"I want to be an action figure."-Philly, July 2000





LOOK MOM! A PHILLY GALLERY!
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"The first time I saw Philly, Verow Superstar and lead actor of "Once and Future Queen," was in People magazine when I was 14. (It was 1984. Prince was on the cover bathing in the "Purple Rain" showers, etc.) I can still see the picture of Philly with that caption proclaiming "scum rises." It was an article on the "bizarre" New York art scene nightlife. Club kids, poets, performance artists, actors and painters 24-7 in an urban blender of spiked results. (This was way back when that other mag, Details, was a cool rag dedicated to sub-celebrity NYC party coverage.) I wanted to be there in New York with those "creative," "glamorous" people--little did I realize I would not only be submerged (drowned, beached, etc.) in a similar lifestyle, but that Philly would be an integral part of it."


"The first time I actually met Philly I did not remember the People magazine article and was only "coulda hadda V-8'd" by the fact that it was part of the press kit she gave me for her page on our Web site, bangorfilms.com. That meeting was a crash course in the Lower East Side. I had just hooked up with director Todd Verow and we were writing the script for his notorious "Frisk." Todd lived in NYC with Philly, her husband Gyu and their ferret; I was commuting from Boston, where I was going to college. Well, Philly can scan through a person like an X-ray; I was zapped and cleared (luckily). We had one of those amazing talks on the roof of her legendary Lower East Side apt. It was one of THOSE talks--a clicking sound was heard--we understood each other and began to realize that we had a lot of work ahead of us."


"Luckily it was work we love. We've shot 'Once and Future Queen' , a film that Philly was destined/born/incarnated/channeled to play the lead in. A desperate, righteous "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory" tale if ever there was one. Ahead of her time and not living in the present, yes, please, that's our leading lady. Todd and Philly are working with a very basic outline and are taking it slow this time, improvising and letting situations develop around them. So, as it grows we'll see more of the process going on. As for the plot, it's a story about a woman who's got one last chance to be a star; to make something of her hipster life, as it were. Todd and Philly shot with a very minimal crew--at times simply the two of them. My input on this one came later, during the edit and the recording of the voiceovers Philly and I created interview-like for her less-than-rock-star lead character. Of course, music is provided by Philly's new band, Eager Meat, which features Verow Superstar/my brother/actor Bill Dwyer (who is also a mean-ass drummer.) She even has a CD coming out. She is MULTIMEDIA."





"Does anyone have as much enthusiasm as Philly? Unlikely. She'll get me on the phone and let me have it--with her day, what she's done, seen, thought--and best yet, how happy she is to be working with Todd and myself. I sometimes feel she's a time traveler, living her life backwards. She's been there, done that and is willing to do it again if it was halfway fun and interesting. We've challenged her in her roles lately: a shrill punk rock opportunist in "Shucking the Curve," a scratch-ticket obsessed mother in our last film, "The Trouble With Perpetual Deja-Vu." As with everyone we work with, Philly brings her everything to the work we do. I'm really excited about 'Once and Future Queen.' We finally get to crown her." -Jim Dwyer