Aftermath, an independent film shot in Saratoga Springs years ago, is at long last seeing a local release with its premiere in the Spa City set for Friday evening.
Aftermath, billed as a "black comedy thriller" starring Tony Danza, Anthony Michael Hall, and the late Chris Penn, will be making its local debut at the Bow Tie Cinemas in Saratoga Springs Friday.
The film centers around a homebuilder. And while writer and director Thomas Farone said the crime in the movie is purely fictional, the film was shot on actual construction sites around town. That’s because Farone himself works with his father’s company, Thomas J. Farone & Son, Inc.
The younger Farone said he wrote the film intending to shoot it around his work schedule.
“I took the film right to those job sites and the other spot in Saratoga – the restaurants and stuff like that. Stuff that you can shoot. Aftermath was written that way,” said Farone. “It wasn’t in a…‘Well, let me shoot this…’ It was written with, like, ‘OK, this is my budget, this is what I can do. Where can I save? Where can I make things look good, where can I make things look real so it’s a real film?’”
Farone said the film was finished in 2012, but he said just because the film took time does not mean it was ever halted.
“It was 2006, and when you had to wait for 2007, 2008 to get certain actors to shoot, I mean, there’s nothing you can do.”
In addition to working with the actors’ schedules, Farone also recruited composer David Kitay to score the film, which he said also took some time.
The film is the last appearance for Penn, who died in 2006. Farone said Penn’s scenes were all in the can before his death at 40.
With the film set for its hometown showing, the director said he couldn’t be happier to bring it back to the people who helped support it.
“Everyone in Saratoga; the Saratoga film department they have in Saratoga was super, the police department was super, the people around town,” listed Farone. “It’s a good scene and there’s areas around here that are beautiful. Saratoga is just a beautiful city.”
With film and television shoots booming in New York on strength of production tax credits, Schenectady Film Commissioner Don Rittner said the Capital Region is becoming a more popular area for film production. Rittner had a significant hand in bringing the 2012 film The Place Beyond the Pines to the region, which shot in Schenectady.
The film H, shot in Troy, was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
Rittner said the release of Aftermath could bring more attention to the region.
“One more movie you add to the list with movies that have been made here in the last few years, and that gets around,” said Rittner.
Rittner said the film-scene is a close-knit community.
“Everybody knows what everybody else is doing, and when people start saying, ‘You know, we had a really good time shooting up there in upstate New York in the Capital District, we saved a lot of money, people were good to us, we had no problems with police or traffic.’ That gets around.”
Jared Milgram, Vice President of Marketing for Bow Tie Cinemas said:
“We’re thrilled to be able to help bring “Aftermath” home and feature it at our Criterion Cinemas location in downtown Saratoga Springs. Saratoga is a vibrant community that loves movies and the arts, and we try to offer as much variety as possible with our content.”
Thomas Farone’s Aftermath will premiere Friday evening at Bow Tie’s Criterion Cinemas 11 in Saratoga Springs.
For more information visit: http://www.bowtiecinemas.com/movies/aftermath/
