Trending
    • Jasmin Mozaffari’s short film ‘Motherland, wins TIFF award
    • Poor Thing, Wins Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival
    • Toronto Film Festival 2023
    • Iranian Influential Women: Rakhshan Bani-Etemad
    • Sundance Film Festival Asia
    • Enea, review
    • French rising star, Adèle Exarchopoulos, 4 top favorite movies
    • Cinematography director Morteza Pursamadi dies at 70
    Facebook Twitter Instagram
    Cinema Without Borders
    • Home
    • Feature Story
    • News
    • Conversations
    • Festivals
    • Cinema Tech
    • Film Reviews
    • CinéEqual
    • Other Arts
    • Archives
    Facebook Twitter Instagram
    Cinema Without Borders
    You are at:Home»Conversations»An interview with Stuart Acher, director of "Stu Plus Who?"

    An interview with Stuart Acher, director of "Stu Plus Who?"

    0
    By Bijan Tehrani on 10/17/2010 Conversations

    Stu Plus Who? is the story of a young filmmaker crashed Emmy and Globes parties with borrowed Emmy in hand providing entry to find a lady to join him in trip to Jamaica won on TV game show.

    Stuart Acher, director of Stu Plus Who?,  directs commercials for clients such as Phillips, UGO, and his most notable spot “Super Absorbant,” starring supermodel Shalom Harlow. Stuart has also helmed music videos for the band “Powder” that was recently picked up on MTV, marking the first spec music video in history to air on the network. The video was also recently voted #1 on the Much Music Network. The project stars Jay Mewes (Jay and Silent Bob, Clerks, Dogma), and Ahmet Zappa. Stuart has just completed his first feature film entitled, Stu Plus Who?  and is working on his next feature entitled “Abducted,” of which Roger Ebert wrote recently in his Chicago Sun-times column.

    Bijan Tehrani:  How did you come up with the idea of “Stu Plus Who?”
    Stuart Acher: It’s quite an ironic tale. I was in the middle of raising independent financing for my first feature film, and basically tried every avenue I could conjur. I approached friends and family, I shot a Trailer, even launched a donation-accepting website called Makeamoviehappen.com. Then, on one random day, I bumped into my high school prom date in a coffee shop. She told me how she was just a contestant on a game show called STARFACE hosted by Danny Boneduce, and that she could get me on. I tried everything else, why couldn’t I win the budget for my movie on a game show? Well, I ended up winning the grand prize, only it didn’t involve any cash. I won a free trip to Jamaica for two. There was only one problem, I was single — no wife, no girlfriend, and still no movie. One night I grabbed some Chinese food with my best friend Eric Goldfarb, also a filmmaker. He and I had been talking about making a project together for some time. That’s when he asked, So Stu, who are you going to take to Jamaica? We looked at each other, and instantly knew. Finding a girl to take to Jamaica would be our first feature film. And we weren’t going to need a million dollars to pull it off, just a crack-shot cameraman — Goldfarb got the job, despite his inability to find the power button. Thus born, Stu Plus Who?

    BT: This is a very different kind of film comparing it to the main stream Hollywood films, what is your target audience? Do you think film fans that are sick of 3D and all effects film will welcome “Stu Plus Who?”
    SA: Our target audience is anyone who could ever relate to the quest for love, the fear of rejection, the pursuit of your dreams, and the search for oneself. Truthfully, our film does not subscribe solely to a specific type of audience. It’s universal. But the college kids do love it. As for the film fans fed up with 3D and “sequelitis” Hollywood seems to be ailing from, we feel Stu Plus Who could be the remedy. It’s different, by balancing the antics of two crazy guys willing to crash the Emmy awards in search for a date, with the transformation I actually went through in my real life, looking for love.

    BT: How did you go about casting your film?
    BT: Our casting director was… fate. Making a documentary, you are 100% reliant on what the universe will put in front of you. If I never bumped into my high school prom date, this movie wouldn’t exist. If Goldfarb wasn’t my best friend, this movie wouldn’t exist. It’s being able to recognize the magic when it presents itself, that’s a tool we both sharpened throughout this 3 year process.

    BT:  How do you define the visual style of your film?
    BT: Crappy to great. And I can say this because he’s my best friend, but just because Goldfarb is a three-time Emmy award winning editor, doesn’t me he knows a damn thing about how to work a camera. But I think that’s the charm of the film. As the journey continues, the visual style actually improves. Goldfarb is literally learning how to shoot before our eyes. It’s real life, and the visual beauty really presents itself later in the film, as he gets better at it. We could have just as easily cut around all the poorly shot footage, but we wanted to preserve that because it’s a documentary about two guys making a documentary… it’s honest — not to mention hysterically funny.

    BT: Most of the films made in Hollywood, have nothing to do with real ordinary people and real life issues, how different is “Stu Plus Who?” in that manner?
    BT: Naturally, ours is a documentary. But what makes it especially unique and interesting is the unlikely footage that we were able to capture. Breaking into the Emmy awards past tons of security, using an Emmy statue to sneak into the Golden Globes, the Katherine Heigl incident, the Paul Abdul situation, the Steven Spielberg happening. Countless times we thought to ourselves, we can’t write this shit. I was there, and even I don’t believe it.

    BT: What are your future projects?
    BT: Goldfarb is currently editing the Amazing Race, and developing feature film projects as well. And as for myself (Stuart Acher), I am working on my next feature film (a narrative) set to shoot early next year, as well as Directing a web-series entitled “Talent” for Alloy Entertainment, producers of Gossip Girl, and Vampire Diaries.

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Bijan Tehrani

    Bijan Tehrani a film director, film critic and writer, works as editor in chief of Cinema Without Borders while teaching Language of Film and Film History at workshops nationwide. Bijan has won several awards in international film festivals and book fairs for his short films and children's books.

    Related Posts

    Babak Jalali ‘s Fremont, an interview

    BOBI WINE: THE PEOPLE’S PRESIDENT, an interview

    Cadejo Blanco, an interview with Justin Lerner

    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    You must be logged in to post a comment.



    Most donations are tax deductible.
    Latest Stories
    09/19/2023

    Jasmin Mozaffari’s short film ‘Motherland, wins TIFF award

    09/10/2023

    Poor Thing, Wins Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival

    09/07/2023

    Toronto Film Festival 2023

    09/07/2023

    Iranian Influential Women: Rakhshan Bani-Etemad

    Bridging The Border Award

    At a time when physical, religious, racial, cultural, and economic borders divide the population of our planet, efforts to bridge those borders should be appreciated. In that spirit, Cinema Without Borders presents Bridging the Borders Award to the films that are most successful in bridging and …Read More

     

    I, Immigrant, International Film Festival
    CineEqual

    CinéEqual represents filmmakers, institutions, and community members with a focus on social justice cinema. As an integrated unit of CWB, it promotes a diverse, inclusive, and equitable democratic society that values the worth of all humans…Read More

     

    About
    About

    Cinema Without Borders is a meeting place of independent cinema. Based in Los Angeles, CWB puts the spotlight on rising talent around the globe to achieve its mission, which is to serve and strengthen communities of filmmakers and film students across real and virtual borders.

    Copyright Cinema Without Borders@2018

    Popular Posts
    01/02/2001

    Cinecon 46-The 46th edition of the Classic Film Festival

    10/09/2006

    An Interview with Jonathan Wolf, Managing Director of AFM

    10/11/2006

    Film & TV production in Afghanistan

    Article Photos
    NasserFarhoudiWP
    SiggrpphSlider
    FundingCoverImage
    6-RADUSlider
    Nouredin-WP-Slider
    NOHOFestival-WP-Slider
    MiamiFF-WP-Slider
    MarkTamez-WP-Slider
    LouderThanBombs-WP-Slider
    HP-Rick-WP-Slider
    HP-Bridging-2-WP-Slider
    HP-Bridging-1-WP-Slider
    Contacts & Credits

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.