CTU EXCLUSIVE: Hanging Out with 'Stop-Loss' Director Kimberly Peirce

As most of you know, I just returned from a world-wind trip to Los Angeles, California where I had a ball living life LA-style for 5 days thanks to my best friend Natasha, 'Stop-Loss' director Kimberly Peirce, the 2008 Teen Choice Awards, Channing Tatum's mom Kay, and of course, our favorite couple Chenna (aka Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan).

Because I have so much to recap, I'm going to break my trip up into four different articles. For article #1, I'm going to highlight the first couple days of my trip where I got to catch up with Kimberly Peirce at her home/office in Malibu and learn more about what the director's been up to lately. I have a lot to cover, so let's get started...

My trip to LA was jammed-packed pretty much from start to finish. When I arrived last Friday afternoon, my best friend and I grabbed a quick bite to eat before we went home to get ready for dinner at a local sushi place called Tangu. After dinner, we went to a launch party for a new stylist and then we headed over to a luxury hotel in Santa Monica called The Viceroy to meet a few of her friends before we called it a night...and that was just the beginning.

On Saturday, we went to an insanely hard hour and a half long yoga class at Maha Yoga in Brentwood that had me using muscles I did not know even existed (until they started to hurt really badly a few days later that is). After class, I was really happy to find out for sure that my best friend's company and 2008 Teen Choice Awards Sponsor, Neutrogena, was going to be able to give me a ticket for the show (more on the show in a later post).

Believe it or not, it's really hard to get tickets to this particular event, because it's so popular. If you saw the show, you know that practically every big name in young Hollywood was in attendance. Chan, Jenna, and Kay all tried to get me a ticket to no avail, so I really lucked out that my best friend worked for one of the major sponsors. You'll find out exactly how lucky in a later post.

After yoga, I was really excited when I got an email from Kim Peirce confirming that we could meet up with her that day, so we went home to change and headed on over to Malibu. If you have not checked out Kim's official site, then you should definitely go to KimberlyPeirce.com to learn more about the talented director and her past, present, and future projects. The site is really cool, because it's centered around her home office that has the most fabulous views of the Pacific ocean.

Kim was so nice to us. She took the time to help me learn a little more about the industry, let us take a walk on the private beach behind her home where she sometimes plays volleyball with friends like Matthew Mcconaughey, and even let my best friend borrow one of the DVD's she had just watched to research her next project.

One of my favorite parts of our visit was when she allowed me to look through all of the still photography from the set of Channing Tatum's Iraq war drama 'Stop-Loss'. You can check out a few of the high quality photos and an unreleased poster I found below:

Interestingly enough, I learned that Kim collects Barbie dolls from other countries and that she had just seen Chan at the resent 'Pineapple Express' premiere that both Chan and Jenna Dewan attended the Thursday before I arrived in LA.

And although an official announcement has not been made yet, she was excited to tell us all about a new film that she had just successfully pitched. The movie's story board was propped up against her fireplace in the middle of the living room showing a scene by scene breakdown of the entire film. It was really cool to get an insiders perspective on that part of the movie-making process.

Because they are still in negotiations, I can't tell you the title of the film yet (so excited to know something before it hits the pages of Variety). What I can say is that it's going to be Kim's first journey into comedy, and it's a romantic comedy at that. Not something you would expect from the director of dramatic films like 'Boys Don't Cry' or 'Stop-Loss', but you won't want to miss the film that is patterned after her own complicated romantic life.

She is currently working on the first draft of the script, and the goal is to start filming the movie in the next year or so, so Kim is on a very short time table as far as Hollywood movie-making is concerned. I definitely wish her luck with her new project and hope that everyone will support her whenever it releases.

Since the theatrical and DVD releases of the film around the world are coming to a close for the most part, Kim has pretty much wrapped up most of her promotional duties for Channing Tatum's 'Stop-Loss'. As far as the movie is concerned, Australian fans need to be on the lookout, because the film will have it's theatrical release in your country on August 14, 2008. The movie will also release on DVD in the UK on August 18, 2008.

I truly enjoyed my visit with the extremely talented director, and I want to thank her for her time, for all of the Hollywood scoop, and for sharing a bit of her life with all of us.

After we left Kim's we headed home to get ready for dinner. I had made reservations at LA hotspot STK weeks before and my friend also made reservations for us at the popular celeb hang out called The Chateau Marmount. I had my first random celebrity sitings at both places, because David Spade and his party ate dinner in a booth near us and amazingly, Sharon Stone sparked a conversation with me in the bathroom of Chateau. Needless to say, it was a very fun day and incredibly, it only got better in the days to come.

Stay tuned for my next three posts that will cover my LA adventures at the 2008 Teen Choice Awards, my day with Chan's mom Kay, and an amazing dinner with both Chan and Jenna at their favorite restaurant.

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