JERICHO, NY, October 2, 2003 – Directing movies in Hollywood is a job to which many are called, but precious few are chosen. With no prospects in mainstream American filmmaking, award-winning director Peter Mattei embarks on a journey to find out if there’s life outside Hollywood, as he goes to find work where no independent filmmaker has gone before — pornography and Bollywood.
Mattei turns the camera on himself and takes viewers on a journey into these wildly different, thriving film industries, in two new half-hour specials premiering back-to-back on Monday, November 17 at 10:00 and 10:30 PM ET/PT, THE AMC PROJECT: I WANT TO BE CLIVE McCLEAN and THE AMC PROJECT: I WANT TO BE KARAN JOHAR. Each special takes a wry look at Mattei’s personal quest through the daunting challenges of making a living at his chosen profession. The two specials are part of AMC’s new monthly series, THE AMC PROJECT, which presents unexpected and thought-provoking viewpoints on various aspects of life in Hollywood from a variety of acclaimed filmmakers commissioned to create story-driven films.
In THE AMC PROJECT: I WANT TO BE CLIVE McCLEAN, Mattei connects with Los Angeles porn director and legendary Hustler photographer Clive McClean on the set of his latest adult film. Through casting calls and interviews with young hopefuls, on the set of an adult video shoot at the McClean ranch and in the office of infamous Hustler founder Larry Flynt, Mattei learns that it will take more than an indie feature to get a shot at making his own porn film.
In THE AMC PROJECT: I WANT TO BE KARAN JOHAR Mattei sets his sights on India’s popular film industry – Bollywood. As he seeks out one of Bollywood’s most successful young directors, Karan Johar, Mattei gets insider tips on scriptwriting, casting, Bollywood-style acting, dancing and songwriting. Working his way through the Bollywood community, Mattei pitches his own film idea–an epic musical based on Shakespeare’s HAMLET–to some of the biggest film stars and producers in the business. But in his quest to break in, he discovers that Bollywood is both similar to the American film business, and utterly foreign at the same time.
THE AMC PROJECT: I WANT TO BE CLIVE McCLEAN and THE AMC PROJECT: I WANT TO BE KARAN JOHAR are written and directed by Peter Mattei for Blue Raincoat Productions. The Executive Producer is Adam Brightman.
About AMC
AMC is a 24-hour, movie-based network, dedicated to the American movie fan. The network, which reaches over 84,000,000 homes, offers a comprehensive library of popular movies and an increasingly visible, critically- acclaimed, slate of original programming that is a diverse, movie-based mix of original series, documentaries and specials. Over the past three years, AMC has garnered many of the industry’s highest honors, including eight Emmy awards. AMC is “TV for movie people.”
About Rainbow Media Holdings LLC
A leader in sports, news and entertainment programming, Rainbow Media Holdings LLC is a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE:CVC). Rainbow Media owns and manages national networks: AMC, Fuse, IFC (The Independent Film Channel) and WE: Women’s Entertainment, as well as Mag Rack, a collection of on-demand video magazines. Rainbow Media’s other businesses include its regional programming services – MetroChannels, News 12 Networks and Rainbow Sports Networks – in addition to the Rainbow Advertising Sales Corporation and Rainbow Network Communications. Rainbow Media is also a 50 percent partner in Fox Sports Net.