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Boxtop presents

Film Director Whit Stillman
"Last Days of Disco"

July 16, 1998

Whit Stillman burst onto the independent film scene with his comedy of manners, Metropolitan. The film was well-received by critics and he followed it up with Barcelona several years later. Acting as writer, director, and producer, Stillman is never short on hats to wear on the set. With his latest film, The Last Days of Disco, Whit Stillman captures the essence of New York in the early ‘80s, when everything was about to change for good.

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CCCMyst: Talk City Presents, in association with iXL Live, welcomes you to tonight’s feature presentation. And now without further ado, please welcome Whit Stillman. Whit, welcome to Talk City!

Whit Stillman: Thanks!

Mysterygirl: Whit, welcome to Talk City! Tell us about your new movie, The Last Days of Disco.

Whit Stillman: Well, the Last Days of Disco is about two young women who come to NYC in 1981, who are publisher trainees. It’s about how they come to a club and meet 5 men who all know each other from Harvard and the summer experiences they have from there.

Rtang84: How does it feel accomplishing such a big feat writing a novel on Disco?

Whit Stillman: Well, I haven't written the novel yet. I haven't actually signed the contract. The film script will eventually become a novel, but all of that doesn't exist yet.

Xfilly: I truly enjoy your work Whit! Keep the entertainment coming!

Whit Stillman: Thanks! I hope the Last Days of Disco is still playing where most people live and we're fighting to keep it on the screen , in the midst of all the new films coming out.

Jackie: Disco was such a short-lived period of history. Do you think it will come back? Does your movie hope to revive a new era of disco ?

Whit Stillman: I want to present Disco in a way different from the sort of broad cliché comical version of it that's been in the pop culture since the Disco Sucks movement. It's not very easy to bring back a period, nor would you want to bring back an entire period, but it's a way to look back at Disco in a more specific and effective way. Also, the film is true in the world it portrays, although it wasn't as true to the broadest multitudes.

Win-dex: What is your next project?

Whit Stillman: I've got a couple of projects, two I'm very excited about. One is a historical film set in the Revolution, with Tories fighting Whigs. I hope it will be a bit of an adventure film. Second, last week we got a call from a theatrical producer who wants to turn the Last Days of Disco into a musical. That struck me as a very good idea.

Brauley: What's the hardest thing about directing a movie like Disco?

Whit Stillman: I was just talking with some other producers, and I think one of the hardest things was coordinating the efforts of the creative crew, to make the movie you want to make. Everyone has their ideas of how it should be and they often conflict in their final form.

Trigger: Whit, how did you get into this business?

Whit Stillman: Very, slowly. I came out of college and did the route the girls in the film do. I went into a training program in a publishing house, had a series of jobs, got into the film industry through the Spanish film industry. I got to know a little bit about the business of how movies are made, appeared in a few as an actor and set about making

My Own Film: METROPOLITAN. I knew I would have to hire myself to do a film, no one else would.

Trailhook: You are multi-talented! How do you handle so many tasks on a day-to-day basis? You must love your work!

Whit Stillman: I love having my work done, and I love the beginning of the process. Then it becomes a strange roller coaster ride, except that you've got to do the pushing.

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