Last Friday night we drank a bottle of champagne and locked picture on Opus Jazz.  It’s been about 6 weeks since we wrapped.

We also have an air date : March 24th, 2010 on PBS!

xoSM

Hey look!  Our buddy Lena wrote this great dispatch about Opus Jazz for the terrific movie blog Hammer to Nail.

Finally an article focusing on Key P.A. Brad Payne (pictured above with Lena) and how he became the most desired man on set.

Click here to read the article….

xoSM

We spent our last week shooting the 5th movement in a Lowe’s movie palace from the late 1920’s in Jersey City.

It was spooky and beautiful.

Joe nailed this shot.

(photos by Joe Anderson)

Becky relaxes.

(photos by Yaniv Schulman)

The entire cast & crew, from 80 feet up.  A happy family.

Words cannot express what an incredible experience making this film has been.   No one did it for the money, we made it for art, FOR LIFE.  We’re all sorry it’s over, but the editing must begin.

The film will air on WNET/PBS in Spring 2010.

xoSM

September 7th-11th was the 3rd week of shooting our 35mm ballet film “NY Export: Opus Jazz”….

First we finished up “Statics” in Red Hook.  A 360 degreee Steadicam shot forced up onto the roof to watch.

(photo by Joe Anderson)

Then we moved to McCarren Park in Williamsburg.  Ariel hired these guys who paint parking lots to make the incredible vanishing lines on the ground.

(photo by Yaniv Schulman)

Tiler Peck posing for Supermarché’s upcoming Grip Calendar.

(photo by Henry Joost)

Henry in front of a little more sweet production design.

(photo by Yaniv Schulman)

xoSM

During our 2nd week of shooting we were visited on set by NYT reporter Gia Kourlas, who wrote an amazing article about our project.  Béatrice de Géa took photos.   Our grandmothers were very proud.

Click here to read the article….

xoSM

Shooting continues.  We shot the 3rd movement of the ballet (Improvisations) at P.S. 146 in Brooklyn and finished up Statics over the weekend in Red Hook.

(photos by Joe Anderson)

(photos by Kate Reeder)

xoSM

Week 1 making the 1st Jerome Robbins ballet movie since West Side Story.  We filmed in Coney Island, the Lower East Side, Bushwick, and portions of the 2nd movement “Statics” in an abandoned warehouse.

Our cast is made up entirely of dancers from New York City Ballet.  They work incredibly hard.   They also blog and make funny videos on set about baby wipes.

Camera operator Joe Anderson nails a helicopter shot.

Something bad also happened.  Early Tuesday morning Mel was driving me home from set and disaster struck.  I think my beloved Subaru of 10 years might be totaled (it’s worse than it looks).

- Henry

After 3 years, our 35mm ballet film “NY Export: Opus Jazz” has officially been acquired by Channel 13 (WNET) for its 2010 Great Performances/Dance in America series.

The film is an adaptation of a 1958 ballet by Jerome Robbins starring dancers from New York City Ballet and shot on location all over New York City.

In 2007 we shot 1 movement from the ballet on the Highline.  Over the next 6 weeks we will be shooting the remaining 4 movements and many adjoining scenes.

Big shout-out to our Executive Producers (and NYCB dancers) Ellen & Sean and especially to our lawyer John for putting this whole thing together.

We start shooting in ONE WEEK!  Stay tuned….

xoSM

p.s.  click here to see the official website.

p.p.s.  become our fan on Facebook by searching for “NY Export: Opus Jazz”

p.p.p.s. click here to read an article in The New York Sun about our film.

“Passage For Two” is screening as part of the Jerome Robbins retrospective at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. Quite an honor to be among his Oscars, Tonys, and Marias. We also met another original cast member of Opus Jazz, Beryl Towbin. Click here to learn more about the exhibit, it’s worth checking out.

(Rel with Robbins’ Oscar for West Side Story)

-Henry

Dear Diary,

OMG, Henry and Ellen were on tv this morning, talking about Opus Jazz. Good Day New York hosts Jody Applegate and Somebody McSomebodyhead tossed softballs and our guys hit ‘em out of the park.
A few people thought Henry was wearing lipstick, which he denies.

-rel