Waltham Man Can't Shake The Acting Bug

Mark DiSanzo insists he has a face for radio.

But, it was his unique look and comedic talent that landed him a role on the locally made film, The Joneses, which makes its festival premiere at the Boston International Film Festival this month.

“I look at myself on screen and it just looks like Mark talking,” said DiSanzo, a 17-year Waltham resident. “But people start laughing when they see me up there, they get a kick out of it.”

The Joneses is a dark comedy about two couples, rival neighbors who land on a home decorating show, similar to TLC’s Trading Spaces. When one couple is upset with their new décor, the neighbors enter into a game of one-upmanship that gets dangerously out of hand.

DiSanzo plays Todd, a mutual friend of both couples who acts as the comic relief. This is his second role in a feature length film and his largest role to date. But for DiSanzo, like many people who were involved in the project, acting is just a hobby. He works a day job as a systems administrator for an e-mail marketing company. In fact, DiSanzo had no background in acting or filmmaking when he took his first role, less than 10 years ago.

“I went to school for music and was trying to be a musician for most of my life and when that wasn’t making me any money, I had to get a real job,” he said. “After that happened, I quickly missed not being out there on stage, performing and doing something creative, so I answered an ad in a newspaper to be an extra.”

DiSanzo met the brains behind the project, Chris Tyrrell and Stacey Cruwys, in 2003 when he auditioned for a role in their penultimate project Naughty or Nice.

“I read the script for The Joneses back then and I really liked it,” said DiSanzo. “I told them, if you do it, I want to be part of that.”

After working with Tyrrell and Cruwys on Naughty or Nice, DiSanzo was eager to work with them again. This time around, he was able to work behind the camera as well as in front of it — he also served as the script supervisor, which is the person on set responsible for the continuity of the film.

Tyrrell, who attended New York University for film, directs The Joneses, which he co-wrote and co-produced with his wife, Cruwys.

The film was shot throughout Massachusetts using a $15,000 budget, $3,000 of which was spent on festival submission fees. So far, more than 40 festivals have passed on the film, but they are still waiting on responses from 50 others. BIFF is the first to accept the film as an official selection and will premiere as part of their narrative feature category.

“If you look at the line-up for The Boston International Film Festival, it’s truly an independent festival,” DiSanzo said. “We’re happy to be part of that. We were being disappointed constantly by the other festivals, not necessarily because they didn’t let us in, but because we were seeing all these so-called independent film festivals with big names in them.” 

In June 2010, The Joneses had its first screening for family and friends at the Regent Theater in Arlington. The sold-out showing filled more than 275 seats and DiSanzo says the film was well received.

“We spent four years making this thing … and we were immensely proud of what we did, but nobody really knew what we were doing,” he said. “They just knew we were spending all this time making this movie and we wouldn’t stop talking about it. So, when they finally saw it, there were jaws dropped.”

DiSanzo said he would like to work with Tyrrell and Cruwys again in the future wants to try his hand at writing and directing some comedic shorts.

“We haven’t done anything outrageous yet, and that’s the way my mind works,” he said. “So, I hope to get some of my sick, twisted thoughts out there and see if we can put something together.”

DiSanzo said they hope to get a distribution deal for The Joneses after it runs the festival circuit, but however it turns out, they are happy that people finally get to see their labor of love.

“We don’t expect to get rich, but it would be nice,” he said. “We’re very proud of it.” 

The Joneses screens at BIFF April 19, at 8 pm.