James Cotten
Encyclopedia
Early life
Cotten was born in Fort SmithFort Smith, Arkansas
Fort Smith is the second-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. With a population of 86,209 in 2010, it is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area, a region of 298,592 residents which encompasses the Arkansas...
, Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
. Following his 8th grade year in Arkansas, his parents moved to Sallisaw, Oklahoma
Sallisaw, Oklahoma
Sallisaw is a city in Sequoyah County, Oklahoma, United States. It is part of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 8,880 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Sequoyah County. It has three highways running through it: U.S. 59, or Kerr Boulevard,...
where they owned a movie rental store. James, known as "Jay" or "JJ" to his friends, quickly became known as a novice movie director making films for classes in high school.
After high school, while attending college, James worked at a local television station in Ft. Smith, Arkansas. While doing a story about a feature film being shot in the area, he was cast in a small role. The film was The Tuskegee Airmen
The Tuskegee Airmen
The Tuskegee Airmen is a 1995 HBO television movie based on the exploits of an actual groundbreaking unit, the first African American combat pilots in the United States Army Air Force, that fought in World War II.-Plot:...
(1995).
With the acting bug, James continued to get his degree and went on a small trip to try his craft in Los Angeles. There he had many stand in roles in movies such as How Stella Got Her Groove Back
How Stella Got Her Groove Back
How Stella Got Her Groove Back is a 1998 romance film, directed by Kevin Rodney Sullivan. The film stars Angela Bassett, Taye Diggs, Whoopi Goldberg and Regina King. This film is an adaptation of Terry McMillan's bestselling novel by the same title...
(1998), and on an episode of Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
.
Film career
James first studied film making at the London International Film School, in London, England. There, he made his first short film, Lifeless.He finished film school at The Los Angeles Film School in 2002. Cotten studied cinematography with many working professionals: Rex Metz (SWAT
SWAT
A SWAT team is an elite tactical unit in various national law enforcement departments. They are trained to perform high-risk operations that fall outside of the abilities of regular officers...
, I Spy
I Spy
I Spy is an American television secret-agent adventure series. It ran for three seasons on NBC from 1965 to 1968 and teamed Robert Culp as international tennis player Kelly Robinson with Bill Cosby as his trainer, Alexander Scott...
), David Klein
David Klein
David Klein is the name of:* David Klein , American artist* David Klein , former governor of the Bank of Israel...
(Chasing Amy
Chasing Amy
Chasing Amy is a 1997 romantic comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith. The central tension revolves around sexuality, sexual history, and evolving friendships. It is the third film in Smith's View Askewniverse series....
, Clerks II
Clerks II
Clerks II is a 2006 American comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith, sequel to his 1994 film Clerks, and his sixth and latest feature film to be set in the View Askewniverse...
), and Michael Barrett (CSI, Bobby
Bobby (2006 film)
Bobby is a 2006 American drama film written and directed by Emilio Estevez. The screenplay is a fictionalized account of the hours leading up to the June 5, 1968 shooting of United States Senator from New York and former U.S. Attorney General Robert F...
, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a 2005 crime/dark comedy film, which engages many conventions of the classic film noir genre in a tongue-in-cheek fashion. It is based, in part, on the novel Bodies Are Where You Find Them by Brett Halliday. The cast includes Robert Downey, Jr., Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan...
). He studied Production Design with Lawrence Paull (Blade Runner
Blade Runner
Blade Runner is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K...
, Escape from LA, Unlawful Entry) and Direction with Paul Verhoven (RoboCop
RoboCop
RoboCop is a 1987 American science fiction-action film directed by Paul Verhoeven. Set in a crime-ridden Detroit, Michigan in the near future, RoboCop centers on a police officer who is brutally murdered and subsequently re-created as a super-human cyborg known as "RoboCop"...
, Starship Troopers
Starship Troopers
Starship Troopers is a military science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein, first published as a serial in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and published hardcover in December, 1959.The first-person narrative is about a young soldier from the Philippines named Juan "Johnnie" Rico and his...
), Donald Petrie
Donald Petrie
Donald Mark Petrie is an American film director.Petrie was born in New York City, New York, the son of Dorothea , a television producer, actor, and novelist, and Daniel Petrie, a director. Petrie has acted and guest-starred on television programs. His first directorial job was on the set of The...
(How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days is a 2003 romantic comedy film, directed by Donald Petrie, starring Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey. It is based on a short cartoon book of the same name by Michele Alexander and Jeannie Long.-Plot:...
, Miss Congeniality), Danielle Suissa (Pocahontas
Pocahontas
Pocahontas was a Virginia Indian notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of Chief Powhatan, the head of a network of tributary tribal nations in Tidewater Virginia...
, Neowolf), and Brad Battersby (Red Letters, Jesus the Driver).
Shortly after graduating from the L.A. Film School, Cotten directed a Roger Corman
Roger Corman
Roger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...
film called Demon Slayer. With that experience, Cotten worked on other movies and set out to make his own movies. The movie was released direct to DVD in 2003. It currently appears on the Sci-Fi Channel
Sci Fi Channel (United States)
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
.
After completion of Demon Slayer, James returned to Van Buren, Arkansas
Van Buren, Arkansas
Van Buren is the second largest city in the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area and the county seat of Crawford County, Arkansas, United States. The city is located directly northeast of Fort Smith at the Interstate 40 - Interstate 540 junction...
and formed Dark Highway Films, an independent film company that produced its first direct to video release in 2007.
Sugar Creek
Sugar Creek (film)
Sugar Creek is a 2007 film. It is a supernatural western thriller, set in 1889 and filmed in Arkansas.-Plot summary:Sugar Creek follows Adam Stanton as he awakes, alone in a field and without his shoes...
is a low budget film that is part fairy tale/morality tale and part horror/Western. The story of Adam, as he is hunted by a mysterious Horseman through a valley where men do hateful things because they have had hateful things done to them, is the story of revenge and redemption, and the irony in between. Sugar Creek
Sugar Creek (film)
Sugar Creek is a 2007 film. It is a supernatural western thriller, set in 1889 and filmed in Arkansas.-Plot summary:Sugar Creek follows Adam Stanton as he awakes, alone in a field and without his shoes...
was nominated at the Bare Bones International Film Festival
Bare Bones International Film Festival
The Bare Bones International Film Festival was founded in 1999 by the Darkwood Film Arts Institute in the city of Muskogee, Oklahoma to showcase low-budget independent movies...
for Best Drama/Thriller, and best in state at the Little Rock Film Festival
Little Rock Film Festival
The Little Rock Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Downtown Little Rock, Arkansas each spring. Based in the historic Little Rock River Market District, home to the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Library, the Little Rock Film Festival has showcased the best in Narrative,...
. Its direct to DVD release was on July 24, 2007.
While funds were raised for Sugar Creek
Sugar Creek
Sugar Creek may refer to:In communities:*Sugar Creek, Indiana, a small town in Shelby County, Indiana*Sugar Creek, Iowa, a township in Poweshiek County, Iowa*Sugar Creek, Missouri, a city in Jackson County, Missouri...
, James was cast in an acting role opposite Ashley Judd
Ashley Judd
Ashley Judd is an American television and film actress, who has played lead roles in films including Ruby in Paradise, Kiss the Girls, Double Jeopardy, Where the Heart Is and High Crimes...
in Joey Lauren Adams
Joey Lauren Adams
Joey Lauren Adams is an American actress who has appeared in more than thirty films. She is known for her distinctive, raspy voice and for her roles in View Askewniverse films, particularly Mallrats and Chasing Amy, with the latter giving her a Golden Globe for Best Actress nomination.-Career:She...
' Come Early Morning
Come Early Morning
Come Early Morning is a 2006 film, the feature film directorial debut by Joey Lauren Adams, starring Ashley Judd and Jeffrey Donovan. The movie was shot throughout the metropolitan Little Rock, Arkansas area including Pulaski Heights, and Adams' hometown of North Little Rock...
, playing a past one night stand named Steve.
In 2008, James directed the film La Linea (The Line)
La Linea (film)
La Linea is a 2008 action-crime-thriller film directed by James Cotten. La Linea features an ensemble cast that includes Ray Liotta, Armand Assante, Valerie Cruz, Esai Morales, and Andy García.-Plot summary:...
. The story centers around veteran assassin Mark Shields (Ray Liotta
Ray Liotta
[File:Ray Liotta is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Henry Hill in the crime-drama Goodfellas, directed by Martin Scorsese and his role as Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams...
) as he tracks down, Pelon (Esai Morales
Esai Morales
Esai Manuel Morales is an American actor. He is well known for his role as Bob Morales in the 1987 biopic La Bamba. He also appeared in the PBS drama American Family and in the Showtime series Resurrection Blvd.. However, he is best known for his roles as Lt...
), the elusive head of the Salazar Crime Cartel. Through twists of fate, Shields ends up with a local woman, Olivia (Valerie Cruz) who is also fighting her own demons for the sake of her daughter. Set in the rich and atmospheric backdrop of Tijuana, Mexico, La Linea (The Line) is full of action, drama and finds its soul in the plight of the characters that inhabit the most dangerous city in North America. The film also stars Andy García
Andy García
Andrés Arturo García Menéndez , professionally known as Andy García, is a Cuban American actor. He became known in the late 1980s and 1990s, having appeared in several successful Hollywood films, including The Godfather: Part III, The Untouchables, Internal Affairs and When a Man Loves a Woman...
as the dying Godfather of the cartel, Salazar.
La Linea
La Linea (film)
La Linea is a 2008 action-crime-thriller film directed by James Cotten. La Linea features an ensemble cast that includes Ray Liotta, Armand Assante, Valerie Cruz, Esai Morales, and Andy García.-Plot summary:...
premiered at the American Film Market
American Film Market
The American Film Market is a film industry event held each year at the beginning of November in Santa Monica, California. About 8,000 people attend the eight day event to network and to sell and acquire films...
in 2008, where it was touted by the Hollywood Reporter as one of six films to watch. The film had limited theatrical release in July 2009, as part of a Latino Film Series sponsored by Blockbuster, followed by a Blockbuster exclusive release at the end of August.
James also wrote and produced another film in Arkansas, Resurrection County. The film is a neo-gothic horror about two couples who accidentally get off the trail in the wrong part of Arkansas and anger the wrong people. The story is loosely based on an actual encounter James had with a group of anti-government, semi-militia living just outside his hometown of Sallisaw. Resurrection County has played though out 2008-2009 in numerous festivals across the country.