The SCAD Museum of Art hosted the first signature screening of the annual Savannah Film Festival yesterday, “The year of Spectacular Men.” After the film, actor/director Lea Thompson stepped onto the stage with her two daughters (both part of the cast), writer Madelyn Deutch and producer Zoey Deutch, for a question and answer discussion with the audience.
The Q&A began with the question most on the audience’s mind: how was working with your mom as your director and your sister playing your sister?
Thompson saw this as a positive thing. She said, “I have been in the industry for 35 years, and recently directed “The Goldberg’s” and “Switched at Birth,” but this was a script I really felt I was part of.”
When asked about her inspiration for the script, Madelyn replied, “they don’t remember, but it was during a car ride that we were talking about a particularly disastrous year, and my mom was like, you should write a script. That was the time we first came up with the title “The Year of Spectacular Men.”
Thompson said she was proud that the script “champions the voice of a young woman” within twenty-first century society. She stated the importance of “telling different stories in different ways. This story is about the sexuality of a woman, told from her very own perspective.”
On the same subject, Madelyn said her story was “to bring content for people in their 20s.” She expressed how there was a void of stories about this post-college stage of life and how “people think millennials are lazy and immobile, but the reality is that we are often very misunderstood.”
Thompson said that directing her daughters was similar to being their mother; as a female director and a mother she was a natural multi-tasker. Zoey agreed. “We got —- done,” she said.
The crowd laughed alongside the cast throughout much of the panel, just as during the screening of the film.
Lastly, the family was asked what they were most proud when they saw the finished film, and the women agreed: “everything!” Zoey became emotional when stating how proud she was of her sister and Thompson agreed, highlighting the fact Madelyn also composed all of the music, which really added to the story. “And she is only in her 20s,” Thompson said proudly.
Watch the talented Thompston-Deutch women walk the red carpet and discuss the film here, and check out District’s review of “The Year of Spectacular Men.”
Written by Lucia Artigas
Lucy is a Film & Television major from Guadalajara Mexico. She works as a photojournalist for District, and she is always ready to document all the awesome events around Savannah. Watch out, you might show up in one for her shots.
