Wednesday, March 11, 1998
Dedicated actors hope success follows the bitch
FILM: Directorial debut on poker players’ friendships promises
positive response
By Sandy Yang
Daily Bruin Contributor
"Follow the Bitch." The title elicits giggling and perhaps a
raised eyebrow or two. Knowing it is a collaborative effort of old
college buddies, the name smacks of some kind of misogyny. Strange
name for a movie about a woman who beats the guys at their own
game.
"Follow the Bitch," the title of which actually refers to a card
game, is "a comedy about this world that’s traditionally
male-dominated," says director/ screenwriter/producer Julian Stone,
"and how their behavior changes with a woman there."
Premiering today at UCLA, "Follow the Bitch" is Stone’s
directorial debut. Having worked as a screenwriter for years with
scripts "kicking around" in the studios, he decided to venture out
on his own as a filmmaker. The movie was financed with money saved
from previous scripts and the sacrifice of some valuable baseball
cards and movie posters.
"You do what you’ve got to do," Stone laughs. "When you work for
the studios for a number of years, you make a nice living, but all
you’re doing is producing piles of paper. The odds of something
that you write actually getting made are relatively slim. I decided
to go for it. I originally got into this business to do films, not
create piles of paper."
Stone’s persistence has taken form in the slice-of-life comedy
which explores the transmogrification of the characters’ views, all
while playing poker.
Bill (played by Shakespearean actor Ray Porter) has been the
host of the Friday-night poker games for the past 10 years when he
receives startling news. Not only is his buddy Andy (Dion Luther),
getting married, but he has also invited Liz (Melissa Lechner) to
play, marking the first time a woman is a part of the game. The
situation doesn’t get better when a she beats everyone, and a
battle of wits ensues between Liz and Bill.
For Lechner, playing Liz is a departure from her own life. "I
have a tendency to be spacier, wackier, a little more of a
head-in-the-clouds type of person," she says. "Some of my friends
go see the film and say, ‘Melissa, that’s not you.’ That’s a nice
compliment."
However, for Porter, playing an "irascible cynic" reminds the
actor of the Bard’s own plays.
"(Bill) really learns something over the night." Porter says.
"He finds out that this woman is not just a better poker player,
but she can match wits with anybody. You can make that comparison
to ‘Taming of the Shrew’ or ‘Much Ado about Nothing.’ It’s two
really witty people who start out as adversaries and then recognize
something in each other."
The story and the chance to work with old friends enticed the
Cal Arts alums to work together despite their hectic schedules and
distant locations.
"This film we did basically for the love," Porter says. "We had
such a great time working on it with Julian, who is a very dear
friend. We’ve known each other for a very long time, so it was just
a great experience for that alone."
But making the film would prove to be an arduous task,
especially for Porter.
"I did ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’ in San Francisco. I
finished that, drove to L.A. and the next day began shooting,"
Porter recalls. "Two weeks later when I wrapped at four in the
morning, I got on a plane at six, landed in Ashland (Oregon) and
began reading through the play I was doing here."
For others, the film was nurtured from step one, especially for
Luther, who served as an actor and producer for the film.
"You look at Woody Allen and the same actors and the same crew
he has worked with for years and years, and I always wondered,
‘What’s with that? Why wouldn’t you want to branch out and go in
other directions?’" Luther says. "But now having done it, I realize
it’s so satisfying to take relationships you already have and make
them work this end."
Having completed the film, the crew still had post-production to
worry about. The next hurdle would be the public’s response.
"We’ve gotten unbelievable response," Luther says. "You write
something, you show it to your friends and family. You struggle
with it and labor with it. You never know when you get a group of
strangers in the room – what’s going to happen. I can remember
standing in the back of the theater with Julian the first night we
screened it, and I don’t know whether the scars that I have on my
arm from that night are his fingers or mine. We were both
terrified."
Indeed, "Follow the Bitch" has garnered recognition and awards
from festivals around the country. The possibilities seem
optimistic – even for a low-budget film.
Nowadays, the term "independent film" refers to movies donning
the support of major studios and a budget in the low millions.
Consequently, truly independent films with a small fraction of a
movie budget can expect to travail for public attention, but the
cast and crew is up to the challenge.
"You fight each battle each step of the way," Luther says. "With
some people, they say, ‘You know, we don’t have that great a film,
and we really don’t want to keep fighting for it.’ That’s not the
case with us because we believe in it, and we’re going to keep
pushing this thing … We are an independent film in the best sense
of the word."
The cast and crew knew all too well what being in an almost
no-budget film was like.
"We all crowded in Julian’s apartment," Porter recalls. "The
movie itself seems very close – a bunch of guys sitting around the
table. Well, now you have to imagine not just a bunch of guys
sitting around that table in that small room but twice as many
people behind the camera doing the lights and everything."
Even if a bigger budget were feasible, Stone wouldn’t change a
thing, though Luther’s one suggestion is more M&M’s. Stone’s
next project, may take place in an even more confined location.
He says, "If you give yourself the challenge, then it forces you
to be creative and make it interesting."
So can we expect a Woody Allen-esque type of casting for the
next film?
"Absolutely," Porter laughs. "Just tell Julian to sit at that
computer and bang out some more great scripts."
FILM: "Follow the Bitch" premieres tonight at the James Bridges
Theater at 7:30 p.m. The free screening will be followed by a
Q&A with Director Julian Stone and actress Melissa Lechner.