Original screenplay by
Mark Christopher
Director: Mark Christopher
Cast: Mike Myers, Ryan Phillippe, Neve Campbell, Salma Hayek, Sela Ward, Breckin Meyer
Producers: Ira Deutchman, Dolly Hall & Richard Gladstein
Now Available on iTunes and Amazon
Q&A at the Film Society of Lincoln Center
Almost 17 years after Miramax released the original film, “54: The Director’s Cut” has been re-edited to include 44 minutes of never before seen material giving the film a new runtime of 106 minutes. Set against the backdrop of Studio 54’s party lifestyle that made the club infamous in the 70s, the Director’s Cut explores in greater depth a love triangle between a bartender, a coat check girl and a busboy. Shane (Ryan Phillippe), a Jersey boy with big dreams, crosses the river in hopes of finding a more exciting life at Studio 54. When Steve Rubell (Mike Myers), the mastermind behind the infamous disco, plucks Shane from the sea of faces clamoring to get inside his club, Shane not only gets his foot in the door, but lands a coveted job behind the bar – and a front-row seat at the most legendary party on the planet. Now, almost 17 years later, Christopher has finally managed to complete the version of “54” that everyone signed up to make in the first place: the story of three friends — a busboy (Ryan Phillippe), a bartender (Breckin Meyer) and a coat-check girl (Salma Hayek) — and the sordid love triangle that nearly tore them apart, set against the glittery excess of New York’s Studio 54 dance club.
WRITER/DIRECTOR
Mark Christopher’s short film ALKALI, IOWA won First Place Fiction Film at the USA Film Festival, as well as the New Line Cinema Award (New York), the Absolut Auteur Award (San Francisco), and the Golden Teddy Award at the 1996 Berlin International Film Festival, among others. ALKALI, IOWA is one of four films in current release under the title BOYS LIFE 2.
THE DEAD BOY’S CLUB, another of Mark’s short films, screened in over 30 international film festivals including Sundance, Toronto and Locarno, receiving several best short awards. In 1993 THE DEAD BOY’S CLUB was theatrically distributed in the U.S. and the U.K.