Films From the GraveIn what is the latest Cinderella story to hit Hollywood, writer/director Sal Stabile has emerged from obscurity to be lauded with a wave of attention that recently landed him on Variety's "50 People to Watch" list. At only 22 years old, the NYU film school dropout has his debut feature, Gravesend, hitting New York and Los Angeles theatres this month and no other than Oliver Stone presenting the film. In addition, Stabile secured veteran Creative Artists Agency rep Bob Bookman to steer his career, and if that's not enough, Steven Spielberg signed the rookie player to a two-picture deal.
"Not many 22-year-olds have the opportunity to make their own schedules, decide what they want to work on, and live their lives according to the way that they want to live them," said the neophyte filmmaker, who resides in his native Brooklyn.
He acknowledged that his success story does, indeed, sound like a modern-day fairy tale. "It was a small film made in the basement of somebody's house," said Stabile, who shot Gravesend on 16mm with $5,000 he inherited from his grandmother. "It was a concoction and to have it go this far, I never in my life ever imagined it would have the support and the attention that it's gotten. It's unbelievable."'
Gravesend--the title referring to the tough Brooklyn neighborhood where Stabile spent part of his youth--is a gritty tale of four friends who must decide what actions they should take after one of the teens fatally shoots his buddy's brother.
He was able to make the film for so little money by cutting so many corners, such as shooting without permits and illegally tapping into power lines from street lamps to generate electricity. "I had a DP (Joseph Dell'Olio), who had his own lights and camera, and I did the sound myself," explained Stabile of his low-budget tactics. "Nobody was getting paid. All the food was paid for by family and friends. The laboratory let me defer paying them. The editing machine cost me $300 a month and I cut the film myself."
Stabile's good fortune began when he screened an early version of the film at the Hamptons Film Festival, where he attracted executive producers Daniel Edelman and Toni and Mark Ross, who gave Stabile funding for post-production. Gravesend premiered at the Seattle Film Festival earlier this year, and soon after, Hollywood came calling.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Gravesend is the talented cast, who deliver solid and compelling performances. As Stabile explained, after placing a casting notice in Back Stage in 1994 and sifting through more than 6,000 headshots, he auditioned roughly 50 male actors. Ultimately, he took a chance on four unknown thesps: Tony Tucci, Michael Parducci, Tom Malloy, and Tom Brandise.
Stabile also took a risk improvising much of the film's rapid-fire dialogue. Tucci, who portrays the psychotic Zane, expressed his thanks to Stabile for giving him and his fellow cast members the opportunity to contribute their opinions.
"Sal would write some stuff and come up with things we had to get across, but he listened to us and gave us free range as actors, which was a joy," said the actor, who recently relocated to Los Angeles where he is being repped by manager/producer Herb Manis.
Stabile told Back Stage West that he let his actors improvise much of the film, partly because he was so inexperienced and partly because he found that improv brought out the best in his actors.
"Actors are like children and you (the director) are the father-figure on set. You're watching over these children, but you've got to let your kids go and let them experience and test the grounds because you find new things," said the filmmaker, who plans to incorporate improv techniques on his next project, Dancing With Angels, for DreamWorks, SKG. "Fifty percent--maybe more--of the material was discovered by me allowing the actors to go wherever they wanted to go."
--J. P.
Celebrity "Chain" Gang
Since its release more than 23 years ago, Texas Chainsaw Massacre has become a horror classic, mainly because of the violent reputation the nearly bloodless film has attained. Screenwriter Kim Henkel, who made his writing debut with that film, has revisited what he called "a black comedy about dysfunctional family life" with its fourth sequel, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation.
Henkel, who confessed he doesn't like horror films because he's "much too squeamish," was not pleased with the two sequels that followed his original script, and when the sequel rights became available, he and producer Robert J. Kuhn snatched them up. Along with penning the new script, Henkel was "bullied" by Kuhn into making his directorial debut with the film, something that was especially difficult due to the project's low-budget status.
The film, shot in Austin, Texas in 1994, would have been just another sequel if not for the instinctive casting of two local actors who have since become blockbuster names--A Time to Kill's Matthew McConaughey and Jerry Maguire's Renee Zellweger.
"When Renee came in and read for me, from that moment on I didn't consider another person for the role," recalled Henkel, "And Matthew, I understood, was planning to leave town and I wanted to put him into something, so I cast him in a minor role. He later read the script and decided he wanted to [audition] for the major villain. He read and was just so powerful; he was really extraordinary."
The reason for the long delay between shooting and releasing the feature, which hit select theatres earlier this month, is obvious to Henkel--the film's distributor Columbia/TriStar wanted to capitalize on the two rising stars. Though Henkel declined to comment on rumors that the studio received pressure from both actors' agents and managers to suppress the film, he is disappointed by the film's small release.
"I can't help but think it would be an advantage to have Renee and Matthew in the film," said the writer/director. "Unfortunately, I don't think the appearance of those two in a film would ordinarily warrant the small scale of the release." -J.B.G.