Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Cheryl Hines Tells Letterman About Directing Her First Film, the Adrienne Shelly-Penned, Meg Ryan Dark Comedy "Serious Moonlight"



Cheryl Hines is a real sweetheart. One of the truly nicest people you'll ever meet. She's also wickedly funny, and a talented first-time director who stepped into a very challenging role two years ago in helming a deliciously dark comedy penned by my late wife Adrienne Shelly, who wrote, directed and co-starred in 2007's hit film Waitress. Adrienne wrote Serious Moonlight as her follow-up to Waitress, and was in development with it at the time of her tragic death November 1, 2006. I teamed with Waitress producer Michael Roiff to get the film made.

Serious Moonlight is about a troubled marriage on the precipice, centering on a high-powered female attorney who learns that her husband is about to leave her for a much younger woman, and holds him captive until he promises to stay with her and love her forever.

Taking on the role of director for this project would've been a daunting task for a seasoned director, let alone someone helming for the first time. But having worked with Adrienne in the past, Cheryl had a keen understanding of her humor and overall comedic sensibilities, and saw a unique opportunity to both honor Adrienne's work and make a truly entertaining film she would've been proud of. Having the chance to direct such a stellar cast was very appealing to her as well.

"Adrienne had an incredible talent for writing great comedy alongside heart-wrenching drama, which is not easy to pull off," said Cheryl. "So I felt very fortunate to have this amazing material to work with, and to have it brought to life by such great actors as Meg Ryan, Timothy Hutton, Justin Long and Kristen Bell. It's a story that I think many people will identify with in some very personal way."

Serious Moonlight will be released in theatres December 4th, and will be available on Video On Demand November 6th. Watch the trailer below:




On another note, the film I produced, SERIOUS MOONLIGHT, which was written by my late wife Adrienne Shelly (WAITRESS), will have its U.S. premiere and afterparty December 3rd in NYC. This event will also serve as the 2009 Adrienne Shelly Foundation fundraising gala, and proceeds will go towards helping ASF achieve its mission of supporting women filmmakers. Tickets are $150. Please join me, our stars Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton, our director Cheryl Hines and others at this red-carpet event. Tickets are extremely limited. To purchase, please email ASFoundationOrg@aol.com or call 212-381-1716.

ASF is a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization which provides scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

5 comments:

butter belle said...

Hi Andy -

I am really looking forward to seeing this new film. Best Wishes for much success with it...:)

Lisa T.

Anonymous said...

good luck
too bad no one cares except the 4 people that bow down to you.
They wont go.
I will though.
How ironic.

The Ostroy Report said...

Anon 8:40...my intern Lauren showed me your comment and I debated whether or not to approve it. I obviously decided to put it through...mainly because I found it utterly intriguing and worthy of public reply: (1) You stand corrected: many, many people care, which is how ASF has grown to be an important advocate and source of funding for women filmmakers...and as evidenced by the fact we are almost sold out of tickets to the Dec 3rd event and could probably fill a theatre twice as big; (2) you obviously don't know me well. There's at least seven people who bow down to me; (3) given the snarkiness of your comment, why are you attending?; (4) regardless, money's money, so thank you for the support.
Andy

Anonymous said...

I understand.The theatre will be filled with far left ideologues,very representitive of Hollywood.At least in this case,its for a good cause.
Good Luck

The Ostroy Report said...

why so jaded, pal!? See things for what they are at the core, w/o shrouding them in poltical ideology. This may shock ya, but not everything's political....