BY VICTORIA BALQUE-BURNS / Staff Reporter
Gordon and Greg DelGiorno want to bring Hollywood to Delaware. The Wilmington-based filmmakers, collectively known as The Film Brothers, are looking to take their quirky brand of comedic productions to the ne xt level with their latest movie, “Jack of Clubs,” which premiered April 11 and premieres in Newark April l9.
For the DelGiornos, who have been making movies since· 1999, the decision to get into the film business was based on a combination of their childhood hobby of putting on skits for their family and their belief that anybody could make films.
The brothers did not attend film school and had no prior experience with filmmaking, but instead learned from example during the making of their first movie, “Franks and Wieners,” an “in your face comedy”· in which they poke fun at various stereotypes.
“When we started our first film, ‘Franks and Wieners’ in ’99, we really started on the script ourselves and then we figured we would get people that knew what they were doing,” Gordon DelGiorno says.
After showing their talents as comedic filmmakers, the brothers are heading in a slightly different direction with “Jack of Clubs,” which he refers to as a light drama with comedic moments. The movie is about a man who finds himself in trouble with the law and is sentenced to work at the Boys and Girls Club with a diverse group of 9-year-olds in which no one seems to get long.
Like most of their movies, “Jack of Clubs” is based somewhat on the DelGiornos’ life experiences, as many of the children’s characters are modeled after kids the brothers encountered during their own time as members of the Boys and Girls Club.
“The kids in the movie, their characters are all typical kids,” Gordon says. “You have them from all walks of life. So they were kids that we either knew growing up, kids like them or we were part of those personalities.”
The brothers’ longtime relationship with the Boys and Girls Club served as inspiration for the film. Gordon, who was Youth of the Year in 1983 at the Fraim Boys and Girls Club in Wilmington, sees the project as a way to pay the club back for the positive experience he had as a member.
“I’m almost 40. I’m 39. Not that that number’s of any significance, you know, it’s time for me to try to give back what I can and not just money, but time. And to create money for the clubs and that’s what we’re doing with this,” he says.
Making the movie also served as a positive experience for the children who participated, such as Lisa Holden, a Newark resident, who says she had a lot of fun making the film. For her first acting role ever, Holden, 10, plays Thelma, who she says is a “street-smart character always trying to keep the group together.” She says the film h as a good moral.
“I think the movie’s about making friends and having fun,” Holden says.
Gordon agrees, saying that the theme ·of “Jack of Clubs” is about dealing with differences and over-coming them in order to be friends with one another – a lesson both children and adults need to think about.
“As we get older, as adults, we get a little more jaded and cynical about that, and we have to keep reminding ourselves that even though we’re different we still have to coexist and be civil with each other,” he says.
In having a cast of five young children, Gordon says he and his brother felt intimidated because they thought it would be a challenge, but found the experience to be generally positive.
“They’re great to work with, they’re better than adults,” he says. “Adults have these ways about them. A lot of them can’t take direction or their ego won’t allow them to, and we’re all just trying to get a job done.”
For the DelGiornos, “Jack of Clubs” signifies the need to take things to the next level in terms of production size with their next project, slated for 2008, but Gordon says Film Brothers Productions is not headed for Tinseltown or The Big Apple.
“We like Delaware, we don’t want to go Hollywood, we don’t want to go to New York or L.A.,” he says. “They just have more toys and a bigger budget, they don’t do anything different.
“There’s just as much talent around here and around Philly. So, we want Delaware as our base.”
Cameras roll on Jack of Clubs