Touching on topical issues like the positive death movement, living with HIV, dying with Alzheimer's, and celebrating a queer love story for the ages, MOON MANOR depicts death as the ultimate universal - yet individualized - encounter. But also - it's a comedy!

THE STORY

Our story takes place in one day - Jimmy's last day alive.

With advancing Alzheimer’s and a penchant to do things his way, Jimmy’s decided to throw himself a fabulous FUNeral before his intentional death.

He curates everything about his last day on Earth - the obituary writer there for his first ever "pre-dead interview," his sharp-witted death doula, estranged brother, salt-of-the earth caretaker, various FUN-eral guests and a visit from a cosmic being with messages only Jimmy can receive - ultimately concluding that sometimes the art of living just may be the art of dying. 

THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY

Moon Manor on Deadline: 

https://deadline.com/video/moon-manor-trailer-comedy-rock-salt-boards-sales-efm/

If you know anyone who’s heard of death, or think you might die someday yourself, you might enjoy Moon Manor! The big T-H-E-Y say always write what you know, and we obviously haven't had the opportunity to die quite yet, but we felt called to create a coming-of-death movie starring someone we DO know - James "Jimmy" Carrozzo (as seen in HAIR (original cast), music videos for Kanye West, Vince Staples) whose real life stories intertwine with our own views on living and dying within our fictional script. This movie is for those who believe film can create change in the world, because everyone deserves to have a "good death."

Our cast includes Lou Taylor Pucci (American Horror Story, YOU, Evil Dead, Thumbsucker), Debra Wilson (Mad TV, Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker), Richard Riehle (Office Space, Casino), Reshma Gajjar (La La Land, (500) Days of Summer, American Beauty), Galen Howard (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Brooklyn Nine-Nine) and featuring Heather Morris (Glee), Gayle Rankin (Glow), Ricki Lake (Hairspray) and many more!

www.moonmanor.com

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8946942/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_4

After a year-and-a-half of writing, table reads, and feedback from fellow filmmakers, we felt strong in the world our words created. Four months of raising private equity for production led to the next leg of the journey: pre-production! 

Nose to the grindstone we held auditions, camera tests, wardrobe fittings, production design meetings, rehearsals - all of it! After two months we were ready for production! After 20 days of shooting we had Moon Manor "in the can” (i.e very large hard drives)!!

Next step: editing, and a lot of it. After a year-and-a-half we reached picture lock and dived into the icing on the cake - color, sound design and score! With a team of post-production wizards - including an original score by Coldplay's music producers The Dream Team, and additional music by Joe Berry from M83, hotshot Jack Tashjdian on color and sound genius Tim McKeown on mixing and mastering - we guided Moon Manor (through a pandemic!) to reach our final destination: a finished feature film!!

Which leads us to the present moment - the final steps of post production before distribution!

A META Q-AND-A WITH THE FILMMAKERS

1) How is Moon Manor "inspired by a true-ish story?"

We always say James “Jimmy” Carrozo IS the most interesting man alive. Many movies could be made from the stories of his life. A professional actor, musician and comedian for over 60 years, he and life partner Ricky Granat shared the stage with luminaries such as Robin Williams and Jay Leno. As a duo, Jimmy and Ricky  traveled the world as cruise ship entertainment, and were known for helping out other comics in times of need, thus earning their mention in the acclaimed book "I’m Dying Up Here."

As an activist for LGBTQ and immigration rights, Jimmy has marched on Capitol Hill and been interviewed by several major news outlets. Jimmy was in the original L.A. cast of "HAIR," and can most recently be seen in music videos for Vince Staples and Kanye West, commercials for Ford, Dollar Shave Club and Fuji Film, and many short films and music videos by a range of today brightest up-and-coming filmmakers. In short, the well was deep when it came to pulling stories from Jimmy’s life to write Moon Manor. 

Thus, Jimmy's real anecdotes and memories are included in the movie, but the character of “Jimmy” is fictional and the story of his last day alive is fiction.

The character and the actor do have one very important thing in common: a belief that death is something to be embraced, not feared, and a desire (if one is privileged enough to be able to make the choice) to have an intentionally designed death, surrounded by ceremony and loved ones.

2) How do you all know each other?

Erin and Machete met in 9th grade Honors English, but truly bonded when Erin cast Machete as the "Friar" in a gender reversed production of Romeo + Juliet. Growing up together in the Lake Tahoe area, swift connection was found over a love of movies, Fiona Apple, and a desire to head to the bright lights of a big city. They moved to Los Angeles in 2009 and have been making films and memories ever since.

Although they aren't blood relatives, Erin has known Jimmy since birth as "Uncle Jimmy." Jimmy was the romantic and creative partner of Erin's real uncle, Ricky Granat, who passed away in 1986 from an AIDS related illness. Jimmy has remained part of the family ever since.

After Erin introduced Machete to Jimmy, Machete instantly started casting him in her projects because duh, he’s brilliant! Does anyone have crackers to go with all this cheese?

3) Why death as the topic for your first feature?

We’ve both had very personal experiences with death, and thus we’ve found solace in Jimmy’s philosophies on what it means to embrace death, rather than fear it, in discussing the human right to choose how and when one departs from this world.

Moon Manor touches on several topical issues: the positive death movement, LGBTQ rights, living with AIDS, dying with Alzheimer’s, and yet is told with a comedic, irreverent tone. Death is the ultimate universal experience, yet is experienced in a very individual way. Fun. Sad. Terrible. Curious. Terrifying. Filled with love.

We hope to help advance terms like “death doula” and “the positive death movement” to no longer be fringe ideas, but mainstream concepts. Just showing the teaser to people has been enough to spark conversation and debate. If in ten years we look back and the film is relatable to those living and dying, then we made the film we set out to create.