by Sheila Seclearr Dec. 20, 2010
Is it only by chance that Allegra Huston chose tonight, the night of the Winter Solstice full moon eclipse, to announce “liftoff” for her short film, “Good Luck Mr. Gorski?” The film was inspired by the urban legend around Neil Armstrong’s 1969 moon landing during which he supposedly made the mysterious comment of the movie title.
Who was Mr. Gorski? Huston’s film captures the essence of the most famous tale, that of the Gorskis as Armstrong’s boyhood neighbors and the titillating sexual promise to be fulfilled “when the boy next door walks on the moon.”
The film is written and produced by Huston and directed by Arron Shiver. It was shot this fall in Albuquerque and Santa Fe with Gary Houston and Fran Martone as Mr. and Mrs. Gorski (shown here watching Armstrong's landing in their pjs). A longtime resident of Taos, New Mexico, Huston plans to premiere the film at the Taos Shortz Film Festival the first week of March, 2011.
Says Huston, “We used a RED camera, which is digital 35mm - the highest quality camera available. We built sets inside the old hospital in Santa Fe, and we've got a top Visual Effects Supervisor, whose credits include the second and third Matrixes, compositing in the archive footage and all kinds of other stuff too. Nobody will believe that we made the film for such a low budget.”
Still, she wants to raise another $5000 to cover costs of post-production, festival screenings and an Academy campaign. “Yes,” says Huston, “I’m going for it.”
Huston thanks her launch crew of 810 supporters so far for helping send Mr. and Mrs. Gorski to their own personal moon. More photos and information on crew, screenings, the shoot and donations can be found at GoodLuckMrGorski.com.
