Narrowsburg (2019) - full transcript

[gentle, somber music]

[Tom] As it's happening,
you're thinking something's wrong,

but you
don't face right up to it

because either you don't care
or you don't want to know.

[man] The damage done to
the community and families,

it'll last for a generation.

[John Marchese] It was
a great dream.

It was a beautiful dream.

[Richie] I was thinking I was
going to become the next, uh,

I don't know,
Paul Newman or something.

I thought I'd be in the country.
I wanted to live like that.



Why? Read my scripts,
turned out to be nothing but a disaster.

[Jocelyne] At first,
there is only two sides to the story.

And then
there are so many sides,

you don't know where the truth,
where the lies are.

And it's get very confusing.

But the truth is somewhere.

[light upbeat rock music]

[engine hums]

[Zac] I grew up in Narrowsburg,
New York.

It's a very small town
in the upper Delaware.

It's actually a hamlet
and it's one block long,

post office, bank,
Chinese restaurant, pizza place.

My life sort of
centered around Main Street...

which is nice and also
stifling when you're a kid.



[engine rumbles]

[water rushes]

[Tom] The car looks nice in the sun,
don't it?

[Cecilia] Yeah.

[Tom] Nice and bright.

[Cecilia] It's
a quaint friendly town.

Where everybody knows everybody.

Everybody knows everybody.

You walk into the coffee shop

and everybody says good morning

whether they know you or not.

If you don't recognize someone,

that's the stranger thing

other than what you do.
[chuckles]

- [dark playful music]
- [projector whirs]

[John Marchese] When Richie
and Jocelyne first showed up,

it was like some people
from outer space

had landed in Narrowsburg.

Are you new in town?

[Richie] Could be.

[John Marchese] They were
Hollywood people

and they were like these
busy bees of self-promotion

and publicity for themselves.

Hi, how are you?
So, my name is Richard Castellano.

I like this
beautiful woman I'm with.

Don't look, huh?

Here's Jocelyne.

- [Richie smooches]
- [Jocelyne giggles]

[Cecilia] I think
I met them first.

They came into the store

and they were
looking to buy a gun.

They talked that they
had just moved up to the area.

They bought a house.

You could tell right
away he was from Brooklyn.

I mean,
he had this real thick New York accent.

[John Marchese] Richie talked
about being a hitman for the mob.

He would come in
to the Chatterbox Cafe

and it was like he had
purchased the Chatterbox.

He would walk and,
"Hey, how are you doing?

Hey, yo, how is everybody?
How is everybody?" [mumbles]

He would just
get his own coffee.

He wouldn't pay for it.

He would wave to everybody.

And he would walk out.

[Tom] Right away,
he got to know everybody.

He was one of us, you know,
one of the community.

He was never awkward.

It was like he'd
been here all his life.

[upbeat, rhythmic music]

The first time I heard
about Richie is like 1998.

I was probably
14 or 15 at the time.

And I remember
hearing that he was going to be

in this movie called
Analyze This

with Robert De Niro.

I watched the screening
and then the lights came up

and there he was standing there.

It was incredible that
he was here in this small town

and there he was,
and I've just seen him in a movie.

[man hums]

[bangs]

- [car trunk thuds]
- What are you, some kind of moron?

[Zac] It was probably soon
after that that I heard that

Jocelyne was
going to start a film festival.

That was sort of what she did.

And they had big plans
for Narrowsburg.

They were going
to put it on the map.

[forklift beeps]

Oh, yeah,
it was topic of the conversation, yeah,

properly made the barbershop, um,
post office, all the big spots, yeah.

Yeah,
and it was a big deal for a small town to,

to have
a legitimate film festival.

This is a nice place to live but
a hard place to make a living.

And most of the people
that make a living here

have two or three jobs or drive
40, 50 miles one way to work.

We saw what happened
in Sundance and other places

that had film festivals
and we thought,

you know, why not here?

I wanted to be an actor.
That was sort of my deal.

And here I am growing up
in this super small town,

this guy comes,

what are the chances
that this is happening?

Like, this is crazy,
like, this is my big break.

I remember Richie and Jocelyne

came to my mom's house
for dinner.

They got there and I remember,

I remember
looking out the driveway,

"They're here,
they're here, they're here!"

You know,
I'm very excited about this.

I'm this young kid and I really want to,
like, get this guy to like me.

I'm running around,
I'm whatever complimenting him.

Richie was like
The Music Mancomes to town

making people
excited about something.

Folks, listen!

I'm Professor Harold Hill.

And I'm here to organize
the River City boys band.

[Zac] I think he liked
making people feel good.

I think he liked telling people that
they were going to be a big star.

It was like when he would talk,

it just seemed possible

whatever he was talking about.

And,
and if you can be around that,

I mean,
that's a nice thing to be around,

especially in a small town
where not a lot seems possible.

He really made you believe that
you were going to be something.

You could do anything.

And the first thing you were
going to do is be in this movie

that was going to get shot.

The way he pitched the story
was a movie

about a guy who tries to
get out of a gangster world,

and move upstate to
a small town with his son.

Gangsters from the city
follow him up there

and kill his wife.

And then somehow he
gets charged with the murder

and ends up in jail.

And,
and everyone's after his son.

The most
important thing about the pitch

was that it's all going
to take place in Narrowsburg

and is going to
put the city on the map.

This was an opportunity.

You know,
I was going to get in that movie.

I mean,
there was no question in my mind.

And I started, like,
hanging out in the office with him

and Jocelyne and everyone.

Richie was like,
"Joss, why aren't you...

you should be paying this kid."

Like,
"This kid's here all the time,"

like,
"you got to pay him something."

- [man] I'm going ahead, Jeff.
- [man 2] Good morning, Jocelyne.

- [man] What, moving up already?
- [woman] Look what you've found.

[man] I know nothing yet.

[Zac] Jocelyne...

was just sort of around
in the background.

And they were like a good couple.
They seemed like a good couple.

Jocelyne was,
according to reputation,

this woman who had run
the Hollywood film festival.

And now she was
going to bring Hollywood

to this little town
of Narrowsburg.

The only thing I ever knew about
her was she was from France.

No,
she was actually from South Africa

- she told me at one time.
- Was it?

- Well, I know she had...
- Or I found out later on

she was from South Africa.

- She told me France.
- But she sounded like she...

okay, well, she sounded like,

to me, like, she was French.

But I heard she was
from South Africa somehow.

[laughs] You're doing good
with that.

[interviewer] Can you first
of all just tell us your name?

Okay,
should I say it in French or in English?

Should I work,
I mean, um, the accent,

because now I'm in
between the both accents,

so how do you
want me to say my name?

In American way, a French way?

[interviewer] However you
feel more comfortable.

Okay.

My name is Marie Jocelyne Plante.
I was born, I was born Plante

and in a small island
called Reunion Island.

It's a very small community.

Everyone know each other.

Uh, I wanted to establish my own rules,
you know,

and, and to be free to think
and to do what I wanted to do

and to think for myself,
you know, so.

[light, gentle music]

I knew it was a world out there.

When I was young,
I love Western,

I love cowboys movies, cowboys,
the cowgirls, the open space.

- Is it a pretty place, Steve?
- Uh-huh.

It's the old Jamison place,

about 40 miles
outside of Tascosa.

Can we move right in
and start living there?

[Jocelyne] When you're a child,
America, it's a, it's dream, you know,

every child,
you know, in this world

somehow dreams
of going to America.

I came here in 1989.

I do know when
I landed in Los Angeles,

I felt, I felt like more home,
you know.

I met Richard, um...

at the Hollywood Film Festival
that I was part of.

Before him,
I never met anyone really, uh,

criminal, so... [chuckles]

You know,
being Italian-American, uh,

coming from,
I don't know if he comes from the mob

or what but I was fascinated by it,
I have to admit.

[light, playful music]

[Rich] My father is
an American dream story.

My father's dream was
always to be a superstar.

It was always to be famous.

You know,
I was in his movie Whacking Cows.

I looked up to him a lot and I feel like
he was almost like a superhero to me.

He didn't need De Niro to say,
"All right.

You...
You're the star of a movie."

He was a star already.

Come on, get out.

The methology has risen,
let's go.

I love the camera.

You know, I was growing up the way I did,
you know,

I was always
looking for attention.

How much more attention can
you get than this? [chuckles]

My mother winged up
in a mental institution,

and my father who
once again doing time.

And my life just felt complete

when I hang out with the,
uh, the tough guys

or good fellas as we say,
you know, in our world.

I started robbing banks,
uh, armored car heists.

[man] Your fucking gun.
Drop the fucking gun!

Get on the ground.

[Richie] And before you knew it,
I was in Attica

doing 12 years.

I got sentenced on a, uh,
a payroll robbery that I did.

[tires screech]

I wanted to get
out of that life.

If you saw Whacking Cows,

it's a story of a guy

trying to make his life better.

I'm just tired of this life.
I want to do something different.

And everybody I spoke
would just naturally would say,

"You got a nice personality,
I like that.

You should become an actor.

You can live your life on film

and not have all these
people chasing you for real."

And I say, "Hey,
that's a great idea, man."

[upbeat music]

[gun bangs]

[siren wails]

And that's how my career
started in acting.

And then an agent said,
"Listen, De Niro's doing a film,

and I got you in.

You know, go read for them."

I went in and
Bobby was sitting there.

He said,
"Were you ever on film before?"

I said, "A thousand times!"

I said,
"At the police station had all my number."

He said, "I like this guy."

You're good.

No, no, you're good, Doc.

He said,
"I'm going to make you Jimmy Boots."

And I looked at like 15 pages.

Well,
that was relatively painless.

- [slaps]
- Shut the fuck up.

That hurt.

[Richie] Every breath I took

on that set, I enjoyed it.

I loved working
with Robert De Niro.

It was like being with God.

When we wrapped,
I started crying

because I felt bad
about leaving Jimmy Boots,

the character that
I had played for three months.

I actually felt
like two different people.

That's what happens
in every movie I'm in.

I become the character,
and the character comes to life.

[siren wails]

[producer] Can you talk
about meeting Jocelyne?

I thought she
was a wonderful lady.

And I wanted to hold onto it,

and that's how I got
deeply involved with her,

because I liked her that much.

[Jocelyne] I was attracted to
Richard by his fun side.

He had a very fun side about him,
always joking.

But my age, I don't think so,

you just have a relationship just
to have a relationship, you know?

You have to be in love.
Yes, I was in love with him.

Actually, it happened very,
on the spur of the moment

that he proposed to me.

One morning
he woke up and he said,

"Let's go and get married."

And I said, "Okay."

[Richie] I don't know if this is
too personal to tell the world,

but making love to her,

I probably
cried like a girl sometimes

because I'm an emotional guy,

and especially when I make love

and when I care
about the person.

I've always been
loyal to a girl I was with.

And they'll all tell you.
Right, girls? You out there?

You know, I tell the truth.

[dark, playful music]

Hey, Isaac,
do you ever think of getting out of here?

- And go where?
- I don't know.

Maybe we'll start
a farm or something.

Raise some cows, who knows?

[Jocelyne] We wanted to
get out of New York

to start over again.

We wanted that little tranquil life,
you know?

And I just wanted to see the, the,
you know the nice side of Narrowsburg.

[dark, playful music]

- Hey, what's up, Mike?
- [Mike] What's up, Richie?

- You got that money?
- What money?

So now you forgot?

I paid you last night.
What are you talking about?

- Forget about it.
- I got a bad memory.

[Mike] Yeah, well,
let's work on it.

[Zac] Me and him hit it off
fairly quickly.

One day, he started talking
about starting an acting school.

And I'm going to be
the first student

in the Richard Castellano
School of Acting.

Every single morning I would see him and,
"Come on.

Come to my acting classes."
I said, "Are you kidding me?

I don't need no acting class.

I can act fine all on my own."
[chuckles]

That's how it started out with him,
and

before you knew it,
he had a thing on Main Street there,

and everybody and their brothers we're
coming down here to take acting classes.

[John Cirelli] I think it was $20,
$25 a weekend.

My granddaughter
learned to be an actress.

She learned to
talk in front of people.

She didn't...
She wasn't afraid after that.

It helped her in school.

[Zac] I watched
the class grow into 25,

30 people, 35 people.

And then I got a camera.

[man] Action!

[Zac] I don't remember
there being a script,

but it was all kind
of coming out of his head.

[man] Action.

You fucking bitch. [chuckles]

You're supposed to be a cop?
Aren't you a little young to be a cop?

[chuckles] You never saw
21 Jump Street?

[Zac] There's like a detective,
and there's a murder, and there's a camp

because there was a lot
of young kids in the class.

I asked you, what's the matter?

[Zac] There's grandparents.

There was like a crazy lady,
and it was just

the story would just get
bigger and bigger and bigger.

It was totally improv.

It was like, "You're the brother,
you're the sister.

Your mom just got killed,

and you think that
it's your father's fault

and she thinks it's your fault;
go!"

But there wasn't a whole lot
to do in Narrowsburg.

And it was a... It was fun.

[laughs]

[John Marchese] And there was these
people who, they were farmers,

and, uh,
kids from the local high school

shouting like,
"Fuck you!" "No, fuck you!"

"No, hey, fuck you, fuck you!"

And that was [chuckles] the Richie
Castellano School of Acting.

That's it, what can you do?

[John Marchese] They would
put on this act

where Jocelyne would pick up
the phone and say, you know,

"It's Bobby" [chuckles].

And Richie would come
and start talking on the phone.

Of course,
everybody thought he had a call

from Robert De Niro,
you know, who else?

Um, I think that was just part of the,
uh, promotion.

[bells ring]

[man] Can anybody join
this parade or what?

- How are you?
- [woman] Is that Richie?

It's the film festival.

Beat it, kids, you're [mumbles].

[Zac] I made a commercial
for the first film festival.

And it was this like huge production,
and it was on TV.

[clock ticks]

[narrator] Don't sleep through your dream.
Live it

at the Narrowsburg International
Independent Film Festival,

August 2nd through the 6th.

Meet producers, actors,
screenwriters, and directors.

Attend daily seminars,
screenings, and nightly events.

Learn and celebrate
the art of indie film

in the beautiful
Catskill Mountains.

For information
visit our website

[Zac] The first film
festival was amazing.

I mean,
it was a big deal and there were real movies.

The whole place was
covered with balloons,

and the ceiling.
And Mekhi Phifer was there.

Linda Hopkins,
who was this jazz singer, performed.

It was really happening
in a lot of ways.

[John Marchese] There were people
around packing that little theater.

[Richie] We were the talk
of the town.

There's the Castellanos!

They had it in the papers.

They call us, uh, real McCoy.
[chuckles]

[Richie] They loved us
so much in Narrowsburg,

they named a hamburger after me!

They had the Castellano Burger.

I actually thought that
they would change the name

of Narrowsburg
to Castellanosburg.

Thank you so much.
I'm so happy that you're all here.

Please have a nice night.
God bless everyone and all my fellow actors.

My wonderful wife who
keeps me on the straight narrow.

My brother chose those words.

So thank you once again.

God bless everybody, okay?
Thank you.

[audience cheers]

I have to thank
right out of the gate...

Jocelyne and Richard Castellano.

They told me about
a dream that they had.

[audience cheers]

Believe me,
it will be a Sundance on the East Coast.

[audience cheers]

[sings in foreign language]

[Jocelyne] I just wanted
to do a good festival.

I just wanted to do something good.
And I felt that, you know,

having this kind of
attention would make him believe

that he can be someone.
He can be somebody.

He can,
he can really change his life

from mob wannabe to, you know,

have a,
have a good Hollywood story.

That's what I wanted for him.

You know, like, like in the movies, you know?
[chuckles]

[sings in foreign language]

[Zac] Soon after the festival,

Richard was always talking about

making the movie
Four Deadly Reasons,

and,
"You're all going to be invited to be in it."

[dark, playful music]

[Tom] I tell you
exactly what he said to me.

"We're making this movie
in Narrowsburg."

And he said,
"We're going to use a lot of local people."

But this came with
more than just making a film.

It came with
putting the town on the map.

[Jocelyne] I've never produced a film before,
before that one.

Richard is no organizer.

[chuckles] And so, uh, he said,
"Organize it, make it happen,

and I will
find the finance for it."

I asked, "Do you want to be in the movie?
Come and audition."

"You want to invest in the movie?
Let me know."

"You want to invest?
Yeah, I'll take 5,000."

[Dr. Paul] I saw the movie
Analyze This.

I was very impressed by it.

He wanted to
know if I'd be interested

in giving him some money
for this venture.

"Hey, Doc, how are you?
We need your help.

You're a good guy,
let's get it together, come on!"

Richie used to go down here every day,
telling people, "Come over, come over,

and, you know, do some acting.
I'll get you in a movie."

He said people are
going to be movie stars.

Everybody wants to be a part of
that Hollywood glitz and glamor.

People began to talk, and I think they
were lining up to give Richie money.

[soft chatter]

[woman] Yeah, bring everything.

Great,
once you go into the camp and, uh...

[Zac] He held
a very large audition,

and everybody I knew
probably was there.

I mean, it was packed.

Do you wanted me to fill this out,
but what does this stuff mean?

Social Security number.

Over here put question mark.

You're playing Dominic.

Okay,
I don't know my Social Security number.

Okay,
just put... I don't know [laughs].

[audience cheers]

[whistles]

[Paul] Cut. Okay, good.
Okay, that was really good.

Guys,
I know it doesn't look natural.

Background action,
everybody here starts cheering

and doing your thing.
Cheerleaders start cheering.

And then we call action.

Then we kind of look to you.

Okay, one more rehearsal.

[dark, playful music]

[Zac] I was cast as his son.

I'm Dominic, I'm this,
like, basketball star.

And I was really
excited to have this opportunity

that was seemingly
like once in a lifetime.

That's when I smoked
my first cigarette

and that's when
I had my first beer.

It was really happening.

I mean, there's big trucks there

with real professionals
and gangsters.

All of them had been in, like,
Analyze Thisor Casino.

Richie was taking it very seriously.
He loved that movie.

I want you four guys
to start sticking together.

I want you to start creating
a little bit of attitude.

And I want you to start feeling
like the Four Deadly Reasons.

[Paul] I had submitted
a documentary

to the Narrowsburg
Film Festival.

Jocelyne, said,
"Well, I love your documentary.

Would you be
interested in directing this?"

Okay, so, so Zac.

[Joe] My friend,
Paul Borghese, great director,

he says,
"I want to shoot this movie

in Narrowsburg, New York."

When I had the opportunity to write,
uh, a mob film

with, you know,
it's in my blood.

I wanted to prove
that I could write more

than what people
thought I was capable.

That I could
see everything coming

if I got involved in Hollywood.

[Paul] All right, I'm going to,

go through this with
you guys a little bit.

[man 2] All right,
do it, shall we?

Yeah, yeah, dog face.

Why don't you
get another tattoo?

Mad dog, mad dog face.

When are you going to get it right,
Tommy?

Yo, Jesus Christ,
we're trying to talk over here.

Yeah, asshole,
I'm trying to read.

So you guys are
a little funny almost.

Like you talk, I mean, you're a little funny.
A little bit of, okay?

[Paul] We were making what
was supposed to be mob comedy,

and the funny thing was that almost
everybody that went up there,

Richie would go, "Yeah.

You're good,
you're good, yeah, I like you.

I got something
for you in this movie.

I got something for you
in this movie.

You're going to be in my movie."

[laugh]

In all honesty, in all honesty,

I wish everybody had this man's heart,
because I know,

if it was up to him, everybody in this
county will be working on this film,

including, including my parents,
their parents,

my cousins, my cousins' cousins.

- That's right.
- He's a good man.

And that... I mean that.

Uh, Chris,
can you make sure we aren't,

the officers' communication with someone,
yeah.

- [Chris] They're doing it right now.
- [Jocelyne] Okay.

You're going to be in a cop car,
in the passenger side.

Hey, Richie, you see this bank?

- Right.
- We talked about this before.

Okay, make sure you're hitting.

Roll sound!

[woman] Sounds rolling.

[man] Action!

[Paul] Action caught.

Trooper,
Bobby Venuti just escaped.

I want the bridge blocked.

[man] All right, we're in the set
here for two excellent characters

- in Four Deadly Reasons.
- Thank you.

[man] How do you like
the people on the shoot here?

- Everyone's excellent. Yeah.
- It's a great filmy atmosphere here.

You know, you have a cast from other,
other, other movies we did,

Analyze This, and this and that,
or whatever it is.

Analyze there, here, anywhere.

- [man] Hey, little Vitti.
- [Joe] Say hello, Vitti.

[man] You were in Analyze This,
weren't you?

- Yeah.
- What did you play?

The little son.

We'd like to say hello
Mister and Missis Castellano

for bringing
this whole thing together.

[man] All right, where are they?

- We don't know where they are.
- Richie and Jocelyne

but they're around...

[man] I have to
go find them too.

[man] Chris,
what part are you planning in the picture?

Right now
I'm playing a minor role

as, uh,
a patron at a coffee shop.

[man] And, uh,
you like the people on the set?

The people on the set
are really great,

especially Rich...
Richard Castellano.

He does a great job
with everybody.

And I think it's going
to really be a good movie.

I'm staying here from,
uh, New York City.

I came up to, uh, Narrowsburg.

You know,
it's a pretty nice town up here.

You know, it's a little quiet,
you know?

You know, I thought, uh,
I thought it was a ghost town

but there are, there are really
people living here, you know?

And what do people do up here,
actually do?

[man] They canoe down
at Delaware.

They canoe down...
I knew a few guys that canoed.

But that... Those were guys that,
you know, uh,

like, escaped from prisons
that were near the water.

It's scripted.

We're going to have to, I, I, I,

I wrote the scenes,
uh, yesterday,

and she's
typing it this morning.

Do you have a light that you put,
like one of those lights

that people put
on their unmarked cars?

- No.
- No?

I wanted but, you know what,

we're going to lose the light.

And they go
down at the same time?

- [Larry] I don't know, Paul.
- Where's Richie?

I have no idea.

Things started to go bad while
we were shooting that movie.

You know,
Richie was constantly missing.

Nobody knew where he was.

[Larry] Where the problem
started to show up,

people were
showing up constantly saying,

"Richie told me
I could be in the film,"

and the production manager
had the job of saying to them,

uh, "I'm really sorry."

Richie told everybody
they could be in the film.

And then after the first week,
all the checks bounced.

[eerie music]

I called Richie and said, "Richie,
you know, the check bounced.

I'm going to go to the police."
He said, "You go to the police,

I'm...
you're going to the morgue."

Fucking you, wasn't it?

You're a fucking dead man,
Paulie!

[eerie music]

Practically,
everybody who was employed by them

knew, phew,
this is not going well.

And my understanding is a couple
of them threatened to quit,

and he threatened them
with bodily harm [chuckles]

if they quit.

This is the file that
I started keeping on Castellano

when things started
going south [chuckles],

when we started
hearing all these rumors

that maybe, that this guy wasn't
all he was supposed to be.

[Steve] I remember
he needed cash,

and that's when
he started to sweat.

I don't know what
he needed it for

but he'd come out to my clinic,

and I remember we had to
throw him out a couple times,

because he just wanted cash.

You know,
he just wanted a loan, a loan.

Cash was his drug.

[Zac] A lot of it was like,
I got this shipment of sneakers

that I'm going to buy
for this amount of money

and sell it
for this amount of money,

and if you give
me this amount of money,

I'll give you
this amount of money.

[John Conway] He said he
had a truckload of VCRs,

and that if I would invest
a certain amount of money,

he said he would double the,
the money in 48 hours.

I know he's a very good talker,
because when I first met him,

he got money from me, so...
[chuckles]

He told me that
he was going to go to jail

if he didn't have
money to pay his probation.

And, of course,
I found out way later

that that was a total made up story,
you know?

[dark, playful music]

I think he was not in control

of a little bit of stardom
that he was getting,

and that fed his ego,

and then I think
it got out of control.

[Richard] As time passed,
people began to question

just what was going on.

And there were so many
rumors around Castellano

that you couldn't
separate fact from fiction.

At that point, there was, uh,
essentially a work stoppage.

Most of the crew did not want to
continue working.

[Paul] So the crew's
waiting around,

and all of a sudden, you know,

here comes Richard
on a golf cart.

Ta-tara-tara,
it was almost like Caddyshack.

So he comes out,
he gets off the cart

with a, with a,
with a brown paper bag.

[Richie] I came there
with 300,000 cash.

"How many hours you worked?
Here, here's your money."

And I paid
everybody down the line.

Like, kind of, you know,
mobster kind of payday. [chuckles]

But I didn't knew where
his money was coming from.

And my,
my mistake was not to try to find out.

[dark, playful music]

[Zac] Even after
everything just fell apart,

a lot of the people
were still hanging on.

And I was definitely,
like, in the hanging on camp.

I kept going
to the acting classes,

and I kept doing all
these things with the hope of,

the movie's going to come out, and I'm
going to have this movie that I was in.

It wasn't until they
started the second film festival

where you started seeing
the headline stories shifted.

I had two movies in
the Narrowsburg Film Festival.

One of them opened the festival,

and the other one
closed the festival.

You know, closing night movie,
it was Blue Moon.

I do love you.
You know I love you.

It's the end of the world.

It must be the end the world.

[Brian] And the other was
in the opening night movie,

that's Under Hellgate Bridge.

Brian,
I knew you're going to be here, man.

Hey! [chuckles]

[Brian] I called my agent, uh,
Sarah Fargo at Paradigm,

and I said,
"I've got two movies in this festival."

And she's like, "Oh, that's great!
What is it?"

And I said, "It's called Narrowsburg
International Film Festival."

And she said, "Well,
when you find out what that is,

let me know." [laughs]

I remember
that I had written down

what had happened to me there.

And in here is
the Narrowsburg Film Festival

as it happened to me.
I was there every day.

And some of this is actually
written down in dialogue

because when I hear really good dialogue,
I like to write it down.

[dark, whimsical music]

When we got into town,

the town was not
what I expected at all.

It was kind of
like a scary movie set.

There wasn't one banner

over a little tiny theater.

In the theater,
it was kind of a little sad auditorium.

Even the screen was askew.

I saw Richie, and Richie goes,
"Hey, Brian Vincent,

welcome to the Sundance
of the East."

Then there
was like a blur of motion

of like this guy right
behind him came up suddenly,

and he turned around
and grabbed this guy

by the lapel of his shirt
and dragged him into an alley,

and he start beating him.

And it was like, [puffs]

the guy was like, "No, no!"

And Richie goes, "Motherfucker!"

And Jocelyne
ushered me into the office

while all that was happening.

She just acted
like it didn't happen.

I think she'd make
a great poker player.

Then Richie comes back,
and he's shaking out his hands,

and he goes,
"We can't have any bums in this town.

We got a festival to run here."

He looked very worried actually.

Pretty quickly after,
somebody took me aside

and they said,
"I gave some money,

quite a lot of money to this guy
Richie Castellano for my SAG card.

Did you ever do that before
or did you go to the union?"

That was a very odd question.

It was like what else
could possibly go wrong?

Because it probably is going to.
I mean, the food was late for the dinner,

and so and so didn't show up

and this person's going to walk
if they don't get their money,

and, I mean,
it just became a total...

it was total train wreck.

And now let's have some fun.

And I would like to call on
the stage someone, uh, someone

that everybody
is expecting tonight.

Pat, where are you?

Pat Cooper.

[audience cheers]

Ladies and gentlemen,
I have never been so bored in my life.

[audience laughs]

I have never,
never saw actors give themselves

accolades that
nobody gives a goddamn.

I wound up going to this goddamn small town,
Narrowsville,

Narrowscot, and I don't know
how they call the goddamn place.

I said hello to
Richie Castellani.

We talk about a man that
said he make movie after movie.

I only seen him
in one goddamn movie,

but the way he talked,
it's like Gone with the Wind.

[audience laughs]

Little Rosalyn, Jocelyne,
Jeesalyn,

or what her goddamn name is,
who spoke here for ten minutes,

and I swear to Christ
nobody knew what she said.

[audience laughs]

Moving on, ladies and gentlemen,

standing on a stage
with actors that nobody knows.

[audience laughs]

Richard Castellano, you dear man,
ladies and gentlemen,

who tries to
give lessons on acting.

[audience laughs]

What a joke.

[audience laughs]

I made a movie with him.

This guy couldn't
find the fucking door.

[audience laughs]

But I love him,
and I love this kind of situation

because nobody cares.

[audience laughs]

What are you making, a movie?

No! Get away, no more.

That's it, stop. Stop!

Stop, that's it,
no more, no more.

- Oh.
- [man] Close-up.

- Stop.
- Close-up.

- Stop. Stop.
- Are you serious?

[uneasy music]

[Brian] So on Sunday was when
they showed Blue Moon.

And then they were going
to give out all the awards.

And I won the dubious honor
of the Rising Star Award

at the Narrowsburg
International Film Festival.

And I got caught up in it.

It made me cry,
and I realize as I was crying

how ridiculous it was,

because I knew that the festival was a sch...
sham,

and I'm crying over... a sham.

[uneasy music]

The next day,
they were showing Four Deadly Reasons.

What I had heard was that
the town had produced the movie,

which sounded kind of intriguing to me,
actually.

Like,
could a town produce a whole movie

and it'd be a hit?
Yeah, of course, they could.

It's a great story. [chuckles]

[Zac] We had heard about it
through the premier

for weeks and weeks and weeks.

It was going to be
like a Hollywood premier.

I expected to see a great movie
with local people in it.

Some famous actors
mixing with the local people.

Putting the small town
of Narrowsburg on the map.

I bought a suit.

I was going to, like, roll up

and make a grand entrance
in a town car.

I mean, I had a big plan.

It was the film festival,
you know?

I was counting down the days.

I was so excited.
Tickets sold out immediately.

Everyone wanted to see
what this movie was going to be.

[Brian] When we got there,
the town was all dressed up.

And they were so happy.

They all felt like
professional actors.

But [stutters] what was amazing
to me was that Richie,

he was still on a throne,
you know,

and people were just,
they loved him.

I set up my camera in the back.
I was standing in the back.

I was going to
capture this moment.

And, uh,
Joe Dinki gets up there.

[audience applauds]

All right, um, I, um...

wrote the screenplay for Four Deadly
Reasons from an original story

by, uh,
Richard's son and another person.

And, uh,
we took it and we made it into a...

I think a very viable,
very sellable, very fun mob film.

So let's all applaud Narrowsburg
for their participation.

- Thank you.
- [audience cheers]

Now, uh, the hard part.

Um, halfway,
we started the, um, editing,

post-production
on this film in July.

And, uh, lo and behold,
we hit a few problems.

And, uh, sadly,
we don't have the whole film here today.

And I really do apologize.
But what you will see is 15 minutes,

sorry, of the film that shows
exactly what we were doing

and how much fun it is
and how great your area looks

and all the people
that were in this film.

Uh, I don't want to belay to
the point and keep apologizing

because you guys are great
and I think it's a fun film

and I know it's
going to go places.

And I'm having one of those
really bad summers, so...

and I apologize. If I was more energetic,
I could've made this happen.

But, um, I'm going to turn it over to,
uh, to see it, right?

And then if
you have any questions,

I'd be glad to
answer those afterwards

about where this is
going and what happened to it

and everything that's going on.

- Thank you.
- [audience applauds]

[upbeat music]

♪ Oh, amazing

♪ I can't get ahead no,
without trying ♪

♪ Everything is out-of-pocket
somebody do something ♪

♪ The perfect situation
is abstract ♪

- [splashes]
- ♪ Listen

[man] Oh, yeah.

Go on.

Oh, yeah, we got him,
we got the money.

[Tom] It was chopped up pieces of
movie that I couldn't make no sense of.

I don't know if
it was to be deceitful

or just to put
something in front of you,

but there was nothing there.

[Zac] I had invited a bunch of people,
my family was there.

I'm just watching
these scenes go by,

waiting to catch
a glimpse of myself.

And it was like nothing.

No shots of me.

No shots of Narrowsburg at all.

Just these terrible scenes
with these gangsters.

Fuck,
you're in a fucking country club.

Show some class.

[Jocelyne] I was
feeling so ashamed,

and I think I left the theater.

Everyone was
so furious about it.

Nobody move!

Hands in the air!

[high tone]

[uneasy music]

[Brian] And then
the lights came up

and then they were like,
"That's it.

Okay, you know,
you can get out of here or whatever."

[Tom] There was that, uh,
horrific silence

that nobody says nothing.

Some people in the crowd gasped.

And I said to myself,
"They're the investors."

It hit me, I said,
"If it ain't a scam,

it's something that went really,
really wrong."

[Joe] The kid, Zac,
he's almost in tears.

I had no idea
the amount of money

or the amount of emotion that
his family put into this movie.

I felt horrible.

And his father,
he's got like this,

yeah, I can tell with his face,
his face is all tense,

and he's drawing
these steel eyes at me,

and he just wanted, he want...

he wanted to take
his anger out on me.

I mean,
taking out Richard and his wife and Jocelyne

and Richard,
go, complain to them.

I was trying to save that movie.

And I was trying to get it done

so those people
would have something

and I would have something.

What was
overarching was the fact

that I was not going to do this.

I was not, I wasn't going to be an actor,
that was it.

I could not deal with that...
sort of thing

happening to me again.

[Brian] We all went out
on the street

and there were people just,
like,

running like, "Look, where... what the hell?
Where is Richie?

Where is Jo, where are they?"
And that's when the town...

went from "We love you"
to "We hate you."

And that, you know,
there was real violence in the air.

Search every ravine,
every crevice,

but the fiend must be found!

[crowd clamors]

[dogs bark]

[uneasy music]

[Cecilia] There were people knocking
on the office door after the film.

[knocking on door]

Never anybody there.

It's like they,
in the middle of the night...

They disappeared.

So then I knew,

I says, "The jig is up."

Now everybody knows something's
wrong with this whole picture.

[man] The man's
a by god spellbinder.

I want my money back!

I want his hide!

Find him and bring him
over to the high school,

roped and hogtied
if you have to.

[Brian] When we woke up
in the morning,

we drove to the main office,

and there
was nobody in the office,

the computers, they were gone.

There was nothing left there.

There was
someone there that said,

the police
were looking for Jocelyne

or maybe they
were just saying Richie.

But they...
they had found a passport with the picture

that had been cut out.
[chuckles]

I don't know
what to make of that.

They found a passport
with a picture cut out.

[Cecilia] I think
there was one in here...

when the story first broke,
right?

In The Times Herald-Record.

This is the one from,
uh, Times Herald-Record.

I think this was the front page,
headline.

Then it started snowballing.

[Cecilia] It grows
quickly in a small town.

[Tom] Everybody said
they were con artists.

Every couple of days
you see somebody else

came out of the woodwork.

[man] Hundreds of thousands
of dollars

that he had gotten from people,

where did all this money go?

[uneasy, somber music]

[Lurch] He playing the whole damn thing,
top to bottom.

I mean, come on. They did a couple
little scenes on Main Street,

a cop car go up and down.

I think he gave everybody
a big fucking farce.

And he came up here
deliberately to fuck everybody.

Things started to come out about him,
you know.

It wasn't a bank that he robbed.

It was like a shoe store.

It was, like, the story shifted,

and it was no longer glamorous.

It was, like,
he was, he had been lying.

My name is Detective Wyatt.

[Larry] His real name
is Castaldo,

okay?
The key there with Richie was

that he used Castellano
as the name.

Paul Castellano was head of the Gambinos,
you know.

But he had been dead for years,

so what's he going to do,
you know?

Say, "You can't use my name?"

[slow relaxed music]

[Brian] After the festival,

I saw there was
a newspaper article,

and on the front page
was Richie.

And it says,
"Fallen Star's Film Fiasco."

Finally,
Richie showed up in the town and he goes,

"Hey,
did you see I made the papers' front page?

They call me a star,
a fallen star, but a star, right?"

[Zac] He was on Main Street,
wasted.

He's not in his suit anymore, he's in,
like, sweatpants and like a wifebeater,

and, like,
he's just chain smoking and screaming.

"I'm a fallen star, star, star."

He was, like,
at the end of his rope, you know.

And he's been in a fight.

[tense music]

Get the fuck, get the fuck off,

get the fucking [mumbles].

[tense music]

[car crashing]

[dramatic opera music]

[Zac] I think he knew it
was over at that point.

I don't think
there was much to do

besides get drunk and just wait

for all the bad stuff
that was about to come.

I mean,
I think he knew it was going to crash down.

[Bobby] Officer,
what are you doing, officer?

Wait a second [mumbles].

- [Bobby] Go inside!
- [police officer] Shut up, Bobby.

[Bobby] No,
don't tell me to shut up!

[siren wails]

[police radio chatter]

[dramatic music]

[Tracy] I'll be in sight to
the Richard Castellano story

- in Sullivan County.
- It does appear to be on its way.

The actor featured in
the movie Analyze This,

Richard Castellano,
who was brought to the county jail

last night,
face Judge Frank LaBuda in court today.

Castellano was
charged with grand larceny

after promising people
Screen Actors Guild cards.

Sentencing and restitution
will be discussed tomorrow.

There were many charges
pending against Richard.

But the charges
that ultimately appeared

in an indictment
were several felony charges

for taking money
from would-be actors

and promising them a union card,

and a fraud charge
where he obtained

substantial money
from a local farmer.

I could say when he appeared in court,
he was an actor.

[Ralph] When he tried to
convince the court of something,

he acted like he
was starring in a movie,

and he's always
looking around to make sure

that he had the audience.

I believe at times, he

could not tell the difference
between reality...

uh, and, and a movie that
he was creating in his own mind.

On his judgment day,
so to speak,

case was called and
there was no Richard Castellano.

The attorney stated that, uh,
he had had a psychiatric breakdown.

He made a good faith
effort to repay the money,

but he hasn't paid it all yet,
um,

mostly because of his medical
problems. He's been in the hospital.

Victims should be made whole
because of the scam he pulled.

[Ralph] There was one time where
he tried to feint a heart attack.

He stands up and he
starts to say something,

then he goes into one of his,
"Oh, something's wrong,

something's wrong, I,
oh, I feel, oh, I feel weak.

I can't see. Oh, oh, something's,
oh, something's awful wrong."

And he gropes around,
found the chair.

I looked at
the deputy and he said,

"He does this
all the time in the jail."

[Dawn] Aside of a plea deal,

Castellano
promised to pay them back,

and would be sentenced to a year behind bars.

This morning,
Castellano apologized.

You've been
very respectable judge.

I appreciate that,
it's almost good to [mumbles]

so, I, I have no, no complaints,

and I'm sorry for what happened.

[Dawn] Judge LaBuda says Jeffrey Schwartz,
Castellano's attorney,

doesn't want to
represent his client anymore.

LaBuda says that is
still long with the...

Bang, they locked me up.

And I wind up in
mother effing jail.

Like, they were saying
we had no film in the camera.

There were people saying
we had no film in the camera!

I get mad when I think of it,

because they were
trying to hurt me so bad.

The DA,
he thought he had a big fish

in a small pond, you know?

Richie Castellano,
the ex-mobster-turned-actor.

They thought
they had the big one.

Well, open your eyes.

You got nobody!

That you got nobody
but a regular innocent actor.

I'll see you guys, try to snap up
my cell before I leave, all right?

- Of course.
- Be good and remember, write me.

Take care, Bobby.

To me,
it's nothing to hold people money,

so that's why maybe I
don't get excited like kids do.

You think it's a good story,
I think it's a fucking boring story.

Maybe I'm interesting.

The story sucks.

That's all I can say.

[producer] Can you tell me about,
um, uh,

the premiere of the...

what was supposed to be the
premier of Four Deadly Reasons...

- Yeah.
- ...and, but the editor had only

been able to edit
maybe ten minutes of footage?

We had to... we had to,
uh, what do you call that?

A premiere, yeah.

Where you got dressed
with tuxedos and everything.

[producer] But then I have, like,
only ten minutes of footage was,

was ready? Do you remember that?

No, I don't remember that.
I remember seeing the whole movie.

What are you talking about?

Are you sure you know
what you're talking about?

When I went there,
I watched the whole movie.

I don't know
which fence you went to.

Never heard of that.

Ten minutes of the movie?

Are you sure?

I really can't answer that,
I don't know what that...

what happened
with that ten minutes.

I don't remember that.

[projector whirs]

[somber, whimsical music]

[John Conway] To read
about some of these people

who had given
their life savings to this man,

and just ended up
with absolutely nothing

to show for, um,
I can only imagine

what it must have done to them.

I lent him a lot of money.

I think I lent
him close to 15-20,000.

It probably was
not more than 50,000.

[Steve] I remember
going to the bank,

I used a couple of
Visa cards to get the cash.

I walked out the door
and I gave it to him,

and I just remember the smile he had on his,
his, uh, you know,

"Oh, you're amazing,
Doc," you know.

To give someone money like that,

you have to hope
and then dream or believe.

He said,
"You're going to get a part in the movie,"

and that was the hook.

He made me feel like I
was going to go some place.

[Dr. Paul] It was like a very fast thing,
like, they needed cash.

I said, "I,
I'm not going to give you that amount."

He said, "You have to,
we really need it."

"Okay, I'll give you a check."

But when I
went to cash the check,

there was no money
in the account.

I felt at that point

that I was had,
and that these people were swindlers.

[uneasy music]

[pensive string music]

- [man] We're making a documentary over here.
- [woman] There we go.

- This is the man.
- [man] All right.

I respect him,
I love him like a father,

This guys never wannabe...

[Tom] Now,
I don't know everybody that gave him money.

The only guy I know
for sure was John Borg.

And, uh,
he thought he was going to be in the movie.

[Lurch] That was,
that was over a $100,000.

He was having a heart attack,
"Oh, my God,

I gave him almost my entire
fucking life savings."

And he died, he died a few months
right after that. That was it.

Gloria is
a retired music teacher.

Whether he knew that there
were dementia issues going on,

I don't know,
but she gave him over a $120,000.

This note says,
"Keep it quiet because I'll go to jail.

We don't need
their investigating you."

I think as she
got deeper and deeper,

it just became,
like, her little secret

because she didn't,
she didn't share with her husband,

she didn't share with anybody.

[birds chirp]

[John Marchese] I'm a writer
and journalist,

and I thought this
has to be written about.

Uh, I went in to see Richie,

and he was feeling,

obviously, that he had been
caught and trapped at that point.

And I remember he showed me,
I think,

this notebook
he had been keeping,

or something
like kind of legal pad

where he had been writing stuff.

And on that pad, he had written,

"I'm Richie Castellano,
a fallen star."

So I have to admit that there
was something charming about him.

And I don't think that his charm

was completely based on fraud.

[man] So what are you
going to do if you get out?

[Richie] Make love to my wife,
Jocelyne, the whole day.

- [man] All right. [chuckles]
- [Richie] But... and what's funny is

as long as I've been here, I miss her more
and more, and I love her more and more.

It took me three months, uh, two and
a half months to get this girl in bed.

[man] Wow!

[Richie] And that's why I love her,
Sam and Joe,

a lot of guys, they were thinking,
"I don't worry about that with my wife."

When I said that, "You're not
going to run away on me, are you?"

"Are you crazy? Because again,
I'm your wife, why would I leave you now?"

I don't think she's
ever run away from me.

[John Marchese] Jocelyne was being hounded,
too,

but I was trying to find her.

All I knew was that
she had gone into hiding.

She was just
the mystery woman all along.

Everybody could
talk about Richie.

No one really
could talk about Jocelyne.

I, I don't think his wife
was involved with the schemes

and she was never, uh,
charged at any level

with being involved
in the schemes to defraud.

I think a lot of people thought
she was just along for the ride.

You know, what people told me?

That she was the brains
of the operation.

He was along for the ride.

I don't know
if that's true or not,

but that's what I heard.

I do recall having a conversation with,
with Jocelyne,

where she, uh, told me that she was
a descendant of the Habsburg dynasty,

and, uh,
how she escaped in the middle of the night

with,
with some of their fortune.

Some of the things that she said

didn't historically add up.

[Dr. Paul] I do remember
something like Jocelyne

having some royalty in her,
like royalty in France

or in one of those countries.

[Rich] She told me that
her family owned an island,

her family was
like billionaires.

She said she owned Mustang Films

and it was a big film company.

[Zac] I'm organizing
some of her files.

I remember pamphlets of movies

that she had supposedly produced

without her name on them.

She was a lot harder
to pin down than he was.

[Brian] I think Richie had
dreams of making a movie.

I think Richie wanted
to be the center of attention

at a film festival,
and Jocelyne probably being

the much more intelligent,

knew the reality of it
would just be so much easier

to just take the money and run.

[somber music]

I know I do not leave men,
uh, indifferent

one way or another,

and I think this has been my curse a little,
you know.

I was not involved,
really I was,

you know,
you can be guilty by association

but you need to prove that.

I was not accused of anything in Narrowsburg,
you know.

And believe me, the DA was looking,
he was looking.

In Narrowsburg I did not
understand

where did all this money go?

And, you know,
one day did my own detective work,

you know, and I found out Richard
had problem with gambling.

I did confront,
I did confront Richard

regarding horse's affairs
and horse's money issues,

but Richard
is a very smooth talker,

and he would
always say that was crazy,

you know, just kind of answers

that men sometimes can say to woman,
you know.

I had a hunch,
I thought we could turn this dollar

into some real money,
pay off Sapiro

and have some left
for ourselves and the kid.

Nobody's coming looking for us,
okay?

[Jocelyne] You are in a corner
and where do you go from there?

There is a lion in front of you and,
you know,

and you can't move, you know.

That's how
I was feeling at that time,

most of the time
I was with Richard.

[uneasy music]

I mean,
after leaving that drama in Narrowsburg

and everything else
that goes with it,

the DA, the police,
um, the shame.

I think I was
at my lowest. [laughs]

And, um, I think I cried.

I cried for months.

I didn't want to exist anymore either,
you know.

[somber music]

[rails clatter]

[siren wails]

[Isil] We went to
the Narrowsburg Film Festival

with our film
Under Hellgate Bridge,

and that's how we met Jocelyne.

After that festival,
uh, some years went by,

I don't remember
exactly how many years,

but we did
hear from her via email

when she started
the Queens Film Festival.

I thought, "Hey, you know,

maybe this is a new
fresh beginning for her.

And I want to thank
all of our filmmakers,

our sponsors and
member of the advisory board

in making this film festival
the best

I hope that we
have broken new ground

and set the tone
for another five years

of the best of independent film.

[Larry] I didn't know
about the Queens Festival,

until I saw a friend
from the movie.

He said, um,
"You want to hear something funny?"

He said, "Jocelyne is running
the Queens Film Festival now."

Festival has not only
grown in size but in depth.

We were just like, "Wow, you know,
she pulled herself together.

She survived that
whole Narrowsburg fiasco.

Maybe this is, you know,
a new beginning for her."

But what was so odd
was when I saw her

for the first time,
her name was no longer Jocelyne,

her name was now Marie.

[Larry] He said, "Yeah,
she's using the same picture

that she used in Narrowsburg,

but she's using a different name
under the same picture." [chuckles]

[Isil] We were standing
in the lobby of the festival

and that's when
somebody came up to us and said,

you know, they got conned by her
and that she owed them money.

I always felt
like there's something

not a hundred percent
with Jocelyne.

I kind of started Googling her,

and,
and then I found out something in California

about a check being bounced

for like a large
amount of money.

And I started
putting two and two together

and was like, "Wow,
Jocelyne wasn't this big producer.

That Jocelyne has,
you know, a criminal past."

It was surprising,
I couldn't believe it.

Isn't that also the festival where that
"Shame on you, guys, shame, shame."

- Chases her down the street.
- Yes.

[news reporter] Marie Castaldo
is the founder

and director of the Queens
International Film Festival

but some say she's a con artist.

[man] They're ripping off, uh,
four vendors of some $14,000.

You had the Narrowsburg
Film Festival.

- You left a trail of bad debts there?
- No, that's not me.

[news reporter]
And before Narrowsburg

she was in California
calling herself

Marie Rousseau,
and Marie Jocelyne Plante.

She left owing
$40,000 in unpaid judgments

at the Hollywood Film Festival.

Actually,
can I tell you something?

- Yes.
- You do not know much,

uh, and I'm really sorry to see

that you're a reporter.

She has zeroed in
on the fact that

filmmakers want to show their films
and they're even willing to pay.

We bought, uh, the C package.
I figured that...

How much...

- How much is it?
- It was like $200 for the C package.

- 200 dollars?
- Yeah.

Okay, to see your own film?

- To see our own film!
- [both laughs]

If you get good enough people

that are willing to
pay to show their films,

you can have a festival
and if you have a festival,

then you can get sponsors.

And if you've got sponsors,

then you can
charge ticket admission,

and the money
just keeps coming in.

This is her specialty.

[Michael] I think
she had a genuine wish

of wanting to be
important in the film world.

I don't think she did
film festivals to con people.

I think she
wound up conning people

because, you know,
we're in the indie film world.

There's always
dreams out of more and bigger

than there is
reality of making it happen.

[dark whimsical music]

I can honestly say,
you fooled me.

Everybody invested,
I gave her the money.

It's gone,
I can't say how she did it.

[somber music]

[producer] Do you feel like you
actively deceived anyone?

That I actively deceived anyone?
No.

So I understand that, you know,

there is all this money,
or there is a pattern

but do not try to make me feel
like I am the evil person.

Mistake
were made from all party,

so everyone needs to
take their responsibility.

These people
call themself my friends

when the wind was
shifting the wrong way,

they were gone but then when the
wind was shifting back the good way,

then they were back.

I am sorry, I prefer myself...

even so all of these look bad,
I prefer myself,

I do not shift winds, okay?

And stop saying
that I am that evil person

because I can say a lot more

about each and
every one of them.

I am a nice person.

I'm just going to stop at that.

[light music]

We want to think that if a disaster happen,
you know,

we will help on each other

but I do not believe, I think everyone
just run for themself, you know.

Coming from Africa,
doesn't surprise me at all,

the strong eats the weak,
uh, you know, lion, uh,

you know,
zebra that is wounded and you will go for it.

That's how I see people,
you know.

When you're strong,
people go with you,

and when you're weak,
they go against you.

[soft, dark music]

[birds chirp]

The first time I saw Four Deadly
Reasons was long after we had shot it.

It was screening at
the Tribeca Screening Room.

It was above
the Tribeca Bar and Grill.

[dreamy chorus music]

[uneasy music]

The life,
you know what I'm talking about.

Sooner or later,
it either puts you behind a wall

or under the ground.

[Paul] So I called up the
Tribeca Screening Room and said,

"Hey,
I'd like to book such and such date and,

you know, 7:00 p.m.
or whatever it was."

It was the opening night
of the Tribeca Film Festival.

I never told anybody that it was

part of the Tribeca Film Festival,
I never lied,

I just said we're having a premiere
at the Tribeca Film Center.

It's opening night
of the Tribeca Film Festival.

I paid, I think,
$200 for an actual red carpet.

And we played it for a packed audience,
300 people.

[uneasy, whimsical music]

I just wanted to be
a filmmaker and get a movie made

but it got so much more complex.

Richie, he was in jail.

So I made a deal with
the Castellanos,

where Joe Dinki
and I did some rewrites

without him
in order to make it work.

Plans,
they never seem to work out.

Paul and I both put our own money in it,
trying to save that movie.

But I said, "No, I want to get this finished,
we're going to do it,

we're going to do
the right thing by everybody."

And it has five scenes
that I'm very proud of.

Bank robbery, there's strippers,

there's mob actors
eating ice cream.

Shit!

[Paul] And I had this whole
thing about palindromes.

[Bobby] You're named Otto?
That's a palindrome.

You call me a fucking what?

[Bobby] You figure it out
for yourself.

A pa... a palindrome?

You don't walk away after
calling me a fucking palindrome!

Hey!

[Zac] Oh, I was, um,
the only person from Narrowsburg

at the screening.

Richie and Jocelyne weren't there.
Richie might... I don't think...

I think Richie was out of jail at that point,
but he was definitely not showing his face,

or... where the... you know,
in, in this crowd.

And then the last thing
I heard about Richie,

he called me and
said he was thinking about,

like,
starting another acting school

and,
and whether or not I would be interested

in, like,
helping him out and doing it with him.

I mean, had I been like, "Yeah, man,
that would be awesome, let's do it!"

I mean, I think that maybe there would
be another sort of chapter in this story.

[chuckles]

[pensive, whimsical music]

I don't think it was malicious

when he told me that
I was going to be a movie star.

I mean,
I think it was to try to make me feel good.

And I think he,
he liked conning people.

I mean, he... to trick somebody is,
is addicting

and he was
certainly like a trickster

and a con artist,
that is absolutely true.

But that's different
than the excitement

that he got from telling people

that he was going
to put them in a movie.

Richie and Jocelyne
awakened this thing

and this love for making movies.

- Is this where we are?
- Right here, okay?

- We're right here, we're good?
- Okay.

That I believe that
these things are possible

is something
that Richie taught me.

[slow, pensive music]

[engine rumbles]

[Joe] The blur
between fantasy and reality,

we all fall prey to it.

There's a little bit of
Richard Castellano in all of us.

There's a little bit
of flimflam,

there's a little bit of wanting

so much and not
knowing how to get it...

and there's a little bit of,
of all this chicanery

that we all pull
from time to time.

[Brian] Had it been ready,
Four Deadly Reasons,

would he have been
arrested and put in prison?

I don't think so.

Sometimes,
people dream something

and because they're dream,
they just keep saying it,

and it suddenly
starts to become true.

So when is it a lie,

and when does the lie become a real movie,
a real thing?

[slow, pensive music]

[Zac] I often describe it as,
like, The Music Man

without the magical
happy ending.

Suddenly,
there were things to do

and things to be proud of.

Surely some
of you can be grateful

for what this man
has brought to us.

[Zac] The truth didn't matter.

It was just the possibility.

Possibility that
these things could happen.

[slow, pensive music]

[John Marchese] I mean,
I really have this theory that

the entire film business
is built on a scam.

There's still
people who are going to say,

"We lost money,
we were embarrassed,

yet we'll be able to
tell this story

for the rest of our lives.

We were ripped off in such
a bizarre and unusual way

that it was worth it."

How often do you get
to tell a story like that?

[Richie] Narrowsburg is a sleepy,
beautiful town,

I love, I still love it.

And there's still people
want me to come back,

they said, "We wish Castellano,
Richie was back up here.

He made the place alive."

Like people say, "Rich,
how many people in this world

can say they've
done what you've done?"

You know,
if I should die walking out this door,

I'd die with a smile on my face,

I'm not afraid of death.

You make movies and they live on,
and on, and on,

so when you do pass on,
you go hang out with God,

you're still alive down here.

[slow, pensive music]

[upbeat orchestral music]

[upbeat, playful music]

The story is so fascinating

that there were like
a jillion different ways

that it could be told. And I...

Feeling fucking lucky now,
Sapiro?

Dad, stop, please don't do this.

I got four
fucking reasons for you.

Four fucking deadly reasons.

[dark, playful music]