- Title: USA: Indie romantic comedy is a love song to Italian-American culture
- Date: 27th August 2008
- Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (AUGUST 21, 2008) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) JAY JABLONSKI, ACTOR PLAYING "JAKE BIANSKI", SAYING: "Because he has allowed himself to stay in the past, when he starts to date the character of "Marisa" he really doesn't have any game whatsoever. I mean he does everything wrong and says everything wrong. It all comes from a place of honesty with Jake - he is honest to a fault in fact - but because of that it keeps the character endearing and he doesn't come across just as a jerk."
- Embargoed: 11th September 2008 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa
- Country: USA
- Topics: Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA7KTAD1GVWWR9FPCGZ8GKIB8B4
- Story Text: Indie romantic comedy is a love song to Italian-American culture.
It's an Italian love fest in a new romantic comedy called "Everybody Wants to Be Italian".
The movie is about fixating on past relationships and not grabbing opportunities that lie in front of you. Jake Bianski, played by Jay Jablonski, is a fishmonger in Boston who is pining over his ex-girlfriend who broke up with him eight years ago. Upon the insistence of his friends, Jake goes to an Italian singles event where he meets Marisa.
"Because he has allowed himself to stay in the past, when he starts to date the character of "Marisa" he really doesn't have any game whatsoever. I mean he does everything wrong and says everything wrong," said Jablonski.
The film is an ode to all things Italian. Jake pretends to be be of Italian descent to woo Marisa and much of the film was shot on location in North End, Boston's Little Italy. Cerina Vincent, who plays Marisa and is Italian-American, says it is obvious why everybody wants to be Italian.
"Italians are passionate and the sense of family and the sense of celebration, we celebrate everything, and the food. A lot of my non-Italian friends have always asked if they could come over to our house - on any regular Wednesday just because we're celebrating something."
said Vincent.
Writer and director Jason Todd Ipson credits his Italian wife for the title of the film because it is what she said to him when first meeting him in Boston. Ipson wrote the movie specifically for Jablonski after casting him in his previous film "Unrest". Ipson says he initially wrote Jablonski off because he missed two auditions and was late for the third because of other commitments. But his opinion soon changed.
"He came into the room and I had no interest whatsoever and he blew me away. He really is the real deal and so I thought, while I was on "Unrest", I've got to take advantage of this, this guy should be a gigantic star so why not create a vehicle for him to get him there," said Ipson.
The movie mixes genres - it is both a romantic comedy and a buddy film with John Kapelos, John Enos III and Penny Marshall rounding out the cast. The film opens in theatres in North America on September 5. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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