Sometimes the best way for people to garner true insight into their friends and colleagues’ emotions and motives is to not only examine their creative taste, but also the way they react to the preservation – and their potential financial gain – of classic art. That’s certainly the case for actor Charles Busch’s protagonist in the new comedy, ‘The Sixth Reel.’ Rather than honoring the memory of one of his most beloved friends, the acquaintances of the performer’s character instead show their true, self-preserving personalities during one of life’s most tragic times.
Besides tarring in the film, the actor also co-wrote and co-directed the film with Carl Andress, after they previously worked on theater productions together. ‘The Sixth Reel’ also stars Julie Halston, Patrick Page, Tim Daly and Margaret Cho.
The movie is now available on VOD. ‘The Sixth Reel’s digital release comes after it opened theatrically at New York City’s Look Dine-In Cinema W57th on Friday, September 22. Before its theatrical distribution, the project was an Official Selection at several film festivals, including Frameline, Newfest, Queer Screen’s Mardi Gras Film Festival and TLVFest and Outfest, the latter of which honored the feature with the Special Mention for Ensemble Performance.
‘The Sixth Reel’ follows Jimmy (Busch) a down-on-his-luck movie collector as he contends with the unexpected death of one of his close friends. While cleaning his friend’s New York City apartment following his death, Jimmy is shocked to find the long-thought lost titular final sixth reel of a classic undiscovered movie. as a result, each of his friends in his social circle of obsessive collectors concoct wild, underhanded schemes to cash in on a big sale of the film.
Andress and Busch generously took the time before ‘The Sixth Reel’s theatrical release to talk about making the project together during an exclusive interview over Zoom. Among other things, the filmmaker and actor discussed how they approached penning and shooting the comedy during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic; how previously working on plays in New York City together helped influence the way they approached co-helming the feature together; and how the entire ensemble cast are such skilled comedic actors that they enjoyed working with them to infuse the characters with their own personal humor.
Film Factual (FF): Together, you co-wrote the script for the new comedy, ‘The Sixth Reel.’ What inspired you to pen the screenplay for the film together? How did you collaborate on scribing the script together?
Carl Andress (CA): We actually had an opportunity to work with producer Ash Christian, who we met and had been working with on some ideas. So by the end of 2019, we were gearing up to work on a script for him.
In 2020, we did a play Off-Broadway, which closed on March 5. Then the next week, the whole world shut down. What Charles and I had been planning after the closing of that show was to get together and really start working on our screenplay for this film.
So we suddenly found ourselves with a lot of free time on our hands. But I was in my home in Connecticut, and Charles was in New York City. So we started imagining the screenplay via Skype. That’s how we sort of wrote the entire story – we just talked for about four or five hours every day, right, Charles?
Charles Busch (CB): Yes. We saw it as a movie that could be shot in people’s apartments in my neighborhood of Greenwich Village. We were going to try to do it on the cheap. But then with COVID, that became impossible – we couldn’t get all these people in small environments.
So then we shot the whole movie basically on a sound stage in Upstate New York. It was so cool because none of us had had that experience before. Usually with indie films, you basically get two days in a studio, and the rest is shot here and there. So shooting this movie entirely on a sound stage was so much fun – it was like being at MGM in the ‘30s.
Dara Wishingrad, our production designer, designed these complete apartments on the sound stage. There were bathrooms and kitchens, and it was so cool.
FF: Speaking of the fact that the movie was largely shot in a studio, the feature’s story is set in New York City. How did you collaborate with Dara as the comedy’s production designer to create the look of the locations?
CA: We worked very closely with our cinematographer, Jendra Jarnagin, and Dara to figure out where we could place the camera, where the window should be and where we could get in all of the people that we needed. We worked quickly with them once we knew we were going to be on these sound stages. It was really fun imagining how different the apartments would be, and how much detail we could go into.
We really marveled at all the walls Dara and her team made for all the apartments in the older buildings in Greenwich Village. They did all of this aging…
CB: …and water damage.
CA: Yes, we added the water damage that you frequently see in these older buildings so that they would feel realistic on camera.
CB: We also took a lot of stuff from my own apartment, including some nice rolls of wall paper that I had. So some people thought we shot in my apartment. I was like, “I don’t live in such a crummy place!” (Busch laughs.) But we used a lot of my stuff!
FF: Besides writing the script together, you also co-directed ‘The Sixth Reel.’ How did penning the screenplay together influence how you approached helming the film together?
CB: We’ve done so many plays together over the past 25 years. Carl is really the director of this movie, but he allowed me to give a lot of big opinions on every subject. (Busch laughs.)
CA: Charles also starred in the movie. So since he was in front of the camera so much, I was really behind the camera, working with Jendra on the cinematography.
But it was really such a comfort to work on a project like this with your dearest collaborator and your closest friend. So I felt really sure and safe about every choice we were making because we could vet things with each other.
Hearing Charles’ point-of-view was also really helpful while we worked. Overall, I was really excited to have this experience of being behind the camera and eliciting these great performances from our wonderful cast.
FF: Speaking about the cast, Charles, besides co-scribing and co-directing the movie, you also play the protagonist Jimmy. Was it always your intention to also star in the comedy? The film also stars Julie Halston, Patrick Page, Tim Daly and Margaret Cho. What was the casting process like for the movie?
CB: I became a writer during college because I wanted to act. I wanted to write myself opportunities to perform. So writing and acting has always been a dual interesting of mine. We came up with the story for me to perform and play this part.
We have so many relationships over years. Julie Halston, who played the second biggest role in the film, Helen…
CA: …I’ve directed Charles and Julie in many plays, and their collaboration goes back many years on stage in New York. I thought since we had his opportunity to make this film, it would be a real wonderful chance to capture their chemistry on film, which hadn’t really happened before.
So we took the elements of a basic relationship that Charles and Julie had developed for a play that Charles wrote years ago called ‘The Tribute Artist,’ and expanded on that relationship. That would give them the opportunity to do a caper film, which is something that Charles had always wanted to do.
CB: Yes, I always had a dream of making a comedy caper movie, where everyone is running around with one goal in mind. As a result, hilarity ensues. My dream was always to do that with Julie. The story would take place in Greenwich Village, and the characters would have on these with wacky disguises and be up to no good. So Carl finally said, “Let’s do it and make it happen.”
One of the things we were able to take advantage of during COVID, with all the theaters closed, was that we were suddenly able to tap into all of these marvelous actors who were out of work. I think we had about half the cast of ‘Hadestown’ in the film with us. They were wonderful, marvelous people we would never have been able to get otherwise.
CA: Yes, it was really exciting. We worked with a wonderful casting director, Matthew Glasner. The cast came together relatively quickly because people wanted to work. It was a lot of fun.
But the sad part was, while we were on set, when all of these wonderful people were working together, they couldn’t really hang out together. People had to be six feet apart and were housed in their own hotel rooms. We also couldn’t have a party because we were still very careful.
We shot before the vaccine was available, so we were all very cautious and constantly testing. But we were proud that we kept our company, which was comprised of about 80 people, safe and COVID-free for over a month. That was something that really meant a lot to us at the time.
CB: Yes, it was so early in the pandemic that we took all sorts of precautions that now we see weren’t even necessary. But at the time, it was.
It was cooky – Tim Daly and I had a scene together where we were in bed. His character was in the process of seducing Julie Halston and me, which was quite a plot! So we had to get in bed with double masks. When Carl called “Action!,” we would take the masks off, and when he called “Cut!,” we would put the masks back on. It made no sense at all, but we were all so paranoid
FF: Once the actors were cast, how did you approach building the characters’ arcs throughout ‘The Sixth Reel’s production?
CA: Well, everyone was so well cast and brought so much to the table that I’d just tell them, “Maybe give an emphasis here or there.” But they’re really funny people and such skilled players that it was really great fun seeing what they could do and bring out in Charles and Julie.
Charles and Julie have had such a long collaboration that their rhythm just comes to them so naturally. Therefore, shooting went rather quickly because the relationship was already there.
Also, we were already friendly with a lot of the people who were in the movie, so there’s a bit of a shorthand there. That allowed for minimal rehearsal time on set, and for the characters’ relationships to come together really quickly.
CB: In the case of Tim Daly, he’s a very intelligent fellow. His part was somewhat underwritten, and he had marvelous suggestions. You don’t want actors to feel disrespected, so you really have to listen to them. His suggestions were so spot on that we did some re-writes on the script, and they made the story better. We were lucky to have him in every way as a collaborator. So he really knew the character.
All of the actors were so skilled that I don’t really recall you having to give any acting notes to anyone, Carl.
CA: I gave them some staging notes, like “This is how we’re going to film it.” For folks who have been in front of the camera a lot, they have a natural ability to know where to be and how to be. So working with them was seamless, and they gave us so much.
So there may have just been some discussions about the intention of a scene. We also discussed why we were staging a scene in a certain way or where the camera was going to be. But all-in-all, it was just a lot of fun.
FF: Wolfe Video (released) ‘The Sixth Reel’ at the Look Dine-In Cinema W57th in New York City this (past) September. How did you secure the distribution for the comedy?
CA: Well, Wolfe picked up the releasing rights while we were screening at Outfest in Los Angeles. We worked with them on completing the film and then getting it out there.
Then while we were working with Wolfe, we came up with this opportunity to screen at the Look Dine-In Cinema. It’s a beautiful new theater. We were so excited to premiere it there, wouldn’t you say, Charles?
CB: Oh, yes. Finding distribution can be a challenge for small indie films these days. The whole industry is trying to refigure itself out. The streaming services grew too quickly, so it’s been a challenge. You just never know what’s going to present itself.
I was at a cabaret called 54 Below here in Manhattan seeing someone’s show. This fellow came up to me and introduced himself. He recognized me and said he owned a chain of movie theaters. (Bushch laughs.) Then suddenly we had a New York theatrical release!
CA: It is very hard to find a theater to take you on. As Charles said, distribution is the big challenge. I always thought getting the movie made would be the hard part. But in some ways, that was a little bit easier. The hard part is then getting people come and see it. The work never stops!
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