No Zombies, No Demons

A few years back, between Zombie and monster movies, I wanted to do something different. I wrote a romance that was set around a bizarre group of Hollywood people - “Shattered Dreams & the Pretty Peach Martini.” I know what you’re thinking, and you’re right – I am known for my really really long titles.

“Shattered Dreams & the Pretty Peach Martini.” is not about the acting or glamorous side of Hollywood, it’s about a college student – Nicole - who loves movies. She longs to be a successful and respected talent agent. She doesn’t know what she’s fallen into with a bunch of angry, crazy clients. One tough goth model was jealous that Nicole got the agent position, so she wrestles her to the floor right there in the office in a cat fight. Nicole avoids a lot of her feelings, which makes things worse… She thinks she’s still in love with her boyfriend back home, but we see when she uses his picture as a coaster for her martini, that she’s not totally as serious about him as she admits.

Casting was tricky because I had definite character traits in mind. For the lead, I cast Jenny Ann Powell. She’s not a slick “model type,” but more the girl next door, friendly and a bit shy. She played a character who could go from mousie and awkward to passionate. You see that a lot in movies, but it takes a lot more than flinging off the horn-rimmed glasses and taking your hair out of the librarian bun to pull that off. Then she despises Roger, an ex-porn star, but has an intense attraction to him. For the male model, I cast Kaya, an actual model, and very strong actor – sensitive, with a Fabio-type look and personality.

Yes, given my other movies, it was tempting to chuck it all and have Nicole grow fangs on the beach and just eat the guy up… but I restrained myself!

“Shattered Dreams” was a nice shoot, but we did have some logistical problems that came up. On the beach day, we had such a long day that Jennifer was burned like a lobster. Then the next day we had to shoot the scenes that in the script took place right before the beach, so it was hard to get around that bad burn… especially since her scene that day before was a nude scene! It all ended up working out and the movie came together to be funny, sad, steamy and quirky.

You can see a clip here: http://www.filmbaby.com/films/2368