The story of an ex-con whose character made its debut in Joe Maggio’s 2001 Slamdance film “Virgil Bliss” is back in a 2023 Slamdance Spotlight Film, “Bliss.”
The film premiered on Friday, and the next screening is set for noon, Thursday, Jan. 25, at the Summer & David Theater in the DoubleTree by Hilton — the Yarrow, 1800 Park Ave.
“Bliss” picks up 20 years after the events in “Virgil Bliss” that left the character a fugitive, living under the radar as a man named Duane.
His life takes a turn when Jo — the twin of his girlfriend, Amy, who just died of an overdose — arrives to find her sister.
Actor and writer Clint Jordan reprises Virgil Bliss, a role that won the 2001 Indie Spirit Award, in “Bliss,” which reunites him with Maggio.
The two were joined on this new project by actor, writer and filmmaker Faryl Amadeus, who plays the dual role of Jo and Amy.
Amadeus and Jordan connected well while working together on other projects, and the three
began tossing around the idea of creating a sequel to “Virgil Bliss” during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We started with general ideas and started to refine them,” Maggio said. “Then one day it was time to start writing the script. I would write 10 to 15 pages, and send it to Clint and Faryl. And we would discuss it and make changes.”
The idea was to find out who Bliss has become throughout the years, Jordan said.
“All three of us were instrumental in shaping this character who we see in our society with the opioid epidemic,” he said. “He’s a laborer, working on the fringes, not in the spotlight, and trying to cope and get by in subsistent life.”
The three knew that Bliss was a wanted man, and that his body hurt from his job as a laborer, according to Jordan.
“I think his plan was just trying to run the clock out,” he said. “So we wanted to put some obstacles in his path. What would make life worth living for again?”
Enter Jo, a sober, Bible-thumping woman who is the polar opposite of her late sister, Amy.
Amadeus, a Spielberg Fellow, said these characters, like the other characters she has played, are a mix of herself and people she knows.
“For Jo, the vocal placement and ideology is my aunt,” she said with a laugh. “She is such a character. She is super into Jesus, as most of my family is. And just the way she is witty, terse and fully reliant on God.”
Jo is also very intense, according to Amadeus.
“I wanted her body to be tight, because Jo is tight,” she said.
Amadeus based Amy on her sister, whom she describes as optimistic, and someone who makes poor decisions in life.
“These are where the characters came from, and then I put them, their colors and the songs in their heads, in my body to build (them up),” she said.
The writing process was full of trust, Amadeus said.
“We started having these epic phone calls, three or four hours, to start writing this story,” she said. “If something didn’t stick, we’d just move on quite naturally. We have such an easy trust working with each other. So, the writing process was like a rehearsal.”
After the script was finished, and the COVID restrictions relaxed, Maggio flew from his home in New York to meet with Jordan and Amadeus in Los Angeles.
“I went out for seven weeks of preprodution and we spent a lot rehearsing,” Maggio said. “We changed a lot in the script during rehearsals, because even sitting on a couch reading the script (aloud), you realize things didn’t sound right.”
The camaraderie the three felt during the writing process, translated well through the rehearsals and principal photography, Jordan said.
“Rehearsal was really extensive like in the theater, when you can rehearse four to five weeks,” he said. “It seemed very improv, but we were pretty dead-on with the text.”
One of the film’s transitional scenes takes place outdoors under a makeshift rubber-hose shower, and the shoot, which could have been awkward, turned into a great experience, due to the trust that was shared on set, Jordan said.
“I’m naked walking outside in front of the crew, and the magic sort of happened when Faryl came out and just broke down,” he said. “Joe said he could hear her really crying in the take.”
The emotion reached back to the crew, including producer Paula Killen, who watched the play-back inside the house, Jordan said.
“I was taken, because I was also very affected by it,” he said. “We didn’t want to make it a romantic moment. It was just two souls who were communing in the pain.”
Making “Bliss” helped Amadeus cope with the stir-craziness she felt while in the COVID-19 quarantine.
“I had met Clint in early 2020 and we worked on a play called ‘Blackbird,'” said Amadeus, who is about to release a new short film called “Any Sign At All,” that also features Jordan. “It was intense, (but also) exciting to work with someone who had such a simpatico with me. And when the lockdown happened, I was like, ‘I — have — to — make — a — movie — with — you — in — it!'”
Maggio loves the symmetry of having “Bliss” premiere at Slamdance after “Virgil Bliss” did two decades ago.
“It was the very first big film festival that I had ever been to,” he said. “It was such an amazing experience. When anyone would ask me over the years what the best festival I have ever been in, I would always say that first, ‘Slamdance.'”
