Sex and the Single Senior
Movie Explores Life Inside a Boynton Beach Retirement Community

By Mary Damiano

	Michael Nouri and Dyan Cannon share a romantic moment in the new movie The Boynton Beach Club, which was shot on location in South Florida

“It was like making The Breakfast Club but for seniors,” director Susan Seidelman says of her new film, The Boynton Beach Club, which features both Hollywood stars and local actors exploring the lives of retirement age adults.

The film was shot on location here in South Florida using homegrown atmosphere, talent and even a homegrown idea.  The movie opens March 17 here Broward and West Palm Beach theatres.

Susan’s mom Florence Seidelman, who lives in Boynton Beach, developed the idea of older people rebuilding their lives after tragedy, and mother and daughter worked together to bring the film to life.

A Family Affair
Florence brought the idea for The Boynton Beach Club to Susan, who has directed Desperately Seeking Susan, Smithereens, Gaudy Afternoon and the pilot episode for “Sex and the City”.  Florence got the idea for the movie after her lifelong friend Marilyn died and she saw how Marilyn’s husband David coped with the loss.

“He was really in bad shape,” Florence says.  “We were worried about him.”

David began going to a bereavement group, and to regale Florence with funny stories about the other people in the group.

“He was a changed man,” Florence said.  “He was dating, and the women were coming on to him.  My husband said, ‘That would make a great movie.’”

	Director Susan Seidelman, on the set of her new movie, The Boynton Beach Club, which was shot on location in West Palm Beach

When Florence called Susan and suggested the idea for the film, Susan encouraged her to write it up.  One screenwriter’s how-to book, six months and more than a hundred pages later, Florence had a completed script.  

Susan liked the story enough to make the movie, teaming with Coral Springs screenwriter Shelly Gitlow for the rewrite. 

“I thought it was an interesting, socially relevant subject to make a romantic comedy about,” Susan says.  “We’ve certainly explored everything I can think of about 20-somethings and 30-somethings and looking for love.  I thought it had a relevancy and was something that was under explored.”

Florence found investors for the film, and became producer.  Although Susan had planned to stay in a hotel during her time on location, she decided it would be easier to stay at her parents’ house. 

“Her back bedroom became mission control so it was easier to be there,” Susan says.  

“What was nice was that as far as decision-making, we were equals,” Florence says.  “When the script was being rewritten, Susan was in touch with me.  We always had a wonderful relationship, but this made it better in a different way.”

“It was interesting to work with her on this,” Susan says.  “It was fun, but definitely interesting,” says Susan. “Part way through the film I absolutely stopped thinking of her as my mother.  I didn’t even call her Mom.  She was Florence   The good thing about that was that I related to her as anyone else on the crew or in a producer capacity.  The weird thing was that I forgot she was my mother and expected from her what I would expect from an experienced producer.  And she rose to the occasion.  I have a new respect for her skills.”

Florence also had the opportunity to see her daughter in a different light.

“I always knew she was a bright person, I knew she was creative, but I have the utmost respect for the way my daughter handled the people,” Florence says.  “She never lost her cool, and I was very proud to see her act in that way.”

	Kim Ostrenko, a South Florida actress who appears in The Boynton Beach Club

Local Flavor
Even though South Florida is an attractive location for film and TV crews, that doesn’t  always mean work for local actors.  But rather than import actors for supporting roles and day players from L.A., The Boynton Beach Club took advantage of local South Florida talent.  Local theatre fans will recognize Marjorie O’Neill Butler, who appears as a woman concerned with splashing in a pool; Paul Tei, who plays an art teacher; George Schiavone, who plays Joe Bologna’s buddy Bernie and Kim Ostrenko, who plays Linda, the daughter of Len Cariou’s character. 

“There were so many great actors, especially in this age group, and we wanted to take advantage of the talent available in South Florida,” says Susan.

“Everyone is really excited that the movie was made here and that they used so much local talent,” says Ostrenko, who can be seen this summer in City Theatre’s Summer Shorts.  “I remember when “Miami Vice” [the TV series] first started, it was a struggle to get a line or two the first season.  Little by little they started realizing that there are people who can act down here.”  

Ostrenko got the part by auditioning, but once hired, her wild corkscrew curls presented a problem.

“Although it’s not clearly stated, my character is supposed to be Jewish,” Ostrenko says.  “I’m blonde and definitely not Jewish.  Florence said, ‘So darken her hair,’ and they dyed it and blew it straight.  It’s amazing how changing the color and texture of your hair can make such a difference.”

Schiavone was impressed by the filmmakers and the cast's professionalism.  

"Susan herself was a joy to work for, patient and deliberate in her direction. As far as the actors go, they were easy to get along with, tempered by age. I was impressed with way Len [Cariou] was always in character.  Dyan Cannon has this operatic yelp that she lets out every so often to break the tension. It's so funny."

The Boynton Beach Club was made for under $3 million, pocket change by Hollywood standards, but a nice sum by independent film standards.  Susan enjoyed her location shoot in South Florida.

“It was such a pleasant experience,” Susan says.  “After filming in New York a lot, and filming in Toronto and Vancouver a lot, all those cities are so bombarded with film crews that there’s a kind of jadedness that comes through.  What was so lovely about filming in Florida—especially West Palm Beach—is that there haven’t been a lot of films that have been filmed there and everyone was so enthusiastic and receptive.  People opened up their homes to us, letting us use their back bedroom as a hair and make-up station, letting us block off their street, being extras in the film and waiting around for two days while we shot a party scene.”

Florence's own community of Valencia Isles was used to shoot The Boynton Beach Club, and many of her friends and neighbors were extras in the film. 

“The most fun was the dance,” Florence says.  “We filmed for two days in my community with 150 extras and I knew everyone.  That was the one time I got into the movie. I joined the conga line.”

Chapter Two
One thing clearly brought out in The Boynton Beach Club is the circle of life, where the older people start dating again and revert into a younger mode, with all the exuberance and awkwardness of teenagers.

“What I think is interesting about these older active communities is that they’re like summer camps for adults,” says Susan.  “It’s like a last hurrah in the sense of liberation.  They have a certain sense of freedom because they have money and their kids are out of the house.  There’s a sense of  ‘now it’s my turn.’  That’s what this new graying baby boomer generation is bringing to retirement age, a sense of youthfulness and maybe even a sense of rebellion that they grew up with in the 60's, and taking it into their older years.”

The Boynton Beach Club illustrates older people beginning a new chapter in their lives, a subject Florence knows a lot about.  Married right out of high school, she created her own second act when her youngest child was a teenager, by going to college and getting an undergraduate degree in history and then two master’s degrees, one in special education, the other to work with children with learning disabilities, getting a position at Temple University.  

	Florence Seidelman, producer of The Boynton Beach Club, and mother of the film’s director

“My career has always been helping people,” Florence says.  “My motivation was that this movie would be a helping tool to others. Hopefully the message will get out to people who are suffering that there are groups out there to help them get on with their lives.” 

Susan believes that her movies represent the chapters in her own life.

“I make movies that have an observational point of view,” Susan says.  “Smithereens was very much about where I was at that time—it was done in the early ’80s, it was about the downtown punk scene at the time, it was about an outsider coming to New York and wanting to be a part of everything, and it reflected who I was at that time, at that age and how I viewed New York at that time. I related to the characters in Desperately Seeking Susan because I was a suburban girl who could have had one kind of life but chose another.  Jump ahead to “Sex and the City” which was about characters in their mid-30s to early 40s, dealing with love and life in the big city and female camaraderie.

“I think that even though I’m not the age of the characters in The Boynton Beach Club, I have friends who are part of that aging baby boomer generation,” Susan says.  “Friends of mine who were major hippies in 1968 are now 60.  It interested me to look at getting older differently from the way it’s portrayed in Hollywood movies, where you hit retirement and you knit doilies and play shuffleboard.  I don’t think that’s what getting older means anymore.”

Hollywood’s Cult of Youth
The Boynton Beach Club boasts a cast of veteran Hollywood actors, including Len Cariou, Brenda Vaccaro, Dyan Cannon. Sally Kellerman, Michael Nouri, Joseph Bologna and Renee Taylor. 

“I think they were really happy to be working on a movie that was about them,” says Susan.  “They weren’t cast as a leading lady’s grandmother—they were the leading ladies and the leading men.  They’re all very distinctive characters, all equally important, but part of an ensemble cast where it’s about them.”

Florence laments the fact that Hollywood movies overlook older people as strong, viable lead characters.

“I think it’s a shame because at the movie theatre five minutes away, at one in the afternoon, the parking lot is packed,” Florence says.  “Retired people go to the movies a lot.  I don’t know if Hollywood realizes that.”

Susan believes that as the baby boomer generation heads into their retirement, they have a better chance at seeing new movies geared toward them, something that’s not happening now.

“We feel that Hollywood has under represented the fact that there’s an older adult audience looking for movies that they can relate to, that has characters they can relate to,” says Susan. “There are a lot of older single people that are still looking to have a social life.  Whether they’re looking for love or for sex or companionship, they’re looking to meet other people.  That’s something that hasn’t been dealt with too much in movies, and it’s a contemporary phenomenon that needs to be explored.”

A Happy Ending
Florence, who will turn 75 this year, credits the experience of making The Boynton Beach Club with her daughter with adding a fresh chapter to her life.

“I don’t feel old and this has really revitalized me,” she says.  “I thank her so much for trusting me.  She had the confidence in me that I could do the work, do the books, get the money and make decisions when she wasn’t around.  It was wonderful for my self-confidence as well.”

Florence has seen The Boynton Beach Club with audiences and has been gratified by the favorable response.