Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival

Sunday, November 5-----Audiences hooped and hollered at last night’s screening of the romantic comedy GRAY MATTERS, the directorial debut of Sue Kramer. The film, a frothy comedy about sexual identity and embracing one’s inner beauty, was shot on location in New York City, and the city itself is one of the film’s more interesting characters.

Heather Graham, of BOOGIE NIGHTS fame, stars as a perky advertising executive who lives with her brother and best friend, played by ED’s Thomas Cavanaugh. When beautiful zoologist Bridget Moynaham enters the picture, the brother and sister are both smitten. How they resolve this potentially thorny situation, with great wit, compassion and good cheer, makes this film a real audience pleaser. Supporting nods by former SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE alumnus Molly Shannon as a neurotic co-worker, Sissy Spacek as an unusual psychotherapist and Alan Cumming as a wise taxi driver add a welcome spark to the proceedings.

Heather Graham

Kramer is an accomplished screenwriter whose script THE BUNNY YEARS, a homage to the Playboy Club in 1963, will be made this year by Touchstone Pictures. Her other screenplays have included LONDON IN JUNE, also for Touchstone Pictures, and WALKING BACKWARDS, which will star Julia Roberts. Her highly acclaimed script THE GOLDBERGS AND THE ROMANOS, which has been bouncing around Hollywood for almost a decade, is set to be made next year. GRAY MATTERS, her directorial debut, will be released by the Yari Film Group, the company behind such recent hits as CRASH and THE ILLUSIONIST, on, most appropriately, Valentine’s Day 2007.

Sue Kramer

At a lively question and answer session following the film screening, Sue Kramer answered questions from the enthusiastic audience.

Question: How long did you work on the film and was it difficult to get it made?

Sue Kramer (SK): The film took six years to get made. I shot the film in 21 days for less than $2.5 million, which is quite low for this kind of film. I wrote the parts specifically for Sissy Spacek and Alan Cumming, and they will involve from the early stages. I then cast each of the other actors. It was like putting together the pieces of a puzzle.

Question: What was it like to work with such a wonderful cast?

SK: It was wonderful to work with this wonderful cast. The chemistry between Heather Graham and Tom Cavanaugh was amazing, it was incredible.

Question: You said that the project took six years to get made. Is that unusual or is there a reason that you think it too so long?

SK: Well, six years ago was just when WILL AND GRACE began to have an influence on television, so a film that had as its lead someone who was coming out as gay was still pretty controversial. People were not ready to put the money into a more commercial film that would get a wide release. There was also resistance to a female director, especially a novice director….I got offers for others to direct my script, but I held to my guns until I could find producers willing to let me go forward and direct it. Another complication is that just when the project was ready to go, I got pregnant, which delayed the project for a full year. I couldn’t get the proper insurance because I was pregnant. But eventually I just strapped my six-month old baby to my side and directed the film. It was an uphill battle, but I feel like I gave birth twice in the same year, to a child and then to this film.

Question: Were the leads always the ones you wanted or did that change during the process?

SK: Since the film took so long to come together, there were some other actors who were originally attached to play the parts (played by Heather Graham and Tom Cavanaugh). But I think that despite the delays, that fate took its turn because I think the casting turned out just perfectly and both were very right for the roles.

Question: How did you draw your inspiration for the sister (who comes out in the film)?

SK: Well, my sister is gay. I now have just out-ed here to South Florida, but luckily she’s done that already. We were very close growing up and once she admitted to me that she had a crush on one of my friends, and I thought that was so awkward. But, of course, it made sense that we would both be attracted to the same kind of person. So I used the kernel of that in this story, where this brother and sister who are each other’s best friends find the same qualities that they like in the same woman. So, that was the seed for the film.

Question: When can the film be seen in theaters?

SK: The movie comes out on Valentine’s Day (applause). The Yari Film Group, which made CRASH and THE ILLUSIONIST is releasing the film. So please go on to IMDB.COM and spread the word, because the reaction in advance will determine if this will be a very small release or a wide one. But I am grateful that the film is going to be seen by a wide public in a national release.

Sandy Mandelberger
Online Festival Dailies Editor