A Shameless Plug
On Monday night at the Tribeca Film Festival I saw a wonderful movie that deserves wider recognition—and a theatrical release. Called Special Thanks to Roy London, it's the story of acting coach Roy London, who died of AIDS in 1993. I hadn't heard of London, who never allowed his acting classes to be recorded and gave only two interviews. But as this documentary shows, he had a fascinating life and a huge influence on an enormous number of actors, including Jeff Goldblum, Garry Shandling, Sharon Stone, Geena Davis, and Hank Azaria. It's quite remarkable to watch a film in which Hollywood stars talk modestly about their own gifts and expansively about how much someone else made them better. Roy London sounds like a very special person.
Now, full disclosure: The film is directed by Christopher Monger and co-produced by Karen Montgomery, who happens to be his wife. I know them both a little bit; Christopher wrote the screenplay for the never-made film of American Son. (If you're interested, e-mail me, we'll have lunch.) This film was a labor of love for him and Karen, and it shows. They did an amazing job.
