Two years ago, MPI gave one of its very first grants to aspiring screenwriter Myrna Sokoloff. This seed money helped her turn an idea into a script--and that script is now An American Carol, a major motion picture directed, produced, and cowritten by MPI Creative Council member David Zucker (Airplane!, The Naked Gun). Featuring a star-studded cast including Jon Voight, Kelsey Grammer, Dennis Hopper, James Woods, and Leslie Nielsen, An American Carol parodies Charles Dickens' classic Christmas tale by focusing on a pudgy, scruffy filmmaker who is decidedly stingy in his goodwill toward America.
MPI founder Thor Halvorssen and MPI fellow Colin Gray recently talked with the Hollywood Reporter about MPI's role in the film--and, more generally, about its nonpartisan approach to promoting the ideals of American freedom through film:
"Carol" is partially backed by nonprofit group the Moving Picture Institute, which gave a grant to one of the film's writers, Myrna Sokoloff, to help the part-time schoolteacher finish her work on the script.Partisanship, however, is immaterial to the Moving Picture Institute's decision to partially fund its script, founder Thor Halvorssen said.
MPI's mission is "to nurture promising filmmakers who are committed to protecting a free society," Halvorssen said.
What that has meant until "Carol" came along was producing, funding or supporting in a variety of ways 10 documentaries, and counting, that have been made by Democrats, Republicans and everything in between.
"They didn't care about my politics. They put their money where their mouth is," said Colin Gray, who accepted a grant from MPI to help market "Freedom's Fury."
Gray describes himself as "very left of center." "Freedom's Fury," which he made with his sister, is about "the bloodiest water polo game in Olympic history" and the role that game played in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
What convinced MPI to branch out from strictly documentaries and embrace a Zucker comedy is the film's irreverent approach to political correctness.
"Support for freedom sometimes involves disrespect for authority," Halvorssen said.
An American Carol goes on national release next month.