|
|
|
Independent filmmaker Chris Vallone shoots Michael
Gruda, left, and Eric Sousa in a scene for 'The Agent', the full-length picture
he produced, directed, wrote, filmed, and edited.
|
|
|
|
Drew Serrano gets into the action, battling stunt team
members Leif Becker, left, and Eric Sousa, right, practicing this scene from
'The Agent'.
|
|
|
|
'The Agent' movie poster.
|
|
|
| The Bergamo's team at the Loews premiere. Pictured from
left to right: Ronald Sullivan, Colin Thompson, Eric Sousa, Clinton Murphy,
Raphael Velez, Drew Serrano, Daniele Silva, and Leif Becker. |
|
Members of Bergamo's Martial Arts completed their first big screen project at
the end of 2003. Originally slated to choreograph the action for the feature
"The Agent", Drew Serrano and team members were soon cast to fill a variety of
different roles as well as choreograph and execute the fight scenes. With the
direction of up and coming director Chris Vallone of NY, the team has produced
a work they can, and should, be truly proud of.
"The Agent" premiered at the Loews Cineplex in Nyack, NY on March 25 in front of
an audience of 300. It was really something to see as team members filled lead
roles and executed fight scenes on the big screen. Drew Serrano stars in this
feature about a detective who seems to be on the straight and narrow, but turns
out to have a hidden agenda. The movie is filled with plot twists and
characters that keep you guessing to the very end. It also has some very unique
and "hard-hitting" action scenes that were all choreographed and executed by
members of Bergamo's.
The team members from Bergamo's are as follows:
Drew Serrano (lead role),
Clinton Murphy (supporting role as Drew's partner),
Raphael Velez (FBI agent),
Colin Thompson (FBI agent),
Ronald Sullivan (internal affairs agent and dirty cop),
Leif Becker (dirty cop),
Vincent Milo (FBI agent),
Eric Sousa (dirty cop and FBI agent), and Daniele Silva (FBI agent).
The movie is directed and produced by Chris Vallone, VT Videos (
http://www.vtvideos.com ). You can see the trailer for the movie at
http://www.vtvideos.com/videos/AGENTTRAILER.wmv.
FOX 5 News NY was on hand at the premiere and aired a good segment on the 10
o'clock news Saturday night, March 27. Please click on the following link to
check out the coverage: This is the full screen one
http://www.vtvideos.com/chris/FOX5SPOT.wmv for all broadband users.
It's about 25megs in size. This is for those with dial-up,
http://www.vtvideos.com/chris/FOX5SPOTSMALL.wmv about 6 megs or so.
The first CT viewing will be in Newtown at the Edmond Town Hall Theater. The
date is Saturday, May 8 at 1pm. Tickets are $7 and seats will be limited. If
you are interested, please contact Drew Serrano at ects2000@adelphia.net or
203-410-9222. Below is an article published in the Waterbury
Republican-American about the film: He's his 'Agent' for Hollywood dreams.
Sunday, April 04, 2004
© 2004 Republican-American
By Mark Azzara
There are many famous police-thriller films, such as "The French Connection,"
"Bullitt" and "Die Hard." And then there is "The Agent," which may be unique in
the genre because its director, producer, writer, cameraman and editor — all
one and the same man — worked as a substitute teacher and delivered pizza on
the weekends to raise the money to bankroll the project. All $2,000 of it.
Such are the travails of an independent filmmaker. In 2002 Chris Vallone made a
20-minute version of "The Agent" that showed at a few small independent film
festivals. The reaction: It needs to be a full-length feature. So he wrote the
longer script, recruited actors, set his shooting schedule, grabbed his digital
camera and went to work.
Vallone, who lives in Rockland County, N.Y., said his experience is normal for
"indie" filmmakers. Computers and digital cameras have made it possible for
anyone to make a movie. The result is that the industry, such as it is, is
saturated with indie films, the vast majority of which go nowhere.
"To get into some of the mainstream festivals you need a team — a publicist, a
representative, a lawyer. Sending the check and a signed form is not going to
get you in," Vallone said. Vallone, whose film stars neophyte actor Drew
Serrano, a Waterbury firefighter and martial arts instructor, hired a
producers' rep in Los Angeles to attract interest from a distributor or perhaps
a studio that might buy the rights and remake the film.
Either way, Vallone is game. But Vallone also is doing everything he can to drum
up interest from somebody, anybody, in the industry. Without that name, that
"hook" as he called it, the chances of getting a film distributed into theaters
are extremely slim.
"To get people to look at you, you've got to have screenings and invite industry
guests to come. If they enjoy your film they'll help you get it out there,"
Vallone said. So he rented one of the theaters at a Loew's Cineplex in
Palisades Mall in Nyack, N.Y., last month for a one-time-only screening.
"I almost sold out the theater," Vallone said. Granted, many in the audience
were family or friends of his or the cast, but he said they thought the film
was good, especially considering how little money he spent on it.
"People think I spent over half a million," he said.
The film's next scheduled showing is at 1 p.m. May 8 at Edmond Town Hall in
Newtown. For ticket information, call Serrano at (203) 410-9222.
Serrano was recruited initially to choreograph the fight scenes in the 20-minute
version and recruit people from Bergamo Martial Arts in Naugatuck and Cheshire,
where he's an instructor, to act them out. He became the star of the
full-length film when Vallone realized that none of the actors being auditioned
for the lead role could do the fight moves as well as Serrano.
This was a new venture for Serrano, who portrayed a bouncer in a music video
that Vallone shot a few years ago. Serrano has studied acting and wants to get
into it as a career but he wasn't insulted at having to work long hours without
pay on the set in addition to working his two paying jobs.
"Anytime you get an opportunity you just have to take it," he said. Serrano said
he and the other actors did more than recite lines and fight.
"We would help him if he had to do miking or lighting if we were on the set,"
Serrano said of Vallone. "We knew what we had to do to get this project made."
Vallone said he has no intention of giving up his dream, and he has ideas for a
few other movies. "It's my passion. It's my drive," Vallone said. "If I ever
have the slightest thought of giving up or saying 'I'll only go to this age,'
then I'm already failing myself. This is an industry where you have to push
every day to get in."
|