LOGLINE
It’s Hollywood, 1978. Comedian Ron Jordy is desperate to break out of type-casting hell as America’s zaniest short gay guy. After sabotaging his career in a fit of rage on stage, Ron is shocked to discover he's the father of LOLA (10, Korean-American), birthed from a one-night stand with VIRGINIA at Woodstock ten years prior. As his world is turned upside down, Ron’s support group Recovering Comics Anonymous (RCA) convinces him to follow his artistic dream: to make a feature film based on his script about a vineyard facing familial implosion. While making his film with his misfit RCA members Ron collides with cultural warnings of an unknown immune-deficiency disease wreaking havoc on the Gay community. "Ron" is an improv-spirited ensemble comedy about early-AIDS Hollywood, written for actors to bring to their roles whatever they envision.
DESIRED CAST
RON: Leslie Jordan ///Attached///
LOLA: TBD
GLORIA: Margaret Cho ///Attached///
HOWIE: Guy Pearce
DAPHNEY: Wanda Sykes
MITCH: Tatiana Maslany
TRUETT: Lupita Nyong'o
ELVIS: Russell Brand
HILDA: Joan Darling ///Attached///
CHANCE: J Todd Anderson ///Attached///
OSCAR: TBD
(Casting Director’s suggestions welcome)
TARGET START DATE: SUMMER 2021
Executive Producers: Margaret Cho & Leslie Jordan
///ATTACHED///
RON:
Leslie Jordan
Ron Jordy is a Hollywood actor and comic who, above all else, values the truth of the moment on stage and screen. Ron’s deepest wish is to break out of Hollywood’s type-casting hamster wheel, an infinity of predictable roles as the “funny, short Gay guy from Tennessee”. Living under the shadow of his father and Vaudevillian actor, Oscar (who chose straight life for daylight and Gay life for moonlight), Ron longs for Oscar’s validation of his acting endeavors. Tormented with the spirit of the bottle, Ron has a tendency towards outrage: a destructive pattern that never fails to drive Ron to the depths of regret. Ron is a well-read and brilliant visionary, writer, and film director that everyone loves to work with. Ron trusts his actors to bring their imaginations to their characters and unleash true magic on stage and screen.
LOLA: TBD
Lola is a child prodigy abandoned by her drug-addicted mother, VIRGINIA. Ron discovers Lola in his dressing room the night he implodes on stage at one of Hollywood’s most prestigious comedy clubs. The instability and trauma Lola has endured has driven her to silence, a coping mechanism giving her something she can control in her life. A voracious reader, Lola discovers a boxful of acting books in her bedroom at Ron’s house. Completely immersed, Lola discovers her affinity for acting inspired by Stanislavsky, Stella Adler, and Sanford Meisner’s pursuit of realism. Lola absorbs nuanced wisdom from the masters that will ultimately lead her re-direct a critical scene in Ron’s film. Lola is Gloria’s wardrobe and Art Department assistant in Ron’s film.
///Attached///
GLORIA: Margaret Cho
An empath at heart, Gloria owns Flower Shop, the place she meets Ron and Lola. Gloria is Lola’s true lifeline during a confusing time of transition. It is Gloria who draws Lola out, paving the way for her to dare to speak her truth when she’s ready. A veteran in the film industry, Gloria is in charge of wardrobe in Ron’s film.
HOWIE:
Serious, troubled, driven, Howie is one cool cat. A British adjunct Shakespeare professor at Oxford, Howie’s fashion sense is like no other; way too fly for a white guy. Howie is Ron’s unofficial partner who refuses to share a bed with Ron because Ron can’t overcome his battle with the bottle. Ron’s Assistant Director and fellow actor in Ron’s film, Howie’s calm and in-charge presence is irreplaceable on set. Ron’s appetite to put it all on the line for Art’s sake is the sense of adventure that attracts Howie to Ron, which doesn’t always promise a painless landing.
DAPHNEY:
Daphney is a comic who is fiery about everyone getting their fair shake regardless of gender, sexual identity, or Color. This fuels her truth-telling comedy on stage and acting for screen. A card shark, numbers are her thing. Daphney is the master of details. With extended experience in spreadsheets and budgets Daphney acts in Ron’s film as “AUDRE”, and works as his line producer. Beware: nothing gets past Daphney. Having a history with a close family member who died of AIDS, Daphney recognizes indications in Ron’s health before anyone else.
MITCH:
Mitch is not a man. Her full name is Margaret Marrs. Her father is Hollywood’s most legendary cinematographer, Tid Marrs. Excitable, Mitch is a fellow comic who’s raw enthusiasm for life keeps her booked in the most burlesque clubs in L.A. Mitch is always ready to pounce on an epic idea for her self-made films. She carries a handheld recorder everywhere she goes for a reason. Mitch is Ron’s Cinematographer in the film.
TRUETT:
Ron’s sound mixer and boom operator, Truett is the youngest member of RCA. A fiery Feminist seeking equality and true integration everywhere, Truett’s improv, hip-hop, and reclaiming ‘herstory’ for ‘history’ are the big three that get her out of bed. Truett is loyal and ready to go to battle alongside anyone facing injustice to which she is witness.
ELVIS:
A long-haired hippie Brit who saw the horrors of WWII first hand, Elvis has found peace in the universal call to self-emptying. A comic, Elvis is the special FX master and rigging MacGyver. Envision an enlightened Dell Preston, from Wayne’s World 2, and you have Elvis. Elvis is master of ceremonies at RCA meetings, led by chimes of his Tibetan singing bowl.
///Attached///
HILDA:
Joan Darling
The decades-long owner of The Comedy Store in Hollywood, Hilda has been a friend of Ron’s family since Ron was in diapers. Having witnessed Ron’s implosion on her stage, Hilda knows Ron is better than this. A woman who takes shit from nobody, Hilda is a source of deep wisdom and compassion. Hilda is a believer in living your truth no matter the cost. Hilda is instrumental in inspiring Ron to finish his film amidst growing health challenges. Hilda turns out a game-changing improv performance in Ron’s film that gives it the lift it needs to finish strong.
“I first worked with Ben at the Sundance Co/Lab. I found him so imaginative and with a ferocious desire to learn and experiment.
When he asked me to join him in this film I was thrilled. He and I share many values and have a shared precious sense for the importance of art in one’s life.”
///Attached///
CHANCE:
J Todd Anderson
Chance is Ron's polyester and gold-chain clad manager who embodies the Hollywood playboy motif. Chance cares about one thing outside of cheap sex: Money at any cost. Chance gives zero shits about Ron’s desire to break out of his type-casting purgatory, and is loyal to nobody but himself. When attempting to take over Ron’s film with Russian Oligarch money, Chance insists Ron use his new up-and-coming talent, Alabaster Diamonds, who is winning the hearts of mother Russia with his mind-blowing improv.
OSCAR: TBD
Ron’s father who can’t afford to validate his son’s creative talent for deeper reasons. Oscar rests on his laurels. He’s made a good living in Hollywood as a C-grade Vaudevillian actor who has chosen the straight life for his bank account. Married to Ron’s mother LYN-O for sixty-five years, Oscar has an ‘understanding’ with Lyn-O with regard to his Friday night Texas Hold-em group. Oscar will go to his grave with the mantra, “The straight life is the great life.”
Directed by The Bunk Bed Brothers
Ben A. Eisner
Owner of Knitted Heart, a Social Justice-driven production company in Los Angeles, Eisner’s ultimate passion is telling discourse-disrupting stories that reframe time-worn social, racial, and gender norms that prevent us from waking up to our present unity. With a desire to become a more empathetic director and subtextual screenwriter, Ben gained Sanford Meisner acting training at an accredited Meisner conservatory in Chicago in 2018. Ben studied under Coen Brothers’ storyboard artist, J. Todd Anderson (attached as CHANCE), to master the craft of shot-lists and storyboards — the art of making the film on paper first — the proven formula for wrapping productions on time and on budget. Most importantly this method maximizes space for actors do what they do best: channel the truth presented each moment.
In 2020 Ben was accepted into a Sundance Institute course, Directing Actors, taught by critically acclaimed director, Joan Darling (Attached as HILDA). With grandparents who survived Hitler’s Holocaust Ben was offered EU citizenship from Germany; a deeply healing experience for Ben whose ultimate inspiration to always show up is fueled by his irrepressible grandmother Hildegard Proskauer-Eisner - aka “Omi”.
Bryan Mir
Son of a Cuban immigrant, Bryan has committed himself to telling stories since his dad brought home the only camcorder in the neighborhood around 1984. Bryan continues his work directing projects for artists like Sara Bareilles, Jason Mraz & Brantley Gilbert, along with big box companies like GE, Kohler & Miller Brewing Company. Bryan's passion of late is capturing the real-time activism of Asháninka tribe Leader Benki Piyānko (the Amazon's “Dalai Lama”), who has committed his life to eradicating the Deforestation of the Amazon. Working for over a decade as a professional musician and 25 years clocked as a professional director/editor, Bryan shares his time between Venice, California and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
©bunk bed bros 2020