“It’s a romantic comedy,” says director Eric Ustian, “It’s based off of a book. It’s actually a book called ‘Most Guys Are Losers” and I met the book author. And as fate would have it, when I met the book author, he had his daughter’s boyfriend in town, and he was meeting them for the first time over Christmas. So I witnessed that and I said, you know, that’s the screenplay. And so that’s how it started.”
Eric Ustian, a 1998 graduate of Naperville North High School brings his writing and directorial film debut back to his hometown of Naperville. The movie “Most Guys Are Losers” stars Academy Award-winning actress Mira Sorvino and her legendary father, Paul Sorvino; Andy Buckley, known for his role as David Wallace on “The Office.”
“It’s my first movie, so I think that there was a big benefit to comfortability,” says Ustian. “It was an all hands on deck, family helping, friends helping and I think that, you know, as far as the movie goes, that benefit of the movie, a good vibe on set, a warm feeling on sense, a warm movie that it benefited on screen… I’ve been on a lot of movie sets. I’ve never been on one where you were at the director’s home town director’s family.”
A Hometown Screening
Ustian hosted a screening of the film in Madden Theater at North Central College for family and friends, and said he was nervous about the whole experience.
“It’s nerve racking. Uh, but, you know, it’s a, it’s a broad film, and it’s a great message,” says Ustian
Yet, Ustian believes Naperville is special.
“That’s unique to Naperville,” says Ustian. “This bond of knowing people your whole life, like I thought that there was normal everywhere. There’s two reasons, you know, this is a great environment, it’s a great place, but there’s just great people.”
During his time at Naperville North, Ustian was part of NCTV17 and credits his experience with getting him started in production.
“I worked at NCTV. That’s where I got my start,” says Ustian. “We had a show called The Weekender, which was like what, you know, high school kids did that weekend. So, yeah, that’s where I started.
“Most Guys Are Losers” hits theaters and video on demand Friday, November 25.
Naperville News 17’s Angela Hager reports
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