Back in 1999 things were changing. Prince’s song was topical, Y2K scared people shitless, and it was the beginning of the end of “The Duck Club”.
In 1998 a group of friends got together and started making short films, completely improv and off the cuff kind of comedy. Throughout that summer it was almost constant. The next logical step was to take a foray into a true short film, something longer than 10-15 minutes. That is when Chris Deppe sat down and starting thinking about his opus… driven by David Lynch, DC Comics, John Hughes and Kevin Smith ‘The Last Good Time’ was born.
Filmed over several weeks in over half a dozen locations throughout the Lehigh Valley, Chris and his loyal crew worked on making the best film they could. With no money, one consumer camera, and 2 VCRs the next few days were hectic… and for the fruits of the labor only the crew and a handful of other people have even seen the film.
It was pretty much thought to be lost to time.
However here we sit 12 years later, being the co-editor on the original, and I have in my hands the original master tapes from The Last Good Time, and im embarking on a monumental task. Editing, rescoring, color correcting, digitially remastering, and generally re-doing the whole thing.
I took a little time out and sat down with the writer and director Chris Deppe to get further insight into the history of the film.
Chris, where did the original idea for ‘The Last Good Time’ come from?
- Oh Boy, Well I think the original idea came from reading lots of DC comings from the 80’s and the idea of there being alternate dimensions that run paralllel to our own. Couple that with tons of teen romance movies that saw a big resurgence in the mid-late 90’s and I believe that is the genesis of this movie.
That’s quite a mix! Was there any personal demons you were trying to work through with the story?
- Sure there we’re some demons involved. I wrote this during a transistion period of my life, and the script sort of felt like a bookend of sorts. Like the end of an era and the beginning of another. All rolled up into one project.
It really shows in the subject matter. You spoke of the end of an era. Since there wasn’t any major duck club projects after this film, would you consider that being the ultimate end of the group as well?
- Oh Absolutely. The Duck Club played a major role in that part of my life. Good memories were made. But it had to end I guess.
How long was spent production wise on The Last Good Time?
- We filmed it over a 3 week period. Post production ended up being only 3 hours.. HA!
Did you expect production to run as smooth as it did? Were there any major hurdles you encountered?
- Well, we did a fair deal of planning prior to shooting. I think the smooth production was a result of that planning. The only real hurdle i can recall was the archaic editing process. We used a VCR and a Tascam 4-Track mixer to produce the (original) Final product. it was very low tech even 12 years ago!
Once the film was completed, what happened then?
- We took it to the Krista Sunshine film festival. That was fun, seeing it on the “big screen”. It was a real fun night!
Was the film well received at the festival?
- It was very well received I think. I remember getting many compliments on the original music and also for the camera work. It was a great night for the Duck Club though. “Why Does God Hate Me?” took home top honors. a Major victory!
With all of that success, what ultimately brought the end to The Duck Club?
- That’s a good question. Meaning, I don’t know the answer to it. We all sort of moved on I suppose…
(pause)
We made some good memories but ultimately ended up going our separate ways.Do you ever see a future in filmmaking now, with or without a collective group of film makers?
- You know. I’d love to do this for a living. It’s something I enjoy doing so much, and if i could goto work and make movies as a career, well, it would be like heaven!
Absolutely! Well Chris thank you for your time! We look forward to more from The Duck Club Archives and anything else you work on in the future!
- It’s been a pleasure *wink*
Big thanks to Chris for the interview! Keep an eye out right here on WTF Entertainment.com for an indepth look at the remastering of “The Last Good Time” leading up to it’s premiere right here on the website!
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