Young Chang
NEWPORT BEACH -- Film composer Brian Tyler used to jam here in garages
with the doors scrolled open and passersby stopping to hang out.
The skies were sunny, everything was breezy, the air smelled slightly
of salt.
The mood and overall beauty of the city helped nurture an era of bands
and rock and roll, said the Newport Beach native and composer for
"Frailty," a Bill Paxton film opening Friday.
The same scenic blessings attracted Hollywood heavyweights to
Newport's harbor in the '50s and '60s, making the city somewhat of a
watering hole for entertainers.
Seaside attractions beckoned movies to get filmed here and stars to
even stay here.
The city also produced its own headliners. Newport-Mesa schools boast
an alumni list including Tyler, screenwriter David McKenna, Sugar Ray
frontman Mark McGrath and "Charlie's Angels" director McG -- whose Corona
del Mar High School teachers would know him as Joseph McGinty.
It's no wonder the Newport Beach Film Festival spends a week every
year celebrating films -- the art, the glitz and the city's connection to
Hollywood, which runs deep.
"I grew up here, I live here now and it is the greatest place in the
world to live except for the restaurants," said McKenna, whose movies
include "American History X," "Blow" and "Body Shots." "If I could take
L.A.'s restaurants or New York's restaurants and put them here, I'd be in
heaven."
Tyler, who has scored for such movies as "Panic," "Plan B," "Vampires:
Los Muertos," "The Fast and the Furious," "Six-String Samurai" and
television series "The Education of Max Bickford" considers Newport Beach
an antidote for the more hectic pace of Los Angeles, his current home.
Tony-Award winning producer Don Gregory cited the same reason for
living here.
"It's a beach community and there's water," he said. "People find that
very relaxing especially in the entertainment field where tensions and
stress run high."
A sandy spot to smell the roses
As an active producer about to remake the 1950 film "Harvey" with
Miramax, Gregory said Newport's sights help him to relax but also to
work.
On any given day, with the phone at his ear and the ocean just out his
window, Gregory said he'll wheel and deal and create and develop and then
stop to notice the sunset and even smell the roses.
"There's no smelling of roses in L.A.," he said.
And that may be why celebrities including Humphrey Bogart, Lauren
Bacall, Greta Garbo, Bing Crosby and a roster of other entertainers
