The Marc Pease Experience
The Marc Pease Experience | |
---|---|
Directed by | Todd Louiso |
Written by | Todd Louiso Jacob Koskoff |
Produced by | Michael London Bruna Papandrea David Rubin |
Starring | Jason Schwartzman Ben Stiller Anna Kendrick Ebon Moss-Bachrach |
Cinematography | Tim Suhrstedt |
Edited by | Julie Monroe |
Music by | Christophe Beck |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures (through Paramount Vantage) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 84 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $390,584 |
The Marc Pease Experience is a 2009 comedy film directed by Todd Louiso and written by Louiso and Jacob Koskoff. Shot primarily in and around Wilmington and New Hanover County, North Carolina in early 2007, the film is centered on Marc Pease, a man living in the past, when he was the star of his high school's musicals. The film stars Jason Schwartzman as Pease, Ben Stiller as Marc's former mentor, and Anna Kendrick as his love interest.
Plot
In high school, Marc Pease (
While tidying Meg's bedroom, Marc finds a tape labelled "Meg singing", but discovers after he listens to it that she is singing with Gribble, and at the end of the song, their noises suggest that they are having sex. Meg, meanwhile, begins to doubt Gribble's sincerity when he tells her what a terrific singer she is when she realizes that she is always in the chorus. Questioning whether she even enjoys singing, she decides to quit. Marc drives to a performance with Meridian 8, where the only way he can keep the group from splitting up is to lie that Gribble has given them the chance to record in a studio. After insisting that he should sing his Tin Man's song, he starts crying on stage, and is later forced to admit that Gribble has not yet responded to his request to produce the demo. That night, the opening night of The Wiz, Marc is working as a chauffeur for a high school prom couple. After dropping them off and cutting off his frequently ridiculed ponytail, he arrives at the show in the interval. He unsuccessfully tries to discuss Meridian 8's demo with Gribble, who brushes him off, then learns from another bandmate that they are losing another member.
After hearing the Tin Man's song from outside the auditorium, Marc goes inside and drags Gribble out into an empty classroom. Marc confronts him about his empty promises for Meridian 8 to record in a studio. Gribble tells Marc that he is still living as if he were in high school, and an angered Marc threatens to play Meg's tape to the school principal and expose Gribble's affair with a student. As they fight, Marc accuses Gribble of denying Meg a main role as a means of revenge on him, and destroys the tape for Meg's sake. He then goes backstage and breaks up with Meg because she is too young for him. Seeing that the actor of the Wiz has injured himself, Marc takes his cape, runs onto the stage and sings the Wiz's song. Meg runs away but decides that she loves singing and returns to the stage. Marc's performance is met with cheers from the audience, and he is overjoyed.
One year later, having left exorcised his Wizard of Oz demons, Marc is working as a professional singer under the title "The Marc Pease Experience".
Cast
- Jason Schwartzman as Marc Pease.[1]
- Ben Stiller as Mr. Jon Gribble, Marc's overzealous former mentor.[2][3]
- Anna Kendrick as Meg Brickman, a high school senior, romantically involved with both Pease and Gribble.[2]
- Jay Paulson as Gerry
- Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Gavin
- Gabrielle Dennis as Tracey
- Amber Wallace as Ilona
- Shannon Holt as Debbie
- Austin Herring as Mr. Edwards
- Kelen Coleman as Stephanie
- Joe Inscoe as Mr. Brickman
- Matt Cornwell as Rick Berger
- Preston Corbell as The Winged Monkey
- Damien Haas as Techie
- Tyler Easter as The Lion
- Brittney McNamara as Dorothy
- Jared Grimes as The Wiz
- Dylan Hubbard as The Tinman
- Chaz McNeil as Brendan/The Scarecrow
Production
The Marc Pease Experience is
Principal photography began on March 12, 2007,[5] in the state of North Carolina, where the entirety of the film was shot.[6] Various locations around Wilmington and New Hanover County were used for filming,[6] including Wilmington's Eugene Ashley High School and the school's auditorium.[7] Filming continued through March and into April.[8] On the last day of shooting at Eugene Ashley High, Stiller presented the school's morning announcements.[3]
A number of student interns from the
Release
The Marc Pease Experience had a
In a New Yorker profile of Ben Stiller, Stiller and his agent, Nick Stevens, acknowledged asking the studio to bury the film to protect the star’s reputation for making hit movies. “The completed film fell well short of [Stiller’s] hopes. ‘Paramount could have put it out there as the next big Ben Stiller movie,’ he says, ‘but that would have been fooling the audience.’ Nick Stevens called Paramount to ask the studio to weigh the short-term loss of limiting the film’s release against the long-term relationship with his filmmaker. Paramount released the film domestically in just ten theatres for a single week, and it grossed exactly $4,033.” [11]
Box office
The film grossed $3,000 from 10 screens on its opening weekend with a per-screen average of only $300.[12] By the end of its domestic run, the film had grossed $4,033 and an international addition of $386,551, totaling $390,584.[13]
Critical reception
Before the film's release, Alex Billington of FirstShowing.net dubbed it "the next Rushmore" — which also starred Jason Schwartzman in the lead — based on the similar character elements.[14]
In spite of this early buzz, however, critical response was overwhelmingly negative. Roger Ebert called it "badly written and inertly directed, with actors who don't have a clue what drives their characters".[15] The A.V. Club's Nathan Rabin, in a "D+" review, asked, "Who could have guessed a concept as promising and long overdue as a musical Jason Schwartzman vehicle would lead to such a regrettable little nothing?"[16]
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 18% based on 11 reviews, with an average rating of 3.18/10.[17]
References
- ^ a b Bruno, Mike (February 2, 2007). "Schwartzman, Stiller set for Vantage comedy". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
- ^ a b c Bruno, Mike (April 13, 2007). "Ricci Has Need for 'Speed'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
- ^ The Star-News. October 13, 2007. Retrieved 2008-10-17.
- ^ a b Anderson, Jeffrey M. (February 2, 2007). "Todd Louiso's 'Mark Pease Experience' Good to Go". Cinematical.com. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
- Thompson, Anne (March 29, 2007). "Groundswell breaks new ground". Variety. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
- ^ a b "Location, Vacation, Location…". The Ashford Advertiser. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
- ^ Fry, Michelle (April 23, 2007). "Student featured in Ben Stiller film" (PDF). Volunteer State Community College Student Newspaper. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
- The Star-News. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
- UNC Wilmington Film Studies Department FILM Features. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
- ^ a b c Taylor, Drew. "Exclusive: Another Casualty Of The Paramount Vantage Implosion: Todd Louiso's 'Marc Pease Experience' With Jason Schwartzman & Ben Stiller". The Playlist. Retrieved 2009-08-12.
- ^ Friend, Tad (June 18, 2012). "Funny Is Money: Ben Stiller and the dilemma of modern stardom". The New Yorker.
- ^ Knegt, Peter (August 24, 2009). "Box Office: Glo(u)rious "Basterds" For Weinsteins; Potent "Passing"". IndieWire. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
- ^ The Marc Pease Experience at Box Office Mojo
- ^ Billington, Alex (April 14, 2007). "The Marc Pease Experience, The Next Rushmore, Signs Anna Kendrick". FirstShowing.net. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (August 19, 2009). "The Marc Pease Experience :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved 2010-03-26.
- ^ Rabin, Nathan (August 27, 2009). "The Marc Pease Experience Film Review The A.V. Club". Onion Inc. Retrieved 2010-03-26.
- ^ "The Marc Pease Experience (2009)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved May 23, 2019.