My Suicidal Sweetheart

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My Suicidal Sweetheart
Directed by Michael Parness
Produced by Michael Parness
Elana Pianko
Gene Raphael Miller
Ron Brown
G. Mac Brown
Written by Michael Parness
Starring Natasha Lyonne
David Krumholtz
Tim Blake Nelson
Lorraine Bracco
Rosanna Arquette
David Paymer
Music by Michael Andrews
Cinematography Horacio Marquínez
Editing by Mark Livolsi
Distributed by Full Glass Films
Running time 115 minutes
Country Flag of the United States United States
Language English
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

My Suicidal Sweetheart is an American independent dark comedy film written and produced by Michael Parness. The initial working title of the film was Saving Grace; this title was later changed to Max & Grace during production, and remained in place prior to its release on the film festival circuit in March 2005. During an appearance at the 2006 Sacramento Film Festival, Parness remarked that he was dissatisfied with the title of Max & Grace and announced plans to change it to "My Suicidal Sweetheart". The film is due to be released on DVD under that title.


Tagline: Love can be insane.

Contents

[edit] Background

According to Filmmaker Magazine, "Michael Parness was on his fourth career when he stepped behind the camera to direct the comedy 'Max and Grace' in New York ... Originally the proprietor of a thriving sports memorabilia business that supported his efforts as a playwright, theater director and screenwriter, he lost most of his savings in the October '98 stock market crash. Down to $33,000, he opened an online brokerage account and in 15 months turned it into $7 million; Parness launched financial guru site trendfund.com along the way and recounts his experiences in the 2002 bestseller, Rule the Freakin' Markets. All that made him famous in financial circles and a regular in their media. Dustin Hoffman's Punch Productions even optioned his life story. But he still wanted to make a movie. 'It's what I've wanted to do my whole life,' says Parness. 'Film allows you to take to the next level what you can do on the stage, like showing a character's inner thoughts or using special effects to highlight emotion.'"

In an interview with efilmcritic.com, Parness explained how the movie came to be:

"I was busy teaching people how to Rule the Freakin' Markets trading stocks and I got an email from someone who had seen one of my plays years earlier and wanted to produce something in L.A. Being the control freak I am, I reluctantly let him do so and in the process he asked if I had any screenplays. Max and Grace (then Saving Grace) was lying around and he loved it and his company loved it and they said they would put up money to make it. They ended up, like many, being full of BS, and the money fell through, but I decided I might as well go bankrupt to make it anyway, which is virtually what happened. Like many of my other writings, this was based on a broken relationship where I was always trying to 'save' the woman I was with. Needless to say, I couldn't save her, but I did get a movie out of it!"

[edit] Cast

The main cast for "My Suicidal Sweetheart" was set in July 2002. After reading the script, Tim Blake Nelson convinced the producers to let him assume several different roles--as a psychiatric doctor, Chief Nakahoma, a wrestling minister, and as a motivational speaker named Roger Bob. Director Michael Parness popped into a small role as a character named Peter Brown, a participant at Roger Bob's outdoor support group.

Natasha Lyonne was the director's first choice for the role of Grace, and as soon as she signed on, agents began calling and roughly 25 male leads auditioned for the role of Max. The producers at the time wanted a well-known actor for the part and so they chose Edward Furlong; unfortunately, due to personal issues and alleged drug and/or alcohol abuse, Furlong was cut from "Max & Grace" and another film called "Firecracker"' and had to be replaced on both projects. At Lyonne's prompting, Parness then cast actor David Krumholtz as Max in March 2003. Lyonne and Krumholtz first worked together in the 1998 20th-Century Fox film "The Slums of Beverly Hills", in which they played Vivian and Ben Abromowitz (brother and sister).

[edit] Post-Production

According to a press release dated March 12, 2005, REX Media was responsible for the website (www.maxandgrace.com), poster and promotional pieces for "Max & Grace." This was the company's first time handling a motion picture project.

[edit] Film festival showings

The film was first shown at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival in Austin, Texas. It was screened on Saturday, March 12th and Tuesday, March 25, 2005 at 1:30 p.m. at the Paramount Theatre, and also on Thursday, March 17, 2005 at 7 p.m. at the Alamo Downtown. Other festival appearances for the film included:

At many of the festival appearances, the cast and crew of the film also participated in conferences and question-and-answer sessions with the audience members. Both David Krumholtz and Michael Parness were present for the SXSW Film Festival.

[edit] Awards & Achievements


[edit] Title Change

Director Michael Parness announced the change in the title of his film from "Max & Grace" to "My Suicidal Sweetheart" at a question-and-answer session following the film's screening at the Sacramento Film Festival in March 2006. A year later, in June 2007, it was announced by Market Wire that FilmMates Entertainment (a Los Angeles-based film acquisition, finance, production and distribution company) acquired worldwide theater, television and home video/DVD distribution rights to the film. Changes to the title subsequently resulted in changes to the film's poster in 2006, and the trailer carried by the Full Glass Films website.

Initially, the film was set for limited release during Fall 2006 for three major cities: Toronto, New York and Los Angeles. This was to be followed by a home video/DVD release, but the limited-release runs never took place.

[edit] Current status

Although expected to be released on DVD, "My Suicidal Sweetheart" currently remains in limbo. A new trailer for "My Suicidal Sweetheart" was released in June 2007 by FilmMates Entertainment, but no further information has been made available.

[edit] External links

[edit] Trivia

Portions of the film were shot in New York City at Staten Island's Stapleton Studios, a ten-stage complex that was being built out of the carcass of a defunct Navy shipyard and adjoining production plant.