USA,
1993, 84 min
Shown in 1993
CREDITS
- dir
-
Eric Schaeffer, Donal Lardner Ward
- prod
-
Eric Schaeffer, Donal Lardner Ward
- scr
-
Eric Schaeffer, Donal Lardner Ward
- cam
-
Peter Hawkins
- editor
-
Susan Graef
- cast
-
Eric Schaeffer, Donal Lardner Ward, Lisa Gerstein, Tara Shannon, Debra Clein, Martha Plympton, Casey Siemaszko
- source
-
Islet, Inc.
- premiere
-
World Premiere
-
COMMENTS
One of four Opening Night films. Eric Schaeffer, Donal Lardner Ward, Susan Graef, Martha Plympton and Casey Siemaszko in person.
OTHER
Imagine Wayne's World meets the Marx Brothers meets early Woody Allen and you'll begin to sense the original wit and wacky charm of My Life's in Turnaround, a delightfully funny film written, directed, produced and starring two promising young talents, Eric Schaeffer and Donal Lardner Ward. Their alter egos Splick and Jason find themselves at creative and emotional crossroads as they crest 30. Veterans of New York theater's more obscure fringes, one still drives a cab and the other is a bartender. As for emotional sustenance, or more accurately the avoidance of it, Splick yearns after glamorous career women while Jason courts teenage models. They're desperate for a break. So, with about the same consideration you might give to ordering take-out, they decide to make a movie. Details—the lack of script (much less idea), producer, star, technical know-how—hardly faze these intrepid comers. After all, their friend's an agent. What else do they need? Somehow through serendipitous coincidence, amazingly good luck (including securing a few surprise stars), creative compulsion and sheer force of personality, they find funding and romance. Schaeffer and Ward mine personal experience to make a lively comedy that melds laughter and downright silliness with moments of vulnerability. My Life's in Turnaround is a refreshing take on movies about making movies, relationships and the restorative power of humor.
—Laura Thielen
FACTOID #78
Now among California’s political luminaries, former ambassador Shirley Temple Black and Representative Nancy Pelosi both worked at the Festival in their days as civilians. Temple assisted in film selection in the mid-’60s and Pelosi planned Festival events in the ’70s.
