FILMMAKER MAGAZINE | Fall 1998: PRODUCTION UPDATE

PRODUCTION UPDATE

Christian Campbell, Scream-star Neve Campbell’s brother, and newcomer John Paul Pitoc star as might-be lovers in the romantic comedy Trick, the feature debut of theater director Jim Fall, whose shorts He Touched Me and Love is Deaf, Dumb and Blind may be familiar to cable-watching readers.

Campbell plays Gabriel, a frustrated composer who has all but given up on love when fate throws Mark (Pitoc) in his path one summer night. Once their eyes meet, Gabriel decides Mark is fair game for a brief encounter and pursues him enthusiastically, but their luckless night-long search for a place to be alone gives both time to think there might be more here than just a one night stand.

Campbell’s already won kudos from industryites who’ve seen his impressively lowkey starring turn in the indie Next Time; the thesp also shows up at this fall’s Toronto Film Festival as producer of Hair Shirt. Pitoc is a newcomer discovered in an East Village play. Also in the cast is Tori Spelling as Gabriel’s singing, tap dancing friend.

Fall found his first champion in Robert Hawk, the indie consultant and longtime Sundance advisor. Hawk got his first taste of producing on Chasing Amy and wanted more. He’d met Fall at the 1994 IFFM, where Fall was shopping a cabaret culture script, Eighty Eight’s. When Fall brought him Jason Schafer’s screenplay for Trick three years later, Hawk spotted gold. "It was straight from the heart and had the potential for what I call ‘hauntability‚’ that something that tugs at you and wakes you up thinking about it the next morning," he says. Hawk, Fall, and his lawyer Mark Beigelman optioned Trick together and embarked on a series of staged readings.

Fall produced the film with Eric d’Arbeloff, whose company Roadside Attractions provided financing. Ross Katz also served as producer, with Beigelman and Good Machine’s Mary Jane Skalski and Anthony Bregman as executive producers. Trick was shot all over Brooklyn Heights and Manhattan this summer. The filmmakers were deep into post at press time; Trick should be done by year’s end and rights inquiries should be addressed to Good Machine.

Cast: Christian Campbell, John Paul Pitoc, Brad Beyer, Tori Spelling, Steve Hayes, Lorri Bagley, Will Keenan. Crew: Producers, Eric d’Arbeloff, Ross Katz; Co-Producer, Bob Hawk; Executive Producers, Anthony Bregman, Mary Jane Skalski, Mark Beigelman; Screenwriter, Jason Schafer; Director, Jim Fall; Cinematographer, Terry Stacey; Production Designer, Jody Asnes; Editor, Brian Kates. Contact: Ross Katz, Good Machine, 417 Canal Street, New York, NY 10013. Tel: (212) 343-9230, Fax: (212) 343-9645.