‘Beyond The Night’ was passion for Pa. native producer
Robin Garvick remembers growing up in East Berlin, Pa., and riding her bike for miles on country roads to rent VHS cassettes at her local video store.
“I really connected to the magic of it all: the story, the costumes, the music,” she recalls. “Movies like ‘Never Ending Story,’ ‘The Dark Crystal,’ ‘Stand by Me,’ ‘E.T’ and all of Steven Spielberg’s films [were favorites] . I mean, the ’80s were an incredible time to be 10 and watching movies.”
Even though Garvick eventually formed a theater company in Baltimore and toured with an experimental dance company, she never outgrew her connection to filmmaking.
To familiarize herself with the ins and outs of making movies, she took any job that involved being on a film set. She worked as a stand-in, a photo double and an extra, toiling for the likes of Barry Levinson, Tony Scott and John Waters.
It was while she was working on Waters’ “Cecil B. Demented” that she ran into actor Adrian Grenier, best known for his turn as Vinnie Chase on “Entourage.” A year later, the pair re-connected in New York and bonded over a love of paintball.
“Adrian became my best friend, and he was the one that suggested I consider producing,” says Garvick who, after years of living in Los Angeles, is now based in Lancaster. “I am so thankful to him for seeing something in me, and giving me the confidence to pursue it.”
After working with Grenier on a series of documentaries, Garvick was handed a screenplay for a crime thriller called “Beyond The Night” by an old pal named Jason Noto. Almost instantly, Garvick knew the project had a lot of potential.
The movie, which is now available for streaming and on DVD from the Philly-based Breaking Glass, is the saga of a former soldier (Zane Holtz) who, following the death of his wife, travels back to her hometown with his 5-year-old son (Azhy Robertson). Soon, he finds himself embroiled in a cold-case mystery involving his cop-sister (Tammy Blanchard), a psychologist (Enid Graham) and a local gangster (Chance Kelly).
Garvick believed in the film to such an extent, she helped finance it herself.
“I realized … if I didn’t buy a house in Los Angeles and used that money to complete the [funding], I could make the film instead,” she says. “I knew that’s what I needed to do to make this dream a reality.”
As executive producer, Garvick had a lot of responsibilities, including working out the budget, negotiating with the cast members, hiring department heads, running the shoot in Sullivan County, N.Y., and overseeing the post-production.
Garvick envisions that moviegoers will enjoy watching “Beyond The Night” as much as she loved making it.
“I hope the greatest takeaways are compassion and the idea that things aren’t always as they seem,” says Garvick. “I hope the film makes people think, question, and believe.”
Amy Longsdorf is a freelance writer. clarimer@mcall.com Twitter @cklarimer 610-778-7993