Coming anon to a circuitous abreast you is Stolen Summer, a cringingly earnest, absolutely accustomed allegory about an eight-year-old Irish-Catholic boy, Pete (Adi Stein), who tries to catechumen Danny (Mike Weinberg), the dying son of a clergyman (Kevin Pollak), so Danny can get into heaven. Pete's mom (Bonnie Hunt) and his advocate dad (Aidan Quinn) put in their two cents, forth with the archdiocese priest (Brian Dennehy). But Pete, active in Chicago in 1976, is wiser than his elders in the way of right-minded, affecting movies whose moral truths assume excerpted from Hallmark.
Stolen Summer would hardly be account animadversion were it not for the adventure of how the blur got made. Pete Jones, the film's first-time writer-director, won a challenge put on by HBO, Miramax and LivePlanet co-founders Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Chris Moore, application him $1 actor to accomplish a blur that Miramax would release. And every footfall of the process, down to the endure agitated canicule of shooting, would be actual in a twelve-part HBO alternation alleged Project Greenlight.
For my money, Project Greenlight is the smartest, scariest, bitchiest and a lot of advisory section of absoluteness TV ever. Forget Fear Factor. Getting bargain into a backup of snakes is annihilation compared to what happens to Jones, 31, if he gets befuddled to the Hollywood wolves. At a account meeting, Jones is told it will yield addition actor to accomplish the blur as he wrote it. Losing the Chicago area and the aeon ambience would cut costs. "Over my asleep body," says Jones. It about is. Affleck gets on the buzz to pry banknote out of Miramax ambassador Harvey Weinstein, who is never apparent but, like Marlon Brando's don in The Godfather Part II, makes his attendance felt. Jones shoots a Little League bold in cloudburst rain. Actors allegation nonstop. Producer Chris Moore encourages altercation in the ranks. For added drama? Maybe. But the affliction of filmmaking has rarely been so absolutely captured. With alone 5 hours a day to plan with the adolescent actors (the acknowledged limit), Jones lacked the time to appearance their performances, and the blur suffers accordingly. It's sad but adorning that all the diaphoresis produced so apathetic a result. Back in Episode One, Miramax exec Meryl Poster told Damon and Affleck, "I don't like Stolen Summer." Savvy lady. But Project Greenlight is one for the time capsule.
From The Archives Issue 394: April 28, 1983
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