PARK CITY, Utah – Director Patrick Stettner almost wishes his maiden effort – which some here have been calling “the other rape movie” – wasn’t one of the most-talked-about flicks at the Sundance Film Festival.
“I really wish people could have discovered this movie on their own, without all sorts of huge advance expectations,” says Stettner, director of the dark rape-and-revenge tale “The Business of Strangers.”
“In a way, I’m afraid it’s hurt the movie and its chances.”
Sex crimes are a big topic here thanks to “Raw Deal,” a documentary about an alleged frat-house attack that was snatched up by Artisan after a bidding war among studio execs.
And with Stettner’s film starring red-hot Julia Stiles, high-decibel buzz is practically unavoidable – her latest movie, “Save the Last Dance for Me,” was No. 1 at the box office for two weeks in a row.
In “The Business of Strangers,” Stiles plays a young office temp who claims a friend was a rape victim.
During the course of a long evening at a Midwestern airport hotel, her character strikes up a friendship with a hard-driving businesswoman who also happens to know the alleged culprit – and the two plot against him.
But Stettner’s movie – a small film with only three major characters – has had a hard time living up to its advance hype as an indie blockbuster in the vein of “sex, lies and videotape.”
He drew upon years of experience working as a law firm temp for the movie, shot on a less than $2 million budget on a tight 23-day schedule, mostly at a half-dozen hotels in New Jersey.
Stettner still can’t believe he landed Stiles and Stockard Channing, who plays the businesswoman – both of whom deliver multilayered, powerhouse performances. (Newcomer Frederick Weller has the smaller part of the alleged rapist, a smarmy executive headhunter.)
Stettner developed the script at the Sundance Institute’s writers and directors lab, in the same class as John Cameron Mitchell, whose rock musical “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” has also been winning kudos at this year’s festival.
The pungent script first attracted the attention of Channing. “Her biggest concern was finding a young actress who could handle the other female character, who is very enigmatic,” Stettner says.
Fortunately, the on-the-rise Stiles, a student at Columbia University (where Stettner made a student film that played at 35 film festivals years ago) was eager to do an independent movie after several studio projects. She and the award-winning Channing both worked for scale.
“It’s like a dream come true,” Stettner said. “Since I’ve been 14 years old, all I’ve wanted to do is direct a feature film.”
A half dozen studios have been circling “The Business of Strangers” and distribution seems all but assured.
“But truthfully, what I’m most interested in is making another movie,” Stettner says. “This has been a long time coming.”