STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
Casey Wilder Mott stood on the stage of the Sun Valley Opera House and recalled one of his mentors taking part in the play “Oliver” there when he was a student.
Then the Sun Valley Performing Arts alumnus showed the hometown audience what he’s been up to since leaving home.
Mott’s directorial debut, “A Midsummer’s Night Dream,” which was shown on Sunday as part of the seventh annual Sun Valley Film Festival, is a modern-day retelling of Shakespeare’s most beloved comedy.
Written by Mott and produced by his 5B Productions, it takes place in modern-day Hollywood where all of L.A. is a stage and all its inhabitants aspiring actors and filmmakers doing whatever they can to get ahead.
What makes this retelling especially special are the many creative layers Mott has endowed the film with, including the thrashing of computer keyboards and typewriters that evoke a sense of modern-day editing.
And clever touches from replacing the famed Hollywood sign with one that says Athens to the acknowledgement of one of Shakespeare’s most famous lines as a lost actor asks whether he’s come to the right room.
“2B?”
“Not 2B.”
Topanga Canyon becomes the setting for Puck’s mischief. Actor and slam poet Saul Williams, who plays the fairy king Oberon, and singer Mia Doi Todd, who plays Queen Titania, provide haunting original music, while the rest of the cast contribute memorable performances.
“I’ve always been struck by how the caste system in ‘A Midsummer’s Night Dream’ with its nobles and serfs is so similar to that in Hollywood,” said Mott, who appeared at the screening with actor Fran Kranz, the hammy Bottom who came up with the idea of becoming a literal butt of Puck’s joke.
“I honored the source material by departing from it enough. And I followed others’ examples, such as that of (Baz Luhrmann’s) reimaging of “Romeo & Juliet’ in not being afraid to be a little irreverent,” he added.
In a turn of fate, it turned out that Mott had worked with one of the actors--Finn Wittrock--in a Sun Valley Shakespeare Festival production.
Since leaving Sun Valley, Mott has produced “Hot Summer Nights” and a documentary called “The University.” He also has overseen the development of several film and TV projects, including one for Sun Valley part-timer Clint Eastwood.
“A Midsummer’s Night Dream” debuted at the Los Angeles Film Festival. Brainstorm Media has since acquired the rights and is planning a spring 2018 theatrical release in multiple markets.