AMERICAN BADASS: A MICHAEL MADSEN RETROSPECTIVE SCREENED AT GRAUMAN’S CHINESE THEATRE.
Los Angeles, California (November 23, 2020) – Hollywood’s favorite bad boy had his moment at the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Monday, November 16th. Michael Soren Madsen best known as the ear cutting madman in Quentin Tarantinos’ Reservoir Dogs, imprinted his hands and cowboy boots on the iconic Chinese Theatre’s cement.
Later that evening, American Badass: A Michael Madsen Retrospective documentary co-produced by Playmaker Pictures and Jolia Corp. screened for the first time at the main IMAX theater. The audience knew instinctively they were not walking into a fairy tale, but were nonetheless stunned to see the magnitude of the actor’s roller-coaster ride both in his personal life and in Hollywood.
The documentary was directed by Italian born Dominique Milano, best known for The Plotters, a drama starring Chelsea Handler. Milano who grew up in France, took a hiatus from the Hollywood industry to build an IT consulting firm. He worked as an IT Engineer for Boeing, Amgen, Compaq and Disney. Milano returned to the entertainment industry in 2006 to start production for a second feature film For A Fistful Of Diamonds a comedy western shot in the Mojave Desert.
“Working on this documentary was a very challenging task. It took 4 years to complete. My partners Samuel, Todd and the rest of the team put a lot of work into it to get it done. Michael is a unique individual so we had to go back to the drawing board several times in order to get the core right ” said Milano at The Chinese Theatre on Monday.
With a career spanning over 40 years and 170 films, Michael Madsen has played iconic characters in box office hits such as Kill Bill Vol 1, Kill Bill Vol 2, Sin City, Hell Ride, Die Another Day, Donnie Brasco, Species, The Getaway, Thelma & Louise and Free Willy. Madsen is notably recognized for his role as Mr. Blonde, in Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs.
Michael Madsen was born in Chicago, Illinois to Elaine Madsen, an Emmy-winning writer, producer, and poet, and Calvin Madsen, a firefighter. He is the brother of Academy Award-nominated actress Virginia Madsen. His paternal grandparents were Danish.
Madsen has received Best Actor awards for his Strength and Honor, New York International Film Festival, the Boston Film Festival and the Downtown Los Angeles Film Festival. Madsen received the Golden Dolphin Award at the 25th Festroia Festival in Portugal, an award also given to veteran actors Kirk Douglas and Robert Mitchum, the actor whose work inspired him to pursue acting. In 2012, Madsen was named President of the first annual Champs Elysees Film Festival in France.
Madsen is well recognized as an accomplished poet. His first book Burning In Paradise with a Foreword by Dennis Hopper, won the Independent Firecracker Award and was later translated into Norwegian. He has a world-wide following with his work, honored at International Poetry Festivals in Genoa, Italy and Mexico. He was the Guest of Honor at the Crossing Border Festival in Netherlands. His book The Complete Poetic Works is an international bestseller. This was followed by his Signs of Life dedicated to his friend, the late Chris Penn.
