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This April 17 article is reposted a day before the screening for readers who missed it.
The film title gives it away: It's about someone getting laid.
In this case, it's veteran actor Ed Asner, 87, who plays Professor Ed Randall, an 85-year-old college professor who hires a hooker for a last hurrah. “Afraid to take Viagra, he’s waiting to get a call back from a cardiologist when the quirky older hooker shows up and funny happens -- proving passion doesn’t have an expiration date," says an online promo.
Jean Smart, 65, plays the hooker.
The 100-minute comedy, which won a Garden State Film Festival top award in its category last year, premieres at 8:30 p.m. Thursday (April 27) at the Maple Theater, 4135 Maple Rd. in Bloomfield Township. Asner will be there and take questions after the screening, as will screenwriter-director Deborah Pearl and executive producer Barbie Weisserman. (Tickets are available here.)
It's showing for only one night, and after that it's likely to appear Netflix or stream elsewhere. (A trailer is below)
Barbie Weisserman (Facebook photo)
So why is the premiere in the Detroit area? Does no one in Los Angeles or New York care if Ed gets laid?
The connection here is Weisserman of Farmington Hills, an actor, director and costume designer. She worked on a Kickstarter campaign for the movie with Deborah Pearl, the screenwriter and director. Pearl, a friend of Asner's, wrote and produced the 1986-93 TV sitcom "Designing Women."
Weisserman is the creator of PAPA Weeze Productions, which promotes local artists. Earlier, she co-founded and helped run Two Muses Theatre in West Bloomfield, now closed.
In 2014, Pearl came to Metro Detroit to put on a musical at Two Muses. She stayed with Weisserman for six weeks and the two bonded like sisters. Pearl asked Weisserman to help make the Asner film, which she did in Los Angeles in August 2015.
Weisserman took along Detroit-area wardrobe, makeup and continuity assistants.
Asner thinks the film is very funny and clever, but nitpicks parts of his performance.
The film originally was supposed to be a seven-minute skit for a retirement home in Los Angeles where Hollywood stars live. But it expanded and Pearl asked Asner if he'd appear.
Asner's response, according to Weisserman: "Yeah, write me a fucking scene."
Getting Ed Laid Trailer from Deborah Pearl on Vimeo.
