Writer-producer-director Theodore Melfi has a different vision from those who think that independent cinema is becoming an endangered species; In fact, he tells me that we are now in the “golden age of independent cinema”. This may be one of the reasons he appreciates the two films he unveiled at this week’s Tribeca Film Festival in New York: the independently produced films that help the pastor. It is included corner office, The one with John Ham, he’s the executive producer, etc. American dreamer! He is the writer and producer of the play with Peter Dinklage, Shirley McLain and Matt Dillon. Both are for sale and the bottom line is that Melfi truly believes that the viewer dictates whatever the perfect form of distribution is, be it cinema, streaming, digital VOD, or a combination of all three.
As a director, Melfi has had an experience on all levels that has led to great success in independent character-oriented films where he has their own name and each goes their own way in finding an audience. In the case of the famous Bill Murray of 2014 San Vincenzo, Also nominated for Best Picture at the 2016 Oscars hidden figures, These were first the Toronto Film Festival and then the major theatrical releases. with last year Star, This was with Netflix after Streamer detected the finished movie. Melfi has felt good about the achievements of the three and, although his Tribeca partner is not his director, he is equally committed to making sure they find the right home and aims to keep Tribeca moving forward. In fact, no one, neither buyers, critics or the public, has seen it. American dreamer His debut weekend in front of a house full of people. And it was intentional.
“We have completely hidden it. Nobody saw it. No one has seen it in the whole country, no buyers have seen it… and no critics have seen it, because we really wanted it to be with 800 people. This is a comedy, you know? “It’s an advantage for the band,” Melfi told me just two days before the premiere. For the purpose of this interview, I have seen and must say that this is a strange film inspired by a true story, exactly what the studios have always distributed, but now almost never. This is an unusually small, hilarious and wonderfully acted film that could have given a half a chance to find a grateful audience, most likely on Streamer these days as they seem more open to some possibly original studios wanting to pre-sell. mostly familiar.
Melfi says they worked American dreamer him for five years. Producer David Ginsberg and director Paul Dector devised an episode with him. this is American life They heard. They called him Dinklage, in addition to being a producer, he also had a duty as a screenwriter. “It’s based on the true story,” Melfi said. “So inside this is American life Segment, this assistant professor, longing for a home and wanting to see the American dream, but can barely get an apartment and stumbles upon a secret listing for this vast estate for $ 240,000 if you can live in it, it’s close to the death and can’t bear to leave the place. She’s a widow and she says, “You can get a job when I die for this incredibly low amount of money,” and it’s like a big $ 5 million estate, and she’s taking care of it. “It’s a lifelong dream come true and she’s moving into a maid’s house above the garage.” Melfi added that the case she was based on involved a woman doing the same thing to an old man, but in this case it turned out that the boy lived for another 20 years and over the next two decades they became a family. It was Nagleji who inspired her film script.
Dinklage was tied to the project as a lead and producer, and then McClain, now 88, landed in what he would call his best on-screen role for some time. Understandably, he appreciates the stars of him and points out that Dinklage has such innate sympathy that it was important because they throw every possible negative situation at the character and he can still win you over. As for McLain, he says the cult star is a stunner. “He’s great in the movie and he was a warrior,” Melfi said. “He Works nonstop, he came professionally and he loved Pete. He loved the script. He was really in character. I had a million ideas. At one point he also said: “Let’s do a love scene”. He was total and enthusiastic, and you know, Shirley, who we all know and love, was passionate about the project and a true team player. So it’s a blessing to have someone like him on set, and someone like that with Pete, then Matt Dillon was very good, and then Danny Glover came at the last minute. She called it a “dream” casting.
It is included corner office Which gives Ham a very different office role than he ever had from Don Draper (Melfi Coil describes this part as perhaps Draper’s clumsy and possibly mentally ill brother) but just as memorable, in his own weird Kafkaesque way. Melfi and producer partner and wife Kim Quinn (who is also a great co-star American dreamer) Received an overture inclusion. Vancouver producers Dylan Collingwood and Matt Clark, the guys from Tilt 9, sent me the script and said, “You know, we’d be happy to help you produce it.” I read the script and thought, “This is wild” and said, “Yes”. Kim and I help with this. We feel honored because the script was so wild and unique. You know, we all love making independent films, I think everyone likes them, they are the funniest and the freest. “So, you know, this is just an opportunity to immerse ourselves in the people we knew, loved and trusted in a project that had never existed before,” he said. She has already briefly won an Oscar, new tenants He did it in 2010. And he’s a very famous commercial director, very well known. “He So obviously he knows what he’s doing,” said Melfi, who also has extensive experience in the field.
Ham, glasses, and pronounced mustache will be the selling point of this one, but it’s oddly fascinating to attract a true specialist theater dealer who can lovingly take care of you. It strangely reminded me of the tone of John Chiver’s story, in particular Swimmer Which was shot in 1968, or at least something more abstract or Buñuel. The ham is excellent. Again, Melfi is always on the hunt for these types of films that need some TLC as soon as they come out of the festival circle.
“I am a strange optimist. I think there has never been a better time to make independent films. I think there are too many places to put them and now there are so many streamers who are really looking for a product and can’t meet their needs that if you make a good movie, it has a home. He said. “So I think 20 years ago, if you made a good movie, a good indie movie, it was hard for him to find a place to go. It must have been amazing and it must have been commercially insane and it had to be in theaters and now you don’t have that weight. If it’s good enough or big enough to be in the theater, that’s great, but streamers really offer us another venue, another source of income, and a large audience. So movies like these, where they go to the movies or air, it’s really up to the viewer to decide and I think the audience will decide, and now there are so many places to sell and take your movie that I think it’s gold. years. An indie film and I know it sounds crazy. I agree. I think now is the golden age of independent cinema. watch movies like Palm Springs, Right? watch movies like Star. All of these films are independently shot and sold for a huge sum of money and are wonderfully produced. They played fantastic with the audience. So I’m very optimistic about an indie film. I think Netflix, Hulu, Fox Searchlight, these people, Peacock, they all need movies.
So why was the Tribeca Film Festival (the word “film” abandoned its name) a suitable venue for both films to debut? “First of all, it was bilateral. corner office For me, classic New York India and John Hamm live in New York and Peter Dinklage lives in New York. So they’re both New Yorkers. So it was a great place to start both films and we were lucky enough to come to the festival with both films, but it seems Tribeca was the perfect place for many reasons. I mean, New York, obviously the largest city in the world, is thriving now after, hopefully after COVID, and I don’t know. “I felt like it was a New York movie,” she said.
As for future films, Ted Melfey has plans to direct himself Fruit Rings Along with Michael Keaton, Jodi Commer and Leticia Wright, they are expected to star in Paramount in the first quarter of age 23, a drama that takes place in a state psychiatric institution he describes as a minor. cuckoo’s nest And more 12 angry men he realizes breakfast club. He also just finished the project. The underwater world who is going to drive. It is based on the novel by Don Delilo and is made for Netflix (for which he made Star And he has a high regard for his work.)
However, now it’s about finding a good home for both of you. American dreamer Y corner office, And it all starts in Tribeca this week.
Source: Deadline
