Producer talks about Sean Astin's role in The Freemason

Sean Astin is not only the star of the upcoming masonic murder mystery "The Freemason," premiering December 7 in Salt Lake City, he also has executive producing credits. Producer Joseph James explains why.

Sean Astin as Detective Leon Weed

The Naughty List Trailer

He may have been a hobbit in The Lord of the Rings, but Sean Astin voices the naughty elf, Winter, in the animated cartoon "The Naughty List," scheduled to be released on DVD November 12, and air on the Cartoon Network December 7. The movie also includes the voice talents of Drake Bell, Naya Rivera, Matthew Lilliard and Kyle Chandler. Here is a trailer for the program.



Note: Sean also plays a very different sort of elf in another upcoming Christmas special, Santa Switch.

Sean Astin in Stan Lee's Mighty 7

Sean Astin will star alongside Darren Criss, Christian Slater, Mayim Bialik, Teri Hatcher, Flea, Jim Belushi, Michael Ironside and Stan Lee himself in the upcoming trilogy of animated films "Stan Lee's Mighty 7."

In the story, Stan Lee is hired by Archie Comics to create a new group of superheroes. He finds himself stumped with writer’s block and heads to the desert to clear his mind. When seven aliens suddenly crash land near him and start demonstrating their various superpowers, he decides, “Perfect! They will be come my next superheroes!” But almost instantly, he realizes they are being chased by the military and aliens from their own planet, and he needs to act quickly. He makes the decision to have them move into his house in Malibu where he will teach them everything they need to know about being superheroes. Comedy and adventure ensue as the aliens try to adapt to life on earth, and their new roles as superheroes, all the while running for their lives! Source

Sean voices Kid Energy, a half-alien, half-human hybrid teen who was born on Earth to a Chinese woman. He’s an action junkie driven by the need for attention, and his crimes were always larger than life. He once stole a planet’s moon. He has a big crush on Silver Skylark. He’s drawn to games of chance and taking risks. He has a con artist’s mind and sees Strong Arm as a father figure. Source



More details on plot and characters here.

Update: The first of the films is scheduled to air on The Hub Network on February 1, 2014, 8pm EST. A 26-episode series is also planned.

Sean Astin's Kickstarter campaign a resounding success!

Sean Astin's Kickstarter campaign to launch a second season of his political podcast "Vox Populi: The Voice of the Occasionally Interested People" was a resounding success, raising 220% of the initial funding goal of $30,000, and surpassing both stretch goals of $50,000 and $60,000. The final tally after the 30-day campaign was $66,104.

The money raised will be used to fund a second season of Vox Populi, including hiring a part-time staff including a producer, booker, social media expert and graphic artist, and to develop a mobile app for easier access to the show and its information.

With three hours to go, $62,662 had been pledged!

The increase in pledges the last few days was exponential!

For more information, visit:

• Kickstarter page
• Vox Populi web site
• Vox Populi Facebook page
• @HostVoxPopuli on Twitter

First trailer for Ribbit starring Sean Astin!

He's been a Goonie, a Hobbit, a Ninja Turtle, a stuffed panda bear, and now he's a frog! Here is the first teaser trailer for the animated film "Ribbit" starring Sean Astin in the titular role, with Tim Curry and Russell Peters! In theaters in 2014!

Sean Astin and Adam Brown panel at ACCC

Sean Astin and Adam Brown (Ori in The Hobbit) did a panel together at the Alamo City Comic Con in San Antonio this weekend. Here are some clips.

Sean Astin does parody "What Does the Vox Say?"

Joey Richter and Team Starkid join Sean Astin in a parody of the popular music video What the Fox Say to promote his Kickstarter Campaign. Check it out and then visit StartTheVox.com!

Press Release: Sean Astin Reaches Kickstarter Goal!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contacts:

Sean Astin Personal PR

David Lust, Rogers & Cowan (310) 854-8133 davidl@rogersandcowan.com

Lana Rushing, Rushing PR (310) 428-1805 lana@rushingpr.com

SEAN ASTIN REACHES KICKSTARTER GOAL IN SUPPORT OF ONLINE POLITICAL RADIO SHOW VOX POPULI; ANNOUNCES NEW STRETCH GOALS TO INSPIRE FINAL DONATIONS

Astin Joins Other Celebrities -- Including Spike Lee and Zach Braff -- Who Have Turned to Crowdfunding for Important Projects

LOS ANGELES (October 24, 2013) – Popular film and television actor and political enthusiast Sean Astin has successfully reached his Kickstarter crowdfunding goal of $30,000 to help produce a second season of his online political radio show Vox Populi: Voice of the ‘Occasionally Interested’ People. The show first launched in May 2012 and has already streamed 31 two-hour episodes over the Internet, brilliantly matching guests with opposing viewpoints. The premise of the show is to use civil discourse to explore often hot-button topics. Astin expertly interviews notable subjects while effortlessly guiding the broader conversation, creating a unique and accessible model for political talk radio. 

Inspired by the recent buzz around crowdfunding, and having heard of other notable celebrities who have run successful campaigns, Astin turned to Kickstarter to raise funds for his passion project. “Crowdfunding is a great litmus test for any project,” Astin said. “It’s a powerful market research tool that help creators determine if there’s enough consumer interest in their project to justify moving forward -- myself included.” Astin’s campaign has raised $34,313 (and growing) from 375 backers, with an average donation of $90. 

“I’ve had to hustle from day one,” Astin commented. “I have literally contacted everyone I know to help drive awareness and donations for my campaign. I believe in it that much.” Astin recently partnered with FilmBreak, an integrated marketing and distribution platform for filmmakers and studios, to assist with strategy, branding and execution of the campaign. For instance, FilmBreak helped Astin to develop “stretch goals” – new fundraising goals beyond the original target – to incentivize new and existing backers to support the campaign. 

Now that he has exceeded his original target of $30,000 – which will be used to secure a physical infrastructure for the show, hire part-time staff and immediately produce a full second season of his show – Astin has introduced new goals. For instance, if he can reach $50,000, Astin will be able to hire a full-time producer, and if he reaches $60,000, he’ll be able to develop a Vox Populi app.   

At a recent event hosted by FilmBreak at Cross Campus in Santa Monica, Astin announced a slew of new rewards as well, including a sit-down chat over coffee for $500 (Los Angeles only), or a personal appearance at an event with a one-hour question-and-answer session and another one-hour event photo and autograph session for $10,000. “I know that experiential rewards are really compelling for my fans, and I’m willing to go to bat for my show and for them by offering these kinds of options,” Astin said. With just seven days to go in his campaign, Astin is hopeful that he can close out his campaign with complete success, and continue bringing Vox Populi to life.  

About Sean Astin

Sean Astin (born February 25, 1971) is an American film actor, director, voice artist and producer best known for his film roles as 'Samwise Gamgee' in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, 'Mikey Walsh' in "The Goonies," and the title character of "Rudy." In television, he appeared as 'Lynn McGill' in the fifth season of "24" and currently voices 'Raphael' in the Nickelodeon "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" TV series. Astin is currently in production for the much-anticipated series "The Strain" for FX based on Guillermo del Toro's Novel Series.

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