Mike McCarthy's dystopian fantasy Cigarette Girl comes to Tucson this weekend for AUFF

November 6, 5:22 PMTucson Film Industry ExaminerEric Shlapack

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Tucson Film Industry Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Production still of Cori Dials in Cigarette Girl:  Photo
by Robin Tucker

Tomorrow at the Arizona Underground Film Festival is going to be a full day as films run from noon until the final screening at 10:00 in the evening. One of the most interesting looking films that will screen tomorrow will be Mike McCarthy’s Cigarette Girl, which stars Cori Dials and explores a dystopian world in which the laws against cigarette smoking have become so severe, that you must be in a separate part of town to purchase or smoke cigarettes. Cigs have also become insanely expensive and are mostly sold out of places like the Vice Club which is where, Dials character simply known as Cigarette Girl works. This morning, the Tucson Film Industry Examiner was fortunate enough to get to speak with McCarthy in an informative phone interview.

Speaking with director/writer Mike McCarthy this morning was extremely enlightening as from the first utterance after exchanging pleasantries, it was clear this was a sharp, witty, and motivated filmmaker. He quickly established himself in this writer’s mind as a filmmaker with a clear, unapologetic vision of what he hopes for his films to be and the desire to alter the mindset of the masses by looking at so called independent films as a viable alternative to main stream cookie cutter films. He, like this writer, feels there is a certain almost acceptance of unhappiness and stale art because that’s what is put in front of people. This film instead harkens back to a time from after WWII until the 1970s where America was happy, pop culture was showing growth and real evolution, unlike the over conservative and stifled cultural evolution that is clearly happening today.

Left to right:  Wheat, Mike McCarthy, and Cori Dials
set up a scene for Cigarette Girl:  Photo by Robin
Tucker.

He spoke of his desire to give the audience a film that provides an escape from the harsh, overbearing reality of America today. He feels escapist films offer something the audience needs and that entertainment is more the goal rather than to preach a philosophy that will most likely not affect much change upon the viewer as most people today are simply too entrenched in their views. It’s like, if a person has a certain view of the wars in the Middle East, and they are for it, then you show them a film that portrays it as immoral and useless expecting a change in their view, when in reality, it usually just drives the viewer further into their own views.

McCarthy is well known at this point for his filmmaking style, as he has done a number of drive-in, grindhouse type films. However, he is hoping with Cigarette Girl that it can be sold to distributors as the film it really is, which is a living graphic novel of sorts, one that goes beyond the constraints of independent film with its dazzling cinematography by longtime collaborator Wheat and its exceptional looking production value that goes far beyond what would be expected of an “underground” film.

Production still of Cori Dials in Cigarette Girl:  Photo
by Robin Tucker

This clear selling of the film as an equivalent to the wildly successful blockbuster comic book films sweeping major theaters every summer is planned and purposeful. McCarthy spoke of one his colleagues, Mark Austin of Breakaway Media currently at the American Film Market in Santa Monica, California, and his tireless dedication to finding wide distribution for this film. The film certainly looks the part of a graphic novel as opposed to an underground film. McCarthy spoke of the double edged sword the word underground conjures in the mind. He feels he has been an underground filmmaker of sorts for a long time and would like to see his films and their style be elevated into a more mainstream status.

Of course, all exhibitions of his films are welcome and beneficial in raising awareness about his work. However, he does struggle with the idea of a film being considered underground at times. He feels it kind of paints a film into a box for distributors that says, this film cannot reach a wide audience. It could have the connotation that his film is basically only for a small niche in the marketplace that could not possibly be sold to the public at large. He sees the marketplace at this time as nowhere near what it was in the time of indy icons like Roger Corman who had little problem finding distribution for his work as the sheer number of films being produced every year was miniscule compared to the massive amount of films being produced now. He is not however regretful of his artistic choices nor unhappy with his life, as he was quick to point out life is good. He just wishes like nearly all struggling artists do that things could just be a little easier and not such a huge challenge for survival in the world of filmmaking.

You can check out his film Cigarette Girl this weekend at 8:00 at the Screening Room as part of the Arizona Underground Film Festival. Be sure to check back in this space next week for a review of the film and check out his completely unique and exceptionally done web pages listed below.