Taylor A. Purdee

Taylor Armstrong Purdee is an American director, actor, screenwriter, and folk singer. He is best known for his appearances on American superhero television dramas, as well as his work preserving the documentary films of Academy Award winning Actress/Director Lee Grant. In 2017 it was announced that he would make his narrative directorial debut with the musical film Killian & the Comeback Kids.[1][2]

Taylor A. Purdee
Born
Taylor Armstrong Purdee

New York City, New York, U.S.
EducationFordham University
OccupationFilm director, actor, screenwriter, musician
Years active2007–present
Parent(s)

Personal life

Purdee is the son of actor Nathan Purdee and documentarian Roberta Morris Purdee. Born in New York City, Purdee was raised primarily in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania.[3] Working with the family's production company Karmic Release in his teens, Purdee graduated from the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Performing Arts before attending New York's Fordham University.[4]

Film

While still studying at Fordham, Purdee began work on "This is Honduras," a documentary exploration of life in and around San Pedro Sula, Honduras, the murder capital of the world. Filming in Honduras between academic terms, Purdee edited the film over the next few years. A private screening was held for the film at the Paramount Pictures screening room in New York City before the film premiered as the highest grossing selection of the 2016 Chagrin Documentary Film Festival. The film is expected to be released in time for the 2020 political season.[5]

While at Fordham, Purdee participated in New York's downtown theatre scene appearing in "Pee Pee Poo Poo Papa Face," an experimental piece with text by Young Jean Lee,[6] assistant directing the New York premiere of Maria Irene Fornes' play What of the Night.[7] and overseeing some technical aspects of the beloved Off-Broadway Argentinian spectacles Fuerza Bruta and Wayra: Fuerza Bruta.[8]

In 2015 it was announced on YouTube that Purdee was organizing the preservation and potential re-release of several documentaries directed by Lee Grant.[9] Ahead of Grant's appearance at the 2017 Turner Classic Movies film festival, The Hollywood Reporter and LA Times reported that Grant and Purdee had co-directed a short YouTube video highlighting the public mistreatment of Hillary Clinton at the hands of her male opponents during the 2016 presidential campaign.[10][11] Later that year it was announced that Karmic Release Ltd. had begun production on Killian & the Comeback Kids, a musical film written and directed by Purdee, starring Taylor and Nathan Purdee, Kassie DePaiva, John Donchak, Shane Andries, and Shannon O'Boyle. Shot entirely on location in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania the film features an original soundtrack created by Purdee's folk-rock group The Cumberland Kids.[3][12]

During Killian & the Comeback Kids' post-production period Purdee appeared on the superhero TV shows Gotham and Iron Fist, as well as the surprise Finnish hit Nortti: DragonSlayer666. He has voiced radio ad campaigns for At&T, Bank of America, Ragu, and Spam.[13][14][15]

He has created documentary content on film history for NBC Universal, focusing on subjects like Peter Biskind, Kirk Douglas, Warren Beatty, and Lee Grant. Most recently he and Karmic Release Ltd. co-produced an acclaimed documentary short for Kino Lorber's blu-ray re-release of Hal Ashby's Academy Award nominated debut film The Landlord.[16][17]

COVID-19

Purdee served as the curator for a collection of documentary films directed by Lee Grant which was re-released theatrically for the first time in late 2019, beginning as part of a retrospective on Grant's work at New York's Film Forum.[18] The extended life of the documentary collection in theaters was cut short by theater closures at the onset of the coronavirus outbreak. Purdee was asked to reimagine the series as one of the earliest examples of a virtual cinema release. Adding a series of program notes and new or unreleased interviews with Grant, as well as excerpts from the Kirk Douglas archive, the series was renamed 20th Century Woman: The Documentary Films of Lee Grant. It became the "first virtual repertory series"[19] and received critical praise for bringing Grant's films back into the public eye and highlighting the plight of independent movie theaters during the crisis. [20][21][22][23]

In August 2020 Playbill announced that Hope Runs High would release Purdee's musical film Killian & the Comeback Kids as one of the first new films and only independents to return exclusively to American theaters during the crisis.[24]

Music

Purdee began playing folk music and busking in the parks and subways of New York City. This quickly coalesced into a duo with scientist and songwriter Liam Higgins, a childhood friend. The group's first major work is the original soundtrack and score for Killian & the Comeback Kids, though it has been reported that they are in the midst of recording a long form concept album. The band cites artists as disparate as singer-songwriter Josh Ritter, Bob Dylan, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, and Weird Al Yankovic as inspiration.[12][25][26]

References
  1. Miller, Rudy (August 30, 2017). "Find out how to get on screen in an independent movie". lehighvalleylive.com.
  2. Desk, BWW News. "New Movie About Life And Folk Rock, KILLIAN AND THE COMEBACK KIDS Features Stars From Daytime, Theater And NYC Musicians". BroadwayWorld.com.
  3. "Pennsylvania on the road". July 13, 2018.
  4. "karmicrelease | BIOs". karmicrelease.com.
  5. Piorkowski, Jeff (October 3, 2016). "Former University Heights resident to premier first documentary at Chagrin Film Festival". The Plain Dealer.
  6. "PEE PEE POO POO PA PA FACE". MORGAN GOULD & FRIENDS.
  7. Oliveros, Oliver. "Photo Flash: Fordham University Theatre Company's WHAT OF THE NIGHT?". BroadwayWorld.com.
  8. "Alumni News " Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts". charterarts.org.
  9. "What Sex Am I? Re-Release Facebook Announcement". July 2, 2015 – via YouTube.
  10. "TCM Festival: Lee Grant on Surviving Both the Blacklist and Aging". The Hollywood Reporter.
  11. "Oscar-winner Lee Grant talks classic films, the blacklist and being a female director in Hollywood". Los Angeles Times. April 5, 2017.
  12. "First Song Released from New Movie Killan and The Comeback Kids: "Where We Should Be Today" is Folksy, Melodic and Meaningful".
  13. "Interview: Actor Taylor Purdee Talks His Role on Batman and What's Next".
  14. "New Season of Marvel's Iron Fist Now Up on Netflix: We Chat with Actor Taylor Purdee About this Superhero/Kung Fu Series".
  15. "Interview: American Actor Taylor A. Purdee Talks About His Role in The Finnish Show Dragonslayer666: A Fantastical, Comedic yet Realistic Show For and About Gaming Nerds".
  16. "The Landlord". Trailers From Hell. May 11, 2019.
  17. Bowen, Chuck. "Review: Hal Ashby's The Landlord on Kino Lorber Blu-ray".
  18. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/12/movies/nyc-this-weekend-film-series.html
  19. https://www.wbur.org/artery/2020/04/24/coolidge-corner-theatres-virtual-screening-room-spotlights-lee-grants-documentaries
  20. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/05/01/arts/once-blacklisted-lee-grant-went-win-oscars-make-documentaries/
  21. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/as-a-casualty-of-the-mccarthy-era-lee-grant-was-afraid-to-talk-not-anymore/2020/07/30/01545768-d272-11ea-9038-af089b63ac21_story.html
  22. https://www.pbs.org/video/actor-and-director-lee-grant-lindon-beckford-and-more-c8lmtn/
  23. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/what-to-stream-three-online-releases-of-movies-that-would-have-come-to-theatres
  24. https://www.playbill.com/article/killian-the-comeback-kids-with-taylor-a-purdee-kassie-depaiva-shannon-oboyle-more-eyes-summer-release
  25. "Killian & the Comeback Kids creator Taylor A. Purdee Busks on HU16". March 9, 2018 – via YouTube.
  26. "RCN Spotlight: Karmic Release Ltd. "Killian & the Comeback Kids."". November 28, 2018 – via YouTube.
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