Extended Q&A: Verdi Productions

Local filmmakers Chad A. Verdi and Tom DeNucci weigh in on past and upcoming movie projects in Rhode Island.

    Why did you get into film?

Chad: I got into the film industry because my wife Michelle and I bought the rights to the Vinny Paz story at the end of 2009. We wanted to learn the business prior to making that film. We entered this blind and wanting to learn. Our first movie was Inkubus, which had huge success, and then we came back with Loosies starring Peter Facinelli from Twilight, and Jaimie Alexander who is now the lead in Thor. Then came a horror movie called Infected. And I thought, until we have the right writer with Paz, we would keep going. While we were making other films, I met Ben Younger who wrote and directed Boiler Room and Prime with Meryl Streep and Uma Thurman. He wrote an incredible script. Our next movie was Self Storage. Then I was introduced to Marty Scorsese. He took a liking to the Paz story and asked for me through Senator Sheldon Whitehouse for us to meet in New York. I met him and his producing partner Emma Tillinger Koskoff in New York, and they absolutely loved the story, they loved the passion, and then I introduced my writer and director [Younger] to them and it was one big marriage. We were doing a fifteen-minute meeting and it turned into two-and-a-half hours. He agreed to come on with Emma, and now Bruce Cohen, who won the Oscar for American Beauty and [was nominated for] Silver Linings Playbook, and also Noah Kraft.

How did you connect with Martin Scorsese?

Chad: Sheldon Whitehouse saw that I was making films, and he was surprised by the quality. He asked why I got involved and I told him about the Paz story. He said, I like your story and I love your passion. I’d like you to meet someone, but let me see if he’s interested in meeting you first. Marty said he’d love to sit down and meet with me.

How long does it take to finish a movie, a few years?

Chad: We started filming in 2010 and we’ve made six films. All of them will be released by June 2014. The average is two- to two-and-a-half years. We turn them around in less than twelve months because we have the equipment, we have the ability to edit, and we know – as a small production company – it’s not only quality, it’s quantity. You have to keep everyone working or you’ll lose people. We have distribution and I think that’s the key compared to everyone else. We’ve done so well with our prior films that they buy them as soon as they’re done.

Can you tell me about A Bet’s a Bet?

Chad: It’s a romantic comedy. There are a lot of dares being played. The best way to describe it is two people trying to find out if they’re going to have a relationship, and he has an ego, and they start betting on themselves.

Tom: He’s a ladies’ man and she has to tame him.

Chad: What a great cast. Mena Suvari. Geoff Stults – he has his own show on Fox coming out. We have Jonathan Silverman from Weekend at Bernie’s. Eric Roberts, Kenan Thompson from Saturday Night Live. It’s our relationships. They come on because they like working with us, but more importantly because our movies are being seen.  Why get involved with a project that’s not going to be seen? And that’s 95 percent of the films. If you make 100 movies, only five percent of the films are seen.

Why have you chosen to stay in Rhode Island?

Chad: I go to L.A. about four times a year. I go to New York. But Rhode Island, because we live here, we have family here, and I’m not willing to travel unless it was for the right circumstance. Steven Feinberg (from the Rhode Island Film and Television Office) has been great. We won awards at the Rhode Island International Film Festival. Tommy took Best Director, I took Best Producer. It is one of only thirteen recognized film festivals in the country.

Tell me about the other two films you have on the books for 2014.

Tom: G66 is an offbeat love story between two psychopathic total nutcases. The story of how they seek revenge on the people who made them the way they are. The other one is the opposite. It’s a comedy about the Olympic sport of curling. It’s a very obscure sport, but it’s silly and fun. It’s about these lovable losers and unsightly athletes who get together and go for the gold.

Tommy, where did the interest in horror films come from?

Tom: Horror films have always been big for me since I was a little kid. But then I got away from them and discovered comedy as a teen and into college. And then it came down to opportunity. Chad gave me an opportunity to make a film, and it just so happened that these horror films were selling so well. It was the wisest genre to approach, so I dusted off the old horror skills, and came up with a screenplay for Self Storage. As a filmmaker, you have to take any opportunity in any genre that you can get.

Chad: We are very good at what we do. If it didn’t start with a great script, if it wasn’t directed properly, if it wasn’t a great cast or edited correctly, it wouldn’t sell. They are selling like hotcakes because we are good at what we do, and we try not to stray from what we are good at. We’re good at horror and comedies, and the inspirational, feel good story will be the Vinny Paz story. We engage people that specialize in those genres. When people are making money off your products, obviously they are going to keep coming back for more and more.

What attracted you to the Vinny Paz story?

Chad: He’s a friend and it is the greatest comeback story. I only missed five of his fights. I was there when he won the title. I was in the hospital when he broke his neck, and I was at his first fight when he came back. Believe it or not, I have seven figures into that movie and I haven’t even turned the cameras on. We went from writer to writer to writer. We’ve done so much, and we’ve employed so many different people to try to get that project going.

What do you say to those naysayers who have negative things to say about Paz?

Chad: How about the naysayers who said that we were never going to be able to do this? People know what we are doing outside of Rhode Island. I got involved to give others an opportunity, and I’m staying involved to give them an opportunity. Outside of Rhode Island, Vinny is an icon. They don’t know about his DWI. I don’t know if it would matter. He’s going to have a small role in this movie. It’s not going to be all positive. But he was one of two people to ever win titles at lightweight and middleweight at that time. He did break his neck and they said he’d never walk again, nevermind fight again. You can’t take that away from him. This will be the biggest film by far that I’ll ever be involved in. I know the people involved think this is Oscar material. You’re not going to get a better team. Marty, Bruce, Emma, and Ben’s at the helm of it.

Where will you film?

Tom: For Paz, the great thing about it is that some of the iconic locations are still in existence. Places like the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, which was Providence Civic Center. St Mary’s and Twin Oaks. St. Mary’s Social Club was a popular hangout. That’s where his dad would play cards.

Chad: Vinny would lose so much weight and after every fight, he would go to Gregg’s and get a Death by Chocolate Cake.

Tom: He would cut twenty to thirty pounds to fight, and he would get very hungry afterward. The thing with Vinny is a lot of people have negative things to say. My opinion is who wants to watch a story about a non-tragic character? Who cares? People shouldn’t judge someone until they’ve walked a mile in their shoes. Vinny is a really nice person and anyone who knows him personally knows that. A lot of these guys take a lot of trauma to the brain. Nobody really knows the longtime effects on your behavior from all this damage to your brain.

Chad: One of the things I admire about Vinny was in 2009 when I had just acquired the rights – when [Peter] Manfredo was on “Contender,” I said to Vinny, “Wouldn’t it be interesting to come back for one fight – Manfredo vs. Paz – whatever weight you want, and I’ll sponsor the fight.” And I literally offered him $100,000 if he’d be interested. I thought he’d be excited, I thought it would be a great way to end the movie, and he said you could offer me all the money in the world, I’m not going to fight ever again. I think he feels like he gave it his all, and if he gives any more, he’ll be dead.

Tom: It goes into it in the movie, and I don’t want to give away too much, but his rocks in his life were his mom and dad. They were with him for every single fight of his life except for the last one. Both of his parents had passed away by then, so I really believe that once his parents weren’t in the picture, a big reason for why he fought to make them proud was gone. I don’t think he cared to do it anymore without them. He said it was the weirdest feeling after his last fight. He would always go to his phone and call his mom, but when he couldn’t call his mom, he was like, “Why do this anymore?” That’s a big reason why he gave up when he did.

Why is your film company so important to the economy of Rhode Island?

Chad: Every time we turn the cameras on, we have eighty to 100 people and we spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on materials, food and restaurants. It’s definitely good for the economy. I disagree with anyone who says it’s not worth the tax credit that we receive, because we put together a scene at Mardi Gras in Cranston that had 150 extras. Most of the extras came from Boston, Connecticut and as far as New Jersey. They drove here, many stayed overnight because it was a two-day shoot. They are coming into our state, eating breakfast, lunch and dinner on their own. They’re staying overnight, putting gas in their cars, just because they want to be in a movie. We took all the Rhode Islanders first, and then offered it to everyone else. I understand some other film companies come in, utilize the tax credit and leave. We’re here every day, and when the movies end, we still employ people. We’ve done a great thing when the world was experiencing the worst economic time since the Great Depression.

Tom: And we’re full-timers. We’d be somewhere else if it wasn’t for this company. We’d be in New York or Los Angeles. You can’t put a price on opportunity. This doesn’t show up on reports or tax credits, but I’m not even thirty years old yet, and I’ve already directed two movies. It’s going to be three soon. All because of Chad and his company here in Rhode Island. We get to do what we want to do. That’s more powerful than a dollar sign.

Chad: I truly believe if I didn’t buy the rights to the Vinny Paz story, these opportunities for these young men and women wouldn’t be here, because no one was making films. But now that we are, there will be more opportunities for more people because Verdi Productions is not going to be the only production company. I hope others will come into town. I hope, because competition is good.

You thought about buying the rights to the Foxy Knoxy story, but you decided not to. What happened?

Chad: I made a $1 million offer to her, and then I withdrew it. We thought she had been mistreated, that she had nothing to do with it, but that the Italian government needed someone to pin this on, and they pinned it on her. But when we started doing our due diligence, we found out that she knew a lot more than we thought. We pulled the plug six months later. There was too much truth coming out, so I didn’t think it was a movie that people would support.

And you think the Vinny Paz story will be that feel good movie?

Chad: Because everyone loves a comeback. When he was down and everyone counted him out, he achieved a magnitude of success that no one else has. And that’s what people gravitate towards.

I’m really interested in the cast that was chosen for Army of the Damned. Why did you choose those people for roles?

Tom: It’s a real grab bag. It came down to wanting to put as many eyes on the film as possible. There’s Sully Erna who sold millions of albums in the rock genre for Godsmack. Then Joey Fatone, who sold millions of pop albums and then you’ve got Michael Berryman, who is a horror icon and Todd, the Candyman. You’ve got this hodgepodge group of people who all have a large following. To bring all these different audiences together and put all of their eyes on one film is very exciting.

What made you choose that title?

Tom: We try to keep our titles starting with the letter A, B. or C. because when people search, if you are movie Xylophone, no one is going to find it.

Photo by Alex Gagne.