I celebrated my eighth anniversary as a film critic by doing something that most critics never do: I made a movie. It's called Scrooge & Marley and it's a modern-day variation on the Charles Dickens' holiday classic A Christmas Carol, told from a queer perspective.
The circumstances that led to this rather unexpected event were serendipitous, a product of happenstance, weighted with luck and, naturally, didn't happen without extraordinary effort on the part of our assembled production team. Now, as the film is being released (it opened in LA last week and has its red-carpet premiere in Chicago Thursday, Nov. 29, at the Music Box followed by a week's run), I've been reflecting a bit about making my first movie.
First thing: Don't try to do this alone. And certainly don't try it when your Screen Actors Guild classification is "ultra low budget," not without a sharp, dedicated group that isn't pulling together 1,000 percent behind you. I can't imagine the result without this. Wait a minute: Yes I can and, believe me, it's a nightmare I am happy to say buh-bye to. This is not to say that there haven't been nightmarish moments along the way. You don't shoot a movieat least not one with all the creative challenges our script called forin 12 days and not find yourself without them. But that's what our budget and time constraints allowed for (several of our actors had gigs out of town before, during and immediately following our shootkudos to our scheduler for a protean juggling act) and in 12 days in May we shot a Christmas movie, come hell, high water and, one memorable night, some falling snow.
Even as a first-time director, logic dictated a lot of preparation to meet that tight schedule and it certainly made sense to bring in Peter Neville to co-direct. Peter and I have worked on a lot of projects over the past 20 years and I knew his technical knowledge and editing experience would be huge assets. With him on board, I would be able to concentrate on the actors and other creative aspects of the movie (sets, costumes and most especially, music). Our executive producers, Tracy Baim (full disclosure: publisher of Windy City Times) and David Strzepek, worked tirelessly to make sure that we were supported throughout the shoot and during our intense post-production.
So, here we are, not quite six months after shooting wrapped with a finished movie. Although I can look at my calendar and tell you what day we recorded the vocals for "Welcome to Christmas Present;" what day Bruce Vilanch arrived on set; what day we finished our first edit; what day the ghostly special effects were first tested; what day Cliff Colnot conducted Lisa McQueen's gorgeous background score; what day we saw the final color corrected version; and the day the phone call came with the news that Jason Gould was going to sing our end credit song, I am still processing how all these disparate elements fused together and became Scrooge & Marley.
What's even more surreal for me, personally, is how I have become a screenwriter and director in the process of doing things intuitively and based on my creative experiences in related fields. They say it's good to challenge yourselfsomething that I clearly believe inbut I would quickly add that it's probably best to do so without giving it much thought. When I look back at what we've accomplished in such a short amount of time, I'm daunted and want to go lie down and take a long winter's sleep!
So what was the inspiration behind making the movie in the first place? Pure selfishness. I'm an unabashed Christmas movie fanatic but every year when pulling out everything from Miracle on 34th Street and A Christmas Story to the more obscure titles like Remember the Night and The Cheaters, I confess to a bit of a disappointment that there isn't a holiday movie genuinely illuminating our queer lives. Thomas Bezucha's 2005 film The Family Stone took a step in the right direction by including prominent gay characters, as did Rob Williams' 2009 wacky comedy Make the Yuletide Gay.
When Ellen Stoneking, who was part of a writer's group with me, was looking for a new subject matter for a screenplay, I suggested a gay Christmas movie because I wanted to see onepure and simple. And adapting A Christmas Carol seemed a perfect fit. Ellen agreed and, quickly, she, myself and Tim Imse (who has since passed away) set about to work. With Scrooge & Marley, the goal was to create a good old-fashioned, story-driven Christmas movieone that just happens to be told from a gay perspective. This is certainly first and foremost a movie for Our People but when I say that I believe this is a movie for all of us, I really mean it.
The story of Ebenezer Scroogethe dreadful skinflint who hates the holidaysis a story of atonement and is about the importance of love in our lives. All of our livesgay and straightare built on this foundation and Dickens' fantastic framing devicewith Scrooge getting the chance to experience his past once again, glimpse into the present and future and learn from what he's seenreally lent itself to some relevant themes from gay social history. I also felt that, like Elphaba, the wicked witch character in Gregory Maguire's Wicked, here was a chance to explore the idea that there are two sides to every story.
Our Ben Scrooge is mean, mean, mean but in revisiting the painful circumstances of his past, audiences will understand where that poisonous world view came from and sympathize with him. Putting a new spin on the story allowed us the opportunity to imagine some delightful and heartfelt surprises for Scrooge and his fellow characters as well which I hope audiences will also embrace. With luckand a bit of Christmas magic sprinkled in our directionperhaps our little movie will become a valued holiday tradition. Even if it doesn't, that's okay. I have been given a tremendous gift this Christmas and unlike Scrooge, I don't need any ghostly visitations to be reminded how rare and extraordinary that is. And now every year my husband and I can now watch the gay Christmas movie we've yearned so long foras good a reason as any to go from being a film critic to a filmmaker.
Have I mentioned that now I want to see a gay haunted-house movie? Stay tuned…
Check out my archived reviews at www.windycitymediagroup.com or www.knightatthemovies.com . Readers can leave feedback at the latter website.
PHOTO CAPTION: Co-directors Peter Neville (left) and Richard Knight Jr. on the set of Scrooge & Marley shot in May in Chicago. Photo by Hal Baim