About Me
I'm proud to serve on the faculty at The Neighborhood Playhouse teaching Acting for the Camera, and at The School of Visual Arts teaching directing. Check out my monthly column "Between Action and Cut" at www.nbrmp.org/features/baac.cfm ...I'm a New York-based movie director in pre-production on the 3D horror thriller DIGGER ... As a director and/or producer, I've been blessed to work with many wonderful actors, including Ben Gazzara, Rita Moreno, Michael Imperioli, Ice T, Mike Starr, John Leguizamo, Chris Noth, Debi Mazar, Mary Stuart Masterson, John Shea, Jerry Stiller, Tony Sirico, Vincent Pastore, Steve James, Nicholas Turturro, Zach Braff, Gretchen Mol, Amanda Peet, David Johansen, Frank Vincent, Joey D'Onofrio, Heavy D, Michael Badalucco, Iman, Reb Brown, Matt Lillard, Victor Colicchio, Nelson Vasquez, Richie Havens, Brian Vincent, Heidi Kristoffer, James Gilmartin, Emily Mudd, Lauren Waisbren, Jared Miller, Steve Stanulis, Heather Matarazzo, Adam Scarimbolo, Brianne Berkson, Natalie Howe, Matt Keeslar, Tania Grier, Michael Moseley and many others ... as well as a new generation of actors and filmmakers at the Neighborhood Playhouse, Shetler Studios and SVA ...Wrote and directed the critically acclaimed feature romantic fable BLUE MOON, released theatrically through Castle Hill, available on video and DVD from Winstar/Fox Lorber, airing regularly on Showtime, The Movie Channel, WE (Women’s Entertainment), and ABC-TV. BLUE MOON stars screen legends Ben Gazzara and Rita Moreno, with Alanna Ubach, Brian Vincent, Heather Matarazzo, Vincent Pastore, Burt Young, David Thornton, and Zach Braff. The movie won Best American Feature at the Avignon/New York Film Festival, and Best Fantasy Film at Worldfest Houston ...Directed and co-wrote the popular cult comedy THE DELI (Castle Hill), with a cast including Mike Starr, Matt Keeslar, Gretchen Mol, Ice T, Heather Matarazzo, Brian Vincent, Judith Malina, Debi Mazar, Michael Imperioli, Iman, David Johansen, Burt Young, Chris Noth, Heavy D, Michael Badalucco, Frank Vincent, Vincent Pastore and Tony Sirico. THE DELI won the Spirit of Independents Award at the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival, and was cited for Excellence in Filmmaking by the National Board of Review. THE DELI is available in a Special Edition DVD from Warner/Ryko, and airs frequently on national TV ...I also produced and directed the improvisational romantic comedy CUPIDITY, which won the prize for Audience Award: Best Feature Film, as well as Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor, at the New York Independent Film Festival. CUPIDITY was awarded Best Actor at the Queens Film Festival, and was an official selection of Internationales Filmfest Oldenburg in Germany, where my films have been warmly received since the festival’s inception in 1994. Other features as writer-director include the comedy MEN LIE (Cinevest), winner of numerous international awards, selected for two dozen film festivals, including official U.S. selection of the prestigious Karlovy Vary Film Festival, with Frank Vincent, Aida Turturro, Michael Badalucco, Catherine Scorsese, Victor Argo, Michael Imperioli, and Nicholas Turturro; and the action picture STREET HUNTER (Columbia/Tri-Star), executive produced by Menahem Golan, with Steve James, John Leguizamo, Reb Brown, Frank Vincent and Vincent Pastore. Short films as writer-director include PENANCE (starring Frank Vincent, Heather Matarazzo); VINNY D (Frank Vincent, Michael Imperioli, Tony Sirico, Tony Darrow); OTHER MEN’S WIVES (Denis Leary); Kurt Vonnegut's LONG WALK TO FOREVER (Denis Leary); TIMELESS (Natalie Howe); ACTING CLASS (Heidi Kristoffer, James Gilmartin, Emily Mudd); and AND THE WINNER IS (Christina Broccolini, Christina Gooding, Danelle Eliav, Margherita Ramella, Oriane Hazan), which won Best Actress awards for Broccolini at the Chashama and Picturestart Film Fests ...Executive producer on the feature film drama THE ANIMAL ROOM (Smart Egg), Amanda Peet’s first feature, starring Matthew Lillard, Neil Patrick Harris and Catherine Hicks; and the feature comedy POTLUCK (Allumination), starring Jason Isaacs, Dan Lauria, Sylvia Miles, Frank Gorshin, Frank Adonis, and writer-producer Victor Colicchio; and producer on THE INSURGENTS (Allumination), won the German Independence Award at its world premiere in the 2006 Oldenburg Filmfest in Germany and Best Screenplay at the 2007 Palm Beach Film Festival; Best Feature at the 2007 Long Island Film Expo; Official Selection 2007 Montreal Film Festival, Avignon Film Festival, Atlanta Film Festival, Edmonton Film Festival and HD Fest (Seoul, London, Helsinki, NYC); great making-of article in the May 2006 issue of PC magazine, available at www.insurgentsmovie.com), and the horror comedy HOT BABY!, in post-production ...Also involved in publicity and promotion for EVIL DEAD and EVIL DEAD 2: DEAD BY DAWN, two classic horror movies from former Lower East Side roommates/horror icons Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert and Bruce Campbell ...Author of Film Directors on Directing (a collection of my interviews with such filmmakers as Francois Truffaut, Dennis Hopper and Wim Wenders) and an upcoming book on William Wellman, the definitive study of the legendary director. Co-authored the book Gregory LaCava, commissioned by the Filmoteca Espanol and the San Sebastian Film Festival for a retrospective on the veteran Hollywood filmmaker; the foreword to the book featured my interview with Katharine Hepburn. Articles on films and filmmaking have appeared in many magazines, including Rolling Stone, American Cinematographer, Films in Review, Irish America and Millimeter, plus dozens of articles on the horror genre for Fangoria, Cinemacabre and Videoscope ...For the BIOGRAPH DAYS, BIOGRAPH NIGHTS cable TV show, I hosted “The Directors Series,†interviewing dozens of filmmakers, including Dennis Hopper, Lee Marvin, Paul Schrader, Ralph Bellamy, Sam Raimi, James Toback, Alan Parker, Don Ameche, Max von Sydow, Richard Attenborough, Ralph Bakshi and Anne Francis ...I'm proud to have appeared in two feature documentaries, WILD BILL: HOLLYWOOD MAVERICK and JOHN CASSAVETES: A CONSTANT FORGE. I've taught and lectured extensively at schools, seminars and international film festivals on filmmaking, screenwriting, film acting, and film history. I currently serve on the Board of Directors of The Real Theatre Company and ReelAct.com, and have taught film acting at Shetler Studios, One on One, and Actors’ Alliance in New York.
