The rules for the project were simple: each writer would come up with 15 pages of a script. The next writer would have only the last five pages of the script along with a list of character names and locations to work with. Popik would be responsible for directing the result.
What Olde English has delivered, however, isn’t an off-the-rails series of sketches (although there is a little of that) but a hybrid of narrative and documentary that provides a bittersweet look at a creative marriage that had nearly run its course. A touch of Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster, but with more laughs and no psychoanalyst to help the “band” process things.
Earlier this week I met up with Raphael Bob-Waksberg and David Segal in Los Angeles. They are both writers and subjects of the film, having been with Olde English from the start. Bob-Waksberg revealed that the troupe didn’t set out to make a documentary.
“I think that’s something that we really found in the editing of the movie,” said Bob-Waksberg. “None of us really knew what this documentary stuff was going to be when we started. None of us knew what this thing was going to be when we started.”
Dave and I did an interview with Turnstyle to promote our movie. Go check it out, but more importantly, come see our movie this Saturday afternoon, June 2nd, in Los Angeles!
If you don’t live in Los Angeles, tell your friends who live in Los Angeles. If you have a lot of followers on Tumblr, reblog this blog post. Email the TRAILER to your friends. Tweet about it, Facebook about it, Pinterest about it if that’s how Pinterest works I don’t know. Please please help us spread the word. I think this movie is really special and I want as many people to see it as possible. I’ll be really bummed if in two weeks someone sees this blog post and says, “Man, I really would’ve loved to see that in a big movie theater and I missed it!”
There will be more opportunities to see this movie. We’re planning on going to other cities with it, and within six months, probably sooner, there’s going to be a way for anyone anywhere to buy this movie and own it, but in the mean time, we’d really really love to have a really really great premiere with really really a lot of people there.
Come. And bring your friends.
People need to see this. Olde English has been my favorite sketch group for years and this film sounds fascinating especially for actors who have to collaborate together starting out. I remember I left NY the day before OE’s last live show and regretted holding off on my travel plans by a day. Now I’m in LA and am unable to see this film because of graduation and a showcase. But as soon as I know of another screening, you bet your ass I will be there. Go see this film.
