x
  1. Home
  2.  Entertainment

'Goodfellas' actor films locally Paul Sorvino's to use Kickstarter to garner funding for his independent movie

| 07 Jun 2013 | 12:01
    Photos by Lyndsay Cayetana Bouchal Paul Sorvino with his cast on the shoot in Frankford.
    Photos by Lyndsay Cayetana Bouchal Paul Sorvino with his cast on the shoot in Frankford.
    Paul Sorvino with co-star Tara Westwood, who plays Sorvino's mistress, and Erik Aslanyan, who plays Sorvino's nephew.
    Paul Sorvino with co-star Tara Westwood, who plays Sorvino's mistress, and Erik Aslanyan, who plays Sorvino's nephew.
    Sorvino going over his lines before the shoot.
    Sorvino going over his lines before the shoot.

FRANKFORD — Bringing a bit of Hollywood to Sussex County, Paul Sorvino — known for his roles in Goodfellas and Romeo + Juliet — filmed a video to promote his new comedy "Christmas in Beverly Hills" in Frankford on May 28.

Due to Sorvino's filming schedule in other movies, his only free window was on May 28 when he was in New York. And with the film's producer Dale Restighini offering up his Frankford home as a place to shoot the film, Sussex County was decided as the location of choice.

"Dale 'Rage' Restighini, whom in my opinion is one of the best video director in the industry, read the script and synopsis," Sorvino said. "He enjoyed it so much that he personally offered the usage of his own home kitchen, equipment and crew to help us shoot the main ingredients for the Kickstarter campaign."

Instead of going the traditional studio route to fund the film, Sorvino has decided to film it independently while hoping to gain financial support through Kickstarter.com. Kickstarter is a web site where people can promote their project — such as a new book, movie or music — and earn contributions from anyone.

The fundraising campaign is tentatively set to launch June 6 with a goal of raising $2 million.

"A typical Hollywood film, large or small budget, takes three to five years of shopping, begging, pleading and hoping," said Sorvino. "It doesn't matter who the cast and crew are for the film, we must all do the same song and dance to get funding and blueprints for the film.

"We expect that the Kickstarter campaign will be a huge success," Sorvino continued. "Our film is a classic farce comedy. Contributors who love cult classic movies that give you stomach cramps from laughter would of course love to support this film."

Christmas in Beverly Hills was written by Virabov, Sorvino and a L.A. comedian, Chuko and will be shot in Los Angeles in October.

“'Christmas in Beverly Hills' is a comedy about a wealthy and well-respected Beverly Hills couple who end up with their lovers all in one house on Christmas — by accident,” stated producer Mara Virabov in a release.

Sorvino will direct and star in the rip-roaring comedy and comedian Katt Williams will oversee the film as the consulting producer.

"Mara is a huge fan of comedies," Sorvino said. "Her passion is comedy and she is a fan of classic laugh-out-loud films like 'Birdcage,' 'Big Fat Greek Wedding,' and 'Money Talks' which I happen to play father-of-the-bride in. She loves comedy that includes all the other elements of film; action, drama, mystery, and romance. This script nails all of the points. It's funny. And a similar story happened to a mutual friend, so we thought it would make it a great comedy."

And why Christmas for the film?

"Why not? Christmas is the most joyous season in the year,"Sorvino said. "There are some great classic Christmas comedies and this will be the next one."