2/7/2008, 9:00 p.m. ET
By DESIREE HUNTER The Associated Press |
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MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The checklist was short, but specific: the state chosen for John Sayles' latest independent film, "Honeydripper," had to have a decommissioned Army base, disused railroad tracks in the countryside and a Southern down-home feel.
They found those qualities in Arkansas and Alabama. But Arkansas didn't have Tommy Fell. "We kind of had a shopping list and Alabama had all the stuff, plus Tommy Fell from the film commission just knocked himself out," Sayles said this week at the film's Montgomery premiere.
"Honeydripper," which was filmed entirely in Alabama and mostly in Greenville, opens in theaters nationwide Friday."We got a lot of help and that makes up a lot," Sayles said, adding that Ricky McLaney from Butler County's development office and Greenville Mayor Dexter McLendon also made an impact. "For us that kind of welcoming and that kind of leg work makes a huge difference."
Set in the Jim Crow South of the 1950s, the film stars Danny Glover as Tyrone Purvis, owner of a juke joint named Honeydripper that was once the town of Harmony's happening nightspot but is now on the brink of closing.
With debts mounting and threats from a corrupt white sherriff hanging overhead, Purvis pins all hopes of returning the club to its previous glory by booking famed New Orleans showman Guitar Sam for an all-or-nothing Saturday night gig. But when Sam doesn't show, Purvis is forced to settle for young Sonny Blake — a drifter played by Gary Clark Jr. — who rides the rails into town and arrives with nothing but the clothes on his back, homemade electric guitar in his hand and dreams of stardom in his heart.
It's not just the club on the line on this particular Saturday, with Purvis' marriage, his daughter's future, and Blake's career and freedom all teetering on the night's success.
"Some of what the movie is about for me is ... how come that Saturday night was so desperate," Sayles said while standing in front of a lit poster for "The Spiderwick Chronicles," an upcoming movie which he helped write.
"You can't really understand that until you understand the other six days of the week and just how hard they were — that kind of low ceiling of segregation and economic depression that was on people," he said. "Of course when you got to Saturday night you wanted to cut loose. A lot of the drama for Danny Glover's character in his club is 'OK are people going to cut loose in a joyous way or in a violent way?' They're ready to bust one way or the other."
"Honeydripper" is Sayles' 16th film and is nominated for two NAACP Image Awards. Sayles, who wrote "Sunshine State," "Passion Fish," and "Lone Star," is known for making strong independent films on low budgets. "Honey" was made with $5 million — most of that going to buy music rights, Sayles said.
The Alabama Blues Project helped secure some of the blues musicians like Arthur Lee Williams, Eddie Shaw and Keb Mo, who are featured in the film, which uses scores of Alabamians as both background and highlighted extras.
One of the youngest actors is Montgomery resident Nagee Clay, who plays one of the town's adorable rascals, Scratch."When I started watching movies and saw how people act, I said 'Man, I want to be doing that someday!" the tuxedoed 11-year-old said at the premiere, one arm propped behind him in a pose of a true star. "And my dream's come true."
Charles Dutton and Lisa Gay Hamilton also star along with Davenia McFadden, Stacy Keach and Mary Steenburgen and Vondie Curtis-Hall. Also in the film are performances from Kel Mitchell (of TV's "Kennan & Kel"), Sean Patrick Thomas (of the movie "Save the Last Dance"), and "America's Next Top Model" Cycle 3 runner-up Yaya DaCosta.
"It's so great to see these actors who are familiar to people for contemporary stuff playing these period (roles) but they seem like people," producer Maggie Renzi said. "I think it's a nice sort of subversive way to get people to pay attention to the history of the time. You populate it with people that they know from `Kenan & Kel' or `Save the Last Dance' ... and the next thing you know you've learned something about 1950."