Planet Ibsen's Creators TRUE to Self and Others

Despite tirelessly promoting their film "Planet Ibsen", an eerie, modern thought pyschologically based and extremely creative version of 1800's Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's play "A Doll's House", the wife and husband team of producer Erica Arnold-Wyche and director Jonathan Wyche look no worse for wear at the end of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. (Photo by Mike Takeuchi)

As the SBIFF wound down last week Jonathan Wyche, the writer/director/producer of "Planet Ibsen" finally got to lounge on the couch of the Santa Barbara Hotel. Someone remarked that it was the first time they have seen him sitting down all week. Wyche just smiled. Was he weary? It had been a long week of promoting his and wife Erica Arnold-Wyche's film, where in addition to attending seemingly every movie and all the special events, the couple tirelessly hit the streets to get the word out about their film. But his smile had less to do with fatigue than joy. As with a few other movies that did very well, "Planet Ibsen" was granted another showing at the Festival. Alas, the couple would miss it, as they had a plane to catch. But it didn't matter. They did everything they could, and it was beginning to pay off. One has to admire their determination and resolve to grind it out and take something as far as they could go. And they did it while being genuinely nice, real people that is the antithesis of stereotypical Hollywood. Perhaps it had something to do with his parents being academics (both are university professors), or being reared in different socioeconomic parts of the country, or even his own academic pursuits and life interests. Maybe it is all or none of the above. But after spending some time with both speaking about race, politics, and philosophy, this writer can opine that they did it right. Shakespeare could have had them in mind when he penned "To thine own self be true."

In addition to "Planet Ibsen" being written and directed by Jonathan Wyche and produced by Erica Arnold-Wyche and Jonathan Wyche, Clint Howard and Gabriel Damon are co-producers. The film stars Steve DuMouchel and Clint Howard. For more information on "Planet Ibsen", visit their Web site at http://www.planetibsen.com/.


Posted by Takeuchi on Filmfestivals.com
http://www.filmfestivalstv.com/santabarbara/2006/02/planet_ibsen_1.html