My Best Day the movie

"Witty, wacky, multicharacter comedy "My Best Day" features a rural milieu that's authentically American: a place where people don't have health care, run out of gas, get places by walking the train tracks, and don't even envy each other either.

...it's about being different, and the film's message is how people cope with it.

Greenwell doesn't need a big budget and big names to get that thought across, although the film has a consistency of tone that indicates she could do more with more. ...Greenwell and d.p. Adam Benn eschew handheld or grainy textures in favor of clear, coherent high-def, leaving any unfocused chaos in the minds of the characters."

- John Anderson Variety

"Writer/director Erin Greenwell confidently juggles the multiple plots, serving up a charming, up-to-the-minute slice of Americana. This is Mayberry 2012, where Opie waxes existential and Aunt Bea has finally come out of the closet. Greenwell's quirky script and great ensemble performances ensure that My Best Day is both subversive and sunny. Cue the fireworks!" - Sundance Film Festival 2012
***
"My Best Day is a funny film relatable to all types of audiences that retains the integrity of its lesbian roots from out lesbian writer/director Erin Greenwell. Greenwell’s vision of small town life is right-on, her comedic timing perfect and her depiction of both lesbian and straight characters charmingly – and in a few cases, alarmingly – off-kilter."
- Stephanie Schroeder Curve Magazine
***
"My Best Day coins different kinds of unlikely heroes in a small Pennsylvania town. In Greenwell’s skilled hands, queer culture alluringly morphs into a bemused acceptation of personal foibles and idiosyncrasies, gay or straight, an eradication of the boundaries between “normal” and “unconventional” relationships." - Bérénice Reynaud Senses of Cinema
***
Goofy, funny, surprising, and sweet...[MBD Cast] They're all delightful. [Atkinson creates] a character of nuanced comic beauty...My Best Day is unpretentious but so low-key skillful and open-hearted that in the end it feels ever-so-slightly profound." - SF Bay Guardian
***
"Warm hearted and aptly melancholy...a distinctive tone, which mates dry comedy, bittersweet tragedy, and the fearful exhilaration of tomorrow" - Andrew Wyatt stlmag.com
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"A great new film...effortlessly takes on a range of themes...in one tightly written package."
Allison Hallett Portland Mercury
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"[My Best Day] shows how such a quest for identity can come in unusual forms. This offbeat comedy expresses a joy for life found from unexpected sources, and shows us we should be open to everyday epiphanies". - John Lyden Journal of Religion and Film
***
"A sweet little American indie...a compelling story with relatable characters...so enjoyable to watch...the complex cast of characters enchants us like the slightly offbeat but undeniably charming cousins at a family reunion." Larry Richman PROnetworks/Digg.com

ABOUT "MY BEST DAY"

"My Best Day" Genre: Ensemble Comedy RT: 75 min

World Premier: Sundance Film Festival 2012 > NEXT Category

A Smithy production in association with H Over Walking Y Prods. Produced by Erin Harper. Executive producer, Beth Bogart. Co-executive producers, Renee Cohen, Margo Cook. Associate producers, Ashlie Atkinson, Rachel Style, Sara M. Ingram, Act Zero Films. Directed, written by Erin Greenwell

Camera (color, HD), Adam Benn; editor, Babak Rassi; music, Terry Dame

With: Rachel Style, Ashlie Atkinson (Other credited cast listed alphabetically) Jo Armeniox, Raúl Castillo, Harris Doran
Molly Lloyd, Kate McKinnon, Haley Murphy, Robert Salerno

Synopsis:

Karen can't believe that she has to work her receptionist gig on a gorgeous Fourth of July. Then a call comes from her long-lost father. Enlisting her janitor friend Meagan to help, Karen investigates her father's trailer park home. She stumbles across a half-sister addicted to betting, a half-brother tortured by grade school bullies, a sketchy but charming buddy "just sleeping on the couch" and a potential lover in jail. Meanwhile, Meagan must decide between the stability of her longtime girlfriend and the thrill of a new love. With a small town like this, Karen's own journey sets in motion a crazy chain of events that will change not just her but this one small town forever.

DIRECTOR'S STATMENT

As a child in a dysfunctional family and midwestern native, common themes began to reoccur in my stories: People sang secretly by themselves but never out loud with others. They kissed mirrors instead of crushes. Enemies were stuck together in jobs they hated. Mothers worked their issues out in cars; teenage siblings through fisticuffs. My characters always had simple yearnings they never laid out on the line unless forced to and from very constrictive places. I understand now why I am more interested in presenting “small” people with “big” problems in my movies. Most of America is small people with big problems. If this pain of reality were dealt with more, people could trust they are their own leaders rather than searching for heros. My script, “My Best Day” starts out with the premise of a young woman, Karen, who works as a refrigerator repair dispatcher. She gets a repair call that might actually be from the father she never knew. Karen sneaks out and takes the janitor, Meagan, along with her, posing as the refrigerator repairman. The comedy stays in the course of the day. While Karen's father is at work, she snoops around his trailer and encounters a half brother, Ray, who gets picked on by the neighborhood kids, a half sister, Stacy, addicted to off track betting, a closeted step-father Eugene and very real struggle with her own family identity. Karen's partner in crime, Meagan, is a lesbian who is in a worn but safe relationship and deliberating an affair. By the end of a turbulent day, all could end well if every character faces their own inner demons. The characters and their conflicts all represent different parts of me that have been bullied, in love,afraid, secretive, impatient, compulsive but ultimately, courageous. Why use comedy to grapple with the very dramatic problems of addiction, adultery, internalized homophobia, teenage bullying and seeking one’s bloodline is simply that this is what I am naturally drawn towards doing. I can be more active through people floundering for the wrong thing and more empathetic in characters stumbling upon their own revelations. My most political, sharp, sincere and true moments as a director have been hearing a room full of audience members laugh and relate to characters across lines of race, gender, class and sexuality. As a filmmaker, I want nothing more than this. I want to be specific about my own perspective enough to present the much larger reality of life that we all share. Erin Greenwell Director - "My Best Day"

Principal Cast

(in alphabetical order)

Jo Armeniox

After getting her B.F.A. from the University of the Arts, she has worked on numerous projects in film and television. Most recently she has guest starred onABC's "Body of Proof," CBS's "Blue Bloods" , "Unforgettable" and NBC's "Mercy." She is also in post production for the films "Certainty," written by Michael O'Malley and co-starring in "Zerosome," starring Gabriel Mann. Jo has also worked on numerous projects with College Humor, and can be seen in the web-series "Graduates," and "The Procrastinator," with Amy Brenneman.

Ashlie Atkinson

Ashlie Atkinson is a proud cast member of two 2012 Sundance selections -- MY BEST DAY and COMPLIANCE. Atkinson originated the role of Helen in Neil La Bute's FAT PIG -- for which she won a Theatre World Award for Outstanding Debut as well as receiving Outer Critics' Circle and Lucille Lortel Award nominations. Other stage roles include THE RITZ (Broadway), BUTCHER OF BARABOO, and THE BRIDGE PROJECT (directed by Sam Mendes). She is also known for her television roles on Rescue Me, Louie, The Unusuals, Bored to Death, and all 3 Law & Orders. Her film work includes INSIDE MAN, THE INVENTION OF LYING, EAT PRAY LOVE, ALL GOOD THINGS, 13, PUCCINI FOR BEGINNERS, THE GUITAR, and ANOTHER GAY MOVIE. Ashlie is a founding member of Gotham Girls Roller Derby, NYC's only all-girl roller derby league.

Raúl Castillo

Raúl Castillo is a NYC-based actor and writer. He is a proud member of LAByrinth Theater Company. Film: David Riker’s “The Girl”, Carl Franklin’s “Bless Me, Ultima”, “Cold Weather”, “Don’t Let Me Drown”, “Amexicano”, Paraíso Travel”. TV: “ Nurse Jackie”, “Law and Order”. Theater : “A Lifetime Burning” (Primary Stages), “School of the Americas” (LAByrinth/Public Theater), “Open House” (Foundry Theatre), “ Flowers” (Ensemble Studio Theater). Author of the play “Knives and Other Sharp Objects” which premiered in 2009 at the Public Theater. Currently featured in Stephen Adly Guirgis’s “Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train” with barebones productions in Pittsburgh, PA.

Harris Doran

Harris Doran can be seen starring as "Spot" in the upcoming feature film Junction along with Michael O’Keefe and David Zayas. Credits include, Film: The Sea Is All I Know starring Melissa Leo, Who The F^¢%?, Don’t Answer Ray, Two Plus One, Together.
TV: “The Black Donnellys,” “Malcolm In The Middle,” “Any Day Now,” Spike TV Mockumentary “Exposing The Order Of The Serpentine.” Theatre: starred on Broadway in the Actors Fund concert of Hair along with Jennifer Hudson, received an LA Ovation Award Nomination for Oliver at Deaf West Theatre, starred as The Emcee in Cabaret, Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Mozart in Amadeus for Pittsburgh Public Theatre, was in the world premiere of The Happy Elf written by Harry Connick Jr, and starred opposite Joe Piscopo in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Off-Broadway, he received the NYMF Best Actor Award for his work in Love Jerry and was recently seen in the plays It Must Be Him starring Peter Scolari, and Reading Under The Influence. Harris most recently starred in the world premiere of Simpsons writer Mike Reiss' play I'm Connecticut with Jerry Adler and Joyce DeWitt. Training: The Juilliard School. www.harrisdoran.com

Molly Lloyd

Molly Lloyd appeared on Adult Swim's "Delocated," in the upcoming short film Dear Dog, I Love You, and online in videos for Funny Or Die Exclusives, Atom.com/ Comedy Central, College Humor, and others. She is a house sketch & improv performer at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York, and tours nationally with the UCB Touring Company. She can be seen in a number of national commercials, often as the deadpan mom.

Kate McKinnon

Kate McKinnon is an actor and comedian living in New York City. She was a cast member on the LOGO Network’s Big Gay Sketch Show for three seasons, and has voiced various characters for Adult Swim’s Venture Brothers and Robotomy. She has performed regularly at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater on the house sketch teams High Treason, Beneath Gristedes and Gramps and in the solo shows "Disenchanted" and "Best Actress". Kate won the “Brink of Fame Comic” award at the 2009 LOGO NewNowNext Awards and was nominated for the “Emerging Comic Award” at the 2010 Emerging Comics of New York (ECNY) Awards.

Haley Murphy

Haley Murphy, age 12, started her career dancing with The New York City Ballet in George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker and performing in the Goodspeed Musical production Radio Girl. Since then, she has appeared in Law & Order: SVU and in the new CBS series Unforgettable. She appeared in the film Silent House (part of The Sundance Film Festival 2011). Haley is thrilled play the part of “Kathy” in of My Best Day.

Robert Salerno

Robert Salerno is a 12 year old 7th grader from Putnam County, NY. A die-hard Beatles fan, Robert is a music lover and plays guitar, violin, harmonica and steel drums. Acting and modeling since before the age of two he has appeared in numerous advertisements and several TV commercials. "My Best Day" is Robert's third feature film.

Rachel Style

Rachel Style is most recently known for playing the role of Veronika, Peggy's roommate, on Mad Men. She also played Trina, Betty's best friend from high school, on Ugly Betty. Other notable TV credits include the role of Kate, the young patient going blind, on Showtime's Huff opposite Hank Azaria; as well as roles on That 70's Show, Gilmore Girls, Judging Amy and more. Her films include Charlie Wilson's War, directed by Mike Nichols; The Door in the Floor with Jeff Bridges; Killing Time (Sundance Film Festival Official Selection), and a leading role in the Hallmark movie Chasing A Dream with Treat Williams. She is also proud to have starred in Erin Greenwell's feature film debut 21. Stage roles include the lead in the West Coast premiere of the play The Glory of Living by Rebecca Gilman for which Rachel was nominated for an LA Weekly Theater Award. She holds a BFA in Drama from New York University, where she studied at the Atlantic Theater Company.

Crew

Erin Greenwell - Writer, Director

Erin Greenwell recently directed her feature film "My Best Day" which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2012.

Other accomplishments include writing, producing and directing "Big Dreams in Little Hope" after which Erin was noted as Outfest's 1 in 5 Top Directors to watch. She is currently writing her feature length script, "Somewhere Along the Way" a script about the butch/femme lesbian bar scene in the 1950s. Her very first featurette, "21" was nominated for a Best First Feature Award by Frameline and ran at Bam Rose Cinemas as part of Best of the New Fest's series.

Ms. Greenwell is also an established picture editor for film and television, recently serving on “The Hungry Ghosts,” Michael Imperioli’s directorial debut. She served as editor on Cicala Filmwork's award winning feature film, "Arranged". Erin is currently serving as picture editor on the feature, “Clutter” starring Carol Kane, Natasha Lyonne, Dan Hedaya, Joshua Leonard and Halley Feiffer.

Cicala Filmworks - Consulting Producer

Cicala Filmworks is a full-service film, video, and new-media production company. Headquartered in New York City, the company produces content as varied as documentary programming, industrial videos, TV commercials, web content, and short and feature films. Recent features include "The Hungry Ghosts", "Arranged", and "Contested Streets" as well as collaboration on the films "The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela" and the TV pilots "Late on Laight" and "Circle Drawers"

Erin Harper - Producer

Erin Harper recently finished production as a UPM on the feature "Clutter" starring Carol Kane. She produced "My Best Day" written and directed by Erin Greenwell, which was selected for the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. She produced the short film, “Drop” which was selected as IFP’s NexGen Series 2009. Producer/Director of "Passion," the short film screened internationally and she was awarded the 2010 NYSCA award to complete the feature-length version.

Beth Bogart - Executive Producer

Beth Bogart was co-owner of Fenton Communications, formerly directed its Washington office and for many years was the media firm’s creative director. A ghostwriter for many Third World and social justice advocates, she used her experience from the editorial pages of The Washington Post to help them craft appeals in a language and format accessible to American audiences. She is currently completing production of a feature documentary about jazz legend and Gen-X pop culture icon Bob Dorough, DEVIL MAY CARE, and is partnering with former MTV director-producer Gene Cernilli to produce webisodes for candidates and elected officials using the conventions of reality TV to reveal the person behind the politician. A graduate of Princeton University, she earned her MFA in creative writing from Johns Hopkins University.

Adam Benn-Director of Photography

Adam was Cinematographer for Dave Marek's feature film "Somewhere West" winning Best Feature at East Lansing Film Festival, Best Feature under $25k at Las Vegas International and an Official Selection of Austin International Film Festival. He has provided camera work for Michael Feinstein's Great American Songbook showing on PBS.

Babak Rassi - Editor

Babak Rassi relishes the process of cinematic storytelling. He lives in NYC and edits fiction and documentary films when he's not teaching at the City College of New York.

Terry Dame - Composer

Currently Ms. Dame directs and composes for as well as designs and builds the instruments used by the percussion-based ensemble Electric Junkyard Gamelan. She is the music director, composer and saxophonist with the seven-piece new music group Monkey on a Rail and a founding member of the improvisation trio Trophy Wife.

Notable collaborations include scores for Maria Maggenti’s “Puccini for Beginners”, which premiered in competition at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and was released theatrically in 2007. Erin Greenwell’s feature comedy “Big Dreams in Little Hope” screened at the 2006 NewFest in NYC and the Frameline Festival in San Francisco. It was released on DVD by Woolf Video in 2007. Her score for Diane Bonder’s experimental short “Closer to Heaven” (which screened at MOMA) was awarded best sound design at the Ann Arbor Film Festival.

Allison Twardziak - Principal Casting Director

As a freelance casting director based in New York City, Allison has worked in the casting departments of the feature films, “Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist,” “Paper Man,” and “Death In Love.” She cast the Sundance Film Festival short film, “Knife Point,” and the SAG Audience Choice Award short film winner at the Director’s Guild of America “Gasoline.” Allison's latest Casting Director credits include the feature films “3 People I’ve Never Met”, “Bastards of Young”, “Faith, Love and Whiskey,” “Ramblin’ Round” and the short films, “The Game”, “The Ravishing”, “Timber”, “Beds Made and Sweaters On”, “The Five Stages of Grief,” “Now Here,” “Gravity,” “Bottled,” “Little Horses,” “The Absence,” “A Lone Star State,” “Pitrats,” “Romeo Vs. Juliet,” and “Local Tourists”. Supplementing her film work, Allison has cast commercials and industrials for House Productions, HBO, Lumina Films and Campfire Films, as well as the award winning Fringe play, “I Was Tom Cruise.” She holds a B.F.A. from New York University.

David Briggs - Sound Supervisor

Mr. Briggs’ Supervising Sound Edit credits include the Sundance award-winning 3 Backyards, Logo channel favorite You Belong to Me, and Teeth. Other credits include dialogue and ADR editing on last year's Sundance entries The Art of Getting By (Homework) and The Music Never Stopped, as well as on New York, I Love You, Cadillac Records, Puccini for Beginners, and HBO's The Wire.
Along with “My Best Day”, David is also working on Sundance 2012 selection, “Bachelorette”