| By Einat
Paz-Frankel A
Hernando café could become as famous as New York’s Katz’s Deli
if a film shot there becomes the blockbuster “When Harry Met Sally”
was.
Last Sunday, director and producer M. David Lee III was shooting footage for his feature film “Slow Down, You’re Dating Too Fast” at The Silver Chair Café, located at Hernando’s historic court square. The movie focuses on the stories of five people trying to find love in all the wrong places. They are embroiled in age-old coupling conflicts and ask themselves questions such as: How should men and women interact? What is the best way to ask someone on a date? The characters in the movie try the latest fad called “speed dating.” In this new approach to dating, men and women come to a restaurant and then each spends 10 minutes talking with the person sitting opposite him or her, before moving to the next table, to talk with the second person in line. At the end of the night, the moderator matches up everybody’s top choices and distributes phone numbers accordingly. |
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The setting for these incredibly instant,
condensed dates is Will Rives’ The Silver Chair, a colorful, chic
restaurant opened last February in the space below “Accents on the
Square” in Hernando.
Rives’ wife, Whitley, who plays the obsessive-compulsive Darcy in the movie, invited Lee to take a look at The Silver Chair when he was still looking for a location for the big dating night. “I fell in love with the restaurant,” said film director Lee, who is also the sports anchor at Memphis’ Fox 13 News. “I wanted an eclectic look for the film; to make color and texture part of it.”
The multicolored coffee shop — with walls painted red, green and blue —
was selected by Lee to depict a place where 20 and 30 year olds hang
out, he said.
Lee, who is passionate about filmmaking and television, said that after his divorce, he was inevitably thrown into the dating scene, but that he has yet to try “speed dating.” Friends’ experiences, however, led him to write the film’s script, he said. Hailing from Massachusetts, Lee spent many years living and working in California, but now calls Memphis home, he said. Lee and his company, Triple Sticks Productions, have already produced two feature films in the Mid-South, which brings Lee’s movie roster to six feature films. Lee said he hopes “Slow Down, You’re Dating Too Fast” will be ready in time for “Indie Memphis,” the city’s annual independent film festival that runs every October. His previous film, “Dog me: Potluck” was screened last year during the festival. In “Dog me,” Lee applied techniques used by the European avant-garde group “Dogme,” whose members include the controversial virtuoso, Danish film director Lars von Trier. In his current film, Lee embraces a pragmatic technique, which he calls the “drop in and do good work” system, he said. Running a tight shooting schedule, from June 4-25, Lee directs 62 amateur and professional actors and extras as well as manages 10 crew members. Will Rives, the owner of the Silver Chair, said he was glad to host the crew and cast Sunday. “We got some exposure to Memphians,” he said. “And in the film, everybody will see our restaurant.” Even though this
is the first film being shot at the Silver Chair, Rives has already
hosted several charity events at his café, he said.
“We want to give back to the community,” Rives said. The 26 years old met his wife on a blind date, but never heard about speed dating before “Slow Down,” he said. Even though this trend is completely new to him, Rives is pleased that the speed dating taking place at his restaurant will be eternalized on film. He hopes this image of his café will project the true friendly, inviting atmosphere of The Silver Chair, Rives said. “That’s the kind of place I’d like to go to,” is the reaction Rives hopes the movie will stimulate, he said. If the movie
becomes a success, The Silver Chair could become a tourist pilgrimage
site like New York City’s Katz’s Deli, which was eternalized in the
famous diner scene in the blockbuster “When Harry Met Sally.”
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