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Your new movie A Deal
- in a few words, what's it about? A husband gamifies his day with playful challenges with his kids to
earn a romantic reward from his wife.
What were your
sources of inspiration when writing A
Deal, and is any of it based on personal experiences?
I set out to write something I felt was genuinely
original—and I think I may have pulled it off. At its core, the story
is observational humor: my take on the way married couples navigate
intimacy compared to singles. In the film, the husband and wife strike
“a deal”, which becomes the title and the driving idea.
From my own marriage and from watching other
couples, I’ve noticed that when you’re single, romance can spark out
of nowhere. But in marriage? Affection often comes with a calendar
reminder. It’s planned, negotiated, and sometimes hilariously
transactional—and that’s exactly what this movie leans into.
I also recently wrapped production on a horror film
called WormWort, which is now in post. One of
the scenes required me to lie on the frozen ground in the middle of
winter—shirtless, pants ripped, and wearing a pig’s head— for about an
hour and a half. To keep morale up, I started using a ridiculous baby
voice, repeatedly saying “Piggy needs a blanket.” The crew cracked
up, but one of the producers eventually snapped and joked “I bet you
use that voice with your wife in the bedroom." That offhand comment stuck with me—and it ended up
inspiring the bedroom-voice gag inA Deal.
Do talk about A Deal's
brand of humour!
The humor really comes from the idea of a “prescribed
moment” between a married couple. In marriage, people often end up
creating these little scripts or agreements with each other—terms and
conditions for when a romantic moment can happen. In this story, the
husband has to complete a set of family tasks first. He stumbles
through finding things to do with the kids, but eventually manages to
check all the boxes and honor the deal he made with his wife.
A few words about your overall
directorial approach to your story at hand?
Because I trusted the script, my main priority was
making sure the actors didn’t “act”—I wanted them to live in the
moments, not perform them. We cast a strong, diverse, and genuinely
talented group, and once they settled into their characters, the
scenes flowed naturally. As long as everything felt honest on set, we
rarely needed more than a few takes.
You also play the lead in A Deal - so
what can you tell us about your character, what did you draw upon to bring
him to life, and did you write Michael with yourself in mind from the
get-go? Michael is a lovable misfit of a husband—he wants his
wife’s attention and affection, but can never quite get it the way he
hopes. I’m drawn to characters who try to do the right thing, stumble
along the way, and are far from perfect. Michael is definitely a
screw-up, but he genuinely tries not to be. The humor comes from
watching his mix of successes and failures throughout the film. I
actually wrote Michael with myself in mind for the role—there’s a bit
of me in him… hopefully not too much.
Do talk about the rest of your cast, and
why exactly these people?
I aimed for a diverse cast and struck a good balance
between seasoned actors and talented newcomers. Everyone delivered,
coming together as a truly strong and cohesive ensemble.
A few words about the
shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
We shot primarily in Upstate New York and Vermont, and
the on-set atmosphere was loose, vibrant and collaborative. I
encouraged the actors to take risks and bring their own
interpretations to the characters, giving them space to make each role
their own. The
$64-question of course, where can A
Deal be seen?
A Deal is available on Fawesome and Relay. Fawesome is
a free streaming app that comes pre-installed on most TVs, while Relay
is a new subscription-based streaming service owned by Filmhub. More
licenses will follow but it takes time.
Anythiing you can tell us about
audience and critical reception of A
Deal? I decided to release the movie
through Filmhub and am only using that aggregator at this point. As
such, I do not have any film festival awards or critical reception at
this point. Any future projects you'd like to share?
The next film I’ll be starring in is WormWort,
a horror feature directed by Thomas Farone, whose previous film
Aftermath starred Anthony Michael Hall, Tony Danza, and the late Chris
Penn. The movie features outstanding musical scores by Matt Veligdan
and Max Surla. Adam Clairmont, director ofsStudio operations at
Overit—the leading music post-production house outside NYC—is putting
the final touches on the project. I am in 90% of all the scenes of the
movie. It was a great opportunity for me and I am very grateful to
land that role. What made you get into acting in the first place, and did you
receive any former training on the subject?
I acted in my first stage production in college in 1993
and went on to star in roughly two dozen student films at Ithaca
College and Cornell University. I also studied privately with acting
coaches and attended acting workshops in New York City.
What
made you branch out into writing and directing eventually, and which side
of the camera do you actually prefer, and why?
I wanted to create a project that would be my own
acting vehicle—a story I could take from a blank page all the way to a
finished film.
What can you
tell us about your filmwork prior to
A Deal, in whatever position?
I’ve created a short film, a web series, and the
feature film
A Deal, all with my family. I’ve
also produced several PSAs for a public school, including one that won
first place and earned the school $2,500. Besides
making movies, you've also been in quite a number of commercials - so how
does shooting a commercial compare to making a film?
While larger film budgets can provide more crew and
resources per day than a commercial, both mediums can offer creative
freedom—though each has its limits. On a commercial shoot for a water
safari theme park spot, I suggested to the director that when my wife
hugged me, I could spit out a stream of water. Just moments earlier,
there had been a shot of me staring at a computer while water sprayed
in my face—so by the time we filmed the hug, there was no subsequent
Heimlich maneuver; it simply wasn’t in the director’s vision. Oh -
commercials make the airwaves much quicker than feature length films
for those that did not know...
How would you describe yourself as an actor, and how as a director?
As an actor, I consider myself a chameleon, equally
comfortable in both comedy and drama.
Filmmakers, actors, whoever else who inspire you?
In terms of actors, anyone who
is interesting to look at and interesting to watch. Gary Oldman,
Anthony Hopkins, Michael Keaton, Jessica Lange and Juliette Lewis are
some of my favorites.
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Your favourite movies?
Pacific Heights, Unforgiven, Blade Runner. ... and of course,
films you really deplore? Anything that has an excessive
amount of violence. Your/your movie's
website, social media, whatever else? www.toddbirmingham.com -
that is where I post my updates. Anything else
you're dying to mention and I have merely forgotten to ask?
Thank you so much for reviewing my film and for giving me the platform to
share my thoughts and answer your questions about it.
Thanks for the interview!
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