 | |  | |  | |  |
SUNDANCE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHTS
'Blind Date'
Bruce Weiss, Producer
AFFP: What is the film about?
BW: BLIND DATE is about a couple that lost a child a few years ago and now the only way they can relate to
each other is by role playing and meeting as different characters through a series of personal ads.
AFFP: What interested you in the material?
I've always been interested in films with strong characters. BLIND DATE is part of a trilogy of films I am making
that are remakes of films by the Dutch director Theo van Gogh. Theo's films were all about the actors. Originially
Theo was going to remake his own films in English. After his murder in 2004 his Dutch producer and I decided to
keep the project going and I brought in three American directors to direct the films. Steve Buscemi directed
INTERVIEW which premiered at Sundance last year and was released by SONY Classics. Stanley Tucci directed
BLIND DATE. John Turturro will direct 1-900.
AFFP: Where did you start your career in film making?
I started my career producing the films of Hal Hartley. We sold our first film the UNBELIEVABLE TRUTH to
Miramax and that opened up doors for Hal and me as well as a bunch of talented actors and crew including
Adrienne Shelly, Robert Burke, Edie Falco, Martin Donovan, Michael Spiller, Nick Gomez, etc. I have been
producing films ever since both with very talented filmakers in the U.S. and abroad.
AFFP: Sundance vet?
I have been to Sundance many, many times. The first time I went they gave you a handwritten button with your
name on it (not even a photo) and you could go anywhere in the festival you wanted!
AFFP: What's next on your slate?
I've got several projects set for this year. The first is be the third picture in the van Gogh trilogy 1-900 directed by
John Turturro. I'm also working on a comedy set in Scotland called JOYFUL NOISE with Billy Connely and an
unusual drama called BOTH HANDS.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
'Blind Date'
Bruce Weiss, Producer
AFFP: What is the film about?
BW: BLIND DATE is about a couple that lost a child a few years ago and now the only way they can relate to
each other is by role playing and meeting as different characters through a series of personal ads.
AFFP: What interested you in the material?
I've always been interested in films with strong characters. BLIND DATE is part of a trilogy of films I am making
that are remakes of films by the Dutch director Theo van Gogh. Theo's films were all about the actors. Originially
Theo was going to remake his own films in English. After his murder in 2004 his Dutch producer and I decided to
keep the project going and I brought in three American directors to direct the films. Steve Buscemi directed
INTERVIEW which premiered at Sundance last year and was released by SONY Classics. Stanley Tucci directed
BLIND DATE. John Turturro will direct 1-900.
AFFP: Where did you start your career in film making?
I started my career producing the films of Hal Hartley. We sold our first film the UNBELIEVABLE TRUTH to
Miramax and that opened up doors for Hal and me as well as a bunch of talented actors and crew including
Adrienne Shelly, Robert Burke, Edie Falco, Martin Donovan, Michael Spiller, Nick Gomez, etc. I have been
producing films ever since both with very talented filmakers in the U.S. and abroad.
AFFP: Sundance vet?
I have been to Sundance many, many times. The first time I went they gave you a handwritten button with your
name on it (not even a photo) and you could go anywhere in the festival you wanted!
AFFP: What's next on your slate?
I've got several projects set for this year. The first is be the third picture in the van Gogh trilogy 1-900 directed by
John Turturro. I'm also working on a comedy set in Scotland called JOYFUL NOISE with Billy Connely and an
unusual drama called BOTH HANDS.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Sundance '08 Filmmaker Spotlight:
'Blind Date' & 'The Deal'
'Blind Date' & 'The Deal'
Background on 'The Deal', starring William H. Macy, Meg Ryan, LL Cool J and Jason Ritter, screening Sundance
'08:
A struggling film producer (William H. Macy) teams up with a beleaguered studio executive (Meg Ryan) who is
forced to make a doomed action movie with him in which their mercurial star (LL Cool J) seems determined to
finish their careers.
When their action hero is kidnapped and the studio abruptly shuts down the movie, the mismatched pair conspire
to keep the cameras rolling at the studio’s expense – and reluctantly fall in love in the process.
Macy and Steven Schachter wrote the script, but instead of banging on Hollywood studio doors, they decided to
produce the film independently. They approached Muse Entertainment, a production company in Montreal,
headed by Michael Prupas and Irene Litinsky, with whom they had produced their multiple-Emmy Award and
Golden Globe nominated film The Wool Cap, and Muse came in as producer. Together with Muse they headed
to Florida to meet film investors. After a series of cocktail parties at the Sarasota Film Festival and in New York,
and with the help of another producer Keri Nakamoto, they gathered together half of the budget. Toronto-based
Peace Arch Entertainment, led by Gary Howsam, came in with the other half of the budget and picked up foreign
rights. Canadian rights were sold to Alliance Atlantis, and Moonlighting Pictures came in as the South African
production service company.
“Within months we were in Cape Town, South Africa, shooting the sucker,” says Macy.
Both Macy and Schachter have been in the film business their entire adult lives - and with that comes knowledge.
“We know people like the characters in our script,” Macy declares. “There are plenty of crazies in this business,
and outsized egos. There’s pettiness, viciousness and dishonesty; but there’s also wonderful camaraderie,
especially on a film set …The business brings out the best and the worst in people.
Producer Michael Prupas says that Hollywood stories usually center on the actors or the director. ”It was refreshing
to finally find a script that, while showing the angst a producer goes through, also portrays a producer’s courage
and drive.”
Elliott Gould plays a rabbi and deal maker in the film. For Gould, the movie is a “very funny, satirical and
sometimes farcical reflection of film production. Hollywood is an industry, not a place. It’s a business that deals in
illusion, make-believe, personalities, egos and enormous media. Hollywood can be tragic, dramatic but also
comical, But we made it funny.”
LL Cool J: “There’s so much pretentiousness, arrogance and clichés. Hollywood is filled with the energies of
people worshiping various things. Hollywood is about expanding your mind, and ‘tripping the light fantastic.’....
People are trying to be bigger, better or broader, trying to go deeper, higher or further; and pushing harder to be
greater. There is no place like Hollywood. It’s a very exciting and funny place …The people are all different
personalities … A freak show. The Deal definitely shows a side of it.”
Macy and Schachter began writing together 15 years ago and almost quit after the first try. “Our first script was a
blood bath,” says Macy. “It took forever and we fought like cats and dogs over every single conjunction.”
“At the beginning we used to duke it out but now we’ve mellowed and grown accustomed to each other more as
partners. We sit in a room and we write everything together. Some writing teams divide up the work. But that
doesn’t work for us; we have to be in the moment together,” says Steven Schachter.
“Because I'm a director, I know how difficult it is to commit on film. It takes time, money and labor, and it’s
painful. So you better get it right on the page, rather than go and shoot, shoot, shoot and figure it out later.”
Macy: “I’ve always been a jokester. I love to tell jokes - I’ve always been a funny guy. I would rather laugh than
anything.”
Schachter agrees: “He can tell a joke and I can’t. Bill’s dad was a joke teller too - that’s where Bill learned it.”
“Even though my career involves a lot of very dark films and I’ve played some really despicable characters, I’ve
always found the humor in them,” says Macy. “This is not to say that Steven is not a funny guy. On almost every
script we’ve written there is inevitably a delicious moment where we come up with something and we both start
laughing, and we laugh for ten minutes at our own joke…What has kept us together after all this time is that we
really do work well together and compliment each other.”
'08:
A struggling film producer (William H. Macy) teams up with a beleaguered studio executive (Meg Ryan) who is
forced to make a doomed action movie with him in which their mercurial star (LL Cool J) seems determined to
finish their careers.
When their action hero is kidnapped and the studio abruptly shuts down the movie, the mismatched pair conspire
to keep the cameras rolling at the studio’s expense – and reluctantly fall in love in the process.
Macy and Steven Schachter wrote the script, but instead of banging on Hollywood studio doors, they decided to
produce the film independently. They approached Muse Entertainment, a production company in Montreal,
headed by Michael Prupas and Irene Litinsky, with whom they had produced their multiple-Emmy Award and
Golden Globe nominated film The Wool Cap, and Muse came in as producer. Together with Muse they headed
to Florida to meet film investors. After a series of cocktail parties at the Sarasota Film Festival and in New York,
and with the help of another producer Keri Nakamoto, they gathered together half of the budget. Toronto-based
Peace Arch Entertainment, led by Gary Howsam, came in with the other half of the budget and picked up foreign
rights. Canadian rights were sold to Alliance Atlantis, and Moonlighting Pictures came in as the South African
production service company.
“Within months we were in Cape Town, South Africa, shooting the sucker,” says Macy.
Both Macy and Schachter have been in the film business their entire adult lives - and with that comes knowledge.
“We know people like the characters in our script,” Macy declares. “There are plenty of crazies in this business,
and outsized egos. There’s pettiness, viciousness and dishonesty; but there’s also wonderful camaraderie,
especially on a film set …The business brings out the best and the worst in people.
Producer Michael Prupas says that Hollywood stories usually center on the actors or the director. ”It was refreshing
to finally find a script that, while showing the angst a producer goes through, also portrays a producer’s courage
and drive.”
Elliott Gould plays a rabbi and deal maker in the film. For Gould, the movie is a “very funny, satirical and
sometimes farcical reflection of film production. Hollywood is an industry, not a place. It’s a business that deals in
illusion, make-believe, personalities, egos and enormous media. Hollywood can be tragic, dramatic but also
comical, But we made it funny.”
LL Cool J: “There’s so much pretentiousness, arrogance and clichés. Hollywood is filled with the energies of
people worshiping various things. Hollywood is about expanding your mind, and ‘tripping the light fantastic.’....
People are trying to be bigger, better or broader, trying to go deeper, higher or further; and pushing harder to be
greater. There is no place like Hollywood. It’s a very exciting and funny place …The people are all different
personalities … A freak show. The Deal definitely shows a side of it.”
Macy and Schachter began writing together 15 years ago and almost quit after the first try. “Our first script was a
blood bath,” says Macy. “It took forever and we fought like cats and dogs over every single conjunction.”
“At the beginning we used to duke it out but now we’ve mellowed and grown accustomed to each other more as
partners. We sit in a room and we write everything together. Some writing teams divide up the work. But that
doesn’t work for us; we have to be in the moment together,” says Steven Schachter.
“Because I'm a director, I know how difficult it is to commit on film. It takes time, money and labor, and it’s
painful. So you better get it right on the page, rather than go and shoot, shoot, shoot and figure it out later.”
Macy: “I’ve always been a jokester. I love to tell jokes - I’ve always been a funny guy. I would rather laugh than
anything.”
Schachter agrees: “He can tell a joke and I can’t. Bill’s dad was a joke teller too - that’s where Bill learned it.”
“Even though my career involves a lot of very dark films and I’ve played some really despicable characters, I’ve
always found the humor in them,” says Macy. “This is not to say that Steven is not a funny guy. On almost every
script we’ve written there is inevitably a delicious moment where we come up with something and we both start
laughing, and we laugh for ten minutes at our own joke…What has kept us together after all this time is that we
really do work well together and compliment each other.”
William H. Macy and Meg Ryan
from 'The Deal'
from 'The Deal'
