Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
A couple of years ago, two Utahns left their chosen careers to make movies. Their first, the horror-thriller "Unrest" did well. Now they have a new romantic comedy called "Everybody Wants to be Italian".
James Huntsman and Jason Ipson say they are still pursuing their dream. One gave up medicine, the other the corporate life. Their first film was based on personal experience, so is "Everybody Wants to be Italian."
The story is about a lovesick young Bostonian who doesn't believe the beautiful, Italian woman his friends want him to meet would ever consider dating him. It's based on the real-life romance of the film's writer-director, Ipson.
"I went home and I told my wife I wanted to do something more comical, romantic comedy. And she said, 'Why don't you do Everybody Wants to be Italian?' Which is a saying she used to sing when we were first dating, she used to sing this to me. And I thought that's kind of a catchy title. I'm Danish, so, I'm not Italian," Ipson said.
The men behind the film, James Huntsman, a former vice president of a chemical company and Jason Ipson, a former surgeon, call themselves movie fans. This is their second film.
"'Unrest' was a great hit for us, a great commercial success. And we expect "Everybody Wants to be Italian" to be even larger than that. We have a number of wonderful films that we're in development on, that we're working on producing, and we expect to keep going," Ipson said.
Penny Marshall has a featured role and so does Marisa Petroro, you may recognize from NBC's "Deal or No Deal", she's case #18. With this film, they hope not only to entertain audiences but also to celebrate one of America's favorite cultures.
Huntsman said, "To not forget about those things that make us unique as a people, whether it's Italians or whether it's somebody else. There's just so many interesting elements that make us up as a culture in this country, and this is just one we think a lot of people can identify with."
Publicity materials say all of the cast members are Italian, except one, who is Greek and, of course, he wants to be, Italian. "Everybody Wants to be Italian" opens in Utah theaters and throughout the country this Friday.
E-mail: cmikita@ksl.com
