THE GEM & CENTURY THEATRES
At The Movies
Based on the true story of Patsy Cline's friendship with an
adoring fan, Always... Patsy Cline is a heartfelt comedy
featuring over 20 of (line's most memorable songs.
Written and Directed by Ted Swindley
"Patsy Cline is brought to exuberant life by Jessica Welch."
-Michael H. Margolin, Detroit News
"The audience loves Patsy."
-Martin F. Kohn, Detroit Free Press
The Purple Rose Theatre Company Production of
"Yoop it up for Escanaba,
a Gem of a comedy."
-Michael H. Margolin, Detroit News
"Some comedies have laughs
by the dozen. Escanaba has
them by the gross."
Stepping Stone
-Martin F. Kohn, Detroit Free Press
A Hilarious
Comedy
BY JEFF DANIELS
1.
ri:u
With the launch of "Road to Nowhere,"
former Detroiter Mark Leutcher has high
hopes for a successful career in film.
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n Hollywood today, making a
movie with a budget of a mere
seven figures is a feat of question-
able accounting and ingenuity;
putting one together in six figures spells
indie or amateur or worse. But stitching
together a film with only $7,500 called
for a special combination of creativity,
hard work, fast talk and interesting
deals for a Detroit-area native.
Mark Leutcher, 27, spent a good deal
of the last year living his dream of mak-
ing his own movie, Road to Nowhere. It
will be screened 7 p.m. Tuesday, April
18, at Ann Arbor's Michigan Theater,
through a grant from the Michigan
Filmmakers Outreach Program, which
provides filmmakers with an opportuni-
ty to get their projects shown.
Now, Leutcher is applying to film
festivals from the Slam Dance Festival
in Park City, Utah, to the Cannes
International Film Festival in Cannes,
France, hoping his hard work and per-
severance so obvious in the film's
frames will pay off — launching him
into a formal career in filmmaking.
The Hillel Day School grad began
his latest film by writing the script, a
tale of two young men in a deteriorat-
ing friendship who decide to go on a
last road trip before college com-
mencement to see the Grateful Dead
in concert. During the six-day adven-
ture, the pair discover their relation-
ship has unraveled to the point that it
cannot be repaired.
To fund the project that he
believed in so much, Leutcher emp-
tied the account in which he kept the
money given to him for his bar mitz-
vah 14 years ago.
"It made me feel really good," he
said, sharing a story about a friend
who bought a motorcycle with his bar
mitzvah money. Both are vehicles, he
added, one more literally and one
more figuratively. "When you are sink-
ing your bar mitzvah money into
something, you better damn well make
sure you are going somewhere with it."
But that little sum was not enough
to pay any actor for any considerable
stretch of time much less find good
equipment, film, crew members,
music or editing help. For all of these
elements, Leutcher had to find ways to
get people to give him what he wanted
without having to spend a lot of cash.
"I had to ask and ask and ask, beg
and beg,"
he said. "I believe in the film,
2D ,
SO I didn't mind being a schnorrer."
One way he saved cash was by
filming in public places, on week-
ends, in the dead of night. For a seg-
ment of the film devoted to the grad-
uation of the two stars, he obtained
the right to film scenes during the
University of Michigan graduation,
thereby unobtrusively working in sev-
eral thousand unpaid "extras."
For the stars and other actors, he
promised interesting payments. Corm