Another Opening
Submitted by Nick Dager on Mon, 06/29/2009 - 15:45.
The Last International Playboy Gets a Makeover prior to its Theatrical Release
Director/writer Steve Clark’s independent movie The Last International Playboy sold out at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City as well as the GenArt Film festival in New York City. The producers released the film independently in New York City last month and are opening it in additional theaters and cities around the country. The movie shot for 23 days in New York and one day in Tampa and had a budget under a million dollars. A year later the movie had a new title and a new opening sequence and that’s the story here.
The film was shot on the Sony F900 and was edited at Rogue Post in New York using Final Cut Pro. The new opening sequence was shot with a Red camera because cinematographer, Brian Burgoyne, was able to get the camera for free. All the technology decisions were a function of the budget, Clark says.
The cast includes Jason Behr (Roswell), Monet Mazur (House Bunny), Lucy Gordon (Spiderman 3), Krysten Ritter (Confessions of a Shopaholic), India Ennenga (The Women), and Mike Landry (Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Undead), with a special appearance by Lydia Hearst.
Roswell star Jason Behr assumes the role of a New York City playboy who sinks into a deep depression after learning that his childhood love is engaged to another man. Still haunted by his mother's recent suicide, professional charmer Jack Frost (Behr) is shattered to discover that his one true love (Monet Mazur) is about to take the plunge with another man. As Jack begins spiraling into a self-destructive cycle of whisky and reckless behavior, his best friends Ozzy (Krysten Ritter), Scotch (Mike Landry), and Kate (Lucy Gordon) struggle to find a means of jarring their depressed pal back to reality. Strangely enough, it isn't Jack's grown-up friends who offer him the most useful relationship advice, but his eleven year-old neighbor Sophie (India Ennenga), whose unusually wise and thoughtful words have a special way of helping the self-absorbed urbanite shake off the nostalgia and excess that may ultimately consume him.
The movie was co-written by Clark and Thomas Moffett and produced by C Plus Pictures a production company that specializes in creating uniquely voiced independent feature films. Founders Mike Landry and Carlos Velasquez are actors in their own right, and approach filmmaking from an actor’s perspective.
Born in New York City, Clark attended Trinity College where he graduated with a degree in Third World Studies and won the John Curtis Underwood Prize for Poetry. Clark was senior editor for George Plimpton's The Paris Review (1995 to 2002). He has published fiction in The Paris Review (issue 150), various poems in magazines (Salinas, Trinity Review), translated several books from the Spanish (Set Planet, by Valenti Gomez 1997, Flor de Fuego by Valenti Gomez 1996, Locus Naked by Marga Clark, 1995). He lives in New York City.
According to the film’s producers, the screenplay’s original title was The Last International Playboy, and after a re-shoot and a re-edit of the film, they felt the original title captured the spirit of the film better for its theatrical release. The re-shoot featured the following renowned international supermodels as they have never been seen before including: Jessica Gomes (Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition), Shannan Click (Victoria’s Secret), Lisa Cant (Juicy Couture), Nicole Trunfio (Make Me a Supermodel), Leticia Cline (Playboy cover girl Sept 2007) and Amy Finlayson (MAC).
Clark and Moffettsaid that the film was a tribute to George Plimpton, a friend and colleague from their time as editors at The Paris Review. Moffett also recently penned the 2009 Sundance sensation, Shrink, starring Kevin Spacey and Robin Williams.
According to All Movie Guide, in The Last International Playboy, “Roswell star Jason Behr assumes the role of a New York City playboy (Jack Frost) who sinks into a deep depression after learning that his childhood love is engaged to another man. As Jack spirals into a self-destructive cycle of whisky and reckless behavior, his best friends Ozzy (Krysten Ritter), Scotch (Mike Landry), and Kate (Lucy Gordon) struggle to find a means of jarring their depressed pal back to reality. Strangely enough, it isn't Jack's grown-up friends who offer him the most useful relationship advice, but his eleven year-old neighbor Sophie (India Ennenga), whose unusually wise and thoughtful words have a special way of helping the self-absorbed urbanite shake off the nostalgia and excess that may ultimately consume him.”
After the initial edit of the movie Clark took the movie on the festival circuit. When it was on the festival circuit the movie was called Frost after the title character. Clark says he took what he learned from that experience and did another edit, a three-week process also at Rogue that he called a “brush up.” He was happy with the movie “but.”
First, there was the title, Frost, which was getting confused with Frost/Nixon. More important, he says, “you didn’t see a big enough change” in the main character. The movie as it stood saw the hero depressed at the start and depressed at the end.
He admits that the opening sequence is, in his words, “wild and over the top,” but he doesn’t believe it qualifies as soft porn. While there is brief nudity and suggested sex scenes Clark says, “All those bits end up paying off.”
He stressed that the actors had all seen the previous version of the movie and understood what the new opening sequence was meant to accomplish in terms of bolstering the story.
Clark’s next project is extremely personal. His new screenplay is an adaptation of his mother's novel, Marga, about his great aunt, Marga Gil Roësset, a child prodigy artist in Spain in the 1920's (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry cited her drawings as inspiration for his The Little Prince), who fell in love with Spanish Nobel Laureate poet, Juan Ramon Jimenez, and killed herself at twenty-three.
At present he is also at work on a script about thirteen year old kids in New York in the 80s. He is looking for financing for both projects.
Director/writer Steve Clark’s independent movie The Last International Playboy sold out at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City as well as the GenArt Film festival in New York City. The producers released the film independently in New York City last month and are opening it in additional theaters and cities around the country. The movie shot for 23 days in New York and one day in Tampa and had a budget under a million dollars. A year later the movie had a new title and a new opening sequence and that’s the story here.
The film was shot on the Sony F900 and was edited at Rogue Post in New York using Final Cut Pro. The new opening sequence was shot with a Red camera because cinematographer, Brian Burgoyne, was able to get the camera for free. All the technology decisions were a function of the budget, Clark says. The cast includes Jason Behr (Roswell), Monet Mazur (House Bunny), Lucy Gordon (Spiderman 3), Krysten Ritter (Confessions of a Shopaholic), India Ennenga (The Women), and Mike Landry (Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Undead), with a special appearance by Lydia Hearst.
Roswell star Jason Behr assumes the role of a New York City playboy who sinks into a deep depression after learning that his childhood love is engaged to another man. Still haunted by his mother's recent suicide, professional charmer Jack Frost (Behr) is shattered to discover that his one true love (Monet Mazur) is about to take the plunge with another man. As Jack begins spiraling into a self-destructive cycle of whisky and reckless behavior, his best friends Ozzy (Krysten Ritter), Scotch (Mike Landry), and Kate (Lucy Gordon) struggle to find a means of jarring their depressed pal back to reality. Strangely enough, it isn't Jack's grown-up friends who offer him the most useful relationship advice, but his eleven year-old neighbor Sophie (India Ennenga), whose unusually wise and thoughtful words have a special way of helping the self-absorbed urbanite shake off the nostalgia and excess that may ultimately consume him.
The movie was co-written by Clark and Thomas Moffett and produced by C Plus Pictures a production company that specializes in creating uniquely voiced independent feature films. Founders Mike Landry and Carlos Velasquez are actors in their own right, and approach filmmaking from an actor’s perspective.
Born in New York City, Clark attended Trinity College where he graduated with a degree in Third World Studies and won the John Curtis Underwood Prize for Poetry. Clark was senior editor for George Plimpton's The Paris Review (1995 to 2002). He has published fiction in The Paris Review (issue 150), various poems in magazines (Salinas, Trinity Review), translated several books from the Spanish (Set Planet, by Valenti Gomez 1997, Flor de Fuego by Valenti Gomez 1996, Locus Naked by Marga Clark, 1995). He lives in New York City.
According to the film’s producers, the screenplay’s original title was The Last International Playboy, and after a re-shoot and a re-edit of the film, they felt the original title captured the spirit of the film better for its theatrical release. The re-shoot featured the following renowned international supermodels as they have never been seen before including: Jessica Gomes (Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition), Shannan Click (Victoria’s Secret), Lisa Cant (Juicy Couture), Nicole Trunfio (Make Me a Supermodel), Leticia Cline (Playboy cover girl Sept 2007) and Amy Finlayson (MAC).Clark and Moffettsaid that the film was a tribute to George Plimpton, a friend and colleague from their time as editors at The Paris Review. Moffett also recently penned the 2009 Sundance sensation, Shrink, starring Kevin Spacey and Robin Williams.
According to All Movie Guide, in The Last International Playboy, “Roswell star Jason Behr assumes the role of a New York City playboy (Jack Frost) who sinks into a deep depression after learning that his childhood love is engaged to another man. As Jack spirals into a self-destructive cycle of whisky and reckless behavior, his best friends Ozzy (Krysten Ritter), Scotch (Mike Landry), and Kate (Lucy Gordon) struggle to find a means of jarring their depressed pal back to reality. Strangely enough, it isn't Jack's grown-up friends who offer him the most useful relationship advice, but his eleven year-old neighbor Sophie (India Ennenga), whose unusually wise and thoughtful words have a special way of helping the self-absorbed urbanite shake off the nostalgia and excess that may ultimately consume him.”
After the initial edit of the movie Clark took the movie on the festival circuit. When it was on the festival circuit the movie was called Frost after the title character. Clark says he took what he learned from that experience and did another edit, a three-week process also at Rogue that he called a “brush up.” He was happy with the movie “but.”
First, there was the title, Frost, which was getting confused with Frost/Nixon. More important, he says, “you didn’t see a big enough change” in the main character. The movie as it stood saw the hero depressed at the start and depressed at the end.He admits that the opening sequence is, in his words, “wild and over the top,” but he doesn’t believe it qualifies as soft porn. While there is brief nudity and suggested sex scenes Clark says, “All those bits end up paying off.”
He stressed that the actors had all seen the previous version of the movie and understood what the new opening sequence was meant to accomplish in terms of bolstering the story.
Clark’s next project is extremely personal. His new screenplay is an adaptation of his mother's novel, Marga, about his great aunt, Marga Gil Roësset, a child prodigy artist in Spain in the 1920's (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry cited her drawings as inspiration for his The Little Prince), who fell in love with Spanish Nobel Laureate poet, Juan Ramon Jimenez, and killed herself at twenty-three.
At present he is also at work on a script about thirteen year old kids in New York in the 80s. He is looking for financing for both projects.