Enjoy the first of many behind the scenes production stills I'll be posting in the weeks leading up to the release of "City Island" (3/19/10). Click to enlarge.
Re: the trailer. I think we'll be ready to put it up on our various sites (movie website, facebook and of course this blog) in two weeks. In answer to a readers queary, no--the director doesn't have final control of the trailer. A company that specializes in creating trailers puts a few different versions together and the releasing company--in concert with the filmmakers--looks at them all and gives notes. Ultimately the end product belongs to those who are releasing the film--in this case, however, we are all on board with the trailer and delighted with how it turned out.
Now for the mantra. Remember that spreading the word about our movie is the key thing to getting it seen and in the hands of the audiences. So please forward this blog entry to as many of your friends (and enemies) as you can. Anyone interested in production stills and behind the scenes clips (not to mention the aforementioned trailer) will enjoy the journey this blog will be taking them on over the next three months. And go to the top right of this page to find me and the movie on Facebook, Twitter and all the usual self-promoting devices now overused by web-whores like myself.
Seriously sorry for the disappearing act. I've been following the shoot on "The Good Wife" and more often than not there simply isn't internet access on location. And by the time I get home I'm too wiped from having spent a day on set not doing anything productive.
And the last two days of the shoot are upon me as I speak. So enjoy a clip and stay tuned for a lot of semi-exciting updates (for instance, the movie has a kick ass trailer which I will unveil in a few weeks, as well as a mega-online promotion plan which you will all certainly be made aware of/a part of).
And now, Andy Garcia serenades you on the piano, during one of our lunch breaks.
Location work on "The Good Wife" (which I'm observing the production of) negates the possibility of regular blogging, so forgive my spotty comings and goings. Okay, you got a better excuse? Still, I'm encouraged by all the enthusiastic comments coming in and continue to promise more clips, more production stills and more...excuses.
Below, dig a video that was made of our "City Island" evening this past Wednesday at Tribeca--the party was given for SAP, the software giants, and you'll see video of the panel on which I appeared with Ezra Miller and Emily Mortimer. It was moderated by the very generous Neil Rosen and you'll notice him wondering when the hell I'm going to stop blathering on and on in my attempt to answer a question about how Andy Garcia got involved with the movie in the first place. Ezra and Emily also look stupefied with boredom as their director friend rambles on discursively, saying in ten thousand words what certainly could have been said in a few hundred. The video was brought to my attention, by the way, by the invaluble JC, one of our more attentive "City Island hounds". Bien, gracias.
More soon. Remember the mantra. And if for some bizarre reason you really miss me when I'm not blogging, follow my aimless twitter stream--it helps me kill time when sitting around on a movie set not doing much of anything.
Tonight we're showing "City Island" at a special invitation only screening hosted by the Tribeca Film Festival for SAP, the major business software company. I understand that I'll be joined by Emily Mortimer and Ezra Miller, as well as by my producer Lauren Versel.
Do you know Ezra MIler? If you don't yet, you will soon. An amazingly fresh, funny, smart young actor who plays Andy Garcia's younger son in "City Island". Below I've posted two clips--one of some raw footage (dailies) of Ezra from the movie, and the other an "interview" with me on the set (actually I'm being interviewed by my assistant for the purposes of this blog) discussing why I think Ezra's going to be the next big thing.
I'll spare you the mantra today, but will ask the plaintive question: have you shared this blog (and the news of the impending release of the movie on 3/19/10) with your best friend and worst enemy today? More later...
My week (or the week according to this blog) now begins on Tuesdays. It's an Obama thing. Don't ask what that means. I don't know.
Still "shadowing" on "The Good Wife", though the shoot doesn't begin until Thursday. Much driving around strange byways of Queens and Long Island searching for locations. As always, a good attitude prevails on these trips--crews out scratching together movies or episodes of shows are truly engaged in a strange pursuit, almost Gypsy-like in its private codes, practices, meanings etc. Ever wonder why elaborate movie crews are frequently found shooting in the oddest little places--like filling stations, pizza parlors or eyeglass stores? "Why would they bother to shlep out here for this little shop?" is the usual question. Like everything in movies, there's a real reason--though one that doesn't make much sense in a normal world not viewed through a looking glass. Generally its because these smaller locations are tied to a larger one nearby. And then every so often, people just go DAFT and decide they really need a "certain look" for something relatively trivial (a filling station, a pizza parlor, an eyeglass place). When that look isn't found, the indecision becomes paralyzing; eventually any old place will do--as long as its near something else. I'm afraid I've been guilty of this a few times and later wondered how the hell I wound up taking everybody so far out of the way to shoot something that probably could have been accomplished anywhere.
Now: what has this to do with "City Island"? Nothing. For I've nothing to report--YET. But I do here scratchings that we'll be in some more festivals before the official opening on MARCH 19, 2010. All of these will be duly noted in upcoming posts. Meanwhile, I will once again begin recycling some of the on-set clips we posted during production, for those of you knew to this blog. But before we flashback to summer '08, dig the below--an interview with the actors (which I'd never seen and hence hadn't posted) done right after we'd won the Tribeca Audience Award. It features a generous amount of Julianna Margulies who I look forward to seeing on set in a couple of days. I'll soon get some behind the scenes stills up on this blog as well. As soon as I remember where I left the disc that they're on.
And now for the mantra.
"City Island" is your movie. Help us get the word out. Forward this blog to your friends and enemies alike. Comment on our Facebook page (I'll check in on that every day as well).
Thanks to all for the many comments and for the enthusiastic initial response to the blogathonging. The daily entries, though shorter then my previous verbose digressions, will continue apace. Although I'm tempted to take the weekend off. How much blather can one person truly be expected to produce?
Perhaps some of you may recall me mentioning over this past year that I've been shooting footage for a documentary about the history of cabaret. My partner in this venture, James Gavin, wrote a terrific book on the subject called "Intimate Nights" and we are, in essence, making a filmed record of his book. Thus far we've had amazing luck in getting some remarkable people to sit down and be interviewed--among them Lily Tomlin, Orson Bean, Dick Cavett, Dixie Carter, Joan Rivers, Shelley Berman, Kaye Ballard. Well, just a week ago we had the honor of meeting and interviewing the woman who truly started it all for female comics, the great Phyllis Diller. Ms. Diller is ninety-two years old and still has the same delivery, the same sense of humor and...that same trademark laugh!
If you're like me, you grew up seeing Madam Diller on Bob Hope shows, in movies, on Laugh In, in commercials etc. Later I heard records of her stand up club act (which is what we were interviewing her about) and was amazed at the pace of her humor, the relentless joke upon joke upon joke engine that she commanded. But there were a few things that I didnt know about her. Such as:
1) She had five children and was a housewife/mother in Alameda California before she even attempted a career in comedy--she was well into her thirties when she got her start in the nightclubs. 2) She's a wonderful painter--her pictures sell for quite a bit of moolah and many adorn the walls of her lovely old mansion in Brentwood. 3) Get this: she's a concert pianist! Trained. The whole shmeer! Who knew? 4) Her living room has a portrait of Bob Hope on an easel.
Here I am with Madam. Click to enlarge, if you dare:
Below I've posted a couple of Phyllis clips. The first is one of her classic stand-up routines--about her "bird legs" (interestingly she didn't recall this particular routine when I mentioned it to her). The second is a real curio--an appearence on TV where she plays piano with an obviously drunk Liberace. Enjoy. And before heading off into the weekend, remember that mantra:
"City Island" is your movie. Help us get the word out. Forward this blog to your friends and enemies alike. Comment on our Facebook page (I'll check in on that every day as well).
Yesterday, we had a terrific meeting with the Anchor Bay people--the folks releasing our movie--on everything to do with their marketing plan. Poster, trailer, timeline for private screenings, long lead press, online presence etc. These guys are as enthusiastic and behind this movie as it's possible to be and are hoping it becomes Anchor Bay's "tentpole" move--i.e., the breakout hit that defines the company and around which they can build further business. Our release date is set for 3/19/10 and I'll be delivering info on the above particulars (cities, appearences etc.) as the time grows nearer.
All of that said: the movie is still very much in the publics hands. Your hands.So a few gentle reminders to those of you participating in what I hope will be a web-based, fan-based, grass roots (what does that term derive from anyway?) effort to put our movie over the top. Forgive the repetition but lets call it our mantra:
Reminder: "City Island" is your movie. Help us get the word out. Forward the posts to your friends and enemies alike. Comment on our Facebook page (I'll check in on that every day as well).
Now, here's a terrific article by a friend of mine from the Hollywood trenches named Chris Dorr. Although Chris is a producer and former studio executive, he currently is deep into the new wave of figuring out how businesses will be positively impacted by social networking. And Twitter, it seems to him (he may refute this) is the new frontier for all of us self-promoting hucksters...not to mention mega-giant corps etc. In this article, Chris gives a very sound rundown of how and why Twitter works, as well as providing a solid smackdown of a typical Hollywood execs misunderstanding of the value of the service. Must reading if you're interested in where we are all headed, media and communication wise, almost instantly.
This morning I tweeted a lovely piece of footage of Teddy Wilson playing piano in the 1960s. So as not to repeat myself, here's a different view of the jazz master, this time engaged in a duet with the monstrously wonderful Earl "Fatha" Hines. N'joy!
Reminder: "City Island" is your movie. Help us get the word out. Forward the posts to your friends and enemies alike. Comment on our Facebook page (I'll check in on that every day as well).
Dig the heavitude of the circle of life-a-tude: I'm currently in New York "shadowing" on an episode of Julianna Margulies hit show "The Good Wife". This means that I'm observing the production in hopes of getting an episode of my own to direct. Yesterday was the first day of prep so I went out to Greenpoint, Brooklyn and met the very nice folks who work on the show. (The director--Nelson McCormick--is especially gracious and welcoming).
The first days work consisted of a location scout for a prison. So guess where I wound up visiting one year and five months after I'd previously been there? The Nassau County Correctional Facility, where we shot the prison scenes for "City Island". I was bemused by the inescapability of our paths and how they double and re-double upon themselves. Still, I saw no real reason to say anything or make a fuss. And then we got out of the van and were greeted by the guy who runs the joint (or one of them) Sgt. DiStefano. And he recognized me! It was like old home week. He and his guys all asked about "City Island", when its coming out, what a nice crew we were to have working in the jail, how much they liked Andy Garcia, etc.
So I take it that my visits to Nassau County Correctional are now a yearly thing for me. As long as I'm not there against my own wishes...
Here's a clip of Andy playing correctional officer Vince Rizzo, shot at Nassau County.
Tired of my stale postings staying up for a week or more at a time? Exhausted by my carping and complaining about glammy festivals that didn't treat me like royalty? Wondering if this whole damn blog is simply an excercise in meta-fiction, with me being the ultimate unreliable narrator? Is there really a movie called "City Island" and is the person writing really named Raymond De Felitta...and if he's not, why would he bother impersonating this guy?
Well, folks, today's your lucky one. Today, Tuesday November 3, marks the beginning of a new life for you and me in the blogosphere. For today we are OFFICIALLY TWENTY WEEKS AWAY FROM THE US RELEASE OF OUR MOVIE. And I will be relentlessly blogging, tweeting, posting clips and still photos and whatnot for the next twenty weeks in order to build the necessary word of mouth that it takes to open an independent film and not have it disappear instantly into the vapors.
Yes, this marks the beginning of the official "Let's Make a Hit Movie Out Of CIty Island" blogathon. Although something tells me it would a more popular event if it was a "Thong-A-Blog". Har.
Now, what has this to do with you, my loyal readers? Simple. Just as I asked for your help--both actual and karmic--during our premiere at Tribeca in spreading the word about the film, I'm about to ask for your help on a much larger scale. The Tribeca stuff truly worked--I'm convinced that a large part of the buzz about the movie which resulted in the festival adding multiple screenings (all sold out) and us winning the Audience Award had a direct connection to the good vibes generated by your interest and participation.
So: what is it I'm hoping for here? Nothing less than a web-miracle (I'm sure there's some cutsy acronym for this phenomena--"webicle" or"mira-net" or somesuch). I'm hoping that we kick up so much dust via this blog, Facebook and Twitter that our opening weekend in NYC and LA kicks serious ass. And that the fan out to the next ten cities (I'll announce them soon--certainly Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston will be among them) will be equally high profile.
I want the entertainment media to notice that our movie was powered by a secret engine: the fan-base that we've developed over the last year, ever since I began blogging the making of the movie.
How to do this? Well, you might start by sending the link to this blog to a few friends every day. For that matter, send it to people who aren't your friends--spammers deserve to be in on this as well as creditors . Also bookmark me on Twitter and check in a couple of times a day--I won't be posting exclusively on "City Island" (don't really have that amount of material) but I'l always provide a link to something cinematic or musical on youtube, or perhaps an article concerning precisely what we're doing here--the rise of social networking in publicizing indie films. If you like what I've tweeted, re-tweet it to whomever (this, I'm discovering, is the truly viral use of Twitter).
There's much to do so let's roll. Twenty weeks is a good, honest amount of time to change the face of the entertainment world. Who better than you loyal City Island hounds to be at the forefront of the revolution?
Below, I've posted the trailer of "City Island" prepared a few months ago by our foreign sales company, WestEnd Films. This is not the official US trailer--that isn't ready yet--but it's a good start. Cheers!
