I first met Dan Mirvish at the Slamdance Festival about 15 years ago, and I was charmed by his crazy, outrageous behavior. Besides being a terrific filmmaker, he's also a founding member of the Slamdance Festival. I've been to that festival many times, and my greatest memory is the filmmaking seminar held in a giant hot-tub - not to be missed.
So a few years ago, he told me that he had discovered a lost manuscript for a possible feature film for Showtime. After two years of production, he premiered the feature film last week at the Cinema Village East, here in New York. Unfortunately, Dan couldn't be there, he had to be in L.A. for the West Coast premiere.
Filling in for him was filmmaker Paul Rachman and, as a great surprise, Jules Feiffer was there too. "Bernard and Huey" is a take-off on two of his iconic cartoon characters from his "Playboy" years. And I got to attend the premiere, it was great to see Jules again - my early film "Boomtown" was an animated short that featured his text that was all about defense spending and the threat of Russia in the 1980's. It seems like we've come full circle -
"Bernard and Huey" is typical Feiffer, concerned with social status, artistic careers and sexual obsessions. It's a lot like a Neil Simon play, with lots of witty dialogue.
Good work, Dan! Good luck with the film! And if you can't catch "Bernard and Huey" in the theater, please check it out on iTunes!
--Bill P.
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