Filmmaker LaVilla at it again Former Guttenberg mayor's 'Oil and Water' comedy has newspaper twist
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Over his film career, LaVilla, the former Guttenberg mayor, has produced and directed more than 40 documentaries. Lately, LaVilla has turned his focus toward making motion pictures, particularly comedies.
Last year, his first full-length comedy, "Mr. Las Vegas," was released on video and DVD in major video stores and online shopping sites.
Now, LaVilla's second flick, "Oil and Water," is on sale and being distributed nationwide by Echelon Studios of Los Angeles.
LaVilla dreamed up the premise for the movie a few years ago and then finally put it to words. He directed and starred in the movie, just like he did in "Mr. Las Vegas."
The movie was filmed in a span of 18 days last year and shot at a variety of Hudson County locations, including the offices of The Hudson Reporter newspapers in Hoboken.
The plot features an old television reporter named Dan Lake, portrayed by LaVilla, and a gossip columnist, called Ms. Gabby, portrayed by actress Rosemary Gore.
"The idea came to me, and I thought it would work," LaVilla said. "The TV reporter, Dan Lake, decides that it's time to move on with his life, and a producer puts him on a television show called 'Movies Celebrities,' with Ms. Gabby as the co-host. The two fight like cats and dogs. There is so much ego there. As the movie progresses and the more they fight, they realize that they care for each other."
LaVilla said that he wanted to make sure that the setting remained in Hudson County as much as possible, so he asked the co-publishers of the Hudson Reporter, David Unger and Lucha Malato, if he could shoot parts of the movie in the newspaper's office.
"They were fine with the idea," LaVilla said.
One of the paper's former beat reporters, Prescott Tolk, was also featured in the movie. Tolk, a former Weehawken and West New York resident, has since moved to the Midwest to pursue standup comedy and has appeared on Comedy Central.
"We shot several scenes at the Reporter," LaVilla said. "It went well."
Many of the scenes were also shot inside the Galaxy Towers in Guttenberg, including the Galaxy Theatre, which closed permanently two weeks ago.
Sticking with the goal of using local people, LaVilla put the Galaxy Theatre's owner, Nelson Page, in the movie and cast him as a newspaper editor.
"When Peter was the mayor of Guttenberg, we had a great relationship, and that has carried over since," Page said. "We always go out of our way to support independent filmmakers. Peter is a great director and he makes everything so easy for everyone."
"I'm going to say that about 80 percent of the movie was shot inside the Galaxy," LaVilla said. "Nelson was really impressive as the editor. I used about 25 different actors from all over the county."
Other Guttenberg actors in the movie include Pam Sanabria, Mirna Benitez, Else Schwarz, Janet Kolstein, Jeff Barker, Yvonne Bravo, Anthony Aibel, Michael Catangay, Dino Barlaam, Debbie Magenheimer, and Len Litof.
Actors from North Bergen include Roy Del Toro, Richard Serrano, David Lisboa, Peter Brown, Joanne DeSantis, and Melanie Brown. And actor Duane Baker hails from Union City, Diana Castellon, Gilda Gonzalez, and Soccorro Pacis are from Jersey City, and Stephanie Angelil and Jeff Zilahy reside in Hoboken.
North Bergen native Max Gomez wrote and composed the music.
"It's definitely a local and a talented cast," LaVilla said. "We shot it in 18 days and it was a lot of fun to do. I started out acting in theater, then made documentaries, but this is really what I do best."
"Everyone talks about making movies," Page said. "Peter goes out and does it. It's great to see someone locally caring so much and taking the time to make an independent movie."
Not wasting any time, LaVilla busy preparing his next motion picture entitled "Pot Luck," which will feature Page as a mayor of a small town and Hudson Reporter political columnist Al Sullivan in the cast as well.
"Making movies can be a very frustrating business," LaVilla said. "You spend a lot of hours and might not get the result you want. When someone wants to distribute your work, you become very humbled and happy. It makes all the efforts worthwhile." "Oil and Water," written, directed, and starring Peter LaVilla, is now currently on sale on Amazon.com, Netflix.com, and via the distributor at www.singahe.com.
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