the puffy chair Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The crowds at Sundance may be thinning out, but the deals are continuing. In their second acquisition of the week, Sony Pictures Classics nabbed North American rights to Baghead, the new comedy from the filmmaking team of Mark and Jay Duplass. Variety says that the negotiations were not concluded until very early Friday morning; the purchase price is said to be somewhere in the mid to six figures.

Growing up in New Orleans, the Duplass Brothers made many "films" in their hometown before moving to Austin and attending college there. They worked as film editors before resuming their filmmaking career. Several award winning shorts led to their first and quite wonderful feature, The Puffy Chair, which premiered at Sundance in 2005. Mark Duplass played a key role in that role, and has also acted in other films, such as Joe Swanberg's sprightly Hannah Takes the Stairs.

Baghead brings together four ambitious and horny actors as they spend a weekend in the woods, hashing out ideas for a film script, teasing out mutual attractions, and dealing with a bare-chested man with a bag over his head (see accompanying picture). It's a "terrific, genre-bending" accomplishment, declared SXSW Producer Matt Dentler at his indieWIRE blog.

Earlier in the week, Sony Classics picked up rights to the drama Frozen River, so this looks a good complementary addition to their release slate. Perhaps it will play a few more festivals to build more word of mouth in advance of a theatrical release.

Brothers Jay and Mark Duplass (pictured above) have been making movies for a long time. After spending a ton of money and producing unsatisfying content, the Duplass boys were about to give up the dream and settle down into a nice corporate job. That is, until the night Mark decided they were not going to leave their apartment without making another film. For three dollars (cost of tape) and no screenplay, Jay used his parents' home video camera to capture Mark playing a character who can't seem to record a message for his answering machine. One 20-minute take later and the boys had completed their film. They called it, This is John. Little did they know, but this three-dollar short would define their careers.

All Josh (Mark Duplass) wanted to do was pick up the puffy chair he bought off e-bay and deliver it to his father for the old man's birthday. Throw in a volatile girlfriend (Kathryn Aselton), a bizarre brother (Rhett Wilkins) and a wacky road-trip and you have the premise for one of this summer's funniest films -- The Puffy Chair. Although The Puffy Chair has already been released in several markets, the film opens for the first time in New York City this Friday at the Angelika Film Center. The other night, I attended a screening of The Puffy Chair, hosted by those fabulous folks over at The L Magazine. Afterwards, I had a chance to sit down with the film's director, Jay Duplass, and pick his brain over a few pints of beer. While it was hard to ignore the awfully loud folks enjoying "Erotic Poetry Night" next door, Jay and I couldn't help but immerse ourselves in a conversation about his films, his career and his exciting future ...

Cinematical: Okay, so why The Puffy Chair? Where did the film come from?

Jay Duplass: If you knew our mom, you would know that a giant lay-z-boy would never be allowed in our household. We always dreamed about having lay-z-boys, but she never allowed it. My grandfather did have a sofa in the 80's and he had a phone built into it. So, he would call you just to tell you he was calling from the sofa. But the reality is [the film] was not about the chair, it was more about making a relationship movie. Needing a format and a venue in order to carry that relationship out. And that was, like, a road trip where [the main character] was delivering something to his father and we thought, the more absurd, the better. Ya know, it's really not about this chair, it's more about his relationship with this girl and them being at that point in their relationship where, ya know, it's sh*t or get off the pot time -- like we either need to get married or break up. We've come this far, we should know by now. And, I mean, for us -- my brother and I are co-creators -- and, ya know, we just think it's hilarious and tragic at the same time that you can be in a relationship and, one day, you're like, "This is it! This is the one. This is it!" And the next day you're like, "Who is this alien that is living with me? I need to get the f*ck out."

One of the great things about film festivals is that, every now and again, you'll stumble upon a great little film made for next to no money; The Puffy Chair is just such a film. Directed by Jay Duplass and written by (and starring) his brother Mark, The Puffy Chair is a low-budget indie flick, but sharp dialogue, smart filmmaking and real characters make for a fun, quirky ride through the turmoil a road trip puts on an already shaky relationship. At the heart of the story are Josh, a 20-something musician who has given up playing with his band for the (relatively speaking) more stable life of a booking manager, and his long-time girlfriend, Emily (Kathryn Aselton). Josh (Mark Duplass) finds a purple recliner on the internet -- the puffy chair of the title -- that's just like the chair his dad had when he was a kid. He buys the chair through eBay, with the intent of taking a solitary road trip to pick the chair up and deliver it to his dad for his birthday.

I think it's rare to watch raw independent filmmakers slowly push their way into theaters and actually succeed at doing so. I first noticed brothers Jay and Mark Duplass through their shorts, specifically The Intervention. For those of you who haven't seen it, the film is available on their MySpace page along with a few others. The thing that's great about the shorts is, while mixing the perfect blend of comedy and drama, they're all incredibly simple ... yet very complex.

Ultimately, these shorts are what led to their first feature film, The Puffy Chair. After winning an audience award at SXSW, pic hits arthouse theaters across the country this weekend -- and Austin is stoked about it. Variety is now reporting that Brothers Duplass have signed a blind deal (does that mean they can't see it, but need to trust it is there?) with producers Mary Parent and Scott Stuber to write and eventually direct a film. What kind of film? Hell if I know, but seeing as these two producers are behind The Break Up and You, Me and Dupree, there's a good chance we're talking big commercial hit. These boys may soon need to paint that red chair gold. Good for them -- I dig that kind of journey.

The last deal of Sundance 2005 was announced the day we got to Park City for Sundance 2006. After a year-long tour of festivals worldwide, Mark and Jay Duplass have scored a deal with Roadside Attractions and Netflix to release their relationship comedy,The Puffy Chair. As I understand it, the deal is for both theatrical and DVD distribution, though not, as some are reporting simultaneously. Roadside plans to put the film in theaters next summer with both their logo and Netflix' on the print. Netflix will promote the release through their channels, but when the theatrical window closes and DVD distriubution begins, they'll not hold on to exclusive rights.

It's a pretty traditional deal, by the looks of it, which is sort of disappointing – the film is a cult classic waiting to be discovered, and seems like the perfect candidate for a Cuban-esque simultaneous release.