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The Uphill Battle of 'The Battle of Shaker Heights
« on: Aug 19th, 2003, 3:09pm » |
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The Uphill Battle of 'The Battle of Shaker Heights'
Mon, Aug 18, 2003, 12:08 PM PT
By Hanh Nguyen
It's a dream come true. Hollywood heavyweights Matt and Ben like your work so much that they've hired you to make a feature-length movie.
But the script keeps changing, the producers are telling you what to do, your first test screening bombs and to top it all off, it's all on national television.
Welcome to the lives of Efram Potelle, Kyle Rankin and Erica Beeney, the filmmakers of "The Battle of Shaker Heights."
Directing partners Potelle and Rankin and writer Beeney beat out thousands in the Project Greenlight contest, the brainchild of Hollywood leading men Matt Damon and Ben Affleck that helps unknown directors and screenwriters make a small feature film for Miramax.
"Shaker Heights," based on an original first screenplay by Beeney, had troubles from the beginning, partly because the entire filmmaking process was documented on the HBO reality show also called "Project Greenlight."
Besides exposing the filmmakers' mistakes and insecurities, the omnipresent camera crew affected Rankin's ability to direct. "I cannot wait to make another film without being under the scrutiny of the cameras because it changes the act of directing, in the way of communicating with the actors," he says.
The project was also pressured to succeed because the previous Project Greenlight film, 2002's "Stolen Summer," was received poorly at the box office.
Shia LaBeouf, the 17-year-old star of "Shaker Heights," tells Zap2it.com, "Miramax hates it when I say it, but that's the exact example of what we didn't want to do."
Directing buddies Rankin and Potelle, accustomed to complete autonomy after working together on previous smaller projects, found it difficult to let go of certain tasks. Sometimes, this trait rubbed others the wrong way.
A few times the two tried to shoot unscripted scenes without consulting Beeney, who was on set for rewrites. "I was available," says Beeney. "Kyle and Efram didn't avail themselves of that availability."
Beeney wasn't alone in her struggle to rewrite, however. Damon and Affleck, also executive producers on "Shaker Heights," talked with Beeney frequently to give her script notes. The duo, who won the 1998 best screenplay Oscar for "Good Will Hunting," understood Beeney's creative process.
"I don't know where they got the insight," she tells Zap2it, "but they had it in spades."
The coming-of-age story, which centers on a high school senior who reenacts World War II battles, is sharply comedic with dramatic elements. Rankin and Potelle had other plans though. As filming continued, the two pushed the story towards a darker direction. This more dramatic turn proved to be the film's downfall.
At an initial test screening of "Shaker Heights," the film scored so poorly, Beeney says that the audience was "really actively made ill by it." Over Rankin and Potelle's protests, the producers demanded that the film return to its comedic roots.
"It took a long time to get Kyle and Efram to decide that they wanted to make this version of the movie," says executive producer Chris Moore. After the directors reedited the film to create a romantic comedy, however, Moore adds, "All of us were really impressed with the cut that came back."
Rankin describes the nerve-wracking last-minute turnaround. "Yeah, it was really the 11th and a half hour when it suddenly became more than the sum of its parts," he says.
LaBeouf's co-star Amy Smart, pleased with the outcome, comments, "All of it was there. It just needed to be uncovered."
Now that the film had changed for the better, producers wanted to make sure the audience had a chance to actually see the improved product. Initially, "Shaker Heights" was only going to be released in two cities.
This was when Affleck, described by LaBeouf as "the poster boy for men," stepped in and used his movie-making muscle with Miramax chief Harvey Weinstein.
Moore explains, "You need someone to call Harvey and say, 'Dude, you're blowing it. This movie's better than two cities. Give us the chance.' Ben can get to him."
Affleck definitely had strong views about the film's release schedule. "Last time, the release pattern [for 'Stolen Summer'] was a mistake," he says. "We're really glad that Miramax is now going with the top 10 markets ... making a deal with Miramax is always a really prolonged difficult process. [Harvey's an] incredibly difficult guy."
Miramax did come through to support the film, which also stars Kathleen Quinlan, William Sadler, Elden Henson and Shiri Appleby. "Shaker Heights" will now open in the top 10 markets a week after its Aug. 22 premiere in New York and Los Angeles.
Will the small indie film with big Hollywood supporters succeed?
"We don't know," Moore tells reporters. "We need people to see the movie. That's how all your articles have to end."
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