Louisa dropped me off at the lovely MacArthur Place Inn and Spa and I checked in to the gorgeous Garden Cottage. I settled right in and was on the phone to Mike expressing how much I wished he was able to be at the screening with me. Aside from the fact that these events are always more fun with Mike, Tom and Joaquin along, I think Mike in particular would have enjoyed the wine country atmosphere. It reminded me so much of the preliminary trips he and I took up to the area when we first started tossing around story ideas. In fact, as Louisa and I approached the Inn, we passed a stone wall that Mike and I had stopped at to take "pre-production" publicity pictures on way back when. Notice the pensive look on "Sherman's" face as he poses in his Yale sweater complete with a rolled-up copy of the NYTimes. Can you say "on-the-nose?"
I ordered room service and gobbled up an amazing Kobe Beef burger while reading a screenplay, made some business calls then headed down to the Inn's Library where they were serving wine and cheeses. After a few glasses of both reds and whites, I went out front to meet Cevin, who was picking me up for the reception before the screening. It was great seeing her again. One of the best parts of working the festival circuit is meeting people like Louisa and Cevin. So many wonderful people that truly love independent cinema, working so hard to bring obscure little films to the public's attention. I can't tell you how much it means to filmmakers like myself to have their support. It's ironic that I had to leave Newport Rhode Island after just one screening so that I could make it to Jackson Hole in time for our screening there, only to have both of them now working together in Sonoma.
At the Sonoma Valley Community Center, I was treated to, you guessed it, more wine! I also got a chance to meet the head of the festival's board, Kevin McNeely and his wife Rose. Both were incredibly gracious hosts and I was particularly drawn to Kevin's passionate embrace of indie cinema and his commitment to the Festival's new Second Tuesday Screening Series, of which SHERMAN'S WAY inaugurated. I was truly honored to have had our film invited up for the occasion and was thrilled that so many locals turned out on a Tuesday night -- a night when we were competing with the Olympics.
When it was time to go in and introduce the film, I was delighted, surprised, then mortified to see none other than Chuck Lewis, the craggy-faced character actor who played the jeweler in the film -- a scene that was cut in the final version. I had never called him to let him know the scene ended up on the cutting room floor and was now face to face with him. It's always the most awkward part of a director's job to let an actor know, for whatever reason, that all his hard work was for naught. But thankfully Chuck took it well and was very gracious afterwards in his praise of the film. He was great to work with and hopefully his scene will make it into the DVD somewhere. He did agree to pose with Cevin Cathell for a picture.After the screening was the obligatory Q&A, which was well attended. As I've said many times before in this blog, I particularly enjoy chatting with audiences. It never ceases to amaze me how intelligent and varied the questions are.
Once the hall cleared out a group of us headed down to the other end of the Plaza for a late dinner hosted by the McNeely's. Kevin lifted his glass of wine and toasted SHERMAN'S WAY and wished the film continued success and I likewise wished the festival the same. I let my roast duck melt in my mouth, enjoyed more terrific wine paired nicely with engaging conversation then stumbled back to my cottage around 1am. As I sat in my oversized room, I kept thinking "I can't wait for SW to be distributed, so we can make another film to take on the festival circuit next year!"
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