When Marty Lang told me a couple of weeks ago about the rough cut screening of RISING STAR, I figured he was talking about a small affair--10-15 people in addition to the cast & crew, some box wine, surveys, that sort of thing. But, as the date approached, it became more and more clear that wasn't the case. My first clue was the fact that there'd be trailers of fellow indie films (which is something that if you aren't doing at your screenings, then shame on you). Then, a rumor that Gary King might show up (He didn't. I think he's hiding from me.). [EDITOR'S NOTE: He was not]
During production, RISING STAR worked out a pretty interesting deal with the Mark Twain House in Hartford. They were allowed to film there essentially for peanuts. In exchange, the Mark Twain House would get to screen the first cut of the film, and keep all the box office. This is exactly the sort of mutually beneficial thing filmmakers love. Plus, this is a venue that has a pretty consistent group of donors and patrons--low-hanging fruit for filmmakers, as Miles Maker would say. It's exactly the type of audience a guy like Marty wants to find.
I hit Hartford around 3pm the day before, and we immediately jumped in Marty's car and headed down to Rhode Island to, you know, finish the rough cut. The editor, Alec Asten (who someone should cast next to Pericles Lewnes in a buddy comedy) was kind enough to let us add his house to the trip, although he was really more interested in hearing more about Mattson Tomlin's "monster sex scene". He had heard the Film Courage interview (it seems a lot of people from RISING STAR did) and was incredibly interested in how this whole thing was supposed to work. Who isn't?
