Sandusky filmmaker gets deal

SANDUSKY — Sandusky filmmaker Todd Stephens made the deal he was looking for, according to the Hollywood column Deadline. Magnolia Pictures has acquired global rights to "Swan Song," Stephens' fifth movie, which was filmed in Sandusky in 2019. The comedy stars Udo Kier, Jennifer Coolidge and Linda Evans. "Just like my hero 'Mister Pat,' I feel like I got another chance to share my story with the world," Stephens told Deadline. "I have admired countless Magnolia films over the years from 'Capturing the Friedmans' to 'Tangerine' and already feel like part of the family." Stephens' previous work includes being a writer and producer of "Edge of Seventeen," a gay coming-of-age movie also set in Sandusky, his hometown, and director of cult titles "Gypsy 83" and "Another Gay Movie." "Swan Song" premiered Wednesday at SXSW. In it, Mister Pat, played by Kier, is a retired hairdresser and local bar performer who's become a recluse, of sorts, in the Sandusky nursing home, where he lives. But he's launched on an epic trip through his past after learning that a former client, philanthropist Rita Parker Sloan, played by Linda Evans, has a dying wish for him to style her hair for her final showing. IMDB, an internet movie database, describes it this way: A formerly flamboyant hairdresser takes a long walk across a small town to style a dead woman's hair. Kier, a German film, television and voice actor, has appeared in more than 200 films. Evans became an American teenage television star in the 1960s as "Victoria Barkley" in the TV western series "The Big Valley." In the 1980s, she played "Crystal Carrington" on the nighttime soap opera "Dynasty." Film writer and director Todd Stephens on the set in Sandusky, July 10, 2019. Register file photo/ERIN CALDWELL Coolidge is an American actress, comedian and activist best known for roles in the "American Pie" film series. Stephens, a 1985 graduate of Sandusky High School, told the Register in February he hoped to take the next step for "Swan Song" with its premiere on Wednesday. "SXSW is one of the top film festivals in the nation," Stephens said. "It's the perfect platform to showcase 'Swan Song' and, hopefully, help us find a fabulous distributor." Deadline listed Meghan and Rick Hofrege, local developers, as associate producers of the film. IMDB also listed Sandusky State Theatre executive director Chris Parthemore as an associate producer. The Register also has a small role. When Stephens was here, in 2019, he asked the newspaper to print a newspaper that reflected headlines about Rita Parker Sloan's death and her dying wish that "Mister Pat" give her her final styling. It's the only known time in the newspaper's nearly 200 years that it was asked that, and the only time it granted such a request.