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In “Silence Is Not Golden,” we are attempting to take a look at some modestly-released films through the eyes of the filmmakers themselves. This installment features writer/director Marc Fienberg, who was kind enough to answer our questions about Play the Game, which has a national release date of August 21st. Our thoughts on the film can be found here and be sure to check out the official website at: www.playthegamemovie.com.
Golden Grouches: I’ve read that Play The Game is, at least in some ways, a very personal project, the idea stemming from conversations you had with your own grandfather over his foray back into the dating pool. But another reason the story felt so fresh was the relative paucity of romantic comedies (or really movies in general) with a major plot revolving around the elderly. Did that concept of bringing something somewhat new to the genre impact the writing and filmmaking process at all?
Marc Fienberg: The film was inspired by my own grandfather who started dating again when he was 89 years old. When he started sharing the details of his love life with me, admittedly I was a bit uncomfortable with the images popping into my head, but when I started to see my grandfather go through the all the same emotions and issues of a schoolkid in love, (Should I talk to her, what should I say, what if she doesn’t like me, what if she DOES like me, etc.) I found it amazingly touching and endearing. And that range of emotions that I experienced in learning about the love life of a older person was the same range of emotions I wanted to bring the audience through in the film. And so throughout the filmmaking process, I didn’t pull any punches with the “senior sex” scenes. Very little is shown, as the film is PG-13, but I wasn’t afraid of making people in the theater a little uncomfortable. So the biggest effect of having the senior storyline in the film was making sure that it stayed true to the life of real seniors, not diluting it at all out of fear of offending people. Strangely enough, those scenes are the ones that bring the biggest laughs from the audience, so I’m glad we didn’t cave to the pressure of making it more mainstream.
The Golden Grouches is primarily an Oscar blog. So naturally the movies we tend to advocate are the ones at least in the conversation for a gold statue. If we get to champion little-seen movies, they are still little-seen movies receiving nominations. But now we’re in the cold, dark off-season for the Academy. You know, the place where comedies are allowed to exist. So I’m returning to the huge pile of non-Oscar recaps I’ve sorely neglected, plus I have a few other ideas brewing. To start things off, I’m very happy to report back on a non-Oscar little movie we were able to talk about, Play The Game. You’ll be excused if you missed it, though it is has been out for three weeks, it has only played in Florida (though it is expanding to a theater in California).
The romantic comedy stars Paul Campbell (he’s Chief of Staff to the President on Battlestar Galactica, at least for the one season I’ve watched) as David, a master of persuasion, evidenced by his rampant success selling cars to people who don’t need them at the dealership owned by his father (Clint Howard), and the number of women he’s bedded. But he’s the heart of gold kind of romcom lothario, not the evil sort. David had to drop out of school and work for his father (with whom he has an uneasy relationship) to pay for his Grandpa Joe’s (Andy Griffith) spot in a retirement community, once his grandmother passed away. After his grandfather has been alone for a few years, David decides to fulfill a promise made to his grandmother to help Grandpa Joe find someone new.
As David teaches his grandfather how to get back into the world of dating, he finds himself falling for Julie (Marla Sokoloff). But all his tricks, so effective with the various floozies he picked up in bars, bear no fruit when applied to Julie, and he finds himself stuck being her friend. Meanwhile, Grandpa Joe has great success picking up one woman (Liz Sheridan) and struggles a bit more with another (Doris Roberts). Geoffrey Owens (Elvin on The Cosby Show!) is also in the film as David’s best friend, Rob.
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