The Preppie Connection Film

A couple weeks ago, my friend Natalie's uncle, Joseph Castelo premiered his new film, The Preppie Connection at the International Hampton's Film Festival. The plot of the story is about a student that attends the Choate school who wants to be accepted into the wealthy preppie culture. He later on becomes a cocaine dealer to establish his place in the school. The Preppie Connection was recently featured in Vanity Fair's latest edition. To get some more insight of this film, I got to interview the director, Joseph Castelo himself.

1. What inspired you to make this film?

I was inspired by my own time in boarding school during the 80's. I loved the music and the preppie alternative culture. It was a fascinating story and it made me want to go back to that time and explore my own memories.

2. What was your experience like at the Hampton's Film Festival?
The Hamptons was the perfect back drop to premiere the Preppie Connection. As a matter of fact, it screened next door to the Ralph Lauren store in East Hampton! We had a great party at the Blue Parrot and the audiences loved the film. Both of our screenings were sold out.

3. What was one of the biggest challenges in creating an accurate representation of what occurred in 1984?

Our biggest challenge was not to make the eighties look too much like what everyone agrees the eighties look like. We wanted to be accurate to the period, but have the film feel like it existed a little bit outside of time; like a memory. I thin we achieved that.

4.What advice would you give someone who was interested in pursuing the film career path?

I would tell anyone setting out to be a filmmaker to tell the stories that matter to them most. Making a film is very difficult and filmmakers face a lot of adversity along the way. You have to be relentless and persevere and the best way to do that is to believe in the story you are telling.

5. What was your favorite part of filming this movie?

My favorite part of making this film was working with an exceptional cast, Thomas Mann, Lucy Fry, Logan Huffman. I was able to write the film with my talented wife, Ashley Rudden, and my incredible niece, Natalie Commesso, was in the film and worked on the set as a PA. It was a great experience all the way around. I can't wait to do it again!

Have you heard of the Preppie Connection?