Stonington — Shot entirely in Westerly almost 20 years ago, the film is enjoying its second act.
“The Tournament,” written and directed by westerner Eugene J. Celico, is based on a bocce match and a large Italian family, and is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Serico recently sat at the dining room table of his Pawcatuck home with his wife of 47 years, Cynthia, sharing stories about the origins of the “tournament,” along with newspaper clippings and photographs. Carefully preserved in an album from the 2004 shoot. “You can rent, buy, or stream.”
“The Tournament,” as the Amazon Prime Video blurb puts it, “is a captivating drama about relationships in this wonderful rural New England town.”
Serico, the founder and artistic director of the Stage Door Theater Company, said he knew plans were in the works to release the film on Amazon, but a few weeks before Christmas, his daughter called him. Until Kurume, “Tournament” has been officially delivered.
“My daughter Taylor called me and said, ‘Dad, why didn’t you tell me?'” Serico said with a laugh. “I said to her, ‘Because I wanted to surprise you.'”
Serico, 71, a father of three and grandfather of four, was brought to him from Naples about a year ago by film producer Nick Puccio (who also plays the role of Pasquale in the film). said that “The Tournament” had started playing when he called . Florida, he’s making his home now.
“He told me people were saying he should stream ‘The Tournament,'” Celico said.
“He also said, ‘We’re getting old,'” he added with a sidelong glance.
An actor who has appeared in numerous movies and TV shows over the years, including Martin Scorsese’s “Casino” and the popular series “NYPD Blue,” Puccio raised much of the funding for “The Tournament.” It helped me to
“We shot the whole thing on film for $325,000,” Serico said. “It was a big deal. It’s unheard of today.”
“They didn’t have digital back then,” he said. “I shot with Super 16mm”
“And it’s been 18 years here,” he continued, “thinking about the professionalism of the cast and crew.”
The film also features notorious Rhode Island boxer Vinnie “Vinny Paz” Pazienza, along with many locals such as Serico’s brother, Bruce Serico, Leo Moroso of Reale’s Marketplace, and the late David D’Angelis. I’m performing. New York-based actor best known for his recurring role in “The Sopranos” Graziano DiMeo and his work in “Billions”, “Law & Order”, “Girls” and most recently as Marco Polo , Michael Mazzeo. GEICO commercial. Most recently, Serico said Mazzeo appeared at “Santa Boot Camp” with Rita Moreno.
“It’s a small slice of Westerly’s life,” Serico said of “The Tournament,” and the film is based on his original stage play “PA,” loosely based on Serico’s own family and the Oak Street neighborhood where he lived. I pointed out that it is based on born and raised.
The full PA talk will take place at the kitchen table after Sunday morning mass, he said. “It’s based on eight Italian brothers drinking and dealing with Italian anxiety… when all hell breaks loose.”
Serico said he never intended “The Tournament” (a film he once called “a love story about fathers, sons and bocce”) to be autobiographical.
As a young man, Serico, who studied to become a priest at Our Lady of La Salette Seminary in Cheshire, Connecticut, also didn’t initially know how to write a story that would become a film until he attended a weekend screenwriting seminar in Boston.
“I didn’t know how to write a script,” said Serico. “I thought the only way was to study on my own.”
“I read about every script you could imagine,” he said. “Screenwriting is a completely different form of writing…more visual.”
“Filmmaking is a director’s medium,” he added. “The stage play is the actor’s medium.”
Serico, who attended Roger Williams College’s creative writing program and directed his first play in what was then the college’s Coffee House Theater, said he began writing plays around 1999 and has written more than 15 plays since. .
One of the founding members of the Eugene O’Neill Local Playwright Festival at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Serico was Resident Director for two years and has performed at Westerly’s Wilcox Park for many performances. produced a play. “The Passion of Christ” has fascinated thousands of people.
While he said he felt “a little underwhelmed…but very happy” about the re-release of “The Tournament,” Celico said, “Looking at it again, I’m very happy with my past. Reconnected…again.
“Wesley is just a movie character,” he said, citing many of the places and locals that appear in “The Tournament.”
“There were a lot of people who supported me,” he recalls. “Very friendly.”
Serico smiled as he talked about scenes shot at Ritacco Market on Oak Street, Reale Market on High Street, the Bocce Club and Decaro House on Pierce Street.
“I felt like I was in Calabria,” Serico said with a laugh.
Several scenes were also shot at the Oak Street home where Serico was born.
“We shot the scene in an old bedroom,” he said. “Eight hours in my bedroom…it was kind of surreal. It’s like watching a part of your childhood.”
Serico is the eldest of five children of the late Mariano “V-8” Serico and Ruth Edgar Serico.
A hit at the 2006 Rhode Island International Film Festival, “The Tournament” won awards at New York and New Jersey film festivals, and Serico won Best Director at the 2007 Urban Bestage Film and Arts Festival in New York City. was awarded.
Serico was also given a prized possession that still sits in the corner of his kitchen to this day.
“It’s my director’s chair,” he said with a smile, pointing to a green chair with his name embroidered in gold letters. said.
