I recently had the immense pleasure of speaking with one of my all time favorite actors, Titus Welliver, about his prolific and impressive television work. But as accomplished as his TV resume is, the actor has just as distinguished of a film and stage career. Welliver first gained attention in the groundbreaking off-Broadway play “Riff Raff,” which was written, directed and co-starred actor Laurence Fishburne. He would eventually reprise the critically acclaimed role that he originated on stage as the sympathetic drug addict and part-time thief Billy “The Torch’ Murphy in the film adaptation of the play entitled Once in the Life, which also starred Fishburne and marked his feature film directorial debut. In fact, while the actor and I were chatting about the making of Once in the Life and his work in "Riff Raff," which also happens to be my all time favorite stage play, the actor happened to mention that he and Fishburne are discussing doing a revival of the show. “I have to say Laurence and I have been sort of toying with the idea of doing the play again even though it's been about twelve years since we made the film,” Welliver admitted.

While the actor is probably best known for his extensive television work that includes playing Silas Adams on HBO’s Western-based series Deadwood, the pivotal role of Kyle Hollis on the brilliant but short-lived NBC series Life, season three villain Jimmy O’Phelan on FX’s motorcycle gang series Sons of Anarchy, a recurring role on the current Fox series Touch with Kiefer Sutherland, and of course, as the Man in Black (A.K.A. the Smoke Monster) on ABC’s cultural phenomenon Lost. But he’s also appeared in many popular feature films including The Doors, Mobsters, Twisted, Assault on Precinct 13, and most recently Man on a Ledge, which opened on January 27^th and is in theaters now. But his most famous film roles have come from his collaborations with fellow actor and now critically acclaimed writer/director Ben Affleck. Welliver first appeared in Affleck’s Boston-based directorial debut Gone Baby Gone as Lionel McCready, and also appeared as FBI agent Dino Ciampa in The Town (also set in the Boston area) opposite Jon Hamm (TV’s Mad Men). Now, Welliver will achieve the hat trick by also appearing in Affleck’s upcoming third directorial effort Argo, which will be the first of his films, as a director, not set in Massachusetts.

American super-rock-group Angels & Airwaves appeared live on movie screens across America for an exclusive one-night only event entitled Love Live on Wednesday, August 10^th at 8PM ET/9PM PT, to debut their science fiction feature film Love. The band joined their filmmaking partners to showcase the work that Executive Producer, Tom DeLonge (Blink-182) says was a “super ambitious art project”. Best described as a film about human connection, the theme that runs through the movie is about what’s really important in life, and the unity of making this a better world. DeLonge, “We wanted to take the word ‘Love’ and dissect it. We needed to do this with more than just music. We needed to do this with film.”

There is something special about Boston. It could be the rich history found in the architecture. Or maybe it is the colorful dialect that is constantly attempted, but seldom achieved by outsiders. Whatever it is, it has drawn filmmakers in hopes to tell a true and honest tale.

This past year two terrific films centered in or around Boston made it to the local cinemas. One is the terrific Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale Golden Globe nominated picture, The Fighter. Next is The Town, another hit for director Ben Affleck. Both films definitely feel like Boston to me, and ironically enough, both will end up on quite a few best of the year lists.