Hollywood native films movie locally, features big star William Macy
Brian Hecker believes you ought to enjoy life’s journey—and the 36-year-old writer/director is inviting Hollywood residents to join his journey as an extra in his new movie, Bart Got a Room. Filming began in mid October.
The “Indie” film stars William H. Macy (Fargo) and Cheryl Hines (Curb Your Enthusiasm) and is set in Hollywood. Hecker, a 1989 graduate of Hollywood Hills High School, is filming scenes at his alma mater and is using students as extras.
“Every day for the last decade I’ve done something to keep this project going,” Hecker explained during an October interview at the Hollywood Production Center, where he will complete post-production when the 20-day shoot wraps in mid-November. “Now here I am, casting my former English teacher Debra Clark’s students, and even filming at my old girlfriend’s house.”
Hecker calls Woody Allen and Neil Simon his writing inspirations, and says his comedy will “create a slightly surreal vision of this environment, with egrets, lizards and senior citizens. The opening sequence of the film will feature the Hollywood Bandshell at the beach and the Benny Goodman tune “Sing, Sing, Sing.”
Hecker based the movie on his experience as a high school senior looking for a prom date. “In real life my best friend asked me to the prom, but I held out for the romantic prospect,” Hecker explained. “I got rejected left and right, and when it came time to go back to my friend, she was already taken.”
Filmmaking caught Hecker’s attention in high school, and as a 16-year-old he and classmate Craig Sherman made a fictitious documentary “Growing Up With Stress Today.” After graduating from Northwestern University, Hecker was accepted to the American Film Institute in Los Angeles to pursue his master’s degree in directing, and wrote the basic plot to Bart Got a Room as an assignment. As his thesis he did a short film “Family Attraction” in 1998 with Martin Sheen and the late Chris Penn that can be seen on iTunes.
“Family Attraction opened doors for me to become a professional writer for MGM, Universal and Miramax,” Hecker said. “I started pitching the script for Bart Got a Room in 1997, and sold it to Universal, and they sold it to Miramax in 1998. So while it may seem like a long time to develop this movie, the more common story is that most projects die. For me, this is my big break and it’s a little bit of a miracle that this is going. This movie will change the course of my professional life.”
Plum Pictures is the company behind the movie, which has a budget of $1.5 million. In addition to Macy (who plays the father) and Hines (the mother), Alia Shawkat (Maeby in the television show Arrested Development) plays the best friend. Hecker hopes to have the film completed early next year so it can be shown at a series of film festivals.
“What also fun is my family is involved,” Hecker said. “My mother (Judy Hecker, a local real estate agent) and my father (Arnie Hecker, who lives in Plantation) are helping with the movie. I’m shooting a scene at my older brother David’s home in Lighthouse Point.
“It’s good to be the director,” Hecker continued with a laugh. “And I get to turn my life into something funny, which is really my whole shtick. I can be out there in the world, confident in my acknowledgement of my own shortcomings, even with women. Yes, it can work.”
