Experiencing Interruptions?

The Muscovite

Ten years ago, A.J. Gibbon was on top of the world. He'd written and directed a string of critically acclaimed movies starring his best friend and constant collaborator, Lent Little, the first American Method Actor, and both were on their way to permanent Hollywood royalty.

That is, until Lent disappeared.

Some say he and his paramour Edith M. returned to Russia, the place of his training under Konstantin Stanislavski. Others believe Little's intense, months-long Method process drove him mad. But now, Lent is largely forgotten, and Gibbon, bereft of his star meal ticket, has spent the last decade searching for his former glory at the bottom of increasingly cheap bottles of whiskey.

When Gibbon is tipped off that a local collector might have the last copy of his last produced script, he scrounges together a few bucks to go reclaim his master work, and gets much more than he bargained for.

  • Patrick Clark
    Director
    first time director
  • Patrick Clark
    Writer
    na
  • Aliki Parischis
    Producer
  • James Manzello
    Key Cast
    "A.J. Gibbon"
    While We're Young (2014, Dir. Noah Baumbach), What Would You Do (TV Series 2009 - 2020), Joking Off (MTV 2016-2017), Creator of viral international hit song "Coincidance," - https://bit.ly/3rkuluU
  • Sabina Friedman-Seitz
    Key Cast
    "Edith"
    Lorelei (Dir: Sabrina Doyle), The Florida Project (Dir. Sean Baker), Book Club (Dir. Bill Holderman), Turnt (Facebook Watch Series),
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Thriller, Psychological, Period
  • Runtime:
    32 minutes 7 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    December 25, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    9,500 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1.19:1
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Patrick Clark

Patrick Clark was born and raised in East Meadow, NY, and went to The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in the United Kingdom. He is inspired by Orson Welles' theatrical tastes, and hopes to bring some of that flavor back to movies.

While at school in England, he became obsessed with the strange fact that the Bristol Old Vic has always taught its students in the tradition of its founder Laurence Olivier, the most old-school "presentational" type Shakespearean actor, yet the school is also responsible for producing Daniel Day Lewis, the most perfect example of a Method Actor.

It was this conflict between traditional Shakespearean acting and Method acting that inspired the concept for The Muscovite, which was a sort of unofficial culminating thesis project for his time at Bristol.

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Director Statement

"The Muscovite" is the result of my totally naïve certainty that all the best-practice advice offered to me in regards to a first short film was meant for somebody else. I repeatedly heard the same guidance from people with my best interests at heart; keep it short and sweet, keep the story as simple as possible, write your story around the locations you have easy access to, have some sort of O. Henry type twist at the end, and for GOD'S SAKE, don't make it a period piece!

I went in the exact opposite direction of this advice. I had a theory that if you were careful, you could make a short film with a similar complexity and emotional journey to a feature. All I had to do was figure out how to shoot it in four breakneck days, on sets that I built in my friend’s basement in Astoria (after learning about theater flat construction during my tenure at Bristol Old Vic theatre school), all on a fundraised budget of $9,500. Money that I parted with only to buy assistance if I was absolutely convinced I couldn’t possibly figure out how to do something on my own.

Oh, and let’s set the film in the 1930s, just to stick it to the man!

When we completed production, I suddenly [and to my horror!] realized I'd spent the entire budget on the shoot, and saved none for post-production. Thus began my journey of teaching myself each post-production program via Youtube tutorials and online articles, as well as working a string of jobs (ice cream truck driver, overnight doorman, and even medical experiment subject) to support myself while post-producing.

It turns out there's a very good reason why experienced screenwriters and directors give burgeoning filmmakers all the aforementioned advice I consciously ignored, but I believe I went through this incredible experience of writing, acting, directing, fundraising, set constructing, editing, post-producing and now marketing this film in order to accept that advice for what it is: wisdom.

It's also safe to say, I wouldn't change a thing.

The Muscovite is the story of a method actor who gets so deep into his role that he ends up forgetting who he really is, but I will forever see the completion of this film as the story of a total amateur setting himself a task at the extreme edge of his capabilities, and, in that struggle, coming out on the other side as a filmmaker.