In its opening weekend, James Ronald Whitney's GAMES PEOPLE PLAY: New York had the largest per screen totals of any movie in the United States beating out Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ by nearly $3,000. Of course this low budget reality movie didnt break the bank the way The Passion did but it did show Hollywood that people are interested in reality movies that dont suck.
GAMES PEOPLE PLAY: New York is an interesting film. It starts out with the makers of the film auditioning people to be in it. After a series of nude and emotionally raw auditions they narrow it down to six people who will go for a cash prize of $10,000 by performing risqu stunts and offering up scintillating confessionals on camera.
Check out the website for Games People Play
Daniel Robert Epstein:Your first weekend was huge!
James Ronald Whitney: Yeah. Its a very exciting thing to hear the words, Number one movie in the country. I never thought that those words would ever be associated with a film of mine. My movies are usually too controversial for that. Professionally the only news that was better than that was when I won the Emmy.
DRE: Was this ever meant to be a TV show?
JRW: Even though many people think its all satirical. I really had this idea for a one-hour primetime weekly game show. I knew that it wouldnt be for a network because I like things to be too real. I knew it would be HBO, Showtime or Spike. If I explained it to those people they would tell me that no one is ever going to do these crazy antics you want them to do and if they do they wont sign a release form. So I said, fuck it and Ill shoot it in 72 hours to prove that people will engage in these antics. The genesis of this was letting it serve as a pilot pitch. I still want that series. But I had so much fun making the movie that I went ahead and made the sequel GAMES PEOPLE PLAY: Hollywood which will be out soon. The movies are very different from the idea for the television series. The TV show would have three challenges for per show.
The difference between a reality film and a documentary is that a documentary goes back historically and finds something that will originally go forward like The Real Cancun did with Spring Break. They would have happened without a film around them. A reality film is when you make something happen that would not have come about naturally and you end up making a film about it.
DRE: Was it always meant to have a queer aspect to it?
JRW: Im an equal opportunist when it comes to sexual things, relationships or nudity on camera. I dont know why we are able to put a big vagina onscreen and everyone is ok with it but you put a penis up there and people go into shock.
DRE: The penis can be pretty ugly sometimes.
JRW: [laughs] I suppose it depends on the penis. When I cast I can take those parts into account. I dont look at it as there being a queer aspect but as the melting pot aspect of New York City. There are straight, gay, lesbian, confused, closeted and whoever. In a cast of six in New York to have one gay guy is just the normal New York City percentage. I would have been disappointed if I hadnt had at least one African-American, one gay person because I dont think I would have been representing New York City well enough. Were a pretty diversified territory.
DRE: Have people been asking you a lot about the gay aspect?
JRW: I think theyve commingled that question with a lot of things such as me being nervous about the untraditional things in the film. Gayness being one, full frontal nudity with men and women, making a game out of such horrific things such as eating disorders, Tourette Syndrome and molestation. I wasnt nervous about any of those things because they are facts of life. As long as those facts of life continue they are eligible for entry into the game. Im kind of glad that people are making a big deal out of the gay issue in the film because of all the recent controversy over gay marriage so when they see somebody they can identify with in the movie they will realize that hes a regular guy. Not some queenie affected gay guy that will make you turn away. So its a positive that people are talking about this. I couldnt ever imagine having a cast with someone that isnt gay or lesbian.
DRE: At one point you ask each actor to tell the story that helps them to cry on camera. Why did you do that?
JRW: My goal is not to make the audience feel comfortable. If they sit through any film I make and remain within their comfort zone then I have failed as a filmmaker. When actors go to auditions and have to shed a tear they typically tap into something that is very sad or difficult. Never do you hear or know what these actors are thinking in their head to evoke that tear. I wanted to know what that was. I was going to challenge them to be as emotionally inhibited as they can in front of hundreds of their peers to see how brave they were. I wanted the six most uninhibited performers I could find. That was the lack of inhibition emotionally then we went to lack of inhibition physically. Quite frankly the emotional part was the greater struggle for these actors. Even though this is a comedy there are some things everyone has that they dont talk about. The more they remain hidden the more they remain taboo. If we talk about them then the taboo part goes away.
I was molested when I was five so my first movie, Just, Melvin: Just Evil, was about my grandfather that molested my whole family. Then the next movie, Telling Nicholas, was about a little boy whos mom was killed in the World Trade Center attack and now his father must tell him his mom is dead. Im used to tackling tough subjects and there is always a humorous relief in the films. But this was the opposite because it was fun and frolicking then peppered with some moments of seriousness. If you dont have elements like that then the funny moments arent as funny.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
GAMES PEOPLE PLAY: New York is an interesting film. It starts out with the makers of the film auditioning people to be in it. After a series of nude and emotionally raw auditions they narrow it down to six people who will go for a cash prize of $10,000 by performing risqu stunts and offering up scintillating confessionals on camera.
Check out the website for Games People Play
Daniel Robert Epstein:Your first weekend was huge!
James Ronald Whitney: Yeah. Its a very exciting thing to hear the words, Number one movie in the country. I never thought that those words would ever be associated with a film of mine. My movies are usually too controversial for that. Professionally the only news that was better than that was when I won the Emmy.
DRE: Was this ever meant to be a TV show?
JRW: Even though many people think its all satirical. I really had this idea for a one-hour primetime weekly game show. I knew that it wouldnt be for a network because I like things to be too real. I knew it would be HBO, Showtime or Spike. If I explained it to those people they would tell me that no one is ever going to do these crazy antics you want them to do and if they do they wont sign a release form. So I said, fuck it and Ill shoot it in 72 hours to prove that people will engage in these antics. The genesis of this was letting it serve as a pilot pitch. I still want that series. But I had so much fun making the movie that I went ahead and made the sequel GAMES PEOPLE PLAY: Hollywood which will be out soon. The movies are very different from the idea for the television series. The TV show would have three challenges for per show.
The difference between a reality film and a documentary is that a documentary goes back historically and finds something that will originally go forward like The Real Cancun did with Spring Break. They would have happened without a film around them. A reality film is when you make something happen that would not have come about naturally and you end up making a film about it.
DRE: Was it always meant to have a queer aspect to it?
JRW: Im an equal opportunist when it comes to sexual things, relationships or nudity on camera. I dont know why we are able to put a big vagina onscreen and everyone is ok with it but you put a penis up there and people go into shock.
DRE: The penis can be pretty ugly sometimes.
JRW: [laughs] I suppose it depends on the penis. When I cast I can take those parts into account. I dont look at it as there being a queer aspect but as the melting pot aspect of New York City. There are straight, gay, lesbian, confused, closeted and whoever. In a cast of six in New York to have one gay guy is just the normal New York City percentage. I would have been disappointed if I hadnt had at least one African-American, one gay person because I dont think I would have been representing New York City well enough. Were a pretty diversified territory.
DRE: Have people been asking you a lot about the gay aspect?
JRW: I think theyve commingled that question with a lot of things such as me being nervous about the untraditional things in the film. Gayness being one, full frontal nudity with men and women, making a game out of such horrific things such as eating disorders, Tourette Syndrome and molestation. I wasnt nervous about any of those things because they are facts of life. As long as those facts of life continue they are eligible for entry into the game. Im kind of glad that people are making a big deal out of the gay issue in the film because of all the recent controversy over gay marriage so when they see somebody they can identify with in the movie they will realize that hes a regular guy. Not some queenie affected gay guy that will make you turn away. So its a positive that people are talking about this. I couldnt ever imagine having a cast with someone that isnt gay or lesbian.
DRE: At one point you ask each actor to tell the story that helps them to cry on camera. Why did you do that?
JRW: My goal is not to make the audience feel comfortable. If they sit through any film I make and remain within their comfort zone then I have failed as a filmmaker. When actors go to auditions and have to shed a tear they typically tap into something that is very sad or difficult. Never do you hear or know what these actors are thinking in their head to evoke that tear. I wanted to know what that was. I was going to challenge them to be as emotionally inhibited as they can in front of hundreds of their peers to see how brave they were. I wanted the six most uninhibited performers I could find. That was the lack of inhibition emotionally then we went to lack of inhibition physically. Quite frankly the emotional part was the greater struggle for these actors. Even though this is a comedy there are some things everyone has that they dont talk about. The more they remain hidden the more they remain taboo. If we talk about them then the taboo part goes away.
I was molested when I was five so my first movie, Just, Melvin: Just Evil, was about my grandfather that molested my whole family. Then the next movie, Telling Nicholas, was about a little boy whos mom was killed in the World Trade Center attack and now his father must tell him his mom is dead. Im used to tackling tough subjects and there is always a humorous relief in the films. But this was the opposite because it was fun and frolicking then peppered with some moments of seriousness. If you dont have elements like that then the funny moments arent as funny.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
missy:
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charlielove:
This in incredibly interesting. I want to see this movie now, has anyone seen it?