Angel Wanted For Gangster Movie

Judging by the huge amounts of money Hollywood investors are willing to risk in making new movies these days, Joe Landi of Springs didn't think he was asking for too much.

Only $150,000.

"It may sound like a lot of money, but what is it to the big spenders in the movie business?" he said this week. "They spend like that for lunch."

But will risk-takers invest that much to help him and Alan Scott-Moncrieff, formerly of Amagansett, put the finishing touches on their feature film "The Prodigal"?

Need An Angel

To find out, Mr. Landi and Mr. Scott-Moncrieff advertised in The Star during the recent Hamptons International Film Festival.

"Wanted," their ad began. "An Angel to help two local talented guys finish their film. . . ."

With the town awash in film-making professionals, Mr. Landi hoped the ad would catch the attention of the "angel" they were looking for.

They got some calls - and even arranged several private showings - and the people who saw the film liked it, but as yet, no one has come up with the money.

Mr. Landi insists the movie, which runs to just under two hours, is a good investment and that the risk involved is minimal because about 95 percent of the work is already done.

"All we need now is a final cut and some sound adjustment," he said. "Then it'll be ready for a distributor."

Mr. Landi, who was one of the owners of the Bologna-Landi Gallery on Route 114 in East Hampton, now closed, for 14 years and followed it with a three-year stint at a video store in Springs, said the movie traces the adventures of a small-time Edinburgh gangster whose life changes abruptly when he meets a powerful organized crime figure from New York.

Local Talent

The Scotsman signs on with the mob and thrives in the American underworld. He makes lots of money and ultimately tries to reconnect with the family he left behind. Along the way, he crosses paths with a flighty priest who has purchased, but somehow lost, a prize-winning lottery ticket.

As the story progresses, there's plenty of violence and blood-letting and some sex but, in the final analysis, Mr. Landi said, it's a movie about human redemption, about a man desperately seeking to correct the mistakes of his past.

The film, which was shot in Scotland and Manhattan, is something of a showcase for local talent. Mr. Landi himself has a role, as do Steve Lilja, Bob Turano and Rick Feldman, all of East Hampton. Mr. Lilja has performed in several CTCTheater Live productions, including "South Pacific."

A former Sag Harbor resident who now lives in Scotland, Maureen Witty, produced the film.

Mr. Landi had high praise for the skills of Mr. Scott-Moncrieff, 31, who was a young artist living in an Amagansett farm stable when Mr. Landi began showing his work.

Mr. Scott-Moncrieff, a Scotsman, is not only a painter but a playwright and screenwriter whose multi media play "Funk Off Green" won awards at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh in 1993 and was later performed at the Royal Festival Hall in London.

"Alan is a wonderful painter as well as a writer and director," Mr. Landi said. "He's a Renaissance man, good at virtually anything he tries."

Mr. Scott-Moncrieff is now in New York City, directing "a new feature movie for a major film company," Mr. Landi said.