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Just One of the
Guys
An
interview with filmmaker Joe Ostrica
By Bob
Ignizio |
Note: This article originally ran in the Lakewood
Observer
As wonderful a place to live as Lakewood is, it’s
generally not the first city that pops into your head when you think about
making movies. That is unless you’re filmmaker (and Lakewood resident from
1998 to 2001) Joe Ostrica, who shot his award winning short feature ‘Guys’
right here. Why Lakewood? Joe says, “I lived here for a few years right
out of college, from 1998 to 2001. I liked the city a lot. It’s a very
vibrant city with a lot of creative people and lots of interesting things
going on. It was the ideal location for me to shoot my movie.”
Apparently Joe’s not kidding. Every single frame of
‘Guys’ was shot in Lakewood, primarily at McGinty’s. “I used to go there,
and it just seemed like the kind of bar the characters in the movie would go
to,” says Joe. Other scenes were shot at the home of producer Matt Taylor
on Ethyl. Joe also shot some exteriors outside of Matt’s home, and although
he didn’t exactly have permits (welcome to the world of low budget
filmmaking) things went smoothly.
Well, for the most part, anyway. Another aspect of
shooting a film on a low budget is that you can’t exactly block off the
street while filming. Joe says, “We had cars going by during shots, and
sometimes people honking their horn at you ruining takes, things like that.
It gets frustrating at times because you’re waiting for the sun to be in the
right position to match other shots, so it was a little bit tough shooting
outdoors.” Still, despite the honking horns, Joe managed to finish his
film.
So by now you’re probably wondering what kind of movie
‘Guys’ is, right? Joe says, “I’ve always been a big fan of the male “buddy
movie” genre, movies like ‘Diner’, ‘Swingers’, ‘Beautiful Girls’, things
like that. After you’ve been out of college for a few years you start
seeing your buddies get engaged or getting in these relationships, and how
it can affect the dynamic of a group of friends. So that’s what inspired me
to write this script, and it came very easily to me because it was based on
stuff that was going on in my life at the time.” The plot revolves around a
group of friends, one of whom is about to get married, and the plans for a
bachelor party, though not the party itself.
While Joe wrote and directed ‘Guys’, filmmaking is a
collaborative process, and Joe has nothing but praise for his crew. Joe
says, “Oone thing I thought we could do to stand out from your average low
budget independent project was to have good lighting, good cinematography,
and good sound. I wanted to get the best crew I possibly could. Our
director of photography, David Litz, lives in Lakewood. He shot the first
movie the Russo brothers [of ‘Welcome to Collinwood’ and ‘Arrested
Development’ fame – Bob] made. It was a great collaboration, I learned a
lot from David. Our soundguy was Kip Gynn from Cleveland. Anytime
Hollywood productions come to town, those two guys are working on them.”
And of course, a movie is nothing without actors to
bring the script to life. Once again, Joe found the right people close to
home. Bryan Jalovec (who steals many a scene as “Matt”) lives right here in
Lakewood. Paul Shiban (“Steve”) is from Parma, Trevor Read (“Ed”) was
originally from Akron (but currently living in L.A. and getting acting work
there), and Josh Lewis (“Brian”) is from Amherst.
Joe premiered ‘Guys’ at the Indie Gathering film
festival in Cleveland last summer, and it was the hit of the fest. Joe
says, “We got such a great reception. We had standing room only
screenings. It was booked to be shown 3 times, and then they added 3
additional screenings. Audiences were coming out in droves to see it, they
were laughing throughout the movie. And then we won two awards there; best
short film comedy and the viewers choice award.”
With such a warm reception, it seems only logical that
Joe would expand his short into a feature. And indeed, there’s talk of just
that. Joe says, “The short takes place the day after one character gets
engaged. So we’re thinking of adding on the part where it’s the actual
bachelor party. Fit the two pieces together you might have a feature
film.”
But expanding ‘Guys’ into a feature is just one of the
ideas Joe has in the works for the future. Joe wants to tackle other kinds
of movies, and has ideas for several features and even a couple of
documentaries (on Cleveland’s rock n roll scene and Ghoulardi) that he’d
like to do. But those ideas will have to wait a while, since Joe’s next
project is set to be a horror anthology film in the vein of ‘Creepshow’.
Joe says,
“Our main mission is to get people in the Cleveland area involved with us.
Whether you’re an actor, crew member, writer, or even a band who wants their
music considered for a film, we want to help area artists work together.
That’s one of the things we’re proud of with ‘Guys’. We shot in Lakewood
with an all-NE Ohio cast and crew. Now we’re gearing up to do a lot of
things in 2006.” Joe’s next project is a horror movie shooting in March and
April. If you’d like to be a part of what Joe has planned contact him as
ossfilms@yahoo.com. If you just want to stay informed about Joe’s
projects or order a copy of ‘Guys’ on DVD (for a mere 7 bucks), visit
www.216films.com.
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