Sipping tea in a Chelsea patisserie, Michael Cuesta tells me he's sorry we didn't do this interview last April when his film "L.I.E." screened at MoMA's New Directors Festival, because then he could have shared a "Backlot Buzz" column with Bob Giraldi, for whom he almost worked once. Not only did the veteran Giraldi's "Dinner Rush" and Cuesta's "L.I.E." both screen at the NDFF, they are coincidentally being released on the same date (Sept. 7), and both men also direct commercials—Giraldi was the director of several Michael Jackson videos and winner of numerous Clio awards. Cuesta, best known for the "other white meat: pork" Super Bowl commercials, is quick to say, "No one's in Bob's league, but it was a thrill to have our films at the NDFF at the same time." Cuesta is also the son of a commercial director (a contemporary of Giraldi's), but he still had to scramble to make his tale of a Long Island kid who is not only coming of age, but also grappling with questions about his sexuality. "L.I.E." received an NC-17 (the most difficult rating at the box office) because of its highly sensitive content—it stars the magnificent Brian Cox as Big John, an avuncular neighborhood "chicken hawk" (an older gay man who seeks out young boys), so it's not your average Saturday night date flick. "L.I.E." was also the focus of Newsday film critic John Anderson's recent article taking on the entire rating system.
Cuesta, himself a Long Island kid and currently raising his own kids there, points out, "The film's not autobiographical." But he does admit, "I always felt different, although I wasn't confused about my sexuality—I started liking girls when I was 14—but you'd hear things about other kids in the neighborhood." Cuesta talks at length about the two lead actors in his film. "Brian is such a charismatic teddy bear that he manages to make the character sympathetic. If I'd cast some creepy guy, it never would have worked so well."
Paul Franklin Dano is a Connecticut native who, at 12, appeared as the young Scrooge opposite Hal Linden in the annual musical version of "A Christmas Carol" at Madison Square Garden. Now, he's already won both the Best Breakout Performance (BAM's New Festival) and Outstanding Actor (San Francisco Outfest) Awards for his role as Howie. "Paul was the 10th young actor Judy Henderson [his casting director] and I saw," Cuesta recalls, "and we knew then. My wife even threatened to divorce me if I didn't pick him." The film was co-written by Cuesta and his brother Gerald, along with Stephen M. Ryder, a former NYPD cop, Daily News crime reporter, and friend of their dad (currently teaching writing at New York University).
"I figure it took us seven years from the time we started writing until the actual 24-day shoot," Cuesta says. "And after our German producer dropped out, I raised all the production money on my own." The film was shot on what he calls a "moderate indie budget" and Lot 47 Films picked it up immediately at Sundance this year. Before entering the family commercial business, Cuesta, a graduate of the School of Visual Arts, studied still photography, but not filmmaking. "My advice to other new directors is always trust your own instincts. It's your vision, so don't let anyone try to change it because no matter what, you're the one who has to carry the responsibility and you get both the praise and/or the blame."
Oscar-winner Steven Soderbergh kick-started a new directing trend last year when his two films ("Traffic" and "Erin Brockovich") came out within a few months of each other. This October and November we'll see two new Richard ("SubUrbia") Linklater flicks, but Brad ("The Darien Gap") Anderson beats them both with his August double-header. On Aug. 24, his latest signature romantic comedy, "Happy Accidents," co-starring Marisa Tomei and Vincent D'Onfrio, joined his first psychological horror film, "Session 9," starring Peter Mullan and David Caruso, on big screens around town. Once dubbed the "$6 Million Man," Anderson's career has been a series of ups and downs in the three years since Miramax bought his second film, "Next Stop Wonderland," for that record-breaking sum at Sundance '98. The tall (6'4"), boyish, bearded director/writer/editor explains that these simultaneous August releases were themselves "happy accidents." "As all too often happens in this business, things didn't quite go as planned," he grins.
He already had a two-picture deal with Miramax, so when Paramount Classics reneged on an initial offer for his third feature, "Happy Accidents," at Sundance 2000, Anderson went to work on a U.S. remake of the French film "When the Cat's Away," while waiting to find "Accidents" a new distribution deal. Then the Miramax film fell through. "If there's one thing I've learned in this business (and I've learned far more than I ever wanted to about the business end), it's that you need to have more than one project in mind, because inevitably things can and will break down. "Session 9" was my response to the vagaries of the industry. I'd wanted to do a horror film forever and I wanted to do a quick movie. Steve [Stephen Gevedon, his co-writer/co-star and Bowdoin College buddy] and I finished the script for "Session 9" by May 2000 and we shot it in 24 days on 24P HD (high definition) video for under $2 million." The ensemble thriller about an asbestos removal team's gradual descent into madness and mayhem is set in the real abandoned Danvers State Mental Hospital just outside of Boston. "I always thought it would be great to do a horror movie there," says Anderson.
The Soderbergh analogy fits Anderson well. Both were discovered at Sundance (Soderbergh in 1989 for "sex, lies and videotape") and, while the Oscar winner is often his own cinematographer, Anderson is always his own editor. "That's total control," Anderson comments, adding that he likes to keep audiences guessing about what's next. (" 'Session 9' should change the perception of me as the 'romantic comedy guy.' ") "Happy Accidents" (now being distributed by its producer, IFC Films) even breaks the usual contemporary romantic comedy tradition by adding a time travel element to the relationship problem angle. Anderson's casting director, Sheila Jaffe, worked alone on "Session 9" and with her partner, Georgianne Walken, on "Happy Accidents." Actors take note: "I like working with actors who bring something of their own," Anderson reveals, adding, "Jaffe and Walken pulled a lot of actors from the theatre. Steve's an exception, but, usually, theatre-trained actors are the best. I encourage actors to improv, and because they know I'm also editing the film, they trust me. I'm actually ready now to take on a simple directing job (which I'll edit too, of course) just to see what it's like to work for someone else. I'm flirting with a couple of projects right now, but I'm not really 'product' oriented—I'm definitely not in the 'widget' business."
Currently Filming in New York
For the first time since I started writing this column in 1998, there's no need to remind you not to visit film casting directors because, with the exception of the five TV series listed below, there's nothing filming or even wrapping in New York at the moment. In fact, Seth Carmichael, the producer of Dan Battista's comedy caper, "Errors: Freaks and Oddities," starring Charlie Callas and Andrew Dice Clay, told me that for his three-week shoot in early August, he had the city all to himself. And "Dead Canaries," starring Charles Durning, Dee Wallace Stone, and Dan Lauria, the only other film skedded for an August/September shoot, has postponed until October/November, due to the untimely death of writer-director Robert Santoli's mother. But take heart and check the "Upcoming Info." The good folks at the SAG office assure us things should pick up by the end of September. There's also some good news from "Law & Order," so be sure to also look at "TV Series" below.
Upcoming (No Casting Info Currently Available)
Rinse out those black leotards and keep your tap shoes polished! Although Miramax has decided to drop its projected screen adaptation of Rent (in which Spike Lee was interested, though never officially attached), they are going ahead with their plans to film Chicago. Broadway's Rob Marshall will be making his film-directing debut and rumor is that Renee Zellwegger and Catherine Zeta-Jones may headline. (Yes, Mrs. Douglas can dance; she was the lead in the London revival of "42nd Street." No info on La Zellwegger.) Look for Terence ("The Sopranos") Winter's Nailed Right In, a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age tale, to begin its Brooklyn shoot in late September, helmed by Griffin (Lisa Picard is Famous) Dunne. And late September is also the skedded start of shooting for Jim (My Left Foot) Sheridan's East of Harlem, the story of two Irish immigrants, to be played by Oscar nominee Samantha (Sweet and Lowdown) Morton and Paddy Considine, who emigrate and start life over again in Harlem. (Fox Searchlight will distribute.)
And two of the Godfather II team are ready to work again, though not, alas, together. Robert DeNiro, recipient of The Independent Feature Project's 2001 Gotham Lifetime Achievement Award, will produce MGM's Miranda Obsession, based on the Vanity Fair article about his mysterious, real-life phone-pal, who was also the unknown phone confidante to numerous other stars. Word is he might also make it his sophomore directing project. (His first and only was A Bronx Tale in 1993.) And finally, with Apocalypse Now, Redux being touted as the best film of 2001, Francis Ford Coppola's long-awaited Megalopolis, set in New York, is scheduled to start filming early next year.
Of course, we're still waiting to hear more on: Universal's action thriller, Truck 44, bringing Samuel L. Jackson back to town with director Peter (Very Bad Things) Berg; Party Monster, the Michael Alig story from Killer Film, to be directed by The Eyes of Tammy Faye team of Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato; MGM's Jackie Chan comedy-actioner, Nosebleed; New Line's film adaptation of Jonathan Lethem's novel, Motherless Brooklyn, to be written by (and possibly star) Edward Norton; Hart Sharp Entertainment's The Women's Maintenance Club by playwright Charles Randolph-Wright (Blue); Jane Campion's sexy murder mystery, In the Cut, starring exec producer Nicole Kidman; Rich Gaiti's Native American mystery, The Big Empty; Dennis Hopper's crime flick, The Night Job, starring Val Kilmer; Noah (Mr. Jealousy) Baumbach's new offbeat teen comedy, The Squid and the Whale, produced by Wes (The Royal Tenenbaums) Anderson; and Dreamwork's Catch Me if You Can. As soon as we know, you'll know.
TV Series
(As always, casting directors request all contact be made only by mail. Do not phone or visit their offices unless specifically instructed to do so.)
HBO wraps "Sex and the City" on Aug. 31, leaving one new show and four returnees currently filming at various tri-state area studios. But we've also learned that Dick Wolf plans a crossover mini-series special among his myriad "Law & Order" spin-offs, to shoot around the end of September (huzzah!). It's never too early to let Lynn Kressel (Pier 62, Room #304, W. 23rd St. & Hudson River, NYC 10011) and the various NBC background-casting directors listed below know of your availability and interest. So get those pics in the mail!
ABC: The Job returns for a full season, shooting in Brooklyn through March 1, 2002. Principals: Avy Kaufman (180 Varick St., NYC 10014); Kristine Bulakowski (P.O. Box 616, Prince St. Station, NYC 10012).
NBC: Third Watch also shoots in Brooklyn until March 1, 2002. Principals: Brett Goldstein (c/o Video Portfolio, 12 W. 27th St., 11th Floor, NYC 10001); background: Grant Wilfley (see address above).
Ed, too, films until March 1, 2002, with its Northvale, N.J. studios standing in for Stuckeyville. Principals: Todd Thaler (130 W. 57th St., Ste. #10A, NYC 10019); background: Sylvia Fay (71 Park Ave., NYC 10016).
CBS: The Education of Max Bickford, the only new show, stars Richard Dreyfuss and Marcia Gay Harden as competitive college profs and shoots through lucky Dec. 13. Principals: Pat McCorkle (264 W. 40th St., 9th Floor, NYC 10018); background: Grant Wilfley Casting (60 Madison Ave., #1027, NYC 10010).
A&E: 100 Centre Street continues shooting in L.I.C. through mid-December. Principals: Lou DiGiaimo (214 Sullivan St., Ste. 2C, NYC 10012); background: Tuffy Questell (c/o T.E.C. Casting, Kaurman Astoria Studios, 34-12 36th St., Astoria, NYC 11106).
Local Film Fests and Screenings
Can't get to Toronto or Sundance? Try one or both of the two film festivals in September, each just two hours away from N.Y.
September 12-16—Scranton's second annual Pennsylvania Film Festival (in Northeastern Pennsylvania) offers 150 films. This year's Keystone Award goes to film vet Jack Palance, and the 10 finalists in the Social Documentary Contest include New York filmmaker Sharon Greytak's Losing It and Chris Hegedus' Startup.com. Ms. Hegedus and her husband, D.A. Pennebaker, will also head up the Documentary Filmmaking panel. Other panels include "Race Cinema and Oscar Micheaux" and "Digital Editing" (DuArt Film and Video). For complete schedules (and to win an all-access pass), call (570) 941-3456 or go to http://www.pafilmfest.com.
Sept. 20-23—The second annual Woodstock Film Festival kicks off with Novocaine, Steve Martin's latest, co-starring Laura Dern. The 2001 WFF Maverick Award goes to Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker for lifetime achievement in documentary filmmaking, and the list of seminars includes "Women in Film" with director Karyn (Girlfight) Kusama. For a complete list of films, call (845) 679-4265 or visit www.woodstockfilmfestival.com.
Sept. 22-30—Relive the innocence of youth as Astoria's American Museum of the Moving Image (AMMI) presents A/V Geeks Educational Film Archive: Lessons in Personal Hygiene, and The Dangers of Drugs and Sex: 46 Classroom Films from the 1950s through the 1980s. Included are such gems as Why Does Cathy Not Eat Breakfast? (1972), Some of Your Bits Ain't Nice (1984), and the ever-popular VD Attack Plan. (1972). All screenings will be introduced by guest curator Skip Elsheimer. For full program info, call (718) 784-0077 or visit their Web site: http://www.ammi.org.
Sept. 28-Oct. 14—No matter that you missed Cannes, Berlin or Toronto, it's only a short subway ride to Lincoln Center where you can catch up at the French-flavored 39th New York Film Festival, offering its yearly selection of "la crème de la crème" from every other festival. This year's fest opener is Jacques Rivette's Va Savoir (Who Knows?), while the closing night belongs to Jean-Luc Godard's Eloge de l'amour (In Praise of Love). Nestled between these two original Cahiers du Cinema New Wavers is the world premiere of Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums, featuring Gene Hackman, Anjelica Houston, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Ben Stiller as a dysfunctional family of geniuses, plus such international prize winners as Nanni Moretti's The Son's Room (Palme d'Or, Cannes), Patrice Cherot's Intimacy (Golden Bear and Best Actress, Berlin) and Lone Scherfig's Italian for Beginners (Jury prize, Berlin).
In all, the New York fest will screen 25 films from 12 countries. Among the U.S. directors are centerpiece David Lynch (Mulholland Drive), making his first NYFF, plus returnees Richard Linklater (Waking Life) and Todd Solondz (Storytelling). Richard Peña, NYFF selection committee chair and director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, sums up: "This year's festival is unique in that it includes the work of established masters as well as several filmmakers who have just begun to develop their careers." For the full schedule, watch for The New York Times' NYFF listing, or visit the Film Society's Web site at www.filmlinc.com.
Richard Peña also hosts the Sundance Channel's weekly "Conversations in World Cinema" and September promises directors Arturo Ripstein, Olivier Assayas, Liv Ullman, and Wong Kar-Wai. Call 1-800-Sun-Film, or check schedule at Sundancechannel.com.
Ongoing—Kudos to the new "Two Boots Den of Cin," 44 Ave. A at Third St., (212) 254-0800, and their "Pioneer Cinema," for presenting such innovative programming as IFP's monthly "Buzz Cuts" (see "Deadlines"* below), featuring shorts by IFP members; "Cinema Tropical," dedicated to Latin American films; ongoing indie premieres such as this summer's "Tokyo Eyes" and "Scrapple"; the "Docshop," with a new documentary every Tuesday (Stephanie Black's Life and Debt screens Sept. 18); "Not-So-Silent Saturdays" (offering Harold Lloyd on Sept. 8 and Buster Keaton on Sept. 15); and, on Sept. 10, the first New York screening of Jacques Brel: The 1965 Farewell Concert. Call the number above for daily schedules and special events, including periodic evenings with indie distributors and sneak previews of new indies.
And don't forget to set your VCR's for PBS' new 17-part Sunday night half-hour series, Independent View, kicking off Sept. 16 with "Robert Redford on Filmmaking." The first episode will be immediately followed by an hour-long discussion on Inside Reel with Tim Burton and other directors on "The Impact of Digital Filmmaking." Check your local TV listings for correct dates and times.
Festival Deadlines
(Back Stage culls its Festival/Contest listings from a variety of reputable sources and is in no way involved with/or responsible for any festival's fees or practices.)
Sept. 1—Raindance Film Festival seeks digital submissions for the FAST Digital Cinema Strand, especially films using digital technologies and methods to create new forms of visual expression. Call (U.K. country code 44) 020 7287 3833, or request a festival submission form at submissions@raindance.co.uk. More info at http://www.raindance.co.uk.
Sept. 1—The 16th annual Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival (Oct. 24-Nov. 11) is committed to first-time filmmakers, showcasing over 100 films. For info, call (954) 760-9898, or visit http://www.fliff.com.
Sept. 7—The 12th Stockholm International Film Festival (Nov. 8-18) is currently accepting submissions in any genre or format. There is no submission fee. For complete information, visit www.filmfestivalen.se.
Sept. 21 (Features, Sept. 28)—Sundance 2002 (January 10-20) is being held approximately one week earlier this year, due to the Olympics. Full details at www.sundance.org.
Sept. 30—The Hollywood Black Film Festival is accepting entries for its fourth annual competitive festival for black filmmakers. Films must have been completed since September 1999 and one of the film's principals (director, writer, or producer) must be of black or African heritage. For further details, visit: http://www.hbff.org/.
Oct. 1—Slamdance Festival 2002 (Jan. 11-19) is also earlier due to the Olympics in Park City. All genres of film being sought. For more information, please log onto: http://www.slamdance.com/2001/.
Oct. 1—The Moondance International Film Festival promotes and encourages non-violent conflict resolution in film, depictions of women and girls in a positive manner, and appreciation of ethnic diversity among the peoples of the world. Info and printable entry forms for the 2001-2002 competitions are available on the Web site: www.moondancefilmfestival.com, or contact Elizabeth English at moondanceff@aol.com.
Ongoing—*IFP Buzz Cuts seeks shorts by members for the monthly short film showcase at the Pioneer Theatre (see "Screenings" above). Any format, any genre under one hour. Contact Natalie Bender at (212) 465-8200, ext. 210, or nbender@ifp.org.
Contests
Sept. 1—Digital Internet Contest 2001, open to students, independent animators, and filmmakers of digital filmmaking and animation, offers $19K in prizes, no entry fee, and possible exposure to millions of viewers. For full information, contact donna@dvcontest.com.
(Got a great story about your indie film or a follow-up to a festival or contest you saw here first? Be sure to let us know at Backlot Buzz, c/o Back Stage, 770 Broadway, 6th fl, NYC 10003 or e-mail us at bsblbuzz@aol.com.)