Movies Til Dawn

What can I say? Giddy with acheivement I can't stop the flow of love and appreciation. So more tributes! Let's start with...myself. Click here to read a superb and insightful review of my documentary "Tis Autumn: The Search For Jackie Paris", which opened a few weeks ago in Canada and will make it's appearence on DVD late this year. This writer, Rick Groen, is now the official author of my favorite review of my own work. By the way, bad reviews are as easily dismissed by me as good ones are embraced. Call me a spineless whore. I laugh at your words. Zachary Matz, my co-producer, old friend and occasional jazz co-hort (he plays guitar and bass) deserves another major thank you for having had the worst job on the movie and pulled it off. He was locked in an office for most of production juggling the accounts--er, rather, making financial sense out of things. Kudo's to Dan Fisher, a great property master (an extremely important and often underrated job) who is a...

"City Island" wrapped at dawn, Thursday morning and immediately gave itself a wrap party that very evening. I hired two excellent jazz musicians--bass and sax--to accompany me (I play piano) and gave the movie's crew the gift of jazz as background entertainment. Then Andy Garcia brought in a Cuban band to kick things up a notch. The evening ended with me and several members of the crew going to the absolutely stupidest bar I've ever been to--a place called the "Beauty Bar" somewhere downtown, where guys sit around with the heads in old hair-dryers. Jesus. A few tributes. First to my excellent producing partner Lauren Versel, without whom we would not have actually become a movie. Lauren and I go back aways in life and could never have anticipated our relationship evolving into what it's become--partners in a joint movie venture that significantly has altered both of our lives already. From the beginning of her involvement, she has been nothing but suppor...

Andy serenades Raymond with his City Island lines late into the last night of our shoot. I thought I was being discreet, evidently not. Subscribe in a reader

Our last night has been spent at the fitting and classic Empire Diner, right in the heart of Chelsea. Fitting, I think, because the movie takes a route from the fringes of Bronx and un-germinated dreams to the hub-bub of New York and the promise of a bright future. We too began in the Bronx, nicely rooted, and now are here, in the bustling, bright city. The two paths have finally converged; art really does imitate life. Subscribe in a reader

This is a post I had been meaning to do for a very long time and then there came a point when it could only be done on the final night; only now it seems apt. Our producer Zachary Matz has been the darkest of horses when it comes to set presence. Yet, he has been the definition of "trooper", assuming the above position for 14 hours a day, his phone headset never far from his earlobes. This is a post in acknowledgment of Zachary Matz and it comes from my endless reserve of gushiness. So readers, suffer no more my ramblings, but be assured he is awesome, the movie would not have been made without him and it would not have been the same experience without his impromptu lessons in production throughout the long days in the musty City Island office. I don't really need to say much more, (I think my sentiment is clear) because I know I will get wasted tomorrow at the wrap party and tell him myself... The minutes, along with the film feet, are slowly slipping away and burning u...

A video montage from the late hours of last night. Up and down 10th avenue, and then to the bar for some drinks and cheese. Yum. Subscribe in a reader

Street chaos that manages to end up being a movie, and a rather wonderful one at that. Subscribe in a reader

Let me know when the little flip camera movies with musical accompaniment get dull... Here is a rather sneaky and shaky waltz through our West Bank cafe set up. Subscribe in a reader

Raymond with producers Greg and Lauren. The happiness is palpable. Not because the film is nearly in the can, but because everyone seems acutely aware at how little time there is left to be friends. This sense is something akin to the end of a school year when the petty feuds are laid to one side and the smiles begin to creep up at the corners of your mouth... Sentimental? Me? Never! I guess all this is heightened by the fact we are shooting a particularly 'feel-good' scene (when the punters of the West Bank Cafe all applause Vincent's successful audition) It all lends to the mood of good-will and the sudden rush to exchange numbers with those you may want to see again someday. Sides from today: A scene with Emily Mortimer and Andy Garcia. Subscribe in a reader

De Felitta, with Andy Garcia, Assistant Director (Far left) Eric Henriquez and Associate Producer Joe Drago (Far right). And the camera team. Another lovely contribution to the blog. Photographs from the days filming the Malakov Acting Studio scenes with Alan Arkin. They really captured the mood and pace of this particular locale. Subscribe in a reader

For some reason that I was never clear about, a three day weekend was built into our last week of shooting. So now it's Monday, with two more shooting days to go, and I'm sitting around feeling pleasantly, utterly lost--not yet finished with the shoot, nor on the clock I've been on for the past ten weeks. Nonetheless, the two last nights coming up will put an end to that. And will also put an end to the most enjoyable filmmaking experience I've yet had. I'm not sure who on the crew checks this blog, but if any of you are out there please accept my heartfelt thanks and gratitude for your super-professionalism and all around great attitudes. And spread that thanks to your compatriots who may not be reading this. The crew, as always, carried the movie. And the actors felt well supported and able to focus on their work. We'll post more clips this week as we come to the end of our shooting period. And then I'm not sure what this blog will turn into. I'll be ...

Firstly, a well-earned, thank you and applause goes out to our Joyce, Julianna Margulies. Today we wrapped (finished shooting) the woman who more than fulfilled the character's potential (and De Felitta's vision) with a dynamic of attitude, strength and likeability. So... To Julianna. Sante! The first part of our day/afternoon (call was at 2pm) was spent at our law office location on 57th and Lexington Avenue. Yet again we are faced with the fictional riding up against the real. As myself and producer Lauren Versel approached the plaza that dramatically leads to the revolving doors, a new but eager PA (Production Assistant) informs us that we cannot walk through. It was a classic moment. Versel did her best 'No, no, no, you don't understand, we are with the movie...' And all that remains is a blushing PA... Cut to later that night, Roosevelt Island, West Side. Director Raymond, Erin (Versel's assistant), Producer Zachary Matz and myself in a crew van driving ...

From this evening's shoot on Roosevelt Island. Raymond De Felitta calmly follows the scene that unfolds on the boardwalk below. The bright lights buzz in the background as the final yell of 'cut!' looms on the horizon. Monday we are idle, then Tuesday, Wednesday and 'That's a wrap!'...   Subscribe in a reader

A short cut sequence from tonight down at the Roosevelt Island tram. Truly spectacular and romantic. Yet a little on the bizarre side of things, the island is one of those Truman show-esque where it all feels a little to considered and held together. Neat condos flanked by neat streets and a tram as a mode of transportation. A little toy town methinks... P.S You can see Andy walking up the ramp in the blue shirt, rehearsing a scene with Raymond and Emily Mortimer.   Subscribe in a reader

From our day in TriBeCa. Filming the crash scene in the ford Galaxy was a logistical feat of biblical proportions, De Felitta directed Garcia via Walkie. Copy That! Phrase of the shoot for sure!   Subscribe in a reader

Dan Fisher, our property master, has created these rather tongue-in-cheek book covers for our acting class extras to hold as props. Likely that they will never be seen on screen, so I have posted them as a courtesy to Dan and to give the books their 15 minutes. Because everyone, even inanimate objects, deserves their 15.   Subscribe in a reader

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Today we are shooting at a theater off Park Avenue in Midtown. This is a little walk through our holding areas and lock down of the street, accompanied by some Wagner, just for fun!   Subscribe in a reader

Tuesday, Day 23: Phil Caruso does his best Raymond impression, and at the same time keeps us all entertained. HI-LAR-IOUS. I think he has the head rub down to a T.   Subscribe in a reader

When working on a low budget, independent feature such as we are, sometimes corners have to be cut... Or when an actor is squashed in to a Honda Element then the slate must be done DIY style, that or have a camera assistant sit on your lap...   Subscribe in a reader

Subscribe in a reader The lovely gentleman above won his role as part of a charity auction in which a walk-on role was donated as one of the prizes. Another of the many stories behind the story of "City Island". It was a great day back in Manhattan again. Zachary Matz, one of our producers (who I will profile before we are done I promise!), opened a tab at the TriBeCa Tavern, for some after work cast and crew drinks. Code word was of course "Botero". (This is in reference to a story line in the film in which Andy Garcia's son, Vinnie Jr, has a infatuation with overweight women. To enter into the gluttonous depths of the Big Beautiful Woman community, one must know and use the secret word: "Botero") The drink was lovely. Well, half of the drink was lovely. The other half ended up on the floor courtesy of Mr Matz's left foot...

Day 23, and a little more waiting around is going on than usual. This time the waiting will both on camera and off as we film an open call audition sequence in TriBeCa (I want to know who comes up with these funny names... Triangle Below Canal? Seriously?) With 140 extras on our hands it is set to be a day of logistical somersaults, and the fact they all have been pulled from the extras casting pool entitled: "Stereotypical New York City Cop" makes for a day that is somewhat surreal... Everyone around me looks vaguely similar and I cannot tell if the guys hanging on the street corner really are just loitering or whether they have ambitions that parallel Vince Rizzo's, and are actually actors in this little film of ours... Reality and fiction seem to have truly collided, but I guess that's what sign up for when you say "yes" to life in the movies! Subscribe in a reader