Untitled Document

With APHRODISIAC, Madeline Schwartzman, a New York based filmmaker and architect, makes her feature debut as writer/ director/ producer. After completing five prize-winning shorts, Schwartzman began writing APHRODISIAC in the fall of 1995, completing the script in the spring of 1996. Described as a cross between the films of Woody Allen and Pedro Almodovar, APHRODISIAC stands on its own in its distinctly original and provocative exploration of sex and religion.

The foreskin of Jesus Christ, a famed ancient holy relic and alleged aphrodisiac, is at the center of this comedy about faith - faith in religion,faith in money and faith in the ultimate turn-on. "Most people have a hard time believing that Jesus' foreskin played a significant role in religious history," claims Schwartzman. The fact is that Popes, Kings, peasants, scholars and theologians were obsessed with the Holy Foreskin over the course of two millennia.

Schwartzman discovered a reference to the foreskin while researching events in the late 20th century which could be construed as medieval in nature - miracles, aphrodisiacs and cultural superstitions. In 1983 a church in Calcutta, Italy announced that Jesus' foreskin had been stolen. It was the last of some fifteen foreskins claimed by churches throughout Europe. APHRODISIAC picks up where the truth left off. What if the foreskin were to arrive in New York City?

Production began in the summer of 1996 with a small and efficient crew taking on the impossible for a low-budget: coordinating an ensemble cast of 8 leads, 9 principals, 40 small parts and many extras in 20 shooting days at over 40 locations and with only one van. The crew, primarily NY independent filmmakers and students, succeeded in remaining on schedule and getting sleep.

Financing was achieved slowly but surely through a mixture of investments and contributions from family and friends. Schwartzman adds, "Having a dual career is critical for low-budget filmmaking. I was able to pay for a mix at Sound One because my partner and I were completing the design and drawings for a 6000 square foot office building in upstate New York."

James Urbaniak (Deli Assistant), the Obie award winning actor and lead in Hal Hartley's HENRY FOOL with Parker Posey, was the first to be cast. Schwartzman was struck by his performance in a Richard Foreman play and later sent him the script for APHRODISIAC. Urbaniak signed on as 'The Deli Assistant' and in turn recommended some thirty colleagues of stage and film, among them Chuck Montgomery (Hal Hartley's HENRY FOOL and AMATEUR, Chris Columbus' STEPMOM with Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon, Adrienne Shelly's SUDDEN MANHATTAN) who along with other leads, played multiple roles in the film. Schwartzman cast nearly 12 of Urbaniak's actor friends and filled the rest of the roles from a Backstage casting call which elicited 2000 responses.

NYC landmarks, including St. Paul's Chapel and Low Library at Columbia University, and the National Arts Club in Gramercy Park, were locations for scenes in the film. Schwartzman is a faculty member at Columbia University and Parsons School of Design and has filmed extensively on the Columbia campus. St. Paul's Chapel was the setting for the outrageous fashion show in APHRODISIAC. "There were over 100 people on the set, "Schwartzman recounts, "I felt like Barbara Streisand - (who filmed a principal scene from A MIRROR HAS TWO FACES at the chapel) that is minus the 10 cranes, 100 grips, and the overhead lighting grid."

The National Arts Club, which appears in the in the films of Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen, was initially an exterior location. After witnessing the madcap finale in front of the building, the President of the Club invited the production to film in the ornate interiors. The Club also housed an art installation,'Household Saints', a room filled with relics, saints and statuary right out of the script. The artists happened to be celebrating the exhibition at a banquet at the club. They agreed to allow the production to shoot the opening love scene in the unique installation. All other locations were filmed in NYC.

Post-production was split between New York City, where Schwartzman edited the picture in her living room and Joshua Landis contributed the sound design and Memphis Tennessee, where composers Kamran Ince and Ian Marks produced the sound track. Ince, an internationally established composer and winner of various prizes, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Lili Boulanger Prize, has just released his new symphony on his second CD, Remembering Lycia (ARGO/DECCA label). Schwartzman and Ince met in 1988 at the American Academy in Rome, where Ince was a Fellow in musical composition and Schwartzman was a Dinkeloo Fellow in Architecture.

APHRODISIAC was completed in January of 1998.