That sandwich you see towering above you is called the Stella Hero from Stella Barra Pizza, where Craig and I went for lunch before seeing Gone Girl this past Sunday. The question isn’t “what’s in that thing?”, the question is: “What isn’t in that thing?” It’s got smoked ham, turkey, capicola (cured pork shoulder), tomato, Caciocavallo cheese, Giardiniera (a spicy pickled condiment), and lettuce. It’s a sandwich for the ages, served on warm crusty bread that’s a perfect foil for all the soft meats and cheese inside. There really isn’t a bad thing to say about it, except this: it took 30 minutes to get to our table.
Well, it happened, and you guys made it happen. The Skeleton Twins “won” the weekend according to IndieWire; it was the #1 film in 12 out of the 15 theaters where it played. Now it’s expanding to more cities–Seattle, Minneapolis, Dallas, Boston, San Diego, Palo Alto and San Jose next week–and will continue to grow if you all keep going out and supporting it.
On Wednesday, our families and friends and people who worked on the movie all gathered here at our apartment for a champagne toast before we all headed off to the premiere at the ArcLight Hollywood. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at how it all went down.
Friends, Romans, Countrymen: the time is now! If you live in New York, L.A., D.C., San Francisco, Chicago, I need you to do me a favor right now: open a new window in your browser, go to one of those movie ticket sites–Fandango, for example–and load up The Skeleton Twins and then get your tickets to see it this weekend. Yes, it has to be this weekend. Opening weekend is so important for an independent film like this and it’s not like I’m forcing you to do something unpleasant: the movie is getting rave reviews. The L.A. Times calls it “one of the better movies to come along this year”; it’s a New York Times critics pick and Stephen Holden calls it, “a well-written and acted movie about contemporary life that doesn’t strain for melodrama and is largely devoid of weepy soap opera theatrics.” So what are you waiting for? Plus, you guys know the director personally: he’s on my blog all the time. He went with me to El Bulli, he ate that disgusting curry I once made, and oh yeah we got engaged last year. So be part of our lives this weekend–Craig’s been working on this movie since I met him over eight years ago–and it’d mean so much to us if you went. In fact, if you do go, feel free to come back here and leave questions for Craig; I’ll be sure to get the answers from him. How’s that for an offer? And everyone else: if the movie’s not playing in your city this weekend, be sure to find out when it’s playing next week and get your tickets ASAP. Thank you all so much…we’re so excited for you to see it!
The big day is here: THE SKELETON TWINS premieres tonight at the ArcLight Hollywood and our families are all in town for the big event. I have to say, this all feels super surreal and exciting and wonderful, but also–as far as Craig is concerned–well-deserved. He’s been working on this movie since I laid eyes on him over eight years ago at Joe, my favorite coffee shop on Waverly Street in New York. I’ll make sure to take lots of pictures from the premiere tonight, but in the meantime, check out the video above of Craig on Charlie Rose with Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig talking all about the movie. Oh, and wouldn’t this be a good time to buy your tickets for the weekend? Opens in New York and L.A. this Friday then expands to 50 more cities next week!
At this point, you’re probably wondering: “When are we going to get to see this Skeleton Twins movie you keep yammering on about?” Well, you’ll have to wait until September 19th, but good news: the trailer is out and you can watch it above! In case you missed the backstory, the movie is my partner Craig’s 2nd feature; he co-wrote it with Mark Heyman (who I just ate French food with in Paris) and it stars Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader. I couldn’t be prouder, but you knew that already.
Oh, and in case you missed it, here’s the story of the film’s premiere at Sundance.
You all know Rob Meyer as my friend who helped paint my kitchen orange in New York, but did you know that he’s also a movie director? And that the movie that he directed and co-wrote with our Oscar-winning friend Luke Matheny is coming out THIS FRIDAY? It’s called A Birder’s Guide To Everything and I was lucky enough to see it when it premiered at the TriBeCa film festival last year. The movie tracks a group of young birders as they hunt down the very rare, very extinct Labrador Duck. It’s also a heartfelt story about a boy who’s dealing with the loss of his mother and his dad’s impending marriage to another woman. It’s funny, it’s smart, and it’s opening THIS FRIDAY in select theaters and On Demand. That’s right, you can watch it at home! Or come watch it with us: we’ll be at the screening at the Sundance Cinemas this Friday at 7:45 where Luke will be conducting a Q&A afterwards. If you’re nice, you can have some of my popcorn.
When I first laid eyes on Craig, it was in the spring of 2006 at Joe on Waverly and he was with a guy slightly shorter than him working on a screenplay. I didn’t know they were working on a screenplay; mostly, I wondered if they were a couple or just friends. When Craig went to get water, we made eye contact. A few weeks later, totally randomly, he looked at my Friendster profile (remember Friendster?) and I sent him an e-mail. We went on a date. And another date. And now we’ve been together for almost eight years. And that screenplay he was working on with his friend (who turned out to be Mark Heyman who’d later go on to write Black Swan and to marry my good friend Diana)? It became a movie–The Skeleton Twins–that just premiered to wild acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
Watching a movie is tricky business when you’re dating a filmmaker. It’s never just a casual, “Let’s just throw something in the DVD player” kind of deal; it’s usually a: “Would you rather watch Wild Strawberries or Piranha 3-D?” Luckily, my resident filmmaker is in New York editing his own movie and I have total dominion over the remote control these days. Last night, I found myself clicking through the Criterion collection on Hulu Plus and my cursor made its way over to a movie that I had always meant to see but never found the time to: Babette’s Feast.
