THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 14, 1996 TAG: 9603140020
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 123 lines
SEAMSTRESSES, car collectors, the ice cream dippers over at Doumar's in Norfolk, and all the folks on Main Street in Franklin have been asking ``What the `Deuce'?'' for half a decade now.
Robert Sloat, the producer of ``Deuce Coupe'' is aware of the question.
But just about no one else in the world has been asking the same question. There hasn't been any mainstream demand for ``Deuce Coupe,'' the low-budget movie that got huge local support during filming in November of 1989.
After a single kind of ``thank you'' screening in Franklin, where the bulk of it was filmed, the film went into a movie never-never land. It's been pitched at festivals and to major studios but, with the exception of a release in Fresno, Calif, has gone unseen in North America.
Now, finally, the little picture about cars, music and coming-of-age in 1958 small-town America is opening locally.
It's a case of the little picture that could. It's also a study in perseverance.
Mark Deimel, the director, and producer Sloat are not about to give up on ``Deuce Coupe.''
``My life would have been easier,'' Sloat said from his Pasadena, Calif., office, ``if `Deuce Coupe' had just been a bad movie. I could have writ-
ten it off five years ago. As it is, I think it's pretty good. I think, if we get it out and word gets around, that it might bring some people back to theaters. It's a movie with wholesome values. People who don't usually go to the movies will like it.''
Sloat, 42, is a lawyer during his profit-making hours. ``Neither Mark nor I have made anything on `Deuce Coupe,' '' he said, with no hint of regret in his voice. ``It's been a very significant financial drag, but I'm still pleased with it.''
The film is about two brothers who build a 1932 Ford Coupe hot rod that becomes the fastest in town. One brother, Ray, runs away from his promises and leaves young Eddie to take his place behind the wheel in the all-important race. The film deals with lost love and rejection.
``It's very important that it be sold in the right way,'' the producer said. ``If people go into the film with the right expectations, they'll love it. It's not `Forrest Gump' and it's not `Chariots of Fire.' It's not, even, a real celebration of the 1950s, the way `Grease' is. We didn't want, either, to sell it as a car-action movie. It has that in it, but that's not really what it's about. I suppose what it is, is a wholesome, entertaining movie about coming of age in a different age.''
Forces in the movie industry, like the producer, have had trouble grasping just what the movie is about.
``It's a very unique problem,'' Sloat said. ``Many independent films go to the Sundance Festival and get exposure. Our film, though, is not the typical independent movie. It's not edgy enough. More dark, quirky films do well at the festivals. Our movie, ironically, was a bit too mainstream. It didn't qualify as a big studio film. At the same time, it didn't qualify as an art film. It's somewhere in between.''
In 1992, it was shown at the Montreal World Film Festival in Canada. It played to a packed house and got favorable reactions, but went only into international release after that.
``People have seen `Deuce Coupe' in Saudi Arabia, but not in New York,'' the producer pointed out. Westinghouse purchased it for international release, but it went begging for a United States distributor.
``We went to all the major studios,'' Sloat said. ``We got turned down by everyone. They said this picture could make $15 million, but they wanted movies that could make $50 million to $80 million. The company, perhaps, we got closest to was Miramax, but they were releasing films from Europe - art films. Our movie was too mainstream for them, but not mainstream enough for the big studios.''
Meantime, Sloat admits that he felt a little embarrassed about the people back in Hampton Roads who had helped him get the movie made.
``Our first screening, there in Franklin, was called the `world premiere' but it was really a way to let the people who were in it, who had worked with us, see it,'' he said. ``It was a rushed print.''
Sloat won't tell what the budget is because ``I don't want it to be perceived as a too-cheap movie. Considering that the average movie today costs $30 million, it's amazing what we got up on the screen. It looks like more. There are people that kept pushing us to put it into the video market, but it looks so good up on the big screen. We didn't want to go that route until we have to. In due time.''
Sloat and Deimel met as boys in a church choir and have always been committed to making ``wholesome'' movies, but they play down their Christian background in the film's press kit. ``We're committed, but we don't want the film, at the same time, to be seen as a `message' picture. It's an entertainment.''
While Deimel went to UCLA film school, Sloat went to Harvard law school, but they ended up back in Pasadena. Their two families lived under the same roof for awhile. Sloat went into real estate law in 1982 and into solo practice in 1986. Deimel made little films like ``A House Divided'' and the romantic comedy ``The Perfect Match.''
The filmmakers were drawn to Hampton Roads by the now defunct studio in Suffolk. They were hooked when they found Franklin.
``It was perfect for our 1950s town,'' Sloat said. ``Most main streets, even in small towns, aren't right at all. This one looked like it could have been lifted out of the '50s, but it didn't look worn or old.''
Franklin closed the street for filming. Car collectors showed up with vintage automobiles. A scene takes place at Doumar's Drive-In in Norfolk but, according to the producer, ``we put a kind of temporary paint on it, and a new neon sign. I think the sign is inside now. The thing is that we got a great deal of free help, and we, most of all, wanted the picture, in its finished product, to be shown in Hampton Roads.''
He remembers the temperature as ``near 20 degrees'' when ``Deuce Coupe'' was shooting in Franklin that November.
``Everyone had trouble staying in the flimsy clothes and trying to make it all look like summer,'' he said. ``Most of the exteriors were done in Hampton Roads with most of the interiors filmed in California. The actors would walk from the inside to the outside and it would, literally, be 3,000 miles away.''
The cast, who are nearly 10 years older than when they made the film, include two alumni from the classic 1950s flick, ``American Graffiti,'' Oscar nominee Candy Clark and Paul Le Mat. She plays a mom, and he's the sheriff.
Sloat is a little nervous about the whole Hampton Roads booking.
``We can only stay in theaters as long as we draw enough people,'' he said. ``If we had our way, we'd show the movie, for free, to millions of viewers, just to get them to see it. We think it's that good. As it is, we think it will sell itself, if enough, initially, see it.''
Sloat is hoping the local opening will be the launch for a national campaign. If so, Doumar's and Franklin may yet make it to New York. ``Deuce Coupe'' is the little movie that won't give up.
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