Gary Dretzka
Noah Forrest
Leonard Klady
David Poland
Douglas Pratt
Ray Pride

Unlike most of the movies that have found their way into theaters this summer, Tom DiCillo’s refreshing romantic comedy, Delirious, is about something all too real: the western world’s insane obsession with celebrity.

His message is as timely and immediate as a "news flash" on TMZ or Smoking Gun, and will continue to be relevant as long as the media force celebrity culture down the gullets of readers, listeners and viewers. Absent coverage of real stars and heroes, it’s impossible to walk past a newsstand or supermarket counter and not be bombarded with images of characters, who, before the birth of People and Entertainment Tonight, would remain anonymous until they actually did something newsworthy.

Today, celebrity has become a commodity that can be bought, sold and traded like so many pork bellies and coffee beans. Delirious asks why such pre-fab freaks as Victoria Beckham, Paris Hilton and Kevin Federline warrant the kind of attention once reserved for Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Robert Mitchum.

Far from being a diatribe or lecture, though, DiCillo has ladled heaping spoonfuls of sugar on his creation to help the medicine go down smoothly. In doing so, Delirious also can be enjoyed as a contemporary fairy tale, in which a knight in tarnished armor rescues an emotionally fragile princess from uncouth trolls and barbarians armed with a cameras. Either way one looks at it, the total product is great fun.

What, you’ve never heard of Delirious … or seen DiCillo on Jay or Dave‘s show?

Sadly, at a time when a Technicolor skid mark named Perez Hilton not only is invited to sit with the girls on The View, but is given a show of his own on VH1, the marketing budget for Delirious reportedly tipped the scales at $350,000. It helps explain how a certain "leaked" video involving Gina Gershon found its way to the Internet last week.

In addition to participating in Q&A sessions after preview screenings here and in Europe, and enduring the agony of roundtable interviews on designated press days, DiCillo conspired with friends and cast members on a last-minute viral-marketing campaign. His blog entries over the past couple of month also are worth the price of admission.

In one podcast, the vivacious Gershon arrives at a hotel prepared to be interviewed for an intimate video profile and discussion of her role in the film. Instead, she’s greeted by a camera crew and a nearly naked porn actor, who presumably is there to add a degree of intimacy for which Gershon wasn’t prepared. Before storming out of the room, the incensed actress accuses DiCillo of exploiting her sexuality for some free advertising … which is exactly what the director says he wanted to do.

Her perplexed response to the arrival of the towel-clad stud is spot-on, as is her volcanic display of anger toward DiCillo. The intensity of the confrontation isn’t relieved by breaks in character from any of the participants, and, indeed, the video did find its way onto several websites. Defamer didn’t buy the ruse for a minute, but found it entertaining enough to highlight on its well-read site. (It and a similarly faux-corrosive argument between Steve Buscemi and DiCillo can be found at www.deliriousthemovie.com/podcast.php.)

"The advertising budget is microscopic … there won’t be any TV, no posters in the subway and no billboards," DiCillo explained to readers of his blog. "The film will open in 12 cities in the middle of August. Any further expansion will be completely dependent on press reaction and word of mouth."

By comparison, he noted, "Little Miss Sunshine" spent $8 million on promotion.

In Delirious, Buscemi plays a devious paparazzo who shares with his peers a mercenary glee for bringing down trophy celebrities. The shooter, Les Gallantine, lives in a squirrel’s nest of a loft apartment, and would happily sell what’s left of his soul for an exclusive cover-worthy photograph.

While at a stakeout with fellow paparazzi, he’s approached by a scruffy young homeless man (Michael Pitt) who volunteers to make a coffee run for the shooters. On Toby’s way back, he stumbles upon the prize starlet as she’s making a surreptitious exit out a side door. Before she’s rushed into her limo, their eyes meet and something clicks.

After Les gives Toby a tongue-lashing for spoiling his chance for a saleable photo, he agrees to let the kid crash at the apartment and act as his unpaid assistant. Toby jumps at the opportunity to work for such a principled and benevolent professional … not.

They make a pretty good team, at least until a tidied-up Toby is swept up in the excitement of an awards-show celebration and, in the celebrity swirl, is taken under the wing of K’Harma Leeds (Alison Lohman). She’s in desperate need of a male escort, he’s smitten and, before long, they make a love connection.

"I intended her to be a composite of Christina Aguilera, J-Lo, Britney, Lindsay," DiCillo said, during the L.A. segment of his publicity tour. "In fact, the financiers actually got me to write a letter to Britney Spears about being in the movie. They kept asking for a name actor, but I needed a Toby who audiences could imagine both stumbling out of nowhere -- literally, crawling out of dumpster -- and walking down a red carpet."

Against his better judgment, Toby agrees to allow Les to join him at a camera-free party in K’Harma’s apartment. Even after agreeing to behave, Les decides to pack a pocket-sized camera … in case of an emergency. The emergency arrives in the person of Elvis Costello, who is no mood to be photographed.

Les’ faux pas results not only in his being given the bum’s rush from the party, but the added insult of having Toby blamed for the indiscretion. In an instant, Toby, Les and K’Harma are splitsville.

"This demonstrates what can happen when human connectedness gets infected with celebrity," DiCillo explained. "The film was intended to be a modern, twisted fairy tale. Toby is a lost innocent, who, after wandering through a dense forest, meets a troll. They make an emotional contract before Toby is allowed to cross the bridge that leads to the princess, who .needs a connection, too."

Beyond the fairy-tale conceit, DiCillo wanted audiences to question pre-conceived notions on celebrity, and how they’ve changed since the days of Photoplay and Modern Screen magazine.

"Fame is created every night, but what makes a real star?" DiCillo asked. "Elizabeth Taylor, Ingrid Bergman, Marlon Brando, Lauren Bacall … there was an instinctive openness in their soul."

Today’s celebrities are more famous for being famous, than accomplishing something mysterious, magical and enduring. A newsmaker’s fame now can be measured in the amount of money a paparazzo can command for capturing an off-guard moment.

Just as Living in Oblivion was inspired by DiCillo’s battle to get Box of Moonlight made, Delirious was informed by real-life encounters with paparazzi.

"I’ve had to throw paparazzi off the sets of all of my films," DiCillo recalled. "While we were making The True Blonde, I needed a specific shot of Daryl (Hannah) walking down Park Avenue at a specific time. Sure enough, a ‘pap’ jumped into the shot and ruined it.

"When I grabbed him, he said, ‘Go ahead and hit me.’ He knew he could get more money for that than from any photo."

DiCillo also sought to explore how paparazzi "justify what they do," and, for this, he turned to frequent collaborator, Buscemi, whose Les is more in line with the weaselly characters he portrayed before going all warm and fuzzy on us. He wasn’t anxious to play another slimeball, though, and initially turned his friend down.

"I wrote the part for Steve, but he thought Les was a little too creepy, too intense," said DiCillo, who was born in 1954 at Camp LeJeune, N.C., and went on to earn a masters degree in filmmaking at New York University. "We humanized the character a bit, but didn’t want to compromise on the ‘paps.’"

During the six-year gestation of Delirious, DiCillo spent quite a bit of time observing celebrity photographers on the job, even riding along with them on their hunts. Among the many characteristics they shared, there was one the photographers might not have recognized in themselves.

"On the one hand they would vehemently defend themselves and their profession by saying, "Hey, we’re just doing our job. We don’t make people buy these pictures," DiCillo wrote in his blog. "And, then, a split-second later, the same guy would say, ‘DeNiro shook my hand once. There was an energy coming from him that went right through my arm and almost blew me away.’

"They were all gripped by this same schizophrenia: at the same time they believed they were better than the stars, they were also utterly convinced they were worthless in comparison to them. Once I saw this, I realized I had found the core of Les … a raging loser, an invisible peon screaming for the world to notice him."

In this way, of course, the paparazzi are little different than those fans whose schizophrenia demands they gloat over the misfortunes of the same celebrities with whom they ultimately sympathize.

Among the awards garnered by DiCillo and the cast at various film festivals, the director acknowledged that he was most proud of the one he received from the SIGNIS jury at last year’s San Sebastian Film Festival.

"The World Catholic Association for Communication gave us its grand prize," DiCillo said, with obvious pride. "I was stupefied, and asked the judges why they did it. They said, ‘Your film demonstrates in a fresh and entertaining way how -- in a contemporary culture of competition and success at any price -- honesty and loyalty are capable of transforming people’s lives and rescue them in their key moments.’"

If his distributor could afford to buy full-page ads in the Times, it would make a lovely pull-out quote. If …

August 17, 2007

- Gary Dretzka

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