February 25, 2005

Exposing Hollywood to Silicon Valley

Local filmmakers anticipate success at Cinequest for movie filmed in San Jose

By Justin Petersen
Staff Writer

Filmmaker Scott Smith cracked the code barring Silicon Valley artists from the favor of critics nationally with his full-length feature debut ‘Charlie the Ox.’

Veteran villain Jon Polito (lt) dictates plans for a bank heist to actor Cory McAbee in ‘Charlie the Ox.’ Polito will be honored with the Maverick spirit Award at Ciinequest this year.

Still fuzzy with the buzz brewed at September screenings of ‘Charlie,’ in Telluride’s Indie Fest—where the film garnered the Feature Film Award—Smith and his cast/crew ensemble hope that their movie is received with the same enthusiasm March 2-13, at San Jose’s Cinequest Film Festival.

Screenings with question/answer sessions will be held Sat, Mar. 5 at 5:15 p.m. in the San Jose Reparatory Theater and Sun, Mar. 6 at 4 p.m. in Camera 12 Theaters downtown.

Multi-tasking writer/director/producer Smith teamed with co-producers Bill Wilson and Eric McDonald, to develop the script Smith wrote in response to struggles endured searching for a path to cinematic employment. The result was ‘Charlie,’ a fable detailing efforts of the title character Charlie, a hapless safe cracker duped by the gang, seeking revenge through brains.

Regardless of the film’s impact at Cinequest, the cast will shine without doubt. Veteran Jon Polito (The Big Lebowski and Miler’s Crossing), who stars as Freddy Boon in Smith’s caper, has been honored with the festival’s prestigious Maverick Spirit Award, and will accept during the screening Saturday. In addition, Composer Scott Graham, an Evergreen resident, and actor D. Michael Kane, of Los Gatos, join Smith, the producing team and a majority of crewmembers for the homecoming premiere.

Cinequest is widely recognized as a top-ten major film festival in the United States. Success in its metropolitan market San Jose would mean a greater opportunity in securing distribution nationally for ‘Charlie’—and, ultimately, a chance to recoup a portion of the funds Smith, Wilson and McDonald broached in financing the project.

“We’re in a pretty good spot right now,” said Smith. “It showed well in Telluride, and if we win Cinequest that builds a pretty strong case for ourselves. It’s very hard these days. There are about 3,000 features produced every year. That’s a huge field, but it’s bloated with movies of low production quality and not filmed with recognized actors.”

Director Scott Smith

Work experience
Smith first launched his career at De Anza Junior College, studying journalism and advertising. Following a B.A. received from San Jose State, the childhood cartoon artist found himself working in animation. Smith performed tasks for Disney, amongst others, and realized, at that time, there wasn’t real money in cartoons.

Still, Smith’s interests whisked him to the gate of a digital revolution in filmmaking, and he seized the day authoring four books including Composition in Film, FireWire Filmmaking, Making iMovies, and The Film 100 (a ranking of the most influential people in the history of cinema). Smith also edited The DV Filmmaker’s Handbook and launched RES Magazine, which was eventually sold for profit.

The experience prepped him to pursue other dreams—namely writing and directing.

In 2002, his short Carney Tales, a murder mystery set in a carnal underworld and packed into eight powerful minutes, received Sundance Film Festival’s Audience Choice Award. The accolade raised enough political capital to embark on ‘Charlie the Ox,’ his first full-length feature.

What’s the story?
Despite the director’s weight in film circles, ‘Charlie’ sold itself, according to Smith.

“I knew right away,” he said. “The script was gold.”

“It’s a very tight story,” said Kane, a local stage vet who played villain mob boss Stempel in the movie. “Scott Smith has tons of talent and insight in his characters. He knows exactly what he wants in the story.”

The star Polito reportedly signed quickly upon reviewing the script.

Its driving plot, coupled with nuance and calculated turns of the screw, draws audiences into the story itself. Charlie is down and out of work; where do you go to solicit business cracking safes? However, when a local gang perceives him as a threat they take measures to occupy Charlie’s interests and pull off a heist without him. Betrayed Charlie masterminds a plot of retaliation, winning the battle but stubbornly losing the war.

“It is not typical of modern films to show you a bumbling hero,” said Smith of his Charlie. “I liked the idea of a desperate dreamer wanting to do something so bad, staying, longing for respect, and by the end of the movie he loses all that is dear to him. I love heist movies.”

Local players
Cast and crew consist mainly of San José area talent, discovered by Smith during past stage productions or within a growing network of Silicon Valley artists. Headliners include Graham—who composed the score and David Choe, a renowned graffiti artist whose work attracts international connoisseurs to his studio in San Jose. Choe was hired to design art on the sets.

Since the projects completion, Graham—a graduate of Oak Grove High School in south San Jose—has attracted the attention of several L.A. based agencies seeking him as a client.

“I’m trying to decide which avenue I want to go,” said Graham, a network security analyst by day. “There has been some interest down there, but we’ll see.”

“I don’t think you can be successful without a good score,” said Smith. “Steve really set the mood for ‘Charlie.’ Music relaxes the audience and sets them up for the directors and actors to work.”

The sound is a meld of The Pink Panther and James Bond, according to Graham.

“You probably wouldn’t know it by the score of ‘Charlie the Ox,’ but I’m really more into the orchestral side of things,” said Graham. “Of course it always depends on the movie. I think this one came out really well with the nature of the film. You have the slight, bumbling safecracker. It reminded me of sixties retro movies and The Pink Panther.”

Of acting talent, antagonist Kane put forth the most memorable foot amongst newcomers.

“Michael was very good as a villain,” said Smith. “He’s a lot of fun, but he can also be a handful.”

Actor and director recall an evening spent burning take after take in attempts to shoot a scene near the Towne Theater on the Alameda. Aproaching 2 a.m., Kane was certain he hit his mark each take. Smith disagreed, and took matters into his own hands physically shifting Kane’s body to frame the shot.

“I said, ‘don’t touch me,” recalled Kane. “Scott shot right back without batting an eye, ‘Don’t resist me.’ It was such a funny response we both started laughing. But I really respect him for the way he handles those situations. He knows just what he wants.”

“Michael wasn’t hitting his marks, and kept shifting around,” said Smith. “I had to sandbag his feet to the ground.”

Lay of the land
“The nice thing about San Jose is that it is so rich in ethnic diversity,” said Smith. “We chose many nondescript type shooting locations that seem natural anywhere in the United States. When people see this movie they may not quite know where it was shot.”

San Jose’s landscape conveys a surreal setting through the lens of Smith’s camera. With the intent to suggest characters’ lives carry on elsewhere, ‘Charlie’ effectively resembles a seedy underworld that remains too distant to raise immediate concern.

Shooting sites included Lou’s Village on West San Carlos Street downtown, Pizza Jack’s—now demolished—and San Jose Mailing on Monterey Highway.

That’s a wrap
‘Charlie’ was shot digitally; however, appears—nearly identical—to the quality produced by major studios shooting 35mm film. The feat ranks paramount in the eyes Smith for one, who pioneered digital filmmaking.

“Art in San Jose has the advantage of high tech industry,” said Smith. “Our movie looks like any normal, regular feature film, but it’s digital. That is not accepted in some other areas of the country; even by some actors. Thankfully, all of our crew and actors were very open to using digital technology. That plays a big part in this area.”

“We’re very happy with the way ‘Charlie’ turned out,” said McDonald, in his first effort at production. “It was absolutely an enjoyable experience. I was lucky to be in the position to assist Scott at the time he came to me.”

Aside from financial investment, McDonald, Smith and fellow producer Wilson spent weeks securing shooting sites, recruiting talent and dictating logistics necessary to pull off the six week shoot, pre and post production.

“I tried to squeeze some sleep in there,” said McDonald. “But it was busy. I don’t think Scott slept during the entire time we shot the movie.”

‘Charlie’ plays through without hitch, as indicated by the audience’s reaction at Telluride. Pending Cinequest results, Smith will solicit his work to additional film festivals before seeking distribution in the theaters, and eventually a DVD release into rental houses.