The filmmakers would like to offer you a gigantic THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts. Although our theatrical run is slowly coming to a close, we are gearing up for the DVD release through Lionsgate on February 3, 2009. The DVD will be full with a Director/Editor Commentary, Extended Scenes, Bloopers, Auditions and a special Behind the Scenes segment. Please mark your calendars and we look forward to seeing you in your living rooms soon!!

Ciao!

Mariano Foods has graciously offered a 20% discount to any of their customers that are fans of the movie. All you have to do is go to www.marianofoods.com, order a bunch of authentic, delicious Italian food, and when you check out enter discount code: EverybodyWantsToBeItalianMovie

Also, enter to win a fantastic gift basket sponsored by Mariano Foods at a local Italian Festival. Check festival listings for a location near you.

Mariano Foods

August 22, 2008 07:51 PM Eastern Daylight Time
Hottest Theaters in Town Serve Up Roadside Attractions’ ITALIAN

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The highest grossing theaters in Manhattan, which in turn are the highest grossing theaters in the country, are booking what appears to be the little-Indy-film-that-could EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE ITALIAN. Both AMC’s Empire 25 Theater and Regal’s Union Square Stadium 14 Theater have confirmed booking the movie starting September 5th, believing in the film’s playability to audiences looking to have a laugh before the usual heavier fall fare.

Written and directed by Jason Todd Ipson (UNREST) and starring Jay Jablonski (UNREST, KIDS IN AMERICA) and Cerina Vincent (CABIN FEVER, Two and a Half Men), ITALIAN is a warm-hearted, romantic comedy involving mistaken ethnicities against the backdrop of Italian life in Little Italy. Jake’s (Jablonski) friends are tired of him futilely chasing the same woman for nearly a decade and set him up on a blind date with a beautiful Italian woman (Vincent) from Boston’s North End. Worried that such a woman would never even consider dating a non-Italian, they offer him a quick crash course in how to fake it in the hope that it will prove just the trick to help him learn to love once again. The film, being seen as this year’s MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING, has received special attention in the season of the CG summer blockbusters. Roadside Attractions is distributing the Asgaard Entertainment picture.

This little-Indy-film-that-could might be the answer to a smart person’s comedy and one that doesn’t need a big name to become the sleeper hit of the season. Also, look out for the surprise cameo made by the rarely seen, and always funny, Penny Marshall.

It’s funny, when you interview all day, you start to repeat yourself.  But each interviewer has a special way of drawing out thoughts and informations.  So they all are unique and fun in their own way.  At least they are for me.  I love interviewing.

Well, I’m headed to Los Angeles to see my wife and children, then off to Utah to help look at how the theaters are doing there.  Cerina’s also headed back to Los Angeles to finish the latest edit of her book.  But Jay’s continuing.  He’ll be in Pennsylvania tomorrow pushing the film hard, then all over the place in the next two weeks getting people involved.

I’ll post a couple of pictures from our tour when I have the files downloaded from my camera.

We started the day at the Warwick hotel where we met Scott Perry with ColonelScrypt.com.  He was a very cool guy and asked a lot of intelligent questions, so I look forward to seeing what he uses for his interview.  It was fun to listen to Jay and Cerina talk about their characters and approaches to the film.

The second interview was with Ken Lombardi at CBS.com.  He was another great guy.  Very fun, and enthusiastic about the movie and how he felt he could see his family in the characters that were on screen.

The third and final interview for me was at CNN.  They have to have the coolest offices I’ve seen in a long time.  Somehow it feels like the “war room” from Stanley Kubrick’s film.  The studio was small and intimate… and I managed to get this shot snapped to remember my first nation wide CNN interview.

After CNN, I met up with fashion photographer Stephen Eastwood and had a great day hanging out and being a nerd as we discussed cameras and our approaches to still photography as well as motion pictures.

All in all it was a great day, and we look forward to interviewing with Reuters, National Board of Review, NY Daily News, Urban Film Premiere, TimesSquare.com, Black Cat Media, Radio Scope, FilmInk, and People magazine.  We’re going to be busy!!!

We’re interviewing with Scott Perry at Colonelscrypt.com, Ken Lombardi at CBS.com, and then for a taped interview with CNN.  Very exciting day to say the least.

More soon… headed to the lobby before my cab leaves.

Jason Todd Ipson