OPENING NIGHT
KARL ROVE, I LOVE YOU
OREGON PREMIERE!
Directed by
Dan Butler & Phil Leirness
United States, 97 mins.
Comedy / Faux Documentary
Friday, 6:00 pM, The Elsinore
Filmmakers Dan Butler & Phil Leirness in Attendance!
In a deliciously droll and unpredictable take on the faux documentary genre, Dan Butler, a supporting actor best known for playing “Bulldog” on the hit TV sitcom Frasier, is approached by Phil Leirness, a director focused on the idea of making a documentary about his life as a small-time character actor. Though clinging to the hope that his starring role still awaits, Butler reluctantly agrees and Leirness quickly becomes a fly on the wall at dinner gatherings and in the home of Dan and his partner Richard. The first twist comes when, during a party game of "Celebrity", his politically savvy friends chide Dan for having never heard of Karl Rove, because it is, after all, coming up on the 2004 elections. But when he begins obsessing over the idea of Bush’s intimate being his equal, the ultimate supporting player, the intrigue of becoming Rove on stage is too much for Dan to pass up. With its hilarious, tongue-in cheek jabs at self-absorbed, liberal Hollywood as well as right-wing D.C. , Karl Rove, I Love You is a clever, canny and rousing crowd-pleaser.
Dan Butler (Co-Director, Co-Writer, Actor, Producer)
A multi-talented actor, writer, director, and producer, Dan's one-man show The Only Thing Worse You Could Have Told Me… garnered critical acclaim across the country which included Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk nominations during its Off-Broadway run. Acting credits include major roles On and Off-Broadway and at most of the major repertory companies in the United States as well as numerous television shows. Film credits include: Silence of the Lambs, Enemy of the State, The Fan, Fixing Frank, and the soon-to-be-premiered Chronic Town. Karl Rove marks Dan’s feature film directing debut. Dan has also been extremely active with suicide prevention and in 1995 was the National Coming Out Day spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign. He recently moved to Vermont where he lives with his partner of 13 years, Richard Waterhouse.
Filmography: First Feature
Phil Leirness (Co-Director, Director of Photography)
A graduate of the UCLA Film School and a certified Violence Prevention Specialist, Phil Leirness made his feature film debut as a writer-director with 'Til Death Do Us Part, a low-budget romantic comedy. Mr. Leirness then produced and directed an industrial film and several commercial before writing, producing, directing, and acting in The Party Crashers , a dark comedy about a Hollywood party held hostage. Due to legal entanglements and an NC-17 rating, The Story of O: Untold Pleasures , a modern-day, English-language remake has not been released in the U.S. despite having been released around the world.
Filmography: Spectres (04); The Story of O: Untold Pleasures (02); The Party Crashers (98); Til Death Do Us Part (95)
