The Last Days of Disco Information

The Last Days of Disco is a 1998 sardonic comedy-drama film written and directed by Whit Stillman and loosely based on his travels and experiences in various nightclubs in Manhattan, including Studio 54. The film concerns a group of Ivy League and Hampshire graduates falling in and out of love in the disco scene of Manhattan in the "very early 1980s". Chloë Sevigny and Kate Beckinsale have the lead roles.

The Last Days of Disco is the third film in what Stillman calls his "Doomed-Bourgeois-in-Love series", which begins with Metropolitan and continues with Barcelona. According to Stillman, the idea for The Last Days of Disco was originally conceived after the shooting of disco scenes in Barcelona. In 2000, Stillman published a part-novelization of the film, titled The Last Days of Disco, with Cocktails at Petrossian Afterwards.

The film was released theatrically in the United States on May 29, 1998, and its DVD and video releases followed in 1999. The DVD releases eventually went out of print and the film was widely unavailable for home video purchase until it was picked up by The Criterion Collection and released in a director-approved special edition on August 25, 2009. Along with Metropolitan and Barcelona, a print of The Last Days of Disco resides in the permanent film library of the Museum of Modern Art.

Plot

The film loosely depicts the "last days" of the disco era in the early 1980s, when weirdness, sex, and drugs ran rampant. The story centers on Alice Kinnon (Chloë Sevigny) and Charlotte Pingress (Kate Beckinsale), two young Manhattan women fresh out of Hampshire College who work in a New York publishing house. The two women, companions but not necessarily close friends, frequent the local disco together in search of music, dance, and romance. They are starkly different in personality: Alice is intelligent, quiet, and rather soft-spoken, while Charlotte is outgoing, conceited, and brutally honest, giving Alice constant "advice". The women subsequently decide to move in together and find a third roommate, Holly (Tara Subkoff), because neither of them makes quite enough money or receives enough help from her parents to cover the expense. They begin a friendship with one of the club's managers, Des (Chris Eigeman), and find one-night stands and relationships through the ensuing year, until it appears that the disco era has ended. At the end of the film, Alice and Charlotte part ways after a conflict, and Charlotte and Des discuss how their "big" personalities are "too big" for most people with "healthy-size" personalities, such as Alice. The film closes with a spirited musical dance sequence on the subway with Alice, Josh (her now-boyfriend), and the other passengers and pedestrians to The O'Jays' song "Love Train".

Cast of characters

• Chloë Sevigny as Alice Kinnon: A quiet and passive but intelligent young woman working as a book editor in Manhattan. She and Charlotte, who attended a prestigious college together, work in the same office and are frequent companions.
• Kate Beckinsale as Charlotte Pingress: Alice's rather icy and conceited companion. She constantly offers "advice" to Alice and criticizes her lack of sociability. She is outgoing but controlling and dominating toward those around her.
• Chris Eigeman as Des McGrath: A worker at the disco Alice and Charlotte frequent. He provides comic relief in many sequences and provides much insight in conversations. He is intelligent but somewhat conniving, and has many hookups with Manhattan women, with a routine of pretending to come out as a homosexual when he has lost interest in them.
• Mackenzie Astin as Jimmy Steinway: A quirky friend of Des who works in advertising, which is constantly pointed out by Des. Jimmy has to sneak his way into the disco in costume because the house owner doesn't want "those kind of people" in the club. He dates Charlotte at one point in the film.
• Matt Keeslar as Josh Neff: A man who takes an interest in Alice. Upon his introduction to Alice at the disco, he is rudely interrupted by Charlotte, who pushes him away. Alice eventually begins a relationship with him, and comes to learn that he suffers from manic depressive disorder.
• Robert Sean Leonard as Tom Platt: A charming, wealthy environmental lawyer with whom Alice has a one-night stand. He gained interest in Alice after meeting her at the disco, but proved to not be relationship material. In her sexual encounter with him, Alice contracts both gonorrhea and herpes.
• Jennifer Beals as Nina Moritz: One of Des's female conquests, who falls for his "coming out" act and later discovers he was lying to rid himself of her.
• Matt Ross as Dan Powers: A Harvard graduate and co-worker of Alice and Charlotte. He often criticizes the two women, who refer to him as "Departmental Dan".
• Tara Subkoff as Holly: A quiet woman whose intelligence and relationship choices are questioned by Charlotte and Alice. She becomes their third roommate when they decide to move in together.
• Burr Steers as Van: A worker at the disco and sort of henchman of Berrie's.
• David Thornton as Berrie Rafferty: The owner of the popular Manhattan disco, and Des's boss.
• Mark McKinney as Rex: The owner of Rex's bar.
• George Plimpton and Anthony Haden-Guest appear as Clubgoers.

Production

Development and casting

The idea for the film reportedly came to director Stillman after filming the disco scenes in his previous film, Barcelona. Stillman, who had frequented the New York discos in the 1970s and 1980s himself, announced the project soon thereafter, and interest from a handful of film distributors and actors sprouted before the film had even been written. According to Stillman in the 2009 audio commentary for the film, various actors (many of them reportedly "big names") were interested in the project from its original conception; Ben Affleck was originally looking into playing the role of Des, but Stillman, who had worked with Chris Eigeman before, handed the role over to him instead. Kate Beckinsale, who was living in England at the time, mailed an audition tape to Stillman; he was immediately mesmerized and cast her in the role of Charlotte. The leading role of Alice Kinnon took the longest to cast"?it originally was going to go to an unnamed European actress, but according to Stillman, she resembled co-star Kate Beckinsale "too much" and also had a non-American accent that caused complications. Winona Ryder was subsequently offered the role through her agent. The call was placed by studio executives on a Monday. The film's editor, Chris Tellefsen, who had previously worked as the editor of Kids, recommended Chloë Sevigny after seeing her performance in that film. Two days after the phone call was placed to Ryder's agent, Sevigny, who had been given the script through her agent, auditioned for the role, and won it. By the time Ryder's agent returned the call, Sevigny had already been cast.

Jaid Barrymore, Drew Barrymore's mother, was also cast in a small cameo role as the 'Tiger Lady' seen several times at the disco.

Filming

Principal photography began on August 12, 1997, and ended on October 27, 1997. Filming took place in various New York City locations, and the structure used for the disco was Loews Landmark Theater Loew's Jersey Theatre in Jersey City, New Jersey, that was in the process of being renovated. The filmmakers had to share the location with another film production that took place there beforehand. The other production paid for the red carpeting used in the building, and the rest of the interior was designed and paid for by Stillman's crew.

The film's distributor had also pushed the filmmakers to complete the film and get it released before the Columbia Pictures disco club film 54, and it was; 54 was released in US cinemas in late August 1998, just three months after the theatrical debut of The Last Days of Disco.

Themes

Like Stillman's other films, The Last Days of Disco deals with social structure and group dynamics. The relationships that bloom from the disco are often expressed through long dialogue sequences, with Stillman's trademark dry humor and "sharp lines" often blurted out (especially by Charlotte and Josh).

The film also deals with the dynamics of friendships; the relationship between the two main characters, Charlotte and Alice, is an odd one. The two are polar opposites in personality, with Charlotte taking a dominant role as the timid Alice politely questions her constant lines of advice and personal criticism. Charlotte often mentions that she wishes the two had been friends in college, and often points out Alice's lesser sociability; Charlotte is a social butterfly. Their friendship is uncertain: Alice questions whether the two "even like each other". As Kate Beckinsale mentioned in a promotional behind-the-scenes short on the film, the two characters are companions and end up rooming together "by necessity". Charlotte is ultimately a foil of Alice.

The theme of young people "finding themselves" in the world is also major, as each of the characters seems to be looking for something, whether it be romance, a successful career, social life, or simple understanding of the people and world around them. Charlotte often mentions being in control of "one's destiny". Sevigny referred to her character of Alice as "a good girl" who is "starting to come into her own" against the backdrop of the disco scene.

The era itself is also of course a very large part of the film. The characters' dealings with VD, sexuality, labels such as "yuppieism", etc., are very much of the time period.

Reception

Box office

The Last Days of Disco was released on May 29, 1998 in 22 US theaters where it grossed $277,601 on its opening weekend. It went on to make $3 million in North America. With a budget of $8 million, the film was considered a financial failure; it was, however, well received by many critics. It was received better than the critically panned release 54, which dealt with the Manhattan disco Studio 54.

Critical reaction

The film received positive reviews. It has a 71% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 76 metascore on Metacritic. Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote, "If [F.] Scott Fitzgerald were to return to life, he would feel at home in a Whit Stillman movie. Stillman listens to how people talk, and knows what it reveals about them". In her review for The New York Times, Janet Maslin praised Chris Eigeman's performance: "Mr. Eigeman makes the filmmaker a perfect mouthpiece who can brood amusingly about anything, no matter how petty. Here he plumbs the psychological subtext of Lady and the Tramp". Andrew Sarris, in his review for The New York Observer, wrote, "Mr. Stillman's free ticket with the critics for the seemingly magical minimalism of Metropolitan has long since expired. In his future projects, all the charm and buoyancy in the world may not compensate for a lack of structure and bedrock reality".

Entertainment Weekly gave the film an "A-" rating and Lisa Schwarzbaum wrote, "Stillman's gang may be maturing precariously close to middle age, but it's lovely to know the important pleasures of conversation and intellectual discussion endure". In his review for the Los Angeles Times, Kenneth Turan praised the "exceptional acting ensemble" for being "successful at capturing the brittle rituals of this specific group of genteel, well-spoken young people on the cusp of adulthood who say things like 'What I was craving was a sentient individual' and 'It's far more complicated and nuanced than that'."

Soundtrack

1. I Love the Nightlife - 3:01 (Alicia Bridges)
2. I'm Coming Out - 5:25 (Diana Ross)
3. Got to Be Real - 3:45 (Cheryl Lynn)
4. Good Times - 3:45 (Chic)
5. He's the Greatest Dancer - 3:34 (Sister Sledge)
6. I Don't Know If It's Right - 3:48 (Evelyn "Champagne" King)
7. More, More, More, Pt. 1 - 3:02 (Andrea True Connection)
8. Doctor's Orders - 3:31 (Carol Douglas)
9. Everybody Dance - 3:31 (Chic)
10. The Love I Lost - 6:25 (Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes)
11. Let's All Chant - 3:05 (Michael Zager Band)
12. Got to Have Loving - 8:18 (Don Ray)
13. Shame - 6:34 (Evelyn "Champagne" King)
14. Knock on Wood - 3:52 (Amii Stewart)
15. The Oogum Boogum Song - 2:34 (Brenton Wood)
16. Love Train - 3:00 (O'Jays)
17. I Love the Nightlife (Disco 'Round) - 3:13 (La India & Nuyorican Soul)

Aftermath

Stillman did not direct another film until Damsels in Distress in 2012.

According to Chloë Sevigny in a 2009 audio commentary track for the film, her performance in The Last Days of Disco - particularly the upbeat dance sequence finale in the subway - got the attention of director Kimberly Peirce, who cast Sevigny in Boys Don't Cry. Sevigny received an Oscar nomination for her performance in that film, but said that of all the films she's made, The Last Days of Disco is the one "people come up to me about" the most.

Sevigny also stated that she became good friends on the set with co-star Tara Subkoff, to whom she continued to remain close after shooting. The two worked together on a fashion line called Imitation of Christ in 2003, along with Scarlett Johansson.

The film was accessioned by the film library at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, where it is sometimes screened to the public. It was last shown at the museum's Pop Rally event in August 2009, with director Stillman and star Chris Eigeman present for a question-and-answer session following the screening. Subkoff was also present during the Q & A. An after-party in celebration of the screening was advertised and held that evening as well.

Home media

The film was originally released on VHS and DVD in 1999 through Image Entertainment, but as of 2009, that edition is out of print and was very hard to find; copies available for sale online were over $100. This DVD release included the film's original theatrical trailer as the single bonus feature on the disc.

After being unavailable for home media purchase for a significant time, the film received a second release, and was added to the esteemed Criterion Collection DVD series. It was the 485th film to enter the series, and was released on August 25, 2009, in a restored version that was approved by director Stillman. Stillman's first film in his 'trilogy', Metropolitan, was also released in the Criterion series three years prior. The Criterion release of The Last Days of Disco included as supplemental materials: an audio commentary with Whit Stillman, Chloë Sevigny, and Chris Eigeman; four deleted scenes, a promotional making-of featurette, an audio recording of Stillman reading a passage from his film novelization, a still gallery with a text narrative by Stillman, and the original theatrical trailer. A liner essay by novelist David Schickler was also included as a paper insert in the package.

The cover of the DVD features an illustration by French artist Pierre Le-Tan, depicting actresses Beckinsale and Sevigny preparing themselves in the powder room before entering the disco; the painting is a replication of a scene in the film.

A Blu-ray was released by Criterion on July 24, 2012.

See also

• 54