The Orange Thief is a uniquely independent film, having been created
from scratch in one month--in a foreign language, with Italian and Sicilian
non-actors, by first time directors.
Our initial goal was to combine 11 dynamic individuals in a remote location
(the mountains of Sicily) for two months--none with acting or directing
experience, and create a complete feature film, from scratch--story
concept to final take.
We set out for Sicily with the expectation that everyone who showed
up would have an equal opportunity to be a director or an actor. Our
group was half Italian and half American with one Frenchman tossed in
for good measure (and good cooking!). All 11 slept in two adjacent rooms,
took turns cooking—and in the first month, we took turns directing and
acting as we taught ourselves how to use the cameras and how to shoot
scenes. In the second month, we created our story concept and divided
up into actors and directors, based on what each person felt their strength
was in our first month of test shooting.
THE ORANGE THIEF did not begin with a script, only plot concepts and
character sketches that the directors divided up, scripted and shot
separately--sort of an "exquisite corpse" method of filmmaking.
Each director had a SONY HDV camera and shot his scenes completely independent
of the other directors. Only after a scene was scripted, cast, shot
and roughly edited was it presented to the other directors for comment
and criticism. If it was agreed that the scene was successful the other
two directors would incorporate the new character developments, new
props, new locations, or new secondary characters into their follow-up
shoots.
THE ORANGE THIEF was filmed entirely in Lucca-Sicula, the mountain town
that is also the hometown of Boogie and Vinnie's paternal grandparents.
The same town that their grandfather fled as a teen to come to NYC to
attempt to become a movie star.
The entire production cost less than $15,000.
Did we mention that many of the scenes were shot with no crew? Just
a director, two actors, a thousand flies, and the boom on a tripod.
THE ORANGE THIEF
78 Fifth Avenue 5th Floor
New York, New York 10011
212-691-6955 646-221-8393 vinnie@vinniangel.com.
