Local Filmmaker to Premiere Latest Feature in Manchester

Ten years ago, local filmmaker Danny LeGare moved out of Connecticut, leaving behind his best friends and the woman he loved. Upon returning from California, LeGare realized that not much had changed in his hometown of Stafford Springs, and an idea popped into his head.

“I decided that my personal experiences would make for a pretty good movie,” LeGare said. “It’s one of those situations where art imitates life.”

LeGare will be premiering his newest independent feature film, “Marco Polo Boys,” on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the  in Manchester. The film debut is free and open to the public.

LeGare described his film as a dark comedy with adult content. The film features Nick Barnes, who returns home after seven years in California to find that shockingly little has changed. The old gang, called the Marco Polo Boys, gets caught up in its old habits while the lead character is torn between that life and one with the love of his life.

“I’m really proud of this film, and you should definitely come down and check it out,” LeGare said. “I’ve been in the industry for a long time and this is truly a quality film.”

The 120-minute film is LeGare’s first full-length feature, and he will be submitting it to major film festivals over the summer, including Sundance, Vancouver and Tribeca. He has also shot six short films and several documentaries, commercials, viral videos and music videos.

“Marco Polo Boys” was produced by Vernon-based Blackhole studios, which is LeGare’s production company. LeGare said it’s a low budget film, spending under $5,000 on it and using only two cameras for shooting.

“But they are some of the best cameras around,” LeGare said. “We didn’t cut any corners with this film, even though it’s low budget.”

The film was shot in Ellington and Stafford Springs in nine days with a predominantly local cast and crew. They shot the film in chronological order, and the dialogue was 100 percent improvisation, according to LeGare who also acted in the film.

“The cast was phenomenal,” he said. “Several of them work their craft very well, and they very easily pulled off the improv.”

LeGare hopes that this film does for Connecticut what Kevin Smith did for New Jersey. Smith, the independent filmmaker whose creations have been recognized at Cannes and Sundance, films most of his movies in his home state of New Jersey.

“I want to put our region on the map for filming movies,” LeGare said. “I want to shoot my movies in Connecticut because it’s a community I want to tell stories in.”

LeGare also said that developing projects here in Connecticut is a goal for Blackhole studios.

“Filmmaking is all about being a community,” he said. “I’m really excited to share Marco Polo Boys with the community this week.”

Will Novy is a cinematographer who worked with LeGare for five years in Los Angeles. Novy hasn’t seen this newest film by LeGare; however, Novy said the film must be wonderful because LeGare is one of the better directors he has ever met.

“He is an awesome problem solver and comes in prepared every day,” Novy said. “He knows how to talk to actors in actor language, which helps the actors instantly fix something. He is very much an actor’s director.”

Novy said that LeGare has put a lot of hard work and effort into “Marco Polo Boys,” and everyone should go see the final result.

While not yet rated, the film is intended for adult audiences with adult language, adult situations, partial nudity and violence. For more information about LeGare and his production company, log on to www.dannylegare.com and www.blackholestudios.net.