Hollywood has proudly crushed dreams since 1911, but for one Big Island entertainer, his dreams are about to come true.
Hollywood has proudly crushed dreams since 1911, but for one Big Island entertainer, his dreams are about to come true.
Jonny Stimac, lead singer of the Big Island rock group Goodbye Elliott, finds himself under the lights of Tinseltown this week when he appears in a music video from the feature film “A Date With Miss Fortune.” The world premier for his new single “Almost Had It All” happens today on Youtube and Vevo. The song, written by Stimac’s brother, Daniel Stimac, is described as a “haunting, yet beautiful duet.” Joining Stimac on the duet is his friend, singer/songwriter, Alixis Umathum.
“We met the producers of the film in L.A. and then when they started production they had an old song of ours called ‘Ticket to Love’ and they really wanted that to open the film,” said Stimac. “They fell in love with that song, and from there they wanted us to do another one. So my brother wrote the song, ‘Almost Had It All’, and then brought me on board to sing it with Alexis.”
The movie, “A Date With Miss Fortune,” also features two other songs from Goodbye Elliott’s upcoming album, and a musical score composed by brother, Daniel. The brothers recently traveled to Toronto for the Cineplex World Premier of the film which is about a struggling writer who meets a beautiful, yet superstitious Portuguese woman. The two fall for each other, and in a comedy of errors, do their best to project idealistic, yet contradictory images of themselves.
The film, now available online, is considered Canada’s most successful romantic comedy ever made. It stars Ryan Scott, Jeannette Sousa, Joaquim De Almeida, and Nelly Furtado, and is described as a Portuguese “Big Fat Greek Wedding” mixed with “Meet The Parents.”
Stimac met the husband and wife team who produced and acted in the film while touring with his band in Los Angeles.
“We were on tour in L.A. the past seven years with the band,” said Stimac. “Film has always been my favorite passion. We did our first feature film called ‘SPIT’ and afterward we recorded the next Goodbye Elliott album, which hasn’t been released yet. During this time our music was out for licensing and the producers of the film were interested, so they grabbed a couple of our songs.”
Forever an island boy, Stimac recently returned to Kona from Los Angeles and opened the film and music production company, Big Island Studios, where he has been busy with numerous projects.
“We have a lot of irons in the fire,” he said. “In addition to this video coming out, we have a new Goodbye Elliot song that’s coming out this Father’s Day. We also have an animated short film that’s in the works, and a Hawaiian comedy/music project called “Da Training Brahs.” It’s feel good local music with some light-hearted comedy.”
To view the music video, “Almost Had It All,” go to Youtube Vevo. The film, “A Date With Miss Fortune” can be purchased on iTunes, Amazon, and Vimeo on Demand.