Indiewire
Production Report
March 7, 2007
by Jason Guerrasio
"Float"
In writer-director Johnny Asuncion’s debut feature, a middle-aged man
attempts to give two guys in their twenties some guidance while trying to
work out the struggles in his own life.
Set in Glendale, CA, "Float" follows ice cream shop owner Ray (Gregory
Itzin) who finds himself in a mid-life crisis when his wife of 30 years
leaves him. Ray shacks up at the ice cream shop until two of his
twentysomething employees (Hrach Titizian and Asuncion) find him sleeping
there and invites him to live with them. But soon the bachelor lifestyle
gets old and Ray realizes he must get his family back. At the same time his
roommates come to the harsh reality that they can’t be young and stupid
forever.
Ascuncion came up with the story over a year ago and based the Ray character
on a friend in an acting class who was going through a similar situation.
"The guy was 60-years-old and his wife left him and he was in shock and went
through this whole phase where he got a tattoo and an ear ring, I guess
things he wasn’t able to do because he got married so young, and I found
that interesting," commented Asuncion. After convincing his acting teacher,
Itzin, to play the lead, the project took a serendipitous turn when Itzin
got an Emmy nomination for his performance in "24." Asuncion says this
helped greatly in getting financing.
Shooting in Glendale was also an advantage as the heavily Armenian community
supported the project by letting them shoot in their stores and came out in
droves to play extras. In fact, the Armenian ties helped Ascuncion get
Borat’s sidekick, Ken Davitian, to come on for a small role. "Ken Davitian
is a family friend of Titizian’s and liked the script," Ascuncion says. "It
was right before the Golden Globes [where Sacha Baron Cohen recalled an
uncomfortable scene with Davitian that had the crowd in stitches] and we got
really lucky because apparently since then he’s been booked solid."
Currently in post, the film had a 20-day shoot in January. Shot on HD by
Matt Egan, the editor is Aaron Toaso. The producer is Peter Paul Basler.
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