American Movie (1999)

Director:

Chris Smith

Release Date:

13 April 2000 (Australia)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

A hapless amateur filmmaker struggles to produce his latest horror film, "Coven."

Plot Keywords:

Friend | Gambling | Cinematographer | Milwaukee Wisconsin | Beard

Awards:

2 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Mark Borchardt	...	Filmmaker
Tom Schimmels	...	Actor in 'Coven'
Monica Borchardt	...	Mark's Mom
Alex Borchardt	...	Mark's Brother
Chris Borchardt	...	Mark's Brother
Ken Keen	...	Friend / Associate Producer
Mike Schank	...	Friend / Musician
Matt Weisman	...	Casting director
Bill Borchardt	...	Mark's Uncle / Executive Producer (as Uncle Bill)
Cliff Borchardt	...	Mark's Dad
Tom Beach	...	Production manager
Joan Petrie	...	Mark's Girlfriend / Associate Producer
Robert Richard Jorge	...	Actor
Dean Allen	...	Props / Special effects
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tommy Dallace	...	The Movie Star
Miriam Frost	...	Actor in 'Coven'

MPAA:

Rated R for language and some drug content.

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Canada:14A | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #36811) | Spain:13 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, USA

Company:

Bluemark Productions

Trivia:

In the "elevator sequence" that is briefly shown as part of the movie "Coven", the actors that are portraying the doctors are wearing their driver's licenses on their lab coats instead of hospital staff identification badges.

Quotes:

Mark Borchardt: [to cast with covered faces] You guys gotta look menacing! Can you be more menacing?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Britney, Baby, One More Time (2002)

Soundtrack:

Dee

Mark Borchardt: Independent Wanna Be

After seeing American Movie, you either hate Mark Borchardt or you understand him. If you are a struggling film maker trying to be the next George Romero, John Cassavetes or Alfred Hitchcock, you will understand Mark's determination and where he gets his talentless motivation. The audience that makes up American Movie is just that. Struggling film makers or die hard fans of Troma. Either way, they are all members of the club of hard knocks and non-union independent feature film. The moral of Mark's story is something short of following your dream. It's more and less than that. Whether you relate with Mark in more ways that one, Mark is living a lot of people's reality. Because of that, American Movie is important and should be watched by every film student in America.