[This article is part of an ongoing series profiling New York films and filmmakers at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. Click here for other features in the series.]
Off the Black was almost done. Almost. What its veteran producer Scott Macaulay sort of shruggingly referred to it as a “photo finish,” its writer-director James Ponsoldt laughed off a little more nervously.
“I think we were probably in the last batch of films to submit to Sundance,” Ponsoldt said last weekend. “We shot really late. So we were doing the sound mix this past week at Sound One, and we finished that late Friday, and we’re doing our Dolby imprint Monday. We saw our first answer print Friday, and then we’re going to have the second print Tuesday or Wednesday. We’re doing titles as we speak; I think those are probably going to be done Tuesday. And our first screening is Friday.”
And then there were all “the weird things about emulsion.” Nevertheless, the irrepresible Ponsoldt–a first-time feature director whose shorts have screened in dozens of festivals around the world–was virtually counting down the days to Off the Black‘s Eccles Theatre premiere. And why not? The Brooklyn resident will travel to Sundance with one of the festival’s most anticipated titles, starring Nick Nolte as a lonely, washed-up high school baseball umpire who strikes up a bizarre relationship with a young pitcher (Trevor Morgan) he catches vandalizing his house.
“It was fantastic,” Ponsoldt said of working with Nolte. “Obviously, a lot of people have an idea of what Nick Nolte is like as a personality, but he’s such a sweet guy. If he has an ego, I didn’t notice it. He was kind and awesome to everybody on set, and he really committed himself to do it.”
But, dude–Nick Nolte. On your first feature. “He read it and said he wanted to meet me,” Ponsoldt said. “So I went out to L.A. to meet him. I guess he wanted just make sure I wasn’t a fucking idiot or a jerk or whatever, because once he said he would do it, from that point on, he was willing to do anything, and he was the easiest actor to work with.”
As a world premiere, Off the Black naturally travels to Sundance without a distribution deal in place. Macaulay has plenty of experience with the feeding frenzy that can result from this, but he and co-producer Robin O’Hara are not letting the extra work and pressure overwhelm them. “We’re excited about Sundance because we think it’s the perfect festival to launch this film,” he said. “And at the same time, as a producer, you sort of have to take the long view on everything.”
Ponsoldt is equally philosophical. “I had somebody once tell me that when you’re making features, there are two distinct parts,” he said. “The making of the film, and the selling of the film. And don’t corrupt the former with the latter, or you’ll probably compromise anything that’s meaningful to you. So I guess the big difference is the selling part of it.”
Not that he is preoccupying himself too much with that before the titles are even done, or with so many other movies finding their ways to his schedule–especially some of those by his film school colleagues from Columbia.
“I don’t think Sundance is the ideal place to see films you want to see, especially if you have a film there,” he said. “It’s kind of a gross mob scene. I don’t really like going to parties. But I’m going to be there for pretty much the whole festival, and what I’m resolute in doing is seeing my friends’ films. … I just want to see the films that sound wonderful.”

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