Wassup!

Colleen's thoughts on writing, directing and coaching, and her unique take on life itself!

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

THE WHOLE TRUTH World Premiere!

First, the private reception was a *blast!* Family, friends, crew and cast gathered at the 7 Salon with great food, conviviality and conversation.

Andy, our host at the magnificent, huge salon, created a perfect atmosphere - complete with a dj and music that he didn't play so loudly we could actually talk at a reasonable decibel, two bartenders, three film posters strategically placed, tables, glassware, the works.

The food was fantastic - it flew off the plates so we quickly ordered more!

Seattle's film industry folks are known for serving weak, meager, tasteless finger foods; we dished out substantial sustenance for our guests to show them the way to feed guests properly.

Don Woods from the Icicle Ridge Winery in Leavenworth brought his magnificent, award-winning wines for all to taste and drink. A beautiful backdrop graced his table as well.

I got many compliments on the make up job Danyale Cook did for me. Gosh, I hardly recognized myself .. ;-). Lots of photos will be coming soon - I ended up not taking pictures because I was running around so much, but our set photographer took lots of piccies, so I'll share them as soon as Frank sends them to me!

It was a genuine pleasure meeting you blog readers at the reception - Amanda, you looked FAB-ulous! As well as seeing so many of the crew members who made a qualitative and personal difference in making the film. Without them, not only would it not have the quality it does - it wouldn't have the heart. My partner Gary Allen Tucci put it well: we felt like a production family.

And we're all ready to do it over again on our next film THE LONELY GOATHERD as soon as we get the distribution situation taken care of with THE WHOLE TRUTH.

Several folks showed up expecting to buy a ticket when they arrived, only to find there were no more tickets on sale. See how it pays to read my blog? I said tickets were selling out, then sold out right here and they didn't read it.

Many people hoping for "rush" tickets did get seated, however. These are tickets that are sold if there are any seats empty left minutes before the screening.

Because of that, previews and other SIFF business - not to mention me introducing most of our guests - the film started late, and it was already a late screening. Which means it started a little TOO late for most working folks.

But, the comments after the film were wonderful - what a fine film it was; how much they enjoyed it from start to finish, how amazing the music was, how well written, how terrific the performances were, how great the casting, etc. It was all I could have hoped for. The cast, my partner executive producer Gary Allen Tucci, producer Larry Estes and composer Ragnar Rosinkranz all joined me at the front of the room to answer questions and whatever the folks left wanted to say.

Mireille and Caitlin - readers of my blog (you read their comments all the time) and HUGE SPF fans, who flew in from Montreal and the Midwest respectively for the film's WP and will see it again later today(!) at the Wednesday screening - loved the film, got *my* autograph for Louise, a friend of theirs in England and of course spent time with SPF who had a great time entertaining them.

Local folks were impressed with how down to earth Sean is - how fantastic and real all our actors are. But I tend to work with folks who are good people as well - I find them better performers for the very most part.

As for me - to be frank, I was so nervous about how the crowd would react, I was a little distracted - listening for every little chuckle, guffaw, belly laugh, giggle, snort. The thing I was most aware of: there was no fidgeting. This is a good thing.

In a crucial scene that required the audience be silent, a complete hush filled the room. I could not even hear anyone breathing.

I sat between Sean Patrick Flanery and Elisabeth Röhm. Since it was the first time he saw the film, Sean was of course a bit contemplative of his (fantastic) performance and has a soft laugh. Elisabeth was totally relaxed and laughed out loud many times, as did other cast members.

At the end, Sean told me he "Loved it;" that he was "Excited as hell" about the film and its future. Whew. He's a tough critic of his own work and (rightfully) others, so that means a lot to all of us working on and with the film and its distribution.

The audience applauded several times at the end of the film, and because of the late hour, many had to leave at its completion - but several troopers stayed for the q&a with the cast, Gary, Larry, Ragnar and me, which was a lot of fun. I shared a sample of the singing that went on during the shoot. Some of the stuff captured by our sound crew during the shoot will be featured on my blogs as time goes by as well as on the dvd's.

When we left, Elisabeth had to return to relieve her babysitter - she brought her 14-month old. The babysitter noted that Elisabeth's daughter Easton was "amazing." She had never met such a contented toddler - especially after flying! Elisabeth is a phenomenal mom! Easton's dad Ron Wooster was on hand, too for all the festivities - and he's another reason Easton is so well adjusted!

Editor Stephen Myers, Jim Holmes, Rick Overton and I had a sarsaparilla in the bar at their hotel to chat about the film. Everyone considered the film and its premiere a complete success. I think *that* is when I started to breathe again.

Coming home to so many laudatory emails was also rewarding!

OK, well it's going on 3am and I have to get up in just a few hours to rush around running errands with Elisabeth and my assistant Aaron - whose mom came all the way from Yakima to see the film - before the next screening!

To everyone in the audience who shared the world premiere and special evening with us - thank you from the bottom of my heard. You are, after all, the reason we do what we do!

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6 Comments:

  • At 3:43 AM, Blogger Digger said…

    Couldn't wait until I get home tonight to check emails, so here I am reading your blog at work! Thanks for such a detailed and heartfelt post - the next best thing to being there. Glad it all went so well (not that there was ever any doubt!!) and that at least you'll have... er... four hours sleep before doing it all again! Eek!

    xx

     
  • At 11:56 AM, Anonymous Dustin Jones said…

    Colleen, cast and crew.....BRAVO!

    One of the best well put together indie films I have ever seen. The writing, acting, subtext, sound ect., ect. was off the hook and kept my wife and I on our toes the entire length of the film.

    The mobster and his sidekick was definitely my favorite...those two are just hilarious.

    Thanks again for sharing your film with us and I can't wait for next one. I hope it goes all the way for you all. You definitely have my vote.

    Dustin Jones

     
  • At 1:44 PM, Blogger ryan dot cooper at gmail dot com said…

    CP- we enjoyed it even more the second time. Last night was great. Congrats on all the hard work. You deserve it.

     
  • At 2:58 PM, Anonymous Amanda said…

    Thanks so much for the shout out in the blog post. I'm glad I passed muster. And I must say you looked very very pretty; a different version of Colleen than the one we saw on set. You were perfectly coiffed and styled!

    The film was so much fun, and the first time I have ever seen myself on the big screen. The whole experience was so much fun, as I sat with some other BG and featured BG players and we all squealed in turn when we saw ourselves/ each other. And that was my loud cackle from the back of the theatre at regular intervals.

    And Sean actually remembered me from the shoot. I think that's so incredible; that a principal cast member remembers someone he played a scene off of for less than ten minutes (of shooting, three or four seconds on screen). Elizabeth looked AMAZING and was curoius as to whether her meltdown lived up to the version you gave us on set, I assured her it did. I couldn't stop laughing!

    Great film, great night, great audience, and I greatly look forward to the next one (my agent has already been bugged!).

    CHEERS on a wonderful and triumphant premiere!!!!

     
  • At 1:26 AM, Blogger Mireille M said…

    Thank you once again Colleen for inviting us to the reception.

    I'm safely back home in Calgary (yes born in Montreal, but live in Calgary).

    Everyone was friendly ... delighted to meet the cast & crew.

    Sean is an awesome person, so thrilled I got a chance to meet him!!!

    After 2 am now ... I'm in dire need of sleep so I shall leave you with a smile

     
  • At 9:35 PM, Anonymous Caitlin said…

    I just got home to Pennsylvania today from Seattle. What a great time it was! It's a very fun movie and I am glad I saw it twice because I caught things I didn't notice before from the first showing!

     

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