricel falls for the advances of The Captain. When Jasmin and Gabe discover she's missing and what The Captain's intentions with her are they set out to rescue her. |
MovieBeware of The Captain ActorNot Cast |
| Inspiration (AJ Gonzales) I enjoyed writing the three loya sister characters, seeing where each of their personalities would conflict or compliment the others. As the oldest, Gricel took on the maternal role, rushing into a proposed marriage with Dewey to rebuild the family life she lost in childhood. She decided against college or a professional career and has no interest in living the party lifestyle. With Dewey, she hoped to gain a stable, wealthy home from which she could then assist her sisters. |
Grover
|
Grover is Lane's best friend and Yessenia's boyfirend in TRK. In flash backs we see Grover is against Lane remaining with Abby and against Lane drinking so much. He truly has his best friend's interest at heart. When Abby kicks Lane out, Grover invites Lane to stay with him. Lane and Yessenia then continue their affair. Grover doesn't drink alcohol which actually gets him in trouble as he gets horribly sick from drinking Pa-ul's tainted orange juice. Grover spends most of the Mexico trip sick in bed.
|
MovieTemptations Revelations Karma ActorKevin |
| Inspiration (AJ Gonzales) Creating Lane's friends was the most rewarding writing process in TRK for me. Who he knew and why he was friends with that patricular personality type was fascinating. Grover was created as he was both a rougher, tougher character than Lane, but also more responsible and moral. I loved the fact that just because someone could or should be a bad guy he turns out to be a better person than the story's actual hero. |
Gwen Balzac
|
Gwen Balzac works for Satan. Along with Lamont and Henry Viscus, she's out in the world looking for the weak, weary and downtrodden, ready to offer them paradise for their souls. After Henry's failed attempts to get Tony Unger to sell his soul, Gwen gives it her best shot.
|
MoviesAre You Having A Good Day? |
|
Inspiration (AJ Gonzales): I loved creating Henry Viscus' sinister competition in Good Day, and Gwen was the funnest. Tina played the character so well and jumped through so many hoops to get the right mix of comedy/realism for her scenes. |
Henry Viscus
|
Henry Viscus plays the satanic temptor to Tony Unger in "Are You Having A Good Day". Raised in a satanist cult, he prowls through life looking for the weak in spirit to sell their souls Satan. In the movie we learn that Henry's mom is now a devout Christian and he begins to regret the pain he' s caused others.
|
MoviesAre You Having A Good Day? ActorAndy M |
|
Inspiration (AJ Gonzales): Henry Viscus is one of those character I love but have little idea where he came from. Perhaps a lot of Henry came from watching Andy and Ben screw with Darrel (Tony) during the Heya Boogie Man set, those two had so much fun playing pranks on Darrell it was deviiish. When it came time to write Good Day, I wanted to turn Andy loose on Darrell and see how much fun we could have. Henry was vital of course, for Good Day to work, he had to be a total villian at the begining but be able to change his ways by the end. Andy M was perfect for Henry and this is my favorite Andy M role. |
House Guest Gabe
|
House Guest Gabe is an American on vacation in Mexico during TRK. Not originally part of Lane's group, Gabe is the current occupant of the house Lane and his friends come to rent. During the course of the Mexican segment of the film, Gabe develops relationships with Lane, Rudy and Carmen. Gabe is also seen as Pa-ul's friend.
|
MovieActorGabe |
|
Inspiration (AJ Gonzales): Gabe walked away with more comic scenes in TRK than any other actor and that's exactly why I used him to tie up a few characters and storylines. When I got done writing TRK and Gabe wasn't in it, I knew somehow he'd fit just where we needed him, and that's what happened. In real life, I was on the other end of the house guest surprise. Four other American college students were living at the house I was assigned to for intensive spanish classes at the University of Sab Jose, Costa Rica. According to the program's policy, they weren't supposed to be there, but the family was earning needed extra income so I didn't say anything. Actor Comments (Gabe): These scenes were shot at a combination of four different houses if I'm remembering right. Between the trip to Mexico and my scenes with Laura, I owe Andrew a lot for this one. Fun Fact: I wasn't doing a convincing job conducting my imaginary orchestra, so Andrew flew in the entire Chicago Symphony Orchestra in for the weekend. It really helped. Not an actual fact. |
More Articles...
|
Why hide it? |
Suffering |
Dynamic Rain and Thunder:Keen Ability to Sniff Out Danger! |
| Contact Dynamic Rain and Thunder | About Dynamic Rain and Thunder | |
