Writer and director Scott Fivelson says his film Near Myth: The Oskar Knight Story tells a story about an era of Hollywood gone by in an engaging way that plays upon several film classics.
“The movie is sort of a cross between, or invokes thoughts of This Is Spinal Tap, Sunset Boulevard, and That’s Entertainment! because it sort of retells the history of Hollywood in a way that’s never been told before featuring a director you’ve never heard of before: Oskar Knight,” Fivelson said.
Fivelson says the film features performances by late actor Lenny Von Dohlen, Academy Award winner Margaret O’Brien, Lassie actor Jon Provost, and others, shot in a way that tells a story that spans decades of movie history with special attention to detail.
“There’s sort of a Ken Burns-ish kind of detail that we ultimately brought to this, so it feels very real but at the same time – it’s not,” Fivelson said. “But it’s very funny, and very nostalgic, and in a way a kind of a call to a return to moviemaking that evokes when movies were movies.”
Fivelson is excited to present an opportunity for area movie lovers to see Near Myth: The Oskar Knight Story, as the film will screen once a day at the Crowne Pointe Theatre beginning Friday. The writer and director says the film has been screened across the globe at theaters in New Mexico, New York, and Germany, and he says he is grateful to get to show his first directing effort to an expanded audience.
“I hope Elizabethtown comes out,” Fivelson said. “Comes out for fun, comes out to pay tribute to Oskar Knight, to see Lenny Von Dohlen in one of his greatest ever performances, and to support the theater. Rick Roman with the theater is a prince. He’s really a great guy.”
Near Myth: The Oskar Knight Story will play at Crowne Pointe Theatre at 6:45 p.m. daily from October 6 to October 13. Tickets are available at www.crownepointetheatre.com.
(Poster image provided by Scott Fivelson.)
