‘Damsels in Distress’ roundup

A bunch of odds and ends to get us up-to-date.

Nate Freeman has a slightly rambling article which is ultimately a report from last week’s screening of Damsels in Distress at Film Society of Lincoln Center, with Stillman and some of the cast. It starts with an anecdote from when the crew were scouting for locations for the movie. Whit Stillman had gone missing.

[A production] assistant ventured into the museum-hosted gala and circulated among the men in suits, hoping to spot the director—the beloved scribe of Metropolitan, Barcelona, and The Last Days of Disco – who had finally come around to making a new movie. And then, between men bearing canapes and women in big dresses, there was Whit Stillman chatting up a guest. The assistant politely waited for the conversation to end before interrupting.

“I’m sorry, Whit,” he said. “But we have to get back to the scout.”

“How did you find me?” the director said, smiling.

“Whit,” the assistant said. “All of your films are about parties, so when I heard this one going on …”

Amusing enough, although saying Stillman had “finally come around to making a new movie” seems a little, er, ignorant.

Next, Forrest Wickman at Slate investigates the important question Were the Cathars Really Sodomists? prompted by a line in the movie.

Moving on, at Huffington Post there’s a video of the cast and Stillman (scroll to the bottom for the article and endure the pre-roll ad) chatting about the movie, parties, and their college experiences: