FILMMAKER MAGAZINE | Spring 1996: PRODUCTION UPDATE

PRODUCTION UPDATE

Estep Nagy's eerie drama The Broken Giant explores faith, sorrow, passion and betrayal within the context of a small town's mores. The film proceeds at a pace as carefully measured as one of the sermons intoned by the anguished young minister at its core.

Ezra Caton (Will Arnett) has the mayor's beautiful daughter (Brooke Smith) for a lover and the church for a vocation but he's still struggling with his family's dark history. Into his life comes Clio, an ethereal 20-year-old runaway (Naked Angels member Missy Yager) fleeing a father whose affection has crossed the line into abuse. "Life is complicated and Ezra makes choices based on his own spiritual state rather than for the good of his community," says director Nagy. "Some of his actions may be ambiguous but [I think] that's more interesting than being obvious - explaining everything away can be reductive."

After graduating from Yale in '92, Nagy spent a year managing a family farm in Maryland and honing his writing skills. The Broken Giant got off the ground when Nagy joined forces with Yale pal Jeff Clifford, a Wall Street consultant turned director of distribution for Troma, and his lawyer friend Jon Cohen, also a refugee from Wall Street. Cohen's parents had a house on Isleboro - an island off the coast of Maine - the filmmakers could use as an operational base. Nearby was a deconsecrated National Historic Landmark church they could also use. The Wall Streeters then solicited equity shares in a limited partnership. "It's certainly less than a million but not credit card shoestring," says Clifford.

The 35mm Giant shot on Isleboro for 24 days this past fall, relocating 40 New York cast and crew to a town with an off-season population of 500. "Inexpensive lobster was a huge bonus and a selling point for the crew coming up from New York," says Clifford. NYU film school cinematography star Garrett Fisher (Secret Santa) served as Giant's d.p. and David Leonard (Palookaville, Nadja) as the film's editor. Will Oldham, whose band Palace is known for its off-kilter bluegrass tunes, is composing Giant's score and contributing four original songs. The filmmakers expect to screen a finished print in late March; all rights are available.

Cast: Brooke Smith, John Glover, Missy Yager, Will Arnett, George Dickerson, Chris Noth, Joseph Coleman, Fritz Michel. Crew: Producers, Jeffrey Clifford, Jonathan Cohen; Screenwriter/ Director, Estep Nagy; Director of Photography, Garrett Fisher; Production Design, Michael Krantz; Editor, David Leonard; Casting, Carder Stout; Music, Will Oldham. Contact: Jeffrey Cliff-ord, Blue Guitar Films, 181 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10013. Tel: (212) 941-9059, Fax: (212) 966-3975.

Lewis & Clark & George