'Aaron Bacon' teaser

The new film from Nick Gaglia, who we interviewed here about his
previous directorial effort, "Over the GW." Coming this
Spring; look for a BBF interview upon the film's release.

Inspired by the book, "Help At Any Cost" by Maia Szalavitz,
"Aaron Bacon" is based on the true story of a precocious kid
who dies at the hands of malpractice and abuse in a tough-love
wilderness drug-treatment program.

Over the GW on DVD for rental/sale November 25!

Director Nick Gaglia's(who the BBF interviewed here
in July) disturbing drama Over the GW will make its
debut on DVD at November's end.

Now listed on Netflix!

The BBF Interview- Writer/Director Steve Balderson

Independent filmmaker Steve Balderson arrived on
the scene in 1999 with Pep Squad, a pitch-black
high school comedy that anticipated (and was later squashed
in its release due to) the rash of school shootings. After the

controversy died down the film later enjoyed

a cult following on DVD.

He followed it up with 2005’s Firecracker, an intensely layered
drama which Roger Ebert placed on his Best Films list of 2005.
At this time, tiring with the wait of years between funding coming
through for expansive projects, Balderson and his company

Dikenga Films scaled down and refined its do-it-yourself

aesthetic, retaining complete control and distribution

on subsequent projects such as the avant-garde documentary

art installation Phone Sex, Underbelly, and his ongoing

WAMEGO documentary series chronicling and educating

on how movies can be made anywhere on your own terms.

Returning to traditional narrative, Balderson took on
subject matter that is anything but traditional: An adaptation
of Dr. Joseph Suglia's cult novel WATCH OUT, due to premiere
at London's Raindance Film Festival in October (with a
sneak tour screening at the Coney Island Film Festival this
Saturday September 27).

WATCH OUT is the story of Jonathan Barrows, a man
who falls in love with himself, literally. He is attracted to
his own body, carries out an erotic relationship with a
blow-up doll that resembles him, and takes pleasure in rejecting
the advances of his many admirers. He descends into a world
of carnivorous priests and Prozac-popping Polish prostitutes
and eventually assassinates the world's most popular pop-diva.
"You strange creatures," Barrows declares, "you are
nothing more to Me than a meal at the fast-food
restaurant of life." But who will end up being devoured?

Watch Out-teaser trailer




Adam Barnick: How did you become involved with
Watch Out?

Steve Balderson: Joseph Suglia had a lot of filmmakers
ask him for the film rights, and after he saw FIRECRACKER
he knew I was the one to do it. He called me up, then sent me
his book, I read it and that was it!

What attracted you most to this material?

When I first read the book I didn't understand how to do it.
I thought it was totally unfilmable. It took me nearly a year
before I figured out what it meant. Or, at least, what it
meant to me.

Once I had my personal translation of the material,
I fell in love with it. I think the strongest pull with WATCH OUT
was the idea that most people couldn't do a movie like this
even if they wanted to. Most financial backers wouldn't
allow it, or agents, or anyone. I knew it was so outrageous
that I was the only person who could do it. And, by that
I mean me and filmmakers like me - not just me literally.

Tell me about your methods of production. You tackled
this with the scaled-down DIY process you’d hoped to
undertake in order to get more films made, after years
working on Firecracker. What did that consist of
and how did that benefit the production?

The stripped-down method worked perfectly! But I do
have to admit I had a lot of fear going into it. I really didn't know
if we would pull it off. My other two narrative features had
40 people on the crew. This time, I was doing most of the work
and only had 4 people on a crew to help, and that was it.

But, once we started shooting I realized how fast we were moving
with less people. It was incredibly efficient. I can't imagine
going back to a 40-person crew again. It wouldn't make any sense.
Plus, with less people, there is less time to move around, less bodies
needing to have a bed, less mouths to feed... It was overwhelmingly
cost effective. And from a creative standpoint, having only 4 people
allowed me to do whatever I wanted without having to deal with a lot
of haughty professionals who might second-guess things.

Between the premise and the cast you’ve got a potential
cult film in the making.. Tell me about your actors
and what they brought to it.

Every single actor was perfect. I think WATCH OUT was
the first time I'd worked with performers who were so
easy-going. And, not only did they memorize huge and
ridiculously, impossibly long monologues, but they delivered
them sometimes in one take. And were spot on the whole time.
Editing this film was a dream come true.

What has the response to Watch Out been so far?
Even the trailers have gotten a crazy amount of attention.

I'm honored we were nominated for Best International Feature
at Raindance, but I'd have to say that my favorite thing
about this movie is that it confronts people and pushes them further,
and faster, than they've ever been pushed before. People either love it
or hate it. And, the kind of love or hate is extreme. Some people
get viciously angry at the movie and scream at it, while others are
cheering joyous rapture. It's been pretty intense. The best part
is that no one will leave indifferent to it. Everyone will have a
very strong opinion. And I love that!

Why should indie film lovers run to see Watch Out?

Because they've never seen anything like it. And I mean it.

Click here for Watch Out's website.
Click here for info on Watch Out's theatrical tour.

Watch Out trailer

The BBF Interview: Writer/Director Nick Gaglia (part II)

The BBF Interview: Writer/Director Nick Gaglia (part II)

click here for part one of this interview.

Nick Gaglia knew he wanted to be a filmmaker since he was 11,
when he picked up a camera for the first time and wrote,
directed, and acted in his first short film. He was the
youngest kid in his theatre group and studied acting
at Professional Performing Arts School in Manhattan.

His personal life, however, started to deteriorate
when he got into drugs at age 13. Subsequently, his mother
checked him into an unregulated “tough love”
drug rehab(KIDS of North Jersey) that would change
his life forever. The rehab boasted of being the only place
in the world that could keep kids safe and sober, but what
really went on behind closed doors was quite the contrary;
corporal punishment, humiliation tactics, sleep and food
deprivation, false imprisonment, and mind control were
daily routines for Gaglia and group members.

After enduring the abuse for 2 ½ years, Gaglia escaped
the rehab and went on to study filmmaking at Hunter College.
After honing his skills with several short films, Gaglia made his first
narrative feature, Over the GW, based on his unique experience
in rehab. GW premiered at the 2007 Slamdance Film Festival,
where it was the first “under the radar” feature in the festival’s
13-year history to get a distribution deal after its first screening.
The film went on to play theatrically in New York, Los Angeles,
Chicago, and Maryland and was received with enthusiastic praise.

Click HERE for part one of this interview.


AB: How did you get released? And when/how
was the program stopped?

Nick Gaglia: The program got shut down in '98 I believe, then
went underground and still took place illegally in people's houses.
I escaped one day on the GW bridge on the way to a host home.

When did you reveal to people working on this that the film
was based in truth?

Besides Kether, I never told anyone it was based on me.
I wanted the work to be about the subject and the text
and not exactly about me. After the film came out I made a decision
to make it public that it was based on me because I wanted
audiences to know that this is a real issue that's going on
and not just some movie I made up. So I think when the cast read
all the press on the film that's when they actually found out
it was based on my story.

What has been the reaction at festivals and during your
theatrical run been like, for general audiences
and survivors who have come to see it?

The film has been incredibly well received, especially by survivors.
It's really interesting though, when a general audience member
sees the film they're like, 'wow, this must be the severely dramatized
version of what went on.' And when survivors see it they're like,
'I really love the film but that's the watered down version.'
So I always laugh. I did water it down because I felt it would be too
tough to watch if I went all the way with it.
Especially for survivors, with PTSD and all.

Private screening of GW in New York;
many survivors in attendance:


Who did your music and sound design? They’re heads above

what we usually hear in low/no budget indies.

The music department was headed by John Presnell.

He was a supporter from very early on and brought on his crew

of talented musicians. Dale Chase was solely responsible for the

sound design. He's a one man army.

Was 2007 your first time at Slamdance?

How was the film received and that festival

experience overall?

2007 was my first time at Slamdance and I gotta say it was
one of the best experiences of my life! First off, when they say

you have to know someone to get into a big festival and it's

all political, that's bs when it comes to Slamdance. We submitted

a rough cut without knowing anyone on staff there

and they chose us based on the merit of our film.

After our first screening they had to stop our q & a because

it went on so long. And afterward I had a line out the door

of industry and various people wanting to speak with me.

And that's where we got approached for theatrical distribution

from Seventh Art. Afterward, I spoke with Dan Mirvish

(one of the festival founders) and he said that we were the first

'under-the-radar' narrative feature in the festival's 13-year history

to get offered a distribution deal after our very first screening.

How long did it take you to edit the film?

The editing was on-going as we shot the film. So, all in all,

it probably took about a year until we had picture lock.

That's mainly because we didn't shoot this in the traditional

way. We were very guerilla style in the sense that we shot

any free moment we had - nights, weekends, whenever,

until we finished.

Was the filmmaking process cathartic for the experience

you endured, or had you made piece with what had

happened to you before shooting? I found the film

surprisingly objective while still extremely personal.

The process was probably the most cathartic thing I've ever done.
On the 'objective' comment, I wanted to tell the story in the

least biased way possible and have the audience decide.

The details in the film were as it actually happened.

Tell us about the upcoming DVD release.

We were just picked up by Vanguard for DVD distribution.

Kether, George, and myself did a really fun commentary

together. It'll be available later on this year. And the soundtrack will

be available on iTunes this Fall.

What’s next for you as a director and/or writer?

I'm working on developing several projects right now.

One in particular is a documentary putting the teen

'tough-love' industry in context.

Please give us some words of wisdom.

All I can say is follow your passions no matter what.

That's all we have in this life.

"Over the GW" gets cited in a Congressional Hearing

on "Child Abuse and Deceptive Marketing by

Residential Programs for Teens."

-Adam Barnick

The BBF interview: Writer/Director Nick Gaglia (part 1)

The BBF interview: Writer/Director Nick Gaglia (part 1)

Nick Gaglia knew he wanted to be a filmmaker since he was 11,
when he picked up a camera for the first time and wrote, directed,
and acted in his first short film. He was the youngest kid in his
theatre group and studied acting at Professional
Performing Arts School in Manhattan.

His personal life, however, started to deteriorate
when he got into drugs at age 13. Subsequently, his mother
checked him into an unregulated “tough love” drug rehab
(KIDS of North Jersey) that would change his life forever.
The rehab boasted of being the only place in the world that
could keep kids safe and sober, but what really went on
behind closed doors was quite the contrary;
corporal punishment, humiliation tactics, sleep and
food deprivation, false imprisonment, and mind control
were daily routines for Gaglia and group members.
After enduring the abuse for 2 ½ years,
Gaglia escaped the rehab and went on to study filmmaking
at Hunter College.

After honing his skills with several short films, Gaglia made his first
narrative feature, Over the GW, based on his unique experience
in rehab. GW premiered at the 2007 Slamdance Film Festival,
where it was the first “under the radar” feature in the festival’s
13-year history to get a distribution deal after its first screening.
The film went on to play theatrically in New York, Los Angeles,
Chicago, and Maryland and was received with enthusiastic praise:

“…Mr. Gaglia has produced a work that’s as much an act of emesis
as of filmmaking…the rehab drama is here to stay.”
– Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times

“‘Over the GW” is an assured first feature by 25-year-old
writer-director Nick Gaglia.” – V.A. Musetto, New York Post

“Not to be missed” – Chicago Sun-Times

“shocking…the film accrues a learned sense of what it feels like to have
the very fibers of one’s soul placed under a magnifying glass.”
– Rob Humanick, Slant Magazine

“…emotionally potent…” – Joe Leydon, Variety

Trailer for "Over the GW"



AB: Tell me about the inspiration behind this film.

Nick Gaglia: When I was a teenager, unbeknownst to my mother,
I was admitted into an abusive cult-like drug rehab. I was on drugs
and needed help but this place wasn't helping anyone. It was actually
more traumatizing than anything else. Eventually after 2 1/2 years
of brainwashing and abuse I was able to successfully escape.

This topic of abusive 'tough-love' drug rehabs has been the
best kept secret for decades now. No film has really been done
on this topic in an honest manner before Over the GW.

You had always intended to go into filmmaking and
tell various stories, was a variation on your experience
always the obvious choice for a debut film?

Even when I was in the program I would look around and say
to myself, 'this would make for a great movie!' So I always had
it swirling around in the back of my head.

In your writing process, how did you decide what
to dramatize and what to leave out, what to heighten, etc.?

I knew there were signature aspects to the institution that
needed to be in the film. Other than that, the scenes and characters
were largely composites of real stuff in order to make the narrative work.

There was a short film version of this shot before the feature,
right?

Yes. I shot a short film on Super 16mm film based on the brutal
intake scene from the feature.

Was your decision to shoot on 24p motivated by budget
or keeping in like with the aesthetic you were interested
in for the film?

Well, after I watched the short film I felt it looked too beautiful or
too 'Hollywood.' Because it was shot on super 16 it looked
very polished which was not exactly what I was going for.
I needed a look that felt like you were watching something real
go on before your very eyes. With the s16 what you got was
the feeling as if you were looking into a world, and
not necessarily as if you were a part of that world. The look I got
with the 24p was that rugged, documentary-like, real life feeling
I was looking for.

It didn't hurt either that it cost a fraction of the price to shoot
on 24p versus s16. But if I felt that s16 was the way to go
and there were no other options, then I would've held out
'till I had the opportunity to shoot on it.

Did you always intend to shoot on such an intimate scale,
or did you intend originally to look for investors
and go ‘bigger’?

Before I shot the short I intended to shoot it on a much bigger level
and look for investors. But, as I just described I quickly realized that
there was a more efficient and effective way of telling this story.

Was your visual style in terms of camerawork/coverage
largely planned in advance or improvised?

I'm very vérité terms of the way I work. I like to see spontaneous
and real things happen before my very eyes. I encourage my actors
to improvise within the text. That way nobody knows
where they're going, not even them. That's how you get the real stuff.
I'm same way with my camera work. Let's face it, when someone's
filming a documentary they don't know what's going to happen
from moment to moment so why should I. Or why
should the actors for that matter, either.
That's the way real life is. If you want to create
a real moment you have to treat it like real life.

How far before shooting did you cast your leads?
They had amazing chemistry; every family dynamic
felt authentic; and I noticed one or two of your
family members actually appear in the film.

We found George (Gallagher) first. I learned that he was
a very talented actor and originally conceived of him for
a different role - one of the staff members. I introduced
him to to my sister, who was a producer on the project,
and she said, 'what about him for the lead.'

I said, 'no way. He's too old to play Tony.' In the original screenplay
Tony was supposed to be a 14-year-old. George could do 17 but not 14.

My sister said if he could bring the audience on an emotional journey,
then that's all that really matters. And you know what, she was right.
I revised the screenplay and tailored it to George. All the rest
of the cast fell into place from there.

George Gallagher on BACKSTAGE with Barry Nolan


How did George and Kether come aboard as producers?

The most successful actors in the world are also producers and
I think these two realize that. They cared so much about the project
that they made themselves available in every way possible.

Tell me about working with Albert (Insinnia) in shaping
his character (leader of the rehab center). He’s the antagonist in a way, unless you count the entire center/system as the antagonist; yet he’s got so many layers to him.

He’s too human for me to hate him and yet I wanted

to kill him at points in the story.

It's easy for an actor to take a character like Albert's and play him evil.
But, it's much scarier and more realistic if you play the character
as if you believe what you're doing is the right thing

and you're justified. So, that's what I discussed with Albert

in terms of character.

People in real life whether they're doing the right thing or the wrong one,
they always justify in their head that what they're doing is right for them.

One of the most disturbing aspects to the treatment center
in the film, personally, was the forbidding of reading.
Was that something that really happened?
What’s the reasoning behind that??

That was 100% true. The reasoning behind that was to not have
any distraction from the outside world and only be focused on
the information that they were supplying you.
Clever brainwashing technique.

REAL TALK interview with director Nick Gaglia,
actors/producers Kether Donohue and George Gallagher



Visit the film's website at http://www.overthegw.com/.

Part II of this interview can be found here.

-Adam Barnick

Anna Berger (Part 6 & Finale)

Of all the iconic figures from the early days of film, I find Mae West one of the most fascinating. No one else seems to be from an entirely different eon; an elusive sex symbol from a pre-code golden age that seems more ancient and forgotten than even the Lumiere Brothers.

In her one woman show, Absolutely Anna, Anna Berger talks about working with Mae West, becoming her close friend and then having a business related falling out. For my own curiosity, I wanted Anna to talk more to me about Mae West in this interview. I think you will find it interesting as well. - Peter Rinaldi

I hope you enjoyed listening to this remarkable woman over these past few weeks. Here is a short clip to end our visit with the great actress Anna Berger

Anna Berger (Part 5: Directors & Age)

Some very interesting lessons to learn from Anna Berger in this week's segment of my interview with the actress. In the first half, actors particularly will find interest in how she has dealt with "shitty" directors. In the second, all of us would be wise to listen to how she deals with age and other annoying numbers.
-Peter Rinaldi

Next week: Anna talks about Mae West and Tony Curtis in the finale of this series

Anna Berger (Parts 3 & 4)

The amazing actress Anna Berger sat down with The Boutros Boutros Follies' Peter Rinaldi for a four hour interview that has been edited and presented here in 7 short parts (watch part 1 & 2). She has been a working actress on the stage and (big & small) screen for 60 years and she looks back on her life and work with a candor and humor that is touching, insightful and captivating.

Part 3: Getting Married and Hollywood

In this segment, Anna talks about how her husband Bob won her heart and her beginnings in Hollywood

Part 4: The Actors Studio

In this segment Anna talks about the beginnings of the famous acting institution.

Check out her incredible scene in Crimes and Misdemeanors on TCM Saturday March 1 @ 8pm

Anna Berger (Part 2: Early Life)

Part 2 of my interview with actress Anna Berger.
In this segment, Anna talks about growing up on the lower east side of New York City and her early beginnings as a performer.

Learn more about her and watch Part 1.

-Peter Rinaldi

Anna Berger (Part 1: Absolutely Anna)

Anna Berger had been a working actor on Broadway, television and in films for 60 years. She has turned the act of stealing a scene into an art in episodes of Law and Order, Everybody Loves Raymond and The Sopranos and in movies like The Taking of Pelham, One, Two, Three; Ghost World and Crimes and Misdemeanors, where, as Aunt May, she single-handedly turned a great Woody Allen film into one of his best.

But before she even got to Hollywood, she spent over 30 years on the Broadway stages and in tours with legends like Mae West and John Garfield as well as in the earliest days of live television.

Three years ago she embarked upon turning her memories into a one-woman show called Absolutely Anna. Shorty after it was finished, I met Anna when I recorded her performing it for the Jewish Braille Institute.

Since then she has been traveling the country, with her husband Bob as technical director, delighting and mesmerizing audiences with stories of growing up on the Lower East Side, seeing her first boyfriend (Walter Matthau!) off to war and transcending her less than actorly looks with a love of performing and turning it into a life long career filled with larger than life characters and moving experiences.

On February 10, 2008 she sat down with me in her home in New York City. The result is a 7 part interview that will be presented exclusively here at The Boutros Boutos Follies.

-Peter Rinaldi