The Will to Drill

Stephen Baldwin was on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show, evidently his media company, XtreMEDIA, added some additional interesting footage. Much talk on the Kevin Costner centrifuges and Stephen’s documentary “The Will to Drill.”

New York, NY – (May 14, 2010) –  Filmmaker, Author, Radio Host Stephen Baldwin arrived in New Orleans on Monday, May 3rd to take meetings regarding a potential feature film project based on an original screenplay he had written.  After two days of discussions, he found the majority of his conversations with the people he came to meet and people in the town were about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and its potential impact on New Orleans and the State of Louisiana.  His mind immediately transitioned to working on what has now become an even greater priority.

Baldwin, his media company XtreMEDIA, and his crew quickly embarked upon the production of a documentary entitled THE WILL TO DRILL.   The film is to be a partisan exploration of the events that transpired after the explosion of the off shore oil rig Deepwater Horizon and all that has transpired since.  Many are considering this to be an event that could be the worst environmental disaster to ever impact The American coast line.   Baldwin quickly launched into action bringing in a team of camera operators and headed straight to the ‘ground zero’ of the situation in Plaquemines Parrish, New Orleans.

Upon his arrival, Baldwin connected with Parrish President Billy Nungesser to start the process of understanding what the people of New Orleans were going through.  Much to his surprise he learned that the magnitude of the spill was far greater than he had heard.   Baldwin states, “In learning what the locals were going through, I immediately felt compelled to want to help and get involved in creating more awareness.”   During this process Baldwin filmed all the while – interviewing local shrimpers, oysterman and fisherman.  Word quickly got out about Baldwin’s presence in the area and his project.   Soon after that Baldwin was invited to join Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal, aboard a Black Hawk Military helicopter with a contingency of other invited guests for a viewing of the marsh lands that had already been damaged.  He was overwhelmed by the amount of oil spanning out for miles over the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.

Simultaneously, Actor Kevin Costner was visiting the area as he was presenting his technology that has the ability to separate oil from water in an event such as this.   Baldwin was able to capture this with his cameras showing a successful test of Costner’s technology.

Consulting on the documentary is veteran independent motion picture distributor Paul Cohen, Director of the Torchlight Program at The Florida State University’s College of Motion Picture Arts.  The College has agreed to lend its full support to Baldwin’s efforts as well.  Baldwin and Cohen currently are in enroute to the Cannes International Film Festival to meet with various film makers and distributors for THE WILL TO DRILL.  Cohen will also be representing the Film School to celebrate it’s graduates whose film “The Myth of the American Sleep Over” that has been selected for Critics Week.  Cohen was recently involved with the marketing of multiple independent motion pictures and most recently the Oscar winning documentary “The Cove.”

For continued coverage please log onto www.thewilltodrill.com.

Don’t we all love it when Celebrities roll up their sleeves and get involved? Kudos to Kevin Costner and his scientist brother, as well as Stephen Baldwin who both seem to be demonstrating their care for the Gulf Coasters by rallying help for the on-going spill crisis.

MSNBC: “Waterworld” star Kevin Costner has arrived in the Louisiana bayou— this time sporting oil clean-up technology, not gills.

The multimillionaire Hollywood actor, best known for his roles in “Dances with Wolves,” “Field of Dreams” and “The Untouchables,” is reportedly offering local officials technology designed to help save delicate marshes from the oil that is gushing from a broken well in the Gulf of Mexico.

The actor has diversified into environmental technologies, apparently in collaboration with his brother Dan, a scientist, through a company called Costner Industries Nevada Corp. He has told reporters in the past that he has invested $26 million to develop green technology.

“Sometimes it takes a star to come in with their money and time to make a difference,” Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser told reporters Wednesday at a press conference in the fishing town of Venice, deep in the marshlands.

Based on patents issued to the company, Costner Industries focuses on centrifuge technology that can separate oil and water. The company, which has addresses in Nevada and Texas, could not immediately be reached for comment.

“Kevin Costner got down here yesterday,” said Kurt Fromherz, public affairs officer for the parish confirmed on Thursday, though he could not provide details on what Costner was offering.

He said Costner became interested in the area through his friend, actor and director Stephen Baldwin, who Fromherz said is working on a documentary in Plaquemines Parish. Baldwin is the fourth and youngest of the famous show business Baldwins, after brothers Alec, Daniel and William.