JOHN SAYLES - UNKNOWN LANDS ROLE IN SAYLES FILM AFTER FESTIVAL SHOWCASE

The star of moviemaker JOHN SAYLES' new movie HONEYDRIPPER was discovered at Texas music festival South By Southwest. Gary Clark Jr. was just 21 and playing his first club dates without a chaperone when Sayles found him while he was looking for an unknown to play an early rock 'n' roller in his 1950s period piece. The cult director says, "He's from Austin, Texas, a big discovery at the South By Southwest Festival. When we first saw him play he had just turned 21." In Honeydripper, Clark Jr. plays a Chuck Berry-type guitarist who shows up in a sleepy Alabama town and is hired to replace a star who fails to show for a gig at a struggling local club.