Finally - House of D Post

Wrote this Monday night, only to find Blogger down. Here it is:

Liz and I went to see House of D last night at a special screening at the West Side Pavilion. When I first heard about this movie, I was terribly afraid it was only going to be a vanity piece, as David Duchovny, wrote, directed and starred in it.

I was really pleasantly wrong. This really is a great story. And I might add that I think he’s more talented as a writer/director than an actor. The story, told in flashback form, revolves around a 13 year old named Thomas (Anton Yelchin) and his efforts to keep his depressed mother (Tea Leoni), his “retarded” best friend (Robin Williams), and his newfound love interest (Robin William’s daughter Zelda) in balance. When he takes up the cause of one, the rest seem to fall, and he ends up blaming himself when he can’t keep all three balls in the air. The story is wrapped by older Thomas (David Duchovny), and his need to explain the damage done to him as a teen in order to repair the relationship with his wife and son.

The movie was followed by a Q&A with Anton Yelchin and David, who was hilarious as he helped set up the really out of date microphones. The highlight of the talk was when they handed around a microphone to audience members and a guy in the back started asked questions about his brilliant work on the Larry Sanders Show. I turned around and hey, it was Gary Shandling. Apparently David and Gary have a good friendship and David often runs scripts by Gary for feedback. I wish I had Gary Shandling on a list to hand my scripts to.

Anyway, I got up the nerve to get Liz to snap a picture of me and David. How’s that for coolness?