George Hickenlooper at the Paramount Theatre on Thursday, just hours before he screened Casino Jack to the AFF crowd Credit: photo by John Anderson

It was a hard week for Austin Film Festival friends, with the sudden deaths of filmmaker George Hickenlooper, whose latest, Casino Jack, closed this year’s festival, and Lisa Blount, an actress and producer who appeared in AFF favorite “The Accountant.”

Blount was married to Ray McKinnon, who promoted two films at the 2010 Austin Film Festival; their collaboration “The Accountant,” about a farm family racked by debt, won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 2002, as well as AFF’s Best Short Film Award. Blount was best known for her role as Debra Winger’s best friend in An Officer and a Gentleman. She had suffered from a chronic illness.

Hickenlooper, who also directed Factory Girl and the indispensable Apocalypse Now making-of documentary Hearts of Darkness, among others, was in town with Jon Lovitz on Thursday to screen his Jack Abramoff narrative film, Casino Jack, for AFF’s closing night on Thursday. He died suddenly Friday at the age of 47 while in Denver; there is no known cause of death at this time.

The Chronicle spoke with Hickenlooper in 2004 on the occasion of the release of his documentary The Mayor of Sunset Strip; Marjorie Baumgarten’s interview with Hickenlooper, conducted the day before he died, will run when Casino Jack opens in theatres this fall.

This article appears in Rick Perry (Digital Edition).

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A graduate of the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, Kimberley has written about film, books, and pop culture for The Austin Chronicle since 2000. She was named Editor of the Chronicle in 2016; she previously served as the paper’s Managing Editor, Screens Editor, Books Editor, and proofreader. Her work has been awarded by the Association of Alternative Newsmedia for excellence in arts criticism, team reporting, and special section (Best of Austin). The Austin Alliance for Women...