Michael Corrente recently spoke to friends and family at The Columbus Theater on Broadway about his latest movie, “Brooklyn Rules,” starring Freddie Prinze Jr., Scott Caan, Jerry Ferrara, Mena Suvari and Alec Baldwin. He said he chose to direct and produce the film because it reminded him of his first film, “Federal Hill,” and of growing up in the ’80s. The movie, written by Emmy winning screenwriter Terence Winter (“The Sopranos”), is the fifth full-length feature film Corrente has directed in his career. But he has big plans for the future and big plans for building the film industry in Rhode Island.
PBN: Why did you decide to move back to Rhode Island after living in New York City for 25 years?
CORRENTE: I came back here a year ago. … I moved back initially to do pre-production work for the Buddy Cianci movie (“The Prince of Providence”) and felt so comfortable back here that I just thought, “What, am I crazy? Providence right now is one of the hippest cities in the country. There’s so much going on.” The tax credits were a big incentive. … I thought “Why can’t I just do it here?”
PBN: When you’re a filmmaker, does it matter where you live?
CORRENTE: No … You need a cell phone and a computer, and you could live on Mars.
PBN: Is there anything you think the state needs to become more of a hotbed for filmmaking?
CORRENTE: I think right now it is a hotbed for filmmaking, and it’s only going to get hotter. … If it’s lacking anything, it’s a larger crew base. A crew base is technicians and film people who can actually help studios get movies made. Right now they bring them in from other states. But that’s building by the day here. … That’s part of what I want to do. I’ve got a slate of 10 horror movies that I’m going to make in Rhode Island, which I’m in the process doing now.
PBN: How do you plan to build a crew base in Rhode Island through these horror films?
CORRENTE: It’s 10 horror movies for $1 million each. And I’m setting up a screenwriting competition for people in colleges throughout Rhode Island, and the winner gets their film made. … These are the kinds of movies that I’ll take all of these young people and say, “Hey you want to be in a film, you want to work on a movie? Film school just started. You’ll learn more doing that in two years … than in 10 years of film school.”
PBN: What inspired you to want to make horror movies?
CORRENTE: Every three weeks the No. 1 movie at the box office is a cheesy, low-budget, independent horror movie made for $3 million and grossing $240 million.
PBN: Why is it important to get the students involved?
CORRENTE: Because they have their finger on the pulse of what is hip and what makes sense in the film industry in the horror genre. It’s also important for me to get people from here to learn the trade because a) it’s a rise for employment and b) it saves me money when I don’t have to pay for a technician to come in from New York and pay for their hotel.
PBN: Tell me more about “Brooklyn Rules.”
CORRENTE: It’s going to be released in Providence, Boston, New York City and L.A. [on May 11]. And the business side of it is this: This is called a platform release. You put it out in four or five markets, give it some benchmarks to hit; if it hits those benchmarks you go to 10 more markets. Movies like “Good Will Hunting” started like that. It opened on a screen in New York and one in LA. Critics raved, 10 more markets. Critics raved again, 20 more markets. Because the average film to release costs about $30 million … this way you spend $1 million or $2 million, and you basically probe the marketplace.
PBN: Is fundraising one of the hardest aspects of being a filmmaker?
CORRENTE: Yes … film school should be six months of theory and three and a half years of learning how to raise money. [I’ve done the fundraising] on my own for every film for upwards of $80- or $90 million in private equity, and it’s brutal. It’s heartbreaking and difficult.
PBN: How do you raise money?
CORRENTE: You have certain investors that you’ve worked with in the past, and they know other investors. You target people and companies that have the ability and the interest in the industry that are willing to and can take some risk. You present it to them. They look at your track record. They look at films that you’ve made. … It can be risky, but as I’ve moved down the road I’ve managed to take some of the risk out of it. But it’s still making a movie. You’re not buying blue-chip stock on Wall Street. But nothing hits like a movie when it hits, if it hits.
PBN: How would you describe your career, where you are right now?
CORRENTE: I think my career is right where I’ve always wanted it to be. I often said when I started, when I made “Federal Hill,” I didn’t want to start at the top and have nowhere to go except be criticized for every film you make for the rest of your life. I said I wanted to start in my 30s and slowly build, making films that I care about. … I just want a nice, slow, steady climb with some success and plateaus and success and plateaus.
PBN: What’s the status of “The Prince of Providence?”
CORRENTE: We are [one] week away from announcing the actor [who will play Cianci. The filming schedule] will depend on the schedule of the actor. … In the film business it’s hurry up and wait until it goes, and then its madness.
Position: Producer, director, screenwriter
Background: After seeing a play at Trinity Repertory Company while he was in high school, Corrente was inspired to pursue a career in acting. But once he’d completed Trinity’s rigorous four-year conservatory program, he realized that directing was what he really wanted to do. He moved to New York City, where he directed and produced many plays with a group called Studio B Theater Ensemble. In 1993, he directed and shot his first film, “Federal Hill,” in Rhode Island, based on a play he had written. Since then he’s directed four major full-length feature films and produced nine. His next project is a movie adaptation of Mike Stanton’s “The Prince of Providence,” about former Mayor Vincent A. Cianci.
Education: Trinity Repertory Conservatory, 1981, Providence
Residence: Providence
Age: 48
