I cannot start to talk about the film without first mentioning my beautiful 1932 Ford Roadster, the love of my life. The Deuce came into my life in August of 2006, after over 6 months of intense searching for a 32 Roadster. I had always wanted one but finances did not permit. Now that I was taking a break from music, I had the chance to save a little money and decided it was time to bring a deuce into my life. For more info on how I bought the car and the car itself please Click Here. Now at the wheel of my Deuce, with a smile going from ear to ear, and bugs in my teeth, I was actively cruising, meeting other hotrodders, going to every car show, car meet, car cruise, car anything I could find and basically, having a blast with my hotrod. I made many many many hotrod friends that way. I especially enjoyed learning how to do repairs, and the bonding between man and machine that results when your work on your own rod.

In January of 2007, the nation was celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the Deuce and I decided to contribute by making a one hour home made documentary about women and 32 Roadsters, called “LAST OF THE HIBOY GIRLS”, honoring the female pioneers of hotrodding who paved the way for women like me, such as Veda Orr. I played my documentary next to my Deuce inside the Suede Palace at the Grand National Roadster Show, where my car was displayed. To my surprise and delight, I found that people kept flocking to watch it. I saw the huge smile on their faces and how happy they were to see this film about a Deuce and I became inspired to try my hand, at a full feature fiction film next, which would be, needless to say, about a Deuce Roadster. At the time I thought that was, by far, the craziest idea I had ever had and would be the most challenging undertaking to date. So you bet I had to do it and I had to do it NOW. So I got started on it a mere two weeks later.

The rest is history!

Writing was one of my loves, and it started with poetry when I was 12, soon moving to songwriting. I wrote a first screenplay when I was 22 but was to not write another one until I started working on DEUCE OF SPADES in January of 2007.

As a teenager, I enjoyed performing arts and was in a theater group. Acting came very naturally to me. Becoming a professional actress however never had much of an appeal to me and even though I enjoyed acting, it could not possibly compare to the fulfillment I felt when singing my own songs and pouring my heart out to an audience through them. For that reason, I did not pursue a career in the film industry when I came to Los Angeles, despite the opportunities.

Another passion of mine was for anything mechanical. It started with motorcycles when I was 13 and soon I was tearing my dad’s car’s two barrel carburetor and cleaning it for him. I remember walking into our livingroom one day, when I was 14, and asking my father, out of the blue, to explain how a car worked. As he went on about pistons, compression, ignition, cam and overhead valves, I found myself both fascinated and delighted. I picked up a book about mechanics and started devouring it. I believe my passion for cars came from my grandfather, who was a mechanic himself and ran his own shop, quite successfully so, until a tragic car crash claimed his life. He was only 32. I never had the chance to meet him but he must be smiling upon me now as I carry the torch and create this hotrod film, a tribute to the golden era of the automobile.

A hopeless idealist with a good head on her shoulder, I am a “move mountain” “do it yourself” renaissance woman who believes anything is possible, with a little faith and if you put your mind to it. I enjoy learning and constantly need new challenges to keep my mind stimulated. In short, everything you need to pull off a full feature period film on a zero budget and entirely by yourself.

A self taught cinematographer, I found that perhaps making films might have been my calling all along, but I was too busy with music to hear it… It just seems to come naturally to me. I can waltz in on a set, do everything from A to Z, film an entire scene without a story board or even a shot list and waltz out and it will edit seamlessly (as well as look very professional). This phenomenon has puzzled quite a few of my industry ‘pro’ friends. “How does she do it?” commented Blue Nelson, a filmmaker friend of mine who has worked in the film industry all his life: “It costs us lots of money to make a shot look good and she does it effortlessly, with no crew and on a zero budget”.

It has been extremely gratifying to see all this HARD work pay off and witness my film project snow balling into epic proportions, none of which I ever dreamt could be possible. I have been getting “hats down” from both the hotrodding community and the indie filmmaking community. I have received many emails of support from people:

“Thank you for making this movie – You brought my youth back!” or even: “I didn’t think it was possible but after looking at your movie trailer, you have inspired me to finally get started on my own movie and do it myself” and sometimes: “You inspired me to start working again on my hotrod, which had been sitting in the garage for 5 years, now, untouched. I can’t wait to finish it and drive my roadster and I am going to keep it old school, just like your car in the film”

If I can touch and inspire people with this film, I will have already been blessed ten times over. I could not hope for more.

DEUCE OF SPADES is expected to be at least 2 hours and 10 minutes long, ranking in length right alongside period dramas such as “Fried Green Tomatoes”, “The Notebook”, “Master and Commander” etc… It will feature about 65% of period flashbacks and 35% of modern days footage. Included in the film are a 1955 flashback dragstrip scene, two 1953 flashback street race scenes, including a cop and jalopy chase, a modern day dragstrip scene, a 1955 night illegal street race, 1953 flashback gas station scene, 1955 flashback dry lake racing scene, 1953 flashback swing dancing (featuring the world’s champion Lindy Hop dancers). In the modern day section: Car shows, drag races, a car meet, a swing dance, a street race, a group cruise and more…

DEUCE OF SPADES is truly a hotrod movie, made by a hotrodder, about the car culture of yesterday and today and it promises to delight the hotrodders worldwide and to establish itself as a one-of-its- kind cult film. Because the story line is one of depth and strong human interest, the film also has the potential for broad appeal and to reach a much broader audience, introducing the old hotrods to the general public.

The target completion date is Summer 2009.

The DVD will feature not only the film but also some behind the scenes clips, bloopers, interviews with the cast and the filmmaker and most importantly the specs of the three main hotrods as well as a recap of most of the classic cars and hotrods that can be seen during the film’s flashbacks.

The Cast

With a large cast comprising of well over 60 talented actors, DEUCE OF SPADES features up and coming brand new talent from all over Southern California. The cast has major studio caliber and all have donated their time and labor to the cause. A hard core, dedicated bunch, the young actors oftentimes helped me in moving gear, preparing sets, setting up lights and more. Conditions on the set were rough at best, and sometimes outright horrible, yet none of my actors quit on me. In fact it seemed they would have followed me to the edge of the earth and jumped off it with me, if I had asked them to. The boys once were forced to sleep in a trailer without any A/C while filming in the desert in August, with temps soaring at over 115 F and to shower out of a garden hose. None of them ever snapped, or even complained once. Tim, our lead man, slept on a cot under the stars many many nights, sometimes sleeping next to the gear to guard it. On the set we had the best vibe, both cast and crew comprised of truly wonderful people that I was blessed to work with from April 15th until December of 2008.
The main cast comprises of:

FLASHBACK SECTION:

Tim McReynolds…………………..JOHNNY CALLAWAY
Alexandra Holder………………… BETTIE THOMPSON (Johnny’s girl)
Kyle Clifford……………………… ART DELANEY (Johnny’s best friend)
Jordan Warren…………………….TOMMY MILLER (Johnny’s buddy and Saugus dragstrip flagman)
Kristen Findley…………………….SANDY (Art’s girl)
Alana Stites ………………………PEGGIE (Bettie’s friend)
Peggy Sue Honeyman Scott…… JEANNE CALLAWAY (Johnny’s mother)
Wes Kemp………………………….JAMES CALLAWAY (Johnny’s father)
Frank O’Leary……………………..TONI CROSCIATO aka “FRESNO” (Johnny’s new rival)

MODERN DAYS:

Faith Granger……………………. THE GIRL
El Mirage George………………… GENE WINFIELD

Please note that I am currently in the process of casting for the modern day scenes so as the line up is finalized, I will add the names here.

Here are someTeasers:

The Deuce and I make a national TV appearance on the CBS show “Sunday Morning”

World renown customizer and Hall of Fame hotrod legend Gene Winfield accepts a part in DEUCE OF SPADES. Scene is shot on location at SCTA time trial meet.

The Deuce of Spades and myself get filmed and interviewed by the FOOD channel and end up on National Television!

New Zealand Hotrod Magazine, New Zealand’s oldest and strongest running hot rod magazine mentions the film on their cover and features a 3 page color spread about the film: “DEUCE OF SPADES world exclusive first look”.

DEUCE OF SPADES gets a nice write up in NITRO, France’s biggest hotrod magazine

DEUCE OF SPADES gets some nice exposure in V8 magazine (Finland´s biggest American car magazine).

Wild motorcycle magazine (FRANCE) publishes a nice size write up about the film.

To be completed in the Summer of 2009