UNIVERSAL CITY (2010)

5 minute excerpt

Length of full video: 20 minutes

I found this ad on craigslist:

“VACATION RENTAL/ SUBLET: COME LIVE ON “LOVE STREET” This Chateau was the former home of iconic Doors frontman Jim Morrison in the late ’60s and is in the epicenter of Laurel Canyon Village; you will feel the exclusivity of a getaway with a gated private entrance leading to an open courtyard. The entrance at the top of the stairs has the feel of a Mountain Chalet… The dining area has a wooden gothic table and the living area is extremely comfortable to hang out and feel the historical significance of this Nostalgic Home. Despite the recent remodeling, it is still very true to the period of when the Doors were at the height of their fame. A balcony overlooks the Canyon Country Store .There is a lot of outside space as a fresh bouganvilla breeze of cool air perfumes the grounds complete with an outside shower, firepit and garden. Come stay on Love Street.”

I printed the ad and photos of the house and taped them to my studio wall. The pictures of the house, in contrast to the craigslist ad, had a determined kind of neutrality to them. As is the style with vacation rentals, the place looked just inviting enough to make guests feel comfortable in its luxuries, while consistently reminding them it wasn’t theirs. But this rental broke the mold; with its Warhol-inspired oil paintings of Jim Morrison and its placement of guitars, drug paraphernalia and pornography, your stay on ‘Love Street’ was an opportunity, not only to fake a life in someone else’s house, but to also mimic Morrison’s hedonistic last years on earth, just as long as you’re out by 10am and don’t break any dishes.

I spent the first night in the house by myself, writing the script for the next three days of shooting in the house with the cast and crew. Although it was made very quickly, with many elements improvised, Universal City is an upheaval of the original ad I had taped onto my studio wall three months prior, made while experiencing the structure in time. The plot borrows from the tacit expectation of houseguests to die in the bathtub after reinventing themselves as Morrison’s ghost, using footage of actors and frequent collaborators Roxie Fuller and Ben Smith’s previous acting work* as stand ins for actual spectres.

*From a 1995 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 called ‘Squash It’, in which Ben was a guest star, and a film Roxie had a featured role in called Manic (2001), starring Don Cheadle. Ayana Hampton plays Don Cheadle’s fictional daughter, Grace, in Universal City.

Written & Directed by Jason Underhill

Story by: Jason Underhill, Rena Kosnett, Roxie Fuller, Ben Smith

Cast: Ben Smith, Ignacio Genzon, Roxie Fuller, Ayana Hampton

THE ROAD TO MARGARITAVILLE (2010) - 51 minutes.

EXCERPT: ‘Loving The Gift Horse in the Mouth’

Lissa, an exotic dancer, and Nick, living in a motel room and completing state-mandated community service, serendipitously meet at a back-ally dumpster. The nuances of their developing friendship are the focus of the film, outlining the social economy of American Suburbia, while also exploring the condition of American suburban insularity.

Written and shot over the course of a year, The Road to Margaritaville is a meditation (by definition) of a story that I was told nearly a decade ago about a friend from high school who misread the television footage of the September 11 attacks as scenes from a movie: the film continues and reflects on that original thought. I’m reading ‘reflection’, as a Lacanian device, entirely divorced from contemplation or understanding; as a way of witnessing the distortions of reality and misrecognizing them as complete; as a description of everything beyond our scope of vision; as a frame. In The Road to Margaritaville, the camera occupies this position, redirecting the satire into a more analytic engagement with irony.

This scene, Loving the Gift Horse in the Mouth, takes place after Nick wakes up from some kind of frenzied sleep to find his hotel room destroyed, and Lissa watching Animal Planet. Ben Smith as Nick, Roxie Fuller as Lissa.

CREDITS

Directed by Jason Underhill

Script by Jason Underhill & Ben Smith

Story by Jason Underhill, Ben Smith & Roxie Fuller

Cast: Roxie Fuller, Ben Smith, Ignacio Genzon, Joshua J. Peters, Alex McDougall.

THE ROAD TO MARGARITAVILLE (2010) - 51 minutes

Sliding Doors, 5 minute excerpt. In this scene, Nick encounters Alex, the manager/head of security of the A.P.A.C.H.E. Motel. Trading one predator for another, Nick saves Alex from a giant, puffy white snake (hallucinated), only to retreat back to his room, avoiding a delinquent room bill. Ben Smith as Nick, Ignacio Genzon as Alex.

Howlin’ (2009)

CAST: Roxie Fuller, Ben Smith, Lucy Griffin, Michael Patrick Carr. Written by Jason Underhill, Roxie Fuller, Ben Smith. Directed by Jason Underhill - 

Howlin’ follows friends Daniel and Maria as they talk each other into a narrative that suitably recycles the tropes of their favorite gothic fantasies, servicing their egos as they seek full-frontal self-possession. The pair follows their dreams, sell their souls and make plans to burn their sleepy little town to the ground, all without losing their much-deserved Idol status. 28 minutes.

B.Y.O.B.B.Q. (2009)

Cast: Roxie Fuller, Rena Kosnett (as The Driver). Written and Directed by Jason Underhill -

Follows Tilda and her passive resistance to imminent doom after she hitches a ride to her friend’s barbecue. 13 minutes.

JESSIE LIVES: Lookin’ for Friends in all the Wrong Places (2006)

Cast: Roxie Fuller. Written by Jason Underhill and Roxie Fuller, Directed by Jason Underhill - 

Jessie, left friendless and humiliated, navigates her usual suburban terrain, looking for the new world. 17 minutes.

JESSIE LIVES: Fake it Til You Make It’ (2007)

Cast: Roxie Fuller. Written by Jason Underhill & Roxie Fuller. Directed by Jason Underhill -

Jessie gets lost twice: the first time she’s looking for Rodney’s Palace of the Undead—the second time she’s just looking for her own reckless abandon, as she articulates the details her own fantastic death/makeover/revenge as Appleonia, Queen of Bakersfield, part-time CD store owner, full-time legend. 17 Minutes.