FILMMAKER MAGAZINE | Spring 1997: PRODUCTION UPDATE

PRODUCTION UPDATE

Kicking and Screaming director Noah Baumbach explores the darker side of romantic comedy in the New York-set Mr. Jealousy. Eric Stoltz stars as Lester, a likeable dreamer whose insecurities invariably sabotage his relationships with women. Lester's best friend Vince is getting married and he knows he has to change, but when he starts going out with the spirited Ramona (Anabella Sciorra), he finds old habits die hard. Other cast members include Peter Bogdonovich as an oblivious psychiatrist, Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Vince's fiancée Lucretia, and Jay McInerney as a Vassar grad.

Mr. Jealousy reunites Baumbach, 27, with Kicking producer Joel Castleberg and actors Stoltz, Eigeman and Carlos Jacott. This time out, Castleberg and Baumbach banked foreign presale contracts with Kathy Morgan (an L.A.-based international rights broker) to cashflow production. Mr. Jealousy shot for six weeks in New York beginning February 3. Baumbach brought back Kicking cinematographer Steven Bernstein, who also shot Like Water for Chocolate, but says Jealousy will have a different look. "Kicking was about 20-year-olds trying to hit the pause button on their lives, so the camera hovered over them," he says. "Jealousy's about people in their thirties trying to create problems to keep their lives in motion so the camera's less static and there's a kind of irony in the cutaways." Luna is composing Jealousy's score and new material for the soundtrack; lead singer Dean Wareham has a small role as a video director waxing rhapsodic about his art. The filmmakers will edit in New York at Spin Cycle for a summer delivery; domestic rights remain available.

Cast: Eric Stoltz, Annabella Sciorra, Carlos Jacott, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Chris Eigeman, John Lehr, Helen Hanft. Crew: Producer, Joel Castleberg; Screenwriter/Director, Noah Baumbach; Executive Producer, Eric Stoltz; Line Producer, Victoria McGarry; Cinematographer, Steven Bernstein; Production Designer, Ann Stuhler; Editor, J. Kathleen Gibson. Contact: Joel Castleberg, Joel Castleberg Productions, (through July at) 160 Pearl St, 4th floor , New York, NY 10005. Tel: (310) 455-1785, Fax: (310) 455-0346.