The Story

The Last Hurrah is a comedy filmed in a single continuous shot. Set at a graduation party in Los Angeles, an eclectic group of brainy philosophy students, train-hopping hippies, aspiring prophets, and drug-addled hipsters come together for one wild night.

At the eye of the storm are three best friends, all with the same problem - women. Jason can't get enough of them, Steve can't let go of the one he's got, and Will can't understand them at all. The brainy grad students will have to work through their issues fast, because tonight's house party is their last crack at the women of the philosophy department.

In the spirit of Richard Linklater and Woody Allen, The Last Hurrah is a smart, witty, ensemble driven comedy that wonders if the over examined life is really worth living.

 

Director’s Statement: Making A One Take Movie

 

The Director working with the Producer

THE LAST HURRAH may be the first feature comedy filmed in one continuous shot. One single camera movement following 15 characters for 90 minutes. We tackled this considerable technical challenge by approaching the film like a stage play: blocking rehearsals, speed-throughs, tech-rehearsals and dress rehearsals.

Our actors had nine rehearsals to memorize blocking, learn 90 minutes of lines, and perfect their performances. Meanwhile, our crew spent 14 days planning and practicing blocking. Seamlessly moving a camera and sound crew through a party of 50 actors and extras was like choreographing a Broadway musical on the Jersey Turnpike.

On July 16 we began full dress rehearsals. The sound team had to solve the riddle of simultaneously recording 15 actors roving a 21,000 square foot location. Our camera team (led by Chuck DeRosa) had to simultaneously light 30 setups without burning down the neighborhood. All lights and microphones had to be cleverly hidden throughout the set. After two days of dress rehearsal, we had just five shoot days to put the film in the can. Five nights of shooting the entire movie start to finish. Five chances to get it right…

The Producer working with the Director

I wrote THE LAST HURRAH as a single continuous scene to emulate the comedic momentum of live theater. It was a wonderful challenge creating 108 pages of dialog in a single location. I wanted to see if I could arc 15 characters without a single cut. And hopefully create something fun and entertaining in the process.

Filming THE LAST HURRAH was tremendously exciting and the teamwork between cast and crew was exhilarating. Given the enormous pressure of capturing the single take, I can tell you the shoot was a Herculean accomplishment for our actors and for our crew. I am extremely grateful to see the sense of fun and friendship we felt on set shining through in the movie. I hope when people watch THE LAST HURRAH, they feel like they’re spending time with great friends.

Jonathan Stokes
Writer, Director, Producer

The Director working with an Actor