Filmmaker-Performer Juan Pablo Di Pace (Before We Forget): "It's A Russian Doll Kind of Movie"

Show Notes

Dennis is joined via Zoom from Los Angeles by Juan Pablo Di Pace, the writer, co-director and star of the new film Before We Forget. The film is about an Argentinian film director in his 40s named Matias (played by Di Pace) who's struggling to finish a movie he's making based on his first love, 25 years ago, when he was a student at an international boarding school in Northern Italy. The movie is inspired by Juan Pablo's own experience at the same school where they shot the film, the United World College in Duino, Italy. Juan Pablo talks about the challenges he faced getting the film made, finding the perfect actor to play himself at 17, getting permission from his old school to shoot there and co-directing with his friend since childhood, Andrés Pepe Estrada who actually came to visit Juan Pablo when he was at the boarding school and is a character in the film. Juan Pablo also talks about one of the central themes of the film; that great loves from our younger closeted lives can leave marks that impact us well into adulthood. Other topics include: landing TV icon Norman Lear as an executive producer on the film, going almost all the way on Dancing With the Stars, appearing in Mamma Mia, playing an intense Marriage Story-like argument scene in the film The Mattachine Family, why it was important for him to be out in his career, the sneaky voyeuristic quality of VHS footage, getting his mother to play his mother on screen, playing Jesus Christ in the TV movie AD and shooting the crucifixion scene on Day 2 and the important role delusion plays where you're trying to make your creative dreams come true.

www.beforeweforgetmovie.com