Christopher Nolan, Stanley Kubrick, and Martin Scorsese are great directors—and then there are the rest of us. Making a movie is difficult, and Joe Bartone’s My Movie Starring Paul Dano, a movie about a movie, is only made possible through sheer will, luck, and any excuse to green-light your film.
Herman Rumowitz (Christopher Michael Jones) is a small-time, would-be filmmaker whose life takes a sharp turn when Paul Dano himself visits him in a dream. In the dream, the famous actor urges Herman to make his feature film, Bear Naked Amazonians from Mars, and seals the deal with a promise — if Herman can pull it off by the deadline, the film will win Best Feature at South by Southwest, turning Herman into an international celebrity. Herman wakes up a man on a mission, fully convinced not only that the dream was real, but that Paul Dano has already said yes to the project.
Chaos and absurdity are on tap as Herman struggles to pull everything together to get his production off the ground. On hand are his over-supportive and frequently cynical mother, Molly (Holly Rockwell), his business partner, Martin Q. Little (Turen Robinson), and his oddball, Feivel Goradetsky (Jon Mankuta), to help Herman work through pre-production with all the enthusiasm of someone looking to be seen on someone else’s dime. The first step is to get the money from Herman’s Uncle Pio (Lee Rothsten), who will only provide it if Herman can produce a production starring Vanna White. There is also a video camera documenting the insanity of Herman’s faulty judgments and creative decisions while preparing to create a production for an individual who may never set foot on the set.
“Herman wakes up a man on a mission, fully convinced not only that the dream was real, but that Paul Dano has already said yes to the project.”
Joe Bartone’s My Movie Starring Paul Dano is about as meta as you get — a low-budget indie film about making a low-budget indie film. It covers all the foibles, the challenges, and that desperate desire to actually get a movie made, and captures it all in a highly absurdist way.
What strikes me first is not just the cast, but the cast of characters. Bartone covers the full gamut of people who make movies — for better or worse. Herman is the filmmaker trying to keep everything from spinning out of control, while the characters around him range from those who make movies purely out of a love of art, as they see a vision of the film without seeing “the vision” of the film, to those chasing the fame and money that might come with it, such as Herman’s mother who inserts herself into the movie and demands more lines. Everyone has their own agenda, their own reasons for being there, and that tension is pretty much what the movie is about.
As a satire, My Movie Starring Paul Dano walks the line between silly and sincere, and Bartone finds the comedy in the fact that everyone in this world just sees things a little differently. It goes for the laughs, and while I can’t say I burst out laughing, I found the fun in the film — and there’s plenty of it. Look, have you ever tried to make an indie film with no money? If you have, My Movie Starring Paul Dano will feel very familiar.
Writer, director, composer, and artist Joe Bartone has poured every ounce of himself into My Movie Starring Paul Dano, and his sincerity is exactly what makes it work. Much like Herman’s relentless pursuit of his dream, Bartone proves that sheer will, a little delusion, and an unshakeable love of cinema can get a movie made.
For screening information, visit the My Movie Starring Paul Dano official website.
"…Sheer will, a little delusion, and an unshakeable love of cinema."
