His talent isn't retirement

Eckerd College film instructor and director Ron Satlof gets bored not working. So at 69, he's helming his first movie.

By STEVE PERSALL, Times Film Critic
Published January 12, 2008

Ron Satlof prepares to direct a dance concert scene from the independent film Misconceptions at Eckerd College's Bininger Theatre on Friday.
	[Martha Rial | Times]

Sometimes those who teach still can do.

Ron Satlof is proving that at Eckerd College, where he teaches introductory filmmaking classes. The Emmy- and Academy Award-nominated director spent this week shooting key scenes on campus for Misconceptions, an independently produced comedy-drama starring Orlando Jones Evolution, Mad TV and A.J. Cook (The Virgin Suicides, TV's Criminal Minds).

Satlof, 69, hadn't directed since the short-lived TV series 18 Wheels of Justice four years ago. He couldn't resist the chance to helm his first theatrical release after a career including episodes of Hawaii Five-O, The A-Team and Diagnosis Murder.

"I discovered I didn't have any talent for retirement," he said Friday while briefly meeting with Tampa Bay area media. "You have to be talented to retire well; otherwise, you're bored. That's what happened to me."

Misconceptions began production Jan. 3 at various Pinellas County locations. Principle photography is expected to continue until Feb. 5. Working from Ira Pearlstein's original screenplay, Satlof bolstered his crew and staff with dozens of volunteers and unpaid extras, including several of his students, stretching a shoestring $500,000 budget as far as it will go.

Pearlstein, a Brooklyn attorney, was inspired by New York Times articles about surrogate mothers preferring to help same-sex couples, and evangelical Christians overcoming infertility problems with frozen embryos.

Misconceptions isn't affected by the current Writers Guild of America strike because Pearlstein isn't a member. Otherwise, production couldn't proceed.

"I've been spending a lot of time crying for joy," he said of watching his ideas come to life.

Jones plays Terry, a choreographer and designer who, with his partner (David Moscow), hires Miranda (Cook) to carry their child. Miranda's belief that God wants her to help a gay couple become parents leads to funny and touching cultural conflicts.

Misconceptions also co-stars familiar TV faces David Sutcliffe (Gilmore Girls), Sarah Carter (Smallville) and Sam Ball (One Life to Live). The cast is working for minimal pay, matching the budget. Satlof called their participation "a huge sacrifice," but Cook disagreed.

"It was a blessing that this script fell in my lap," she said. "I don't see it as a sacrifice at all."

Misconceptions fits snugly into a current trend of films about pregnancy issues, such as Juno, Knocked Up, Waitress and Bella. Satlof never guessed two years ago when Pearlstein offered the script that it would be timely.

"Any time you think you have an original idea, you'll discover there are four others similar to it in the works," he said. "In this case, it's the issue of parenthood, plus the clash of cultures between gay culture that is trying to become normalized and states that are trying to pass laws forbidding that.

"We're bumping both cultures up against what is anathema to them to see what would happen."

Jones brushed off comparing Misconceptions with other pregnancy-themed films.

"I don't think of stories as trends," he said. "I just like anything that talks about the human condition.

"The fact that some movies with similar themes have been successful is balanced by the fact that there are just as many you haven't heard of that failed. It's just a chance to talk about those issues without the commercial expectations that often come in the studio system."

Satlof expects both sides of the film's hot-button issue to be treated respectfully.

"There's no fall guy in our script," he said. "When this script started out . . . it was contemptuous of evangelical Christians. That was Ira's instinct when he wrote the story.

"I said to him: 'You don't love your characters, and you don't respect them, so I'm not doing this picture. So let's go back and make a new picture of this.' We did some rewriting, and now these are all good people who have the same problems we all have."

Misconceptions is chiefly set in Georgia, where Miranda lives. Two years ago, Satlof presented the screenplay to St. Petersburg-Clearwater film commissioner Jennifer Parramore, who began finding locations matching the Peach State.

"The truth is that in Pinellas County you can find all the looks you need - in pieces, I admit - to create a small-town Georgia look," he said. "We used a street in Dunedin that's perfect for a small-town look. We used the piney woods off Keystone Road near Tarpon Springs. All those resources are here.

"And rather than filming in Georgia, I get to sleep in my own bed."

Steve Persall can be reached at (727) 893-8365 or Persall@sptimes.com Read his blog at blogs.tampabay.com/movies.

[Last modified January 11, 2008, 23:57:39]